right hand of God It is sufficient to believe that the Phoenomenon or extraordinary Apparition of light that was then beheld by the spectators did appear or shew it self to them as if the Heavens had really opened But beside this there appeared another wonder which was 2. The Holy Ghost like a Dove descending and lighting upon him The Heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Waving all frivolous Questions about this matter As Whether this was a Dove really or in appearance onely Whether seen by our Saviour and the Baptist alone or by the Company also with some others more bold and extravagant then these As Whether or no this Dove was assum'd by the Holy Ghost into the unity of the same Suppositum as the Schooles use to speak It will be sufficient for us to take notice that God at this time was pleased to honour the solemnity of his Sons baptisme by so glorious and visible a Miracle which though it was a sufficient Attestation that our Saviour was a Divine and extraordinary Person yet was it not an infallible conviction or Demonstration that he was the Son of God And therefore as a full testimony of that this visible was succeeded by an audible but in all respects as great a Miracle and that was 3. Miraculous effect 3. A voice from Heaven pronouncing him to be the Son of God And there came a voice from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Certainly this was the greatest solemnity that ever happened upon Earth where the mysterious Cabinet as a late Author speakes of the sacred Trinity was opened and exposed to the view of Mortalls God the Son in person of a Man God the Holy Ghost in the likeness of a Dove And though no shape of God the Father was seen yet was his voice heard audibly attesting the Divinity of our Saviour This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased There remaines onely now the third and last Particular which the Text proposes as observable in this story of our Saviours baptisme And that is The means whereby these Miracles were procured And that is here said to be The Prayer of our Saviour Now it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon Him and a voice came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Concerning which it will be as proper to speak in the Review or Application of this Text unto the present occasion unto which I shall now address my self The Review When I consider how our Saviour was baptized not for himself but for us and how he did submit himself to this Rite that by his Example as well as Precept and Institution he might consigne the use of this holy Sacrament unto his Church to the end of the world I doubt not at all to affirme that one main End of the happening of these great Miracles and Ostents at this time was That they might serve as so many Predictions and Significations of the spiritual Effects and Influences that in all future Ages should accompany the use of this Sacrament in the Church especially it being assented to as an undoubted verity by all Christians That there is nothing ritually prescribed or supernaturally happenning in Scripture but relates either to something of duty or something of benefit in the Church Insomuch that St. Paul speaks of the Baptism of the Israelites under Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea 1 Cor. 10 1. as referring to Christ nay he sayes that the Rock that followed them was Christ v. 4. An expression to be understood like that of Gen. 41.26 where 't is said The seven Kine are i. per figure seven years as the Rock being struck yielded them water so Christ percussus ad mortem Spiritum Sanctum suis obtinuit being struck to death purchased the gifts of the Holy Spirit for his Church And as the Rock in effect that is the water that came out of the Rock followed them in all their Journeys so Christ by his Spirit accompanies his Church to the end of the world That Rock was Christ 1. was a lively figure of Him But I return to the matter in hand this being only a short Digression in order to my present Design which is to shew that the same Spirit which did accompany Christ in his Baptism does still accompany the Baptism of Christ and that in the right use of that Sacrament Christ is by his holy Spirit according to his promise stil present with his Church and will be so to the end of the world And that the same miraculous effects that were performed when he was Baptiz'd are still perform'd in the due Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism though not in a visible yet in a real manner That therein or thereby Heaven is opened That therein the Holy Ghost is conferr'd and lastly that as Christ in his was proclaim'd to be the Son so Christians in their Baptism are receiv'd admitted and taken into the number Roll or List of the Children of God 1. Of the opening of Heaven Ir It is a known passage in the Song of St. Ambrose commonly called the Te Deum where speaking of Christ he sayes When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Without looking after Limbus Patrum which some pretend to find in this passage the sense of it is very obvious to any that shall consider it thus That though it was our Saviours business in his life time to make known the will of his Father to his Disciples and to let the whole Nation of the Jews understand that the Kingdom of Heaven was come among them Luk. 17.21 yet the fuller Revelation of the mysteries thereof was reserved till after his death Then it was that he did expound the Scriptures unto his Disciples concerning himself Luk. 24.27 and opened their understandings so as sully to make them perceive the drift and meaning of what was written both in Moses and the Prophets concerning Him v. 45. For forty dayes together after his Resurrection Act. 1.3 speaking unto them of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Then it was that he instituted the Sacrament of Baptism as a Dore of Admission and Entrance into that Kingdom Mat. 28.19 20. commanding them to baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and to teach them to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded Thus when he had overcome the sharpness of death he did open the Kingdom of heaven to all believers But that you may be more fully satisfied how Baptism is said to open the Kingdom of heaven you must understand that the Kingdom of heaven in the New Testament is taken in
two sences First and that very frequently for the Kingdom of Grace Into which Kingdom there is no entrance but by the dore of Baptism And with submission to the Judgment of the Church I conceive that that passage of our Saviour to Nicodemus where he sayes Job 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God ought primarily at least to be understood in this sence so as that the meaning of the place is this Except a man be baptized he cannot be a Christian or a Member of my Kingdom Secondly For the Kingdom of Glory If Baptism be the dore of admission into the Kingdom of Grace it must be consequently so into the Kingdom of Glory For none can be Members of the Kingdom of Glory hereafter that are not Members of the Kingdom of Grace here What then must we conclude will you say concerning them that die unbaptized Objection Do all such certainly and eternally perish for want of this Sacrament Many Christians in the primitive times that had embraced the faith of Christ died before they could have the opportunity of Baptism which as Ecclesiastical Writers tell us was in those Ages administred but at certain times in the year Many were martyred and so carried to the place of Execution before they could be brought to the Font or place of Baptism tasted of the Baptism of Fire before they could receive that of Water And last of all what must we think of those children that are born of Christian Parents and yet die unbaptized Answer To give a distinct Answer in all these Cases I say first as to them who died before they could have the opportunity of Baptism they were baptized in voto though not de facto They were baptized in vote and desire They were Candidates of Baptism and fit to wear the Livery of the Lamb but died before it was fit for them In this case we are to believe that the will is accepted for the deed and that where there is faith repentance and a desire of Baptism the all-merciful God who tyes no body to impossibilities punishes none for the want of that which they desired but could not have 2. As for those Martyrs that died before they were initiated by this Sacrament it cannot be absolutely said that they died unbaptiz'd for baptismus sanguinis is a real Baptism The want of water which is the ordinary and outward Element of Baptism being supplyed by their own blood and instead of giving up their Names which is the form in their Martyrdom they gave up their lives to Christ and so were safe in that promise of his that sayes Luke 9.24 Whosoever loses his life for my sake shall save it Lastly For Infants that die unbaptized supposing that nothing as is usually held of certainty can be affirmed in this point Yet this we are certain of That the denyal of salvation to such was the first foundation of the Invention of Limbus Puerorum and that St. Austin who sometime denyed salvation in this case was therefore stil'd Durus Pater Infantum And though nothing can be pronounc'd as de side herein yet charity binds us to believe that which in it self is very credible and has been held by the pious and learned of all sides that as in bringing of an Infant to Baptism the Faith of the whole Church and of them that present it is reputed as it 's own so in case it die before it be baptized the vote and desire of the whole Church in general which would have all her Children partakers of that Sacrament and that of the faithfull Parents in special who did desire and design it will be accepted and reputed for Baptism before God Moreover it is no less credibly then piously held in this case That what is wanting of the outward ministry of the Church without the fault of those that want it shall be supplyed out of the infinite Treasury of the merits of our faithful and merciful High-priest 1 Tim. 2.4 who would not that any should perish but that all should be saved The second Miracle here mentioned to have happenned at the Baptism of our Saviour is the Discent of the Holy Ghost In parallel to which I come now to shew That the Holy Ghost is conferr'd in the Sacrament of Baptism and that the Spirit of God moves upon these waters of Regeneration as really as he is said to have done upon those at the Creation Gen. 1.2 For the demonstration of which Truth I shall bring Three proofes beyond all exception 1. Our Saviour promis'd it should be so 2. The Church believes and has ever believ'd that it is so 3. The unquestionable History of the Apostolick times has left it upon record that then de facto it was so 1. Iohn did indeed baptize with water Acts 3.5 but I sayes our Saviour will baptize you with the Holy Ghost And herein consisted the difference betwixt the paptisme of our Saviour and the baptisme of Iohn by Iohns own confession Matth. 3.11 I indeed baptize you with water but he that comes after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire I. According to a usual Hebraism with the Fire of the Holy Ghost or with the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that are quick and powerfull active and operative as Fire The baptisme of Iohn was no more but a Significative Ceremony serving to put them in mind that came to it of the necessity of Repenance and Purity of Life Vers 11. and this was it that Iohn told them where he sayes I indeed baptize you with water unto Repentance Our Saviours baptisme is another thing His baptisme is the Laver of Regeneration Tit. 3.5 as St. Paul calls it wherein they that are washt are Regenerate and born anew of Water and of the Holy Ghost which likewise St. Paul takes notice of in that place as the inseparable concomitant of that baptisme Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but by his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Secondly This Promise of our Saviours whose Promises are all of them Yea and Amen must needes be acknowledg'd a sufficient ground for the Church to build her Faith upon in this point and accordingly our Church does publickly profess her belief of the same in express words to that purpose in the Collect that immediately succeeds the Baptisme Seeing now dearly beloved that this Child is regenerate and grafted into the Body of Christs Church c. And the ancient Fathers speaking upon this point deliver their fence to this purpose We bring no Sanctity or holiness with us into the World nor are we sanctifyed in the Womb But as Christ was sanctifyed at his Conception so we at our Regeneration He was conceiv'd not by Man but by the Holy Ghost and we are not of Blood nor of the will of the Flesh John
difference betwixt the baptism of John and the baptism of our Saviour by the confession of John himself John did indeed baptize with water unto repentance Mat. 3.11 but our Saviour did baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire i.e. did together with his Baptism confer the quick active and operative Gifts of the Holy Ghost resembled for that reason to Fire In short thus Johns baptism did signifie unto men that Repentance and purity of Life was their duty Christs baptism did really regenerate and purifie them Thus much of the View and Review of these words I should here have put an end to this Discourse were it not for a certain Scruple that calls and an Exception that clamours for satisfaction The Scruple Scruple in short is this That since it is now the custome of the Church to baptize Children in their Infancy how they can be capable of those Benefits of Baptism above mentioned or indeed of any other Do they then receive Remission of their Sins Divine Illumination c Answ To this I answer They do not indeed receive a Remission of their actual sins for they need it not nor any actual Illumination for they are not capable of it But they really receive at that time both Sanctification and Remission 1. Sanctification in that their persons are then consecrated and dedicated to God Their Natures regenerate they being born anew of water and the Holy Ghost And secondly Remission of Sins by spiritual Regeneration the guilt of Original sin being so wholly taken away by Baptism that if they die before they commit any actual crime they are undoubtedly saved This is the avowed Doctrine of our Church who therein grounds her self upon the Word of God as appears from those words by way of Rubrick subjoyn'd to the office of Baptism It is certain by Gods Word that Children which are baptiz'd Rub. in fin◠Baptismi dying before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved Further they then receive the Gifts of Adoption as has been said being received into the bosome of the Church as the Children of God and enrolled into the number of the faithful Then do they receive the seeds of those graces which in a visible manner spring up afterwards provided that they themselves do not obicem ponere or put in something in Bar. The baptism of the Spirit will in due time become as visible as that of water if they do not do those things in the mean time that infallibly grieve and quench the Spirit To prevent which the Church takes all possible care enjoying the use of Confirmation which is intended for the corroboration of baptismal Grace being as one calls it the suppletory of early Baptism and a Rite certainly of Apostolical both Institution and Practice wherein we give our selves up unto Christ by our own free and voluntary choice no less then if we had been actually baptized at that instant ratifying in our own persons that vow and making good that promise which in the person of others we engag'd to perform at our Baptism Thus much in answer to that Scruple The Exception which some put in against Infant-baptism Exception it self not onely as impenitent and frivolous but as unlawful and abominable is not so easily at least not so soon answer'd We are fallen into times wherein contentious spirits have assum'd the liberty not onely to oppose the Doctrine but to disturb the peace of the Church as about others so particularly about this point of baptizing Infants from the rebaptizing of which they themseves I mean the sect have received their name and are baptiz'd Anabaptists Being then that we are met upon such an occasion as this viz. to dedicate an Infant to God by Baptism it may seem not onely seasonable but in some sort necessary to say something in justification of the Churches Practice in this Particular and to do what we can as every true Son of the Church and every good Christian is bound to do to put a stop to the careir of that opinion which in a short time if it should prevail would put an end to Christianity in Christendom by making it consist of no other but unbaptized persons or if I may so speak of Unchristen'd Christians This I shall endeavour to do in as short and as satisfying a way as I am able First by answering some of the chief of their Arguments Secondly by a positive Assertion of the point it self Both these as briefly so as fully as the latter end of a Sermon will permit referring them that have the mind and the leisure to engage in such a task to the no few nor small volumes that have troubled the world upon this occasion The Arguments they bring against paedobaptism Arg. 1 are either drawn from Scripture or Reason Of the first sort that drawn from the words of the Institution of baptism they look upon as unanswerable Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son Mat. 28.19 and of the Holy Ghost From whence they argue that none are to be baptized but such as are first taught or as they are pleased to criticize upon the Greek first made Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When men throughly understand Christianity or the way of Christ and are willing to own and profess it then they may be baptized not before So they To this I Answer That if this Proposition had been found in Scripture either in express words or by undeniable consequence they had said something But to lay so great a weight upon so sandy Foundation as that of the casual placing of these words shewes no more but that as sinking men are willing to lay hold upon any thing so they were glad to make use of this Argument for want of a better That the placing of these words is without any such design as that any such inference ought or might be drawn from them is evident from this That in the same period Teaching is put after Baptizing as well as before it Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you V. 20. c. So that an Argument drawn from these words for Baptizing before Teaching is as good as for one drawn for Teaching before Baptizing and nothing more sure then that these words were not marshall'd and plac'd thus as an intended foundation of this Doctrine for doubtless if so it would have been built upon long before these destructive Builders thought of Building their Hay and Straw and Stubble upon it Erroneous and groundless Deductions from Scripture being at the best no better A second Argument is drawn from Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized Arg. 2 shall be saved Whence they conclude that Baptism is for Believers only Before that none can be capable of it nor can it benefit any Answer To
which so many wonderful and remarkable things have fallen out for the universal benefit and good of Mankind This was the first day of the Creation on which the Light was created being as it were struck out of the Chaos by the Fiat or almighty Word of God This the day on which the Children of Israel past on dry ground through the Red Sea This the day on which it first rained Manna The day on which Christ was baptized in Iordan The day whereon he turned Water into Wine in Cana of Galilee The day on which his sacred Benediction multiplyed five Loaves to the satisfaction of five hundred persons The day on which himself rose from Death The day on which he sent the Holy Ghost And the day on which we do expect him so hee to appear a second time to Judgment Several of these things are affirmed to have happened on the day mentioned by Scripture it self as for the rest that relye upon Tradition I leave every one at liberty to believe as he sees cause and so pass to the next and more material circumstance mentioned in the Text and that is our Saviours Associats his fellow Communicants or the persons that accompanied him in his Baptism and were Baptized with him which the Evangelist tells us were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the People Now when all the people were baptized it came to pass also that Iesus being baptized c. 2. Circumstance company It was not a select Congregation or Company of Saints that Christ received his Baptism among but a Rabble or mixt multitude Pharisees Saduces Publicans and Soldiers Dregs of men and according to the Baptists own Character a Generation of Vipers Matth. 3.7 Our Saviour Christ without all doubt was a person so pure that he stood in no need at all of any Baptismal Ablation or Sacramental purification 'T was he that purifyed that Element and sanctifyed the waters themselves to the mystical washing away of sin Yet you see he not only complyed with the accustomed Rites of his Countrey though there was no need for it at all but he chose to do it in the company of ordinary and vulgar people in a mixt communion the Rabble indeed and a Generation of Vipers Does not this example of our Saviour sufficiently tax the Insolence and singularity of those who refuse the Sacrament of the Lords Supper upon no other account but this that they must receive it in a mixt multitude Though perhaps they may think the company they receive it in worse then that wherein our Saviour received his Baptism yet I hope they have not so high a conceit of their own purity as to think it greater than that of the Lamb of God that was undefiled and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 And yet this great and real purity of his transcendent and imparalleld as it was made him not disdain to communicate in his baptism with a generation of Vipers Sacramentorum Efficacia nullo modo pendet vel a dignitate ministrantium vel a puritate communicantium The efficacy of either Sacrament does in no sort depend either upon the dignity of the Minister that gives it or the purity of the company that takes it but upon the power and veracity of him that instituted them and promised to accompany the true use of his own ordinances by his own spirit to the end of the world T is true that the unworthy Receiver shall receive Damnation to himself 1 Cor. 11.21 But it is not his company but his sins that make him unworthy And it is as true on the other side that they that come prepared and rightly disposed for the Receiving of these holy Seals neither the meanness or unworthiness of the Minister or the unfitness of other communicants can render them uneffectual to such for the reason abovesaid viz. That the efficacy of the Sacraments depends not upon the worth or purity of either giver or Fellow Receiver but upon the institution and promise of Christ This has ever been held Orthodox Divinity in this point and Mr. Calvin himself delivers it for such against the Anabaptists and other Fanaticks of his time Instit cap. 17. do Baptismo affirming them to be no better than Novations and Donatists that teach otherwise Thus much of the Company the second circumstance observable in this Action 3. Circumstance Place The third which is the Place is not so material The Evangelists St. Mathew and St. Mark do assure us it was in the River Iordan of which some are so curious as to assign several Reasons Aâ—â—â—â—st others that I shall not now mention I look up 〈◊〉 of Thomas Aquinas as most significant P. 3. Qu. 1 Art viz. That the River Iordan being the water that the Children of Israel past through into the Land of Promise was the fittest to be made use of in the Justification of that Sacrament by which we do and without which we cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven according to that of our Saviour Except a man be born of water and of the spirit To. 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And there are those that venture to tell us That the place in the River it self where our Saviour was Baptiz'd was the very place the Children of Israel past through Jos 4. and that the Baptist pointed to those Stones that Iosua caused to be erected upon the shore in memory of that miraculous passage when he told the Iewes Matth. 3.9 That God was able out of those Stones to raise up children unto Abraham Of the truth of these things let them that have the curiosity determine St. Iohn the Evangelist tells us that the place where the Baptist did Baptize was Aenon near Salim whether this place was over against Iericho where the Israelites past this River I leave to the Geographers to dispute Whatsoever the Reason was that mov'd our Saviour to be Baptized in the River Iordan certain it is as our Church professes in her office of Baptism that by this Action he did sanctifie both that and all other waters to the mysticall washing away of sin And so I have done with the first Particular observable in this story which is the Baptisme of our Saviour with the several circumstances of that Action The second is the miraculous Effects attending it 2. Particular observable Of which the first is 1. The opening of Heaven The manner how this was performed as it is not easie so it is not necessary to determine That it was a reall Rupture or Discontinuance of the heavenly frame is altogether improbable but onely an Appearance of an extraordinary Light and Brightness in the ayre which kind of Phoenomenon or Impression they that write of Meteors call Vorago or Hiatus of which kind it is to be believed was that Apparition that happened to St. Stephen where he sayes That he saw the Heaven opened Acts 7.56 and Iesus standing at the
A SERMON Preached in the year of our Lord 1650. January 9. At the Baptizing of THEOPHILUS Then Lord HASTINGS Now EARL of Huntingdon By John Joynes M. A. one of the Prebends of Lincoln and Chaplain to the Right Honorable FERDINANDO then Earl of HUNTINGDON Baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in Nomine Jesu Christi in remissionem peccatorum accipietis donum Spiritus Sancti Act. 2.38 LONDON Printed by T. N. for Edward Man and are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Swan near York-House in the Strand 1668. To the Right Honorable THEOPHILUS Earl of HUNTINGDON Lord Hastings Hungerford Botreaulx Molyns Moules Slomet and Peverell c. MY LORD THis Sermon Preached Sixteen years agoe and upward upon your Lordships Account though then you was not able to take notice of it having layne by me ever since does now by your Lordships particular desire which I shall ever interpret as a Command present it self to your Lordships hands It was my desire being sufficiently conscious to my self of several Reasons for it that it might have enjoyed the same security by enjoying the same obscurity still But since your Lordship will have it otherwise I prefer my obedience to all other considerations and wholly surrender my self and it to your Lordships Disposal hoping that if you shall think it fit as I do not to suffer it to see any further light then that of your Lordships Closet it may appear under the Patronage of your Honours name as a small Testimony of the great obligation I have to your Honour and Noble Family For whose health and happiness daily prayeth as in duty he is bound My Lord Your Honours most obliged and most humble Servant John Joynes Luke 3. Verse 21 22. Now when all the people were baptized it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was opened And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him and a voice came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in Thee I am well pleased SInce it hath pleased Almighty God in his gracious Providence out of his infinite mercy and goodness to this illustrious Family to afford unto them this new and lively hope of repairing their late inestimable loss so as for one and that their onely Son sown in tears to let them reap another in joy And since by the occasion of bringing this Infant to his Holy Baptisme the opportunity of speaking concerning Baptism is so happily put into our hands I conceive I could not make a fitter choice of a Text of Scripture whereupon to ground such a discourse than this which is in short the History of his Baptism who instituted ours The Author of this Sacrament and the Author of our Salvation is the same even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who instituted this holy Sacrament by his precept and sanctifyed it by his Example and hath promised to accompany the right use of it by the internal efficacy and operation of his holy Spirit unto the end of the world Mat. 28.19 20. Go sayes he and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. And loe I am with you alway even to the end of the world Christ assists his own Ordinance with his own spirit and promises here that he will do so to the end of the world which promise he for his part will most surely perform procuring in the Baptism of those that are rightly Baptiz'd the same miraculous and supernatural effects in an internal and visible manner that so visibly and openly happened at his own Baptism namely the opening of Heaven Conferring the Holy Ghost upon the Baptiz'd and entring and enrolling of them as the servants and sons of God For so when he was baptized we read that the Heavens were opened the Holy Ghost came down and a voice from Heaven was heard saying Thou art my beloved Son in Thee I am well pleased How this is performed shall be shown in the latter part of this Discourse when we come to a Review of the Text by way of Application In the mean time we will consider the words themselves as they are here Historically propos'd and laid down before us And so they will engage us to the observation of these three Particulars 1. The Baptism it self of our Saviour 2. The miraculous effects that attended it viz. the opening of Heaven the descent of the Holy Ghost in a visible shape and lastly a Voice from Heaven in an audible manner proclaiming our Saviour to be the Son of God 3. The Instrument or means whereby all this was procured viz. the Prayers of our Saviour Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him and a Voyce came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased First of the Baptism of our Saviour Now when all the people were baptised it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized c. This as all other Actions is to be considered with those circumstances that attend it concerning which the Story takes notice of three Time Company and Place 1. For the time It is said to have been when Jesus began to be about thirty years of age ver 23. so old was our Saviour when he entered upon his Ministerial charge not that his Abilities were not grown up till then for we read that at the age of twelve Luk. 2.46 47. he was able to Dispute with Doctors To answer and oppose too to the Admiration of the Hearers But to teach us that the work of the Ministery is not the work of Infants The ancient Church guided no doubt by this example forbad any to enter upon that calling till Thirty The present canons give a greater liberty but yet set a time before which none shall be capable of holy orders which if it were not done doubtless the general rule of mens judging of their readiness for this calling would be the readiness of their preferment when they enter'd upon it Other things as to the circumstance of Time with reference to this Action being only traditional it will be enough if not too much only to mention not to insist upon them There is an ancient tradition that this Baptism of our Saviour fell out on the sixth of Ianuary on which we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany upon which day likewise as the same tradition sayes the first miracle that our Saviour did of turning Water into Wine did happen What certainty there is of these things I determine not any more than of what St. Austin tells us concerning the day of the work on which it happened we sayes he in a certain Homily of his was on the Lords-Day Quam sace venerabilis est hic Dies c. How sacred and venerable sayes he is this Lords day of ours on
1.13 nor of the will of Man but of God The same overshadowing power which formed his Humane nature reformeth ours and the same Spirit assureth us a remission of our sins which caused in him an exemption from all sin He that was born for us upon his Incarnation is born within us upon our Regeneration Lastly What Christ Promises and the Church Professes to believe we find was really and actually perform'd in the Apostles age in a visible and perceptible manner At the nineteenth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we are told that S. Paul coming upon a time to Ephesus Act. 19.1 2 c. he found there certain Disciples that having onely received the Baptisme of Iohn had not so much as heard whether there was such a thing as the Holy Ghost or no. Hereupon Paul takes them and baptizes them in the Name of the Lord Iesus Ver. 5. And immediately the Holy Ghost fell upon them Ver. 6. and they spake with Tongues and Prophecyed It is said indeed that upon the Imposition of St. Pauls hands they received the Holy Ghost Now whether this Imposition of hands was in or after Baptisme is not certain nor much materiall However it was 't is most certain that upon their being baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus they received the Holy Ghost which before in the Baptisme of Iohn they had not received nor so much as heard of 'T is true those Gifts of the Holy Ghost there mentioned are miraculous and extraordinary which are not to be expected now because the reason why they were then given is now ceased Miracles are Signes and Signes are for unbelievers Those extraordinary dispensations of the Spirit were in order to the Conversion of Nations 1 Cor. 14.22 In converted and setled Churches there is no need of Miracles and therefore there the Gifts of the Holy Ghost and dispensations of the Spirit are not visible and extraordinary or by way of prodigy or ostent but the Spirit in a silent and invisible yet real and effectual manner bloweth where Joh. 3.8 and as it pleaseth As those Disciples at Ephesus did upon their being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus receive the Holy Ghost in Gifts miraculous and extraordinary so doubtless they did receive those more ordinary but more necessary gifts and graces which by the Holy Ghost are poured forth upon all those that really and truly have given up their names to Christ which then as now and now as then are shed forth in Baptism according to what S. Peter undertakes to those new Converts of his Act. 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost The Gifts of the Holy Ghost at that time poured forth together with the water of Baptism besides those extraordinary which onely fell upon some such as Tongues Miracles and Prophecy c. were ordinarily these three Illumination Justification and Sanctification 1. Illumination Heb. 10.32 Call to mind says the Author to the Hebrews the former dayes in which after ye were illuminated ye suffered a great fight of afflictions The Ancients understanding this place of Baptism do sometimes in their writings call Baptism it self by the names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Illumination and the Font 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Illuminatory This no doubt with regard of the Baptized's being then admitted into the knowledg and participation of those mysteries of God in Christ which as the Apostle speaks had been hid from Ages and Generations but now made manifest unto the Saints Col 1.26 The faith and belief of which mysteries was the gift of God by the operation of the Holy Ghost without which we can neither rightly love God or know Christ No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost So the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 12.3 And in another place Rom. 5.5 The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us 2. Justification by which I understand Remission of sins and Reconciliation with God Being justified by faith we have peace with God Now that Baptism is an instrument of conferring Remission of sins is an Article of our Creed Rom. 5.1 I believe one Baptism for the Remission of sins Nicene Creed which as all other Articles ought to be is founded upon Divine Revelation or express authority of Holy Scripture Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for Remission of sins so S. Peter Act. 2.38 And the Counsel that the devout Ananias gave S. Paul as he relates the story himself Act. 22.16 was That he would make haste to be baptized and wash away his sins calling upon the name of the Lord. Upon which grounds we may safely conclude that all those first converts to Christianity who upon the preaching of the Apostles renounc'd their Idolatry and sinful life and embrac'd the faith of Christ did upon their Baptism receive a full free and instantaneous pardon of all their sins and were saved by Baptism as S. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 3.21 or by the washing of Regeneration as S. Paul Tit. 3.5 3. Sanctification For which the place now mentioned in Titus is most express He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewng of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us most abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour And in 1 Cor. 6.11 speaking what kind of persons some of the Corinthians had been before their Baptism he tells them there How by it they were washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God And the Chuch in her preface to the office of Baptism does not onely exhort the Congregation to pray that the Child may be baptiz'd with water and the Holy Ghost but prayes her self in these words We beseech thee for thine infinite mercies that thou wilt mercifully look upon this Child wash him and sanctifie him with the Holy Ghost c. And that when she prayes thus she prayes in faith you may be satisfied from her profession afterward Seeing now dearly beloved that this Child is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christs Church c. Which profession she makes not to men onely but to God and that in a most solemn and publick manner as appears from those words in the Thanksgiving immediately following We yield thee hearty thanks most heavenly Father that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant by thy Holy Spirit c. They then that do not believe that the Holy Ghost does accompany this Ordinance of Christ do not believe as the Church believes nor as the Scripture teaches The descent of the Holy Ghost upon our Saviour in a visible shape was one of those miraculous effects that hapned at his baptism which miraculous discent at that time was no less
then a pledg and earnest of what is done in the Sacrament of Baptism ever since though not miraculously and visibly yet really and effectually the Gifts of Illumination and Justification being therein conferred by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost The third and last miraculous effect accompanying our Saviours Baptism was a voice from Heaven proclaiming him in the Audience of the by-standers to be the Son of God And there came a voice from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Here I doubt not to affirm That as Christ in his baptism was justified in or by the Spirit as the Apostle with reference 1 Tim. 3.16 as is thought to this testimony speaks that is As our Saviour at his baptism was mightily declared by the Holy Ghost to be the true and eternal Son of God by Generation so we at our baptism are admitted and received as the Sons of God by Adoption I suppose it altogether needless for me to bring arguments to prove this Every one that has but learn'd the entrance into his Catechism professes that in his Baptism he was made a member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven And upon this account it is that the Church upon the conferring of baptism gives publick and solemn thanks to God in those words mentioned before expressing not onely the gift of Regeneration but that also of Filiation or Adoption We yield thee hearty thanks most merciful Father that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant by thy Holy Spirit to receive him for thy own Child by Adoption and to incorporate him into thy Holy Church And so having done with those miraculous events that attended our Saviours Baptism which were The opening of Heaven The descent of the Holy Ghost and a voice heard from Heaven proclaiming Christ to be the Son of God And having parallel'd these miraculous Events with those real effects that do still accompany that Sacracrament of Christs own Institution and according to his promise shall do so to the end of the world Mat. 28. ult And having shewed that therein Heaven is opened the Holy Ghost conferred and the party baptiz'd made the Child of God by Adoption I come now unto The third Particular remakable in this story Particular observable and that is the means or instrumental cause that procur'd the opening of the Heavens the descent of the Holy Ghost and the voice that proclaimed Christ to be the Son of God which was as is here observed the Prayers of our Saviour Jesus being baptized and praying it came to pass that the Heavens were opened c. That so great things as these were procur'd by so powerful a means as the Intercession of the Son of God we need not wonder So need we not doubt of the truth and reality of those graces conferr'd upon us at our baptism since they are procur'd and obtained by the very same means viz. by the mediation and intercession of our faithful and merciful High-priest Heb. 7.25 who ever lives to make intercession for us and who has promised to accompany the use even of this very Ordinance by his Holy Spirit unto the end of the world Go and teach all Nations baptizing them c. And loe I am with you even to the end of the world Mat. 28.19 20. Hence we learn moreover that solemn Prayers and supplications ought always to be joyned with the Administration of the Sacraments Jesus being baptized and praying the heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost descended c. So now in the use of this Sacrament the Prayers of the Church united to the Intercession of Christ are a powerful and effectual means of epening Heaven and of bringing down the Holy Ghost in the sence above mention'd upon the persons baptiz'd Again From hence it is obvious to observe how the Ritual part of Christianity 1. The Rites and external Ceremonies enjoyn'd on Gods part are always to be accompanied with something moral on ours The Rite of Baptism is then effectual when it is rightly performed that is when the Administration of it is accompanied with solemn Prayer and Supplication Though the grace conferr'd in Baptism be the free Gift of God yet something is requir'd on our parts for the procuring of it Not that we should glory or attribute any thing to the merit of our own works but that we may value and prize the Grace the more being that is not obtain'd Ex opere operato as some affirm by the mere doing of the thing how carelesly and supinely soever but by careful and conscientious using therewithal the means of Gods own appointing and hallowing Jesus himself being baptized and praying the heavens were opened c. So the Sacraments of the Church through the Prayers of the faithful joyn'd with the Intercession of Christ become effectual to the very same purposes as has been shown in the preceeding discourse Lastly We may from hence rest satisfied that the Sacraments instituted by Christ under the New Testament are not Mera nuda symbola Naked symbols Signes onely and meer significations of something to be done without conferring any thing at all of help or assistance towards the doing of it Such indeed we acknowledg the Baptism of John to be A Rite or external Ceremony serving to put men in mind of the great purity that would be required of them who was to live under the Laws of the Messia whose forerunner he was and baptized as such saying unto the people that they should believe on him who should come after him Act. 19.4 that is on Christ Jesus Such we acknowledg Circumcision to have been viz. A sign or symbol of cutting off the superfluities and putting away filthiness of the flesh but that in it self it contributed nothing either of grace or strength towards the performance of such a work The Sacraments of the New Testament are of another Nature not bare and naked signes onely to signifie what is to be done and to mind us of our duty but according to the Doctrine not onely of the Schools but of the Fathers and Scripture it self they are the effectual means and instruments of conveying divine ayd ghostly strength and Grace to those Receivers of them that do not in themselves Obicem ponere as the Schools use to speak that is that do not put in something by way of barr or impediment to their intended and designed operation Particularly the Sacrament of Baptism supposing no such barre or impediment does in the right use of it carry along with it among others the Graces now mentioned of Justification Sanctification and Adoption so that therein in a spiritual but real sence as it was at the baptism of Christ in a literal The Heaven is opened the Holy Ghost bestowed and the baptiz'd person receiv'd for the Child of God by Adoption And herein as is said before consists the true
this we Answer At that time when Christ spake these words none could be baptized that did not actually believe or at least actually profess himself a Believer But distinguenda sunt Tempora At that time there was no such thing as Children of Believers to baptize for there were no Believers except only some few in Iudea The Apostle at the 15. Verse had a Commission given to go forth into all the world and to Preach the Gospel to every creature and as many as they could convert those they were to baptize and no other Nothing so certain as that they neither would nor ought to baptize any before they were fully converted and made a profession not only of their faith but of their desire to be baptized Act. 8.96 as we find the Eunuch did But afterwards the case was otherwise when Nations came to be converted Churches setled and Christianity propagated from the Father to the Son Then Act. 2.39 1 Cor. 7.14 the promise being made to them and their Children And the Children themselves being holy as born of believing Parents and within the Covenant they are certainly not less capable of being admitted into the Christian Church as Members thereof by the right of baptism which St. Paul calls the circumcision of Christ then the Israelitish Infants were of being admitted into the Jewish Church Col. 2.11.12 by the right of circumcision He then that duely considers this passage togegether with the circumstances that ought to be considered of the time when and reason why it was spoke will I think be as inclinable to conclude any thing therefrom as that it was intended as a prohibition of Baptism to the Children of believing parents or that any such thing can concludingly be inferr'd from it A third Argument they bring against Infant-baptism grounded upon this Reason Arg. 3 There is no plain and express Precept in all the Scripture for the doing of it nor no example so manifest as to evince it was ever done therefore the doing of it is unlawful Answer To this I answer That this Proposition Whatsoever is not commanded in Gods word may not be done is not true My reason is because the contrary unto it is so whatsoever is not forbidden in the Word of God may be done for where there is no Law Ro. 4.15 there is no Transgression So then whereas they say there is no precept nor example for it in Scripture Admitting that to be true it is a sufficient Answer to that Objection to say there is neither against it And if the difference between them and us concerning this matter come to be weighed in this Ballance it would he found to stand thus They have the practice of the whole Church against them and no Scripture for them We have the practice of the whole Church for us and no Scripture against us These scales you see give it for us against them cleerly And thus having given a tast of their Objections to let you see they are answerable I shall now say something by way of positive Assertion of the Churches Doctrine and practice in this Particular Briefly then I shall endeavor to assert Assertion not only the lawfulness but the necessity of Infant-baptism by Scripture by Reason and by Universal practice and first By Scripture I do not say that there is any Scripture that does totidem verbis or in express words say That Infants are to be baptized but there is a Text that not only justifies the lawfulness of doing it but by consequence proves the unlawfulness of leaving it undone and that is Io. 3. at the 5. verse Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Whence it follows that if the want of Baptism endanger the salvation of any it must be the fault of them that deny or or keep them from it I am not the first that has urged this Text for the necessity of Infant-baptism See Land against Fisher Object 1. but to evade the force of this Argument they give two Answers First that the Text it self is to be understood of persons of mature age and therefore it is said Except a man not except a child be born again c. To this I answer that Answer This is a mistake arising from the ignorance of the original and therefore the Reply is easie It is not there Except a man as we Translate it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is an Indefinite equivalent to an Universal so that the sence is without exception of Man Woman or Child Except a person or except one be born again of water c. A second exception to the Argument drawn from this Text is this That according to the Rule of this exposition there is a necessity of communicating Children as well as of baptizing them of giving them the Sacrament of the Eucharist as well as that of Baptism for it is said Io. 6.53 Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you To this I answer that one Scripture is to be expounded so as not to contradict another and places that are obscure must receive light from those that are plain Now the places that speak of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper do plainly show that it is to be received only by such as have the use of reason and have understanding As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew forth or shew ye forth the Lords death till he come And in the next verse Let a man examine himself 1 Cor. 11.26 27. and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup c. Self-examination and commemoration of Christs death are the essential and indispensible duties of those that come to that Sacrament neither of which children are capable of performing and consequently cannot be included in the latter of these Texts but must be so in the former unless some Scripture can be shown to the contrary which hitherto I presume has not been done But if they shall still persist and say that this place is not express and plain enough for them who make Scripture their Rule and go no further then they have express warrant from thence then I desire that they would please to show any authority out of Scripture for the communicating of women or the observation of the Lords Day so strong and full as this is for the baptizing of Infants My second Argument for Infant-baptism is from Reason Infants stand in need of this Sacrament and this Sacrament is effectual as to what they need and therefore in all reason they ought to be admitted to it and it is a sin to deny it them They stand in need of it in regard of the pollution of their natures by Original sin being conceived in sin and born in iniquity Psal 51.5 Now that Baptism does take away Original sin as to the guilt