from the Scope of the whole Epistle and the beginning of that Chapter understand only of the state that St. Paul represents himself to have been in while yet a Iew and before his Conversion Whereas others understand it of him in his converted and regenerated state Very plausible things have been said on both sides but without arguing any thing from words the sense of which is under debate Gal. 5.17 Rom. 8.13 there are other places which do manifestly express the struggle that is in a good Man The flesh is weak though the spirit is willing The flesh lusteth against the spirit as the spirit lusteth against the flesh We ought to be still mortifying the deeds of the body and we feel many Sins that do so easily beseâ— us that from these things we have reason to conclude that there is a Corruption in our Nature which gives us a biass and propensity to Sin Now there is no reason to think that Baptism takes away all the Branches and Effects of Original Sin It is enough if we are by it delivered from the Wrath of God and brought into a State of Favour and Acceptation We are freed from the Curse of Death by our being Entitled to a Blessed Resurrection And if we are so far freed from the Corruption of our Nature as to have a foederal right to such Assistances as will enable us to resist and repress it though it is not quite extinct in us so long as we live in these frail and mortal Bodies here are very great Effects of our Admission to Christianity by Baptism though this should not go so far as to root out all Inclinations to Evil out of our Nature The great Disposition that is in us to Appetite and Passion and that great heat with which they Inflame us the Aversion that we naturally have to all the Exercises of Religion and the Pains that must be used to work us up to a tolerable Degree of Knowledge and an ordinary Measure of Virtue shews that these are not natural to us Whereas Sloth and Vice do grow on us without any care taken about them so that it appears that they are the natural and the other the forced growth of our Souls These ill Dispositions are so universally spread through all Mankind and appear so early and in so great a Diversity of ill Inclinations that from hence it seems reasonable and just to infer That this Corruption is spread through our whole Nature and Species by the Sin and Disobedience of Adam And beyond this a great many among our selves think that they cannot go in asserting of Original Sin But there is a further step made by all the Disciples of S. Austin who believe That a Covenant was made with all Mankind in Adam as their First Parent That he was a Person Constituted by God to represent them all and that the Covenant was made with him so that if he had obeyed all his Posterity should have been happy through his Obedience but by his Disobedience they were all to be esteemed to have sinned in him his Act being Imputed and Transferred to them all S. Austin considered all Mankind as lost in Adam and in that he made the Decree of Election to begin There being no other Reprobation asserted by him than the leaving Men to continue in that state of Damnation in which they were by reason of Adam's Sin so that though by Baptism all Men were born again and recovered out of that lost state yet unless they were within the Decree of Election they could not be saved but would certainly fall from that state and perish in a state of Sin But such as were not Baptized were shut out from all hope Those words of Christ's Except ye be born again of the water and of the Spirit Joh. 3.3 5 ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God being Expounded so as to Import the Indispensable Necessity of Baptism to Eternal Salvation All who were not Baptized were reckoned by him among the Damned Yet this Damnation as to those who had no Actual Sin was so mitigated that it seemed to be little more than an Exclusion out of Heaven without any Suffering or Misery like a state of Sleep and Inactivity This was afterwards dressed up as a Division or Partition in Hell called the Limbo of Infants so by bringing it thus low they took away much of the horror that this Doctrine might otherwise have given the World It was not easy to Explain the way how this was propagated They wished well to the Notion of a Soul's propagating a Soul but that seemed to come too near Creation So it was not received as certain It was thâ—refore thought That the Body being propagated defiled the Soul was created and infused at the time of Conception And the though God did not Create it impure yet no time was interposed between its Creation and infusion So that it could never be said to have been once pure and then to have become impure All this as it afforded an easy Foundation to Establish the Doctrine of Absolute Decrees upon it no care being taken to shew how this Sin came into the World whether from an Absolute Decrâ—e or not so it seem'd to have a great Foundation in that large Discourse of St. Paul's where in the 5th of the Romans he compares the Blessings that we receive by the Death of Christ with the Guilt and Misery that was brought upon us by the Sin of Adam Now it is confessed That by Christ we have both an Imputation or Communication of the Merits of his Death and likewise a Purity and Holiness of Nature convey'd to us by his Doctrine and Spirit In opposition then to this if the comparison is to be closely pursued there must be an Imputation of Sin as well as a Corruption of Nature transfused to us from Adam This is the more considerable as to the Point of imputation because the chief design of St. Paul's Discourse seems to be levelled at that since it is begun upon the Head of Reconciliation and Attonement Upon which it follows That as by one man sin entred into the world Rom. 5.12 to the end and death by sin and death passed upon all men for that or as others render it in whom all have sinned Now they think it is all one to their Point Whether it be rendered for that or in whom For though the later words seem to deliver their Opinion more precisely yet it being affirm'd That according to the other rendring all who die have sinned and it being certain That many Infants die who have never actually sinned these must have sinned in Adam they could sin no other way It is afterwards said by St. Paul That by the offence of one many were dead That the judgment was by one to Condemnation That by one man's offence death reigned by one That by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to Condemnation And that by one man's disobedience
and dwelling in us and by our being rooted and grounded in him 2 Cor. 6.16 Heb. 4.16 Jam. 1.5 1 Joh. 39. our being the Temples of God a holy habitation to him through his Spirit our being sealed by the Spirit of God to the day of Redemption by all those directions to pray for grace to help in time of need and to ask wisdom of God that gives liberally to all men as also by the Phrases of being born of God and the having his seed abiding in us These and many more places which return often through the New Testament seem to put it beyond all doubt that there are inward Communications from God to the Powers of our Souls by which we are made both to apprehend the Truths of Religion to remember and reflect on them and to consider and follow them more effectually How these are applied to us is a great difficulty indeed but it is to litle purpose to amuse our selves about it God may convey them immediately to our Souls if he will but it is more intelligible to us to imagine that the Truths of Religion are by a Divine direction imprinted deep upon our Brain so that naturally they must affect us much and be oft in our Thoughts And this may be a Hypothesis to explain Regeneration or habitual Grace by When a deep Impression is once made there may be a direction from God in the same way that his Providence runs through the whole Material World given to the Animal Spirits to move towards and strik upon that Impression and so to excite such Thoughts as by the Law of the Union of the Soul and Body do correspond to it This may serve for a Hypothesis to explain the Conveyance of Actual Grace to us But these are only proposed as Hypotheses that is as methods or possible ways how such things may be done and which may help us to apprehend more distinctly the manner of them Now as this Hypothesis has nothing in it but what is truly Philosophical so it is highly congruous to the Nature and Attributes of God That if our Facultiâ—s aâ—â— fallen under a decay and corruption so that bare Instruction is not like to prevail over us he should by some secret methods rectify this in us Our Experience tells us but too often what a fâ—eble thing Knowledge and Speculation is when it engages with Nature strongly assaulted How our best Thoughts fly from us and forsake us whereas at other times the sense of these things lies with a due weight on our Minds and has another effect upon us The way of conveying this is invisible our Saviour compared it to the wind that bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3.8 no man knows whence it comes and whither it goes No man can give an account of the sudden changes of the Wind and of that vast force with which the Air is driven by it which is otherwise the most yielding of all Bodies to which he adds so is every one that is born of the Spirit This he brings to illustrate the meaning of what he had said That except a man was born again of Water and of the Spirit he could not enter into the kingdom of God And to shew how real and internal this was he adds That which is born of the flesh is flesh that is a Man has the Nature of those Parents from whom he is descended by Flesh being understood the Fabrick of the Human Body animated by the Soul in opposition to which he subjoins That which is born of the Spirit is spirit that is to say a Man thus regenerated by the Operation of the Spirit of God comes to be of a Spiritual Nature With this I conclude all that seemed necessary to be proved That there are inward Assistances given to us in the New Dispensation I do not dispute whether these are fitly called Grace for perhaps that word will scarce be found in that Sense in the Scriptures it signifying more largely the Love and Favour of God without restraining it to this Act or Effect of it The next thing to be proved is That there is a preventing Grace by which the Will is first moved and disposed to turn to God It is certain that the first Promulgation of the Gospel to the Churches that were gathered by the Apostles is ascribed wholly to the Riches and Freedom of the Grace of God This is fully done in the Epistle to the Ephesians in which their former Ignorance and Corruption is set forth under the Figures of blindness of being without hope Eph. 2.2.12 and without God in the world and dead in trespasses and sins they following the course of this world and the prince of the power of the Air and being by nature children of wrath that is under Wrath I dispute not here concerning the meaning of the word by Nature whether it relates to the Corruption of our Nature in Adam or to that general Corruption that had overspread Heathenism and was become as it were another Nature â—o them In this single Instance we plainly see that there was no previous disposition to the first preaching of the Gospel at Ephesus Many expressions of this kind though perhaps not of this force are in the other Epistles St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans puts God's chusing of Abraham upon this That it was of grace not of debt Rom. 4.2 otherwise Abraham might have had whereof to glory And when he speaks of God's casting off the Iews and grafting the Gentiles upon that Stock from which they were cut off he ascribes it wholly to the Goodness of God towards them Rom. 11.20 and charges them not to be high-minded but to fear In his Epistle to the Corinthians he says That not many wise mighty nor noble were chosen but God had chosen the foolish the weak and the base things of this world 1 Cor. 1.26 so that no flesh should glory in his presence And he urges this further in words that seem to be as applicable to particular Persons as to Communities or Churches Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou 1 Cor. 4.7 that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it From these and many more passages of the like nature it is plain that in the Promulgation of the Gospel Isa. 65.1 God was found of them that sought not to him and heard of them that called not upon him that is he prevented them by his Favour while there were no previous dispositions in them to invite it much less to merit it From this it may be inferred That the like method should be used with relation to particular Persons We do find very express Instances in the New Testament of the Conversion of some by a Preventing Grace It is said Acts 16.14 That God opened tâ—e heart of Lydia so that she attended to the things that were spoken
Opus operatum it is conveyed to the Souls of those to whom they are applied unless they themselves put a Bar in the way of it by some mortal Sin In consequence of this they reckon that by the Sacraments given to a Man in his Agonies though he is very near past all Sense and so cannot joyn any lively Acts of his Mind with the Sacraments yet he is justified not to mention the common practice of giving Extreme Unction in the last Agony when no appearance of any Sense is left This we reckon a Doctrine that is not only without all Foundation in Scripture but that tends to destroy all Religion and to make Men live on securely in Sin trusting to this that the Sacraments may be given them when they die The Conditions of the New Covenant are Repentance Faith and Obedience and we look on this as the corrupting the Vitals of this Religion when any such means are proposed by which the main Design of the Gospel is quite overthrown The business of a Character is an unintelligible Notion We acknowledge Baptism is not to be repeated but that is not by virtue of a Character imprinted in it but because it being a Dedication of the Person to God in the Christian Religion what is once so done is to be understood to continue still in that State till such a Person falls into an open Apostacy In case of the Repentance of such a Person we finding that the Primitive Church did reconcile but not rebaptize Apostates do imitate that their Practice but not because of this late and unexplicable Notion of a Character We look on all Sacramental Actions as acceptable to God only with regard to the Temper and the inward Acts of the Person to whom they are applied and cannot consider them as Medicines or Charms which work by a Virtue of their own whether the Person to whom they are applied co-operates with them or not Baptism is said by St. Peter to save us not as it is an Action that washes us Not the putting away the filth of the flesh 1 Pet. 3.21 but the answer of a good conscience towards God And therefore Baptism without this Profession is no Baptism but seems to be used as a Charm unless it is said that this Answer or Profession is implied whensoever Baptism is desired When a Person of Age desires Baptism he must make those Answers and Sponsions otherwise he is not truly Baptized and though his outward making of them being all that can fall under Human Cognizance he who does that must be held to be truly baptized and all the outward Priviledges of a baptized Person must belong to him yet as to the effect of Baptism on the Soul of him that is baptized without doubt that depends upon the sincerity of the Professions and Vows made by him The Wills of Infants are by the Law of Nature and Nations in their Parents and are transferred by them to their Sureties the Sponsions that are made on their behalf are considered as made by themselves but there the outward Act is sufficient for the inward Acts of one Person cannot be supposed necessary to give the Sacrament its Virtue in another 1 Cor. 10 1â— In the Eucharist by our shewing forth our Lord's Death till he comes we are admitted to the Communion of his Body and Blood To a share in Partnership with other Christians in the Effects and Merits of his Death But the unworthy Receiver is guilty of his Body and Blood and brings thereby down Judgments upon himself so that to fancy a Virtue in Sacraments that works on the Person to whom they are applied without any inward Acts accompanying it and upon his being only Passive is a Doctrine of which we find nothing in the Scriptures which teach us that every thing we do is only accepted of God with regard to the Disposition of Mind that he knows us to be in when we go about it Our Prayers and Sacrifices are so far from being accepted of God that they are Abomination to him if they come from wicked and defiled Hearts The making Men believe that Sacraments may be effectual to them when they are next to a State of Passivity not capable of any sensible thoughts of their own is a sure way to raise the Credit of the Clergy and of the Sacrament but at the same time it will most certainly dispose Men to live in Sin hoping that a few Rites which may be easily procured at their Death will clear all at last And thus we reject not without great Zeal against the fatal Effects of this Error all that is said of the Opus operatum the very doing of the Sacrament we think it looks liker the Incantations of Heathenism than the Purity and Simplicity of the Christian Religion But the other Extream that we likewise avoid is that of sinking the Sacraments so low as to be meer Rites and Ceremonies St. Peter says Baptism saves us St. Paul calls it The laver of Regeneration to which he joyns the renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Mark 16.16 John 3.3 5. Our Saviour saith He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and except ye are born again of Water and of the Spirit ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God These Words have a Sense and Signification that rises far above a meer Ceremony done to keep up Order and to maintain a settled Form The Phrase Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ is above the Nature of an Anniversary or Memorial Feast This Opinion we think is very unsuitable to those high Expressions and we do not doubt but that Christ who instituted those Sacraments does still accompany them with a particular Presence in them and a Blessing upon them so that we coming to them with Minds well prepared with pure Affections and holy Resolutions do certainly receive in and with them particular largesses of the Favour and Bounty of God They are not bare and naked Remembrances and Tokens but are actuated and animated by a Divine Blessing that attends upon them This is what we believe on this Head and these are the Grounds upon which we found it A Sacrament is an Institution of Christ in which some material thing is sanctified by the use of some Form or Words in and by which federal Acts of this Religion do pass on both sides on ours by Stipulations Professions or Vows and on God's by his secret Assistances by these we are also united to the Body of Christ which is the Church It must be Instituted by Christ for though Ritual Matters that are only the Expressions of our Duty may be appointed by the Church yet federal Acts to which a conveyance of Divine Grace is tied can only be instituted by him who is the Author and Mediator of this New Covenant and who lays down the Rules or Conditions of it and derives the Blessings of it by what Methods and in what Channels he thinks fit
the Word baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you By the first Teaching or making of Disciples that must go before Baptism is to be meant the Convincing the World that Iesus is the Christ the true Messias anointed of God with a fulness of Grace and of the Spirit without measure and sent to be the Saviour and Redeemer of the World And when any were brought to acknowledge this then they were to Baptize them to initiate them to this Religion by obliging them to Renounce all Idolatry and Ungodliness as well as all secular and carnal Lusts and then they led them into the Water and with no other Garments but what might cover Nature they at first laid them down in the Water as a Man is laid in a Grave and then they said those words I baptize or wash thee in the Name of the Father Rom. 6.3 4 5. Son and Holy Ghost Then they raised them up again and clean Garments were put on them From whence came the Phrases of being baptized into Christ's death Col. 2.12 Col. 3.1 10. Rom. 13.14 of being buried with him by baptism into death Of our being risen with Christ and of our putting on the Lord Iesus Christ of putting off the Old Man and putting on the New After Baptism was thus performed the baptized Person was to be farther instructed in all the Specialities of the Christian Religion And in all the Rules of Life that Christ had prescribed This was plainly a different Baptism from St. Iohn's a Profession was made in it not in general of the Belief of a Messias soon to appear but in particular that Iesus was the Messias The Stipulation in St. Iohn's Baptism was Repentance but here it is the Belief of the whole Christian Religion In St. Iohn's Baptism they indeed promised Repentance and he received them into the earnests of the Kingdom of the Messias but it does not appear that St. Iohn either did promise them Remission of Sins or that he had Commission so to do For Repentance and Remission of Sins were not joined together till after the Resurrection of Christ Luke 24.47 that he appointed that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem In the Baptism of Christ I mean that which he appointed after his Resurrection for the Baptism of his Disciples before that time was no doubt the same with St. Iohn's Baptism there was to be an Instruction given in that great Mystery of the Christian Religion concerning the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which those who had only received St. Iohn's Baptism knew not They did not so much as know that there was a Holy Ghost Acts 19.2 3 4 5. That is they knew nothing of the extraordinary Effusion of the Holy Ghost And it is expresly said that those of St. Iohn's Baptism when St. Paul explained to them the difference between the Baptism of Christ and that of St. Iohn that they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus For St. Iohn in his Baptism had only initiated them to the belief of a Messias but had not said a word of Iesus as being that Messias Joh. 3.3 5 6. So that this must be fixed that these two Baptisms were different the one was a dawning or imperfect beginning to the other as he that administred the one was like the Morning Star before the Sun of Righteousness Our Saviour had this Ordinance that was then imperfect and was to be afterwards compleated when he himself had finished all that he came into the World to do he had I say this visibly in his eye when he spake to Nicodemus and told him that except a man were born again he could not see or discern the Kingdom of God By which he meant that entire change and renovation of a man's mind and of all his powers through which he must pass before he could discern the true Characters of the Dispensation of the Messias for that is the sense in which the Kingdom of God does stand almost universally through the whole Gospel When Nicodemus was amazed at this odd expression and seemed to take it literally our Saviour answered more fully Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The meaning of which seems to be this that except a man came to be renewed by an ablution like the Baptism which the Iews used that imported the outward profession of a change of Doctrine and of Heart and with that except he were inwardly changed by a secret power called the Spirit that should transform his nature he could not become one of his Disciples or a true Christian which is meant by his entring into the Kingdom of God or the Dispensation of the Messias Upon this Institution and Commission given by Christ we see the Apostles went up and down Preaching and Baptizing And so far were they from considering Baptism only as a carnal Rite or a low Element above which a higher Dispensation of the Spirit was to raise them that when St. Peter saw the Holy Ghost visibly descend upon Cornelius and his Friends he upon that immediately Baptized them and said Acts 10.44 47 48. Can any man forbid or deny water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Our Saviour has also made Baptism one of the Precepts tho' not one of the Means necessary to Salvation A Mean is that which does so certainly procure a thing that it being had the thing to which it is a certain and necessary Mean is also had and without it the thing cannot be had there being a natural connexion between it and the End Whereas a Precept is an Institution in which there is no such natural efficiency but it is positively commanded so that the neglecting it is a contempt of the Authority that commanded it And therefore in obeying the Precept the value or vertue of the action lies only in the obedience This distinction appears very clearly in what our Saviour has said both of Faith and Baptism Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Where it appears that Faith is the Mean of Salvation with which it is to be had and not without it since such a believing as makes a man receive the whole Gospel as true and so firmly to depend upon the Promises that are made in it as to observe all the Laws and Rules that are prescribed by it such a Faith as this gives us so sure a title to all the Blessings of this New Covenant that it is impossible that we should continue in this state and not partake of them and it is no less impossible that we should partake of them
Grace and Spirit descending on his Church He does also intercede for us at his Father's Right-hand where he is preparing a place for us The meaning of all which is this That as he is vested with an unccnceivable high degree of Glory even as Man so the Merit of his Death is still fresh and entire and in the virtue of that the Sins of all that come to God throâ—gh him claiming to his Death as to their Sacrifice and obeying his Gospel are pardoned and they are sealed by his Spirit until the day of Redemption In conclusion when all God's design with this World is accomplished it shall be set on Fire and all the great Parts of which it is composed as of Elements shall be melted and burnt down and then when by that Fire probably the Portions of Matter which was in the Bodies of all who have lived upon Earth shall be so far refined and fixed as to become both Incorruptible and Immortal then they shall be made meet for the Souls that formerly animated them to re-enter every one into his own Body which shall be then so moulded as to be a Habitation fit to give it everlasting Joy or everlasting Torment Then shall Christ appear visibly in some very conspicuous Place in the Clouds of Heaven where every Eye shall see him He shall appear in his own glory that is in his Human glorified Body Luk. 9.26 He shall appear in the glory of his angels having vast Numbers of these about him attending on him But which is above all he shall appear in his Father's glory that is there shall be then a most wonderful Manifestation of the Eternal Godhead dwelling in him and then shall he pass a final Sentence upon all that ever lived upon Earth according to all that they have done in the Body whether it be good or bad The Righteous shall ascend as he did and shall meet him in the Clouds and be for ever with him and the Wicked shall sink into a state of Darkness and Misery of unspeakable Horror of Mind and everlasting Pain and Torment ARTICLE V. Of the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Fathei and the Son very and Eternal God IN order to the explaining this Article we must consider First The Importance of the Term Spirit or Holy Spirit Secondly His Procession from the Father and the Son And Thirdly That he is truly God of the same Substance with the Father and the Son Spirit signifies Wind or Breath and in the Old Testament it stands frequently in that Sense The Spirit of God or Wind of God stands sometimes for a high and strong Wind but more frequently it signifies a secret Impression made by God on the Mind of a Prophet So that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Prophecy are set in opposition to the vain Imaginations the false Pretences or the Diabolical Illusions of those who assumed to themselves the Name and the Authority of a Prophet without a true Mission from God But when God made Representations either in a Dream or in an Extasy to any Person or imprinted a sense of his Will on their Minds together with such necessary Characters as gave it Proof and Authority this was an Illapse from God as a Breathing from him on the Soul of the Prophet In the New Testament this word Holy Ghost stands most commonly for that wonderful Effusion of those Miraculous Virtues that was poured out at Pentecost on the Apostles by which their Spirits were not only exalted with extraordinary degrees of Zeal and Courage of Authority and Uâ—terance but they were furnished with the Gifts of Tongues and of Miracles And besides that first and great Effusion several Christians received particular Talents and Inspirations which are most commonly expressed by the word Spirit or Inspiration Those inward Assistances by which the Frame and Temper of Mens Minds are changed and renewed are likewise called the Spirit or the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost So Christ said to Nicodemus John 3.3 5 6 Lu. 11.18 That except a man was born of water and of the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God and that his heavenly Father would give the Holy Spirit to every one that asked him By these it is plain that extraordinary or miraculous Inspirations are not meant for these are not every Christian's Portion there is no question made of all this The main question is Whether by Spirit or Holy Spirit we are to understand one Person that is the Fountain of all those Gifts and Operations or whether by One Spirit is only to be meant the Power of God flowing out and shewing it self in many wonderful Operations The Adversaries of the Trinity will have the Spirit or Holy Spirit to signify no Person but only the Divine Gifts or Operations But in opposition to this it is plain that in our Saviour's last and long Discourse to his Disciples John 14.16 26. in which he promised to send them his Spirit he calls him another Comforter to be sent in his stead or to supply his Absence and the whole Tenor of the Discourse runs on him as a Person John 16. â— 13. He shall abide with you He shall guide you into all truth and shew you things to come He shall bring all things into your remembrance He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment In all those places he is so plainly spoken of not as a Quality or Operation but as a Person and that without any Key or Rule to understand the Words otherwise that this alone may serve to determine the matter now in dispute Christ's Commission to Preach and Baptize in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost does plainly make him a Person since it cannot be said that we are to be called by the Name of a Virtue or Operation St. Paul does also in a long Discourse upon the Diversity of Gifts 1 Cor. 12.4 8 9 11 13. Administrations and Operations ascribe them all to one Spirit as their Authoâ— and Fountain of whom he speaks as of a Person distributing these in order to several Ends and in different Measures 1 Cor. 2.10 Rom. 8.26 Eph. 4.30 He speaks of the Spirit 's searching all things of his interceeding for us of our grieving the Spirit by which we are sealed This is the Language used concerning a Person not a Quality All these says he worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will Now it is not to be conceived how that both our Saviour and his Apostles should use the Phrase of a Person so constantly in speaking of the Spirit and should so critically and in the way of Argument pursue that Strain if he is not a Person They not only insist on it and repeat it frequently but they draw an Argument from it for Union and Love and
yet it seems more reasonable to think that God has put us under such an Order of Being from which that does naturally follow than that he himself should interpose in every Thought The difficulty of apprehending how a thing is done can be no prejudice to the belief of it when we have the Infinite Power of God in our Thoughts who may be as easily conceived to have once for all put us in a method of receiving such Sensations by a general Law or Course of Nature as to give us new ones at every Minute But the greatest difficulty against this is That it makes God the first Physical cause of all the Evil that is in the World Which as it is contrary to his Nature so it absolutely destroys all Liberty and this puts an end to all the distinctions between Good and Evil and consequently to all Religion And as for those large Expressions that are brought from Scripture every word in Scripture is not to be stretched to the utmost Physical sense to which it can be carried It is enough if a sense is given to it that agrees to the Scope of it Which is fully Answered by acknowledging That the Power and Providence of God is over all things and that it directs every thing to Wise and Good Ends from which nothing is hid by which nothing is forgot and to which nothing can resist This Scheme of Providence fully agrees with the Notion of a Being Infinitely perfect and with all that the Scriptures affirm concerning it and it lays down a firm Foundation for all the Acts and Exercises of Religion As to the Power and Providence of God with relation to Invisible Beings we plainly perceive that there is in us a Principle capable of Thought and Liberty of which by all that appears to us Matter is not at all capable After its utmost Refinings by Fires and Furnaces it is still passive and has no Self-Motion much less Thought in it Thought seems plainly to arise from a single Principle that has no Parts and is quite another thing than the Motion of one subtle piece of Matter upon another can be supposed to be If Thought is only Motion then no part of us thinks but as it is in Motion So that only the moving Particles or rather their Surfaces that strike upon one another do think But such a Motion must end quickly in the Dissipation and Evaporation of the whole thinking-Substance nor can any of the quiescent Parts have any Perception of such Thoughts or any Reflection upon them And to say that Matter may have other Affections unknown to us besides Motion by which it may think is to affirm a thing without any sort of Reason It is rather a flying from an Argument than an Answering it No man has any reason to affirm this nor can he have any And besides all our Cogitations of Immaterial Things Proportions and Numbers do plainly show that we have a Being in us distinct from Matter that rises above it and commands it We perceive we have a freedom of Moving and Acting at pleasure All these Things give us a clear Perception of a Being that is in us distinct from Matter of which we are not able to form a compleat Idea We having only four Perceptions of its Nature and Operations 1. That it thinks 2. That it has an inward Power of Choice 3. That by its Will it can move and command the Body And 4. That it is in a close and intire Union with it That it has a dependance on it as to many of its Acts as well as an Authority over it in many other Things Such a Being that has no Parts must be immortal in its Nature for every single Being is immortal It is only the Union of Parts that is capable of being dissolved that which has no parts is indissoluble To this Two Objections are made One is That Beasts seem to have both Thought and Freedom though in a lower Order if then Matter can be capable of this in any Degree how low soever a higher Rectification of Matter may be capable of a higher Degree of it It is therefore certain That either Beasts have no Thought or Liberty at all and are only pieces of finely Organised Matter capable of many subtile Motions that come to them from Objects without them but that they have no Sensation nor Thought at all about them or since how prettily soever some may have dressed up this Notion it is that which Human Nature cannot receive or bear there being such evident Indications of even high degrees of Reason among the Beasts it is more reasonable to imagine That there may be Spirits of a lower order in Beasts that have in them a capacity of Thinking and Chusing but that so intirely under the Impressions of Matter that they are not capable of that largeness either of Thought or Liberty that is necessary to make them capable of Good or Evil of Rewards and Punishments And that therefore they may be perpetually rouling about from one Body to another Another Objection to the belief of an Immaterial Substance in us is That we feel it depends so intirely on the Fabrick and State of the Brain that a Disorder a Vapour or Humour in it defaces all our Thoughts our Memory and Imagination and since we find that which we call Mind sinks so low upon a disorder of the Body it may be reasonable to believe That it Evaporates and is quite Dissipated upon the Dissolution of our Bodies So that the Soul is nothing but the livelier Parts of the Blood called the Animal Spirits In Answer to this we know that those Animal Spirits are of such an Evanid and Subtile Nature that they are in a perpetual Waste new ones always succeeding as the former go off but we perceive at the same time that our Soul is a Stable and Permanent Being by the steddiness of its Acts and Thoughts We being for many Years plainly the same Beings and therefore our Souls cannot be such a Loose and Evaporating Substance as those Spirits are The Spirits are indeed the inward Organs of the Mind for Memory Speech and bodily Motion and as these flatten or are wasted the Mind is less able to Act As when the Eye or any other Organ of Sense is weakned the Sensations grow feeble on that side And as a Man is less able to work when all those Instruments he makes use of are blunted so the Mind may sink upon a decay or disorder in those Spirits and yet be of a Nature wholly different from them How a Mind should work on Matter cannot I confess be clearly comprehended It cannot be denied by any that is not a direct Atheist That the Thoughts of the Supreme Mind give Impressions and Motions to Matter So our Thoughts may give a Motion or the Determination of Motion to Matter and yet rise from Substances wholly different from it Nor is it unconceivable That the Supreme Mind should
taken from the Power of Evil Spirits is sometimes to be made use of when extraordinary things are well attested and urged in proof of that which upon other Reasons we are assured is false It is certain That as we have a great power over vast quantities of gross and heavy Matter which by the motion of a very subtile Body our Animal Spirits we can master and manage So Angels Good or Bad may by virtue of subtile Bodies in which they may dwell or which upon occasion they may assume do many things vastly above either our Force to do or our Imagination to apprehend how it is done by them Therefore an Action that exceeds all the known Powers in Nature may yet be done by an Evil Spirit that is in Rebellion against its Maker and that designs to impose upon us by such a mighty performance But then the measure by which we must judge of this is by considering what is the End or Design driven at in such a wonderful Work If it is a good one if it tends to reform the Manners of Men to bring them off from Magick Idolatry and Superstition to the Worship of one Pure and Eternal Mind And if it tends to Reform their Actions as well as their Speculations and their Worship to turn them from Immorality Falsehood and Malice to a Pure a Sincere and a Mild Temper if it tends to Regulate Society as well as to Perfect the Nature and Faculties of every single man Then we may well conclude That no evil Spirit can so far depart from its own Nature as to join its Forces and co-operate in such a Design Mat. 12 25 26. For then the Kingdom of Satan could not stand if he were thus divided against himself according to what our Saviour said when this was Objected against the Miracles that he wrought These are all the General Considerations that concur to prove the Truth of the History of the Gospel of which the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are the Two main Articles for they being well proved give Authority to all the rest As to the Resurrection in particular it is certain the Apostles could not be deceived in that matter They saw Christ frequently after he Rose from the Dead they met him once with a great Company of Five hundred with them They heard him Talk and Argue with them he opened the Scriptures to them with so peculiar an Energy that they felt their Hearts set on fire even when they did not yet perceive that it was He himself They did not at first either look for his Resurrection nor believe those who reported him risen They made all due Enquiry and some of them went beyond all reasonable bounds in their doubting So far were they from an easy and scon-imposed-on Credulity His Sufferings and their own Fears had so amazed them that they were contriving how to separate and disperse themselves when he at first appeared to them Men so full of Fear and so far from all Hope are not apt to be easy in believing So it must be concluded That either the account which the Apostles gave the World of Christ's Resurrection is true or they were gross Impostors since it is clear That the Circumstances and Numbers mentioned in that History shew there could be no deception in it And it is as little possible to conceive that there could be any Imposture in it For not to repeat again what has been already said That they were under no Temptations to set about any such Deceit but very much to the contrary and that there is no reason to think they were either bad enough to enter upon such a design or capable and skilful enough to manage it they being many of 'em illiterate Fishermen of Galilee who had no Acquaintance at Ierusalem to furnish them with that which might be necessary for executing such a contrivance The Circumstanâ—es of that Transaction are to be well examined and then it will appear that no Number of bold and dextrous men furnished with all Advantages whatsoever could have effected this matter Great Numbers had been engaged in the procuring our Saviour to be Crucified The whole Sanhedrim besides Multitudes of the People who upon all occasions are easily drawn in to engage in Tumultuary Commotions All these were concerned to examine the Event of this matter He was Buried in a New Sepulchre lately hewed out of a Rock so that there was no coming at it by any secret ways A Watch was set and all this at a time in which the Full-Moon gave a great Light all the Night long And Ierusalem being very full of People who were then there in great Numbers to keep the Passover that being the second Night of so vast a Rendevouz it is reasonable to think That great Numbers were walking in the Fields or at least might be so some later and some earlier Now if an Imposture was to be set about the Guard was to be frighted or mastered which could not be done without giving the Alarm and that must have quickly brought a Multitude upon them Christ's Body must have been disposed of Some other Tomb was to be lookt for to lodge it in The Wounds that were in it would have made it to be soon known if found Here a bold Attempt was to be undertaken by a company of poor irresolute Men who must trust one another intirely otherways they knew all might be soon discovered One of their Number had betrayed Christ a few days before Another had forsworn him and all had forsaken him And yet these men are supposed all of the sudden so firm in themselves and so sure of one another as to venture on the most daring thing that was ever undertaken by men when not a Circumstance could ever be found out to fix upon them the least suspicion The Priests and the Pharisees must be thought a strange stupid fort of Creatures if they did not examine where the Apostles were all that Night Besides many other particulars which might have been a thread to lead them into strict Inquiries unless it was because they believed the Report that the Watch had brought them of Christ's Rising again When they had this certain reason to believe it and yet resolved to oppose it the only thing they could do was to seem to neglect the Matter and only to decry it in general as an Imposture without going into Particulars which certainly they would not have done if they themselves had not been but too sure of the Truth of it When all this is laid together it is the most unreasonable thing imaginable to think that there was an Imposture in this Matter when no Colour nor shadow of it ever appeared and when all the Circumstances and not only probabilities but even Moral possibilities are so full to the contrary The Ascension of Christ has not indeed so full a proof Nor is it capable of it neither does it need it for the Resurrection well proved makes
weak and brag continually of the Spirit by which they do pretend that all whatsoever they Preach is suggested to them though manifestly contrary to the Holy Scriptures This whole Article relates to the Antinomians as these last words were added by reason of the Extravagance of some Enthusiasts at that time but that Madness having ceased in Queen Elizabeth's time it seems it was thought that there was no more occasion for those words There are Four heads that do belong to this Article First That the Old Testament is not contrary to the New Secondly That Christ was the Mediator in both Dispensations so that Salvation was offered in both by him Thirdly That the Ceremonial and the Judiciary Precepts in the Law of Moses do not bind Christians Fourthly That the Moral Law does still bind all Christians To the first of these The Manichees of old who fancied that there was a Bad as well as a Good God thought that these Two Great Principles were in a perpetual struggle and they believed the Old Dispensation was under the Bad One which was taken away by the New that is the work of the Good God But they who held such monstrous Tenets must needs reject the whole New Testament or very much corrupt it since there is nothing plainer than that the Prophets of the Old foretold the New with approbation and the Writers of the New prove both their Commission and their Doctrine from Passages of the Old Testament This therefore could not be affirmed without rejecting many of the Books that we own and corrupting the rest So this deserves no more to be considered Upon this occasion it will be no improper Digression to consider what Revelation those under the Mosaical Law or that lived before it had of the Messias This is an Important Matter It is a great Confirmation of the Truth of the Christian Religion as it will furnish us with proper Arguments against the Iews It is certain they have long had and still have an Expectation of a Messias Now the Characters and Predictions concerning this Person must have been fulfilled long ago or the Prophecies will be found to be false and if they do meet and were accomplish'd in our Saviour's Person and if no other Person could ever pretend to this then that which is undertaken to be proved will be fully performed The first Promise to Adam after his Sin speaks of an Enmity between the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel The one might hurt the other in some lesser Instances but the other was to have an entire Victory at last which is plainly signified by the Figures of bruising the Heel and bruising the Head which was to be performed by one who was to bear this Character of being the Woman's Seed The next Promise was made to Abraham In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed Gen. 12.3 Gen. 22.18 Gen. 26.24 Gen. 28.14 Gen. 49.10 This was lodged in his Seed or Posterity upon his being ready to offer up his Son Isaac That Promise was renewed to Isaac and after him to Iacob When he was dying it was lodged by him in the Tribe of Iudah when he prophesied That the Scepter should not depart from Iudah nor the Law-giver from between his feet till Shiloh should come and the gathering of the people that is of the Gentiles was to be to him It is certain the Ten Tribes were lost in their Captivity whereas the Tribe of Iudah was brought back and continued to be a political Body under their own Laws until a Breach was made upon that by the Romans first reducing them to the Form of a Province and soon after that destroying them utterly So that either that Prediction was not accomplished or the Shiloh the Sent to whom the Gentiles were to be gathered came before they lost their Scepter and Laws Moses told the People of Israel That God was to raise up among them a Prophet like unto him Deut. 18.15 to whom they ought to hearken otherwise God would require it of them The Character of Moses was That he was a Lawgiver and the Author of an entire Body of Instituted Religion so they were to look for such a one Numb 24. â—â— Balaam prophesied darkly of one whom he saw as at a great distance from his own time and he spoke of a Star that should come out of Iacob and a Scepter out of Israel Some Memorial of which was probably preserved among the Arabians In the Book of Psalms there are many things said of David which seem capable of a much Auguster Sense than can be pretended to be answered by any thing that befel himself What is said in the 2 d the 16 th the 22 d the 45 th the 102 d and the 110 th Psalms afford us copious Instances of this Passages in these Psalms must be stretched by Figures that go very high to think they were all fulfilled in David or Solomon But in their Literal and largest Sense they were accomplished in Christ to whom God said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee In him that was verified Thou wilt not leave my Soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption His hands and his feet were pierced and lots were cast upon his vesture Of him it may be strictly said Thy throne O God is for ever and ever To him that belonged The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my Right-hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool And The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The Prophets gave yet more express Predictions concerning the Messias Isaiah did quiet the Fears of Ahaz and of the House of David by saying The Lord himself shall give you a sign Behold Isa. 8 1â— a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son It was certainly no Sign for one that was a Virgin to conceive afterwards and bear a Son therefore the Sign or extroardinary thing here promised as a signal Pledge of God's Care of the House of David must lie in this That one still remaining a Virgin should conceive and bear a Son not to insist upon the strict signification of the Word in the Original The same Prophet did also foretell That as this Messiah or the Branch Isa. 11.1 2. should spring from the Stem of Iesse so also he was to be full of the Spirit of the Lord and that the Gentiles should seek to him ver 10. In another place he enumerates many of the Miracles that should be done by him He was to give sight to the Blind make the Deaf to hear and the Lame to walk Isa. 35. â— 6. He does further set forth his Character not that of a Warrior or Conqueror on the contrary He was not to cry nor strive Isa. 42.1 nor break the bruised
God and damnation So Temporary Judgments are often expressed in Scripture And to this they add That Christ has entirely redeemed us from this by the Promise he has given us of raising us up at the Last Day And that therefore when St. Paul is so copiously discoursing of the Resurrection he brings this in That as we have born the image of the first Adam who was earthy so we shall also bear the image of the heavenly and since by man came death 1 Cor. 15.21 22. In Ep. ad Rom. passim by man came also the resurrection from the dead and that as in Adam all dye so in Christ shall all be made alive and that this is the Univesal Redemption and Reparation that all mankind shall have in Christ Jesus All this these Divines apprehend is conceivable and no more therefore they put Original Sin in this only for which they pretend they have all the Fathers with them before St. Austin and particularly St. Chrysostom and Theodoret from whom all the latter Greeks have done little more than copied out their words This they do also pretend comes up to the words of the Article for as this general adjudging of all men to dye may be called according to the Stile of the Scriptures God's wrath and damnation so the fear of Death which arises out of it corrupts mens Natures and inclines them to evil Others do so far approve of all this as to think that it is a part of Original Sin yet they believe it goes much farther and that there is a Corruption spread through the whole Race of Mankind which is born with every man This the Experience of all Ages teaches us but too evidently every man feels it in himself and sees it in others The Philosophers who were sensible of it thought to avoid the difficulty that arises from it when it might be urged That a good God could not make men to be Originally depraved and wicked they therefore fancied that all our Souls pre-existed in a former and purer state from which they fell by descending too much into Corporeal pleasure and so both by a lapse and for a punishment they sunk into grosser Bodies and fell differently according to the different degrees of the Sins they had committed in that state And they thought that a Virtuous Life did raise them up to their former pitch as a Vicious one would sink them lower into more depraved and more miserable Bodies All this may seem plausible But the best that can be said for it is That it is an Hypothesis that saves some difficulties but there is no sort of proofs to make it appear to be true We neither perceive in our selves any remembrances of such a state nor have we any warning given us either of our fall or of the means of recovering out of it So since there is no reason to affirm this to be true we must seek for some other source of the Corruption of human Nature The Manichees imputed it to the Evil God and thought it was his work which some say might have set on St. Austin the more earnestly to look for another Hypothesis to reconcile all But before we go to that it is certain that in Scripture this general Corruption of our Nature is often mentioned The Imaginations of man's thoughts are only evil continually Gen. 6.5.8.21 1 Kings 8.46 Prov. 24.16 Jer. 17.9 2 Cor. 5.17 Eccl. 7.20 Gal. 5.17 Rom. 8.7 8. John 3.6 What man is he that liveth and sinneth not The just man falleth seven times a day The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it All that are in Christ must become new Creatures old things must be done away and every thing must become new God made man upright but he sought out to himself many Inventions The Flesh is weak The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit The carnal mind is enmity to the law of God and is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be And they that are in the Flesh cannot please God Where by Flesh is to be meant the natural State of Mankind according to those words That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit These with many other places of Scripture to the same purpose when they are joined to the universal Experience of all Mankind concerning the Corruption of our whole Race lead us to settle this point that in Fact it has over-run our whole kind the contagion is spread over all Now this being setled we are next to enquire how this could happen We cannot think that God made men so For it is expresly said Gen. 1 27. That God made man after his own Image The surest way to find out what this Image was at first is to consider What the New Testament says of it when we come to be restored to it We must put on the new man Eph. 4.22 24. after the Image of him that created him or as elsewhere the new man in righteousness and true holiness This then was the Image of God in which man was at first made Nor ought the Image of God to be considered only as an Expression that imports only our representing him here on Earth and having Dominion over the Creatures For in Genesis the Creation of Man in the Image of God is expressed as a thing different from his Dominion over the Creatures Gen. 1.27 28. which seems to be given to him as a consequent of it The Image of God seems to be this That the Soul of Man was a Being of another Sort and Order than all those material Beings till then made which were neither capable of Thought nor Liberty in which respect the Soul was made after the Image of God But Adam's Soul being put in his Body his Brain was a Tabula rasa as White Paper had no Impressions in it but such as either God put in it or such as came to him by his senses A Man born deaf and blind newly come to hear and see is not a more Ignorant and Amazed-like Creature than Adam must have been if God had not conveyed some great impressions into him such as first the acknowledging and obeying him as his Maker and then the managing his Body so as to make it an Instrument by which he could make use of and observe the Creation There is no reason to think that his Body was at first inclined to Appetite and that his Mind was apt to serve his Body but that both were restrained by supernatural Assistances It is much more natural and more agreeable to the words of the Wise-man to think that God made man upright that his Body craved modestly and that his Mind was both Judge and Master of those cravings and if a natural Hypothesis may be offered but only as an Hypothesis it may be supposed That a Man's blood was naturally low and cool but that it was
unless we do thus believe It were not suteable to the Truth and Holiness of the Divine Nature to void a Covenant so solemnly made and that in favour of wicked men who will not be reformed by it So Faith is the certain and necessary Mean of our Salvation and is so put by Christ since upon our having it we shall be saved as well as damned upon our not having it On the other hand the nature of a Ritual Action even when commanded is such that unless we could imagine that there is a Charm in it which is contrary to the Spirit and Genius of the Gospel which designs to save us by reforming our Natures we cannot think that there can be any thing in it that is of it self effectual as a Mean therefore it must only be considered as a Command that is given us which we are bound to obey if we acknowledge the Authority of the Command But this being an Action that is not always in our power but is to be done by another it were to put our Salvation or Damnation in the power of another to imagine that we cannot be saved without Baptism and therefore it is only a Precept which obliges us in order to our Salvation and our Saviour by leaving it out when he reversed the words saying only he that believeth not without adding and is not Baptized shall be damned does plainly insinuate that it is not a Mean but only a Precept in order to our Salvation As for the Ends and Purposes of Baptism St. Paul gives us two the one is that we are all baptized into onâ— body we are made members one of another 1 Cor. 12.13 We are admitted to the Soâ—â—â—ty of Christians and to all the Rights and Priviledges of that Body which is the Church And in order to this the outward action of Baptism when regularly gone about is sufficient We cannot see into the sincerity oâ— mens Hearts Outward Professions and regular Actions are all that fall under mens Observation and Judgment But a second End of Baptism is Internal and Spiritual Of this St. Paul speaks in very high terms when he says that God has saved us according to his mercy Tit. 3.5 by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost It were a strange perverting the design of these words to say that somewhat Spiritual is to be understood by this washing of regeneration and not Baptism when as to the word save that is here ascribed to it St. Peter gives that undeniably to Baptism and St. Paul elsewhere in two different places Rom. 6. Col. 2. makes our Baptism to represent our being dead to sin and buried with Christ and our being risen and quickned with him and made alive unto God which are words that do very plainly import Regeneration So that St. Paul must be understood to speak of Baptism in these words here then is the inward effect of Baptism It is a death to sin and a new life in Christ in imitation of him and in conformity to his Gospel So that here is very expresly delivered to us somewhat that rises far above the Badge of a Profession or a Mark of difference That does indeed belong to Baptism it makes us the visible Members of that one Body into which we are Baptized or admitted by Baptism but that which saves us in it which both deadens and quickens us must be a thing of another nature If Baptism were only the receiving us into the Society of Christians there were no need of saying I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost It were more proper to say I Baptize thee in the Name or by the Authority of the Church Therefore these august words that were dictated by our Lord himself shew us that there is somewhat in it that is Internal which comes from God that it is an admitting men into somewhat that depends only on God and for the giving of which the authority can only be derived by him But after all this is not to be believed to be of the nature of a Charm as if the very act of Baptism carried always with it an inward Regeneration Here we must confess that very early some Doctrines arose upon Baptism that we cannot be determined by The words of our Saviour to Nicodemus were expounded so as to import the absolute necessity of Baptism in order to Salvation for it not being observed that the Dispensation of the Messias was meant by the Kingdom of God but it being taken to signifie Eternal Glory that expression of our Saviour's was understood to import this that no Man could be saved unless he were Baptized so it was believed to be simply necessary to Salvation A natural consequence that followed upon that was to allow all Persons leave to Baptize Clergy and Laity Meâ— and Women since it seemed necessary to suffer every Person to do that without which Salvation could not be had Upon this these hasty Baptisms were used without any special Sponsion on the part of those who desired it of which it may be reasonably doubted whether such a Baptism be true in which no Sponsion is made and this cannot be well answered but by saying that a general and an implied Sponsion is to be considered to be made by their Parents while they desire them to be Baptized Another Opinion that arose out of the former was the mixing of the outward and the inward effects of Baptism It being believed that every Person that was born of the Water was also born of the Spirit and that the renewing of the Holy Ghost did always accompany the washing of Regeneration And this obliged St. Austin as was formerly told to make that difference between the regenerate and the predestinated for he thought that all who were Baptized were also regenerated St. Peter has stated this so fully that if his words are well considered they will clear the whole matter He after he had set forth the miserable state in which Mankind was under the figure of the Deluge in which an Ark was prepared for Noah and his Family says upon that The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us 1 Pet. 3 21. Upon which he makes a short digression to explain the nature of Baptism not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer or the Demand and Interrogation of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ who is gone into Heaven The meaning of all which is that Christ having risen again and having then had all power in heaven and in earth given to him he had put that vertue in Baptism that by it we are saved as in an Ark from that miserable state in which the world lies and in which it must perish But then he explains the way how it saves us that it is not as a Physical action as it washes away the filthiness of the flesh