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A41822 John Baptist's decreasing and Christ's increasing witnessed being a treatise concerning baptism in the type, and baptism in the mystery / by John Gratton ... Gratton, John, 1641-1712. 1674 (1674) Wing G1585; ESTC R39439 23,175 59

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Commission For Peter did not any where that I can find command That Water-Baptism should be observed to the World's End No no it was the Baptism of Christ Jesus with the Holy Ghost and Fire that was and is and will be to the End established and commanded in Mat. 28. by Christ And though the Apostles did make use of Iohn's Baptism yet they laid no stress upon us that were to come after them to use it neither was it commanded by Christ for them to use But come May not I say that they saw not to the End of Iohn's Baptism though Iohn had plainly said I must Decrease no more then they saw the Coming of the Gentiles till it was shewed by a Vision and that though Christ had said That the True Worship was in Spirit and in Truth yet that they saw not through the Outward Worship and have I not more Ground for it then you have for Paul's NOT ONLY but if you were in the Light you would see that the Apostles did see but in part and no further then it was revealed unto them no more then we do now But though we should say that they did see unto the End of Iohn's Baptism and unto the End of all Visible things as I know they did in Time as I shall prove hereafter yet although they might yet they that were daily added might have stumbled had they denyed them that of Iohn's Baptism except they also had seen into the Mind of God with them in this Matter for they were but Enterers in as little Children and not grown up to man's State at first but went from Strength to Strength in the Spirit of the Lord and so the Apostles could take Liberty for the furtherance of the Gospel to command Iohn's Dispensation b●t were above it themselves out from under its Command in the Power of Christ who was greater then Iohn and had all Power now himself and so it could not command Them but they It And so Philip said unto the Eunuch If thou believest with all thy Heart THOV MAYEST not thou must No but if thou believest thou Mayest he would not deny it him though I believe Philip knew that it was the Spirit 's Baptism that must sanctifie and that Water could not reach the Soul of any nor any way sa●isfie the Spiritual Part of Mankind And yet took that Liberty in the Spirit because of the Weakness of their yet Childish Capacities to submit to their Weakness in many things that belonged unto the Law as well as in this of Iohn's And is it not also clear That the Apostles would not yet seem to lay the Building if I may so call it of John waste until they had laid and builded on a More Sure Foundation nor wholely preach his Baptism useless nor the Law neither until such time as the Gospel had got some hold of the People and then they testified of One Lord One Faith ONE BAPTISM and that by one Spirit they were all baptived into One Body and had been all made to drink into One Spirit and that they were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and came not with words Man's Wisdom teacheth but with the Words the Holy Ghost teacheth with which they were now baptized comparing Spiritual Things with Spitritual not with carnal or external or elemental Things with Spiritual as you do No no but Spiritual with Spiritual Now they saw by the Revelation of the Spirit into the Mysteries of God's Kingdom and therefore in Heb. 6. 1. the Apostle comes in with these words LEAVING saith he mark Leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto Perfection Come Friends deal plainly for your own Souls Good and God's Glory and tarry not short of him that makes Perfect and cleanseth from all Iniquity and be perswaded to come and wait for the True Baptism of Christ which is with the Holy Ghost and Fire that ye may be sanctified and refined and made every whit whole for it is in much Love to your Souls that these Lines are written by One that desires your Salvation even as his own and truly breathes for the Prosperity of Zion and the Establishment of Truth and Righteousness But now some may Object and say That the Apostles could not have left them if they had not been in Them or in the Vse of Them I Answer True they had so and had also been in the Use of those things the Law had required but mark All these could not make Perfect The Law made nothing Perfect said the Apostle as pertaining to the Conscience And the Baptism of John say you was but a Type Now if the Type could make perfect then there would have heen no need of the Substance for if Perfection had been by the Levitical Priesthood then verily Righteousness would have been by the Law and now say I If John 's Baptism could have taken or have wash'd away Sin then verily Righteousness would have been by John I mean that men would have been then by it made perfectly and truly Righteous but Iohn himself preached no such thing by himself but said I am not He but behold him the Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World This is he of whom I spak● one Mightier then I cometh he must Increase of the Increase of his Government and Kingdom there shall be no End And therefore saith the Apostle LEAVING which word therefore seems to entail the fore going words in the Chapter before where he had bin telling them of their Childishness he mentions the Doctrine of Baptisms which cannot prove the Imposing of Water-Baptism any more then all the rest and was now for bringing them on to a further State where they might know Perfection and have Meat that would satisfie True Bread that comes down from Heaven and impowers to be Sons of God And it seems clear to me that there was some Need for those things they had so long lain like Children weak and like Babes in to be left Therefore LEAVING these let us go on to Perfection and saith further This will we do if Godpermit But if they had been commanded by Christ to have been used to the World's End then why should Paul for so I call that Author have been so earnest at that Day which was soon after Christ's Ascension to have had them then to leave them and to go on to a more Manful Powerful Perfect State So that it is very clear to all whose Eyes the Lord hath opened that though the Apostles had by Reason of their Weakness submitted to their Childish Capacities rather then they would lose their hold they had got of them yet this or these things were not the Thing they were driving at But the Aim and End of all they did both in Circumcision Passover Vows and Seven Dayes Purification and Water-Baptism yea and all those things they did concerning Meats and other