Part 41

[Sidenote: _Answ._] I _answer_, That it was the _constant Practice of the Apostles_, is denied; for we have shewn, in the Example of _Paul_, that it was not so; since it were most absurd to judge that he converted only those few, even of the Church of _Corinth_, whom he saith he baptized; nor were it less absurd to think that that was a _constant apostolick Practice_, which he, who was not inferior to the chiefest of the Apostles, and who declares he laboured as much as they all, rejoiceth he was so little in. But further; the Conclusion inferred from the Apostles Practice of _baptizing with Water_, to evince that they understood _Matt._ xxviii. of Water-baptism, doth not hold: [Sidenote: _How the _Apostles_ baptized._] For though they baptized with Water, it will not follow that either they did it by Virtue of that Commission, or that they mistook that Place; nor can there be any _Medium_ brought, that will infer such a Conclusion. As to the other insinuated Absurdity, _That they did it without a Commission_; it is none at all: For they might have done it by a _Permission_, as being in use before _Christ’s Death_; and because the People, nursed up with outward Ceremonies, could not be weaned wholly from them. And thus they used other Things, as _Circumcision_, and _legal Purifications_, which yet they had no Commission from Christ to do: To which we shall speak more at Length in the following _Proposition_, concerning the _Supper_.

[Sidenote: Object.] But if from the _Sameness_ of the Word, because Christ bids them _baptize_, and they afterwards in the Use of Water are said to _baptize_, it be judged probable _that they did understand that Commission_, Matt. xxviii. _to authorize them to baptize with_ Water, _and accordingly practised it_;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] Although it should be granted, that for a Season they did so far mistake it, as to judge that _Water_ belonged to that Baptism, (which however I find no Necessity of granting) yet I see not any great Absurdity would thence follow. For it is plain they did mistake that Commission, as to a main Part of it, for a Season; as where he bids them _Go, teach all Nations_; since some Time after they judged it unlawful to teach the _Gentiles_; [Sidenote: _The Apostles did scruple the Teaching the _Gentiles.] yea, _Peter_ himself scrupled it, until by a Vision constrained thereunto; for which, after he had done it, he was for a Season (until they were better informed) judged by the rest of his Brethren. Now, if the Education of the Apostles as _Jews_, and their Propensity to adhere and stick to the _Jewish Religion_, did so far influence them, that even after Christ’s _Resurrection_, and the _Pouring forth_ of the _Spirit_, they could not receive nor admit of the Teaching of the _Gentiles_, though Christ, in his Commission to them, commanded them to preach to them; what further Absurdity were it to suppose, that, through the like Mistake, the chiefest of them having been the Disciples of _John_, and his Baptism being so much prized there among the _Jews_, they also took Christ’s Baptism, intended by him of the Spirit, to be that of Water, which was _John_’s, and accordingly practised it for a Season? It suffices us, that if they were so mistaken, (though I say not that they were so) they did not always remain under that Mistake: Else _Peter_ would not have said of the Baptism which now saves, _That it is not a putting away of the Filth of the Flesh_, which certainly Water-baptism is.

But further, They urge much _Peter_’s baptizing _Cornelius_; in which they press two Things, First, _That Water-baptism is used, even to those that had received the Spirit_. Secondly, _That it is said positively, He commanded them to be baptized_, Acts x. 47, 48.

But neither of these doth necessarily infer Water-baptism to belong to the _New Covenant Dispensation_, nor yet to be a perpetual standing _Ordinance_ in the Church. [Sidenote: _Whether _Peter_’s baptizing some with Water makes it a standing Ordinance to the Church._] For _First_, All that this will amount to, was, That _Peter_ at that Time baptized these Men; but that he did it by Virtue of that Commission, _Matt._ xxviii. remains yet to be proved. And how doth the Baptizing with Water, after the Receiving of the Holy Ghost, prove the Case, more than the Use of _Circumcision_, and other _legal Rites_, acknowledged to have been performed by him afterwards? Also, it is no Wonder if _Peter_, who thought it so strange (notwithstanding all that had been professed before, and spoken by Christ) that the _Gentiles_ should be made Partakers of the Gospel, and with great Difficulty, not without an extraordinary Impulse thereunto, was brought to come to them, and eat with them, was apt to put this Ceremony upon them; which being, as it were, the particular Dispensation of _John_, the _Forerunner_ of Christ, seemed to have greater Affinity with the Gospel, than the other _Jewish Ceremonies_ then used by the _Church_; but that will no ways infer our Adversaries Conclusion. _Secondly_, As to these Words, _And he commanded them to be baptized_; it declareth Matter of _Fact_, not of _Right_, and amounteth to no more, than that _Peter_ did at that Time, _pro hic & nunc_, command those Persons to be _baptized with Water_, which is not denied: But it saith nothing that _Peter_ commanded Water-baptism to be a standing and perpetual Ordinance to the Church; neither can any Man of sound Reason say, if he heed what he says, That a Command in _Matter of Fact_ to particular Persons, doth infer the _Thing commanded_ to be of general Obligation to all, if it be not otherwise founded upon some positive Precept. Why doth _Peter_’s commanding _Cornelius_ and his Houshold to be baptized at that Time infer _Water-baptism_ to continue, more than his constraining (which is more than commanding) the _Gentiles_ in General to be _circumcised_, and observe the _Law_? We find at that Time, when _Peter_ baptized _Cornelius_, it was not yet determined whether the _Gentiles_ should not be _circumcised_; but on the contrary, it was the most general Sense of the _Church_ that _they should_: And therefore no Wonder if they thought it needful at that Time that they should be baptized; which had more Affinity with the Gospel, and was a Burthen less grievous.

§. X. [Sidenote: Obj. 4.] _Fourthly_, They object _from the Signification of the Word _[baptize]_ which is as much as to _dip_ and _wash_ with _Water_; alleging thence that the very Word imports a being baptized with_ Water.

[Sidenote: _Answ._] This Objection is very weak. [Sidenote: Baptizing _signifies Dipping or Washing with Water._] For since _baptizing_ with Water was a Rite among the _Jews_, as _Paulus Riccius_ sheweth, even before the Coming of _John_; and that the Ceremony received that Name from the Nature of the Practice, as used both by the _Jews_ and by _John_; yet we find that Christ and his Apostles frequently make use of these Terms to a more spiritual Signification. _Circumcision_ was only used and understood among the _Jews_ to be _that of the Flesh_; but the Apostle tells us of the _Circumcision of the Heart and Spirit made without Hands_. So that though Baptism was used among the _Jews_ only to signify a _Washing with Water_, yet both _John_, Christ, and his Apostles, speak of a being _baptized with the Spirit, and with Fire_; which they make the peculiar Baptism of Christ, as contra-distinguished from that of _Water_, which was _John_’s, as is above shewn. So that though Baptism among the _Jews_ was only understood of _Water_, yet among _Christians_ it is very well understood of the _Spirit_ without _Water_: As we see Christ and his Apostles spiritually to understand Things, under the Terms of what had been _Shadows_ before. Thus Christ, speaking of his _Body_, (though the _Jews_ mistook him) said, _Destroy this Temple, and in three Days I will raise it up_; and many more that might be instanced. But if the _Etymology_ of the Word should be tenaciously adhered to, it would militate against most of our Adversaries, as well as against us: [Sidenote: [Greek: Baptizô: Βαπτιζω] _immergo_, _intingo_, to plunge and dip in.] For the Greek [Greek: Baptizô: Βαπτιζω] signifies _immergo_, that is, to _plunge_ and _dip in_; and that was the proper Use of Water-baptism among the _Jews_, and also by _John_, and the primitive Christians, who used it; whereas our Adversaries, for the most Part, only _sprinkle_ a little Water upon the Forehead, which doth not at all answer to the Word [_Baptism._] [Sidenote: _Those that of old used _Water-baptism_ were _dipped_ and _plunged_, and those that were only _sprinkled_, were not admitted to any Office in the Church, _and why.] Yea, those of old among Christians that used Water-baptism, thought this _Dipping_ or _Plunging_ so needful, that they thus _dipped_ Children: And forasmuch as it was judged that it might prove hurtful to some weak Constitutions, _Sprinkling_, to prevent that Hurt, was introduced; yet then it was likewise appointed, that such as were only _sprinkled_, and not _dipped_, should not be admitted to have any Office in the Church, as not being sufficiently _baptized_. So that if our Adversaries will stick to the Word, they must alter their Method of _Sprinkling_.

[Sidenote: Obj. 5.] _Fifthly_, They object, _John_ iii. 5. _Except a Man be born of _Water_, and of the _Spirit_, &c. hence inferring the Necessity of _Water-baptism_, as well as of the Spirit_.

[Sidenote: _Answ._] But if this prove any Thing, it will prove Water-baptism to be of absolute Necessity; and therefore _Protestants_ rightly affirm, when this is urged upon them by _Papists_, to evince the absolute Necessity of Water-baptism, that [_Water_] is not here understood of outward Water; [Sidenote: _The Water that regenerates, is mystical and inward_.] but mystically, of an inward Cleansing and Washing. Even as where Christ speaks of being _baptized with Fire_, it is not to be understood of outward material Fire, but only of purifying, by a _Metonymy_; because to _purify_ is a proper Effect of Fire, as to _wash_ and _make clean_ is of Water; where it can as little be so understood, as where we are said to be _saved by the Washing of Regeneration_, Tit. iii. 5. Yea, _Peter_ saith expresly, in the Place often cited, as _Calvin_ well observes, [118]_That the _Baptism_ which saves, is not the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh_. So that since [_Water_] cannot be understood of outward Water, this can serve nothing to prove Water-baptism.

[118] In the 4th Book of his _Instit._ C. 15.

[Sidenote: Object.] If it be said, That [_Water_] _imports here_ necessitatem præcepti, _though not_ medii;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] I _answer_, That is first to take it for granted that outward Water is here understood; the contrary whereof we have already proved. [Sidenote: _Necessitas præcepti _and_ medii _urged.] Next, _Water_ and the _Spirit_ are placed here together, [_Except a Man be born of_ Water _and the_ Spirit] where the Necessity of the one is urged as much as of the other. Now if the Spirit be absolutely necessary, so will also Water; and then we must either say, that _to be born of the Spirit_ is not absolutely necessary, which all acknowledge to be false; or else, that _Water_ is absolutely necessary; which, as _Protestants_, we affirm, and have proved, is false: Else we must confess, that _Water_ is not here understood of outward Water. For to say that when _Water_ and the _Spirit_ are placed here just together, and in the same Manner, though there be not any Difference or Ground for it visible in the Text, or deducible from it, That the _Necessity_ of _Water_ is here _præcepti_, but not _medii_, but the _Necessity_ of the _Spirit_ is both _medii_ and _præcepti_, is indeed confidently to affirm, but not to prove.

[Sidenote: Obj. 6.] _Sixthly_ and _lastly_, They object, _That the Baptism of Water is a visible Sign or Badge to distinguish_ Christians _from_ Infidels, _even as Circumcision did the_ Jews.

[Sidenote: _Answ._] I _answer_, This saith nothing at all, unless it be proved to be a _necessary Precept_, or Part of the _New Covenant Dispensation_; it not being lawful for us to impose outward _Ceremonies_ and _Rites_, and say, They will distinguish us from _Infidels_. [Sidenote: _Circumcision a Seal of the first Covenant._] _Circumcision_ was positively commanded, and said to be a _Seal of the first Covenant_; but as we have already proved that there is no such Command for Baptism, [Sidenote: _Water-baptism falsely called a_ Badge _of Christianity._] so there is not any Word in all the New Testament, calling it a _Badge of Christianity_, or _Seal of the New Covenant_: And therefore to conclude it is so, because _Circumcision_ was so, (unless some better Proof be alleged for it) is miserably to beg the Question. [Sidenote: _Which is the _Badge_ of Christianity._] _The Professing of Faith in Christ, and a holy Life answering thereunto, is a far better _Badge_ of _Christianity_ than any outward Washing_; which yet answers not to that of _Circumcision_, since that affixed a Character in the Flesh, which this doth not: So that a Christian is not known to be a Christian by his being _baptized_, especially when he was a Child, unless he tell them so much: [Sidenote: _What the _Fathers_ say of Water-baptism, and of the Sign of the Cross._] And may not the Professing of _Faith in Christ_ signify that as well? I know there are divers of those called the _Fathers_, that speak much of Water-baptism, calling it _Characterem Christianitatis_: But so did they also of the Sign of the _Cross_, and other such Things, justly rejected by _Protestants_. [Sidenote: Heathenish _Ceremonies introduced into the Christian Worship._] For the _Mystery of Iniquity_, which began to work in the Apostles Days, soon spoiled the Simplicity and Purity of the Christian Worship; insomuch that not only many _Jewish Rites_ were retained, but many _Heathenish Customs_ and _Ceremonies_ introduced into the Christian Worship; as particularly that Word [_Sacrament_.] So that it is a great Folly, especially for _Protestants_, to plead any Thing of this from _Tradition_ or _Antiquity_; For we find that neither _Papists_ nor _Protestants_ use those Rites exactly as the _Ancients_ did; who in such Things, not walking by the most certain Rule of God’s Spirit, but doting too much upon Externals, were very uncertain. For most of them all, in the primitive Times, did wholly _plunge_ and _dip_ those they baptized, which neither _Papists_, nor most _Protestants_, do: Yea, several of the _Fathers_ accused some as _Hereticks_ in their Days, for holding some Principles common with _Protestants_ concerning it; as particularly _Augustine_ doth the _Pelagians_, for saying that _Infants dying unbaptized may be saved_. And the _Manichees_ were condemned, for denying that _Grace is Universally given by Baptism_; and _Julian_ the _Pelagian_ by _Augustine_, for denying _Exorcism and Insufflation in the Use of Baptism_: [Sidenote: _Exorcism or Adjuration._] All which Things _Protestants_ deny also. So that _Protestants_ do but foolishly to upbraid us, as if we could not shew any among the _Ancients_ that denied _Water-baptism_; seeing they cannot shew any, whom they acknowledge not to have been heretical in several Things, that used it; [Sidenote: _The Sign of the Cross._] nor yet, who using it, did not also use the _Sign of the Cross_, and other Things with it, which they deny. [Sidenote: _Many in _former Ages_ testified against _Water-baptism.] There were some nevertheless in the darkest Times of _Popery_, who testified against _Water-baptism_. For one _Alanus_, Page 103, 104. 107. speaks of some in his Time that were burnt for the denying of it: For they said, That _Baptism had no Efficacy, either in Children or adult Persons; and therefore Men were not obliged to take Baptism: _Particularly _ten Canonicks_, so called, _were burnt for that Crime, by the Order of King_ Robert _of_ France. And _P. Pithœus_ mentions it in his _Fragments_ of the _History_ of _Guienne_, which is also confirmed by one _Johannes Floracensis_, a _Monk_, who was famous at that Time, in his Epistle to _Oliva_, Abbot of the _Ausonian_ Church: “I will, saith he, give you to understand concerning the Heresy that was in the City of _Orleans_ on _Childermas-day_; [Sidenote: _Ten Canonicks burnt at _Orleans_, and why._] for it was true, if ye have heard any Thing, that King _Robert_ caused to be burnt alive near fourteen of that City, of the chief of their _Clergy_, and the more noble of their _Laicks_, who were hateful to God, and abominable to Heaven and Earth; for they did stifly deny the Grace of holy Baptism, and also the Consecration of the Lord’s Body and Blood.” The Time of this Deed is noted in these Words by _Papir. Masson_, in his _Annals_ of _France_, Lib. 3. in _Hugh_ and _Robert_, _Actum Aureliæ publicè anno Incarnationis Domini 1022. Regni _Roberti_ Regis 28, Indictione 5. quando _Stephanus_ Hæresiarcha & Complices ejus damnati sunt et exusti Aureliæ_.

Now for their calling them _Hereticks_ and _Manichees_, we have nothing but the Testimony of their Accusers, which will no more invalidate their Testimony for this Truth against the Use of Water-baptism, or give more Ground to charge us, as being one with _Manichees_, than because some, called by them _Manichees_, do agree with _Protestants_ in some Things, that therefore _Protestants_ are _Manichees_ or _Hereticks_, which _Protestants_ can no Ways shun. For the Question is, Whether, in what they did, they walked according to the Truth testified of by the Spirit in the Holy Scriptures? So that the Controversy is brought back again to the Scriptures, according to which, I suppose, I have already discussed it.

[Sidenote: _The _Baptism_ of _Infants_ an Human Tradition._] As for the latter Part of the _Thesis_, denying the Use of _Infant-baptism_, it necessarily follows from what is above said. For if Water-baptism be ceased, then surely _Baptizing of Infants_ is not warrantable. But those that take upon them to oppose us in this Matter, will have more to do as to this latter Part: For after they have done what they can to prove Water-baptism, it remains for them to prove that _Infants_ ought to be baptized. For he that proves Water-baptism ceased, proves that Infant-baptism is vain: But he that should prove that Water-baptism continues, has not thence proved that Infant-baptism is necessary; that needs something further. And therefore it was a pitiful Subterfuge of _Nic. Arnoldus_ against this, to say, That _the Denying of Infant-baptism belonged to the Gangrene of the_ Anabaptists, without adding any further Proof.

PROPOSITION XIII.

Concerning the COMMUNION, or PARTICIPATION of the BODY and BLOOD of CHRIST.

[119]_The _Communion_ of the Body and Blood of Christ is _inward_ and _spiritual_, which is the Participation of his Flesh and Blood, by which the _inward Man_ is daily nourished in the Hearts of those in whom Christ dwells. Of which Things the _Breaking of Bread_ by Christ with his Disciples was a _Figure_, which even they who had received the Substance used in the Church for a Time, for the Sake of the Weak; [120]even as _abstaining from Things strangled_, and _from Blood_, _the Washing one another’s Feet_, and the _Anointing of the Sick with Oil_: All which are commanded with no less Authority and Solemnity than the former; yet seeing they are but _Shadows_ of better Things, they cease in such as have obtained the _Substance.

[119] 1 Cor. 10. 16, 17. John 6. 32. 33. 35. 1 Cor. 5. 8.

[120] Acts 15. 20. John 13. 14. James 5. 14.

§. I. The _Communion_ of the Body and Blood of Christ is a _Mystery_ hid from all natural Men, in their first fallen and degenerate State, which they cannot understand, reach to, nor comprehend, as they there abide; neither, as they there are, can they be Partakers of it, nor yet are they able to _discern the Lord’s Body_. And forasmuch as the _Christian World_ (so called) for the most Part hath been still labouring, working, conceiving and imagining, in their own natural and unrenewed Understandings, about the Things of God and Religion; therefore hath this _Mystery_ been much hid and sealed up from them, while they have been contending, quarrelling and fighting one with another about the mere Shadow, Outside, and Form, but Strangers to the Substance, Life and Virtue.

§. II. [Sidenote: _The _Body_ and _Blood_ of Christ is spiritual._] The _Body_ then of Christ, which Believers partake of, is _spiritual_, and not _carnal_; and his _Blood_, which they drink of, is _pure_ and _heavenly_, and not _human_ or _elementary_, as _Augustine_ also affirms of the _Body of Christ_, which is eaten, in his _Tractat._ Psal. xcviii. _Except a Man eat my Flesh, he hath not in him Life eternal_: And he saith, _The Words which I speak unto you are Spirit and Life; understand spiritually what I have spoken. Ye shall not eat of this Body which ye see, and drink this Blood which they shall spill, who crucify me--I am the living Bread, who have descended from Heaven. He calls himself the Bread, who descended from Heaven, exhorting that we might believe in him_, &c.

[Sidenote: Object.] If it be asked then, _What that _Body_, what that _Flesh_ and _Blood_ is?_