speaking of the Church's Authority in this Case of Paedobaptism that it was without all question delivered by the Lord and his Apostles p l. 1. De peccat merit remiss c. 16. Proculdubio per Dominum Apostolos traditum The word Tradition the Fathers understood not in the Popish Sense for that which hath been delivered in Doctrine from Age to Age above what is written to supply the supposed defect of the Scripture but for the very written word it self by which they delivered the truth and for their examples and report thereof tending to the explication of their Doctrine and not to the adding any new Doctrine Calvin affirms the baptizing of Infants to be a holy Institution observed in Christ's Church q Instit 4. c. 16. Sect. 6. All the Reformed Churches use it as you may see by the Harmony of their Confessions r Th. à Jesu de Convers omnium Gentium l. 7. pag. 506. The Greek Church who yearly excommunicate the Pope Baptize their Infants s Pagit of Heresies pag. 17. so the Cophti or native Christians of Egypt who have no Communion with the Roman Church And the practice being so general and Primitive Erasmus wondered what evil Devil entered them who denyed the Baptism of Children used in the Catholick Church above 1400 Years and he might the rather for that it hath been the general Consent and almost universal Practice not only of all Christendom but of all the World Jews Gentiles Mahometans Christians of all Sects Protestants Papists Greeks Armenians Muscovites Mengrelians Indians of St. Thomas Abyssines c. as a modern Author observes to use some solemn initiating Ceremony to admit their Children not yet adult into the Society and Communion of their Religion These Authorities with others cited in the Margin * Constit Clementis there 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptize your Infants l. 6. c. 19. Concil Melevit can 2. apud Magdeb Cent. 5. cap. 9. col 835. Caranz fol. 123. Ambros l. de Ahrah Patriarch Hier. contra Pelag. lib. 3. Ut Christus Infantes ad se venire jussit ita nec Apostoli eos excluserunt à Baptismo quidem dum baptismus Circumcisioni aequiparat Paulus Col. 2. aperte indicat etiam Infantes per baptismum Ecclesiae dei esse inferendos c. Magdeb. Cent. l. 2. c. 4. Magdeb. Cent. 2. 't is said nec usquam legitur Infantes hoc seculo à Baptismo remotos esse We don't read they were then excluded Baptism c. 4. p. 48. de Baptismo nor as 't is said until the 6th Cent. when 't was excepted against by one Adrianus That Terull himself was for Infant Baptism appears in that in his Book De anima cap. 39. He presseth it when the Child is in danger of Death and gives his reason lib. de Bapt. cap. 12. praescribitur nemini sine Baptismo competere salutem Council of Trullo Can. 48. requires that all the Grecian little ones without delay should be baptized One of the 8 Cannons in the Council of Carthage concluding against Pelagius decreed that whosoever denyed Baptism for the remission of sins to a new Born Infant should be anathematiz'd see Craggs Arraigment and Conviction of Anabaptism against Tombs pag. 85. Photius a learned Greek produceth an Imperial Constitution wherein it was decreed that all baptized Samarit and Grecians should be punished who brought not their Children to holy Baptism apud Craggs ibid. I lay down as I might have done many more not to tye the Baptism of Children to the Testimony of Men but as a Martyr for the Protestant Religion did to shew how Mens Testimonies do agree with God's Word w In a Letter that Mr. Philpot writ whilst he was in Prison and that Antiquity is on our side and that the Anabaptists have nothing but false and new Imaginations who feign the Baptism of Children to be the Pope's Commandment or any late Invention or Innovation Nor is our manner of administring this sacred Rite by sprinkling or pouring on of Water novel as I said or unjustifiable for the word to Baptize usually signifies as much which as Dr. Featly x Dipper dipt pag. 33. See Wells also in his Answer to Danvers pag. 242. Printed Anno 74. and Walker's Discourse of dipping and sprinkling wherein is shewn the lawfulness of other ways of Baptization besides that of total Immersion Printed Anno 78. says Hesychius Stephanus Scapula and Budaeus those great Masters of the Greek Tongue makes good by many Instances and Allegations out of Classick Writers And in this sense is it used in Scripture So the Fathers were baptized in the Clould not dipt therein for they were under the Cloud * 1 Cor. 10.2 but were wet or sprinkled therewith So Nebuchadnezzar was wet or sprinkled or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuag hath it baptized with the Dew of Heaven Hence we read of diverse washings or Baptisms as the word is And what were those but sprinklings Sometimes Blood was sprinkled †Hebr. 9.10 sometimes Water was poured forth No Person was dipt or plunged in Blood yet those sprinklings were called Baptisms So Mark 7.4 except they wash the Original is except they be baptized and the manner of their washings before Meat was not by dipping but by pouring on of Water ‖ 2 Kings 3.11 We read also of washing or baptizing Tables * Mark 7.4 in the Margin beds vid Lightfoot vol. 2. p. 345. and other things many times a Day which if done by dipping would make the labour of the Jews intolerable besides many other inconveniences And 't is but reasonable that the outward Baptism should have allusion to and an Analogy with the inward We are said to be baptized with the Holy Ghost but not dipt into the Holy Ghost or his Graces but to be sprinkled therewith as with clean †Ezek. 36.25 Water in our Baptism and to have the Holy Spirit poured on us * Isaiah 44.3 And it had been more properly translated baptized in Water if it had been done only by dipping rather than baptized with Water Again if we take a Survey of the several Instances and Examples of Persons baptized in Scripture we shall find that 't was probably done by sprinkling or pouring on of Water rather than by dipping St. Paul was baptized by Ananias when Sick and Weak having fasted three Days and was not strengthened till he received Meat which was after he was baptized †Act. 9.18 19. and according to all Circumstances it was done in his Lodgings So when the Goaler and those that belonged unto him were baptized it was at a time and place that there could be no accommodation for Water and other Conveniences for plunging and dipping as the manner of some is for 't is not likely that the Apostle should carry the Goaler and all his in the dead of the Night to a River or Pond to Baptize them 'T is said
Salim because there was much Water a Reason given by the Holy Ghost himself why he chose that Place for the Country to come in and be baptized because they might go many Miles in those hot Countries and not meet with a drop of Water and it was a great Priviledge to those Places that banked on Jordan that they had much Water but 't is no Argument to prove that John plunged all that he baptized or dipt them over Head and Ears Beside the Original is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Waters viz. Streams or Rivulets and History informs us that they were so shallow as not to reach above the Ankles and so unapt for dipping as their way is †Non interest quanto quisque abluatur quomodo in Eucharistiâ non quantum quisque comedat Chamier l. 5. de bapt c. 1. p. 1404. The Eunuch as has it hath been well observed doth not say here is a River here is a Pool here is Water enough for me to be dipt into the quantity of the Water is not insisted on which fairly intimates to us that where there is Water be it much or little nothing hinders but one may be baptized therewith I had need now to crave Pardon for being so very Prolix on this Head but I hope St. Austin's * Ad Hilar Epist 89. Apology in the like Case may pass for mine Tanto magis pro Infantibus loqui debemus quanto minus pro se loqui possunt THE REPLY To a pretended ANSWER To the foregoing Discourse IT will not be unnecessary to premise that this foregoing Discourse in opposition to the Anabaptists contained at first only eleven Pages in close writing a Copy of which was transcribed and communicated to a particular Friend who shortly after upon their confident Boasting that they would get it answered did by my Permission deliver it into their Hands from whom after almost a Years time and through frequent importunities I received an Answer in Manuscript such as it is consisting of 27 Pages I think it needful also to premise that I have somewhat inlarged my Discourse but not so as to cause the least difference in my ensuing Reply nor shall I make the least advantage upon any Improvement or Addition I have made nor is there in truth any occasion for it For I do solemnly and with all sincerity protest that I don't find I had need to have had any word Syllable or Letter added left out or altered in my Papers by reason of any thing in the pretended Answer My Argument in short is this That as Circumcision was the initiating Sign and Token of the Covenant to the Jews So is Baptism to the Christians and that the Command to keep the Covenant in the Sign of it whatever the Sign be was and is always Obligatory and that the practice from Age to Age answers it In the Prosecution whereof I obviated many Objections now made use of by the Answerer which takes up above half of the aforesaid 11 Pages whereto there is no manner of Reply save only somewhat about the Sabbath or Lord's Day but not to the purpose as will afterwards appear and at that rate too that he dares not condemn the Sabbatarians This with the Preface takes up 3 Pages of the Answer Nevertheless that he may seem to say somewhat he turns Opponent First He endeavours to prove that the Covenant whereof Circumcision was the sign was not the Covenant of Grace as having relation only to temporal Promises taking a Branch for the whole and reckoning that God made two distinct Covenants with Abraham And this takes up 2 Pages more Secondly He labours to prove that Circumcision can give no ground for Infant Baptism nor bear a suitable Parallel with it using Arguments which have been answered over and over and in a great Part obviated by me tho' he takes no notice of it This reacheth to his 10th Page Then he takes notice of my citing Act. 2.39 running out into a large Ramble which will not bear any Test and as introductory thereto he begins thus You say the Promise in the 39. v. is spoken to those in the 36. v. even the House of Israel who had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ and their Children of which I had not said a word And adds that by Children he doth not understand them as they are in a state of Infancy But how doth he illustrate it Why very profoundly and unanswearably with five or six Arguments which to give them their full force amounts to this That there were none such then present as he takes for granted neither could any of them be Children to whom St. Peter Preached and said Repent and be baptized every one of you For were this true would it follow as he would sillily infer that St. Peter neither did nor could speak of or concerning Children to them May it not then be as well argued that the Promise did not belong to those afar off that should hereafter be called Unless we understand thereby such of them as were then present and had been St. Peter's Auditors Which would be a contradiction in terminis Now this with some gross impertinence and senseless Stuff which immediately follows comes home to the 14th Page of the Reply So that there is above half of mine and within a few Lines half of his past over and hitherto it cannot be pretented there is any kind of Answer As to what follows he says himself Pag. 15. that what is written in my 8 9 10 11 Pages and I don't remember there were any more in the Transcript-Copy they had concerning the Covenant and Infants right to Baptism he supposeth to be answered in what he had written aforegoing He means he had framed Arguments which was not his Province Moreover in these Pages he omits several Things which must needs be reckoned very material whereto he answers nothing I 'll instance in some particulars First That in Christ's Dialect to belong to him and to be his Disciple Is all one Secondly That Infants are called Disciples by the Holy Ghost Thirdly That they are made so by God himself vouchsafing graciously in their believing Parents to accept them also into his Covenant and so into the state of Disciples Fourthly That the Apostle shews that interest in the Promise is alone of it self a sufficient ground for the application of Baptism Fifthly That the Suffrages and Authorities of the Primitive Fathers are on our side which he overlooks as insignificant tho' they are only produced to shew what was their judgment in the Case and the practice in their time Sixthly That sprinkling or pouring on of Water doth as well express the Mystery as dipping and better alludes to the inward Baptism of the Spirit And that 't is very improbable that the 3000 baptized in one Day and in all likelihood where they heard St. Peter's Sermon were dipped Again he neither denies nor vindicates their concurrence
Point But the Scripture shews that the one sort are in this respect as qualified and capable as the other And therefore the Precept makes it as much our Duty to administer Baptism to such as are in the state of Infancy as to the Adult We don't Baptize Infants as excluding grown Persons nor grown Persons as excluding Infants Before and under the Law they were commanded Circumcision precisely the eighth Day but not so as to exempt others of other Ages For Abraham was circumcised at 99 and Ismael at 13 Years old †Gen. 17.24 25. and afterwards if through neglect or otherwise the time laps'd as in the instance about which Moses ‖ Exod. 24.25 was concerned * Joshua 5.2 or that of the Jews while in the Wilderness they were not excused altogether from being circumcised Now I have demonstrated that that Command of God to keep his Covenant in the Sign thereof whatsoever it be is still of force and that as Children and others were concern'd to keep this Command when Circumcision was the Token so Children and others are in like manner bound to do so now Baptism is the Token I have also shewed that Children are as fully commanded to be baptized as any others by Christ's Commission Go Disciple all Nations baptizing them Their Discipleship is their qualification for the susception of Baptism And that Children whose natural or adopted Parents are Believers are Disciples I have aboundantly proved First In that they have an interest in the Promise or Covenant Secondly In that they are made so by God's graciously calling them in their Parents Thirdly Because they are reckoned as such by Christ for that they belong to him And Fourthly Because they are so called by the Holy Ghost To all which he hath not returned a word in Answer Seeing then such are Disciples who can forbid Water that they should not be baptized There being nothing in the Commission as I have observed to interpose between discipling and baptizing If it be said the Command don't run to Baptize all Disciples but to make Disciples And to Baptize those that they make and that 't is not in the Power of Man to make Children Disciples I answer this alters not the Case as appears in the instance of Saul being baptized of Ananias who yet was not made a Disciple by him but immediately by God And they had it in their Commission to Disciple Children as being part of a Nation and 't is not to be supposed that they were commanded Impossibilities The plain truth of the matter is this some Infants are and others may be made Disciples otherwise a Nation cannot be discipled whereof Infants are no small part or Christ gives in his Commission what is impossible To understand it of as many or few as Men list of a Nation is against the sense of the Scripture which plainly is That the whole of the Nations where-ever they came was in their Commission to Disciple * Deut. 3.28 Psal 2.8.72.11.86.9 Mic. 4.1 To this purpose compare Scripture-Prophesies †Qui dixit omnes nullos excludit neque parvulos saith St. Ambr. with this Commission given in charge by Christ ‖ Rev. 11.15 and what the Spirit of God hath foretold in those Prophesies that in succession of time must be effected When the Kingdoms of the Earth shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ ‖ Rev. 11.15 And in Europe to look to no other parts of the World it hath been happily accomplished If they think to evade this by that distinction of the Apostle * Rom. 9.6 they are not all Israel which are of Israel That distinction can be no otherwise applicable to the Christian Nations than to the Nation of Israel and so 't will still entitle Christian Nations to the Covenant of God and to the Priviledge of Ordinances notwithstanding there be amongst these Disciples who are called many that are not chosen They have then the whole of the Nation in their Commission and it must be their endeavour in the utmost extent of the Word to Disciple it yet this Work in no one Nation can be done in an instant As a Nation cannot be born so it cannot in a Day be discipled The meaning therefore is to Disciple Nations that is the whole of any Nation and being discipled to Baptize them yet they are by degrees to Baptize as they can Disciple till the whole of the Nation be discipled and baptized which can never come to pass unless Children who are a considerable part may be discipled But if this will not satisfie unless they may understand too how they can be discipled I Answer Some are made Disciples in their Parents so that in discipling the Parents we Disciple them Others are made Disciples by adopting them into the Family of Christ's Church that is bringing them under a Christian Government and Tuition who are hence forth no more common or unclean but separate and holy within the Covenant and consequently to be baptized as those that were adopted into Abraham's Family were within the Covenant with others and to be circumcized tho' they were not of the Seed as 't is noted in the same verse * Gen. 17.12 being they were under his Power and Education Thus I hope I have evinced beyond all contradiction that Christ's Commission is as full for baptizing Infants as any others Therefore how many untruths may he be justly charged with and convicted of who hath so often said in his Papers that we have not one Word of God not one Precept or Precedent in Scripture for baptizing Infants THE SERMON Preached on Occasion of the Author 's baptizing an Adult Person With some Enlargements COLOS. II. 12. Buried with him in Baptism wherein also ye are risen with him ALmighty God finding his ancient People the Jews too intent upon the Externals of Religion without any due regard to the vital and substantial part thereof the better to take them off from this their gross and carnal way of worshipping him was pleased to declare by his Prophets against the very Rites and Vsages of his own Institution not that he did absolutely prohibit them and countermand what he had enjoyn'd but disclaimed and rejected these external these lesser matters rather than the Spirit and Life of Religion should be neglected by them or the more weighty concerns of the Law be left undone Thus St. Paul gives his Colossians here to understand that the inward Circumcision of the Heart is infinitely preferable to the outward Circumcision of the Flesh and that tho' the Circumcision of the Flesh be now no more yet God hath not left himself without a Witness in this Case but has appointed another external Rite in its Room viz. Baptism Buried with him in Baptism says the Text whence we may note these following particulars First As the Words bear a Relation to and are occasionally introduced from the verse foregoing we may infer that the
Phillip and the Eunuch went down into the Water or to ‖ Act. 8.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Water but 't is not said after what manner he was baptized and a Man may go down into the Water and come up out of it too and not be covered all over with it if he wet but his Feet or Ankles or wade but Knee deep he goes down into the Water and so may come up out of it and our Lord and the Eunuch might do no more and then have their Faces washed or sprinkled only in Baptism and if St. Bernard may be believed this way was Christ baptized and as for the Eunuch if we 'll believe St. Jerome * Serm. de St. Joh. B. p. 1303. and Sir Geo. Sandys * De locis Hebr. in voce Beths p. 500. Trav. l. 3. p. 142. vid Fullers Miscel l. 2. c. 8. p. 220. Fons ad radices Montis ebulliens ab eadem in quâ gignitur sorbetur humo Apostolorum Acta referunt Eunuchum Candacis Reginae in hoc Baptizatum fuisse vid. Zanch. de cultu dei externo l. 1. col 494. Linwood l. 3. de bapt and other learned Men. he could not be dipped because the Fountain in which he was baptized which retains the name of the Aethiopian Fountain to this Day is immediately drunk up by the Earth out of which it Springs and so not likely to be deep enough to dip the Aethiopian Treasurer in it Moreover who can say that he stript himself or that he was dipt in his wearing Cloaths much less that he had any conveniency for shifting for such a purpose for the meeting we find was very accidental and the Eunuch presently as soon as the solemnity was over went on his way nor do we read that he made any stay but went immediately down from his Chariot to the Water Estius on Act. 2.41 judgeth it most rational to conceive that the Apostles did Baptize by washing or Sprinkling for says he 't is altogether incredible that they dipt 3000 in one Day and 5000 at another time and 't is most likely that the 3000 were baptized in the same Place where they heard St. Peter's Sermon which converted them where 't is not likely that such quantities of Water as Bonavent notes ‖ In l. 4. sent dist 3. Artic. 3. q. 2. could be found to serve for the decent dipping of so many Whereas to suppose that after St. Peter had ended his Sermon those thousands took a Progress out of the City in order to the celebration of that Ordinance as if dipping and plunging the whole Body under Water were so essential to Baptism that it could not be rightly performed without it don't so well agree with Christ's Commission For comparing Matt. 28.19 with Mark 16.15 the instruction or order that is given is to this purpose that preaching the Gospel to all Nations they should Disciple and Baptize them not that they should Preach in this or that Place and then take them forth that they may descend to some River to Baptize them for to have the Ordinance of Baptism administred apart from the meeting Place of the Assembly for all other Duties would look somewhat like the Popish Pilgrimage or at least like their going a Processioning especially in some Countries and Places where there is not a River in many Miles compass I may further add the consideration of the danger of plunging and dipping over Head and Ears Our Saviour who prefers Mercy before Sacrifice will have the administration of the Ordinace in such a way as is most consistent with his Peoples lives even of those of the weakest Constitution which must in some Countries especially at some Seasons of the Year be in extream danger by dipping And there is no dispensation in Scripture for procastinating Baptism yea in some short process of time we find the Church expresly against some Mens taking liberty of putting off their Baptism and giving publick Testimony of her dislike insomuch that the Clinicks if any of them recovered were adjudged unworthy to be admitted into any Office of the Ministry not only by the Council of Neocesaria * Can. 12. Caranz giving this for a Reason non enim fides illius voluntaria sed ex necessitate est but by earlier Rules of more ancient Observation which were urged by Cornelius †Apud Euseb l. 6. c. 33. prope finem against Novatus and as Surius remarketh * Tom. 1. pag. 223. declaring Novatus 's Ordination to be contra Canones the Ordination of such Persons to the Priesthood was prohibited by those Ancients not for that they thought them not sufficiently baptized but because they judged it unfit that ever they should be Priests who deferred so long before they would declare themselves to be Christians The truth is notwithstanding this Procastination of Baptism in Novatus and tho' too he had upon his recovery neglected to have the Confirmation of the Bishop according to the custom of the Church which Cornelius †In his Letter to Fabian apud Euseb Harm E. l. 6. c. 43. vid. Niceph. l. 6. c. 3. Chemnit Exam. par 1. p. 84. accounts as another just exception against him yet Fabian finding some relaxation allowable by Law upon some weighty Reasons did by his Mediation and importunity prevail to have him ordained giving assurance that he would ordain no more such which could in no wise be granted him if Novatus's Baptism had been Null and the manner of its Administration unlawful which as Cornelius writes was by sprinkling An unanswerable proof and instance of administring Baptism by way of sprinkling so early in the Church as in the time of Novatus of whom the story is and who no doubt was not the first Man that was so baptized seeing 't was pleaded in Bar to admission into Orders as being against Law Mr. Cradock a great Independant in his Treatise of Gospel liberty says that the practice of dipping is to be restrained by the chief Magistrate for the preservation of the lives of his Subjects And in the Senate of Zurick in Switzerland there was an Act made that if an Anabaptist dipt any of their People he was to be punished with drowning St. Cyprian doth not only allow of pouring on of Water or sprinkling in Baptism but pleads for it in certain Cases and acquaints us that 't was usual in those Days to Baptize sick Persons in their Beds and proves that such Persons were rightly baptized tho' only sprinkled from Ezek. 36.25 and says that sprinkling holds forth the Mystery as well as dipping * See his Discourse on Purpose when the question concerning it was put to him by one Magnus Epist 76. ad Magnum Upon this custom of the Clinicks the learned Vossius makes this remark that those that were thus baptized were not plung'd or dipt under Water but only sprinkled But 't is urged from John 3.23 that John was baptizing in Aenon near