his season Why not here he shall baptize for hee doth baptize that is hath this worke or office to baptize with the spirit Besides John 1.33 yee have it in the Present Tense affirmed of Christ This is he that Baptizeth with the holy Ghost Ob. But then it is told us out of Acts 1.4 5. he commanded them they should waite for the promise of the Father For John Baptized with water but yee shall be baptized with the holy Ghost not many dayes hence according to what John sayes of himselfe I Baptize you with water but hee shall Baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire Therefore Johns baptisme was the baptisme of water and Christs the baptisme of the spirit and so not one but severall baptismes Answ Answer I doe not speake still of the efficacy of baptisme but of the Ceremony or Element It is certaine that here is not a distinction of baptismes but of Baptizers I Baptize you with water but he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost Therefore when John sayes I Baptize you with water hee doth not handle that point what his baptisme was but what hee was himselfe to the end that they should not attribute to him that which was proper to Christ for so ye have it Matth. 3.11 Hee that commeth after me is mightier then I whose shooes I am not worthy to loose he shall Baptize with the holy Ghost and with fire So here yee have what is the vertue of John or of the Minister in baptizing and what of Christ This distinction is common to the New Testament and runnes through the whole course of the Ministry I have planted Apollo watered but God gave the increase No Minister ever gave the holy Ghost ever baptized with the holy Ghost and fire that was Christs part So as when ever baptisme is administred the Power and Ministry are to bee distinguished The Power is Christs the Ministry Johns or any other man qualifyed for it The baptisme of the Minister is externall conferring but the signe that of Christ internall conferring the thing signifyed and because John who had so great an opinion amongst the Apostles was to decrease and our Lord to increase therefore Christ instances in him in this place of the first of the Acts in opposition to his part in the Ministry But last of all I aske any man whether men were not baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire before that time for first the Apostles were baptized with the holy Ghost before that the Saints and Beleevers were sanctifyed and regenerated and made holy before then which is all these men would have to be that Ordinance so as things were not annexed and affixed to that famous sending downe of the holy Ghost in the shape of fiery tongues but was before long during all the course of the administration of baptisme though perhaps not with that efficacy and fulnesse and glory as after for so it is true that the holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet gloryfied So as clearly this place of the Acts holds out the excellency and glory of Christs administration in respect of all under-Ministers and particularly in respect of John who being the first Minister of baptisme had a peculiar honour from it and the whole Church here was spiritually baptized as in a type the Apostles receiving eminently the holy Ghost not for themselves but for the Churches This extraordinary administration Luke as Calvin observes improperly that is out of the ordinary signification calls Baptisme for baptisme properly signifies Immersion to the end that the Antithesis and opposition between Christ and John might bee intyre by the same reason as Paul after hee had mentioned the Law of workes to the end that the Antithesis might lye on both sides faith The Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 After this wee have a new Interpretation framed upon Acts 19. where we are made beleeve that those twelve Disciples found to be baptized onely by Johns baptisme were baptized againe in the name of Christ and this baptisme into the Name of Christ he sayes was not the repeating of any water but meerely the gift of the spirit This as the rest is boldly affirmed but where lyes his proofe or how doth hee make it out It is most probable as it hath beene taken by all to this day that if this were another baptisme or a repetition of baptisme it was by water as well as in severall other places in the Acts where any are sayd to be baptized hee himselfe understands it by water why not as well here But truely I am of opinion with those that thinke that Paul did not here command any to bee baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus which were already baptized with the baptisme of John but rather taught that those who had received Johns baptisme were rightly baptized into Christ and therefore had no need of any new or other baptisme It is very probable notwithstanding that from this place did either arise or was confirmed in many the opinion of the difference of these two baptismes of John and Christ though as it is now stated to us by our namelesse Author hee for any thing I shall say to the contrary shall have the honour of the novelty of it But to consider the place a little particularly Paul being come to Ephesus found certaine Disciples which afterwards Ver. 7. are sayd to be about twelve he presently askes them if they had received the holy Ghost since they beleeved The sense must certainely be as it will appeare by what followes have yee received the gifts of the holy Ghost which ordinarily accompanied faith and baptisme in those dayes according to that in the Acts Repent and bee Baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus which our Author will not deny I suppose to bee administred by water and yee shall receive the gifts of the holy Ghost and according to that Gal. 3.2 Received you the spirit by the workes of the Law or by the bearing of Faith also Verse 5. He that ministreth the spirit and worketh miracles among you where they are joyned together as things of a kind Besides being Christians and having beleeved they could not want the spirit of God regenerating and sanctifying for no man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the spirit therefore it must needs be meant of those extraordinary gifts which were peculiar to those times as an effect of beleeving and baptizing and yet not common to all They answered simply as the thing was and particularly to his question that they had not so much as heard whether there were an holy Ghost or no. The sense whereof must cleerly be that they were ignorant of the holy Ghost or knew not whether there were any such thing or no to wit as he was then visible or exhibited to beleevers in miraculous and extraordinary gifts for else being Christians they felt the power of the holy Ghost and being Jewes as they were they knew that there was a holy Ghost by many Scriptures Psal 51. Lord take not thy holy spirit from
their argumentations and parrallells who like Orators that manage an ill cause make least stay in the most important places And here I should put an end to this discourse of The Vindication of Gospell Ordinances having shown by generall grounds of Scripture the reason of the thing it selfe and a particular instance in a leading and prime Ordinance to wit baptisme that there are certaine formes and institutions remaining with us suited and proportioned to our state which are pledges of Christs love to us tracts and wayes wherein hee delights to meet us and meanes by which he conveys himselfe to us in this state of our Pilgrimage Whilst we are at home in the body and absent from the Lord whilst we live by Faith and not by sight whilst wee see in a glasse darkly and not face to face whilst wee know in part and not as we are knowne But least any should thinke that this tends to an undervaluing of the spirit of God or a lessening of his Empire though no such thing but the contrary is to be gathered out of all the premises yet I am not unwilling by way of Corollary and conclusion to this discourse to spend a few words particularly upon this subject and to professe before all the World that nothing ought to be so dear to us and so much esteemed and so much sought for by us as the accesses and influences of the holy spirit That it is the spirit that leads us into all truth it is the spirit that quickens the spirit that comforts us without which since our Lord went into Heaven we had been left Orphans and Fatherlesse It is the spirit that searcheth all things the spirit that inables to judge all things the spirit by which wee live in which wee walke when wee walke with God and doe any thing that is agreable to his will it is the spirit that seales us to the day of redemption and witnesseth with our spirits that we are the Sonnes of God It is the spirit that hath done all the wonderfull things which the holy Scriptures record it is the spirit that hath given boldnesse in all ages to doe and to suffer great things for the Name and Testimony of Jesus If I should pursue this Theame at large there would be no end or meane found of the Encomiums and Elogyes of the spirit It is the fellowship therefore and communion of the holy spirit which my soule breaths after and longs for above any thing imaginable But that which I affirme is that the spirit is communicated to us particularly and especially in such Ordinances as we have been speaking of It was the spirit that strove with the old World in the Ministry of Noah a Preacher of righteousnesse and in the administration of the old Covenant the things they were taught and provoked to were things spirituall and they were sayd to have the good spirit of the Lord to instruct them Nehem. 9.10 Which was undoubtedly the reason why the Saints of those times breathed so much after those Ordinances which God had fitted to their present state and capacity as things in which the spirit instructed them and God blest to them to know more of his mind then all the World by any other way or wisedome could doe For the new and better Covenant under which state and condition we live the spirit is conveyed to us by certaine formes and institutions of Gods owne inventing Preaching is a great Ordinance in the hand of God for the conveying of the holy spirit the Galatians received the spirit by the hearing of Faith preached Galat. 3.3 And we know that generally all the great and famous conversions which are seene in the World by which men are sayd to be borne of the spirit are administred by the Preaching of the Gospell in the mouth of the ordinary Ministers and dispensers of it former times for the greater glory of the beginnings of the Gospel had greater Harvests but the way of administration was the same then at one Sermon there were added to the Church three thousand and whilst Peter was Preaching to Cornelius and his friends the holy Ghost fell upon all them that heard the word but the way as I sayd is the same ever since and it pleases God by the foolishnesse of Preaching to save them that beleeve And as the holy Ghost doth preside the Ministry of preaching so the ordinary Officers and Elders of the Church were sayd to be made Overseeers by the holy ghost to feed the Church of God which he had purchased with his own blood Acts 20.28 And for that Ordinance for which wee have more particularly contended Baptisme we are sayd by one spirit to bee all baptized into one body and usually the administration of the spirit accompanyed baptisme either after it as an appendix or before it as a qualification for that Ordinance as I have already shewed That therefore which makes mee contend for the holy Ordinances of God and value them to that height which through the grace of God I do is that inestimable value and esteeme I put upon the holy spirit of God who is pleased to meete us in these tracts and to offer himselfe to us in these administrations But such is the vanity and perversnesse of men that to avoyd errours they runne ever into extremities We see it in civill things those who have found the pressures of the Tyranny of one man thinke themselves never safe till they have cast off all Government and runne willingly into Anarchy or that which is next to that worst Democracy or the Government of the People Whereas in all things especially in things of God and Religion truth and right is that which lyes in the middle as diverse in its owne nature from either extreame as one extreame is from the other It were certainely absurd in nature because it is our spirits that immediatly act our bodyes for us to fall out with our blood as with a grosse and dul substance that we would have nothing to doe with when as our blood is the Vehiculum of our spirits And it is not lesse absurd for us in the present state wherein we are to cry out of Ordinances as of things grosse and disproportionable to a spirituall life and man when God who knowes our temper better then we our selves uses them to convey his spirit by and makes them tracts and wayes wherein he is wont to meet us To Idolize and make a God of Ordinances as if the opus operatum rendred us spirituall and agreeable to God as it hath beene the fault of Christians in many ages so it is the most uncomely and most unsprituall thing that can be but for the avoiding of this folly and fault to fling them all away as things not at all usefull because not suitable to our carnall reasonings about spirituall things or capable of an abuse is an unspiritualnesse and uncomelynesse no lesse great then the former For my part whilst God
of Saintship and altogether unproper and unmeet for that state of growth and perfection which they pretend to have attained unto This wile of the Devill is not by all good men easily and at the first observed not doe they consider that by a shew of rationall and spirituall pretences he deprives them at last of all the Ordinances and Institutions of God that his inspirations and revelations may be in stead of them and he at last may be all in all unto them For I beseech you what else is the effect of those methods in these men in whom he hath gained most upon this way but a forme of unsound words by which evill communication they corrups good manners stuffing their Preachings and Writings with an uncouth and most unsavory gibberish or jergon language which the Scriptures owne not which rationall and truely spirituall men understand not till at last growing bolder in the vanities of their minds and expressions they come to this to which some of them are come to make themselves Christ and God and to stile themselves the Lord of Hosts Blasphemies unheard of in other ages and such as are capable of astonishing the most debauch't and prophane spirits and such as tend not onely to the utter subversion of all Religion but as a necessary consequence of that to the destruction and dissolution of all bands of civill government Notwithstanding the horrour of these things yet I must professe when I thinke seriously of them I cannot but rest satisfied in the wisedome and goodnesse of God to his who by letting them see the miserable consequences and effects of opinions so depraved as the casting aside of all Ordinances of worship and yet of that seeming holinesse and spiritualnesse as the pretence of a more immediate and spirituall converse with God is are bounded and kept in order by these exorbitancies and taught that which the Scripture teacheth frequently that The weaknesse of God is stronger then men and the foolishnesse of God is wiser then men and therefore if any will be wise for all these vanities arise from nothing but from a carnall and vaine Philosophating about spirituall things he must become a foole that hee may be wise Now as to be instrumentall to turne sinners and such as erre from the truth from the errour of their ways is a thing of the greatest concernment and highly acceptable to God so is it no way of more consideration then in such errings and mistakings as are about the fundamentals of Religion and Worship and which are so fertile of ill as having gained once a prevalency and authority there is no stoppe or bounds to any thing which a vaine and carnall heart deluded and imboldened by the Devill shall broach to the World for good Doctrine That which immediately debauches the spirit of men this way is as I said a slighting and undervaluing of the Ordinances of worship and holy Institutions and after that a despising and abhorring of them as things carnall and unbecomming a spirituall and raised state But that which is yet a deeper and more bottome root of this untoward production is Secondly Low and meane thoughts of the holy Scriptures the Word of God or which is as bad and arises from the same root of pride and vanity such a bold and ridiculous allegorizing of them under a colour of going farre enough from the Letter and understanding the mystery of them as they obtrude upon you all the vaine reasonings of a carnall heart and that as the Preachings and Writings of these times will abundantly witnesse with such folly and madnesse as that after that rate a man may not despaire to see the Turkish Alcoran brought out of the New Testament or if there be any greater the greatest absurdities and follies that ever entered into the heart of any ignorant or carnall man since the World stood He therefore that would indeavour the recovery of these men or prevent the fallings and disorders of others in these matters of greatest concernment had need speake something to such errings as are about the Scriptures And First Not to speake if there bee any such of those that question the Divine Authority of Scripture as if it had not God for its Author and Originall that which I shall speake something to is that Opinion which seemes to be received amongst some as if it were a straitning to the spirit of God and indignity offered to it to bring spirituall revelations to the touch-stone and Examen of the Scriptures On the other side to me the Scripture seems amongst others to have tâ—o excellent ends for our advantage the one as other Ordinances of God to be a Medium of his owne setting up and which he delights to use for the conveying of himselfe to our spirits in inlightening and sanctifying us and making us partakers of the Divine nature The other to be a certaine and fixt Standard to which we may bring any thing that is broacht under the name of spirituall truth and may thereby as the Scripture sayes Try the spirits whether they be of God may know the voyce of God from the voyce of the Devill and the voyce of the holy spirit and good Angels from that of Satan even when he transformes himselfe into an Angel of light Nor is this any indignity offered to the spirit of God as is before pretended since he is confined to no Rule but what is of his owne forming If the Scriptures were a rule formed by man or by Angels it were unsufferable to subject the spirit of God to any rule so infinitely below it selfe but All Scripture being of Divine inspiration holy men of God speaking as they were moved by the holy Ghost as it is of great use to us against the wiles of the Devill so it is a particular honour to the spirit of God which by the meanes of such a Standard and rule appeares ever like it selfe that is uniforme and constant and which is a high attribute of God without variablenesse and shadow of changing From this good understanding betweene the spirit of God and the word of God the Scriptures dictated by the same spirit it is that in all matter of faith and worship and all things spirituall the appeale is still to the Scriptures as to the visible and lawfull Judge So Christ convincing the Jewes of their sin of unbeliefe tels them There is one that accuseth them even Moses for he wrote of him John 5.45 And as for the Jewes so for all others our Lord saith That he that rejecteth him and receiveth not his word hath one that judgeth him the Word saith hee that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day So Paul gloryes in this that the Thessalonians received the word spoken by them not as the word of man a thing subject to exceptions and limitations but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh in them that beleeve 1 Thes 2.13 Hence when
greatest concernment as that instanced in here Knowing the Lord that is with a practicall knowledge such as changes the heart and converts is so much the work of God himself and of the holy spirit as of the principall and chiefe agent that the subordinate instruments who contribute under God by the will and institution of God to that work are scarce considerable It is well knowne this being the promise of the New Covenant the time of opening and beginning of which was after the death and resurrection of Christ as Heb. 8. Christ became the mediator of a better Covenant It is knowne I say that in those times in the course of which we live there was the institution of Apostles Prophets Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Ephes 4. and 2 Tim. 4.2 Paul commanded him there To preach the Word and to be instant in season and out of season and Rom. 10. How shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they heare without a preacher so that gifts and Offices and teaching were judged by the holy Ghost extreame necessaries to faith holinesse and the right knowledge of God in Christ This notwithstanding in respect of that great part the holy spirit acts the agency and working of men deserves scarce a thought or mention so as on that consideration it may be sayd not to be And it is not unusuall as elsewhere so in Scripture phrase that that should be affirmed of one and denâ—ed of others which more illustriously or more frequently appeares in that one though in some sort it be common with others It is certaine Isaack loved Jacob and Esau too but because he more loved Esau it s sayd Isaack loved Esau and Rebecca loved Jacob Gen. 25.28 And though Christ loved all the Disciples it is said notwithstanding that John was the Disciple whom Jesus loved But especially that place of Matth. 15. where Christ sayes He was not sent but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel and yet if Christ were not sent as well to the Gentiles as to the Jewes it were little for our comfort The preaching of the Word how necessary soever to the begetting of faith for how can they beleeve in him on whom they have not heard and how can they heare without a Preacher yet how little doth it contribute and how truely may so great an effect be sayd to bee alone from God What can the sound of words doe but strike the eare but it is the unction that must affect the heart 'T is not the noyse of a voice without but something within that produces such great and mighty effects The great weight that turnes the ballance and that ignea vis that fire that inflames the mind and carryes it up to God to move after God to follow God is some greater and higher thing then the voyce of man or sound of words and is nothing else but the unction within us and the voyce of God himselfe In a word it is the effect of that which is here and more particularly in Isaiah promised That they should be all taught of God which place as it is expounded and applyed by our Saviour the best Expositor will give the surest witnesse to the exposition we have given of this The place is John 13.45 It is written in the Prophets they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me Our Saviour seemes to have respect to the place we have been speaking of all this while where God undertakes to do so much as he makes the Ministry of man in comparison nothing or more especially to that place in Isaiah 54.13 where the Prophet speaking of the restauration of the Church affirmes that their Children shall bee taught of God Now when our Saviour comes to apply and improve this passage of the Prophet doth he reject the Ministry of man as a thing of no use altogether carnall and unprofitable Doth he reprobate Preaching Exhortation and Doctrine No such thing He himselfe Preach't that hee was the Messiah that was to come and he sent our Apostles and Disciples to Teach and Baptize promising great rewards to those that shall not onely prophesie but shall receive a Prophet in his Name so farre was hee from abolishing the use of the Ministry or the Agency or assistance of men in that great worke of begetting and improving faith but tells the Jewes to whom he spake and who were offended with him for the meannesse of his birth and condition that the reason why they beleeved not was because they fell not under that great promise To be taught of God That no man could come to him except the Father drew him That teaching of God was especially necessary and that drawing of God that secret language and those invisible Cords without which all the words of man no of the man Jesus would doe no good nor contribute effectually to so great and high an end as comming to Jesus Christ and beleeving in him So as cleerly the use of this and other Scriptures of this kind is farre from excluding the Ministry of man and the use of the Scriptures and other Ordinances which the wisedome of God in the dayes of this new Covenant hath made extreamely necessary and usefull to us but to shew us where we must expect the Energy force and power which as an infusion into these Ordinances must produce these blessed effects and to give us an account of the difference that is found amongst men under the same Ordinances and dispensations that some come to God in Christ and forsake all things for him and others lye still dead in their sinnes for want of this Unction this being taught of God and of this strong and powerfull drawing which our Saviour speaks of in this place Having spoken that which is sufficient to the places last treated on I come now to that which I first propounded out of 2 Pet. 1.19 but this yet wee have gained already if wee assent to the expositions given that the highest teachings we are capable of in this life the teachings of God and of the anointings of the spirit are nothing of Supersedeas to the teachings of others or to our owne reading and meditation in the Word of God So as according to the truth already made out this Scripture will receive the easier accommodation First It is generally believed that those two Epistles were written to the Jewes of whom Peter was more particularly the Minister and the Apostle that this second Epistle was writ to the same persons to whom the first was appeares by the first Verse of the third Chapter This second Epistle beloved I now write unto you c. Now the first Epistle is intituled To the Strangers scattered abroad which James in his inscription calls The twelve Tribes scattered abroad James
Christ would convince the Sadduces of the Resurrection he told them They erred not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Matth. 22.29 and then makes out his assertion by Scripture authority Have yee not read that which was spoken by God unto you And then brings them the very Scripture words I am the God of Abraham c. vers 32. So when Christ would prove himself to be the Messiah he bids them Search the Scriptures John 5.39 You see therefore it is no disparagement to the spirit of God that there is a visible Standard and Rule manifest to all men to which we may have a constant and easie recourse in any doubt or controversie of faith or worship Obj. If any shal object further that though this be not a disparagement or a lessening to the spirit of GOD since the authority of God it selfe and the reason of the thing seems to vindicate it from this Yet the Scriptures are capable of senses and interpretations so various as we see in all experience as it will be difficult to make it a Sandard and Rule of Faith and Worship or a Medium to try the spirits by since it needs the assistance of the spirit to the right interpretation of it selfe Ans I answer that the ignorance or perversnesse of Interpreters can by no meanes take away that Honour from the Scriptures that it should not be the Standard and Rule in things spirituall no more then in civill things the ignorance or peruersenesse of a man in giving the interpretations of the Law should detract from the honour of its being the rule and standard of judging in things civill It is certaine that in respect of the things spoken or in respect of the Speaker the Scripture hath not various and uncertaine senses but it seemes to have so oftentimes in respect of our vanity or ignorance Which leads me into consideration of the second charge I lay to some perverse spirits of these times which by obscure and mysterious Allegories draw a vaile and cast thick Clouds betweene us and the Scriptures and then cry out that they are mysterious obscure darke and hidden but If our Gospel bee hid as the Apostle saith it is hid to them that perish in whom the God of this World hath blinded their eyes Pride or some evill lusting hath blinded their eyes and then they cry out that there is a defect on the part of the object that that is not visible and the way by which they would spiritualize and inlighten it renders it a thousand times darker whilst under a pretence of running far enough from the Letter which they judge carnall and killing they subject it to the vanities and dreamings of every addle head and make the holy Scripture Eccho to the sound that is already in their eares according to that English Proverbe As the foole thinketh so the Bell tincketh But first here they greatly mistake who in alluding to that place of 1 Cor. 3.6 Not of the letter but of the spirit thinke there is an opposition put betwixt the letter of the Gospel and New Testament and the spirituall sense of it for here plainely by Letter is meant the Law and by spirit is meant the Gospel or New Testament in the very letter of it as you have John 1. The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Not as if the Jewes were onely under a literall externall administration which did not affect their spirits God knew how to speake to his in those times but that was not the office of Moses or of the Law which propounded rules of living with promises and threatnings therefore When the Law came sin revived and I dyed saith Paul But the Ministry of the Gospel he cals spirit because the things it declares are quickning enlivening and restoring and such as speaking comparatively also the spirit accompanies much more then it did the Law as being the instrument of the grace of Christ in his Ministry The mistake of this place made Origen first and since very many loose themselves and their auditors in senslesse and idle Allegories supposing that the allegoricall sense was spirituall and the literall killing whereas the literall sense in most scriptures is not onely a spirituall sense but the onely spirituall sense of it and if besides what sense I have given of this place of the Law and the Gospel it reaches further the letter and the spirit is not to be understood of the Exposition of the words but of the fruit and effect of it it then being onely received in the Letter when it affects not the heart nor workes saving changes upon us and then in the spirit when it indeed converts and turnes us and moulds us into that holy frame and forme to which God ordaines his people Now that these expressions of the Spirit and the Letter are meant particularly of the Law and the Gospel appeares evidently in the following verses 7 8 9. For verse 7. speaking of the Letter he calls it The administration of death written and engraven in stones which we know was the Law this hee proves glorious from the glory and shining of Moses countenance In opposition to this he cals the Gospel The ministry of the spirit verse 8. and shews in one point more the excelling glory of this Gospell beyond the Law that it is to abide and remain evermore whereas the other is done away and past verse 10 11. It is true that what the Law is of it self that the Gospel is by accident killing and destructive 2 Corinth 2 16. To the one we are the savour of death unto death c. But though the Gospel be the occasion of damnation to very many notwithstanding it may be called the Spirit or Doctrine of life for as much as God uses it as the instrument or vehiculum of our conversion or new life and that it holds out and offers free reconciliation to us with God whereas the Law taking it simply and alone as it is here taken is the Letter that killeth and the ministry of death prescribing onely an exact rule of life by which comes the knowledge and reviving of sinne which kills without shewing any releife or way to escape And thus have I briefly opened this place which hath been the cause to many of such grosse errings and mistakes But to proceed It is certaine the Scriptures have a plainnesse and easinesse in them to be understood and therefore are said to be A light to our feet and a Lanthorne to our paths and a light shining in a darke place Thy words they give light they give understanding to the simple And if this may be affirmed of the Writings of the Old Testament with much more reason may it be affirmed of those of the New For Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ They had many things formerly in Types and Allegories as things that concerned others more then themselves For it was revealed to them that
1. For the Gentiles were not strangers in those Countreys which Peter mentions but the Jews which dwelt in them So as by the dispersed strangers or the strangers of the dispersion were meant the Jews Peter therefore writing to the Jewes his Countreymen and of whom he was the Apostle exhorts them to constancy in the Faith and profession of the Doctrine delivered to them by the Apostles This hee inforces from an argument of the excellency of that Doctrine the subject of which he calls the power and comming of our Lord Jesus Christ Verse 16. by which he understands his comming in the flesh and putting forth his power for the salvation of his people He further inforces this exhortation from an argument fetcht from the certainety of this Doctrine which had for his author Christ and God and was not cunningly advanced by devised Fables and sophisticall reasons but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty sayes hee Verse 16. and heard also the voyce that came from the excellent glory saying this is my beloved sonne in whom I am well pleased So that as John sayes what wee have heard and seene that declare wee unto you Another argument which he uses to confirme them in this excellent doctrine is the consent of ancient prophesies to the Jews well knowne vers 19. We have also a more sure word of Prophesie Beza translates it Non firmiorem sed firmissimum sermonem propheticum and shewes the parallell of other Scriptures where the Comparative is used for the Superlative But if you read it not most sure but more sure it is in respect of those to whom he writes the Jewes amongst whom the Writings of the Prophets were of the greatest and highest authority Whereunto you doe well that you take heed as to a light shining in a darke place till the day dawne and the day starre arise in your hearts This Doctrine of the Prophets which in Verse 20. he commends from the infallibility of it as having the spirit for its authour is another argument for the asserting and proving of that great truth which he mentions Verse 16. Viz. The comming of our Lord Jesus Christ with power c. For both arguments confirme the same thing this from Prophesie and that from the voice of God to wit That Jesus Christ was the Sonne of God come in the flesh for the saving of the World He tells them therefore they doe well to make use of this head of argument and to attend to it for it is like a light shining in a darke place the propheticall Scripture like a Lanthorne as the word is had a narrow and restrained light and the times before the comming of Christ were times of darknesse whereas the light of the Gospell is more day light like the morning starre that chaseth away darknesse and this was true in the very beginning of the Gospell to those who had received it in the power of it and so yee have it 1 John 2.8 The darknesse is past and the true light now shineth If therefore you attend to the Scripture of the Prophets which had for author not any private or particular spirit but the spirit of God you will have a light to guide you in your darknesse till the day at last appeare and the morning Starre the signe thereof scatter altogether your darknesse that is till the light of the Gospell which hee compares with that of former Prophesies bring a clearnesse and a brightnesse like to day light in stead of the Candle or Torch-light yee enjoyed before so as there shall be no doubt or scruple in you concerning this great mystery of godlinesse asserted by the voice of Heaven and confirmed by propheticall predictions scilicet Christ manifested in the flesh And if you say here that the Jewes to whom hee writ being beleevers were cleare in this point already I answer that it is more then appeares That there was a day light clearnesse yee have it in the 17 Acts 10. That those that received the Word with all readinesse of minde searcht the Scriptures dayly to see whether those things were so And yet as yee may see in a parallell place to this Acts 2.41 They who readily or as it is there gladly received the Word were Baptized which implyed them Beleevers that being the condition of Baptisme So although these Jewes were already Beleevers in Christ as having readily and gladly received the Word yet it would be mightily to their advantage and establishment that they should search the Scriptures and attend to the Writings of the Prophets that so there might a day light clearnesse and assurance concerning matters of this great moment arise in their hearts So as many of the Jews that beleeved amongst which number some of these might be were not come to that clearnesse in beleeving to which the preaching of the Gospell joyned to the search of Scriptures would bring them Nor here doth the Apostle at all give a tearme or period to the searching or attending to the Scripture or written prophesies but shewes the great use of them for the attaining the ends above mentioned Wee know things are preserved by the same way by which they are form'd or procur'd No man will deny me that Timothy had attained a great degree in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ Paul had no man like minded to him who naturally cared for the things of the Lord. A man he was destin'd to great workes by prophesie 1 Tim. 1.18 Gifted also and inabled for his Ministry by prophesie and laying on of hands and instructed in the holy Scriptures from a Child And yet this Timothy forearmed already by Prophesie and gifts and study in the Scriptures is commanded 1 Tim. 4.13 to give attendance to reading and in the 15 Verse he is commanded to meditate upon those things and to be in them and give himselfe wholly to them that his profiting might be evident and appeare to all Nay Paul himselfe who gave the rule of not knowing Christ after the flesh and understood surely the mystery of godlinesse as well as these men in that very place where hee sayes that he is ready to be offered up and that the time of his departure is at hand 2 Tim. 4.6 When having fought a good fight his thoughts runne of Crownes and glory Verse 7 8. commanded Timothy expresly to bring with him when he came the Books which he left at Troas and the parchments That great Apostle was not of these mens minds that it was a carnall and unspirituall thing to read and meditate and use such helps as God who knowes us better then wee doe our selves judges meet for us but is forward and ready himselfe to doe what he exhorts Timothy to to give himselfe to reading and meditation and thinke it no dishonour to use that meanes as well as others And thus have I done with that which I propounded to my selfe to say concerning the Scriptures in order to the discourse I have in hand
were not able to doe Verse 19. For it is written I will destroy the wisedome of the wise c. God hath resolved on this long agoe that by strength no man shall prevaile wise and prudent men in the businesse of Religion shall be no more then others so as you may aske where is the Scribe and disputer of this World either of Jew or Gentile their wisedome is made folly and in those things wherein they have thought to be wise they have shewed themselves the weakest and foolishest of any other Verse 21. For after that in the wisedome of God c. Here hee gives the reason why God hath made the Gospell so opposite and contrary to humane wisedome because that the World in the wisedome of God by wisedome knew not God By the World is meant the whole World consisting of Jews and Gentiles To them both God spake in severall manners in the morall Law and visions and apparitions in the fabrick of Heaven and earth the subordination of all things to their first cause c. But the World by wisedome knew not God in these things in this wise and excellent way suitable to principles in them which they might have improved they knew him not nor glorified him as God though that which was invisible was manifest c. It pleased God or seemed good to God Here the sinne was the abuse of divine wisedome the punishment was the infatuation of humane wisedome so as by the foolishnesse of preaching God would save them that beleeve By that which to carnall and wise men was the foolishest thing in the Word the simple and plaine preaching of a crucified Saviour by that it pleased God to save them that beleeve that denying their owne wisedome and renouncing wholly themselves did beleeve that God could by the most weake foolish and unlikely mediums produce the greatest and most considerable effects From this place thus considered it will evidently follow that worldly humane wisedome in the knowledge and judging of God and heavenly things is a foolish uselesse thing and that the foolishnesse of preaching c. are the meanes of the salvation of the Elect. And that also which I lay especially to the charge of these men That the Gospel and all Gospel Ordinances as Preaching Baptisme c. are to such worldly men I speak of no better then foolishnesse and weaknesse and therefore as poore and weake things are despised by them and cast away No man need seeke farre for reasons why these things should have that Notion and Character in the spirits and reasonings of men not subjected to the spirit Certainely because things indeed spirituall suite with none of their principles they have nothing they can take their measure by a man that would judge of any thing judges by some principles within him But then againe because there is a meanes and lownesse in them which is abominable to carnall wisedome as the washing of Naaman the Leper in Jordan As also because they can see no suitablenesse and correspondence betwene the meanes and the effect as Epicurus disputes against the making of the World where sayes he were the Engines the Ladders what devises to rayse such a mighty building But upon what ever ground this may bee which I purpose not here to inlarge in no man that considers the premises will deny me this That to be scandalized and offended at the Gospel Christ crucified and the Ordinances of Preaching Baptisme the Lords Supper for they hold of the same weaknesse hold out a dying suffering Christ is a signe of a carnall worldly heart But here I must stand the Butt of some Objections which I shall be sure to meet withall and be ingaged to answer certaine demands which these pretended spiritualists will be sure to make to me In the answer and consideration of which that truth which I contend for will I hope be made manifest Object 1 First therefore it will be sayd those men that are prejudiced against Ordinances are not against a crucified Christ Secondly that such seeme to be the most spirituall of any other For the first they must needs be prejudic'd as well against a crucified Christ for it is no more weake and foolish to be baptized in water or breake bread according to the institution then it is to beleeue in a Saviour hanged or crucified Secondly De facto they are so and make the crucifixion of Christ a kind of figurative allegoricall thing which was to make such a representation of Gods mind to us and then to end not a thing induring and remaining they make a kind of notionall thing of all the birth life suffering resurrection and session in Heaven of Christ a thing for weake men and weake times Object 2 Secondly For their seeming to be most spiritual Answ By way of answer to that I would consider that the Apostle in the second of the Collossians seemes to forewarne those to whom he writes of two sorts of errings the one about antiquated formes of worship and Jewish ceremonies which men naturally superstitious and of a more grosse and dull spirit are apt to bee deluded by this hee mentions Verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat and drinke or in respect of an holy day or of the new Moone c. Which are but the shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ Those things which were but shadows and typicall are vanisht at the appearing of the body and substance The other was about such deceptions and delusions as men of more raysed and notionall spirits were in danger of of those hee speakes Ver. 8. Take heed least any man spoyle you through Philosophy and vaine deceit There seemes to have been in those dayes as there are in these certaine spirits who not contented with the meannesse and lownesse of the Doctrine of Christ crucifyed with such Ordinances and administrations as the spirit of God judged proper for the exhibiting and making good to us such a Doctrine would frame a kind of Philosophicall rationall Divinity savouring rather the spirit of Plato and Aristotle then of Jesus Christ and which being full of uncouth and unusuall expressions made the people admire what they understood not and caused that to passe for spirituall though it were but vaine deceit which seemed most remote from the common and usuall though the truest and rightest apprehension I affirme therefore that it is but a carnall spirituallity which these men have and hold out such as Philosophers subtelizing spirituall things with worldly distinctions and notions not holding the head and indeed covering their carnall apprehensions under the name of spirituall for that which a Socinian calls plainely and more honestly Humana ratio that they call the spirit covering it with a fairer name but both the one and the other are transgressours alike both philosophating as wildly the one as the other about spirituall things saving that these latter are worse keeping neither to the forme of wholsome
me also in the 1 Kings 22. Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speake to thee also Isa 11. The spirit of the Lord was upon him So as the sense must needs as I have sayd bee understood of the gifts of the spirit scil to speake with tongues prophecy and the like for they are sayd to receive the holy Ghost which are adorned with any new or extraordinary gift Having received an answer of this question hee presently subjoynes another and askes them Ver. 3. Unto what then they were baptized which follows very pertinently the other for as he tooke it for granted that baptisme immediatly followed beleeving so the administration of spirituall gifts called receiving the holy Ghost or the gifts of the holy Ghost ordinarily accompanyed baptisme sometimes before it as a witnesse they were worthy of baptisme as in Cornelius and his Family Chap. 10. sometimes after baptisme as to the Apostles yea and our Lord himselfe received the holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove immediately after the receit of baptisme Having therefore asked them how they were initiated into Christian Religion that is by whom was that ceremony administred or how or to what purpose were they baptized They answer that they were baptized into Johns baptisme which was proper enough signifying that they in baptisme professed the Doctrine taught by John sealed to them by the administration of that Ordinance but otherwise their progresse was not great as having neither heard Christ himselfe nor his Apostles The like of which was sayd of Apollo that he knew onely the Baptisme of John Chap. 18.25 being instructed or as Beza reads it initiated in the way of the Lord knowing little or nothing more of Christ then what John preached and sealed with his baptisme So as to be baptized into any ones baptisme as in this place into the baptisme of John signifies to professe and by the receiving of baptisme to imbrace the Doctrine which John preached and sealed with that signe the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the finall cause And indeed baptisme seemes to have a threefold signification one proper which signifies immersion or dipping which from the effect is also called ablution or washing The other two translations as when it is taken for powring out the gifts of the holy Ghost or when it is taken for the Doctrine which John delivered with the seale and ceremony accompanying it as when it is sayd that Apollos knew nothing but the baptisme of John for new Doctrines had new Ceremonies accompanying them After this in the next Verses scil 4 5 6. Paul was so farre from bidding them to bee baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus that hee taught them rather that those who had received Johns baptisme were duely baptized into Christ and therefore had no need of a new baptisme but rather as a consequence and due of it might receive the gifts of the holy Ghost For the fourth and fifth Verses are spoken by Paul giving a right account and narrative of the baptisme of John with the ground of it whereas the fourth Verse is commonly taken to be spoken by Paul to those Ephesians but the fifth to bee spoken by Luke shewing what followed the word of Paul whereas it plainely appeares by the Particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are adversative that both those Verses were spoken by Paul Verse 4. Iohn verely baptized c. Verse 5. But when they heard this His vero auditis so as both these expressions were Pauls teaching that those who having heard Iohn had received baptisme were baptized into the Name of Christ that is as before were consecrated or dedicated by baptisme unto Christ Then Verse 6. begins the words of Luke telling the successe of this discourse And when Paul had layd his hands on them c. signifying that Paul did nothing else after he had informed them that they were rightly baptized into the Name of Christ then to lay hands on them upon which followed the gifts of the holy Ghost speaking with tongues and prophesying So as here is nothing of two baptismes but a right explanation of Iohns baptisme to be the Gospel baptisme or baptisme into the Name of Christ Ob. As for that they object that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a transitive and expletive and a note of transition and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expletive Answ The Answer is That it may bee when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precedes not but when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precedes then no wise man will deny it to bee adversative and to correct the other part of the narration as when Mark 14. Truely the Sonne of man goeth as it is written of him But woe to him by whom the Son of man is betrayed No man here will grant that in the first place Christ speaks and in the second Mark Having thus vindicated the Ordinance of Gospel-baptisme from the mistakes and objections against it I might here make an end but that the forementioned namelesse Author takes upon him to answer the objections brought against his novelty severall of which are certaine men of straw set up by himselfe to be the easier by his addresses overthrowne As that by this meanes we are robbed of our Christendome Againe then so many ages have erred also that he is the first man that opposed it Then that Christ justifies and commands water baptisme Iohn 3. Mat. 28. How that place of Matthew which holds out by way of Institution Gospel baptisme is to bee understood I have formerly shewd also what a sympathy correspondency there is between the institution and the practice the one being the Comment upon the other and therefore shall trouble you no further with that which is sufficiently cleared already nor not at all with those petty objections I told you of before which he so easily formes and answers That argument which hee frames against Baptisme from Pauls not being Commissioned for it and thanking God that he had baptized but very few as Crispus and Gaius and the house of Stephanas I have particularly considered and answered already when I gave the exposition of the greatest part of that Chapter scil 1 Cor. 1. out of which it is raysed to which I referre the Reader not affecting needlesse repetitions But one objection would trouble him if he would give it liberty and let it have its scope and himselfe sayes it seemes to be the strongest which is the constant practice of the Apostles in this câ—â—e not onely before Christs baptisme came in 〈◊〉 â—fter as he says as appeares by many places which hee quotes out of the Acts of the Apostles This Objection notwithstanding doth not much trouble him for he answers it easily thus That the Apostles indeed did practice water baptisme but not from Christ but from Iohn whose baptisme they tooke up and an outward