by putting under the water some stay under it and emersion or rising out of it First the element which is used is water extreamely fit proper to represent our cleansing both from the guilt and stayne of sinne Arise and be baptized and vvash avvay thy sinnes sayes Ananias to Paul Acts 22.16 So Christ gave himself for his Church that hee might sanctifie and cleanse it vvith the vvashing of vvater by the vvord Eph. 5.26 So Tit. 3.5 According to his mercy hee saved us by the vvashing of regeneration So as this washing of water represents our cleansing that is our justification and sanctification The Iewes had many sprinklings with blood fit for their grosse capacities but which indeed rather serve to make spots then to cleanse them First therefore the dipping or drowning in the water signifies the great depth of divine justice with which Christ for our sakes was swallowed up so we are dead and buried with him reaping in a ceremony the fruit of that which he suffered indeed pertaking of his death for sinne and thereby obliging our selves to death to sinne Secondly the stay under the water though never so little represents unto us Christs descending to hell that is the lowest degree of his abasement when hee was seald up and watcht in the grave and was as it were cut of from amongst men of this abasement wee reape the fruit by Baptisme are hereby secured against that abasement and everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord to which sinne would have brought us therefore sinne as it is destroyed in us in respect of the guilt and cut of by this abasement of Christ so it should be apprehended by us for our justification and it should be utterly dead mortified to us in respect of its power and vigour dead and buried to sinne Thirdly the Emersion or rising out of the water is a representation to us of that victory which Christ being dead and buried got over death and in his rising triumphed over it with whom also we rise triumphing over sinne death and all evill whatsoever clearly above the guilt of all sinne and secure against the evill of sin rising up to holines newnes of life And thus there is a sweete and excellent proportion betweene the ceremony and the substance the signe the thing signified and wee are confirmed to be of the union and communion with Christ in every thing that is for our good and comfort Now having shewed the severall ends of Baptisme how the ceremony makes them all good to us I shall gather some Corollaries from the mayne notiō of this ordinance which is our being dead with Christ and rising againe according to the forementioned place of Rom. 6.11 Reckon your selves to be dead to sinne but alive to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Reckon that is build upon this this is a thing exceeding sure First if wee be dead to sinne Coroll 1. and sealed up to this death by Baptisme into the death of Christ then let us be in the world as dead men in that respect let us not understand the reasonings of sinne nor hearken to the persuasions of sinne nor looke upon the baites of sinne the Apostle made this an argument in a better thing If you be dead vvith Christ from the rudiments of the vvorld vvhy as though living in the vvorld are ye subject to ordinances touch not tast not handle not Col. 2.20 These things had once a good being but were become old but sinne was never of any worth or account Barzillai 2. Samuel 19. thought it reason to refuse the Kings table because his appetite and sences were decayed hee was eighty yeares old but our sences are not decaying but dead and sinne is not old but dead it is dead in a mistery it is dead in Christ and wee have the Sacrament upon it therefore if lusts tempt turne not onely a deaf but a dead eare to them persuasiōs should not worke on a dead man objects should not take or affect a dead man Secondly if we be risen and alive with Christ Baptisme seale that also then act not onely as a living man but as a risen man moove and walke reason conclude as a man raised from the dead have your sences and your reasonings as quick to God as taking of spirituall things as they are dull and shut up to things below breath in the ayer of another life hasten after the full and reall possession of another life let God and Christ heavenly things be great unto you though they be little to the world and what ever is great to the world let it be little to you proportionating your object to your life love those ordinances those times that feed your life Thirdly the worke of this ordinance or dying and rising is advanced much by holy reasonings both in the time of communicating afterwards for wee are apt to forget our selves and our conditions as he that would have forgot that he was an Emperour if he had not bene remembred of it by others Thinke therefore much on these things what you have done in this ordinance what are the consequences results of it which wil be a mighty not onely help but ingagement to faith holines it is a seale on both sides wee seale to God as well as he to us it is in our owne choyce no more wee are ingaged by our owne act wee have subscribed and can recall no more and certainely this as it ingages much so it helpes much to act an act of faith in thought is much but to speake it is more but to signe seale it in an ordinance by professing subjection by going downe into the water by suffering your selves there to be drowned or buried by rising or coming out againe all as a ceremony or ordinance for such an end is both a great ingagement and a great help to us in beleeving CHAP. V. In which the proper ceremony of Baptisme is vindicated by the force of the word Scripture practise the suffrage of learned men and the use of ancient times IN the proceeding discours wee have taken it for graunted that the antient and usuall forme of Baptisme hath bene by dipping or plonging the whole body under the water according to which notion we have found what great proportion the ceremony hath to the substance and the signe to the thing signified But because the possession which the Churches have had of a long time of sprinkling is become a strong argument in the thoughts of many for that ceremony it will be necessary to speake something more particularly to this point and to show that as the ceremony of dipping sutes with the ends and use of Baptisme so it agrees perfectly with the force of the word the Scripture practise and the use of antient times First therefore the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly mergo seu immergo that is to drowne or sinke
beleevers not infidels though outwardly they can manifest no faith or sanctification to us Ainsworth pag. 49.50 whom I quote as being by all acknowledged a learned man in this opinion wherein hee concurres as wee shall see with the streame of our Divines not to be suspected The like to this saith Walleus de Bapt. Infant p. 493. Infants are to be reckoned amongst beleevers because the seede or spirit of faith is in them vvhich some call a habit others an inclination from vvhence by degrees through the hearing of the vvord actuall faith is formed sometimes sooner sometimes later This in the next pag. 494. hee prooves Because else they vvould not be saved Rom. 8.9 If any have not the spirit of God he is none of his And Iohn 3.5 No uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven but infants by nature are uncleane are purged by the blood of Christ the kingdome of heaven belongs to them they please God c. This is layd for a ground amongst the Calvinists concerning Baptisme That Baptisme is onely a signe and seale of regeneration already wrought Oecolamp de verb. Dom. cap. 3. Aqua mystica in Baptismo non regenerat nec efficit filios Dei sed declarat the mysticall vvater in Baptisme doth not regenerate nor make men sonnes of God but declares So Zwinglius Baptismus non aliter Ecclesiae Christi signum est quam exercitus aliquis signatur non quod signum hoc conjungit Ecclesiae sed qui jam conjunctus est publicam tesseram accipit Baptisme is the signe of the Church as the ensigne of an army it doth not joyne you to the Church but it declares you joyned So Beza Nihil obsignatur nisi quod jam habetur nothing is seald but vvhat is there already of this opinion is Calvin fully as it were easy to quote him saving that in answering the Anabaptists he sayth This objection is ansvvered in a vvord by saying that children are baptized into faith and repentance to come actuall he meanes for he addes according to the first opinion quoted of vvhich though vvee see not the appearance neverthelesse the seede is planted there by the secret operation of the holy Spirit so as hee would have faith and repentance there in the habit that God may not seale to a blanck nor give a lying signe The like saith Pemble a late and able Divine That vvhich is signified in our baptisme is our justification by the blood of Christ and our sanctification by the Spirit of Christ Baptisme is the seale of both unto us and infants may be partakers of both being vvasht from the guilt of sinne by the blood of Christ in vvhom they are reconciled to God and actually justified before him and also purified in part from the uncleannesse of sinne by the infusion of grace from the Holy Ghost vvhat then should hinder vvhy those infants should not be vvashed vvith the vvater of the Sacrament So also Davenant in his comment upon the 2. chapt of the Colossians to quote no more where conflicting with the Anabaptists he saith As for infants because they are not sinners by their ovvne act but by an hereditary habit they have the mortification of sinne and faith not putting forth it self but included in an habituall principle of grace Novv that the Spirit of Christ can and doth ordinarily vvorke in them an habituall principle of grace no vvise man vvill deny From all those testimonies wee may observe that the cleare reason of the thing inforces men to allow as necessary to Baptisme in generall the qualification of regeneration faith c. how this now will fit infants Baptisme wee shall consider hereafter for the present wee joyne issue with them in these three things First that a personall holynes not derivative or imputed onely must be the ground of Sacraments 2 That this holynes must be regeneration 3 That the habits of faith and repentance are to be esteemed such I proove not these things because they are cleare in themselves and taken for graunted by those already quoted onely in these things wee joyne with them and so farre agree together CHAP. VIII In which are contained severall queries and considerations raised from the premisses declaring what little ground there will appeare from their owne principles and concessions to conclude for Infant Baptisme THese things thus supposed I make these doubts about the baptizing of the infants of beleevers First I would aske whether all infants of beleevers have necessarily and assuredly those habits which must of necessity be concluded since it is their personall qualificatiō for Baptisme and therefore you must have good grounds to judge that they have it one as well as another First of all Peter Martyr sayes that I vvill be the God of thee and of thy seede is not an universall promise but hath place onely in the predestinate and therefore upon 1. Cor. 7.14 else vvere your children uncleane but novv are they holy he saith Promissio non est generalis de omni semine sed tantum de illo in quo rectè consentit electio alioquin posteritas Israelis Esau fuerunt ex Abraham And therefore affirmes that the children of the saints are borne holy vvhen they are predestinate and this agreeth with reason for if you make that holynes as before the infusion of gratious habits yee must suppose election without which such gratious habits are never infused unlesse to make good this opinion you will allow falling from grace which I am sure our selves and those we desire to satisfy will not do This being said I would aske upon what ground the Saints can suppose all their children to be elected or why they should deny any infants baptisme since experience tells us that the children of many unbeleevers if we will judge by the fruites and effects which is the surest judgement are elected and many children of beleevers reprobated especially now since the sluce is taken up the Gospel preached to every creature under heaven Againe consider how cold a ground this is for infants baptisme your children are holy by being borne of you that is regenerated and so qualified for ordinances if at least they be elected and I seale to them their holynes the kingdome of heaven if they be elected as if a King should say I confirme this towne to you and yours if at least it hath pleased me or shall please me to give it you But if you say wee have reason to hope well of them according to that else vvere your children unholy but novv are they holy for so saith Peter Martyr upon that place Bene sperantes quod ut sunt secundum carnem semen sanctorum ita etiam sunt electionis divinae participes Spiritum Sanctum gratiam Christi habeant Hoping vvell that as they are according to the flesh the seed of the Saints so they are also partakers of Divine election and have the Holy Spirit and the grace
signe thereof should not be to this agrees that place Heb. 6.4.5.6 For it is impossible for those vvho vvere once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and vvere made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted the good vvord of God the povvers of the vvorld to come if they shall fall avvay to renevv them againe to repentance c. The Apostle speakes not here of theft perjury adultery or any sinne in particular but of an intire revolting and falling away when a sinner offends not God in any particular but renounces wholly to his grace bids him adieu for ever Now he falls thus who revolts from the word of God who extinguisheth the light of it who deprives himself of the tast of the heavenly gift and quits the communion of the spirit in the participatiō of its grace which cannot be without the sinne against the holy Ghost and a totall falling from God Now it is impossible sayes hee those should be renevved by repentance having sinned against the holy Ghost they have a heart that cannot repent now they having broken covenant with God in the highest manner and being uncapable of repentance which is to precede Baptisme they are incapable of Baptisme for others though they sinne the same covenant repentance Baptisme stands good for ever Secondly because the signification the fruit use of Baptisme is not for a moment or respecting the time past onely but respects the future also and the whole life of the baptized person as appeares Rom. 6.2 So as the Baptisme of repentance once receaved for remission of sinnes remaynes as a pledge by us of the covenant of God and that perpetuall washing which we have by the blood of Christ Marke 14. Iohn did baptize in the vvildernes and preach the baptisme of repentance for the remission of sinnes which is to be often thought of for the full assurance of our pardō for that promise is of perpetuall use and influence He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved and Gal. 3.27 As many as have bene baptized into Christ have put on Christ. But thirdly the greatest reason why Baptisme is not to be repeated is because neither in precept or example wee find it repeated which is the word of our institutiō But on the other side There is one Lord one faith one Baptisme which is one Vnitate usus legitimi in the unity of the lawfull use as well as in other respects so as there is no thought of leaving Christ as if there were to be exspected a new regeneration and a new Baptisme The Fathers also were of this opinion Tertull. lib. de Baptis Semel lavacrum inimus semel dilicta diluuntur So Cyprian lib. 2. Epist 3. Baptisma semel sumitur nec rursus iteratur Baptisme is once received nor is it repeated againe The question then will be what shall become of those that have bene baptized into a false name by heritickes that erre about the Trinity as the Arrians Marcionites c. The receaved answer is that they are to be baptized aright with the baptisme of Christ in such cases Baptisme is not to be said to be repeated the former being no baptisme or a nullity and this according to the decree of the Counsell of Nice cap. 19. as Bucan quotes it p. 635. The like decree also hath a Counsell of Carthage Ii sunt baptizandi de quibus incertum est an fuerint baptizati necne Concil Carth. 50. cap. 6. They are to be baptized of whom it is uncertain whether they were baptized or no. The like also saith Cyprian in his epistle 71. ad Quintum fratrem Here was some difference in opinions Cyprian and his Bishops were of opinion that Baptisme in an heretick church was null and therefore those who came to them were baptized as supposing that vayne and nothing others have thought that those onely were to be baptized againe who had bene formerly baptized by such a church and in such a manner as the essentialls of Baptisme were wanting so the Arrians baptized which rendred that ordinance vayne and null The same may be affirmed more fully of infant Baptisme that it is null and nothing and therefore that the partie so supposed to be baptized is indeed still unbaptized and therefore ought to be baptized according to the institution of Christ which Baptisme when he hath once receav'd he cā in no way as is before shewed be sayd to be rebaptiz'd for those thinges which cannot be shewen done no reason allowes that they should seeme to be reïterated To proceed therefore The Sacraments in generall particularly Baptisme is that by which wee pledge our selves to God or in which a formall covenant is made in which wee promise obedience and God protection defence to be our God and therefore 1. Pet. 3.21 it is stil'd a stipulation or covenanting also the word Sacrament is from sacring making holy dedicating or initiating as juramentum an oath is à jurando from swearing In the civill law it signified an oath Sacramenti praestatio recusatio the taking or refusing an oath The word Sacrament also is taken for a mystery for the visible signe of an invisible grace In a word Baptisme seemes to be nothing else but the ceremony of a mysticall spirituall marriage for it is a dedication a covenant and a mystery and as in marriage besides the words there hath bene usually some ceremonious signe as the giving of a ring or money or a kisse or the taking by the hand so here c. To examine this therefore by that similitude and resemblance that which is the first and principall ingredient into marriage is consent Nam nuptias non concubitus sed consensus facit Not the bed but consent makes marriage for otherwayes that joyning which is fornication or adultery would be marriage This stands by vertue of the first institution A man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his vvife Ge. 2.24 How By covenant and consent This is so essentiall an ingredient as Beza calls it the formall cause of marriage others the efficient cause therefore the lawyers say Solus consensus matrimonium facit Onely consent makes the marriage But then this consent must be exprest outwardly Nisi quatenus consentiunt consensum suum exterius exprimunt because the covenant contract is externall But then lastly and especially it must be the proper consent of the parties married for the consent of the parents who have some the greatest power besides cannot doe it hence an error of the person makes the marriage also null and invalid as if I marry one another be put in the place by the same reason if one of the parties be mad constantly because they cannot consent because that supposes not the consent of the marryers so as here is a formall or efficient fayle in respect of the consent and a materiall fayle in respect of the persons married which is as