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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33967	The improvableness of water-baptism, or, A discourse concerning the gravity and seriousness of the action and the usefulness of the sacred institution of baptism instructing all parents how great a thing they do when they bring their children to that holy ordinance, and all persons, whether young or old, what obligations their baptism hath brought them under, what wrath it hath exposed wicked and impenitent persons to, and what use they may make of their baptism for confirmation of their faith, and quickening them to repentance and an holy life : discoursed from Rom. 6:3,4, by way of sermon / by John Collinges ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1681 (1681)	Wing C5321; ESTC R5112	38,449	47

the house to the Congregation thinking in that action I had something else to do than to entertain my friends with ordinary discourses Secondly That all persons baptized may from hence be instructed how useful their Baptism may be to them if the fault be not in themselves though it doth not actually justifie and wash away Original sin which I durst not assert By this short discourse Reader thou mayest if I mistake not easily understand the nature of Baptism and of thy engagement to God in thy Baptism and know how to make use of an Ordinance of God under which thou hast been brought and which it may be hath lyen dead by thee many years because thou knowest not how to make a spiritual use of it Such as the discourse is it is now tendred to thee if it doth thy Soul any good pray for the Author who is a debtor to thee and to all in the business of the Gospel and Thy most affectionate Friend and Servant for thy Souls advantage JOHN COLLINGES Norwich Dec. 13. 1680. ROM VI. 3 4. Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death c. THE great Apostle of the Gentiles in this Epistle hath been vindicating the same blessed Doctrine concerning the Justification of the Soul before God by the Righteousness of Christ which Chap. 4. v. 6. he calleth an imputing of righteousness without works received by faith which we are at this day contending for A Doctrine which Luther was wont to call The Article of a standing or falling Church A Church keeping or losing its purity and integrity as it upholds or loseth this great truth Of which we may say as one of the Ancients concerning that Text 1 Tim. 1. 15. It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners We could better want the Sun in the firmament than this great light in holy Writ Or as David said of the Sword of Goliah V. Lutheri Epist ad Eremitam in Sculteti annal in anno 1517. There is none to it without which it is impossible to relieve a soul in a distress of Conscience and under the violence of a temptation as Luther rightly judged upon his restoring of this great point in Germany in the beginning of that Reformation of which God made him so blessed an instrument This is that great Doctrine which made St. Paul profess Chap. 1. v. 16. that notwithstanding all the opposition the Jews made to it notwithstanding all their scoffs and drolleries he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek For v. 17. therein the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and conformable to the Doctrine of the Old Testament the New Testament being as Augustine called it the Revelation of the Old as the Old was Occultatio novi the New Testament in a Mystery for it was written there Hab. 2. 4. The just shall live by faith That text Rom. 1. 17. Luther tells us infinitely perplexed him he was miserably tortured to understand how the righteousness of God should be revealed from faith to faith for still he dream'd having been all his life-time before a Papist of a righteousness of his own but at last he began to conceive that the Righteousness of God might signifie in a passive sense not a righteousness in which a man should walk before and towards God but the righteousness wherein a man should appear before God as righteous as the power of God and the wisdom of God in some Texts signifieth that power by which God maketh us strong and that wisdom by which God maketh us wise Now as life and immortality so this righteousness was not first discovered but brought to light by the Gospel fully and clearly there manifested When Luther apprehended this he Jam quanto odio vocabulum Justitia Dei oderam ante tanto amore dulcissimum istud vocabulum extollebam ita miki iste locus Pauli fuit vere Porta paradisi Luth. Jenae t. 1. op in praefat tells us the Gospel looked upon him with quite another face Now saith he look how much I before hated that word The righteousness of God so much now I loved that most sweet word and that place of St. Paul was to me the very gate of Heaven This Doctrine was but darkly revealed in the Old Testament in types and prophecies and dark sayings but in the Gospel it is fully revealed viz. That the righteousness by which a soul is justified and by which it must stand righteous before God is not a righteousness of Works neither an obedience of the law contained in Ordinances which law is perished nor yet our obedience to the Moral Law whether by works done before or after conversion but the righteousness of Jesus Christ on Gods part imputed to us without works on our part received by faith as it is expounded Phil. 3. 10. and in several other places of the New Testament The Apostle having laid down this Proposition in Chap. 1. v. 16 17. he confirmeth it by a very great variety of argument in the remaining part of the first Chapter and in Chap. 2 3 4 5. In the first and second Chapters he proveth it by an Induction If works will justifie any they must either be the works of the Heathens or the works of the Jews As to the first he proveth that the works of the Heathens could not for they were abominable such as the wrath of God was revealed against Acts of ungodliness and unrighteousness Chap. 2. He proveth that the works of the Jews could not for they were imperfect and they rested in some rituals and external priviledges which could never justifie a soul In the third and fourth Chapters he proveth it as by other arguments so from the instances of Abraham and David the same way that Abraham the Father of the faithful was justified the same way must all believers his children be justified and the same way that David was justified the same way also must we be justified but Abraham and David were both justified by an imputed righteousness In the fifth Chapter he argueth from the sweet fruits which flow from justification by faith In that Chapter v. 20. he had said But where sin abounded grace did much more abound The wise Apostle foresaw there would be that very clamorous objection made which we hear now made against this excellent Doctrine of the Gospel viz. That it openeth a door to licentiousness destroyeth any obligation to good works giveth a license to sin c. He therefore in this Chapter obviateth this silly or malicious cavil What shall we say then saith he shall we continue in sin that grace may bound May we then neglect any good works because we

them Friends I cannot I am ingaged Every baptized person as you have heard is an ingaged person because he is baptized into Christ When Nehem. 6. 2. Sanballat and Geshem thinking to do Nehemiah a mischief sent to him saying Come let in meet together in the Villages he sent back messengers to them saying I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down why should the work cease It was Nehemiah's advantage there that he was engaged at that time every tempter to sin intends to do the soul a mischief and tempters are ever and anon treating and sending to the best of souls Baptism furnisheth the soul with a weapon to repel the fiery dart The soul hath this to say I am pre-ingaged in the service of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ I am dedicated to him I am bound over to his service Mark how Joseph resisted the temptation of his Mistris Gen. 39. 9. How shall I do this great Evil and sin against God So should the soul say I am baptized I am listed in the service of Christ How should I do this thing and break my vow break my ingagement in Baptism to be the Lords steal away my self from God to whom I long since was dedicated 2. A second thing which I shall insist upon to shew you the exceeding usefulness of this sacred Institution is the advantage the soul may have from it to quicken it in and to the exercises of some habits of grace and the performance of some duties I shall instance in four 1. The first I shall instance in stedfastness in the faith of the Gospel To quicken the soul to the exercises of Grace It is an exercise of grace very often called for in holy Writ We have indeed a liberty and it is our duty to prove all things but we must hold fast that which is good My beloved brethren saith the Apostle be you stedfast 1 Cor. 15. 58. 1 Pet. 5. 9. Whom resist stedfast in the faith and in many other texts Now I say our Reflection on our Baptism must needs have a great force in it to oblige us to this stediness which it must needs have if we consider it as an Oath or solemn Covenant and ingagement under which it brings us to God Religion hath little force upon that man or womans conscience whom an Oath will not oblige to do that which he hath sworn to do It is said of Herod after he had sworn to give Herodias what she should ask though she asked John Baptists head in a Charger which Herod had no mind to give her nevertheless for his Oath-sake he commanded it to be given her It is true in that case Herod was under no obligation for the Rule is That an Oath cannot be a bond of iniquity But where the thing we have sworn to or engaged for is such that we may do or are otherwise bound to do an Oath layeth a great hold upon the conscience and makes the soul to see a further obligation to it than what it before lay under to the doing of it Hence you shall observe that Paul both to the Churches at Corinth Ephesus and Galatia argues to stedfastness from this Topick There were in the Churches of Corinth some giddy-headed persons of which one said I am of Paul another said I am of Apollos another I am of Cephas How doth St. Paul endeavour to reduce them 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is saith he Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul I pray saith he consider your baptism Were you baptized into the profession of my Doctrine or into the profession of the Doctrine of Christ Are you under Temptations to waver in the profession of the great Truths and Doctrines of the Gospel Think with your selves Into what Doctrine or into the profession of what Doctrine was I baptized Was it not the Doctrine of Christ Doth this appear to me from holy Writ to have that stamp upon it So in Gal. 3 2 3. This only saith the Apostle I would learn of you Received you the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith Some of that Church were at that time running away from their profession of the Gospel being seduced by those who in those days insisted upon Justification by the works of the law The Apostle is attempting to reduce them he doth it by this argument Received you the spirit saith he by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith I shall not dispute whether the Apostle there intends by receiving the spirti the receiving peculiar to those times in the extraordinary gifts or manifestations of it Or such a receiving of the spirit as is common to all believers either of which were then generally received or appeared to be received about the time of their Baptism Now saith the Apostle in all reason you ought to receive that Doctrine upon the imbracing of which you had such an eminent evidence of the truth of it that you received the spirit as a seal of it and were baptized into Christ upon your first profession and owning of it So as I say our Baptism and reflections upon it will and must engage us to stedfastness unless it evidently appeareth to us that that Doctrine was false and erroneous 2. A second thing which our Baptism is useful to quicken us to is The keeping of the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace A Keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace duty mentioned in Ephes 4. 3. and mark by what argmments the Apostle perswades it v. 4 There is one body and one spirit as you are called in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism There is but one body compare that with that 1 Cor. 12. 10. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body That one body is the universal Church as appears by the next words Whether Jews or Gentiles and upon this argument which the Apostle would not have used if he had not judged there had been a force in it the Apostle perswades Vnity an unity of Doctrine and Affections for an Vnity in words and syllables and in rites and ceremonies is a stretching of that text beyond the staple there having never at that time been such a thing in the Church of Christ and it being what can never be attained nor was ever commanded by the Apostle But to perswade an unity in faith and love he minds them of the Oneness of their Baptism by which they were united to the Church which is but one body Those that you divide from or quarrel with are of the same body with you and you as well as they were baptized into one and the same body Divide not therefore nor quarrel each with other fall not out by the way for you are brethren It will sometimes put us upon agreeing with and loving of one another to consider that we are fellow

of this We might say these are the Lords Sacraments that you may believe what the Scripture tells you that the sins of souls are only washed out by the blood of Christ here signified and represented and that if ever you will be saved you must as you submit to this Ordinance so also submit to the acceptance of him and his righteousness and look for salvation from him and no other and that you might believe the Gospel is not a Romance but a true History of what he who was the Son of God did in dying for your sins that you might not dye eternally And that when our own unbelieving hearts are over-whelmed in the thoughts of these things and saying Surely such a thing could not be the mercy is too big for the grasp of our reason and comprehension we might help our selves by reflecting on our Baptism and our frequent communicating at the Lords table and chide down those risings of unbelief saying If this were not What is the meaning of sprinkling persons with water in Baptism or our so often meeting at the Lords table to eat bread and drink wine signifying the flesh and blood of Christ And as to that faith which is saving and justifying the object of which is the person of the Mediator the soul is also helped in that as it is helped in the other faith For the more the Soul is confirmed in the Doctrine and Proposition of the Gospel and the truth of that the more ground it seeth to look for no other name under heaven by which it should be saved but to go out of it self unto him as one who because he was God is able to save to the utmost and because he submitted to be made man to dye upon the Cross to pay a price for lost man evidenced his unquestionable willingness to seek and to save that which was lost so as the soul hath no longer any pretence or colour to doubt or question the sufficiency or willingness of this Saviour Thus this great Ordinance if duly improved is of exceeding great use to us to help our Souls in their exercises of faith the Soul as it were here reacheth its hand to put into the holes of Christ's side and its fingers to lay in the print of the nails 2. Nor is it less helpful to the soul in the exercises of holiness And this not only as it layeth the soul under an engagement to it of which I spake sufficiently before but also in regard of the secret blessing of the Lord attending Baptism where a Christian setteth himself to fulfil the ends of it Object 1. But some will say We have been baptized and we do not find such fruits we are full of doubts and fears and unbelief still and we are very unholy still we find no such fruit of our Baptism I Answer 1. Possibly you have not stirred up your Baptismal-grace I remember St. Paul calls to Timothy to stir up the gift of God which was in him and 1 Tim. 4. 14. not to neglect the gift of God which was in him by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery I do not think that any saving-gift is given to any by Baptism more than there is to a Minister by setting him a-part to the Ministry But there is doubtless a gift given the Baptized person conducive to his salvation if he will make a due and just improvement of it he hath a new character put upon him and is by it taken out of the Pagan World he hath a new vow upon him he hath a new dedication Now if men and women will never seriously consider and think on this never revive the memory of it or whet it upon their souls it is no wonder to hear them complain that they find no benefit fruit or advantage by it A Scholar may be at a loss about a Notion or Question in which twenty books he hath in his Study would resolve him but if he knoweth not how to use his books to that end or will never take down a book to look for any help from it he may complain that none of all the books in his Study will do him good in the case The Question is What they would do if he lookt into them or knew how to use them Object 2. But will some say How many baptized persons are there to whom their Baptism is no help nor advantage they notwithstanding it are unbelieving unholy profane persons To this I answer with Cyprian To take upon us Christs name Christi nomen induere non per Christi viam pergere quid aliud est quam praevaricatio divini nominis Cypr. and not to walk in his ways is but to profane and abuse his most holy Name The Soldiers taking Press-money or being listed helps him if he runs from his Colours very little unless it be to a shameful end of his life but if he keeps him to his colours it helps him to his pay and to his reward according to his service A man may have in his Yard several pieces of Timber which do him no service at all he may have great heaps of Stones that do him no good but only annoy and trouble his Yard But if this man begins to build then they help him every stone every foot of Timber is useful to him It is thus with our Baptism it lies by us of little use till we begin the spiritual building it is a piece of timber a stone cut out and squared for that When a man begins this work then his Baptism helpeth In short the water of Baptism is much like the water of jealousie of which you read Numb 5. 27. If the defiled woman adventured to drink of it it became bitter and made her belly to swell and her thigh to rot and the woman to be a curse amongst her people but if she were clean it made her fruitful So doth the water of Baptism in a more spiritual sense If the baptized person after it lives an unbelieving unholy life it causeth a rot in him and becomes a curse to him But if a person adhereth to the faith and lives an holy life in conformity to his Baptismal-Dedication and Vow and maketh use of his Baptism it maketh him fruitful and helpeth him in every good work 4. The last thing wherein I shall shew you the usefulness of this sacred Institution is with reference to its confirming sealing to and assuring of the soul 1. It sealeth to us assureth us of and confirms to us the truth Baptism is useful to assure confirm and seal of the great Proposition of the Gospel That this Rite was used in the Apostolical Church that it hath been used ever since in the Church of Christ is out of doubt Now what is the meaning of it what doth it signifie but that Christ is come into the world to save sinners and that our souls are washed clean from their filthiness by the blood of