performing it by sprinkling 1. The Act of dipping or sprinkling may indifferently be used in Baptism without nullifying the Ordinance As appears thus 1. It is as an indifferent thing left to the Prudence of the Church of Christ whether to dip or sprinkle neither of them being commanded nor either absolutely forbidden by the Precept Baptizing 2. It cannot nullifie Baptism being but an external Ceremonial part and mode of performing it the Form or Essence of Baptism remaining in the Baptizing of a fit Person in the Name of the Sacred Trinity Therefore our Dissenting Brethren are to blame to make our Baptism to be essentially corrupted and not to be accounted Baptism because not performed by dipping Nor is their Folly less deplorable in Separating from that Church where Baptism is perfectly and rightly administred as to the Essence of it on the account of a bare external mode of Administration 3. The word by which the manner of Administration of this Ordinance is expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equally admits of both significations dipping and sprinkling Walker's Doctrine of Baptizing p. 6. to 64. as is granted by the best Criticks and is obvious to the Observant Eye of any Intelligent Reader of Sacred Writ in too many places to be cited as the Marginal citation at large proves Either Act then may be intended by Christ in the Word and be Practised by Christs People in the Church 4. Num. 19.18 Exod. 12.7 Heb. 9.13 Heb. 10.22 Rom. 6.3 4. Col. 2.11 The Sacramental Washings under the Law were by both dipping and sprinkling which might Typifie the Indifferency of either in our Baptizing 5. Both answer what is signified by Baptism A Washing or Purifying from sins filth and an evil Conscience and a Burying with Christ in Baptism which place though Objected against us hath little or no force in it against our Practice For 1. Earth is poured on the dead Body in its Burial and it is not put under the Earth Therefore this rather Pleads for our Practise of puring Water on the Baptized Person than for its being dipped or plunged under Water 2. If it be urged that the Person Buried is under the Earth therefore the Baptized Person in conformity to his being Buried with Christ by Baptism should be under the Water I Answer that the Interred Corps is but under part of the Earth and the Baptized Person by our Adversaries can plead no more than being under part of the Water wherein he was Baptized and the Child or Person Baptized by us is under part of Water also being under that Water which is sprinkled or thrown upon it 3. The Allusion respects more the Spiritual Ends of Baptism than a Litteral sense and implies the Baptized ought to dye to Sin and live to Righteousness not must a literal sense be strictly understood for then in conformity to our Saviours Burial the Person might reasonably Quaery whether he ought not to be part of three days under Water Rom. 6. as Christ was in the Grave which would gain few Proselytes And as to the Spiritual ends of Baptism which St. Paul seems to tell us is the meaning of the place 6. Each Action of dipping or sprinkling is equally Obliging Nor is a Person more engaged to Observe them who is dipped than he who is sprinkled as in the Lords Supper a Morsel of Bread and a small quantity of Wine received is equally Obliging of the Communicant as an whole Loaf or a full draught unless we make the inward Grace or outward Obligation of the Sacraments depend upon the Mode of an outward Administration which is unreasonable and unchristian Therefore either dipping or sprinkling may be indifferently used To require Dipping as so absolutely necessary in Baptism Dipping not absolutely necessary that the Ordinance is null unless so performed as the Anabaptist pleads is an unreasonable Error Because 1. There is not one place of Scripture which in express words commands dipping And here they are much to blame who while they cry out against us for want of Scripture-proof for Infant Baptism whereof this Treatise hath endeavoured to manifest us not destitute Adhere to the Practice of this Mode of Baptizing by dipping without the least command in Scripture and yet with so great Zeal or Prejudice as to declare us unbaptized Persons because not dipt when as our Saviours Precept and the Apostles Practice was to Baptize which word admits of both significations nor is it mentioned by which they did it 2. This is to Idolize a Ceremony and make that the whole of Baptism which is but an outward circumstance of the Act not determined by Christ but left indifferently to his Church to be used nor were obliging to the Soul nor more representing the ends of Baptism to the Soul than sprinkling 3. This Act cannot be used in the performance of Baptism in all parts of the habitable World there being many places where so much Water cannot be gotten for many Miles together as will suffice for the dipping of Persons over Head and Ears as in hot Countrys and Mountainous Places Nor is it consistent with Christian prudence to suppose Christ would limit such an Ordinance to such an Administration as could not be in all places at all times performed Nor indeed doth he for by his Commanding only to Baptize he limits the act to neither Dipping nor Sprinkling but the word admitting of both he leaves it to the prudence of his people to use which was most convenient who might probably in all habitable Towns get so much water as might suffice to Sprinkle though perhaps not so much as might serve to dip Persons in Baptism 4. Dipping or plunging the body over Head and Ears Baxters Infant Church-member Walkers Doctrine of Bapt. cap. 10. p. 179. seems to be an indecent action while either it is performed naked or in transparent Garments too suequently an act through the pravity of our Hearts too apt to create such thoughts as become not the Sacredness of the Ordinance whence some had made it a Breach of the Seventh Commandment 5. Nor is it a little injurious to the body exposing it by reason of the cold temperature of the Climate to not a few distempers in our Nation But as one observes the Adversary is so Carnally Prudent Wills against Danvers as not to Practice their Baptizing till warm Weather But how consonant to Christs Rule let all judge who know it was the Practice of the Apostles usually to Baptize Converts immediately upon their Conversion Mr. Walker's Doctrine of Bapt. cap. 8. p. 61. and if that should happen in Winter in Frost and Snow amongst us in our Cold Region and the Convert be plunged over Head and Ears in cold Water who can suppose it consistent with the Persons Health Nay must we not reasonably think it may endanger his Health and Life too unless God work a Miracle in his Preservation Baxtess Infant Church-member whence some have
made it a breach of the Sixth Commandment Now since Christ hath Commanded no such Circumstance which is so indecent and may prove so injurious to our Bodies they are very blame-worthy to use it and the Church of Christ may prudently omit it 6. Wills against Danvers p. 260. Plunging or dipping the Person Baptized over Head and Ears renders him uncapable of understanding what is done and said for some time stupifies or amazeth the Person and hinders his knowing either the Person Administring or the Sacrament Administred as Experience may attest Now certainly Christ would have his Ordinances performed by an external Administration wherein the Subject might be in the nearest capacity of understanding the ends and actions of it and would not limit it to such a Mode that is so injurious to the internal and external senses of the Person under its Administration 7. We cannot reasonably think that the Apostles did dip all they Baptized because it was a thing of great Labour if not impossible for one Man to plunge in one day Three Thousand Persons as we find St. Peter Baptized Acts 2.41 So that I cannot apprehend what Reasons can be offered to shew the absolute necessity of Dipping in Baptizing and I know I may say they have no Scripture Precept for it Therefore I presume to conclude That Dipping is not absolutely necessary in the Administration of Baptism but it may be rightly performed though not by dipping There remains that I shew the Lawfulness and Resonableness of Baptizing by sprinkling 3. Sprinkling Lawful Which I shall thus do 1. Sprinkling is equally with Dipping signified by the word in which our Saviour expressed the manner of the Administration of this Ordinance Wills against Danvers p. 254. Walkers Doctrine of Bapt. c. 4. p. 16. Dan. 4.3 Baptize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea and more congruous with its genuine signification than dipping For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a derivative can admit of no larger signification than its Primitive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we find in the History of Nebuchadnezzar when like a Beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the 70 renders it He was wet with the Dew of Heaven as our English Translates it Nor can we think he was prunged over Head or dipped in the Rain or Dew but rather it seems more Rational to think that the Dew did besprinkle him 2. This Represents the Ends of Baptism as well as dipping Acts 2.5 6 7. The pouring out of the Holy Ghost was by effusion on not by the immersion of the Subject The Blood of Christ is applyed to us by the expression of sprinkling Heb. 9.13 Heb. 12.24 Heb. 10.22 Walkers Doct. of Baptism c. 9. Exod. 12 and the end of being Buried with Christ hath already been proved answered in our being sprinkled 3. Texts of Analogy confirm its Rationality wherein the Type under the Law and the thing Typified under the Gospel by Baptism are declared by sprinkling 4. There is no Vertue or Efficacy to be placed in the Element more largely Administred to confer Grace or oblige us But sprinkling as well as dipping being a submission to the Element equally Lawful by Christs Command it is equally officacious and significant 5. Sprinkling renders the Sacrament capable of being Administred at all times in all places without that indecency and danger dipping as I have proved is guilty of 6. The Church of Christ was never confined to that Mode of dipping Walkers Doct. of Baptism c. 10. p. 74. to 158 but had several ways of Baptizing dipping or sprinkling Whereby may appear the freedom of the Church of Christ in the indifferent use of dipping or sprinkling and the Practice of our Church may be seen agreeable with other Christian Churches So that the Anabaptists extreamly err in accounting us as unbaptized and in nullifying our Ordinance of Baptism because not Administred by dipping which is not so absolutely necessary in the Administration of it but that sprinkling may be Lawfully used as I have endeavoured to prove Obj. 1 But they Object first That our Saviour is said when he went to be Baptized to go to Jordan and after Baptism to go up out of the Water which implies his being dipt in the Water To which I Answer Answ 1. Christs going to Jordan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Jordan Mat. 3.13 declares not his going into the River but as it is Translated to the River 2. His ascent after Baptism is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Water but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as from the Water which doth not at all infer his being in the Water But since the Rivers are in Valleys a Person going to the River may well be said as Christ is said to go down to the River And that other trite place Objected against us concerning Philip and the Eunuch Acts 8.38 which is Translated they both went down into the Water is expressed thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they both went down to the Water the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying ad to as well as into and so it respects rather the Mountainous place they went down to the Water-side from than their going into the Water And so Christs ascent after Baptism up out of the Water being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies no more than his going up from the Water-side 3. Though we grant Christ and the Eunuch did go into the Water yet cannot it thence be inferred that they were Baptized by dipping whereof there is not one Syllable in the Text nor any other place of Sacred Writ nor any thing to favour such an Opinion And to deduce such a Consequence from the Text Christ and the Eunuch went into the Water at their Baptizing therefore they were dipped or plunged over Head and Ears as it is groundless so is a far more remote and dis-ingenuous Consequence than our most remote Conclusions for Infant Baptism Obj. 2 But they Object again that St. John Baptized in Enon near Salim John 3.23 and the Reason is given because there was much Water there To which I Answer Answ 1. St. John's determining a place for Baptism was respecting the Commodiousness for the new Converts who might come thither as to a place appointed for that purpose 2. There being much Water there made it a fit place for the Baptizing the Numerous Company of Converts resorting thither to be Baptized 3. This doth not infer their being dipt and plunged in their being Baptized there Wilson's Christian Dictionary on Enon Heylin's Cosmog in loc for Enon in its signification denotes but a little Fountain and being near the River Jordan it is said to have much Water by reason of the scarcity of that Element in that Countrey part of Jordan its self being usually dry in Summer time and Jordan its self that Famous River was not Navigably deep And the Water by Enon is by others accounted as a little Foord over which one might stride
Peace to be Members of the same Christ 2 Cor. 13.11 Gal. 5.22 Heb. 12.14 1 Cor. 3.4 the Prince of Peace to be acted by the same Spirit of Peace to walk by the same Gospel of Peace and to enjoy the same Heaven hereafter where we shall be at Peace together may if possible be United here that our Divisions may no longer rent the Church of Christ to the great hindrance of the Conversion of both Jew and Gentile and the apparent exposing our Church and State to Ruine and Confusion by the Fury of our Adversaries But that our unanimous Prayers may Deprecate apprehended Judgments and prevail for our continued enjoyment of Gospel Mercies And may these Pages be in any respect serviceable to these Ends so God have the Glory and his Church the Advantage I have my end who am Thy Faithful Friend The PREFACE TO THE Paidobaptist AMongst the many Parties our Church and Nation abounds with the Anabaptists are not the least considerable who not only deny Infant Baptism but proceed so far as to Separate from our Communion on that unwarrantable ground nor contented with that they as if acted by Infallibility confine the Church of Christ to their own People denying our Ministers to be either Members or Ministers of Christ and declaring our selves and our People to be in no visible way to Salvation which sad expression being daily whispered into the Ears of the People committed to my Care did not a little disturb several of them who thus were almost seduced from our Church And to add to my trouble one of the chiefest of their Teachers gave me frequent Challenges to a Publick Disputation which I declining as not yet seeing any good to have been the issue of such Disputes he and my Neighbours supposed my refusing to dispute to preceed from my sense of the weakress of the cause or from my inclination to their Opinion These and such like things Christian Reader occasioned my endeavour to discharge my Fidelity to my Peoples Souls and my own Conscience by Publishly Preaching on Infant Baptism enquiring into its Necessity as to Salvation and Church-membership in order to the satisfying my Peoples troubled minds And then inquiring into the Form Subject and Mode of Baptism to Vindicate the Doctrine and Practice of our Church and to clear my self of those Aspersions I met with which being compleated I endeavoured to solve all those Objections I have yet met with from their Mouths or Writings Which Sermons God was pleased to make so successful as to satisfie my Auditors so that hitherto they have created me no more trouble And that Person who had so often Challenged me to Dispute the Point having a little private Discourse with me assured me he would no more trouble me or my People which Promise he hath hitherto kept and hath declared his desires and as he said the inclination of the most Eminent of their Party to a Compliance with our Church to promote which I know there have been some endeavours Let then your Candor I humbly beg excuse me if when God hath been pleased to make my Endeavours Instrumental to the keeping my People and others from straying from us if not to reduce some from them to our Church And if after I have been sometimes requested to expose my Thoughts I now at length finding their inclinableness declared by word and writing to a closure with us humbly offer them such as they are after my submitting them to my Diocesan's Judgment to the Service of Gods Church in promoting his Glory and Peace and Vnion in our days And may my sincerity in this design obtain your Pardon for what may be amiss in this Tract humbly devoted to the Service of every of your Souls by one who daily Prays for and by all endeavours labours to promote the good of our Church and State it shall ever Oblige Yours in the Service of God and Souls Baptism OF INFANTS VINDICATED Matth. 28.19 Go ye therefore Teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you OUR Saviour Christ who was the Messiah promised to the Jews and also a Saviour Prophesied to the Gentiles being when manifested in the Flesh to gather a Church to himself of both Jews and Gentiles did while he was on Earth Commissionate his Apostles to Teach or Disciple all Nations by acquainting them with the Rudments of his Gospel And then Ordered the Reception of them as Members of his Visible Church as by Circumcision under the Law so by Baptism under the Gospel Gen. 17.10 which in the words premised is directed to 1. As to its Form In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost 2. As to its Subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Nations 3. As to its manner of Performance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptizing them Before I come to the Consideration of the parts of the Text I shall premise this Grand Enquiry with its Solution Enq. How far Baptism is necessary as to Salvation and Church-membership which I shall Consider 1. Negatively 2. Positively 1. Prop. 1. I shall assert that this Baptism of Water is not absolutely necessary to Salvation so as that it is impossible for a Person to be saved who is not Baptized which Proposition I shall thus prove 1. Gen. 17.10 14. Because the Children of Israel under the Law to whom Circumcision was as strictly enjoyned as Baptism is or can be to us were Forty Years without its Practice they being not Circumcised all the time of their sojourning in the Wilderness lest their soreness thereby occasioned might hinder them in their Travel towards Canaan Josh 5.2 3 4 5. yet doubtless we dare not entertain thoughts that they who dyed in the Wilderness uncircumcised were all Damned 2. Salvation in no place of Scripture is annexed to Baptism but to the Covenant whose Tenor is not Be Baptized and thou shalt be Saved but Believe and thou shalt be Saved Not was Christ given that all who were Baptized might have Eternal Life John ◠16 Mark 16.16 but that all who Believe on him As for that place Objected against us and Pleaded by the Anabaptists Mark 16.16 it must either if strictly taken include Infants as Believers and so as subjects capable of Baptism or else exclude them as Unbelievers and render them as Persons liable to Damnation according to their own Argumentation which if they evade by saying they who are capable of believing do believe and are Baptized shall be saved Order for Baptism of Riper Years I oppose to this the Practice of our Church which requires actual Profession of Faith of all Persons who are capable of doing it and have been brought up unbaptized And again this Text when it respects Damnation doth not mention Baptism it saith not He who is not Baptized shall be Damned but he that believeth not
Salvation is annexed to Faith and Damnation is the Punishment of Unbelief Baptism therefore is not absolutely necessary to Salvation nor its want absolutely exposing Souls to Damnation 3. This would be to tye God to means and to make it in Mans Power to Save or Damn whom he pleased For if it be impossible any should be saved without Baptism then would it follow that it is Baptism more than Gods free Grace that saves Ephes 2.8 and that it is in the Power of the Minister by Baptism to save whom he please and by denying it to damn whom he will Yea then this Ordinance will be supposed to confer Grace Ex Opere Operate which Assertion detracts from Gods Glory disagrees with Truth and is injurious to Souls who may be hereby brought to rely rather on a Creatures Baptism than their Creaton Mercy for Salvation 4. Then all Children and those who dye unbaptized must be supposed not to appertain to Christ nor to be saved by him which to believe of all Infants is dreadful whom I cannot implead of sin in not being Baptized being not capable of desiring it And though I cannot but think the Parent highly to Offend in slighting the Ordinance where it is to be obtained yet cannot I suppose it to be by God imputed as a sin to the Child so dying for which he will damn it which is the Genuine though Dismal Consequence of that Position That Baptism is absolutely necessary to Salvation 5. The Baptism contended for is but an outward sign of that inward Grace which Entitles the Soul to Heaven John 3.5 and to which Glory is annexed the sign then cannot be so Essential as that they who have received the things signified and inward Grace without Baptism should still be excluded Heaven because they are not Baptized Acts 10.47 Which is as much as to assert that though a Soul should partake of all Christs Benefits to be bestowed on a Worthy Communicant yet unless he actually Eat the Bread and Drink the Wine which are the External Elements in the Lords Supper and Representatives of those inward Benefits yet he could not be saved A Thesis deservedly to be exploded Rubric 3. after Comm. 〈…〉 as nullifying Christs Merits to Idolize External things And our Church is clear against it 6. By this Assertion it would follow that many Thousands of Christians shall be Damned who duly and perhaps more circumspectly walk in Obedience to God than we in and amongst the Turks and Pagans who probably by Reason of their Persecuted Condition or the non-settlement of a Church and Ordinances amongst them are and so dye unbaptized But how sad this would be to a Christians Eat I leave every one to judge 7. When ever Baptism is taken as so necessary to Salvation in Scripture it hath respect to the Internal thing signified by it so St. John 3.9 John hath chiefly respect to the Baptism of the Spirit whereby the Soul is Regenerated and reduced to a state of Grace nor can the Baptism we contend about be there meant this being not Instituted till after our Saviours Resurrection which was some Years after these words were spoken by our Saviour And this Baptism of the Spirit is other where called A Baptism by Fire Mat. 3.11 denoting the cleansing and purifying Nature of the Graces of the Holy Ghost which purifies the Regenerated Soul from its Corruption and burns up its drossie Lusts In comparison of which Baptism St. John accounts his of Water the Subject of our present Controversie so mean as only to have a Relation to it as Precedaneous not as Competitour Again Ephes 1.26 27. St. Paul joyns the Word of God with this Baptism in order to the Purifying Christs Church that acting on the Soul and this terminating on the Body And St. Peter's Assertion is clear 1 Pet. 3.21 that it is not the Water Purifying the Flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God that saveth us And indeed the Trope of using the sign for the thing signified is not unusual in Scripture 8. The All-wise God hath determined the Controversie in that He in divers places of his revealed Will Asserts Gal. 6.15 1 Cor. 7.19 that neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision avail any thing but a New Creature It is not the being an unbaptized Person that will expose any one to Condemnation for there is not one Woe denounced against any as such Nor is there one Promise in all the Divine Writ Infallibly annexing Salvation to Baptism 2 Thes 1.8 9. John 3.16 All Threats of Misery are to those who believe not and Obey not the Gospel of Christ And all Promises of Eternal Mercies are to those who by Faith close with Christ and live the life of Christians So that I dare not say all who are Baptized shall be saved and all who are not Baptized shall be damned But I dare affirm that whosoever remain and dyeth in unbelief shall be damned though he be Baptized And whoever believes truly on Christ and lives answerably to that Faith though for some Persecution or other Causes he cannot be Baptized he shall be saved Whence will appear That Baptism is not absolutely Necessary to Salvation so as that one cannot be saved without it As I have hitherto endeavoured to remove the great Censure of the Anabaptists of our being in no visible salvable way because not Baptized after their Mode by giving my Reasons why Baptism is not so absolutely Necessary to Salvation So I proceed to prove That Baptism of Water is not absolutely Necessary to Church-membership Prop. 2. so as that they cannot be Members of Christs Church unless Baptized Which will appear thus 1. Wills against Danvers p. 49. There was ever a Church before Baptism or Circumcision were Administred They being both External signs to be acted on visible Professors and Church-members in the Church of Christ there is necessarily presupposed an existence of a Church containing Members to be Circumcised or Baptized and Persons to perform these Offices So that these signs are not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse of a Church or the Essential Constituents of its visibility Noah Seth and those Holy Patriarchs before the Flood who Lived some hundreds of Years before the Institution of Circumcision Gen. 17.24 were doubtless Members of Gods Church And Abraham also doubtless before he was Circumcised which was in the 99th Year of his Age and about the 2107 Year of the World was a True Believer and a Member of the True Church And if it be alledged they were Members of the Invisible Church we may grant them a Membership in the Visible from that known Axiom Omne majus in se continet minus Their being of the Invisible Church being greater than their being Members of the Visible Church Yea it is apparent the Promises were made to Abraham above Twenty Years before Circumcision was Instituted which Promise he believed Gen.
Gods Ordinances Christ though without sin and the Converts who had received the Holy Ghost we have premised to have submitted to Baptism Rom. 6. the wilful Refusal and Contempt of which where in an Establish'd Church it may be had is a Contempt of Christ and his Precepts and as much as lyeth in us a depriving of our selves or Children of the Benefits of the Covenant of Grace and a reducing us into a state of Heathenism or at best an unwillingness to be owned as Christians 7. It serves as an Oath and Obligation on Souls to be and continue Christs Faithful Souldier and Servant to our Lives end Our Life is often in Scripture called a warfare wherein we are engaged to fight against the World Flesh and Devil to engage us against whom the Lord of Hosts the chief General of the Field and Christ the Captain of our Salvation List all their Souldiers the Members of the Church Militant here on Earth to Fight under their Banner till they have their Writs of Ease by Death and have their Quarters removed from the Church-Militant on Earth to the Church Triumphant in Heaven Into which Militia this Ordinance is the Publick way of our Admission and is as it were our Matriculation or taking the Oath of Allegiance to our God Col. 2.6 7. thereby discriminating us from Rebels and Traytors and engaging our Fidelity to our Lives end 8. The uncircumcised Child was to be cut off from Israel which Punishment respects either its Exclusion from the Church of Christ Gen. 17.14 and so its cutting off from the Israel of God Or else a punishing of the Child by Death and so taking it away from among the People Or Lastly it signifies an Eternal Excluding it from Heaven and a cutting it off for ever from Gods People and their Portion Now though probably the Punishment in the Text on the Uncircumcised Child may not denote its being thereby Miserable to Eternity for what it could not help Yet to engage the Parents care to observe the Covenant and Gods Ordinances in having the Child Circumcised it might be punished both the other ways which could not but be a great trouble to the Parent whose remisness or neglect of the Ordinance might cause himself in his Child to be Punished either with his Childs Death or if it Lived by its being esteemed not of the Church of God but to be looked on as an Heathen And so under the Gospel although the Child shall not probably for the want of Baptism it being guilty of no contempt of it suffer Eternally Walkers Modest Plea p. 147. yet may the Parent justly fear to be severely Punished for slighting and contemning the Sacred Ordinances of God and Christ commanded to be Observed Thus are the Enquiries premised considered and the Necessity of Baptism stated I proceed more closely to adhere to the Exposition of the Parts of the Text. 1. Part of Text. 1. Form Wherein we Observed 1. The Form or Essence of Baptism Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And I esteem this the Form or Essence of Baptism because though there be a subject capable of Baptism and Water be used to Baptize yet is the Baptism Null unless in the Name of the Trinity according to Christs Commission in the Text which is never Repealed in any part of the New Testament As for the Baptizing Persons into the Name of Christ mentioned sometimes Acts 2.38 Acts 8.16 that doth not derogate from Christs Commission in the Text those places not relating to the manner of Administring the Ordinance but to the end of Baptism for the Jews who were pricked in their hearts for the Crucifying of Christ whom St. Peter had proved to be the Messiah and enquired what they should do to be saved The Apostle Exhorts them to believe on a Crucified Saviour and to be Baptized in Acts 4.12 Acts 10.48 or into his Name as a Token of their owning him as their Messiah and Saviour without whom no Salvation was attainable And those other places mentioning the Baptizing in the Name of the Lord or in the Name of Christ have the like respect denoting the Converted Jews and Gentiles being by Baptism received into the Name or Religion of Christ And they do not in the least infringe our Saviours Commission of Baptizing in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And therefore the Anabaptists seem to be blame-worthy Article 11. 1660 given to our present King who in their Printed Principles give Order indifferently to Baptize in the Name of the Trinity or in the Name of Christ alone which Practice is directly contrary to this Precept of our Saviour by which the Person to be Baptized was Baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Name Profession and Service of the Sacred Trinity The Acknowledgment of the ever Blessed Trinity and the Grounds of the Souls hope of enjoying all the Promises and Benefits of Christs Death Regeneration and Grace being thereby Ratified and Scaled to the Soul Epl. es 5.1 who is also thus engaged to act as a Child of God 1 Cor. 6.18 19 20. Rom. 6.11 a Member of Christ and a Temple of the Holy Ghost The Form or Essence of Baptism being Proved 2. Part of Text. Subject we come to consider the Subject of Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Nations which in Scripture is spoken either 1. Exclusively as to the Jews and Inclusively only of the Gentiles who were through Christ to be received into the Church of God Ephes 2.2 12 13 19. and be made Members of Christ were admitted to partake of the Benefits of a state of Grace through Christ and by him also were made Heirs of Glory So that through Christ they were admitted to equal Priviledges with the Jews Acts 2.3 7 9. Acts 10.34 35 49. which thing though it caused an astonishment to the Jews yet was in Remarkable Evidences verified so that now all the ends of the Earth have seen the Salvation of God who is become God of the Gentile as well as Jew Rom. 3.29 and without Respect of Persons hath Respect to all those whether Jews or Gentiles who truly serve him 2. Inclusively of the Jews also for that Christ who was so long before his manifestation Promised as a Messiah and Saviour to the lost sheep of the House of Israel Mar. 10.5 6. would not when manifested exclude them but being to Collect a Church to himself Mark 16 16. Acts 26.17 18. Acts 13.46 47. Acts 28.28 he did Personally and by his Apostles first promulgate the Gospel to the Jews and they rejecting it he Commissioned his Apostles to go to the Gentiles as well as Jews who discharging their Office prevailed with great Numbers of both to accept of Christ to shew the equality of Christs proceedings and the freeness of Gods Mercy to both Jew and Gentile that of