two sences First and that very frequently for the Kingdom of Grace Into which Kingdom there is no entrance but by the dore of Baptism And with submission to the Judgment of the Church I conceive that that passage of our Saviour to Nicodemus where he sayes Job 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God ought primarily at least to be understood in this sence so as that the meaning of the place is this Except a man be baptized he cannot be a Christian or a Member of my Kingdom Secondly For the Kingdom of Glory If Baptism be the dore of admission into the Kingdom of Grace it must be consequently so into the Kingdom of Glory For none can be Members of the Kingdom of Glory hereafter that are not Members of the Kingdom of Grace here What then must we conclude will you say concerning them that die unbaptized Objection Do all such certainly and eternally perish for want of this Sacrament Many Christians in the primitive times that had embraced the faith of Christ died before they could have the opportunity of Baptism which as Ecclesiastical Writers tell us was in those Ages administred but at certain times in the year Many were martyred and so carried to the place of Execution before they could be brought to the Font or place of Baptism tasted of the Baptism of Fire before they could receive that of Water And last of all what must we think of those children that are born of Christian Parents and yet die unbaptized Answer To give a distinct Answer in all these Cases I say first as to them who died before they could have the opportunity of Baptism they were baptized in voto though not de facto They were baptized in vote and desire They were Candidates of Baptism and fit to wear the Livery of the Lamb but died before it was fit for them In this case we are to believe that the will is accepted for the deed and that where there is faith repentance and a desire of Baptism the all-merciful God who tyes no body to impossibilities punishes none for the want of that which they desired but could not have 2. As for those Martyrs that died before they were initiated by this Sacrament it cannot be absolutely said that they died unbaptiz'd for baptismus sanguinis is a real Baptism The want of water which is the ordinary and outward Element of Baptism being supplyed by their own blood and instead of giving up their Names which is the form in their Martyrdom they gave up their lives to Christ and so were safe in that promise of his that sayes Luke 9.24 Whosoever loses his life for my sake shall save it Lastly For Infants that die unbaptized supposing that nothing as is usually held of certainty can be affirmed in this point Yet this we are certain of That the denyal of salvation to such was the first foundation of the Invention of Limbus Puerorum and that St. Austin who sometime denyed salvation in this case was therefore stil'd Durus Pater Infantum And though nothing can be pronounc'd as de side herein yet charity binds us to believe that which in it self is very credible and has been held by the pious and learned of all sides that as in bringing of an Infant to Baptism the Faith of the whole Church and of them that present it is reputed as it 's own so in case it die before it be baptized the vote and desire of the whole Church in general which would have all her Children partakers of that Sacrament and that of the faithfull Parents in special who did desire and design it will be accepted and reputed for Baptism before God Moreover it is no less credibly then piously held in this case That what is wanting of the outward ministry of the Church without the fault of those that want it shall be supplyed out of the infinite Treasury of the merits of our faithful and merciful High-priest 1 Tim. 2.4 who would not that any should perish but that all should be saved The second Miracle here mentioned to have happenned at the Baptism of our Saviour is the Discent of the Holy Ghost In parallel to which I come now to shew That the Holy Ghost is conferr'd in the Sacrament of Baptism and that the Spirit of God moves upon these waters of Regeneration as really as he is said to have done upon those at the Creation Gen. 1.2 For the demonstration of which Truth I shall bring Three proofes beyond all exception 1. Our Saviour promis'd it should be so 2. The Church believes and has ever believ'd that it is so 3. The unquestionable History of the Apostolick times has left it upon record that then de facto it was so 1. Iohn did indeed baptize with water Acts 3.5 but I sayes our Saviour will baptize you with the Holy Ghost And herein consisted the difference betwixt the paptisme of our Saviour and the baptisme of Iohn by Iohns own confession Matth. 3.11 I indeed baptize you with water but he that comes after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire I. According to a usual Hebraism with the Fire of the Holy Ghost or with the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that are quick and powerfull active and operative as Fire The baptisme of Iohn was no more but a Significative Ceremony serving to put them in mind that came to it of the necessity of Repenance and Purity of Life Vers 11. and this was it that Iohn told them where he sayes I indeed baptize you with water unto Repentance Our Saviours baptisme is another thing His baptisme is the Laver of Regeneration Tit. 3.5 as St. Paul calls it wherein they that are washt are Regenerate and born anew of Water and of the Holy Ghost which likewise St. Paul takes notice of in that place as the inseparable concomitant of that baptisme Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but by his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Secondly This Promise of our Saviours whose Promises are all of them Yea and Amen must needes be acknowledg'd a sufficient ground for the Church to build her Faith upon in this point and accordingly our Church does publickly profess her belief of the same in express words to that purpose in the Collect that immediately succeeds the Baptisme Seeing now dearly beloved that this Child is regenerate and grafted into the Body of Christs Church c. And the ancient Fathers speaking upon this point deliver their fence to this purpose We bring no Sanctity or holiness with us into the World nor are we sanctifyed in the Womb But as Christ was sanctifyed at his Conception so we at our Regeneration He was conceiv'd not by Man but by the Holy Ghost and we are not of Blood nor of the will of the Flesh John 1.13 nor of the will of Man but of God The same overshadowing power which formed his Humane nature reformeth ours and the same Spirit assureth
A SERMON Preached in the year of our Lord 1650. January 9. At the Baptizing of THEOPHILUS Then Lord HASTINGS Now EARL of Huntingdon By John Joynes M. A. one of the Prebends of Lincoln and Chaplain to the Right Honorable FERDINANDO then Earl of HUNTINGDON Baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in Nomine Jesu Christi in remissionem peccatorum accipietis donum Spiritus Sancti Act. 2.38 LONDON Printed by T. N. for Edward Man and are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Swan near York-House in the Strand 1668. To the Right Honorable THEOPHILUS Earl of HUNTINGDON Lord Hastings Hungerford Botreaulx Molyns Moules Slomet and Peverell c. MY LORD THis Sermon Preached Sixteen years agoe and upward upon your Lordships Account though then you was not able to take notice of it having layne by me ever since does now by your Lordships particular desire which I shall ever interpret as a Command present it self to your Lordships hands It was my desire being sufficiently conscious to my self of several Reasons for it that it might have enjoyed the same security by enjoying the same obscurity still But since your Lordship will have it otherwise I prefer my obedience to all other considerations and wholly surrender my self and it to your Lordships Disposal hoping that if you shall think it fit as I do not to suffer it to see any further light then that of your Lordships Closet it may appear under the Patronage of your Honours name as a small Testimony of the great obligation I have to your Honour and Noble Family For whose health and happiness daily prayeth as in duty he is bound My Lord Your Honours most obliged and most humble Servant John Joynes Luke 3. Verse 21 22. Now when all the people were baptized it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was opened And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him and a voice came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in Thee I am well pleased SInce it hath pleased Almighty God in his gracious Providence out of his infinite mercy and goodness to this illustrious Family to afford unto them this new and lively hope of repairing their late inestimable loss so as for one and that their onely Son sown in tears to let them reap another in joy And since by the occasion of bringing this Infant to his Holy Baptisme the opportunity of speaking concerning Baptism is so happily put into our hands I conceive I could not make a fitter choice of a Text of Scripture whereupon to ground such a discourse than this which is in short the History of his Baptism who instituted ours The Author of this Sacrament and the Author of our Salvation is the same even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who instituted this holy Sacrament by his precept and sanctifyed it by his Example and hath promised to accompany the right use of it by the internal efficacy and operation of his holy Spirit unto the end of the world Mat. 28.19 20. Go sayes he and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. And loe I am with you alway even to the end of the world Christ assists his own Ordinance with his own spirit and promises here that he will do so to the end of the world which promise he for his part will most surely perform procuring in the Baptism of those that are rightly Baptiz'd the same miraculous and supernatural effects in an internal and visible manner that so visibly and openly happened at his own Baptism namely the opening of Heaven Conferring the Holy Ghost upon the Baptiz'd and entring and enrolling of them as the servants and sons of God For so when he was baptized we read that the Heavens were opened the Holy Ghost came down and a voice from Heaven was heard saying Thou art my beloved Son in Thee I am well pleased How this is performed shall be shown in the latter part of this Discourse when we come to a Review of the Text by way of Application In the mean time we will consider the words themselves as they are here Historically propos'd and laid down before us And so they will engage us to the observation of these three Particulars 1. The Baptism it self of our Saviour 2. The miraculous effects that attended it viz. the opening of Heaven the descent of the Holy Ghost in a visible shape and lastly a Voice from Heaven in an audible manner proclaiming our Saviour to be the Son of God 3. The Instrument or means whereby all this was procured viz. the Prayers of our Saviour Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him and a Voyce came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased First of the Baptism of our Saviour Now when all the people were baptised it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized c. This as all other Actions is to be considered with those circumstances that attend it concerning which the Story takes notice of three Time Company and Place 1. For the time It is said to have been when Jesus began to be about thirty years of age ver 23. so old was our Saviour when he entered upon his Ministerial charge not that his Abilities were not grown up till then for we read that at the age of twelve Luk. 2.46 47. he was able to Dispute with Doctors To answer and oppose too to the Admiration of the Hearers But to teach us that the work of the Ministery is not the work of Infants The ancient Church guided no doubt by this example forbad any to enter upon that calling till Thirty The present canons give a greater liberty but yet set a time before which none shall be capable of holy orders which if it were not done doubtless the general rule of mens judging of their readiness for this calling would be the readiness of their preferment when they enter'd upon it Other things as to the circumstance of Time with reference to this Action being only traditional it will be enough if not too much only to mention not to insist upon them There is an ancient tradition that this Baptism of our Saviour fell out on the sixth of Ianuary on which we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany upon which day likewise as the same tradition sayes the first miracle that our Saviour did of turning Water into Wine did happen What certainty there is of these things I determine not any more than of what St. Austin tells us concerning the day of the work on which it happened we sayes he in a certain Homily of his was on the Lords-Day Quam sace venerabilis est hic Dies c. How sacred and venerable sayes he is this Lords day of ours on
us a remission of our sins which caused in him an exemption from all sin He that was born for us upon his Incarnation is born within us upon our Regeneration Lastly What Christ Promises and the Church Professes to believe we find was really and actually perform'd in the Apostles age in a visible and perceptible manner At the nineteenth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we are told that S. Paul coming upon a time to Ephesus Act. 19.1 2 c. he found there certain Disciples that having onely received the Baptisme of Iohn had not so much as heard whether there was such a thing as the Holy Ghost or no. Hereupon Paul takes them and baptizes them in the Name of the Lord Iesus Ver. 5. And immediately the Holy Ghost fell upon them Ver. 6. and they spake with Tongues and Prophecyed It is said indeed that upon the Imposition of St. Pauls hands they received the Holy Ghost Now whether this Imposition of hands was in or after Baptisme is not certain nor much materiall However it was 't is most certain that upon their being baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus they received the Holy Ghost which before in the Baptisme of Iohn they had not received nor so much as heard of 'T is true those Gifts of the Holy Ghost there mentioned are miraculous and extraordinary which are not to be expected now because the reason why they were then given is now ceased Miracles are Signes and Signes are for unbelievers Those extraordinary dispensations of the Spirit were in order to the Conversion of Nations 1 Cor. 14.22 In converted and setled Churches there is no need of Miracles and therefore there the Gifts of the Holy Ghost and dispensations of the Spirit are not visible and extraordinary or by way of prodigy or ostent but the Spirit in a silent and invisible yet real and effectual manner bloweth where Joh. 3.8 and as it pleaseth As those Disciples at Ephesus did upon their being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus receive the Holy Ghost in Gifts miraculous and extraordinary so doubtless they did receive those more ordinary but more necessary gifts and graces which by the Holy Ghost are poured forth upon all those that really and truly have given up their names to Christ which then as now and now as then are shed forth in Baptism according to what S. Peter undertakes to those new Converts of his Act. 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost The Gifts of the Holy Ghost at that time poured forth together with the water of Baptism besides those extraordinary which onely fell upon some such as Tongues Miracles and Prophecy c. were ordinarily these three Illumination Justification and Sanctification 1. Illumination Heb. 10.32 Call to mind says the Author to the Hebrews the former dayes in which after ye were illuminated ye suffered a great fight of afflictions The Ancients understanding this place of Baptism do sometimes in their writings call Baptism it self by the names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Illumination and the Font 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Illuminatory This no doubt with regard of the Baptized's being then admitted into the knowledg and participation of those mysteries of God in Christ which as the Apostle speaks had been hid from Ages and Generations but now made manifest unto the Saints Col 1.26 The faith and belief of which mysteries was the gift of God by the operation of the Holy Ghost without which we can neither rightly love God or know Christ No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost So the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 12.3 And in another place Rom. 5.5 The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us 2. Justification by which I understand Remission of sins and Reconciliation with God Being justified by faith we have peace with God Now that Baptism is an instrument of conferring Remission of sins is an Article of our Creed Rom. 5.1 I believe one Baptism for the Remission of sins Nicene Creed which as all other Articles ought to be is founded upon Divine Revelation or express authority of Holy Scripture Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for Remission of sins so S. Peter Act. 2.38 And the Counsel that the devout Ananias gave S. Paul as he relates the story himself Act. 22.16 was That he would make haste to be baptized and wash away his sins calling upon the name of the Lord. Upon which grounds we may safely conclude that all those first converts to Christianity who upon the preaching of the Apostles renounc'd their Idolatry and sinful life and embrac'd the faith of Christ did upon their Baptism receive a full free and instantaneous pardon of all their sins and were saved by Baptism as S. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 3.21 or by the washing of Regeneration as S. Paul Tit. 3.5 3. Sanctification For which the place now mentioned in Titus is most express He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewng of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us most abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour And in 1 Cor. 6.11 speaking what kind of persons some of the Corinthians had been before their Baptism he tells them there How by it they were washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God And the Chuch in her preface to the office of Baptism does not onely exhort the Congregation to pray that the Child may be baptiz'd with water and the Holy Ghost but prayes her self in these words We beseech thee for thine infinite mercies that thou wilt mercifully look upon this Child wash him and sanctifie him with the Holy Ghost c. And that when she prayes thus she prayes in faith you may be satisfied from her profession afterward Seeing now dearly beloved that this Child is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christs Church c. Which profession she makes not to men onely but to God and that in a most solemn and publick manner as appears from those words in the Thanksgiving immediately following We yield thee hearty thanks most heavenly Father that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant by thy Holy Spirit c. They then that do not believe that the Holy Ghost does accompany this Ordinance of Christ do not believe as the Church believes nor as the Scripture teaches The descent of the Holy Ghost upon our Saviour in a visible shape was one of those miraculous effects that hapned at his baptism which miraculous discent at that time was no less