Now this certainly must be Unlawful to Give or Receive which hinders true Faith And what was this Hoâ—our but Salutations after the fashion of the Times As the Text shews Mat. 23. and for Calling and being Called of Men Rabbi Christ was so far from Commanding or Imitating them in such things that He expresly forbids it But the meaning of Christ's â—aying Mat. 5. And if ye Salute Your Brethren only what do ye more then Others do not even the Publicans so is this That in all Acts of Love Mercy and Goodness they were to Exceed the Practice of that time They were to take more notice of and to look more kindly and friendly upon All Men. But in another sense He that bid them Salute Enemies as well as Friends also forbids his Disciples to Salute any Man or call any Man Rabbi or Master for that One was their Lord and Master and they were all Brethren Mat. 23. 6 7 8. and Luke 10. 4. And between such Relations Worldly Honours were of no use as well as of no value And did a Primitive Spirit Prevail in those that so much pretend to be the Successors of the Apostles we should see them more Exemplary in Self-denial and Holiness Encouraging and not Undervaluing and Brow-beating the Serious and Conscientious But Trees are known by their Fruit for Grapes are not gathered of Thorns nor Figs of Thistles In the mean time if my Reader please to peruse the Ninth and Tenth Chapters of that Book Entituled No Cross No Crown he will I hope be satisfied that we are for Honour Respect and Civility according to Scripture tho' Non-conformists to the Empty and Troublesome Ceremonies of the Times left by us not of Rudeness but Conviction and forbore of Duty and no otherwise of Choice For Humanely Speaking that Contradiction to Custom cannot be Pleasant to us I have detained my Reader longer upon this Head than I expected or perhaps he desired I shall therefore proceed to the Bishops next Paragraph which contains his Exceptions to our Tenth Gospel-Truth about Baptism and the Supper and the â—ast he has to take notice of the Eleventh about Government being by him already granted in the beginning of his Paper He begins thus In your Xth Article you believe a Spiritual Baptism and a Spiritual Supper and Communion but acknowledge you disuse the outward Signs by us commonly called Sacraments Now did not Christ command Water-Baptism Go ye and Baptize all Nations Matth. 28. 19 20. He goes on The Baptism here commanded was Water-Baptism His reasons are first that Baptizing with the Spirit was God's work not the Apostles 2dly Primitive Practice Acts 10. 47 48. in Cornelius's Case Who can forbid Water But this is also gratis dictum For the first Reason is no Reason since it is not true And the second seems to me Defective and Short I am very sensible of the Disadvantage I am under and that I touch a tender Place and what I say upon this Head as also anon upon the Supper will be against Wind and Tide with the Generality But as I hope I shall express my self Reverently as well as Plainly upon this Occasion so I beseech my Reader for his Own sake as well as Ours not to Prejudge us as I am sure he will not if he be a Searcher after Truth and that I charitably suppose of him I say then The Bishop's first Reason is not true for God by the Apostles did Baptize Believers with the Holy Ghost It fell-upon them through the Powerful Preaching of the Word Thus Acts 10. 44. While Peter yet spoke these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word By which it is evident that Peter in that Sermon was the Minister of the Spiritual Baptism to Cornelius and his Company And Peter gives this account to those of the Circumcision at Jerusalem Acts 11. 15. And as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning Then remembred I the Word of the Lord how that he said John indeed Baptized with Water but ye shall be Baptized with the Holy Spirit So that Peter evidently declares the Gift of the Spirit by the Ministry of the Gospel to be the Baptism of Christ or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Fire which Christ promised at his Ascension into Heaven But the Apostle Paul puts this Matter beyond all Doubt in his Excellent Account â—e gives of his Conversion and Commission to King Agrippa Acts 26. where my Reader will find these words dropping from the Mouth of the Lord Jesus to Saul Delivering thee from the people and from the Genâ—iles to whom now I send thee to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto GOD that they may receive Forgiveness of Sins and an Inheritance among them which are Sanctified through Faith that is in Me Verse 17 18. Now if this could be done without the Holy Ghost let my Reader judge 'T was with the Holy Ghost that Peter's Hearers were Prick'd to the Heart and fitted to receive more of It And it was by the same Holy Ghost that Paul's Hearers had the Eyes of their Minds opened to see the Mysteries of God's Kingdom and by which they were Converted from Darkness to Light that they might receive the Forgiveness of their Sins and Inheritance among them which are Sanctified So that the very End and Benefit of the Apostolical Ministry was Converting that is Baptizing them into Christianity in the Nature Power and Life of It by the Holy Ghost Now for the Bishop's Second Reason viz. Practice I say it is granted that Water-Baptism having got place among them by John's Ministry the Fore-runner it held after Christ's Coming but that was Ex Gratia and of Condescention not of Commission for that properly ceases when his Ministration begins of which John's was but the Fore-runner For Moses and the Prophets were till John and John till Christ And this John the Water-Baptist tells us Mat. 3. 11. I indeed Baptize you with Water unto Repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I He shall Baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire see Mark 1. 8. Luke 3. 16. Here 's a different Baptism and Baptizer the Servant and the Master the Water and the Holy Ghost One Transcient the Other Permanent One the End of the Jewish and the Other the Beginning of the Gospel Dispensation Wherefore says our Lord Jesus Christ the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is Greater than John Matth. 11. 11. Why is not John in Heaven No doubt of it at all and a Glorious Saint too But the Least in Christ's Dispensation viz. The Kingdom of God in the Soul the Work of Christ the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost and Fire is Greater than John as to the Nature of his Administration See John 3. 30 31. He must Increase but I must Decrease What! John decrease or his Ministration His
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost of which there is not one Instance in all the Scripture But that which further shews that Water cannot be understood to be meant in the Apostolical Commission is that one of the Greatest of the Apostles He that came behind and was added to by none of them denys It 1 Cor. 1. 17. to be any Part of his Commission for says he Christ sent me not to Baptize but to preach the Gospel And thanks God for that reason in the foregoing Verses that he had Baptized so few Which to be sure he ought not to have done but on the Contrary to have been sorry he had Baptized no more had Water-Baptism been Part of the Apostolical Commission Mat. 28. 19. Again this Eminent Apostle the Great Grand Father not to say God-Father of Gentile Christians delivered to them for Doctrine Eph. 4. 5. that there was but One Lord One Faith and One Baptism And if so That must be the Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost which is Christ's Baptism and Proper to the Gospel Dispensation Now could any other make a Man a True Christian or a Child of God then nor can any be so now without It. That Baptism therefore without which a Man cannot be a True Jew or Christian or of the Circumcision made without hands that Worship God in the Spirit and hath no Confidence in the Flesh must needs be the One Baptism but such is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost Therefore the Spiritual Baptism is the Apostles One Baptism Rom. 2. 28 29. Phil. 3. 3. Again the One Baptism must be Christ's Baptism but Christ is the Baptism of the Spirit therefore That and not Water Baptism must be the One Baptism that 's in force according to the Apostle As John was the Fore-runner of Christ so was Water of the Holy Ghost But that which Fore-runs in Nature Ceases and that which succeeds of course Remains Therefore the Baptism of the Spirit is the One Needful and Permanent Baptism Yet further If it be Gospel That he is not a Jew that is one Outward nor that Circumcision that is Outward in the Flesh but that he is a Jew that is one Inward and that is Circumcision that is of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God as Rom. 2. 28 29. Then unanswerably He is not a Christian that is one Outward nor is that Baptism that is of the Flesh But he is a Christian that is one Inwardly and that is Baptism that is of the Heart in the Spirit whose Praise is not of Men but of God For indeed in all Ages Men cry him down as a Slighter of God's Ordinances but his Praise however is of God let Men say what they will and this is the Inward Christians Comfort in all Undervaluings and Reflexions he meets with from Outside Christians For it 's not to be thought that the Apostle meant or designed to undervalue one Observation as that of Circumcision because it is Outward and set up another Outward Observation instead of it viz. Water-Baptism Again If in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a New Creature as saith the same Apostle Gal. 6. 15. Then by the same Reason neither being baptized with Water availeth any thing not being unbaptized with Water but a New Creature I will repeat the Apostles Discourse at large upon this Subject in the same Chapter because it is very Instructing and seems Discissive in this Case As many says he as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh they constrain you to be Circumcised only least they should suffer Persecution for the Cross of Christ It seems they were Outside People that laid stress upon Outside things or something else instead of the Cross of Christ for they Temporized in this matter to shun the Shame and Persecution that then attended the Christians Cross Which stood partly in laying down of outward Observations and which they that desire to make a fair shew in the Flesh stand most for But the Apostle goes on For says he neither they themselves who are Circumcised keep the Law but desire to have you Circumcised that they may Glory in your Flesh They were not exact in the other parts of the Law it seems as strict as they seemed to be for this Sacramental Practice which is the Case of too many now Yet they prest it that they might glory and value themselves upon gaining others to be conformable to them whether to excuse their Compliance with Custom that they might avoid Persecution or out of love to Ceremonial Religion But says that clear-sighted and plain-dealing Apostle God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the World is Crucified unto me and I unto the World If he rejoyced in nothing but in the Cross of Christ then in no other Elementary Rite Service or Ordinance any more than in Circumcision But he proceeds For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a New Creature That is to say for according to Christ Jesus or in the Religion of Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision availeth but a New Creature a regenerate Soul One born again by the Spirit of God For the Apostle in these excellent Words not only strikes at Circumcision but all Outward and Elementary Observations Neither This nor That Outward thing availeth in the Christian Religion or according to Christ Jesus but a New Creature He does not say but Water Baptism as some would have it who tell us that It succeeds Circumcision by Divine Institution by no means But that which availeth with Christ and in the Relâ—gion of Christ Jesus is a New Creature a â—ew Man one Changed Regenerated or Born gain by the Word and Baptism of the Holy Ghost And says the Apostle to confirm â—hem in this Doctrine of Inward Circumciâ—ion that is of the Heart in the Spirit which â—s the same thing with the Baptism of the Spirit As many as walk according to this Rule Peace shall be upon them So that We the â—oor despised Quakers take Comfort in this Apostolical Benediction and can say to God's Glory his Peace has been upon Us in our Belief and Confession of this blessed Docâ—rine of the New Creature It is what we have Aimed at and has been the great Drift of our Testimony since we were a People and in order to it have directed all to the Gift of God's Grace in themselves that by believing in it and resigning up their Wills and Affections and whole Man to the Teaching and Conduct of it they may be leavened and sanctified by it throughout by which the State of the New Creature which is Christianity indeed will be Experienced though It was and is a Mystery to the World As for the Apostle Peter's Question Acts 10. 47 48. Can any Man forbid Water that These should not
be Baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as We It Imports with submission no more than this That Peter well knowing the Narrowness of his Country Mens Spirits was Cautious lest his Latitude should Distaste them For the Gentiles being Unholiness to the Jews and even Peter himself without a Vision from God too narrow Spirited for the Convictions and Devotion of that excellent Centurion Cornelius It behoved him to ask if any body had any thing to say Why they might not be baptised as well as the Jews being Proselites to the Christian Profession In all which he seems more concerned to save his Own Credit than to recommend or establish that of Water Baptism As if he had said Why should this Custom be forbid to the Gentiles more than to the Jews But this will not warrant the Practice in General because Practice is no Institution and that their appears no Command to make It one So that asking who can forbid what was not commanded strengthens his Question instead of weakening it since what was done of Condescention could not have been forbid upon Authority There needed not so much Care or Strickness in the Matter And indeed the Apostles themselves seem not to have been so clear about the abolishing of the Jewish Observations as appears by the want Peter had of a Vision his own apprehension of the straightness of his Brethren and their calling him to Account for what he had done as may be seen in the same Chapter But I confess I cannot see why the Bishop should assume the Power of Unchristianing Us for not practising of that which he himself practices so unscripturally and that according to the Sentiments of a considerable part of Christendom having not one Text of Scripture to prove that Sprinkling of Water in the Face was the Water Baptism or that Children were the Subjects of Water-Baptism in the first times And yet this is all the Baptism the Bishop practices who seems so severe upon us I think our forbearing of Water Baptism from a Belief and Sense of the coming of the Invisible Grace signified by that Visible Sign cannot be reputed such a slight to Water Baptism as presuming to alter the Manner and Substance of its first Institution For then it was in the River of Jordan now in a Bason it was then unto Repentance now to Children Uncapable of Repentance But that which perhaps misled the Doctors of the Declining Church first into this Practice being at the distance of some Hundreds of Years from the Apostolical Times might be the supposition that Water Baptism came in the place of Circumcision and that being to Children so might Water Baptism too But they forgot among other things which even before that time were crept into the Church without Precept or Evangelical Example that Repentance was not made a Condition to Circumcision at it was to Water-Baptism I would beseech the Bishop to tread softly in this Matter for if Water Baptism should indeed prove a Badge of Christianity he would be at a loss for one that would pass currant in Scripture Thus much for this Point What I have said upon this Head of Water Baptism may serve also for what is commonly called the Lord's Supper which the Bishop Reproves us for Omitting to Practice Urging Luke 22. 19. This do in Remembrance of me And the Apostles words 1. Cor. 11. 24. 25. It is true indeed Christ said when he eat it with his Disciples That they should do it in remembrance of him till he came And this seems much more of the Nature of a Commission than that cited by the Bishop for Water Baptism But the Limitation Christ â—ives to the Practice of it and a Right and â—roper Consideration of the Import of his â—ords and the Nature of the thing will best â—ad us to undestand his Mind therein 1st This was also a Jewish Practice as â—ell as Water Baptism and so in Nature of â—o Gospel Institution but Temporary in its â—se 2dly Christ seems by this to break or â—pen to them what was so hard for them to â—ear to wit his Departure and Death by a â—oken of Memorial till he should come to â—hem again 3dly Christ takes occasion from thence â—o shew forth to his Disciples the Mystical Supper they should eat and the Fellowship â—hey should have with him when he came again Now we believe this Coming was Spiritual suitable to that saying of his I will drink no more of This Fruit of the Vine till I drink it New with you in the Kingdom of my Father And some here shall not taste of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom Matth. 16. 28. Again He that dwelleth with you shall be in you John 14. I in them and they in me Chap. 17. All which plainly Imports a Spiritual Coming Also Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the Door and knock if any Man hear my Voice and open the Door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me which was said near Fourty Years after his Ascention Now since this is acknowledged to be an Outward Sign of an Inward and Invisible Grace what can Outward Bread and Wine more properly Signifie and Resemble than Inward Bread and Wine And an Outward than an Inward Supper And if so the words may reasonably be read thus Eat this Supper of Outward Bread and Wine till I come into and sup with you and be your Supper that am the Bread and Wine from Heaven which Nourishes the Soul unto Eternal Life 4thly The Kingdom of God being Spiritual and in the Soul such should be the Ordinances of that Kingdom Now Christ tells the Pharisees Luke 17. 20. The Kingdom of God is within And the Apostle Paul Rom. 14. 17. saith The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost But the outward Supper is Meat and Drink and therefore not of the Kingdom of God which is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And this was made Use of by Christ in the State of Humiliation before his Death and the pouring forth of the Holy Ghost to fasten upon his Disciples that were weak and of little Faith the Remembrance of him till they should know him with them and in them by his Spiritual Appearance as he was the Lord from Heaven the Quickning Spirit according to his Promise For if the Scripture be consulted we shall not only find that Christ Reproves the Apostles for their Infideâ—ity in him but after all the Example Precepts and Miracles they saw by him and that he had so very lately left them with such Assurances of his Coming to them again yet when Mary c. brought them the Tidings of his Resurrection it is said Luke 24. 10 11. Their words seemed to the Disciples as Idle Tales and they believed them not Which sufficiently shews the low State they were
in or that at least they needed a Sign or Token as that of the Supper to Commemorate Him But this Reason which is yet true does not Credit its Continuation for when the Spirit was come or Christ in his Spiritual Appearance their Eyes were opened and they saw then it was the Spirit that Quickens the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6. 63. 5thly Most certainly Christ meant no less when he Preach'd himself the Bread that came down from Heaven John 6. 31 to 52 and that they that would have Life Eternal must eat his Flesh and drink his Blood That is they must feed upon Spiritual Food Not the Outward but Inward Supper the thing signified and Substance it self For Christ opposes Himself who is the Bread of God to the Bread their Fathers eat in the Wilderness who were Dead which was of an Elementary Nature therefore it can never be that such Bread as perisheth should be the Bread of the Evangelical Supper when Christ by Companion undervalues it to the Bread he had to give them 6thly Our blessed Lord Mark 7. 18. taught That it was not that which went into the Man that defileth the Man because it went but into his Body and not into his Heart and if so the Argument is undeniable that it is not that wich goeth into the Man that is into his Body and not into his Heart that Sanctifieth the Man But Material Bread and Wine goeth only into the Body and not into the Heart therefore they cannot Sanctifie The Import of Christ's words is plainly this Meats and Drinks neither Defile nor Sanctifie they neither Benefit nor Harm any one upon a Spiritual Account Consequently Elementary Bread and Wine cannot be the Evangelical Supper but a Figure of It which is ended in Christ the Bread of God that cometh down from Heaven John 6. 31 32 48 49 50. That a Man may eat of and not dye The Substance of all Shadows for saith the Apostle the Body is of Christ and where that is our Lord tells us Luke 13. 37. the Engles are gathered together Where the Apostles Wise Men 1 Cor. 10. 15. seek for the true Supper which nourishes their Souls unto Eternal Life 7thly But the Bishop will have this Supper four times repeated in the Scripture of the New Testament besides that of the Apostle Paul which must be his mistake since there is no Command to practice it beyond that very Time but in Luke 22. 19. If there it self For tho' his Eating of the Passover is there related as also in Mark and Luke It was but once done and the Command this do in Remembrance of me is only Once Related among the Evangelists as well as it is but Once Commanded And would we be strict with the Bishop we need not allow him that Command to reach further than the present Time in which it was Given for This Do or Take Eat are Equally in the present Tence for thereby you shew forth my Death And the following words viz. I will Drink no more of This Fruit of the Vine until that Day when I Drink it New with you in my Father's Kingdom Mat. 26. 29. further explains it Thus Mark has it 14. 25. Verily I say unto you I will Drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine until that Day that I Drink it New in the Kingdom of God Luke 22. 18. gives it thus I say unto you I will not Drink of the Fruit of the Vine till the Kingdom of God shall come Now it is plain that Christ refers them to the Spiritual Supper which we Prefer and Practice and which is the Supper Signified by That of outward Bread and Wine that was to serve till the Kingdom of God came and then he would Communicate with them in a way Suitable to the Kingdome which Kingdom as before said is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And as the same Apostle has it 1 Cor. 4. 20. The Kingdom of God is not in Word but in Power of which Power and its coming from on High upon the Apostles Read Acts 1. 6 7 8. For when they asked Christ Lord wilt thou at this time Restore the Kingdom again to Israel and that he told them 't was not for them to know the Times or the Seasons which the Father had put in his own Power He also adds But ye shall receive Power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and in Samaria and in the uttermost Parts of the Earth This Power was the Kingdom of God for it stands in Power says the Apostle but it seems he thought fit to wave their Question as to a direct Answer and left it a Secret to be revealed unto them when the Holy ghost should Come and the Power from on High should fall upon them And thus he takes his leave of them and is Immediately received by a Cloud out of their Sight Before I conclude with this Paragraph I would observe First that it was the Passover and Custom of the Jews which properly speaking we conceive hath no just plea to continue as a Gospel Ordinance or Institution since it was a Type of Him to come therefore ended as to Institution by his coming Secondly That the Evangelist John the Beloved Disciple that lay in the Bosom of Christ does not so much as mention It or Water Baptism as left by Christ to be continued by his Followers Concerning the Spirit 's Baptism tho' he uses not the word Baptism yet he is very full John 14 16 17. Chapters where he tells them that he would send them the Comforter the Spirit of Truth to lead them into all Truth and that he would dwell with them for ever I say It seems very Improbable if not Incredible that what the Bishop stiles the Badges of Christianity in his 17th Paragraph should be wholly forgotten by so great an Apostle of Christianity 3dly And as the Beloved Disciple says nothing of these visible Signs which the Bishop calls the Badges of Christianity so neither are they made an Article of any of the Ancient Creeds Extant which certainly does not make for their Credit or Authority Since had they then been of that Importance they are now by some esteemed we cannot think they would have been forgot by the Compilers of those Creeds 4ly The Apostle Paul though he repeats the Tradition he received of the Lord's Supper that night he was betrayed does not Injoyn it but as often as the Corinthians did it he tells them they should do it in remembrance of Christ Which is far from commanding it as it would be for the Bishop if he should say to his Friend as often as he comes to Cork he should come and Eat with him obliges that Person to come often to Cork So that tho' the Apostle bids them that as often as they did it they should do it in Remembrance of Christ