to this God puts his Laws in the minds of men and writes them in their hearts Heb. 8.10 which implies that he did not do so under the Old Testament or at least but very little comparatively Again Joh. 4.23 But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth implying that thither-unto or until then they had not so worshipped him or at least that there was but little of that found under the Legal Dispensation And according to the nature of this Ministration children voyd of understanding and faith were capable of holy things as Circumcision and Passover and the like and consequently of the ends and benefits of them in part upon a literal administration and reception of them Rom. 3.1 2. Exod. 12.44 48. But the case is far otherwise now under the Gospel which is the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 It is not the work done but the manner of doing of it in knowledg faith and fear of the Lord that entitles men unto the benefit and blessing of Gospel-Ordinances for so the Apostle affirms concerning Baptism it self 1 Pet. 3.21 when he says that it saves us now as the Ark did some in the days of Noah not saith he the putting away of the filth of the flesh i. e. not by the external letter of the Ordinance but the answer of a good Conscience towards God i.e. when accompanyed with such a frame of mind and conscience as does answer God in his intendments of Grace in that Ordinance So again Col. 2.12 when the Apostle saith that they were buryed with Christ in Baptism and that they were therein also risen with him yet he says that thus they were by the faith of the operation of God who raised Christ from the dead meaning such a faith as was produced by the operation of God or else such as had the operation of God in raising up Christ for its object however it was by the interveniency of this Faith that they became both buryed and risen with Christ in Baptism Now Infants as they are not capable of acting this Faith or making this answer of a good Conscience so they are not capable of those blessings and benefits intended by God in Baptism in as much as he hath suspended the donation thereof upon these in conjunction with Baptism And where any effect depends upon the taking place of more causes then one as it does in the case in hand it is not any one of those causes alone that will produce that effect 3. How ever the ends of Circumcision were attainable though administred to Infants in those respects before mentioned with their fellows yet doubtless the Ordinance it self was so much the less spiritual and so much the more weak and savoring of the Legal Ministration and suited to the then childish condition of the Church because administration thereof was made to Infants This I conceive might easily be made out from several of those rational principles consonant to the Scripture upon and from which I have already evinced Baptism to be more spiritual profitable and edifying when administred to men professing the Faith then when applyed to children Therefore doubtless what the Apostle speaketh of the Commandment in general meaning the Law which as he says made nothing perfect how that it is disanulled for the weakness and unprofitableness of it Hebr. 7.18 19. may well be understood to comprehend even this part of the Commandment also which enjoyned an Ordinance one or more to be administred to little children And how ever such a mean low way and method of enjoying Ordinances as was accommodated to the capacity of babes was not uncomely whilest the Church was in the condition of children as the Apostle speaks Gal. 4.3 no more then it is for a child whilest he is a child to speak and act as a child yet to retain this poor and low and barren way of administring a Gospel-Ordinance to Infants now the Church is raised both in capacity and administration to its manly condition is as incongruous and uncomely as it is for one still to speak and act as a child when he is become a man By this time I hope it appears that there is not the same reason why Baptism administred to Infants should reach the ends thereof as there was why Circumcision though applyed to Infants formerly should attain its end For the nature of the two Ordinances differ the terms of their Administration differ and the respective capacities of the Church then and the Church now differ and according to that rule in Logick Where the things themselves differ there the reasons of those things differ also ARGUM. III. 3. MY next Argument shall be taken from the different nature of the two Ministrations of the Old and New Testaments as rendering Infant-Baptism in that precise consideration of it as applyed to Infants disagreeable to the Ministration of the Gospel but withall more correspondent with the Ministration of the Law Therefore I thus further argue If Infant-Baptism be disagreeable to the Ministration of the New Testament then Infants ought not to be baptized The reason hereof is because so far as either this or any other way or practice does comply with the Legal Ministration and disagree with the Evangelical so far it does cross or oppose the design of God in changing the Ministration of the Law for that of the Gospel and consequently carries in it a spirit of antipathy against the very spirit of the Gospel Ministration This if it were not sufficiently evident of it self might receive abundant confirmation from such Scriptures as these and what might fairly and plainly be deduced from them Joh. 4.23 24. 2 Cor. 3.6 Gal. 4.9 Col. 2.8 17. Heb. 7.18 19. 8.6 7. 9.9 10 11. 10.1 But I presume of every mans plenary satisfaction as to this Therefore I proceed But Infant-Baptism is disagreeable to the Ministration of the New Testament Assumption 1. The truth hereof in the first place is conspicuous and perceptible by what hath been made good in our former Argument For there we proved Baptism as administred to Infants less edifying as to the several ends of it then when administred unto Believers and if less edifying then the more suitable and conformable to the Ministration of the Law which was a Ministration of less light and edification and to the same proportion disproportionate to the Ministration of the Gospel which is a Ministration of a greater light and a more rich edification 2. I might in the second place well suppose Infant-Baptism to savor strongly of the Legal Ministration because the principal Arguments produced in defence thereof are such as do arise out of and are deducted from the example of Infant-Circumcision a principal part of the Legal Ministration and from that analogy and proportion that is supposed to be between them and not only so but likewise because such Arguments and Pleas tend to draw down this
which should have rendred them worthy the name of Christians indeed whilest they have fancied themselves to be such upon account of their Christendome as they call it i. e. that Baptism which they received in their Infancy For whereas they are made to beleeve that they have been Baptized into Christ and thereby received into the number of Christs flock and incorporated into his Church by that Baptism they have hereupon presumed themselves good Christians and in safe condition and have taken it ill that any should make question to the contrary though otherwise they have had little more then this upon which to build such a confidence Whereas otherwise if they could not have attained so much as the name and repute of Christians much lesse the hope of that salvation which belongs to Christians indeed without a manifestation of repentance and faith preceding their Baptism and their reception of Baptism thereupon which yet is the Gospell way there is no doubt but that millions of men and women would have quit themselves upon far better tearms then now they have done in labouring after knowledge in the Gospell and such other qualifications as would have rendred them meet for Baptism and consequently for communion in other ordinances of the Gospell rather then they would have fallen short of the confidence of being Christians and the repute of such and the hope of salvation which belongs to those that are such indeed For mens extream impatience of not being reputed Christians indeed upon account of their Infant Baptism and that slender and contradictory profession which they make argues the name and repute of such and that hope they have thereby to be a thing so dear and precious to them as that they would do much more then now they do for the gaining of it if they had it not upon such easie terms as now they have as men have ordered the matter Secondly From what else then the practise of Infant Baptism hath proceeded the Churching of whole Nations and Kingdomes whilest all Infants in a Nation except such as have been prevented by death have been Baptized and thereby received into the Church and if so why may we not say that the national Church officers the Bishops yea the universal Bishop himself the Pope have grown out of the same root For if there had been no nationall Baptism in this kind as doubtlesse there would not if Baptism had not been to be had but upon Scripture terms viz. apparent repentance and faith preceding then there would have been no nationall Churches that being as to outward form the foundation upon which they are built and door of entrance thereinto and if there had been no nationall Churches there could have been no nationall Church officers and if no nationall Church officers then surely no universall officer over all nationall both Churches and officers So that Infant Baptism may well be conceived to be the cause sine qua non that without which neither the one nor the other of these would have been as now they are And therefore how small a matter or innocent thing soever Infant Baptism seems to most yet who may not see if they will but seriously consider it that the evils and mischiefes that have taken place in the world upon the taking place of nationall Churches and their Officers and the head of them all the Pope may in great part be charged upon that dangerous errour Infant Baptism of which we speake And what a dishonour and reproach hath it been to Jesus Christ that he should be looked upon as head of such Churches and that such vile and unworthy persons should be esteemed members of his body as those nationall Churches and the persons of whom they have mostly consisted have been as if Christ and Belial had been well agreed Besides these Nationall corrupt indeed Antichristian Churches have in great part thrust out the true Churches of Jesus Christ and his discipline and the purity of his administration of Ordinances and have contempered themselves in constitution discipline and worship unto the spirit of this world by which they have for the most part been inspired and acted And therefore however this After Baptism as it is called is charged with rending and tearing of Churches which in true construction is but a rending and dividing of persons from Churches of an undue and humane constitution that they might be gathered into the fold of Christs own making and such a division as this the Gospell hath always wrought in the world in respect of some or other of its truths Luke 12.51 yet indeed and in truth it is not fiduciall Baptism i. e. the Baptizing of men after they beleeve but Infant Baptism that is truely guilty of rending and tearing indeed of dissolving the true Churches of Jesus Christ in the world And therefore in the third place though those Congregationall or Independent Churches as they are called have conceived with themselves that they have provided well against that sin of corrupting and carnalizing Churches of which the Nationall and Parochiall associations are guilty by that separation which they have made from them yet upon due consideration it will be found that they have but only for the present lopt off some evill and corrupt branches but have not at all taken away the root that bears them for their practise of Baptizing their Infants and thereupon imbodying them with themselves will within the space and compasse of lesse then an age as is more then probable render these Churches also much-what as carnall as the Parochiall and Nationall are For whatsoever children are whilest but Infants during which time I cannot but hold their condition good and safe God-wards the Scriptures favourable aspect that wayes considered yet when they come to years of discretion they so corrupt themselves with actuall sin even the children of good men as well as bad as that that saying of our Saviour must take place concerning them Joh. 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdome of God And without controversie those who in reason cannot on this account be judged in a capacity to see the Kingdome of God cannot in reason be judged in a capacity to have communion with God and with his Saints in all the ordinances of God And whether it be not very rare for persons to be as early in their repentance and faith as in their actuall sinning which yet hath no promise of pardon without an actuall turning unto God I leave to themselves to consider whose experience and observation I doubt not will incline them to conclude it so to be And therefore it cannot be in all probability but that such Churches if they should continue for the space of an age in that way in which they now are they must of necessity consist in great part of carnall and unregenerate persons as the parochiall Churches do If any shall conceive this a convenient remedy against this evill viz. to Excommunicate children
Infants Circumcision 3. Another thing by which it may appear that Infant-Baptism is not agreeable to the Gospel-Ministration is in that it differs from it in this property of it viz. as it is a Ministration of the Spirit for so it 's called 2 Cor. 3.6 It 's the Ministration of the Spirit in two respects 1. Because in and by this Ministration the Spirit is given unto men Galat. 3.2 5. 2. Because the worship and service which God receives from men under it is or ought to be more spiritual then that was under the Law in both which respects Infant-Baptism will be found disagreeable to it 1. That Baptism as an Ordinance of the New Testament and part of the Gospel Ministration when duly administred and received does contribute towards their receiving of the Spirit in respect of a greater presence and operation thereof then till then ordinarily hath been enjoyed by them who are thus baptized may appear from the promise of God made in that behalf Acts 2.38 Then Peter said unto them 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 c. And that this was not particular and peculiar to those persons unto whom Peter then spake these words but that the same promise is made to all in all ages that shall repent and be baptized is evident by that which follows in the next Verse whereby the Apostle doth assure them of the remission of their sins and their reception of the Holy Ghost in case they did repent and were baptized upon this ground because the promise of God to wit upon the terms before mentioned was made to them and to their children and not to them only but also to those afar off viz. in respect of nation and generation even as many of them or their children or others afar off as whom the Lord our God should so call viz. by Repentance and Baptism And it is very like that it is because of that proximity or neerness of relation that is between this Ordinance of Baptism by water and this Baptism of the Spirit that mens being born of water and of the Spirit Joh. 3.5 and the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost are coupled together in Scripture Tit. 3.5 1 Cor. 6.11 And it is not unlike neither but that the Spirits descending upon Christ immediately upon his being baptized Mat. 3.16 might have this instruction in it to teach all those that should regularly be baptized with water as he was to expect a greater measure and presence of the Spirit then before had been vouchsafed to them But now that it is not reasonable to expect that any such effect should be produced by Infants being baptized is evident upon this ground because the gift of the Spirit is still made in Scripture to follow the act of mens beleving the Gospel of which act Infants are uncapable Joh. 7.39 Acts 15.7 8. 19.2 Gal. 3.14 Ephes 1.13 And therefore when I affirm as before That the gift of the Spirit or some greater measure of the Spirit is promised upon Baptism duly received I would not be understood as if I meant that this promise is made to any meerly and barely upon their being baptized but to their Baptism in conjunction with their believing and repenting for so it is in the forecited place Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized c. and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost The promise of the Spirit is not made either to Repentance or Baptism singly but to both in conjunction So that although Baptism be to be received with an eye to the promise of the Spirit and under an expectation of a greater presence thereof yet by such only who are under that qualification of believing for where things are promised upon several conditions or upon condition of several things in conjunction it is not the performance of one of those conditions alone that can put a man into a due and well-grounded expectation of the promise That Infants are in no present or actual capacity of believing whil'st such is evident upon this ground because they have not the use and exercise of understanding knowledg or reason without which none can actually believe For faith supposes an actual knowledg in him who does believe of these two things 1. A notion or knowledg of the thing matter record or testimony to be believed and 2. A notion or knowledg of him who is to be believed or who is the Author of that doctrine or saying which is the subject matter of Faith as namely That he is such an one as may be credited in what he says These things are clear from these and the like Scriptures Romans 10.14 17. Joh. 9 3 6. Psal 9.10 2 Tim. 1.12 That Infants have no such knowledg as to make any Judgment upon either person or thing to be believed as touching either the goodness or badness of the one or the probability or improbability of the other appears Deut. 1.39 Your little ones which ye said should be a prey and your children which in that day had no knowledg between good and evil they shall go in c. Isai 7.16 Jonah 4.11 If Infants then be in no present capacity to believe and without believing in no capacity to receive the Spirit it follows That Infants whilest such are in no due capacity of receiving Baptism in order to their receiving the Spirit and consequently that Baptism administred to them is disagreeable to the Gospel-Ministration as it is the Ministration of the Spirit where as the Baptism of Believers is most commodiously suitable thereunto Nor can it reasonably be supposed here that such a notion as this will salve this fore viz. That Baptism may be received by Infants in order to their receiving the Spirit when they come to believe and so their Baptism be agreeable to the Gospel-Ministration as it is a Ministration of the Spirit notwithstanding it be received in Infancy Because Baptism hath no influence this way as it is a work done in which respect only Infants are capable of it but as it is done submitted to and taken up out of faith and in obedience to God as hath been already proved before in part and will be further confirmed afterwards 2. Infant-Baptism is disagreeable to the Gospel-Ministration as it is the Ministration of the Spirit in this respect also viz. as it requires all Worshippers in all acts of worship in all the Ordinances of this Ministration to worship God in Spirit with the mind in faith and fear of the Lord. That these are the terms of the Gospel-Ministration appears from Job 4.23 24. with other places cited formerly upon somewhat like occasion upon which account I may spare further insisting on them here He that makes use of a Gospel-Ordinance and does not discern in some measure the nature tendency and import of it contracts sin and guilt to
as following thereupon as distinctly described And 3. The laying on of Pauls hands and their receiving of the Holy Ghost thereupon as distinctly and differentially described as either of the former The article AND which stands between the Description of their Baptism and reception of the Holy Ghost upon the imposit on of hands being a Note here not of identity or sameness of things but of transition or passing from one thing to another or else of copulation of things really distinct but yet relative 2. This is further discernable by a collation of this passage of Scripture with others where we have the same actions in the same order described as Acts 8.16 17. where speaking of the Holy Ghost the holy Historian saith That he was fallen upon none of them to wit the believing Samaritans onely they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost Whence it plainly appears that the Disciples were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus before they received the Holy Ghost and that they did receive the Holy Ghost after their Baptism upon those prayers that were made for them hands laid on them for that end so that these were not one but two distinct actions Just so in the place under discussion though they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus yet we do not find that they received the Holy Ghost till imposition of hands was super-added thereunto 2. Whereas it is further alledged by Calvin that it is no new thing to express the gift of the visible graces of the Spirit by the name of Baptism though this is indeed true in such a sence as the Scriptures to which he refers intend it yet I do believe it is a new thing and not to be found in Scripture to express the effusion of the Spirit as divided from Baptism by water under the description of being baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus the form here used in the Text under debate For both those places produced Acts 1.5 and 11.16 speak of the Fathers or Christs own immediate act of conferring the Spirit whereas to baptize in the Name of the Lord Jesus plainly and directly notes the Agency or Ministry of man managed in the Name of Christ the one is the Baptism of Christ ministred by himself the other is the Baptism of Christ ministred by man in his Name And so Master Calvin himself at another turn will tell you that When John said I indeed baptize with water but Christ when he shall come shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire he meant not to put difference between the one Baptism and the other but he compares his own person with the Person of Christ saying that himself was a Minister of water but that Christ was the Giver of the Holy Ghost Instit Lib. 4. Cap. 15.5.8 And the baptizing in the Name of the Lord Jesus and the pouring out of the Spirit are not the same individual thing but are clearly differenced and distinguished in respect of time order and action as I noted in part before from Acts 8.16 17. a place in this respect parallel with this in hand So that still you will find that to baptize in the Name of the Lord Jesus signifies such a Baptism as is not without water But some others not liking so well this construction of the words though they be of the same mind as to the impugning of that literall sence of them which I have imbraced have thought of another way to evade this and that is by understanding these words They were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus as the words of Paul recited by Luke declaring the Baptism of these Disciples by Iohn to be the consequent of Johns preaching to them and not the words of Luke as recording their Baptism as consequential to Pauls preaching to them and so the sence they make to be this That these Disciples when they heard John in his preaching say to them that they should believe on him that was to come after him to wit Christ Jesus then they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus by Iohn See the late Annotators upon the place for this But that neither this is the true intent and genuine sence of the words I strongly incl ne to believe upon these grounds 1. Because this Interpretation overthrowes the Grammatical sence of the words and renders them void of Common sence For it is evident that what Paul is here brought in speaking he spake it to these Disciples themselves for here is no mention of any other persons but Paul and them Now then what ever words were spoken by Paul to them must run in the second Person if you will suppose Paul to speak common sence whereas these words They were baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus are spoken in the third Person and therefore cannot be the words of Paul to them but of Luke concerning them For if Paul would have declared such a thing to the Disciples as that they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus upon the hearing of Iohn then his words should have run thus When you heard this you were baptized c. and not as now we have them When they heard this they were baptized c. Besides how uncouth and harsh is it to make the people whom Iohn taught and baptized and those twelve Disciples to be the same persons and to conceive that Paul should tell them what Iohn said to the people when all the while he meant themselves both which you must suppose if you take the words in that sence which I oppose because then the people in the fourth verse unto whom Iohn spake and those in the fifth verse which are said to have heard and to have been baptized must be the same persons and consequently both of them these twelve men because as the Pronouns they and they in the fourth and fifth verse upon that supposition that both are Pauls words cannot be understood but of the same persons so also the same Pronouns they and they which relate both to the persons baptized ver 5. and to the twelve that prophesied after Paul had laid his hands on them vers 6. are undoubtedly meant of the same persons likewise And therefore that interpretation now under examination which runs us upon such rocks of absurdity and into such Solecisms of speaking as these must be rejected and consequently these words When they heard this they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus must be taken as the words of Luke and not of Paul importing the Baptism of these Disciples upon the hearing of Paul and not of Iohn 2. That these words They were baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus are not a Description of Iohns Baptism administred to these Disciples but of that Baptism which they received upon Pauls Preaching we have this reason further to conceive because it no
the Apostle cautions the believing Romans to note and avoid such as cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine of Christ Rom. 16.17 And again Who so transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God 2 John 9. Though I will not say that every transgression of the Doctrine of Christ riseth so high in the evil effect and consequence of it as the evils mentioned in these Scriptures amount unto nor in particular that transgression of which we now speak unless after conviction pertinaciously persisted in yet the least that we can say even of the lesser transgressions in this kind is that they have atendency in them hereunto proportionable to the nature and delinquency of them Baptism then being as we see one of the Doctrines of Christ and one of his Commissional Injunctions what peace can any man have whose heart stands in aw of the Word as Davids did Psal 119.116 that shall live in the transgression hereof and disobedience hereunto 3. Baptism is therefore necessary because it is relative to the salvation of men Those in Acts 2.37 being smitten with the sense of their sin and misery upon the preaching of Peter and crying out Men and brethren what shall we do viz. to be saved as Acts 16.30 it cannot reasonably be thought that the Apostle being now full of the Holy Ghost by the newly received power whereof he then spake would direct them to the belief or practise of any thing but that which should be very requisit to their Salvation the thing about which they with such earnestness enquire and yet we see the very first thing he directs them to in answer to their demand is to repent and to be baptized every one of them in the Name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins ver 38. By which we gather that Baptism as well as repentance is one of the requisites to remission of sins and so unto salvation It is the saying of Christ the faithful and true Witness that Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.5 By a mans being born of water Interpreters understand his being baptized of water as by his being born of the Spirit his regeneration See the late Annotations upon the place Those that are pleased to say that too great a Stress is laid upon Baptism by the Abetters of it and thereupon blame them for urging and pressing it as a thing so necessary as sometimes they do may be turned over unto Jesus Christ for an answer to their exception for indeed they do not so much blame the Servants as the Master himself upon the account of whose Doctrine they so press this practise So that each of them in this case may truly say to their Lord and Saviour The rebukes of them that rebuked me are fallen upon thee For none I presume ever laid a greater Stress upon Baptism then Christ here does in saying Except a man be born of water i. e. be baptized and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Another of the Oracles of Jesus Christ to the same effect is Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Where we see our Saviour joyns baptism with faith as requisite to salvation and what Christ in this hath joyned together who is he that dares put asunder If any shall think that Baptism is left out in the opposite member here he not saying he that believeth not and is not baptized shall be damned but only he that believeth not shall be damned on purpose to indulge persons in the hope of salvation who do believe though they be not baptized let such rather judge with themselves that baptism being so expresly joyned with faith in the former part of the verse as that upon which the promise of salvation is made by Christ to depend as it is it was less necessary to mention the want or neglect thereof with unbelief on the contrary as that unto which damnation is threatned because frequently in Scripture dialect where things are succinctly delivered the Affirmative supposes the Negative And where Christ makes the assurance of salvation to depend upon faith and baptism joyntly as here certainly it will be no mans wisdom but extream folly to venture his salvation upon the one without the other upon the account of the afore-suggested presumption The Apostle Peter likewise speaking of that salvation which was vouchsafed those in Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God c. 1 Pet. 3.21 The Negative here is not exclusive but interpretative i.e. when he sayes Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh h s meaning is not that the outward washing or baptism doth not at all contribute towards salvation which is the effect here mentioned for that were to render water-baptism wholly needless an interpretation which would fall foul on other Scriptures which speak the contrary But his saying Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh c. is to be understood as if the Apostle had said Not by that only or not so much by that but by the inward washing also and by the answer of a good conscience in Conjunction with the outward act It is a like form of speech with that of Paul 1 Cor. 1.17 Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel meaning that he was not sent so much to baptize as to preach the Gospel for otherwise he was sent to bapt ze as well as preach and accordingly he did baptize as there he himself acknowledgeth ver 14.16 And therefore that which the Apostle speaks concerning the man and the woman in another case is true concerning the outward and inward baptism in this Neither is the man without the woman neither the woman without the man in the Lord 1 Cor. 11.11 So neither is the outward washing without the inward nor the inward without the outward in the Lord that is by his appointment and in order to the Salvation of men If baptism then be a like figure or that which holds an Analogical Proportion with the Ark in point of salvation we may then easily guess how necess ry baptism is to salvation For if we follow the Apostles figure it w ll teach us That as it was necessary for those that would escape drowning in that Deluge of waters to enter into the Ark which was Gods appointed instrument of that salvation so is it necessary for those that would escape the perdition of the ungodly and unbelieving world to be baptized as being a means ordained by God for such an end likewise If then once to be baptized be a duty enjoyned every Disciple of Jesus Christ or such as profess belief in his Name as in the first