his first and chiefest Disciples nor for ought that doth appear ever after did For if he did he would certainty have done it before he made use of them to baptize others Partly because they were the first Disciples he had and partly because so they would have been more apparently qualified to have administred the same Baptism unto others If therefore Christ represented Baptism as necessary even before his baptizing in Judaea it is not unreasonable to think he had both instituted and administred it before Especially when the Disciples he before had cannot well be thought to have had it afterwards as in reason they must have had it if it were so necessary as our Saviour affirm'd it And possibly neither would they who are otherwise perswaded have in the least suspected the force of this argument had it not been for an opinion of theirs that our Saviour spake not in this place of Baptism but of Men's being born again of that spirit of God which hath the same cleansing quality with water So making that speech of our Saviour to be that which the Rhetoricians call an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently resolvable into a watery or cleansing Spirit as Virgil 's pateris libamus auro is into pateris aureis or golden Dishes Even as they suppose the Scripture (p) Matt. 3.11 meant when it affirm'd that Christ should baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire that is to say with that Holy Ghost which hath the purifying and warming qualities of that Element I will not now say though I might that that figure might have been more allowable here if that speech of Christ could have been so fairly resolv'd into a watery Spirit as pateris auro may be into pateris aureis Which that it cannot be is sufficiently evident from Gold's being the proper Material of those Dishes whereof the Poet speaks which water to be sure is not of the other But neither will I any more than say that Christ's baptizing with the Holy Ghost and with fire doth not make at all for this figure because it is certain that at the day of Pentecost which was the most notorious descent of the Holy Ghost and particularly referr'd to by that Baptism (q) Act. 1.5 Christ baptized his Disciples with a material fire as well as that But I say which is more material that there is great reason to understand our Saviour here of that Baptism by water which we have affirmed his words to import For so first as Mr. Hooker (r) Eccl. Pol. li. 5.9.59 did long since observe the Letter of the Text perswades and which we are not lightly to depart from unless we will make the Scripture a very uncertain Rule and indeed to prove any thing which wanton wits would have it So secondly as the same Hooker (ſ) Ibid. observes the Antients * Justin Martyr Apol. 2. p. 94. Tertul. de Bapt. c. 13. Cyprian Epist 73. without exception understood it yea he †Tertul. ubi supra who makes the Baptism now under consideration even the Baptism of Christ before his Ascension to be but of the same nature with S. John's So thirdly we have cause to understand Christ here because expressing what he here intended by a new birth from water which is the property (t) Tit. 3. ◠of that Baptism he afterwards commanded the Apostles to administer In fine so several circumstances both of the Text and Context perfwade and some too that are not so ordinarily taken notice of Of which nature I reckon as none of the least that which gave occasion to them even Nicodemus's coming to Jesus by night (u) Joh. 3.2 and there and then acknowledging to him that he was a teacher come from God and that he himself was induced to believe it by the miracles our Saviour wrought For that secret confession of his being not only not agreeable to that more publick one (w) Matt. 10.32 which our Saviour requir'd but as appears by the answer he return'd to it intimated by him to be insufficient because letting him know that except he was born again of water and the spirit he could not enter into the Kingdom of God Nothing can be more agreeable to our Saviour's mind than to understand those Words of his of Men's making a more publick confession of him in order to their Salvation if the Words can with any reason be thought to admit of it Which that they may is evident from hence that whatever our Saviour now understood by them the like expression (x) Tit. 3.5 became afterwards an usual periphrasis of Baptism which was a publick confession of our Saviour I say secondly that as the occasion of the words doth naturally lead to such a sense as will make them import a more publick Confession of our Saviour So it will consequently prompt us to understand them of such a new Birth as is perform'd by Water and the Spirit rather than of that which is perform'd by the Spirit alone That as it is a Birth which manifests it self to the Eyes of others which this cannot be supposed to do so being a Birth therefore which may publickly declare our Confession of him by whose appointment we are born again Agreeable hereto thirdly is the sense of the words themselves if those Jewes of whom Nicodemus was sometime a Ruler may be listned to in this affair They not only affirming their own Proselytes to have been admitted by Baptism but that Baptism also represented as a thing which gave them a new birth yea so far as to make them put off their old relations by it For what then can be more reasonable than to think that our Saviour when he spake to a Jew spake the same Language with them and consequently that as he spake of being born of Water as well as the Spirit he meant a like Baptism by it Especially when it is observable fourthly that our Saviour ask'd Nicodemus not without some amazement (y) Joh. 3.20 Art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things For what was this but to intimate yet more that the new Birth whereof he spake was no stranger to themselves and consequently because he spake of being born of Water that he meant a Baptism by it Add hereunto fifthly our Saviour's affirming himself in the former Discourse to have spoken of earthly (z) Joh. 3.12 things and as one would think therefore of such a Birth which though influenced by God's Spirit yet had something of earthly as that is oppos'd to heavenly adhering to it As in fine the Evangelist's subjoyning to this Discourse of a new Birth by Water the mention of our Saviour's (*) Joh. 3.22 passing into Judaea and there baptizing There being not a fairer account either of that connexion or our Saviour's proceedings than that agreeably to what he had said concerning the necessity of Men's being so born again he went into Judaea and
Imprimatur Johannes Battely RRmo P. ac D no D no Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuariensi à Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedib Lamb. Apr. 10. 1686. OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM In Pursuance of an EXPLICATION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND BY GABRIEL TOWERSON D.D. and Rector of Welwynne in Hartfordshire LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII TO THE Right Reverend FATHER in GOD FRANCIS Lord Bishop of ELY AND LORD ALMONER TO His Majesty My Lord YOUR Lordship 's favourable acceptance of my Discourse of the Sacraments in General with the desire I have if it may be to put an end to the whole hath prompted me to make the more hast to present your Lordship and the World with this of Baptism in particular Two things there are in it which I thought my self most concern'd to clear and which therefore I have employ'd all requisite diligence on the Doctrine of Original Sin and Infant-Baptism The former being in my opinion the foundation of Christianity the latter of our interest in it For if there be no such thing as Original Sin I do not see but some persons heretofore might and may hereafter live with such exactness as not at all to stand in need of a Saviour And I see as little if Infant-Baptism be null what interest any of us can have in him according to the ordinary dispensation of the Gospel who have for the most part been baptized in our Infancy or at least have been baptized by those that were Throughout the whole Treatise I have endeavour'd to retrive the antient notion of Baptism to shew what advantages are annexed to it and what duties it either involves or obligeth to To either of which if I have given any light or strength I shall hope I have done some small service to the Church and which your Lordship in particular will take in good part from Your Lordship's Most obliged Most obedient and Most humble Servant GABRIEL TOWERSON Wellwyne Aug. 23. 1686. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART Of the Rite of Baptism among the Heathen and the Jews THe Heathen themselves not without the knowledge of another World and of the insufficiency of natural Religion to bring them to the happiness thereof Occasion taken by them from thence to enquire after other ways of obtaining it and by the Devil to suggest the mysteries of their respective Deities as the only proper means of compassing it Those mysteries every where initiated into by the Rite of Baptism partly through Men's consciousness of their past sins and which they judged it but meet they should be some way purged from and partly through the policy of the Devil who thereby thought to procure the greater veneration to them That as it was a Rite which was in use among God's own people so naturally apt to represent to Mens minds their passing from a sinful to a holy Estate Of what Service the Heathens use of this Rite is toward the commendation of the Christians Baptism and a transition from thence to the use of it among the Jews Which is not only prov'd at large out of the Jewish Writings and several particulars of that Baptism remark'd but that usage farther confirm'd by several concurring proofs such as is in particular the no appearance there is otherwise of any initiation of the Jewish Women the Baptizing of the whole Nation in the Cloud and in the Sea and a remarkable allusion to it in our Saviour's Discourse to Nicodemus The silence of the Old Testament concerning that Rite shewn to be of no force because though it take notice of the first Jews being under the Cloud and passing through the Red Sea yet it takes no notice at all of their being Baptized in them or of their Eating and Drinking that spiritual Repast whereof S. Paul speaketh The Baptism of Christians copied by our Saviour from that of the Jews and may therefore where it appears not that he hath made an alteration receive an elucidation from it p. 1. The Contents of the Second Part. Of the Baptism of the Christians and the Institution of it THe Institution of the Christian Baptism more antient than the Command for it in S. Matthew 28.19 though not as to the generality of the World nor it may be as to the like explicit Profession of the Trinity As is made appear from Christ or his Disciples baptizing in Judea not long after his own Baptism by S. John. Enquiry thereupon made whether it were not yet more antient yea as antient as Christ's execution of his Prophetical Office. Which is rendred probable from our Saviours making Disciples before and the equal reason there appears to have been for his making them after the same manner with those of Judea From Christ's representing to Nicodemus the necessity of being born again of water and the spirit which is shewn at large to be meant of a true and proper Baptism As in fine from Christ's telling S. Peter when he ask'd the washing of his Hands and Head as well as Feet that he who had been washed needeth not save to wash his feet An answer to the supposed silence of the Scripture concerning so early a Baptism and that shewn to be neither a perfect silence nor an unaccountable one p. 23. The Contents of the Third Part. Of the outward visible Sign of Baptism THe outward visible Sign of the Christian Baptism shewn to be the Element of Water and enquiry thereupon made wherein it was intended as a Sign Which is shewn in the general to be as to the cleansing quality thereof more particularly as to the use it was put to toward new-born Infants and that application of it which was first in use even by an immersion or plunging the Party baptized in it Occasion taken from thence to enquire farther how it ought to be applyed more especially whether by an immersion or by that or an aspersion or effusion Evidence made of an immersion being the only legitimate Rite of Baptism save where necessity doth otherwise require And enquiry thereupon made whether necessity may justifie the Application of it by an Aspersion or Effusion and if it may whether the case of Infants be to be look'd upon as such a necessity What is to be thought of those additions which were antiently made or continue as yet in being in the outward solemnities of Baptism Where the sign of the Cross in Baptism is more particularly considered and answer made to those Exceptions that are made against it as a Ceremony as an addition of Men to the Institution of Christ and as a supposed Relique of Popery or giving too much countenance to the Papists abuses of it p. 43. A Digression concerning Original Sign By way of Preparation to the following Discourses The Contents OF the ground of the present Digression concerning Original Sin and enquiry thereupon made what Original Sin is Which is shewn in the General to be such a corruption of
were not capable of Circumcision yea even in them that were capable of it after the Rite of Circumcision was over if it were only to put them in mind of that deliverance they receiv'd by it Especially when their Eucharistical Manna though thence forward not enjoyn'd to be us'd because it ceased from among them was yet laid up in the Ark of God (o) Exod. 32.16 c. to put them in mind of God's nourishing them by it I say Thirdly that though Baptism might not be enjoyned at the first or at least enjoyn'd only for the use of those who were not capable of Circumcision yet it might by the advice of their Governors and the approbation of those Prophets whom God raised up among them be afterwards added to Circumcision both upon the account of their Fore-fathers being commanded to sanctifie themselves and wash their Cloaths when they appear'd before God at Mount Sinai and as a farther declaration to them of the impurity of their Nature and of that pure and holy estate which they entred into For if their forefathers were even by the command of God to sanctifie themselves with washings toward their entring into Covenant with God at Mount Sinai what should hinder such of their posterity as presided over that Nation to make an addition of the like Baptism Especially when all was little enough to admonish them of their own natural impurity and of the necessity that lay upon them of purging themselves from it I observe Fourthly that though there be not any express mention in the Scripture of that Baptism whereof we speak nor indeed of any like it beside that of John the Baptist which being immediately from Heaven ought not to be drawn into example yet is it sufficiently intimated by our Saviour where upon Nicodemus's wondring how a Man could be born of Water and the Spirit he with equal wonder demanded (p) Joh 3.10 Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things For as that is a sufficient indication that the notion our Saviour advanc'd was no stranger to the Israelites and therefore neither such a Baptism as was the subject of it So it became yet more clear by the Jewish Writers representing the Baptism of a Proselyte as giving a new birth unto him That as it is the same in effect with the product of Christ's Baptism so making it yet more reasonable to believe that our Saviour had an eye to it when he wondred so much at Nicodemus for stumbling at that property in his All which put together because tending toward the same thing will make it yet more reasonable to believe that the Jewish Writers spake not at adventure when they represented the Rite of Baptism as a Rite of their own Nation and by which both themselves and their Proselytes had been of old initiated no less than by the Rite of Circumcision If there be any thing to hinder the admission of it it must be the silence of the Old Testament concerning it or at least concerning the Institution of it But as we find no great mention even of Circumcision it self after the five Books of Moses and may therefore the less wonder at the no mention of Baptism especially if as it might be instituted after his time As we find as little mention even where it might have been more reasonably expected of the first Jews being baptized into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea or of their Eating and Drinking that spiritual repast whereof S. Paul speaketh (q) 1 Cor. 10.3 4. So there is as little reason therefore to wonder at its silence concerning this Rite especially considering what is notorious enough from thence that God from time to time rais'd up Prophets among them For their Authority and Preaching might suffice to constitute or confirm a matter of greater moment than the Rite of Baptism as added to Circumcision can be supposed to have been There being therefore no great doubt to be made of a Baptism among the Jews antecedent to that of John the Baptist and our Saviour it will not be difficult to believe first that our Saviour had an eye to it when he appointed the same Rite to initiate Men into his Religion Partly because it was his avowed Profession that he came rather to reform than destroy their former Oeconomy and partly because he might the more reasonably hope to bring them over to that faith which it was an initiation into It will be as easie to believe Secondly upon the score of the same condescension and compliance that Christ departed as little as might be from their manner of Administration of it or from the ends which it was appointed for among them such a compliance being equally necessary to carry on his design of bringing them over to his Religion The consequence whereof will be thirdly that where it doth not very plainly appear that Christianity hath made an alteration in it we interpret the Baptism thereof conformably to that of the Jews from whence it appears to have been transcrib'd How much more then where there are any fair hints in Christianity of its symbolizing with the Doctrine of the other The result of which will be fourthly our having recourse upon occasion to the Baptism of the Jews for the better clearing or establishing the Doctrine of our own Which as I shall therefore not fail to do as often as their Writings shall furnish matter for it so having said thus much concerning their Baptism and that of the Heathen I will pass on to the Baptism of the Christians and confine my self yet more strictly to the consideration of it PART II. Of the Baptism of the Christians and the Institution of it The Contents The Institution of the Christian Baptism more antient than the Command for it in S. Matthew * Matt. 28.19 though not as to the generality of the World nor it may be as to the like explicit Profession of the Trinity As is made appear from Christ or his Disciples baptizing in Judea not long after his own Baptism by S. John. Enquiry thereupon made whether it were not yet more antient yea as antient as Christ's execution of his Prophetical Office. Which is rendred probable from our Saviours making Disciples before and the equal reason there appears to have been for his making them after the same manner with those of Judea From Christ's representing to Nicodemus the necessity of being born again of water and the spirit which is shewn at large to be meant of a true and proper Baptism As in fine from Christ's telling S. Peter when he ask'd the washing of his Hands and Head as well as Feet that he who had been washed needeth not save to wash his feet An answer to the supposed silence of the Scripture concerning so early a Baptism and that shewn to be neither a perfect silence nor an unaccountable one NOW the first thing to be enquired after is the Institution of it and so much
the rather because though there is no doubt as to the thing it self yet there is as to the first beginning of it For there are who have thought this Sacrament to have been first instituted by our Saviour immediately before his Ascension and when he gave command to his Disciples * Matt. 28.19 to go and teach or disciple all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And I willingly grant because our Saviour was sent only †Matt. 15.24 to the lost sheep of the House of Israel that that was the first institution of it as to that more general extent it was to have in the World and it may be too as to that clear and explicit profession of the Trinity into the Names of which our Saviour afterwards commanded to baptize Because such Doctrines as that were to be poured into the Disciples by dgrees and according as they should be able to receive them But that the Sacrament it self had a more early Institution will appear from the mention there is of our Saviour's baptizing long before or at least of his Disciples doing it by his Commission and Appointment For the clearing whereof we are to know that whatsoever he may be thought to have done before he first passed into Judaea after his own Baptism by John the Baptist yet there he †Joh. 3.22 or his Disciples (a) Joh. 4.2 baptized yea to so great a number that John's Disciples (b) Joh. 3.26 affirmed to their Master that all men came to him and it and news was afterwards brought to the Pharisees (c) Joh. 4.1 that he made and baptized more Disciples than John himself Into what profession is not difficult to conjecture from our Saviour's being said to make (d) Joh. 4.1 Disciples by it and from the Baptist's affirming in allowance of our Saviour's Baptism that he that believed on the Son (e) Joh. 3.36 should have everlasting Life but he that believed not the Son should not see life but on the contrary have the wrath of God abiding on him For what could that assertion have signified toward the legitimating of our Saviour's Baptism especially when John himself admonish'd Men by his to believe on him that should come after him (f) Acts 19.4 that is on Christ Jesus Were it not that our Saviour or his Disciples did expresly baptize Men into the belief of him and of that August Authority and saving power which was vested in him as the Messiah Which makes me wonder so much the more that Tertullian (g) De Bapt. c. 11. should make that Baptism of the Disciples but of the same nature with that of John but above all at his asking how Christ could be supposed to baptize into himself when he at that time made it his business to conceal who and what he was For as John the Baptist was not wanting (h) Joh. 1.29 c. to discover what he was so our Saviour was so far from being reserv'd as to that particular that the very first of those Disciples that came to him did both acknowledge him (i) Joh. 41.45 as the Messiah immediately and represent him as such to other Men. But let us rise yet higher than Christ's baptizing in Judaea though that be not far remov'd from his first setting up for Disciples because whilst John was yet †Joh. 3.22 23. baptizing which is the time from whence the Scripture (k) Act. 1.22 10.37 makes our Saviour's preaching to commence Not that there are any express proofs before that time of his baptizing any Disciples but that it may be some probable proofs may offer themselves for it and such as we cannot reasonably refuse Of which nature I reckon first his making Disciples before that time and particularly those Disciples whom he made use of to baptize in the Land of Jury For if our Saviour made Disciples before why not after the same manner wherein he made those of Judaea He had to induce him to it the custom that then prevail'd among the Jews of making Disciples by that solemnity as appears both by their so admitting Proselytes and the Baptism of his Forerunner He had to induce him to it the greater likelihood there was thereby of inviting others to the same Baptism than if those who were the first and chief and moreover made use of by himself to baptize had not first been baptiz'd themselves Because so there could have been no pretence to refuse the Baptism he propos'd whereas otherwise they might have rejected it as a thing unnecessary to be had or scrupled it as proceeding from incompetent Administrators of it In fine he had to induce him to it that which prevail'd with himself (l) Matt. 3 1◠to receive the Baptism of John even their fulfilling all righteousness who were not only the first of his Disciples but ordained by himself to be a pattern unto others Which inducements as they are of no small force to persuade his baptizing from the beginning because but suitable to his own proceedings or the common reasonings of Mankind so will no doubt be accounted such if there be not equal probabilities to the contrary as which are the only things that can take off the edge of them Now what is there of that nature that can perswade Christ's omission of Baptism unless it be either the Scripture's silence which shall be afterwards considered or his willingness thereby to intimate that he had not so tied his own Graces to an external Rite but that he could and would upon occasion conferr them without it But beside that there was a like fear thereby of Men's neglecting his appointments upon a presumption of their receiving his Graces as the Apostles did This may seem to have been too early a season for such an intimation because before Men were well confirm'd in his Authority or ability to conferr them even by the ordinary solemnities For if they were not as yet well confirm'd in that how should they dream of a greater power yea not rather be thereby tempted to question altogether his Authority because departing so far even from the example of John the Baptist whom all Men (m) Matt. 21.26 accounted as a Prophet But beside that our Saviour made Disciples before and may therefore not improbably be thought to have made them after the same manner We find yet farther that before he baptiz'd those of Judaea he represented the solemnity of Baptism as a thing necessary to enter Men into that Kingdom of God to which he invited them Our Saviour not only telling Nicodemus that except a Man were born again (n) Joh. 3.3 he could not see the Kingdom of God but yet more plainly that except he were born again of Water (o) Joh. 3.5 and of the Spirit he could not possibly enter into it For how could Christ represent that as necessary which be himself had not afforded to
baptized and so made way for their entrance into God's Kingdom Such evidence there is of our Saviour's meaning a proper Baptism when he spake of the necessity of Men's being born again of water and of the Spirit And if our Saviour meant such a Baptism there is as little doubt of his having before both instituted and administred it yea even from the time of his setting up for Disciples There being not the least appearance of Christ's baptizing those first Disciples afterwards which yet he must have done considering the necessity thereof if they had not been baptiz'd before I will conclude what I have to say concerning the earliness of our Saviour's Baptism when I have added from a passage of Christ to S. Peter the farther probability there is of his and the other Apostles having receiv'd it and therefore if they did so of their having receiv'd it from the beginning of their Discipleship That I mean whereupon S. Peter's begging of Christ to wash not only his feet but his hands and his head if as our Saviour had told him he could have no part in him unless he wash'd him Christ is said to have made answer †Joh. 13.10 that he that had been wash'd even by a more general washing needed not save to wash his feet For as our Saviour intimates by that expression that he and the rest had passed under the former washing and consequently did not need such a general washing a second time so he may not improbably be thought to have meant the washing of Baptism and which though in it self an outward purification yet was attended with an inward and spiritual one Partly because it is certain that our Saviour had before this time made use of the Baptism of Water to purifie Men unto himself and may therefore be well enough supposed to allude unto it And partly because that Baptism or washing will be more directly opposed to that which our Saviour intended and which though design'd by him to signifie a more spiritual purgation even that of the affections or actions yet was performed by him by an outward washing For why then should we not think that the Apostles had that more general washing of Baptism Especially when we know that about this time Christ administred to them the Sacrament of the Eucharist and which as it is in order of nature after that of Baptism and may therefore not unreasonably be thought to have been preceded by theirs so is an evidence that Christ meant in some measure at least to conduct them by the same Rites and Ceremonies wherewith he intended to bring other Men unto himself One only thing there is which can any way prejudice the former Discourse even the silence there is in the New Testament of any Baptism by Christ before that in Judaea yea the silence there is of it in that very Evangelist who takes such particular notice of the other And surely such a silence would have been of no small force if it had been either a perfect silence or an unaccountable one But as that story cannot be look'd upon as perfectly silent which affords so many probable proofs of what it is pretended to be silent in so there may be reason enough given of its ascending no higher in its account of Christ's administration of Baptism than that which was performed by him in Judaea Partly because the Author of it had before acquainted his Readers with Christ's representing it as generally necessary †Joh. 3.5 to Salvation and from which and the following practice of our Saviour in making Disciples Men might reasonably enough collect his having so made the former ones And partly because he knew that what was defective in his account of our Saviour's Baptism might be abundantly supplied to posterity to whom he and the other Evangelists principally wrote by what those other Evangelists (a) Matt. 28.19 Mark 16.15 16. had said concerning Christ's giving command to his Apostles of baptizing all Nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost For that together with his own account of our Saviour's Baptism was enough to let them know and therefore enough for their own purpose that as Christ himself initiated Men by Baptism yea represented it as necessary to Salvation so it was his absolute will and pleasure that those to whom his Apostles and their Successors published his Gospel should be initiated by the same means if they meant to enter into the Kingdom of God. The outward visible sign of the Christian Baptism shewn to be the Element of Water and enquiry thereupon made wherein it was intended as a Sign Which is shewn in the general to be as to the cleansing quality thereof more particularly as to the use it was put to toward new-born Infants and that application of it which was first in use even by an immersion or plunging the Party baptized in it Occasion taken from thence to enquire farther how it ought to be applyed more especially whether by an immersion or by that or an aspersion or effusion Evidence made of an immersion being the only legitimate Rite of Baptism save where necessity doth otherwise require And enquiry thereupon made whether necessity may justifie the Application of it by an Aspersion or Effusion and if it may whether the case of Infants be to be look'd upon as such a necessity What is to be thought of those additions which were antiently made or continue as yet in being in the outward solemnities of Baptism Where the sign of the Cross in Baptism is more particularly considered and answer made to those Exceptions that are made against it as a Ceremony as an addition of Men to the Institution of Christ and as a supposed Relique of Popery or giving too much countenance to the Papists abuses of it BUT because whatever doubt there may be of the first Institution of the Christian Baptism Question What is the outward visible sign or form in Baptism Answer Water wherein the person is baptiz'd in the name of the Father c. yet there neither is nor can be any doubt of our Saviour's instituting it then when he was about to take his leave of his Disciples Therefore pass we on to the Sacrament it self which agreeably to the procedure of our own Catechism and the method before observed when I entreated of the nature of a Sacrament in the general I will consider I. As to its outward and visible Sign II. As to its inward and Spiritual Grace or the thing signified by it III. As to that relation which its outward and visible Sign bears to its inward and Spiritual Grace IV. As to the Foundation of that Relation For as the nature of the Sacrament of Baptism will be found to lie within these four so I no way doubt we shall be able to reduce to one or other of these generals whatsoever is any way necessary to be known concerning it Now there are four
also from the time that they were separated from them Of the same Nature is that of our Saviour where he asserts the necessity of Men's being born again of water and the Spirit upon the account of their being before but flesh (c) Joh. 3.6 because born of flesh For as we cannot well understand our Saviour of any other flesh than flesh corrupted or rather of the whole Nature that is so Partly because of the opposition that is there made (d) Ibid. between a fleshly and spiritual temper and partly because that is the most usual notion of it in the New (e) Rom. 7.18 25. Gal. 5.19 24. Testament So neither therefore but conclude all Men to become such flesh by those fleshly persons from whom they are born and so also from the time that they receive their being from them But of all the Texts of Scripture which are commonly alledged in this affair even the earliness of that evil principle wherewith we have said all Men to be imbued there is certainly none of greater force than the profession that David makes (f) Psal 51.5 that he was shapen or born in iniquity and conceiv'd by his Mother in sin That if it entreat of the Corruption of humane Nature making it as early as the first beginnings of it because speaking as manifestly of its Conception (g) Ham. Annot. in locum and Birth And indeed as we have no reason to believe from any thing the Scripture hath said concerning David or his Parents that what he spake of his own formation was to be understood of that alone so we have much less reason to believe that he intended any other thing by the sin and iniquity thereof than that Original Corruption whereof we speak For beside that the letter of the Text is most agreeable to that notion and not therefore without manifest reason to be diverted to another Beside that that sense is put upon it by the most eminent Fathers (h) Voss Pelag. Hist l. 2. Part. 1. Thes 1. of the Church and the Doctrine contained in it confirm'd by the concordant (i) Ibid. Thes 6. testimonies of them all Beside that that sense hath the suffrage of one of the most learned (k) Ham. ubi supra of the Jewish Writers as the thing it self the consentient belief of all the rest Aben Ezra resolving the meaning of the Psalmist to be that in the hour of his Nativity the evil figment was planted in his heart even that Concupiscence as he afterward interprets himself by which he was drawn into sin Beside all these I say it is no less agreeable to the scope of the whole Psalm and particularly to the care he takes in the Verse before to condemn himself for his offences and so justifie the severity of God if he should think good to take vengeance of them For what could be more sutable to that than to lay open together with his actual sins that polluted Fountain from whence they came and so shew himself to be vile upon more accounts than one and God to have as many reasons to chastise him And I shall only add that as that sense cannot therefore be fairly refus'd because conformable to the design of the Psalmist as well as to the letter of the Text it self and to the interpretation of the Antients as well as either So they seem to me to add no small confirmation to it who can find no other means to elude it than by making the words of the same sence with that hyperbolical expression of the same Author where he affirms (l) Psal 58.3 that the wicked are estranged from the Womb and that as soon as they are born they go astray speaking lies For as it cannot be deny'd that there is a very wide difference between Men's being conceived and born in sin and their going astray from their Mother's Womb and their own birth This latter expression importing that iniquity which follows after it whereas the former denotes the condition of the Conception and Birth it self So it is evident from what the Psalmist adds in the place alledged concerning the wicked's speaking lies that he there entreats of actual sins which as no Man denies to require a more mature Age for the perpetration of so make it necessary to allow an Hyperbole in it Whereas the place we insist upon hath not the least umbrage of actual sins and is therefore under no necessity of being interpreted conformably to it But because it can hardly be imagin'd but if there be such a thing as Original sin it will produce sutable effects in those in whom it is And because it can as little be thought but that those effects will lye open to the observation of all that shall take the pains to reflect upon them Therefore enquire we in the next place whether that Original Sin whereof we speak doth not discover it self by sutable effects and so add yet farther strength to what the Scripture hath affirm'd concerning it A thing not to be doubted of if we reflect upon the behaviour of Children as soon as they come to have any use of reason For do not some of those as the Psalmist speaks (m) Ibid. go astray from their Mothers Womb speaking lies Do not others discover in their actions as much of malice and revenge Are not a third sort as refractory to the commands of their Superiours Doth not a fourth equally pride it self in all it's supposed excellencies Now from whence I beseech you proceeds all this untowardness of behaviour but from as untoward a principle and such a one too as is interwoven with their very Being and derived to them with it For shall we say from the force of Example But experience assures us of the contrary because visible in such Children as have no such examples before them and who moreover do not want a severe education to prevent or correct it Shall we then say from some previous habits But the same experience assures us of the contrary because it is antecedent to any evil habits and therefore not imputable to them Shall we say lastly and more than that we cannot say that it proceeds from their natural temperament But as I no way doubt and shall not therefore stick to confess that the Corruption of our Nature runs out that way which our natural temperament leads it So I see no necessity to grant that that natural temperament hath any other interest in our untowardness than by inclining our natural Corruption to that particular evil to which we are carried For to make it any other way the cause of that untowardness is to charge it upon God because he must be confess'd to be the Author of all that is purely natural in us Only if it be said that that natural temperament may incline Children before they have any free use of reason to those untowardnesses whereof we speak and so at length by the means of those
a relation to all our past sins so it relates in particular to Original Sin and consequently tends alike to the cancelling of its Obligation Witness not only the Churches applying this sign of it to Infants as that too as was before noted for the remission of sins but S. Paul's making that quickning (d) Ephes 2.1 c. which we have by Baptism to save us as well from that wrath which we were the Children of by Nature as from our own vain conversation and the punishment thereof For other sense than that as the generality of the Latins (e) Vid. Voss Pelag. Hist li. 2. part 1 Thes 2. did not put upon the Apostles words so neither is there indeed any necessity for or all things considered any probability of Partly because the Apostle might intend to aggravate the sinfulness of Men's former estate from their natural as well as contracted pollutions even as David aggravated his (f) Psal 51.5 where he deplores his Adultery and Murther and partly because there is sufficient evidence from other Texts of Men's being sinful by their birth as well as practice and which as S. Paul's Children of wrath by Nature is more strictly agreeable to so is therefore more reasonable to be interpreted of And I have insisted so much the longer both upon this particular and the Text I have made use of to confirm it because as Original Sin is one main ground of Baptism and accordingly in this very Catechism of ours represented by our Church as such so she may seem to make use of that very Text to evidence the being of Original Sin and the efficacy of Baptism toward the removing of it Her words being that as we are by nature born in sin and the Children of wrath so we are by Baptism made the Children of Grace From the Grace of forgiveness of sin pass we to that which tends to free us from its pollution entitled by our Church a death unto it A grace which as the corruption of our Nature makes necessary to be had so cannot in the least be doubted to be signified by the outward sign of Baptism It being not only the affirmation of S. Paul that all true Christians are dead (g) Rom. 6.2 to sin but that they are buried by Baptism (h) Rom. 4 into it that they are by that means planted together into the likeness (i) Rom. 5 of Christ's death and that their Old Man even the Body of sin is crucified (k) Rom. 6. with Christ in it For as that and other such like Texts (l) Col. 2.12 of Scripture are a sufficient proof of Baptism's having a relation to our death unto sin as well as unto the death of Christ So they prove in like manner that it had the relation of a sign unto it and consequently make the former death to be one of the Graces signified by it Because not only describing the Rite of Baptism under the notion of a death and Burial which it cannot be said to be but as it is an image of one but representing it as a planting of the Baptized person into the likeness of that death of Christ which is the exemplar of the other For what is this but to say that it was intended as a sign or representation of them both and both the one and the other therefore to be look'd upon as signified by it The same is to be said upon the account of those Texts of Scripture which represent the Water of Baptism as washing (m) Acts 22.16 away the sins of Men or if that expression may not be thought to be full enough because referring also to the forgiveness of them as sanctifying and cleansing (n) Eph. 5.26 27. the Church to the end it may be holy and without blemish For as that shews the Water of Baptism to have a relation to that grace which tends to free the Church from sinful blemishes so it shews in like manner that it was intended as a sign of it and of that inward cleansing which belongs to it There being not otherwise any reason why the freeing of the Church from sin by means of the Baptismal water should have the name of cleansing but upon the account of the analogy there is between the natural property thereof and the property of that Grace to which it relates One only Grace remains of those which tend more immediately to our spiritual welfare even that which our Catechism entitles a new birth unto righteousness Concerning which I shall again shew because that will be enough to prove that it is a Grace signified by it that the Water of Baptism hath a relation to it and then that it hath the relation of a sign I alledge for the former of these S. Paul's entitling it the laver of regeneration (o) Tit. 3.5 as our Saviour's affirming (p) Joh. 3.5 before him that we are born again of that as well as of the Spirit For the latter what hath been before shewn in the general concerning its having been intended as a sign of the things to which it relates For if the Water of Baptism were intended as a sign of those things to which it relates it must consequently have bin intended as a sign of our new birth because by the former Texts as manifestly relating to it But so we shall be yet more fully perswaded if it carry in it a representation of that new birth to which it doth relate Which that it doth will need no other proof than its being an apt representation of that spiritual purity which the Soul puts on at its first conversion and wherein indeed its new birth (q) Eph. 4.24 consists For so it is in part by that cleansing quality which is natural to it and which induceth a purity in those bodies to which it is applied But especially by the use that was formerly made of it toward the washing of new-born Infants from those impurities which they contracted from the Womb This last serving to set forth the first beginnings of our spiritual purity as well as the former doth that purity it self And I shall only add that as a resurrection from the Dead is also a kind of new Birth and accordingly so represented by the Scriptures themselves witness their entituling our Saviour upon the account of his Resurrection the first-begotten (r) Col. 1.18 from the dead yea making that Resurrection of his to be a completion (Å¿) Acts 13.33 of that signal prediction of God (t) Psal 2.7 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee So the same Scriptures do not only represent our new birth unto Righteousness under the notion of a Resurrection but sufficiently intimate that whether Birth or Resurrection to be a Grace signified by it Because not only admonishing us to look upon our selves as a live unto God by Baptism (u) Rom. 6.11 as well as dead unto sin in it but as risen (w)
the body of sin crucified with him For shall we say that S. Paul meant no more by all this than that the design of Baptism and the several parts of it was to represent to us the necessity of our dying and being buried as to sin and that accordingly all that are baptized into Christ make profession of their resolution so to do but not that they are indeed buried by Baptism as to that particular But beside that we are not lightly to depart from the propriety of the Scripture phrase which must be acknowledg'd rather to favour a real death than the bare signification of it That Apostle doth moreover affirm those whom he before describ'd as dead to be freed (d) Rom. 7.18 from sin yea so far (e) Rom. 7.18 as to have passed over into another service even that of righteousness and to have obeyed from the heart (f) Rom. 7.17 that form of Doctrine into which they had been delivered Which suppos'd as it may because the direct affirmation of S. Paul will make that death whereof we speak to be a death in reality as well as in figure and accordingly because Men are affirmed to be baptized into it shew that Baptism to be a means of conveying it as well as a representation of it Agreeable hereto or rather yet more express is that of the same Apostle to the Colossians (g) Col. 2.11 though varying a little from the other as to the manner of expression For having affirmed them through Christ to have put off the body of the sins of the flesh by a circumcision not made with hands and consequently by a spiritual one he yet adds lest any should fancy that spiritual Circumcision to accrue to them without some ceremonial one in the Circumcision of Christ even that Baptism which conformably to the circumcision of the Jews he had appointed for their entrance into his Religion by and wherein he accordingly affirms as he did in the former place that they were not only buried with him but had risen together with him by the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead From whence as it is clear that the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh which is but another expression for a death unto them is though accomplished by a spiritual Grace yet by such a one as is conveyed to us by Baptism so it becomes yet more clear by what he adds concerning Men's rising with him in the same Baptism even to a life contrary to what they had before deposited through the faith of the operation of God. For as we cannot conceive of that rising with Christ as other than a real one because there would not otherwise have needed such a faith as that to bring it about So neither therefore but think the like of that death which it presupposeth and consequently that that Baptism to which it is annex'd is a means of conveying it as well as a representation of it But so we may be yet more convinc'd by such Texts of Scripture as speak of this death unto sin under the notion of a cleansing from it Of which nature is that so often alledged one (h) Eph. 5.26 27. concerning Christ's sanctifying and cleansing his Church with the washing of water by the word For as it appears from what is afterwards subjoyn'd as the end of that cleansing even that the Church might not have any spot or wrinkle but that it should be holy and without blemish As it appears I say from thence that the Apostle speaks in the verse before concerning a cleansing from the filth of sin which is but another expression for the putting off the body of sin or a death unto it So it appears in like manner from S. Paul's attributing that cleansing to the washing of water that the outward sign of Baptism is by the appointment and provision of God a means of conveying that spiritual Grace by which that cleansing is more immediately effected and that death unto sin procur'd From that death unto sin therefore pass we to our new birth unto righteousness that other inward and spiritual Grace of Baptism and the complement of the former A Grace of whose conveyance by Baptism we can much less doubt if we consider the language of the Scripture concerning it or the Doctrine as well as practice of the Church The opinion the Jews had of that which seems to have been its type and exemplar or the expressions even of the Heathen concerning it For what less can the Scripture be thought to mean when it affirms us to be born of the water (i) Joh. 3.5 of it as well as of the spirit yea so as to be as truly spirit (k) Joh. 3.6 as that which is born of the flesh is flesh What less can it be thought to mean when it entitles it the laver of (l) Tit. 3.5 Regeneration and which is more affirms us to be saved by it as well as by the renewing of the Holy Ghost What less when it requires us to look upon our selves as alive (m) Rom. 6.11 unto God by it as well as buried (n) Rom. 6.4 by it into the former death or as the same Apostle elsewhere expresseth it as risen with Christ in it (o) Col. 2.12 through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead In fine what less when it affirms us to be sanctified with the washing (p) Eph. 5.26 of it as well as it elsewhere doth by the influences of God's Spirit For these expressions shew plainly enough that Baptism hath its share in the producing of this new birth as well as the efficacy of God's Spirit And consequently that it is at least the conveyer of that Grace by which it is more immediately produc'd And indeed as if men would come without prejudice they would soon see enough in those expressions to convince them of as much as I have deduced from them So they might see yet more if they pass'd so far in the doctrine and language of the Church to confirm them in that Interpretation of them For who ever even of the first and purest times spake in a lower strain concerning Baptism who ever made less of it than of a means by which we are regenerated I appeal for a proof hereof to their so unanimously (q) See Part 2. understanding of Baptism what our Saviour spake to Nicodemus concerning the necessity of men's being born again of water and of the spirit For as all men whatsoever interpret that of our new birth unto righteousness and so far as the spirit of God is concerned in it of the means by which it is produc'd So they must therefore believe that if the Antients understood it of Baptism they allotted that its share in it and consequently made it at least a conveyer of that Grace by which this new birth is produc'd I appeal farther to the particular declarations of
some of the most eminent among them and which whosoever shall seriously consider will wonder how it should come to fall back to a naked and ineffectual sign For Justin Martyr (r) Apolog. 2. p. 93 94. speaking concerning those who had prepar'd themselves for Baptism affirms them to be brought by the brethren to a place where water is and there to be regenerated after that way of regeneration wherewith they themselves were Which what it was and of how great force he afterwards shews by affirming them thereupon to be wash'd in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as that too conformably to what our Saviour spake concerning the necessity of men's being born again To what the Prophet Isaiah meant when he said Wash you make you clean put away wickednesses from your souls And in fine to procure their deliverance from that whether natural or habitual corruptions they were under the power of For these things shew plainly enough that as he spake of the Baptismal regeneration so he spake of it too as a thing which procur'd as well as figur'd the internal regeneration of them To the same purpose doth Tertullian discourse and particularly in his Tract de Baptismo Witness his calling it in the very beginning thereof that happy Sacrament of our water wherewith being wash'd from the faults of our present blindness we are freed into eternal life His affirming presently after that we the lesser fishes according to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or greater one Jesus Christ are born in the water neither can continue safe unless we abide in it That we ought not to wonder if the waters of Baptism give life when that Element was the first that brought forth any living creature That as the Spirit of God moved at the beginning upon the face of waters so the same spirit of God after the invocation of his name doth descend from Heaven upon those of Baptism and having sanctified them from himself gives them a power of sanctifying others For these and the like passages shew as plainly that that Authour look'd upon the outward sign of Baptism as contributing in its place to the production of our new birth or sanctification as well as to the representation of it But of all the Antient Fathers that have entreated of this affair or indeed of that Sacrament which we are now upon the consideration of there is no one who hath spoken more or more to the purpose than S. Cyprian or whose words therefore will be more fit to consider Only that I may not multiply testimonies without necessity I will content my self with one single one but which indeed for the fulness thereof will serve instead of many and be moreover as clear a testimony of our dying unto sin by Baptism as of our regeneration by it For when saith he (ſ) Epist ad Donat. I lay in darkness and under the obscurity of the Night When uncertain and doubtful I floated on the Sea of this tossing World ignorant of my own life and as great a stranger to truth I thought it exceeding difficult as the manners of Men then were that any one should be born again as the divine mercy had promis'd and that being animated to a new life by the laver of salutary water he should put off that which he was before and whilst the frame of his body continu'd the same become a new Man in his heart and mind For how said I is it possible that that should be suddenly put off which either being natural is now grown hard by the natural situation of the matter or contracted by a long custom hath been improv'd by old Age c. To these and the like purposes I often discours'd with my self For as I was at that time entangled with many errours of my former life which I did not then think it was possible for me to put off So I willingly gave obedience to those vices that stuck to me and through a despair of better things I favour'd my evils as though they had been my proper and domestick ones But after that through the assistance of this generating water the blemishes of my former life were wash'd off and my mind thus purged had a light from above poured into it After that the second birth had chang'd me into a new Man through the force of that spirit or breath which I suck'd in from above Then those things which were before doubtful became exceeding certain and manifest things which were before shut were then laid open and dark things made light Then that which before seemed difficult appear'd to help rather than hinder and that which sometime was thought impossible as possible to be done So that it was not difficult to discern that that was earthly which being carnally born did before live obnoxious to faults and that that began to be God's which the Holy Ghost now animated You your self verily know and will as readily acknowledge with me what was either taken from or bestow'd upon us by that death of crimes and life of vertues Which as it is an illustrious testimony of the force of Baptism in this particular and with what reason we have affirm'd it to be a means of procuring the former death and birth So I have the more willingly taken notice of it because it comes so near even in its expression to what our Catechism hath represented as the inward and spiritual Grace thereof There being no great difference between a death of crimes and life of vertues which is the expression of that Father and a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness which is the other's And I shall only add that as the Doctrine of the Church must therefore be thought to bear sufficient testimony to Baptism's being a means of our regeneration So its practice is in this particular answerable to its Doctrine and though in another way proclaims the same thing Witness what hath been elsewhere observ'd concerning its giving Milk and Hony (t) See Part 3. to the new Baptized person as to an Infant new-born its requiring him presently after Baptism to say (u) Expl. of the Lord's Prayer in the words Out Father Our Father c. as a testimony of his Son-ship by it And in fine its making use of the word regenerated to signifie Baptized As is evident for the Greek Writers from what was but now quoted out of Justin Martyr De vitâ B. Martini c. 1. Necdum tamen regeneratus in Christo agebat quendam bonis operibus Baptismatis candidatum and from Sulpitius Severus among the Latins Which things put together make it yet more clear that whatever it may be now accounted yet the Church of God ever look'd upon the Sacrament of Baptism as a mean of our internal regeneration And indeed as it is hard to believe that it ought to be otherwise esteem'd considering what hath been alledg'd either from Scripture or the declarations of the Church So it