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
will call that Justification but not as to remission of sins or the actual Justification and Acceptation of his Soul by and before God in this life he makes his boast of Christ and rejoyceth in him and hath no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3 3. Thus much as to the putting on Christ as to Justification As for the putting on Christ with reference to Sanctification let me add a few notes by which we may judg of that 3. He that hath thus put on Christ hath put him on not only for his upper but for his inward garment He is not sanctified in body only but throughout in mind and in spirit he doth not only offer up his body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God but he is transformed through the renewing of his mind he hath not only a demure countenance an holy look or tougue but his thoughts are in a great measure holy his will his affections are holy with allowance to such infirmities as attend even the best of Saints he saith the Apostle is a Jew that is one inwardly so he is a Christian that is one inwardly St. Paul delighteth in the Law of God after the inward man Rom. 7. 22. Many put on a face and outward appearance of Religion The Pharisees Luke 11. 39. made clean the outside of the cup and platter but our Saviour tells them that their inward part was full of ravening and wickedness So many are outwardly very fair and religious but inwardly they are vain and filthy had you a window into their hearts there you would see vain and idle and sinful thoughts and those not rare and crouded in but frequent constant and feasting their Souls A blind understanding a will stubborn and rebellious against the will of God especially if cross to their natural bias and inclinations and humours or interest sensual and carnal affections not set on heaven and heavenly things but meerly feeding on earth and earthly things 4. If you have put on Christ you have put off what is contrary unto him Rom. 13. 12. Let us therefore saith the Apostle cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light Eph. 4. 22. And be you renewed in your mind that you put off concerning your former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts v. 25. Wherefore pntting away lying speak every man the truth to his neighbour v. 26. Be you angry and sin not v. 28. Let him that hath stollen steal no more c. v. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers v. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit c. v. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be you kind one to another tender hearted c. Col. 3. 8. But now you also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth v. 9. Lye not one to another seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is created in knowledge after the image of him that created him This is to be baptized into the death of Christ This is the picture of him who hath put on Christ 5. Who so hath put on Christ hath put on both his robes and his sackcloth and crown of thorns As there is a dying to sin so there is a living to righteousness in every soul that hath put on Christ As he puts off what I mentioned before so he also puts on as one of the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering he for bears others and forgives others if he hath a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave him so also doth he he puts on Charity which is the bond of perfectness the word of Christ dwelleth in him richly in all wisdom he doth all he doth in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ whether in word or deed giving thanks to God and the Father by him Col. 3. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. He puts on habits of universal righteousness and holiness which the Apostle calleth the Image of God he puts on meekness and patience in suffering Being reviled he revileth not again he is led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers he openeth not his mouth c. 6. He who hath put on Christ hath put on the whole armour of God It all goes along with Christ to a soul such a soul stands with its loins girt about with truth having on the breast-plate of righteousness and its feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace He takes the shield of faith whereby he is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked he takes the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God c. 7. Finally If the soul hath put on Christ its face its garments will shine That soul will look like Moses when he came from the Mount Its light will shine before men that they shall see its good works How beautiful must that soul be that is cloathed with light as with a garment It s faith its holiness its humility its meekness will be every where reported of If now you find these things in you in sincerity and in some measure though not in the perfection of degrees you may conclude you are baptized into Christ because you have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Vse 3. I shall stand once more on this foundation and give you a few words of Exhortation with which I will conclude I shall speak 1. to you that are Parents 2. To you that are Children or who have been baptized while you were Children 3. To all in general whether Parents or Children First I speak unto you Parents I have two words to speak to you upon occasion of this discourse 1. That you would be very grave and serious when you bring your Children to this great Ordinance of God It was indeed one of the ends I proposed to my self in undertaking this discourse to correct that woful levity which I generally observe in this most grave and weighty action And here were I in a Congregation proper for such a discourse I would beseech my brethren in the Ministry to restrain that slightness and desultory levity that is so ordinary in this Administration by their more grave and thoughtful performance of this part of their Ministry I perswade my self much of this hath been occasioned by that groundless fancy That Baptism is necessary to salvation not only by a necessity of precept as the fulfilling of every command of God is necessary and by a necessity of the mean as it is a divine mean which in its season and under due circumstances we ought not to neglect we freely grant both
THE IMPROVABLENESS OF Water-Baptism OR A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Gravity and Seriousness of the Action AND THE Vsefulness 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 Vse they may make of their Baptism for Confirmation of their Faith and quickning them to Repentance and an holy Life Discoursed from Rom. 6. 3 4. by way of SERMON By JOHN COLLINGES D. D. Minister of the Gospel in NORWICH Gal. 3. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Ambros lib. de Sacr. Venisti ad sontem ingressus es considera quid videris quid locutus sis diligenter Et alibi Non sanat Baptismus perfidiorum non mundat sed polluit c. London Printed by A. Maxwell and R. Roberts 1681. TO THE READER Christian Reader THE Age wherein we live hath been so fruitful in good books of all sorts above all the Ages that have gone before us that were it not for the former part of that Prophecy Isa 11. 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in my holy mountain at which work we daily see Papists and Atheists yet very busie We should conclude this the very time there prophecied of when the earth should be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea So as were it not for some particular subjects not yet so fully handled and the vanity of humane nature rather to affect to read the same thing in a new book and a new stile than in one of ancienter date there might a supersedeas be given to the Press that the world might contain the books of men Amongst other subjects something in my opinion as yet too little discoursed of is this of Baptism It hath been discoursed by many Systimatically and by many Polemically but by few Practically The Papists who for a thousand years had held the far greater part of the Christian World in subjection to their most erroneous Doctrines and superstitious usages attributed so great a vertue to the work of Baptism done whether by a Priest or a Midwife and had laid so much of their hay and stubble on this foundation that men of sense and Religion could by no means agree to them and some on the other extreme began to think Baptism in the whole was but a needless Ceremony because the Papists had added so many idle ceremonies to it Bellarmine reckons no less than Twenty-two 1. The propounding the name 2. The scrutiny whether the persons were competent 3. The Renouncing the Devil and all his works 4. A profession of the persons faith 5. The sign of the Cross 6. Exorcisms 7. Breathing on the person baptized 8. Salt put into the mouth 9. Touching the Childs nose and ears with Spittle 10. Unction with Oyl 11. Laying the Priests hands on the child to bless it 12. Abstenence from wine and flesh These he makes Ceremonies necessary before Baptism At Baptism 13. The giving of the name to the person baptized 14. Sureties 15. The Consecration of the water 16. Dipping thrice 17. That it be at Easter or Whitsontide After Baptism he makes necessary 18. An holy kiss 19. An anointing the crown of the head with Oyl 20. Putting a lighted Wax-candle into the baptized persons hands 21. Putting upon him or her a white garment 22. Giving the person baptized Milk Honey or Wine How vain doth man become in his imaginations as to sacred things when he leaves the word of God! Our Forefathers were imployed in throwing out the Popish rubbish and restoring the Ordinance to the purity of its Administration and while they were doing that they were troubled with the Socinians whose opinions in this the Quakers now espouse making Baptism needless and with the Antipaedobaptists denying its use as to Children and multitudes of books have been wrote on these Arguments By this time another generation appeared maintaining Baptismal Regeneration or rather real and true Regeneration as well as Justification upon Baptism Some few books have been wrote on this argument And I perswade my self that one great thing which hath led some Divines of note to assert that the baptized persons are forthwith justified and regenerated is because they have thought it absurd so much as to imagine that Christ should create an Ordinance that should have no real effect or usefulness and what effect they should ascribe to it less than this worthy of so great an Institutor they could not tell Besides that this notion excelently served the design of others who without this discharge of the guilt of Adam's and Original sin would have found it an hard task to have maintained a power in mans will to what was spiritually good or Justification any other way than by the imputed Righteousness of Christ These controversies have so imployed the Pens of those great and learned men who have wrote about Baptism that scarce any hath wrote fully and practically upon it to satisfie the world of the usefulness of Baptism or to instruct it concerning the exceeding solemnity gravity and seriousness of the Action It is thirty years since I at that time a very young man endeavoured my own satisfaction in the case and then communicated my Meditations from the Pulpit to the people to whom God had at that time set me in relation Lately I fell upon my Notes and revised them adding some things from my maturer judgment Discoursing them privately I was desired by a first and a second person who heard me to give them the Copies of them they being persons whose Piety and Judgments I had reason to value I thought they might also be useful to others and resolved to give them both to them and others from the Press Two fruits of this Discourse I would hope for and shall pray for which if I obtain I shall gain my great end in the Publication of it First That those Parents into whose hands it shall come and to whom God shall hereafter give Children which they shall offer to God in Baptism would as sadly reflect upon their former perfunctory performance of their duties in this grave and most solemn action and their neglects in minding their children when they have come to years of this dedication and of the solemn Oath to God in which they engaged them and call upon them to remember it to fulfil it so that they would be more grave and serious in those actions for the time to come and not make Christnings as they call them meerly times for Compotations Collations upon friends and banquets I did not think it necessary but I bless God this Ordinance had always that awe upon me that I chuse to baptize my Children on the Lords-days in the publick Congregation and with very little company attending from
are not justified by works but by the aboundings of grace freely imputing the righteousness of Christ to us 1. He aversateth this and rejects such a notion with utmost abhorrence and detestation God forbid saith he far be it from us to assert any such thing or to lay down any position from whence any such thing can be reasonably concluded Then he proceeds to prove that there can be no such conclusion drawn from his premises For saith he how shall they who are dead to sin live any longer therein The strength of the Argument lyeth in this Hypothesis That God at the same time that he dischargeth the soul from the guilt of sin and the obligation to death under which sin layeth it doth also renew and sanctifie the heart and destroyeth the Souls appetite and love to sin so that sin hath no longer a power and dominion over the Soul and look as for a dead man to live is a contradiction so it is no lesser contradiction for a justified soul to live in sin every justified soul hath an heart dead to sin and so cannot any longer live therein he may be overtaken with faults he doth sin seven times in a day and who knoweth how often he offendeth But he sinneth not as other men he cannot live in sin much less take an encouragement to sin from the grace of God abounding towards his soul for the justification of it 2. In the Text which I have read to you he proveth it from our Baptism Know you not saith he that so many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death In the words you have 1. A Preface Know you not Which confirms the following Proposition as a Proposition of undoubted truth and great Evidence such as all good Christians must be supposed to know and it were strange if any understanding Christian should be ignorant of so evident a truth 2. A Proposition in those words So many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his Death 3. Here is the proof of this Proposition or if you had rather call it so an Inference upon this Proposition We are therefore buried with him by Baptism into death What is necessary for the Explication of the words you shall have in the Explication of the Proposition which for the advantage of your memories I shall deliver you in the words of the Text. Prop. So many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death and buried with him by baptism into death The Proposition will only require Explication and Application In the first I have these Questions which all of them have their difficulty to open to you Quest 1. What this is to be baptized into Christ Quest 2. What it is to be baptized into the death of Christ and in what sense those who are baptized are baptized into the death of Christ Quest 3. How we are buried with Christ by Baptism into death Quest 1. What is this to be baptized into Christ I do not think that this is to be expounded by being baptized according to the true form of Baptism In the name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost I can easily allow that to be comprehended in this phrase but I can by no means allow it to exhaust the full sense of it for I cannot understand how in that sense a person baptized can be said to be more baptized into Christ than into the Father or the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must certainly be more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambrose is I think a little critical when to justifie this restriction of sense against the aforementioned obvious objection he tells us That in the name Christ is not only to be understood that person whom the name denotes viz. the second person in the Trinity but the other two persons qui mittit he who sends who is the Father and qui ungit he who annointeth who saith he is the Spirit the third person in the blessed Trinity 2. We often meet with phrases much a-kin to this in holy Writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the name of Jesus Christ Acts 2. 38. In the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lord Jesus in the name of Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 16. 1 Cor. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into Moses 1 Cor. 10. 3. We are baptized into one body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 12 13. Into Christ Gal. 3. 27. the only text in Scripture fully parallel to this Into the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. We translate it in in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The phrase as it lyes before us may signifie several things 1. The term of the Action So we may be said to be baptized Actus terminum into Christ 1. As we are baptized into the Gospel of Christ thus Origen We are not baptized into the Law but into Christ not into the Doctrine of Justification by works but by faith in Christ Christ is so much the substance of the Gospel that his name is sometimes put for the Gospel so we preach Christ i. e. the Gospel of Christ The Jews were baptized into Moses into the Cloud and the Sea 1 Cor. 10. 3. We are baptized into Christ they signified a Christ to come you are baptized into a Christ already come who hath died for your sins into a Doctrine that so teacheth you 2. Or secondly Into the profession of the Gospel Paul tells the believers at Ephesus that John baptized with the baptism of Repentance that they should believe on him who should come after him Acts 19. 3. that is on Christ Jesus but now we are baptized into Christ and into the Baptism of Christ That we should believe on him who is come who hath died for our sins and risen again for our justification We are baptized into the profession of this faith 3. Or thirdly Into Christ that is into the mystical body of Christ thus Pareus and Estius into the number of visible Saints visible In populum Dei adoptamur Pareus Professors c. And thus it excellently agreeth with that of our Apostle 1 Cor. 12. 13. By the Spirit we are baptized into one body 2. The phrase secondly may denote the nature of the Act of Baptism and so two things are spoken in it 1. That in Baptism we are dedicated and given up to the Lord Jesus Christ By Baptism saith Estius we give up our Names to Regno grae illius assignari Musculus Christ We are assigned over to the Grace and Kingdom of Christ This is the very nature of Baptism to give up and assign the baptized person to the service of Christ 2. Nay there is not only in Baptism a dedication of the Soul to Christ to his Kingdom and Grace but there is an initiation of the soul and
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
of baptized persons whole lives are but a continued apostacy God would be justified in it as Creator for your not living up to the law of your Creation but how much more when you have in Baptism dedicated your selves to him and made a solemn vow to be his servants Instruct 5. From hence you may observe That there is a great difference to be put betwixt persons baptized Some are Baptized with Water others not with water only but with the Holy Ghost also and with fire some have been baptized only with a Ministerial Baptism others have been baptized also with a true effectual spiritual Baptism some have been baptized in the name of Christ or into Christ only in a large sense others are baptized into Christ in a true spiritual and strict sense And this brings me to a second Use Vse 2. Which shall be of Enquiry Whether we be baptized into Jesus Christ yea or no Multitudes as you have heard have been baptized that in a true proper and spiritual sense have not been baptized into Christ But you will say how shall we ever satisfie our selves in this point I pray observe my text and the parallel text to it Gal. 3. 27. In that text you will find these words As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ In this text you have it As many of us as have been baptized into Christ are baptized into his death We are buried with Christ by baptism into death The phrases of the text I have fully opened but let me speak a word or two to the other phrase As many of us saith the Apostle as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ We meet with the phrase in other texts Rom. 13. 14. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 4. 24. you read of putting on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness and Col. 3. 10. you have a phrase much like it But put you on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness and Ephes 6. 11. you read of putting on the whole armour of God Christ and his Graces in these texts seem to be set out to us under the notion of a garment Rev 6. 11. you read of white robes that were given to the Saints and chap. 7. 9. of a great multitude to whom were given white robes and palms St. John v. 13. asking what they were who were arrayed with white robes had answer That they were those who had washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb In some conformity to this God speaks Ezek. 16. 10. I girded thee about with fine linnen Now Rev. 19. 8. the fine linnen is the righteousness of the Saints not our own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of God even the righteousness which is of God through faith in Christ Phil. 3. 10. and the Church owns that her righteousness was as a menstruous cloth and as filthy rags but Jerem. 23. 6. he Christ is the Lord our righteousness So then to put on Christ is to put on the righteousness of Christ This is put on 1. For our Justification It is the Righteousness of God in the Gospel revealed from faith to faith that is spoken of Phil. 3. 10. 2. For our Sanctification not that we are to do nothing but as the Apostle speaks that we might be compleat in him and Rom. 8. 3. that the Righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit This now more generally but more particularly Doth any one ask me Sir how should I know whether I have put on Christ or no I answer 1. If thou hast put on Christ thou hast sometime before discerned thy soul to be naked It is Gods act to put us on Christ and what God doth of this nature is all in Charity He hath commanded us Luke 14. 13. When we make a feast to call the poor the maimed the lame and the blind not our rich neighbours v. 12. lest they bid us again and make us a recompence God will not be recompenced for his acts of grace he feeds the hungry and cloatheth the naked the rich he sends empty away The proud Pharisee is too well cloathed in his own opinion for the Lord to put him on Christ and his robes Again Though the putting on Christ be Gods act as to Imputation of Christs righteousness and the acceptation of us in the beloved yet it is also our Act in respect of the exercise of our faith no soul will wear the garment of another that hath a fit and decent one of his own we naturally scorn to be beholden to any God therefore first causeth the soul to see that it is naked and to complain of its nakedness then he putteth Christs robes upon it Did you ever discern that you were naked Were you ever truly sensible that you wanted a righteousness a garment of righteousness to appear in before God another day lest you at that day should walk naked and men and Angels should see your shame if you did not you may be confident that you never yet put on Christ nor were in a strict spiritual sense baptized into Christ 2. If you have put on Christ you have put on him alone The Children of God shall never stand before him another day in a parti-coloured coat Christs robes will not go over another garment nor be stitched together with our rags It is a piece of new cloth that must not cannot be sown to an old garment This is the Papists vanity they would stitch up their own works with the robes of Christs righteousness and both together shall make up a righteousness for them to appear before God The good Christian may be resembled to one of you Weavers who are hard at work all the week long but never put on a piece of your own making A good Christian is always hard at work and working the work of righteousness praying hearing fasting serving God in the works of his general calling and of his particular relation with his utmost diligence and faithfulness but when he hath done he saith Lord let not this be my clothing I dare not appear before thee in these things Lord put me on Christ help me to put on Christ Let me saith the Apostle Phil. 3. 9. be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith He that hath put on Christ saith as Esau to his Brother to all the Angels and Saints I have enough my brethren I have enough keep what you have unto your selves nay he saith to his own Soul I have been washed in Jordan I need not my own Abana and Parphar he will see a need of his own work as to salvation and the judicial discharge of him at the last day if men