Acts of the Apostles proveth Act. 18.8 If you could shew any saith Mr. Baxster that did delay Baptisme he meaneth to Disciples since Christs Command P. 24. Of plain Scripture proofs Math. 28.19 it would appear to have been sinfull as through ignorance or negligence Again That it is Christs rule that persons shall be baptised without delay when they are first made Disciples P. 126. Of Scripture proof I have fully proved already both from the Commission for baptising and from Scripture example explaining that Commission and from the end and use of Baptisme If any should be so impudent as to say it is not the meaning of Christ that baptizing should immediately follow discipling they are confuted by the constant example of Scripture So that I dare say this will be out of doubt with all rationall P. 127. considerate impartial Christians If this be so clear a truth as every one with half an eye cannot lightly but see it then is it not a plain case that they that shall attempt to sit down with Church-bodies before Baptisme or those Churches that shall admit unbaptised Disciples into full communion that they all depart from the rule of Christ and walk by a rule of their own devising and instead of Law-obeyers take the boldness to be Law-makers Mr. Goodwin objecteth p. 64. of his water-dipping that His proof meaning my Brother Allens is built upon a clear mistake of the word Teach in the Commission Math. 28.19 for to teach doth not signifie to teach men so as to make them wiling to obey which is my Brother Allens sense but to do that which is apt to make Disciples whether any he actually made Disciples or no. That this sense of the word Teach is a part of the truth I deny not but that it is all that is contained in the word Teach that I deny for these reasons following 1. Because then all persons whatsoever to whom the Gospel was at any time preached by the Apostles were upon their bare hearing of it whether they beleived or blasphemed to have been baptised by them For you say the word Teach doth not imply an actually discipled person to Christ but onely the having instructions proper to make men so If that were all the sense then the Apostles were bound by their Commission to baptise in the Name of the Father Son and Spirit all they preached the Gospel unto though they knew neither Father Son nor Spirit or beleived a word they said yea those that commanded them to teach no more in that Name and beat them for it and imprisoned them being filled with indignation Acts 5.18 Secondly To shew that this sense of yours hath not all the truth in it it appeareth by the 2. Acts 41 which saith not that all that heard the Word were baptised but they that gladly RECEIVED the Word which sheweth clearly enough what is meant by the word teach in the Commission namely such whereby persons became glad receivers of the Word why else did he not baptise every body that heard him Sir you say truly it is a loud untruth to say there is not one example of a person baptised barely upon his hearing of the Gospel preached unto him but I pray Sir whose cause do you plead by saying so your own or ours and here I heartily desire the Reader to consider whether you have not in a few words destroyed your own sense of the word Teach and established my Brother Allens for if there be not one example throught the Acts of a person baptised barely upon his hearing the Gospel but all examples speak of their being Beleivers or Disciples first Why then surely the Apostles understood by the word Teach the making them actual Disciples which is our sense and not onely the saying such things to them which were proper to make them so which is Mr. Goodwins or else they practised contrary to their own judgement But thirdly that by teaching is meant actual discipling is the judgement of our Adversaries Mr. Baxter giveth this for the sense of the word Teach in the Commission very frequently in his plain Scripture proof p. 15. Go ye teach is go make me Disciples in which exposition of the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mr. Baxter confesseth to agree with Mr Tombes I say as he saith Mr. Baxter that the verb signifieth make ye Disciples Vrsinus upon these words Go teach all Nations baptising them The word which Christ useth saith he properly signifieth make Disciples thus it is expounded saith he by John Note well John 4.2 The Pharisees heard that Jesus made and baptised more Disciples than John and what Vrsinus meaneth by Disciples appeareth plainly p. 414. of his Catechisme Teach all Nations baptising them that is all who by your doctrine come unto me and p. 420. That unto the use of baptisme faith is required and in p. 415. these discipled persons he calleth converted persons So that in this learned mans judgement by teaching in the Commission is meant discipling by Disciples Beleivers commers unto Christ converted persons and not as Mr. Goodwin that to teach signifieth not to make them actual Disciples but onely the saying such things to them which are apt to make them so But fourthly and lastly the reason Mr. Goodwin giveth why by the word teach must be meant as he saith and not according to the common consent of Interpreters I humbly apprehend to be invalid his reason is this because if we understand the word Teach of actual discipling these absurdities will follow First He must be conceived to commissionate them to do that which was not in their own power to do Secondly It would follow that though they preached never so faithfully yet they had falsified trust and acted short of their Commission if they had not at all times made those to whom they preached actuall Beleivers To which I answer This Argument standeth upon an unsound bottom which is this That it is an absurd thing to conceive that God should put more into a Commission given to Men then is in the Creatures own power to do What is more frequent in Scripture than to put that into the Commission both of Prophets and Apostles which was not in their own power to effect Isaiah 6.9 10. Ge make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes least c. is not here more put into the Prophets Commission than was in his own power to do could he make their hearts fat or make their eares heavy or shut their eyes Nay are not these effects attributed to God though put in the Prophets Commission John 12.40 He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes yea these effects are attributed to themselves in Math. 13.15 Their eyes they have closed least they should c. So that though these effects are put in the Prophets Commission yet altogether out of his own power to
was dark and so hard to find 12. As Beleivers Baptisme agreeth to particular Churches gathered out of the world by the Word so doth Infant-baptisme agree to the National Church and Communion therein which you have renounced because by Baptisme they are immembred into the Church and so capable of Church Communion yea 't is their right if their Baptisme be reckoned valid because according to Scripture Acts 2.42 All baptised persons were added to the Church and continued in the Apostles fellowship breaking bread and prayer by what rule then can the Parishes be withdrawn from when they are esteemed duly baptised persons till legally proceeded against for disorderly walking If then you will reject their Church state as good as you do by withdrawing from them you must not allow their Baptisme because their Baptisme if good giveth right to it Indepency then rejecteth the fruit but letteth the tree stand that beareth it If it be objected that some though not all of the Independents disallow the Baptisme of some children namely such whose Parents beleive not T is true in words but not deeds where is there one man in all the Independent Churches the truth of whose Baptisme was ever called in question 13. Infant-baptisme agreeth to the carnal interest of those men who take up preaching for filthy lucre whereas Beleivers Baptisme altogether frowneth on it Infant-baptisme taking in high and low rich and poor into the Church maketh both more and richer Customers to the Minister Beleivers both fewer and poorer because they are but few that beleive comparitively and for the most part of the poorer sort so that which way soever I looked on Infant-baptisme I found the signes of a plant which the heavenly Father never planted and on the contrary Beleivers Baptisme every way answering the breathings of the Spirit of God in Scripture and consequently that it became me as a friend to Truth and for the honour of Jesus Christ not onely to obey Christ by submitting to the Ordinance my self but to strive the restoring it to its primitive puritity to which I take my self obliged 1. By the Scripture Jude 3. It was needfull for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith ONCE delivered to the Saints 2. By the example of holy men of old that when they set upon reformation in the worship of God Neh. 10.19 2 Kings 23 25. Jer. 6.16 Mal. 4.4 2 Châ—on 33.8 had respect to ALL the Law in reforming both before and after the Captivity which also was according to the express Command of God 3. By Gods high approbation of such his Servants who did accordingly as you may see in the instance of Josiah 2 Kings 27.25 David is called a man after Gods own heart Acts 13.22 because a fulfiller of all his will and Caleb so highly dignified Josh 14. from 8. to the 14. because he fully followed the Lord his God Solomon is disparaged by this 1 Kings 11.6 That he went not FVLLY after the Lord as did David his Father 4. By the Covenant that the whole Church entered into with the rest of the Nation to reform both in doctrine and discipline according to the Word of God But you cannot think Baptisme any part of Christs Law and so the practise rather a piece of will-worship than fully following of Christ To which I answer When the doctrine of universal Redemption first sounded in your ear it was as hard to bear as Beleivers Baptisme is now and as farre from your thoughts to be the mind of Christ but that which was hard then is easie now that which was darkness then is light now and that which was wood hay and stubble then is gold and silver and pretious stones now yea those doctrines that when time was in your hast you were ready to say he deserved to loose his eyes that preacht them now for your joy could almost be content to pluck out your own eyes in gratitude to him that brought them Is it not true And again concerning the Church way mind Mr. Goodwins words to Mr. Thomas Goodwin when he was in Holland Your authority graces learning parts judgement and example have made the stone of separation amongst us so massie and heavie that we are constrained to be at double paines and labour in removing and rouling it from the consciences of men A great part of our imployment is to stanch the issue of that fountain of bloud which you have opened in the womb of our Churches here But yet since Mr. Goodwin hath found cause to build up that which then he threw down with so much zeal and industry and I verily beleive if a man should have said to Mr. Goodwin at that time Sir the time may come when you may find cause to separate from the national Church and gather a particular he would have said Am I a Dog that I should do this great thing Oh how he sweat at it then to roul that heavy stone of separation from the consciences of men at last found it too heavy to be done at all and so thought fit rather to lie under the weight of it than heave any longer at it I write not these things to shame Mr. Goodwin it is no shame to a man that he knoweth but in part and that he is not Master of all knowledge at one and the same time The path of the just being as the shining light Prov. 4 18. which shineth more and more to the perfect day If more spiritual light shine not into the judgement if it not a sore sign that the path of such men is not the path of the just And if when it is come into the judgement if it shall not appear in practise then it is a sign of a heart glued to some carnal worldly interest or other which causeth the person to withhold the truth in unrighteousness T is not changing simply that the Scriptures find fault with but being GIVEN to change Changing as the case may be is so farre from being a fault Prov. 24.21 that it is a sign of a growing soul in grace of walking after the Spirit of a self denying upright soul that lieth naked before the truth unmarried to any secular interest Truths faithful friend that so truth may get up careth not though it self go down This therefore is the glory not the shaâ—e of Mr. Goodwin that when the truth came into his judgement as it is in Jesus he consulted not with flesh and bloud but with Paul preacheth the faith which once he destroyed for which many glorified God in him I beseech you therefore let no man mis-judge me in the ground of tâ—is relation as if I intended hereby to cast the least disparagement upon him whom for the good I have received from God by his hand I am bound above many to love and honour But if you ask wherefore then serveth this story I answer that you should not think of
TRUTH prevailing against the fiercest Opposition OR An Answer to Mr. Iohn Goodwins Water-dipping no firm footing for Church Communion Wherein the invalidity of his twenty three Considerations against withdrawing from those Societies that want Baptisme by the bodies burial in water is manifested and the separation from such Societies justified by the Word of God Together with the discovery of his great mistakes in the exposition of eight cheif Scriptures wherewith he fighteth to overthrow Mr. Allens Answer to his forty Queries about Church Communion By THOMAS LAMBE Merchant once belonging to the Congregation whereof Mr. JOHN GOODWIN is Pastor now a Servant to the Church of CHRIST meeting in Loathbury It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should EARNESTLY CONTEND for the Faith which was ONCE delivered to the Saints Jude the third As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord SO walk ye in him rooted and built up in him Col. 2.8 Beware 〈◊〉 any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men and NOT AFTER CHRIST Col. 2.8 I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after my own heart which shall fulfil ALL my will Acts 13.22 Hebron therefore became the Inheritance of Caleb because he WHOLLY followed the Lord God of Israel Josh 14.14 London Printed by G. Dawson and are to be sold by Francis Smith at his Shop in Flying-horse-Court in Fleet-street near Chancery-lane end 1655. TO THE READER GOOD READER GOD knoweth with what regret of spirit I publish this answer to Mr. Goodwins Book called Water-dipping no firm footing for Church Communion as pure conscience at first separated me from that Society of whom he is Pastor so now compelleth me to make answer to that Book written for our reproof not onely to defend the truth therein opposed but also to vindicate my self with some others from the heavy charge therein given to the whole world against us of Faith and Trust betrayers Promise breakers sacrilegious Church breakers c. 2. To make the world Judges whether we are as Mr. Goodwin representeth us persons of a misused and â—â—stempered fancy of stupified judgements to whose understanding common sense is a mystery inaccessible with abundance more to the same purpose 3. To let the world see that our Baptism hath not metamorphosed us from Lambs to Wolves Tygers or Serpents which strange insinuations uttered in his hast we hope confute themselves in the eyes of all rational unprejudiced men that know us but since books for the most part live longer than men I thought it my duty to make our Vindication as publick as Mr. Goodwins Aspersion except he had prevented us and truly not for our own name sake but for Christs sake whose cause we plead and least the blessed truth of the New Testament sealed in Christs heart bloud should suffer by our total silence Had not the truth been dearer to me than any man I had rather chose to loose my right hand than set it to a book that frowneth on him whose credit alwayes was and still is right dear and pretious in my sight so unhappy a thing it is for good men to be yoked with error in the things of Christ that it maketh the most intimate friends by opposition look like bitter adversaries for the truth sake Thus did Paul in respect of Peter 2 Cal. 11. when before the whole Church of Antioch he withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed he who spotteth the beautiful face of truth though ignorantly must expect a stain in his own credit and be content to suffer so much as to make the truth whole And he that contendeth FOR the truth must be like to Levi Deut. 33.9 Who said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowlegde his brethren nor knew his own children that he might observe Gods Word and keep his Covenant To acknowledge the good received from Instruments agreeth both to grace and nature but to baulk pleading the truth because thereof argueth a distemper in the affections The same person deserving at the same time both thanks and reproofs to return the one is a point of gratitude to administer the other in love and in the majesty of Gods Word a point of faithfulness And if in this contest thou findest any passages on my part savouring of too much sharpness though in answer to Mr. Goodwins highest provocations look upon me as disowning them and mind onely the reason of the place Christs counsel is not to resist evil Math. 5 39. But whoso shall smite me on the right cheek to turn the other to him But besides it becometh me to bear much evill from that hand by which I have received so much good And so I commend thee to the serious consideration of the ensuing discourse praying with all my soul the Father of lights to vouchsafe thee the spirit of discerning that what therein is of God may be obvious to thy understanding and readily embraced by thy will and what is not of God if yet there be any thing may utterly perish from thy soul this is the prayer of Thy faithful Friend to serve thee to my power THO LAMBE To my Worthy Friends and Brethren of like pretious faith walking with Mr. Iohn Goodwin in the right Faith though not in the right order of the GOSPEL Holy and Beloved I Have been long your debtor it is fit I should now pay you your own with interest which here I present you by answering the substance of Mr. Goodwins Water-dipping no firm footing for Church Communion which if you will in the fear of God and without prejudice consider I make little question but the riddle of my departure from you whose Society I prized not a little will be unfolded That strange action of our Saviours so contrary to his natural genius mentioned John 2.15 mightily affected the Disciples and made them to cast about to find a ground for it perhaps it may be so with some of you in respect of me because of my suddain breaking off from your Society wherein you know I took much delight I can say more than in Corn Wine and Oil and where I had no want but a surplusage of respects above what I was able to merit at your hand In a word where my content was so great that it made departing from you more grievous to me than death it self would have been And how contrary it is to my Spirit to make trouble or cause breaches I need not tell you I take it for granted that it is upon all your hearts how much I abhorre it So that I conclude it cannot lightly but be a matter of some wonder to you that I should thus break off from you as well as Christs strange action in the Temple was to the Disciples Now whilst they were casting about to find a ground for this astonishing action of our Saviour and searching in the right
place namely the Scriptures at last they met with it John 2.17 And they remembred that it was written namely in the 69 Psalm 9. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up In like manner Do you wonder and are you casting about for a ground to fix my departure upon then take the Disciples course judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgement do as they did plough with the heifer of the Scriptures and you will easily understand this riddle hearken not to Satan the great enemy of all righteousness who will suggest unto you some ignoble root or other to fix it upon it was his way of old when Christ cast out devils the devil suggesteth he did it not by the power of God but of Beelzebub the Prince of devils The Apostle Paul himself notwithstanding all his zeal and faithfulness and unparalell'd self-denial yet there was some even in the Church of Corinth who he so dearly loved who judged him as a man walking according to the flesh in all 2 Corinth 10.2 I think to be bold against some which THINK of us saith he as if we walked according to the flesh Heavenly John that bundle of love met with a proud hungerstarved close fisted Diotrephes prating against him with malitious words 3 Epistle John 10. T is an old trick of the Devil to bespeak the rejection of the truth by working an ill opinion of them that maintain it If this hath been the portion of such green trees t is not for me to complain that am comparatively dry my weaknesses are many and no doubt but hath afforded many appearances of evil to you but these heavenly soules were judged where there was neither evil nor appearance of any the consideration whereof is no small consolation to me under all your mis-judgings But for the matter it self of my departing from you as my record is on high that no worldly thing should have separated me from the Church so I have the witness within my self that no carnal consideration whatsoever hath contributed to it to the value of the least hair of my head and how cometh any body to dream any such thing When mens business lieth in the East do men use to set out full West or do men use to take up meanes in full contestation to their end Alass alass I considered beforehand that this way is every where spoken against and the generality of the Professors of it of small esteem for learning parts or any thing that commendeth men to the world their garb and cast that of the Disciples Luke 6.20 Blessed be ye poor Now that they were exclaimed on by the learned in their writings and frequently in Pulpits at this day their name cast out as evil and hated in a manner of all men that if times of persecution for conscience come they are like to be the first sufferers So that I had many struglings and wrestlings with the flesh before I could get the victory to submit to it nay the truth is had not the truth concerning it struck my conscience and the light shone into my judgement with that clearness that I could by no meanes avoid it with peace I had never forsaken my old standing which was more honourable easie and every way more acceptable to the outward man Now what those Considerations are that command my judgement to that point whereat it now standeth in the business of Baptisme which is that onely thing which separated between me and you you have scattered up and down in this my Answer to Mr. Goodwin But yet I think good to give you the sum thereof under a few heads 1. I considered the excellency of Jesus Christ above Moses Hebr. 1. Heb. 3.3 Heb. 1.3 from thence argued to the ungodliness and danger of slighting him in any of his Commands 2. I found Baptisme with Water to be one of his Commands Mat. 28 19. Acts 2.37 and joyn'd with Teaching by name in the Commission of Christ and the same presence of Christ promised joyntly as well to Baptisme as Teaching to the end of the world Mar. 16.16 and serving the grand interest of Remission of sins and salvation in some sense and commanded by Christ to be done upon all discipled persons Mat. 28.19 Mar. 16.16 and that with huge solemnity In the Name of the Father Son and Spirit and that too amongst the last words he spake on earth 3. I found that he intended not the reiteration of it by the same person and that therefore there ought to be all due care of practising it without corruption 4. I found the design of Christ in the Ordinance it self to be exceeding rich and spiritual namely amongst many other ends 1. To oblige the Disciples unto Christ that as Circumcision bound men to keep the Law of Moses so doth Baptisme to keep the Gospel of Christ therefore the Spirit borroweth the word Baptism which respecteth Christ to express the obligation of the Jewes to the Law of Moses 1 Corinth 10.2 And were all baptised unto Moses Further the design of Christ is to affect the heart by the will of God seen in the Ordinance of Baptisme as well as heard in the Word preached therefore to present in a figure the substance of the Gospel to the eye as the Word preach'd doth to the ear namely the washing away of sin by the bloud of Christ the death Acts 22.16 Col. 2.12 Rom 6.34 burial and resurrection of Christ for sinners and the sinners death to sin suffering with Christ resurrection to all newness of life here and glory hereafter 5. This being the plain design of Christ in the Ordinance I considered Infant-sprinkling which ordinarily goeth for Baptisme and found the great design of Christ in a manner frustrate by it because there is no sign or figure of any such thing as death burial and resurrection and consequently not that Sermon of the Gospel which Christ intended to make by it as is most evident by the Scriptures which palpably discovereth it to be a humane invention 6. I found that as Baptisme was by Christ instituted and the Apostles practised namely upon discipled persons made so by Teaching as the Acts of the Apostles abundantly prove The form being by burying the body in water which Calvin and others honestly confess to be the old way The worthy design of Christ therein is excellently served The party being a Beleiver is capable of fellowship with God in the Ordinance and voluntarily submitting thereto out of conscience of duty and knowledge of the intent of Christ in it is like to feel their obligation to Christ by it into whose Name they themselves desired to be baptised whereas Infants are neither capable of desiring it knowledge of the meaning of it faith about it or any such thing as fellowship with God in it and when grown up can onely tell by hearsay that ever any such thing was done at all upon them most unlike therefore to
with Teaching in the Commission without the least hint of parting them Math. 28. 2. By promising the same presence to the end of the world as well to Baptising as Teaching 3. By the singular use of Baptisme to all Beleivers in all ages of which more hereafter which I suppose maketh Mr. Baxster call Baptisme a great Ordinance P. 302. Of plain Scripture But for persons that are baptised to sit down in a Church body with unbaptised will make Baptisme sleighted I prove thus If unbaptised Disciples enjoy all the self same priviledges of the Church that baptised persons do which they do if they sit down together in a Church body then must the reputation of Baptisme needs be in danger 1. Because it admiteth to no priviledge of the Church but what may be had without it 2. Because the act of Baptisme is irksome to the flesh which if not ballanced by some considerable advantage will upon that account suffer if this be not reason set them to judge that are least esteemed in the Church 4 That practise which consulteth the loss and spiritual dammage of the Disciples can never be an orderly practise But for baptised Disciples to admit of unbaptised into full communion is to consult their losse and spiritual dammage That to admit Disciples to full Communion before baptisme is to consult their loss I prove thus If they are not baptised before joyning in probability they are not like to be after because such confused joyning secretly whispereth a low esteem of the Ordinance even by the baptised themselves otherwise they would not hold their communion without it having no such president in the Word 2. Because the act is unpleasing to the flesh 3. because they are in possession of the priviledges of the Church without it and consequently one great Argument of considering the grounds of it is as it were over so that it is a rare thing if ever they be brought to submit Now not to obey every Ordinance of Christ must needs be a losse to the Creature because in their institution as well as in the creation In wisdome he ordained them all aiming as well at the Creatures good as his own glory Therefore the Pharisees that reject Baptisme Luke 7.30 are said to reject the Counsell of God AGAINST themselves 5. That practice in the worship of God which in reason is like to lay the foundation of jâ—rrs discentions and discords in the Church can never be of Christs ordering because jarrs and discentions in the Church standeth in direct enmity to his interest wherefore he would not have the Church onely be at peace amongst themselves but as much as in them lieth live peaceably with ALL men But for persons that are baptised to sit down in Church bodies with unbaptised in all reason will breed jarrs Can two walk together except they be agreed I suppose he meaneth that they cannot walk comfortably together for otherwise they may walk together after a fashion besides such Interrogations in Scripture affirm with Emphasis the matter Interrogated So that when he saith CAN two walk together he would insinuate not onely some degrees of improbability but that it is next to an impossibility that they should maintain sweet communion but those words except they be agreed must be understood warily not of every light difference in opinion for then there would be little sweet communion in the Church at all there being few that agree in every thing But in matters of moment as this will easily be apprehended to be by any indifferent person that weigheth it it cannot lightly be but there must be jarrs discentions to the embittering their fellowship That difference about meats and dayes what trouble did it work in the Church at Rome Roman 14.3 Let not him that eateth DESPISE him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not JVDGE him that eateth yea at the 10. verse Why dost thou judge thy Brother why dost thou set at NOVGHT thy Brother So that despising judging and setting at nought followed that poor difference about meats and dayes What difference then in reason would this about Baptisme work when that one party namely the unbaptised shall look upon the other as practising will-worship and making their Religion ridiculous and adhering to a generation of men scarce worthy to live as now Mr. Goodwin thinketh of them And on the other hand the baptised they shall look upon their brethren sprinkling childrens faces presuming to call that the Ordinance of Baptisme which in their judgements is a meer mockery and doing it too in the Name of the Father Son and holy Spirit which in their apprehensions is little less than blasphemy How should these two parties of Beleivers walk together without sore differences and the more by how much the more zealous they are for the pure worship of God a luke-warm Spirit will best befit Churches of that constitution this is so plain a case that I think I need not proceed further in the demonstration 6. That practise which in the worship of God is not onely beside the custome of the first Churches which was settled by the Apostles but directly contrary can never be an orderly practise 1. Because they did what they did therein by special Commission 1 Cor. 11.23 2 Cor 10.8 2. We have no reason to doubt the faithfulness of the Apostles in excuting it for though they had frailties as other men yet in what they did in settling the religion of Christ they did by special direction and extraordinary assistance Math. 28.19 and so their example is as Lawes to us Excellent is Mr. Baxster to this point Moses being appointed to the forming of the old Church and Common-wealth of the Jews Saints Rest 212. to the building of the Tabernacle his precepts and examples in these works though we could not find his particular direction are to be taken as divine so also the Apostles having commission to form and order the Gospel Churches their doctrine and examples therein are by their general Commission warranted and their practise in stablishing the Lords day in settling the Officers and Orders of Churches are to us as Lawes still binding with those limitations as positives onely which give way to greater The ground of this position is because it is inconsistent with the wisdom of God and faithfulness too to set men to a work and promise to be with them and yet to forsake them and suffer them to erre in the building of that house which must endure to the end of the world That practise then in the worship of God which is directly contrary to Apostolical custome can never be orderly And Sir if I mistake not very much you have heretofore said as much to this point as any man in the world can say for you have these words in your fourth Caution for Reformation The best patternes and examples under heaven are but seducers in what they fall short of or besides the Word of
God the injunction from heaven is very particular and express See that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the Mount Heb. 8.5 And Ezek. 43 10. Thou Son of Man shew the house to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquity and let them measure the pattern viz. to build say you mark with ALL POSSIBLE EXACTNESSE according to it Now whether the Disciples sitting down in Church bodies before Baptisme be not directly contrary to the pattern and consequently a disorderly practise let the world judge 1. By the Scriptures where we have Christ commanding baptisme presently upon discipling Math. 18.19 which we see the Apostles practised with much faithfulness in the whole story of the Acts to which we have spoken already 2. Where we find the erection of the first famous Gospel Church the manner is thus reported Acts 2.41 1. They gladly received the Word 2. Were baptised And 3. They continued in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking bread and prayer but first you see they were baptised behold then the pattern in the Mount and must not he be next to willingly ignorant that doth not see this that is so plainly written that he that runneth may read it Why then if all other patterns be but seducers and that our duty is to build with all possible exactness according to the first pattern have you not justified our separation from you for resusing to build according to this pattern 2. Let the judgement of the learned Mr. Baxster Saints rest p 179 from Doctor Preston touching the primitive practise be taken This food we call the Eucharist saith Justin Martyr one of the most ancient Fathers from the practise of the primitive Church to which â—o man is admitted but onely he that beleiveth the truth of our doctrine being washed in the laver of Regeneration for remission of sinâ— which washing he expresseth thus Then meaning after faith and prayer they are brought to the Water and are BORN AGAIN OR BAPTISED in the same way as we our selves were born again for they are washed with water In the Name of the Father Son and Spirit But that which is home to my point is that no Disciple touched the Eucharist as he calleth it till first baptised indeed after Baptisme then he sitteth down with the body in full communion but not before 3. As we have the Scriptures of our side and the judgement of the learned on our side that this was the Primitive practise so we had you your self on our side at this point when you writ your letter to Mr. Tho. Goodwin p 7. Covenanting is not lawful before Baptisme is is evident because it is not lawfull for a Church to receive the unbaptised into fellowship with them as Members of that body neither is there example or APPEARANCE of warrant in Scripture for such a thing And at that time you were as confident as Confidence it self could make you Pag. 1. of what you then wrote as you there affirm or if you were not of other things yet of this because you say and that according to truth That there is neither example nor appearance of warrant in Scripture for such a thing Yea in that letter p. 5. Evident it is that those that were added to the Church were baptised before this is affirmed of them So that upon Principles of your own which is that we ought to build with all possible exactness according to the pattern you are condemned 1. By the Scriptures 2. By the learned 3. Out of your own mouth all which speak Baptisme to goe before Church-fellowship and consequently to walk otherwise a disorderly practise answer who can And the truth is if we are not to follow the customes of the Primitive Churches in worship in every thing that we can follow them in with this limitation Positive giving way to Morral which they did under the Law how are they a pattern to us how shall we understand where to follow them and wherein to leave them Upon the whole matter then I conclude that though by faith men become the Sons of God and that Christ owneth all true Beleivers for brethren yet they have not thereby a present immediate right to full communion with the Church simply upon that account because the same God that ordained faith the meanes of adoption hath ordained Baptisme to goe before visible membership into the Church of Christ much more before a constant sitting down in full Church Communion they then that walk otherwise cast off the Rule and so reproach the wisdom of Christ complain of the Rule as imperfect and become Judges of the Law Your fourth Consideration being of one heart and soul with the third I shall have the lesse to say to it it is for substance this THat persons that have fellowship and Communion with God are thereby immediately fittted for communion with the Church without Baptisme otherwise it is not against us This Proposition Mr. Goodwin supposeth proved by the 14. Rom. 1 2 3. Him that is weak in the faith receive you Again let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not the reason why he must be received and not despised is For God hath accepted him But how Mr. Goodwin or any man else can make this follow from thence that therefore all persons that have fellowship with God have a present right to Church communion without Baptisme I understand not For 1. The weak in faith that this Text speaketh of were baptised persons which appeareth by the sixth chapter where he useth their Baptisme as an argument to mortification and a new life That the words in the third verse So many of us is not partitive of the Disciples amongst themselves which Brother Allen hath proved unanswerably from the scope to which Mr. Goodwin hath made no reply and to the further clearing whereof I shall speak something in due place 2. Mr. Goodwin supposeth that the object of receiving is into Church communion when the Text saith Him that is weak in the faith receive you which I humbly apprehend is an ungrounded conjecture because the Apostle writeth to an establish'd Church whereof those weak ones were a part which by vertue of their membership were already in full communion with the Church Besides is it a reasonable thing to imagine that such a thought would enter into the heart of the Church to cast brethren out of fellowship with the Church of Christ that was regularly immembred because they were more self denying than others by eating hearbs which they did unto the Lord Rom. 14.6 Surely the Church wanted no exhortation to that so that this caution therefore serveth some other design as I humbly apprehend namely the common respect of Christians which strong ones can hardly vouchsafe to the weak for as the weak are apt to judge the strong so the strong to slight and despise the weak which is the words of the Text Rom. 14.3 Let
and doth he speak according to the form of wholsome words that saith men may be visible members without it or will Christ hold that man guiltless that striveth to break this chain which he in wisdome hath linked together That the Text speaketh of reall proper Baptisme with water and not of metaphorical it appeareth 1. As for that which some conceive though untruly the Baptisme of the Spirit namely the common fruits of the Spirit such as faith that he spoke of before as that wherein they were one in distinction from Baptisme Secondly As for that which is in truth the Baptisme of the Spirit namely speaking with tongues and the like that cannot be meant because the Baptisme here is affirmed of all the members of the body of whom that cannot be truly said I understand therefore by Baptisme in the fourth of the Epesians the Church Ordinance of Baptisme with water by which the Apostle affirmeth both Jewes and Gentiles put on Christ Gab 3.27 And further how can any one imagine with any shew of reason that in the primitive times there was any such confusion as the sitting down of baptised with unbaptised Disciples Since its plain 1. That Christ commanded their baptisme presently after discipling 2. That the Apostles so practised it as we find in every example 3. Where any backwardness appeared the Servants of God hastened the Disciples to Baptisme Arise Acts 22.16 why tarriest thou saith Ananias to Paul And truly it is a remarkable thing that though Paul had fasted three dayes yet after his discipling he is hastened to Baptisme before he is permitted to eat meat Acts 9.18 4. We read not of one discipled person that ever refused Baptisme 5. Considering the judgement of the Spirit of God concerning those Rabbi men that did refuse Baptisme or Johns Ministry whereof Baptisme was a part which was Luke 7.29 that they rejected the counsell of God against themselves I say considering all this with what is offered in Answer to your third Consideration it is I humbly apprehend one of the most unreasonable apprehensions that ever was founded upon the Scriptures And now let the world judge whose building is Babel whether ours that answereth the Rule to a hairs breadth or yours which is quite besides it and here Sir we challenge you to make out your opinion and practise from the Scripture as we make out ours or else your great words rhetoricall flourishes angry invectives being in a manner the best of your strength wherewith you fight with us must all goe for tubbish and dirt But you say in case you should releive the poor and grant us that the Sun shineth at noon-day that in the Primitive times was no such confusion of baptised Disciples holding communion with unbaptised yet how we know that in case there had been any unbaptised brethren whether the Apostle would have prohibited communion with them as well as with fornicators To this I answer if by communion be meant that full communion which orderly Churches enjoy I make little doubt but he would 1. Because he was so full of this point of advising the Disciples to punctuality in the point of order Col. 2.6 1 Cor. 14.40 2. Because he praised the Church of Corinth for keeping the Ordinances AS he delivered them unto them 1 Cor. 11.2 3. Because order he looked upon as a beautiful thing and rejoyced to behold it in the Church of Colosse Colos 2.5 4. Because he cautioneth the Church to take heed of Philosophers that through vain deceit would bring them to disorder Col. 2.8 5. Because when any disorder grew in the Church he took such care to have them corrected Titus 1.5 6. Because he saith his word was not yea and nay 2 Cor. 1.18 as fallible mens are now being guided in his orders by an infallible spirit So that to ask whether Paul would not have prohibited the Churches to hold communion with unbaptised persons is to ask whether Paul would not pull down with one hand what he buildeth up with another But good Reader Mr. Goodwin asketh us one question and I would ask thee another and it is whether thou dost not think in thy conscience Mr. Goodwin hath the wrong end of the staffe in this controversie and whether the putting this question do not discover it and who it is that buildeth upon light conjectures loose suppositions presumptuous self-imaginations Mr. Goodwin or his poor brethren of the dip as he calleth them Your thirteenth Consideration for substance this BAptisme is at some seasons offensive burthensome and grievous to the flesh and that for Men and Women especially being weak and tender of constitution to submit to it in winter and cold seasons is as expresse a tempting of God as passing through the fire would be To which I answer 1. Experience hath proved this to be the vainest insinuation of all the rest there being not one person that I ever yet knew since we came into this way young or old though baptised in the depth of winter that ever suffered any thing in their health to the value of the least hair of their head yea some that have been aged and weak in body have professed that since the time of their obedience to Christ in this Ordinance of his they have not found those weaknesses that formerly they were troubled with no question but in case of sickness God will have mercy and not sacrifice and God will accept the wills of such for their deed but will that excuse those that are in health or doth Mr. Goodwin think that scores of persons I might say hundreds of aged and weak persons that have been baptised without dammage might have pass'd through the fire with as little hurt or if indeed Mr. Goodwin hath reason to judge the danger to be so great Then 2. Is it not a notable Argument to perswade Mr. Goodwin to cast in his lot with these men because these God knoweth above all the Professors of Religion in the world besides because though miracles are ceased and dead as to others yet it seemeth are alive to them and they daily find the manifestation of Gods out-stretched arm for their preservation that as God took care of the Jewes when they went up to worship at Jerusalem that it should not enter into the heart of their enemy to invade their Land so doth he order the element of water that the worshippers of Christ by being born of it shall have no losse their bodily health shall not be invaded by it But 3. It is very true that the spiritual design of Christ in Baptisme being partly to represent Christs death for â—s and to oblige us to the death of all sin it hath pleased him and that in great wisdome to order the buriall of the body in the element of water that the bitter sufferings of the Lord Jesus for sinners may be remembred by the help of that sensible sign wherein Nature hath a gentle taft of some suffering though
way of God whereby you seek to pervert the strait wayes of the Lord I shall say little but Lord lay not this sin to your charge Suppose they should do so ought the errors of men to be indulged or corrected onely let me mind you of your own words which as at many other times so at this rise up in judgement against you Sir in one of your Letters to Mr. Tho. Goodwin p. 11. you have these words If we judged it any advantage to the truth and cause we maintain against you we durst vye morrall imputations with you and are confident that we could assign and suggest against you both as many and as likely indirect and fleshly grounds for your departure from us as you can against us for keeping our first standing and profession BVT the truth will never be made GREAT by such demonstrations or arguments as these on either side If Mr. Goodwin thinkes the truth will never be made great by such demonstrations as these it is because he judgeth there is no reason why it should and if so as on the one hand it condemneth him for using them so on the other hand it justly begetteth suspition of error concerning that opinion that such Arguments are used to maintain But to proceed you say that as to another end of Baptisme namely the obliging persons to be the loyal Disciples of Christ you say your Infant-sprinkling or baptisme is as operative that way upon the Conscience as out Baptisme is upon ours or would be upon yours if you should come under it Here is two things affirmed but neither of them proved nor indeed is it possible to prove them one is that your Baptisme is as bearing upon your conscience to become Christs Disciples as our Baptisme is upon ours this is a thing which you affirm at randome not knowing how the baptisme of those that are indeed rightly baptised and that take up the wayes of God in uprightness I say how it heareth upon them nor ever are like to doe because your prejudice is grown so great that you know not how to interpret any action they doe charitably nor scarce word they say Another thing you affirm is that your Infant-baptisme is as bearing upon your conscience as ours would be if you came under it and how can you tell that without tryall Truly Sir I should hope that passing under that figure wherein in so fully represented Christs death buriall and resurrection and your death buriall and resurrection with him being approached unto in the Name and fear of God and in obedience to Jesus Christ that it might be a meanes of killing that spirit of cruelty that haunteth your pen in many of your controvert all writings to the dishonour of God and discredit of the opinion you maintain in them the strait wayes of truth as they have no need of the crooked wayes of sin to build them with so they are never like to be built by them But thirdly and lastly You say your Infant-baptisme is as edifying and comforting To which I answer You must first prove it to be of Christs appointing or else you impose upon us to beleive that the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of edification and comfort will take as much pleasure to concurre with mens inventions as his own Ordinances which is quite contrary to the Scripture Mark 7.7 In vain doe they worship me teaching for doctrines the traditions of men But 2. You say your soules have thriven under that Baptisme 'T is probable so but that doth not prove it was by the meanes of Infant-baptisme of which you are ignorant whether ever any such thing was done or no onely that you have heard so if this arguing be like Mr. Goodwin in other things I am much mistaken Christ telleth the Jewes John 649. That their Fathers did eat Mannah in the wilderness and are dead but can any body gather from hence that their death was caused by the eating of Mannah These are your own words p. 44. Of Water dipping And is not your reasoning in this place much after the same manner you were baptised in Infancy and thrive in godlinesse when grown up to yeares of discretion but it no more followeth that your thriving in godlinesse was by the meanes of your Infant-baptisme than that their death was caused by eating of Mannah And is it likely that ignorant worship of God should have any lively operation upon the soul much lesse that it should have as much as that which is done knowingly and voluntarily and belâ—ivingly the soul having communion with God in it And why may you not as well say that hearing Sermons in infancy is as edifying as at age I know not Infants would understand as much of the one as of the other and when grown up it might be told them what was said then as well as now they are told what was done then in Baptisme is the darkness of the darkest night more void of light than this proposition is of truth Reader judge Your seventeenth Consideration for substance this IT doth not appear from Scripture that any Church of Christ or embodied Society of Beleivers was commanded by Christ or the Apostles to be dipt nor yet threatned or reproved for the non-practise of dipping I answer It is very true because the Apostles did not use to spend their breath in vain they would not command that to be done twice which Christ had ordered to be done but once nor to reprove where there was no cause If you would have the Reader feel any weight in this Argument you are bound to find us a Society of embodied Beleivers undipt which is a task too hard for you but yet this light supposition is the very foundation of your Argument which being rotten and sandy the building falleth of it self I need say no more to it Your eighteenth Consideration for substance this THat it is more than any of us will be ever able to prove that there is any precept of Christ whereby it is made sinful for any person whatsoever not to be baptised in one form or other 1. Because it can be no sin to be undipt whilst there is no legal Adminstrator 2. Because the Commission to baptise is given to the Apostles onely 3. Because they were not enjoyned to baptise any person against their wils 4. It is hard to know what is the Antecedent to the Pronoune THEM in the Commission or whom or what persons they are whom our Saviour here authorizeth his Apostles to baptise 5. In the Commission is no Command laid upon any person to be baptised 6. Neither doth it appear from those words teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you that the Apostles did teach Beleivers to require Baptisme of them 7. It appeareth not that the Apostles in the course of their Ministry did ever teach either Church or person to seek baptisme at their hand 8. Though that should be granted yet it followeth not
some others and put it in the Commission by name with Teaching and ordained it in some sence or other to serve the grand interest of remission of sins and salvation Acts 2.38 Mar. 16.16 Mat. 28.19 and gave such a particular charge to have it done with so great solemnity even In the Name of the Father Son and holy Spirit Now what is the foundation of the standing of any of the Ordinances but the unrepealed Word of God which as much respecteth Baptisme as any other therefore disparage Baptisme and disparage all they live they die they stand they â—all together But 2. That to conceive Baptisme out of date tendeth to the destruction of the more spiritual part of Religion namely that which consisteth in a holy frame of heart and life I prove thus If the use of Ordinances be the soules edification then to dis-use them is the way to make havock of all our spiritual treasure but to conceive Baptisme out of date is the way not onely to disuse that Ordinance but all others because they all stand upon the same bottome as I have proved already Now that the use of Ordinances is the edification of the soul appeareth by many Scriptures Ephes 4.11 12 13 14 15 16. and that Baptisme by name hath a rich tendency to edification I have proved already at large by shewing the design of God in it which is to affect the heart by the death buriall and resurrection of Christ in that Ordinance SEEN as well as in the Gospel preached those truths are HEARD with other respects of edification which I shall not now mention But for more full satisfaction at this point let me give Mr. Goodwins judgement concerning the edifying nature of Baptisme p. 26. of his water dipping 1. That it is operative to the engaging the judgement and conscience to become the loyall Disciples of Christ And 2. the building up of the inward man in grace and peace If so how cometh so many suggestions from you rendering the standing of Baptisme doubtful Hath Christ appointed more wayes of teaching the Gospel and building up the inner man in grace than needs and might you not as well think that God intended to make darlings of the Christians in the first times and but step-children of all the rest of Beleivers to the end of the world as to think that he would take from them any part of the meanes of their edification and spiritual comfort and not give them others in the room I conclude then and I hope with evidence clear enough that Baptisme was not onely intended by God for an introductory Ordinance to last for a time but for a staple standing Ordinance with Teaching to the end of the world and that too ordained for the Creatures good and consequently as sinful a thing to neglect it as it would be to neglect ones daily bread If all that hath been said be not enough to satisfie the Reader concerning the standing of Baptisme I referre thee to Mr. Baxster P. 542. Of plan Scripture proof who hath in his book of Baptisme offered ten Arguments all grounded upon the plain Text of Scripture to prove it and in the end concludeth thus I will add no more because it is but on the by and because this is sufficient to those that can judge of Scripture evidence when they hear it and will be ruled by it when they know it and for others it is not many words that can cure their disease And if any body think me over zealous in this matter let them consider the words of Calvin p. 208. of his Commentary upon the Acts though he doth most ingenuously confess that since the beginning the Church did grant liberty to her self to CHANGE the Rites meaning from putting all the body into the water to sprinkling Now the use saith he is to sprinkle the body or the head But though they took the boldness to do that which Calvin justifieth the Church in yet for the continuance of Baptisme it self we ought rather saith he to fight a hundred times to death for the ceremony it self of Baptisme in as much as it was delivered us by Christ then that we should suffer the same to be taken from us But I say that there is the same reason to fight a hundred times to death for the right subject and the right form of administring it 1. Because God is wiser than men and because any body with half an eye may see that the change from dipping to sprinkling frustrateth the great design of Christ in the Ordinance it self as I have shewn already and in a manner maketh it useless and because changing of the Ordinances we find to be a hainous provoking thing to God of old Isaiah 24.5 The earth mourneth and fadeth away the earth also is defiled with the Inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Lawes CHANGED the Ordinance Mark not for a totall laying aside of them onely but for transgressing the rule and changing them yea the 29.16 Mark how hainously God taketh the wise mens turning things upside down I say mark all yee wise men and consider Surely your TVRNING things upside down shall be esteemed as the Potters clay yea he threateneth at the 14. verse for this very reason that their FEAR that is their worship was taught after the precepts of men The WISDOME of their WISE men should perish and the understanding of the prudent should be hid And if any one ask why God was so severe upon this account the conclusion of the 16. verse telleth all Shall the thing framed say of him that framed it HE HAD NO UNDERSTANDING This then is the account God maketh of mens changing the Ordinances that it is a reflexion upon God as if he wanted understanding changing Gods Lawes is no other but a charging God with that weakness which poor fallible men are subject unto which maketh them many times upon experience to change theirs Come close then oh world and discern the difference between us and our adversaries and judge whether our brethren that hate us and cast out our name as evill have any just ground for what they doe the difference is easily seen they have changed the great Ordinance of Baptisme thou seest Calvin honestly confesseth it whereas we think Christ wiser than Calvin or the Church he speaketh of and have we not reason for it and that instead of changing his Laws it becometh us to be humbly obedient to his Lawes and do not we do well in it They think they have mended the Ordinances we think they have spoiled them and do plainly see the ground of their first tampering with them was pomp profit and ease and that it is our duty Jude the 3. on Christs behalf to endeavour with all our might the recovery of them to their primitive purity As I have given thee good Reader the judgement of Calvin as to the form of baptising of old so take his words about the subject p.
faith in Christ to be true by this that they were not ashamed to put on Christ to bear his Name publickly whatever it should cost them And then 2. Whereas he saith AS MANY OF YOU as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ They and onely they that were baptised into Christ were judged by the Churches as persons that had put on Christ in distinction from Moses and that had now embraced the Religion of the Lord Jesus And although it be very true that beleiving persons are not in so-good a way of perfecting by the gifts of Christs pastors and Teachers out of Churches as in Churches yet that will not justifie the Church in breaking any of Christs rules for their admission their suffering is through their own fault the mouth of God being open and his heart enlarged towards them And thus good Reader how easily maist thou see that the Scriptures complain of the yoak wherein Mr. Goodwin forceth them to draw Your two and twentieth Consideration hath many parts and for substance thus FIrst we understand by books and writings of such authority and credit that we have no ground as all to question their truth that the generation of men whose judgements have gone wandring after dipping and re baptising have from the very first originall and spring of them since the late reformation been very turbulent and trouble some in all places where they have encreased to any numbers considerable and wiser men than I are not a little jealous over the peace of this Nation lest it should suffer as other places have formerly done from the tumultuous and domineering spirit of this sort of men so numerously prevailing as they doe There is a strong tide of report both from Ireland and Scotland that as farre as the interest and power so far the insolency also and importune haughtiness of that generation we speak of extendeth in both these Nations and that all persons of what integrity or worth soever who are not enlightned with their darkness about their dipping are trodden under foot like unsavoury Salt and judged unmeet for any place of trust or power with them being allowed onely the preferments of drawing water and hewing wood One of this faction or party in England and he no small beggar neither speaking of a person who though not of his judgement about the necessity of dipping yet otherwise a man that had very well deserved of that way in severall respects yet speaking of this person he said in the presence of several persons of quality that He deserved to be hanged an Aphorisme consonant to a latter saying of a Preacher of that way about the City who in discourse with a person walking in communion with me about his judgement and being as it seemeth worsted in the skirmish at last recovered the lost ground with this or the like Epiphonema that she might find her Church at Tyburn and the Gallows These words I regard but as muck notwithstanding it may concern others to look after the fire But surely these men when they come into their Kingdome of authority and power will execute judgement without partiality if so then he that deserveth to be hanged must expect no better quarter than that of the halter and if Justice be administred without partiality all that are in the same condemnation of anti-dipping with him may bear him company in the same expectation Before I make particular answer to this Consideration I must say it cannot passe my observation how strangely Mr. Goodwins zeal in opposing us transporteth him how it maketh him forget his old brave sayings wherein he certainly had the Spirit of God with him he once said The truth would never be made great by the suggesting of morral imputations against the enemies of it Ye a in his Cautions for Reformation he beginneth as well he may thus They who intend a reformation according to the Word of God must take heed of admitting humane passions into their consultations For in James his divinity The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God that is saith he MARK subjecteth a wan to an incapability of doing that which is truly agreeable to his will And doth not these words come home to Mr. Goodwin for hath he not left calm reasoning from Scripture ground and betaken himself to wrath and the weapons of reflexion his spirit being as it were of a light fire no marvell then if he manage this controversie upon termes so disagreeable to Gods will and that he come to shake hands with the old enemy of the truth Gangrena in many of his methods and will heaven or earth like of it He once said Gangrena would be found a strumpet of the race and lineage of the great scarlet whore that the vine of the Author was as the vine of Sodome and his grapes grapes of gall his clusters bitter his wine the poyson of dragons and the cruell poyson of aspes And hath not Mr. Goodwin now justified it But if the question be How Mr. Woodwin hath justified Gangrena The answer is by doing himself just as that Author did which hath made some lift up their eyes to heaven and say LORD WHAT IS MAN THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM If the question be wherein it is answered 1. By taking up disparaging reports against his brethren that never did him harm and publishing them to disgrace their religion by This was the great fault of Mr. Edwards for which Mr. Goodwin reproveth him thus p. 4 of Cretensis The form of those accusations Mr. Edwards hath levied against his brethren is much more inexcusable than the matter of them We do not read that either Cham or Doeg though sons of much unworthiness ever traded with Satan for these black commodities or compassed the earth too and fro with their Eves-droppers Agents or Factors to gather up and furnish themselves with the sins or infirmities of the Saints no nor that they ever took up a report into their lip against any man upon either the loose or malitious suggestion of others BVT ONELY mark that RELATED and informed what themselves SAW WITH THEIR OWN EYES and that casually without any waiting the opportunity But Mr. Goodwin hath not onely taken up a report against a man but against many even the generation as he calleth them that he is now writing against 2. He hath not onely taken up these reports into his lip but like Mr. Edwards he hath published them to the world in print to be an everlasting monument of dishonour to them which hainous sin of yours against the royal Law of love will he found agravated by these two notorious circumstances 1. The matter of the story it self being utterly untrue though you did not think so And 2. Against persons many whereof have had honourable thoughts of you and much love for you Secondly To convince you that the same spirit or a worse acted you in writing this book that inspired Mr. Edwards in his Gangrena
in it The substance this 1. That you never heard of any that got any spiritual good by Baptisme 2. But you have known yea you have known some who have lost by it I suppose you mean my self and my Brother and Companion in the Lords work Mr. William Allen with some few others whom you had more cause to take notice of than any others Now Sir having first observed how in this way of arguing you and Gangrena jump P. 22 72 73. of Gangrena They saith Mr. Edwards generally meaning the Independents walk loosely and at large ever what they did before they turned Sectaries and in comparison of the godly Presbyterians I doe not know nor hear of a Sectary in England that is so strict in his life as he was before and as thousands of the Presbyterians are they goe to bowles and other sports on dayes of publick thanksgivings As Mr. JOHN GOODWIN This I premise to shew to your self and confirm the Reader that the same Spirit that ruled in Mr. Edwards in whose strength he strives but in vain to hinder trembling soules from obedience to the truth and to hold them under the dominions of Antichrist The very self same spirit hath filled the hears of Mr. Goodwin out of the abundance whereof he speaketh the same language to fright humble soules from following their dear Lord and Master who saith The sheep meaning his own sheep follow him for they know his voyce and a stranger they will not follow BVT WILL FLEE from him for they know not the voyce of strangers John 10.4.5 But Mr. Goodwin through desire seperateth himself to all wisdome even that of the Prophets enemies Jerem. 18.18 Then said they Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah for the Law shall not perish from the Priest nor counsell from the wise nor the word from the Prophet Come and let us SMITE HIM with the tongue and let us not give heed to his words Judge else by what followeth Many have we known who went into the water Lambs and came out of it WOLVES and TIGERS wany who went in Doves and came out of it SERPENTS as if they had met with the Spirit that ruleth in the air under the water instead of the sweet Spirit of Christ yea we have known some who soon after their dipping have done things so unworthy and unsuteable to their former Genius which if any man had challenged them before their dipping that they would doe after we have reason to judge they would have replied to the challenge as Hazael did to Elisha in somewhat a like case But what is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing 2 King â— 13 That thing was He would rip up the women with child dash their children slay the young men with the sword and set the strong holds of Israel on fire So many sad STORIES they are stories indeed and spectacles wherewith our eyes and eares are filled from time to time put us into some feares least as God in his just though secret judgement giveth Satan a permission to haunt some houses and to misuse and terrifie those that shall lodge in them so he should for causes best known to himself have granted unto this enemy of mankind somewhat a like power ever the opinion and practise of rebaptising Oh unmerciful Pen that nothing will satisfie but the very life of the reputation of those it dealeth against There is this onely difference between you and Mr. Edwards in your war against the truth and people of the most High he was your match in rage and fury but he wanted your keen wit and roaring language to set it off with Mr. Goodwin all men know delighteth in figurative speaking if he be to praise men then he will lift them up to heaven and set them too near the Throne of God if he be set to dispraise them then down he throweth them as farre on the other hand he hath words at will to serve both purposes but surely to hiperbolize in the disparagement of any man much less his brethren let such straines be of what account they will in Rhetorick I am sure they are nought in Christianity they will hardly look that Text in the face Speak evill of no man Titus 3.2 Reader what thinkst thou Or will Mr. Goodwin own these words for words of truth and soberness That we went into the water Lambs and came out such savage beasts as Wolves Tigers Serpents and that since we have done things something like Hazael Who ript up women with child slew the young men with the sword dasht their children and set the strong holds of Israel on fire Is there truth in these words and will not the righteous God of heaven and earth call you to an account for these hard speeches against your intimate friends that was alwayes as tender of your reputation as the apple of their eye were it not well for Mr. Goodwin if it might be truly said of him when he wrote this book that which he mockingly suggesteth of us that we are persons of a maimed fancy would not his guilt be the lesse Honest Reader the sense of guilt breedeth fear and trembling in the soul but on the contrary the conscience of righteousness innocency and uprightness especially where absolutely perfect as inparticular cases men may be as it filleth the soul with courage so it emboldeneth it in the presence both of God and men If our heart condemneth us not saith the Apostle John 1 John 3.21 then have we BOLDNESSE towards God Mark a full testimony of conscience emboldneth the soul before God much more before weak mistaking men Again The righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 28.1 How then shall we hold our peace that can call God to record upon our soules that we know not any one thing we have done that should give Mr. Goodwin any just occasion thus to speak of us so that if ever there were a pack of swelling words of vanity put together they are here that are every jot as vain and empty of truth as they are swelling of poyson insomuch that if I had not had former and long experience of Mr. Goodwins holy bent in his Ministry and conversation excepting the inordinate sharpness of his pen of which I had rather speak God he knoweth a thousand times than of any thing that looketh towards his disparagement But I say if I should judge Mr. Goodwin according to the truth of what he here affirmeth concerning us I should look upon him as a man void of all sense of conscience and fear of God by taking liberty to say any thing to blast his adversary that his luxuriant wit prompted him unto But to answer a little more particulerly what these things are that we have done since our baptisme which maketh you collect our great spiritual loss I blesse God I know not any thing and I am certain no body else doth know any thing that will
Name and wear the livery of their Lord and Master The same Apostle to the same purpose Acts 2 38. Even so did Ananias in respect of Paul ARISE WHY tarriest thou be baptised and wash away thy sins and that before he eat though he had fasted three dayes I remember Sir an observation of your own upon these words both rational and pleasant from hence that Ananias importuneth Paul to baptisme by those words Arise Why Behold saith Mr. Goodwin whosoever dâ—l yeth obedience to any of the Ordinances of the Gospel will never be able to give a reason for it WHY tarriest thou This observation who doth not tast the sweetness and goodness of the truth in it that hath not lost their cast But for those observations you now make of the like places who can cast them but with sorrow of heart or behold them with dry eyes Again as Ananias hastened Paul to Baptisme after faith so did Paul hasten the Jaylour Acts 16 33. And was baptised he and all his mark STâ—A â—WAY even before his eating of meat Paul was more set upon the Lords work than feeding his own belly HEAVENLY SOUL though it was night and he hungry for after they came from baptisme into the house the Jayler set meat before them yet he first mindeth his Lords work like Christ John 4. who whilst the woman of Sâ—mâ—â—â—a was present to preach too the Disciples would not so much as offer him meat but when she was gone the Text saith IN THE MEAN WHILE the Disciples said Master eat verse 31. but his content was so great â—n feeding soules that he fed upon that as other men did upon meat and drink verse 32. I have meat to eat that ye know not off But 3. To discover Mr. Goodwins great mistake of this Text consider this if Phillip should have preach'd Baptisme as an indifferent thing would it not have been to disparage the wisdome of Christ in ordaining it who not onely commanded it but picked it out of all the rest of the Ordinances to mention it by name with Teaching in the Commission Mat. 28 19. And 2 commanding it to be done with so great solemnity Acts 2 3â— Mar. 16.16 and ordering the Apostles to propound it wâ—th Repentance and Faith in order to remission of sins and salvation having first been baptised himself to fultil all righteousness If Phillip after all this should have preached 〈◊〉 as an indifferent thing would it not have been a great disparagement to the wisdome of Christ in thus instituting it and thus gracing it for what would the import of such a carriage have been but that Christ repented of instituting it that he had over shot himself in it as men use to doe and that experience proved it to be of no moment Confider and judge But fourthly from the Text it self it appeareth clearly enough that Phillip had other thoughts of Baptisme than as a thing indifferent by the high termes he putteth upon it for upon the question put on the Eunuchs part what hindred that he might not be baptised Phillip answereth If thou beleivest 2. With thy HEART 3. With ALL thy heart thou mayest should Phillip have propounded it as a thing indifferent THAT would have spoken it a matter of small moment to the Creature But it is plain he putteth high termes upon it for if he did not beleive and that with ALL the heart it would hinder and stop his proceedings to that Ordinance and therefore an unreasonable thing to imagine him propounding it as a matter of indifferency for doth not all men judge it a senseless thing for any man to put high and extraordinary termes upon a poor and mean commodity or doth so doing unbecome men and can any body judge it becomming the wisdome of the Spirit of God The truth is those words THOU MAYEST following those words If thou beleivest with all thy heart in answer to the Eunuchs question What hindreth being understood as Mr. Goodwin would have them that is that he might if he would or might refuse without sin would render his Answer to have no more savour than is in the white of an Egg because that sense of them is a plain contradiction to the high termes he putteth upon it Besides at the 12. verse in this 8. chapter of the Acts it appeareth Phillip was very chary of the Ordinance of Baptisme mark BUT WHEN THEY BELEIVED Phillip preaching the things concerning the Kingdome of God and the Name of Jesus Christ they were baptised both men and women BUT WHEN THEY BELEIVED not before the truth is not any one of the Apostles or Administrators of the Ordinances shewed a more tender spirit of the honour of Baptisme than Phillip most unlike therefore was he by those words THOU MAYEST to mean he might or he might not 5. Phillip insisting upon the doctrine of Baptisme as well as other doctrines of Christ at that time to the Eunuch when he had but a little time to instruct him in in all is that which mightily reproveth that conceit that by those words THOU MAYEST should be meant thou mayest or thou mayest chuse can any man imagine that Phillip should spend any part of his little time with him in the discourse of that which he might neglect without sin or dammage It seemeth Phillip opened the doctrine of Baptisme to him as well as other things and that he understood it not onely as his duty but a priviledge not to be admitted to absolutely but conditionally why else should he say WHAT HINDRETH Doth not that imply that he thought something might and withall doubted his own fitness which made him put the question But if any object that it appeareth not that Phillip insisted at all on Baptisme I confess it is not said in words at length that he did But 1. We find the question put on the Eunuchs part upon his converse with Phillip 2. We read of no other that instructed him in Christiaanity And 3. It was the manner of the Apostles to preach Faith and Baptisme together being the beginning doctrines of Christ and belonging to the foundation of a Christian man Heb. 6.2 Thus did this Phillip unto the Samaritans in the beginning of this 8. of the Acts we read onely of his preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God there is no mention made of his preaching of Baptisme by Name but no body will be so brutish as to imagine that Phillip would baptise them before he instructed them concerning the nature use and ends of Baptisme because then they could not worship God in spirit but ignorantly and carnally and where then would the difference be between the worshippers under the Law and under the Gospel herein lay a main part of the reformation by Christ that he rendereth his worshippers more spiritual than under the Law 'T is such worshippers that he seeketh John 4. In a word the Apostles admission and the Beleivers submission to Baptisme doth imply their being
in his demonstration and consequently to loose his Argument so that parting the Disciples amongst themselves can never be the design of the Spirit in those words AS MANY AS 2. To confirme the Reader therein I referre thee to that proof we have made in answer to Mr Goodwins third Consideration by which it fully appeareth that there was no such thing in those dayes as Church-fellowship before Baptisme where I hope thou wilt have full satisfaction as in divers other places of this Book 3. Consider this the same persons that in the 27. verse are noted under the words As many As in the 28. verse are called ALL as well as in the 26. verse for YE are ALL one in Christ Jesus that the object of the word YE is not a part of the Churches but the whole as well in the 28. verse as in the 26. there is no question because there is nothing affirmed between to enforce nay not to invite to a restrain'd understanding them But if any one ask what the reason should be that the Apostle chuseth such words as these which for the most part are partitive and yet by them intend all and every individuall I answer For variety the scope and context necessitating them to be understood universally yea the word MANY is upon that account as I apprehend often put in Scripture for ALL as in the 9. Hebr. 28. He was once offered to bear the sins of many Now the 1 Timot. 2.6 saith He gave himself a ransome for ALL and Mr. Goodwin understandeth the word ALL largely as well he may So in the 5. Romans 15. If through the offence of one many be dead but by the 12. verse it appeareth by this word MANY he meaneth the whole posterity of Adam for he saith Death passed upon ALL men Now the words As many As served the Apostles design in this place with as much advantage every jot as the word All would do There being two sorts of persons become proselites to Christian Religion namely Jewes and Gentiles and the Gentiles being apt to think that they should not be the children of God upon so good termes as the Jewes because of the high respect God bear from the beginning to the Jewes more than the Gentiles and that therefore onely so many of the Church as were Jewes should become heires of that priviledge through beleiving the Apostle for their comfort doth assure them that not onely so many of the Church as were Jewes became the Sons of God by faith and put on Christ by Baptisme but AS MANY as were baptised into Christ though they were never so many and of what rank sex condition soever whether they were Jewes or whether they were Gentiles and though they were like the starres in the skie for multitude they had all put on Christ and were all members of the same body according to the next words verse 20. There is neither Jew nor Greek nor bond nor free nor male nor female but ALL one in Christ Jesus So that there is a strain of Elegancy in the Apostles varying the word All to As many As so farre are they from necessitating us to understand them parting the Disciples amongst themselves So I have done with the Scriptures which Mr. Goodwin useth to overthrow my Brother Allens Arguments levied to prove the unlawfulness of mixt communion of baptised and unbaptised persons in Church-fellowship besides these eight I doe not find any he useth to found any Argument on to answer him if then it appear that the Scriptures Mr. Goodwin buildeth on like not the service but in truth bitterly complain of it and whether they doe not so I referre to the judgement of the judicious Reader and let him judge of Mr. Goodwins whole building accordingly And whether Mr. Goodwin find that heaving at my Brother Allens Answer to his fourty Queries be but like the heaving at a feather P. 55. Of Water dip which he saith is too childish a posture for a man or rather whether the truth in it be not like a mountain rather which the greatest Giant heaving at though Mr. Goodwin himself cannot make to stir And now let all the world judge between us and Mr. Goodwin 1. Whether we are as lie representeth us Persons of a maimed fancy P. 4. Of Water dip having our reasons judgements and understandings stupified distraught and confounded that all reason opposing us is a Barbarian to us that common sense is a mystery in accessible to our understandings men of sound intellectuals are as men that speak to us in a strange tongue P. 41 42. that if they speak any thing against our way we know not valleys from hills nor hills from valleys rivers from trees trees from rivers halfes from wholes nor wholes from halfes precepts from promises nor promises from precepts ceremony from substance nor substance from ceremony every distinction that attempteth to shew us the error of our way Ipso facto becometh a Chaos and confusion On the other hand for the maintenance and defence of our way the shadowes of mountains seem valiant and arm'd men stubble and rotten wood are turned into weapons of steel and iron before us letter becometh spirit face becometh heart promise becometh precept ceremony becometh substance Apostles become ordinary men and women disputables become demonstrations and peradventures become all Yeas and Amens in respect of these marvellous and sad distempers in our fancies and understandings to reason with us about our way or to endeavour our conviction seldome turneth to any better account than a beating of the air or their Diogenes his begging applications to the statues of men 2. Whether these expressions may not be justly numbred amongst those cruel mockings which the cruel persecutors of old tried the worthies of the Lord with Hebr. 11.36 even those of whom the world was not worthy 3. Whether such contemptuous revilings be not the way to harden fallen persons in their sin there being no sign of charity in them but hatred rather than recover them and as directly contrary to the rule as flesh is to spirit 2 Timothy 2.24 And the Servant of the Lord MUST NOT STRIVE but be GENTLE TO ALL MEN apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devill So also Galations 6.1 If a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESSE considering thy self least thou also be tempted 4. Whether these expressions are not directly contrary to the advice of the Spirit of God in these Scriptures following Phillip 2.3 In lowliness of mind let each esteem other BETTER than themselves Romans 12.9 In honour preferring one another Titus 3.2 Speak evill of no man Colos 3.12 Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness