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
Externals of Religion are not to be regarded in comparison of its inward Life and Substance The Circumcision of the Flesh when the Commandment was most in force was nothing to that of the Heart Secondly We are given to understand that Baptism is the initiating Sacrament of the New Testament and so succeeds Circumcision which was the initiating Sacrament of the Old Thirdly We may note that our Baptism represents Christ's Burial and Resurrection in the manner of its Administration or if not in the symbolical Ceremonies yet at least it doth and must in its spiritual Concomitants and Effects And it behoves us to exemplifie Christ's bodily Actions and Passions in a spiritual way that as he died and was buried so should we die and even be buried unto Sin and as he rose so should we rise to newness of Life Mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections and daily proceeding in all vertue and godliness of living as our Church exhorts For the First That the Externals of Religion are not to be regarded in comparison of its inward Life and Substance In the former Verse the Apostle declares to his Colossians that they are circumcized in Christ that is by his Spirit as the Margin of your Bibles of the Geneva Translation hath it and therefore they need not be so scrupulously Zealous after an external Rite much less this of Circumcision which is now antiquated Since withall they want not an outward Rite in this respect they have Baptism tho' Circumcision be laid aside and abolished they have another Sacrament instituted in its room Buried with him in Baptism Now should you compare the Circumcision of our Saviour the inward Circumcision of the Heart with that of Moses the outward Circumcision of the Flesh you will without difficulty perceive that it infinitely surpasseth it in Dignity and Excellency that wounded the Body this enlivens the Soul The one pared away a little Skin and markt the Flesh the other mortifies the whole Body and quickens the Spirit And therefore they were extravagant who notwithstanding that excellent and Divine Circumcision which Christians have received are yet so sollicitously bent upon that which is but the Figure and Shadow Nevertheless to shew how rich that sanctifying Grace is which we have in Jesus Christ he adds that besides our being circumcised in heart and so divested of the Body of the Sins of the Flesh we have moreover been buried with him in Baptism in which we are also risen again with him which is a more excellent and lively Sacrament than ever Circumcision was a Sacrament resembling it and answering to it signifying and sealing up both our Mortification and Vivification But then there is both an outward and an inward Baptism or there is in Baptism the Body and the Spirit as I might have said in effect concerning Circumcision and the internal spiritual Part is the most material and ought to be more especially minded by us The thing that saveth us is by St. Peter said to be Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 But that in Baptism which doth most contribute to our Salvation next to the vertue of Christ's Resurrection is not the putting away the filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God Which shews the outward washing is the least considerable q. d. 't is not so much the outward Administration as the Conversion of the Soul to God that is the effective disposition in which Baptism saveth us God will have mercy and not sacrifice as he said by his Prophet Hos 6.6 that is rather than Sacrifice Not that he did then renounce Sacrifice but would rather have Acts of Mercy and Charity shewn to Man than any such Sacrifices or Oblations offered or made to himself He preferred not Mercy or Charity before inward Devotion or the adoration of the Heart the Sacrifice of a contrite Spirit which he 'll in no wise despise but before any outward Acts or external Performances in his Service which is of little or no account at all with him where the inward spiritual Part is wanting which is the very Soul and Life of Religion But it cannot be supposed he would not have Sacrifice too seeing he had given so many Commands concerning it And therefore the Prophet immediately adds that he desired the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings q. d. he did not desire either Sacrifice or Burnt offerings in the same degree with other more material Duties So when St. Peter says that 't is not the outward washing with Water that saveth us but the inward Purification of the Spirit we are not to suppose his meaning to be that the outward washing is of no vertue or that the Baptism of Water is wholly excluded being an Ordinance of God but that if we would approve our selves unto God we must not rest in an outward formal Worship No not in Circumcision though the Law was never so much in being or were renewed or reinforced But we must Worship him inwardly with the Circumcision of the Heart So the sealing of the Covenant in our Baptism will be of little advantage to us unless we make good our Stipulation and can return some satisfactory Answer touching the Faith we have entertained and the Resolutions we have taken up to live according to that Religion we are initiated into Circumcision availeth not neither the outward Lavour of Baptism without the inward Sanctification and renewing of the Holy Ghost Hence ariseth our great Miscarriage and the frustration of all the hopes and advantages of those blessed Relations we are admitted to by Baptism when from time to time we mind only the external Rite and Ceremony which is low and mean without considering the substance and reality which is high and excellent The Figure the outward Element is poor and beggarly The thing signified is rich and heavenly The Seal is mean the Inheritance is great It hath differently fallen out with the carnal Jew and the carnal Christian the outward Glory of their Ordinances was a stumbling Block to them which made them rest in the Type and look no further the meanness of ours is a stumbling Block with us we look not for such Treasure in Earthen-Vessels Nor indeed can we so long as we make the Ordinance a customary Piece of formality But here I would not be thought to insinuate the Non-necessity of the Ordinance of Baptism which God hath appointed as the way in the common Order of means to bring to Grace and Glory for in this way he ordinarily brings us to Salvation And therefore makes it our Duty But he has not bound himself to outward means and instruments and consequently it cannot be said to be of that universal absolute necessity as if there were no Salvation without it The Covenant we know can convey Pardon and Salvation without the Seal Abraham was justified before he received the sign of Circumcision The seal of the Righteousness of Faith And the Thief upon the Cross was saved without
yet we do not continue in it but repent and turn from it But how shall we you 'l say thus mortifie our Sins Why we must fetch our Weapons against our prevailing Lusts from our Baptism As David took the smooth Stones out of the Brook of Water with which he slew Goliah 1 Sam. 17.40 So ought we to draw help and directions from the Water of Baptism to deaden the force of the most Giant-like Sin and to lay it at our Feet Yea our Baptism doth not only direct us herein holding forth the conditions on our Part what Duty is incumbent upon us and likewise impower and enable us for the Encounter as it conveys unto us the Grace of God and the assistance of his Spirit but moreover it obligeth us thereto in the highest nature by the most solemn and the strongest Bonds that may be in that we Vow to God through Christ to perform it The firmest Obligation imaginable upon the deepest penalty as ever we hope to have an interest in Christ or in the Death of Christ q. d. we disclaim all hope and interest in Christ and his Death if we be not the Death of every ruling Sin in us This surely is enough to make us bestir our selves and set upon it and even to compel us to it When the forty Jews Act. 23.12 bound themselves with an Oath that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul how did the consciousness of this Oath urge them to lie in wait for him v. 16. and how resolved were they upon his Death with all suddenness And we saith they e're he come near are ready to kill him v. 15. We are under such an Oath to God by our Vow of Baptism to mortifie and kill our prevailing Sins as these were to kill Paul theirs was unjust to murther an Innocent ours most just and necessary to Execute the greatest Traytor in the World And therefore let us remember when our hearts would fain spare our Sins and any way indulge them That this sacred Vow is upon us What was the Reason Jonathan durst venture to tast of the Hony in the Wood when the Israelites durst not touch it 1 Sam. 14.27 He considered not the Oath by which he and they were obliged not to eat of it So why do you thus follow and pursue such and such a pleasing profitable Sin You mind not the Oath the Sacrament the Vow in which you are obliged not to tast such forbidden Fruit but on the contrary to renounce the devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh But to come more near and home in the way of Application Is Baptism an Ordinance that engages us to Duty and that as the Condition of the continuance of the Benefits contained in the Promises and Covenant to which it is the Seal We see what a Foundation of loose vain hope a bare Baptismal Christianity is What slight tinctured Christians those are that have only the outward washing of Baptism but abandon the practice of a Christian Life Who please themselves in a Sign without the effect and boast themselves in a Figure and Shadow without the Substance and Grace of it The Baptism of Water howsoever it may avail us in the state of Infancy in which state God requires no actual Performance of Duty Yet when we grow up to Years of Knowledge and Reason and come under the Law of Duty it availeth nothing without the Baptism of the Spirit in actual Regeneration and Sanctification I mean without an actual Repentance and Abrenunciation of Sin and Satan and the practice of a Holy Life Our Baptism will but remain as a Testimony against us of our perfidious violation of the Covenant of God and of the falseness and treachery of our evil Hearts who pretend to be and own our selves the Subjects and Servants of Jesus Christ and yet basely revolt from and disobey him This is to speak Christ fair and then to betray him Mens receiving the name of Christ's Disciples and Servants in Baptism makes the Disobedience of their sinful Lives more hateful and abominable In this respect some had an erroneous conceit of Old which made them defer their Baptism thinking they had a greater Liberty before than after their Baptism and therefore were wont to say in St. Austin's time Sine illum facere nondum baptizatus est let him alone he is not yet baptized implying the strict Obligation that lies upon Men by Baptism unto Holiness of Life What is Christian Baptism without a Christian Life 'T is not this external Badge or Cognizance 't is not a common profession that follows it that will be a Title to Heaven 'T is in vain to pretend that we have been baptized into Christ or are buried with him in Baptism and have made profession of his name if we be workers of iniquity our doom at last will be to depart from him That which is most material and considerable in our Baptism and which most contributes to our eternal Interest and Salvation is not as at first I noted from St. Peter the putting away the filth of the Flesh But the Answer of a good Conscience towards God What then doth our Conscience answer touching the performance of the Conditions on our Part We build our hopes and confidences upon the Sands unless we keep the Faith whereinto we are baptized and perform the Duty to which our Baptism obligeth How vainly do Men bear themselves up upon the Title of an outward Baptism as if thereby they were good Christians though the course of their Lives be a flat Contradiction to the holiness and purity of the Christian Religion and in effect the renouncing of it The truth is there is a sad answering of this Engagement in the generality of those that are baptized What backsliding from and violations of the baptismal Covenant From the observation of whose Lives a Heathen might conclude as Salvian complained of old Si Christus sancta docuisset if Christ had taught holiness why don't Christians practise it Either as he goes on your Christ is no God who allows such evil Lives or you are no Christians who practise such Things Are they Christians are they dedicated to the honour and service of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who lead such impure Lives who slight the ways of Religion and set at nought the Laws and Commands of Christ and are so devoted to the ways of their own evil hearts Would Men but consider how they have performed their Covenant with God into which they were entered by Baptism and what an aggravation of the Sin of their unholy unchristan Life ariseth hence this must needs give a check to their sinful Carreer If Infidels and they that know not God do Blaspheme his holy Name and fight against Heaven by their open Impieties this is no such great Wonder but for you that have given up your names unto