be Crowned so fully a King or a man and woman so fully maried till it be solemnized in the congregation in this sense they say the same that I am proving men must be first Disciples by the professed consent before they are declared such by the seals or publick sacramental solemnization And that onely the professors of saving saith are Disciples may appear by a perusal of the texts of Scripture that use this word and it will not onely by found that this which I maintain is the ordinary use of the word which should make it so also with us but that no Text can be cited where any others are called the Disciples of Christ For the major and minor both observe Piscators definition of baptism on Matth 28. 19. Baptismus est sacrimentum novi testamenti quo homines ad ecclesiam pertinentes ex mandato Christi cultui veri Dei qui est Pater Filius Spiritus sarctus per ministros verbi consecrantur in fide remissionis peccatorum spe vitae aternae confirmantur Baptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament by which those men who belong to the Church by the command of Christ are consecrated to the worship of the true God which is the Father Son and Holy Spirit by the Ministers of the word and are confirmed in the faith of remission of sins and of hope of eternal life And he proveth this description per partes by parts 1. That is a Sacrament 2. That it belongeth to those that pertain to that Church and that onely must be baptized qui ecclesiam fuerit ingressi ac fidem Evangelii prosessi who are entred into the Church and have professed the faith of the Gospel Which he proveth from Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Vult ergo saith he ut prius constet de alicujus fide quam baptizetur unde Act. 8. Philippus Evangelista non prius baptizare voluit eunuchum illum Ethiopem quam is professus esseâ— fidem Christi He wills therefore that his faith be manifested before he be baptized whence Acts. 8. Philip the Evangelist would not baptize the Ethiopian Ennuch before he had professed the faith of Christ Calvin in loc. upon the place saith Baptiâ—â—ri Jubet Christus qui nomen Evangelii dederint sâ—que professi fuerint discipulos partim ut illis baptismus siâ— vitae aeternae tessera coram Deo partim apud homines externum fidei signum quem ad modum gratiam suam Deus hoc sigillo nobis confirmat ita quicunque se ad baptismum offerunt vicissim quasi data syngrapha obstringunt sâ—am sidem Christ commands them to be baptized who have given up their names to the Gospel and have professed to be his Disciples partly that baptism might be to them a sign of eternal life before God partly an external sign of Faith before men and as God confirms his grace to us by this seal so whosoever offers himself to baptism doth reciprocally engage his faith as it were by his bond And after verum quia docere prius jubet Christus quam baptizare tantum credentes ad baptismum vult recipi videtur non rite administrari baptismus nisi fides pracesserit But because Christ commands first to teach then to baptize and onely will have believers to be received to baptism it seems that baptism is not rightly administred unless faith doth precede So that it is Calvins judgement that this very Text which is the most notable copy of the Apostolical commission for the baptizing of the Disciple nations doth appoint that saving faith be professed before men be baptized Paraeus in locum from Mark 16. 16. sheweth that the order is â—redere baptizari to believe and to be baptized I agree with him and the rest in the main that justifying Faith must be an act of the Will embracing or accepting an offered Christ as well as of the understanding and that the profession of it must go before baptism But I shall further prove the minor from some other texts of Scripture viz. that they are not Christs Disciples that profess not saving Faith Luke 14 26 27 33. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brothers and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple This is spoken of true Disciples in heart the first significatum by him that knew the heart From whence I argue thus If none are Christs Disciples in heart nor can be but those that value him above all and will forsake all for him if he require it then none can be his Disciples by external profession but those that profess to esteem him above all and to be willing to forsake all rather then forsake him But the former is proved by the Text the consequence is clear in that the world hath hitherto been acquainted but with two sorts of Christians or Disciples of Christ the one such sincerely in heart and the other such by profession and the later are so called because they profess to be what the other are indeed and what themselves are if they sincerely so profess And it is the same thing professed which makes a man a professed Christian which being found in the heart doth make a man a hearty Christian John 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another Here Christ giveth a certain badge by which his true Disciples may be known If onely those that love one another are true Disciples in heart then onely those that profess to love one another are Disciples by profession Joh. 8. 31. If ye continue in my word then are ye that is you will approve your selves my Disciples indeed If onely those are Christs Disciples indeed as to the heart that have the resolution of perseverance then onely those are his professed Disciples that profess a resolution to persevere But therefore all this I have said is no more then we have ever practised when in baptism we renounced the world flesh and devil and promised to fight under Christs banner to our lives end Saith Piscator in John 13. 35. Si pro Christianis id est Christi Discipulis haberi volumus oportet ut nos mutuo quam ardentisaime diligamus c. If we will be accounted Christians that is Christs Disciples we ought most ardently to love one another Object Any one is a Disciple that is willing to learn of Christ Answ. No such matter in an improper sense you may so call them but not in Scripture sense where 1. A Disciple and a Christian are all one Acts 11. 26. but every one that is willing to learn of Christ is not a Christian therefore not a Disciple 2.
true Evangelical repentance I mean still such as hath a promise of pardon and salvation but all that are baptized must renounce the world flesh and devil of which we shall have occasion to say more anon Argum. 4. They that profess to be buried with Christ in baptism and to rise again do profess true repentance but all that are baptized must profess to be buried with him and rise again therefore c. The major is proved in that to be buried and risen with Christ signifieth A being dead to sin and alive to God and newness of life and it is not onely an engagement of this for the future but a profession also of it at the present This with the rest we thus prove Col. 2. 11 12 13. In whom ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses Where note 1. that this is spoken to all the Church of the Colossians and therefore they are presumed to be what they profess and appear to be 2. That the putting of the body under the water did signifie our burial with Christ and the death and putting off of our sins and though we now use a less quantity of water yet it is to signifie the same thing or else we should destroy the being of the Sacrament So also our rising out of the water signifieth our rising and being quickned together with him 3. Note also that it is not onely an engagement to this hereafter but a thing presently done They were in baptism buried with Christ and put off the body of sin and were quickned with him and this doth all suppose their own present profession to put off the body of sin and their consent to be baptized on these terms The like we have in Rom. 6. chapter 4. 5. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shal be also into the likeness of his resurrection Here also it is evident 1. that all the members of the visible Church are supposed to be baptized into Christ and into his death so to be buried with him by baptism into death planted together into the likeness of his death 2. And that this is not supposed to be onely an engagement for the future but a present entrance into the state of mortification and vivification wherein they were to proceed by newness of life and therefore verse 5 6 7 8 11. they are supposed to have the old man crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed and that henceforth they should not serve sin and that they are so dead as to be freed from sin as to the servitude thereof And that they must reckon themselves dead to sin but alive to God He that readeth the whole chapter with judgement and impartialitie will soon discern that true repentance and abrenuntiation of the service of sin was to be professed by all that would be baptized and that thereupon they sealed their own profession and covenant by the reception of baptism as Christ sealed his part by the actual baptizing them and that hereupon they are by the Apostles all called and supposed such as they professed themselves to be Argum. 5. If it be the very nature of baptism to signifie and seal both the present putting off the body of sin and present putting on Christ then the profession of true repentance must needs precede or concur with baptism but the former is certain of which more anon I conclude then that both Scripture and the very signs themselves and the common consent of the Church do shew that true repentance and present repentance must be professed by all those that we may baptize Pag. 62. Argum. 2. My first Argument was from the necessity of a profession of true repentance The 2. shall be from the equipollent terms a description to the thing described thus We must baptize no man that first professeth not to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost But no Infant professeth to believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost therefore we must baptize no Infant The minor is manifest by sense The major is proved from Matth. 28. 19. where this is made the form of the words in baptism or at least the end and that which we must insist on Calvin on the words yields the Anabaptists that faith is put justly before baptism nam alioqui mendax essot figuraque remissionem peccatorum spiritus donum afferes incredulis qui nondum essent Christi membra For otherwise he should speak false and the figure should bring remission of sins and the gift of the spirit to unbelievers who were not members of Christ And that non abs re Patris Filii spiritus expressa hic fit mentio quia aliter baptismi vis apprehendi non potest quam si a gratuita patris miserecordia initium fiat qui nos per filium sibi reconciliat deinde in medium prodeat Christus ipse cum mortis suae sacrificio tandem accedat etiam Spiritus sanctus per quem nos abluit regenerat denique suorum omnium bonorum consorâ—es faciat Not from the matter here is express mention made of the Father Son and Spirit because otherwise the efficacie of baptism cannot be apprehended but by beginning from the Fathers free mercy who reconciles us to himself by his Son and then that Christ himself come between with the sacrifice of his death and then at last the holy spirit also approach by which he washeth and regenerates us and last of all makes us partakers of his benefits It appeareth by comparing Matth. 28. 19. with Rom. 6. 3. and 1 Cor. 1. 13 14 15. and 10. 2. that to be baptized into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost is not onely to be baptized by their authority but also to be thus initiated into the relation which the Church standeth in to them and to be consecrated to the Father Son and Holy Ghost as Musculus Diodate the assembly of Divines Annotations and the generality of expositors do express See Doctor Hammond Pract. Catech. lib. 6. 5. 2. And especially on Matth. 28. 19. Grotius at large and that it comprehendeth or presupposeth a profession of believing Son and Holy Ghost For no man can devote himself solemnly by our ministry to
quidem hac lege ut nos abdicantes priore vita fiamus in ipso novi homines Quare etiam alibi fideles dicit Christum induere in baptismo Gal. 3. 27. To put on Christ signifies here to be defended in all points with the virtue of the Spirit whereby we may be fit for all parts of holiness for thus the image of God is renewed in us which is the onely ornament of the soul for Paul hath respect to the end of our vocation because God adopting us hath ingraffed us in the body of his onely begotten Son and that upon those terms if we deny our former life and become new men in him wherefore he saith elsewhere that believers put on Christ in baptism And upon Gal. 3. 27. he saith Quum dicit Christum induisse intelligit Christo sic esse infitos ut coram Deo nomen ac personam Christi gerant ac in ipso magis quam in seipsis censcantur When he saith they have put on Christ he understands that they are so ingraffed in Christ that they carry that name and person of Christ in the sight of God and are rather reckoned in him then in themselves And he comes to the objection How all that are baptized can be said to put on Christ when baptism is not effectual with all And he answereth in summe That to Hypocrites it is uneffectual qui nudis signis superbiunt who are proud with the bare signs But then he saith that the Apostle speaking of these non resspicit Dei institutionem sed impiorum corruptelam He hath no respect to Gods institution but to the corruption of the wicked But doubtless it is Gods institution that we must look to in our administration Qaum autem fideles alloquitur qui rite utuntur illa tunc conjungit cum sua veritate quam figurant Quare neque enim fallacem pompam ostentat in sacramentis sed quae externa caremonia figurat exhibet simul reipsa Hinc fit ut veritas secundum Dei institutum conjuncta sit cum signis But when he speaks to believers who use it rightly he joyns them with their truth which they typifie Wherefore for he doth not make shew of a deceitful pomp in the Sacraments but what the external ceremony figures he exhibites together in very deed Hence it comes to pass that truth according to Gods institution is joyned with the signs To the same purpose say other Protestants The next title mentioned in the Argument was Sons of God All that are baptized are the visible or esteemed sons of God by saith in Christ therefore they all profess that justifying faith to which that real or special sonship is promised The antecedent is expressed in Gal. 3 26 27. For ye are all the sons of God by saith in Christ Jesus which he proveth in the next words For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ What Sons of God are in Scripture sense may be seen John 1. 12. Rom. 8. 14 15. Phil. 2. 15. 2 John 3. 1 2. Gal. 4. 1 2 5 7. and Rom. 8. 17. if sons then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ was a good consequence in Pauls judgement In this saith John the children of God are manifest from the children of the Devils Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother 1 John 3. 10. See also John 11. 52. Rom. 8. 16. 21. But Master Blake objecteth Rom. 9. 4. To them pertained the adoption and Gomarus his comment Answ. 1. Gomarus saith not that any were in either sense Sons of God without a profession of a saving faith 2. It was not after their unchurching or unbelief that the adoption is said to pertain to them but before and then let Master Blake prove if he can that any Israelites were adopted without profession of that faith which was then saving I doubt not to prove the contrary anon And 3. If he could prove that such there were among the Israelites yet he will never prove that they are called Sons though the Nation were because the denomination was principally from the true Sons and next from the professed ones None are visibly sons that be not visibly true believers The next title mentioned in the Argument is Abrahams seed All that are baptized are called Abrahams seed Gal. 3. 17 18 19. Therefore they all profess a justifying faith The consequence is proved in that none are Abrahams seed in Gospel sense but those cordially that are true believers and those appearingly that profess true faith This is proved Rom. 9. 4 6 7. Rom. 4. 11. that he might be the Father of all them that believe that righteousness might be imputed to them also this therefore is a justifying faith and the priviledge of the justified that is here mentioned It s added vers 12 13. And the Father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision but also walk in the steps of the faith of our Father Abraham yet uncircumcised For the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or his seed by the Law but by the righteousness of faith Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed even to that also which is of the faith of Abraham the Father of us all So Gal. 3. 6 7 8 9. Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness Know ye therefore that they which are of saith the same are the children of Abraham And the Scripture fore-seeing that God would justifie the Heathen by faith preached before the Gospel to Abraham In thee shall all nations be blessed So then they which be of saith are blessed with faithful Abraham So vers 14. 16. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ and so to those that are in him It is hence most undeniable that all Abrahams true seed are justified and have a justifying faith and all his professing seed do profess this faith The next title mentioned in the Argument is Heirs according to the promise All the baptized were heirs according to the promise None that profess not a justifying faith are heirs according to the promise either really or appearingly therefore none that profess not a justifying faith should be baptized the major is expressed Gal. 3. 17 18 19. the minor of which is all the doubt is proved from Rom. 8. 17. where there is an express concatenation of children heirs of God coheirs with Christ that suffering with him shall be glorified with him Gal. 4. 1 6 7. The heir is Lord of all and a Son and therefore hath the Spirit of