OF REGENERATION AND BAPTISM, HEBREW & CHRISTIAN; With their Rites, &c. Disquisitions.

By CHRISTOPHER ELDERFIELD Deceased, Master of Arts, and late Rector of Burton in Sussex.

Published since his death by his Executors.

London, Printed by Tho. Newcomb, dwelling in Thames street, over against Baynards Castle. 1653.

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To the grand Nursery of Piety and Learning, the University of OXFORD; The happy Mother of the learned Author deceased.

YOU may justly wonder at this rude salute from an unpolish'd Pen: for I wonder at my self. What, am I creeping out of the dust of Obscurity, to ap­pear amongst the Starres of the morning? But I come not hither without invitation; the sense of my Duty, & brightness of your [Page] glory invite me to you. The in­genious Author of these Disqui­sitions by his last will and Testa­ment, sadly ingaged me (as Co-executor with his dearest Bro­ther) to present with a learned Legacy, the History of Tobit in Hebrew, Clemens Romanus, Ly­ra on the Psalms, with Rodolphus Postils Manuscript. Be pleased to accept them as a testimony of his filial Respects, whose great abi­lities were an Honor to you while he lived, and do still sur­vive in his Labours now he is dead. He was a man of a single life, only wedded to his Book, and so had none but a Spiritual issue to keep up his name. He was both father and mother to two [Page] elaborate Treatises. And some conceive the pains and travell a­bout bringing forth the yonger (though more spiritual) Man-child, might cost him his life. Since then he breath'd forth his last spirits into this Treatise; surely this infant Treatise, this posthumous Orphan will be welcom to its Grandmother even in its swadling clouts, to suckle it, take it into her arms, and be a Foster-mother to it. I intreat and hope you will not mis-inter­pret this pious boldness of

Your most devoted Orator, T.H.

To the Right Worshipfull, Sir William Goring, Baronet.

Noble Sir,

THe Author of this Trea­tise lived as deep in your affections, as you lived high in his devoti­ons. His great studie was to ad­vance you in Spirituals, yet he was willing to return some considerable Retributions to you, so far as he was intrusted by you, in Secular af­fairs. You are now pleased to lay that weighty imployment upon me alone, in which I ever found him a prudent and faithfull Assistant. And I shall [Page] pray that your many undeserved Fa­vours, and the honour of so high a Trust, may be in some gratefull pro­portion answered, by the happy suc­cess of that duty and service which I owe to so Noble a Family, and so great a Charge.

Sir, this Book will teach this cor­rupt Age the necessity of Rege­neration, by which whosoever is entred into the kingdom of Grace, hath the truth of his first Baptism by Water effectually sealed unto him, and needs no second Water-Baptism to transmit him into the Kingdom of Glory. They who are baptized by the Spirit of Christ unto Regeneration, and by His blood to Justification, shall by the help of the same Spirit be more and [Page] more baptized unto further degrees of Sanctification. That You and Your dear Relations may know and feel the power of these Myste­rious Truths, (with as much sweet­ness and comfort as I wish to my self and mine) is and shall be the prayer of;

Sir,
The faithfullest of your Servants, T.H.

To the READER.

CHRISTIAM, Beloved and much Reverenced,

HAving not long since offered to the publike & thy view, some account of endeavors for the preservation of the Gospel of Peace in this Nation (for that was my aim) in the received and accustomed way of sustentation of the Ministry, service and servants thereof, by due and stated Tythes: (Which Discourse was, and ought to have been, for the general there­of, chiefly Political) That I may not seem to have been altogether [...], a trewant at home, and in just and neces­sary redemption of my reputation, to have looked sometimes to mine own, I have adventured on what follows more su­table [Page] both with expectation from my cal­ling,1 Cor. 15.10. He that loveth his brother, abideth in light, and there is none [...]ffence seen in him or from him, 1 John 2.10. Do all things to the glory of God, be without of­fence to any, Jew or Gen­tile, or the Church of God, even as I also in al things please all men, 1 Cor. 10.32. He that loveth &c. Though all be pure, yet it is evil to him that eat­eth his meat with offence of another. It is good not to eat, nor drink, nor any thing, where­by a brother is offended, Rom. 14.19, 20, 21. Take heed your due power become not an offence, 1 Cor. 8.9. If my victuals offend him I will not eat while I live, to prevent his displeasure, ver. 13. For all is not expedient, that is lawful, 1 Cor. 6. Wo to the world, because of offence: If thy hand or foot be oc­casion of giving any, rather cut it off, and cast it from thee; it is good for thee to enter lame or maimed into life, rather then having two hands, or two feet, to be cast into fire everlasting, which it seems must follow of offence, Mat. 18.18. and see Mark 9.5.29. Mat. 9.47. In his example where a tribute was asked, not due, yet rather then offend he wrought a miracle, that the collectors might not be disappointed, Mat. 17.26. The servants of the Lord must not strive, 2 Tim. 2.24. and the course of my Profession, which is, the study of Divine matters; whereof I am (by the grace of GOD I am what I am) an unworthy Minister. In both equally have I endeavored to serve my God in the Gospel of his dear Son: In the former, by setting my shoulder to up­hold his House, which is like to shake as to the visible outward sustentation there­of: in this later, by illustrating one of the first and chief mysteries that lets into it: but with the fate of [...], fore spo­ken in the Gospel, The first last, the last first; for this was composed before that was thought on, when the things (not yet fully determined of) were under dis­cussion, and thou wilt perhaps guess no less, by the complexion of the whole, and the aspect of sundry parts heeded. Ho­ped it is, that it will displease or offend [Page] none, which is a part of my Religion, ei­ther of those were so earnest for keeping what they had, or that have succeeded in a partial Reformation: The one may see fome of his choice tendred to his view perhaps in a more rational way, then he had observed before, deeper founded, and served up to his affections by the na­tural way of his judgement: The other, hath his very Reformation pleaded for, (calmly enough both) to a degree of im­provement, not hitherto much mention­ed, and that in the heart and inside of an unquestioned Divine Mysterie, the form that gives life to the thing. And if Scri­pture be Rule, and we resolved to do on­ly we know what, is it not like (upon the considerations proposed, & also digested) In the Name will proceed any further, but all must now, what some pious and learn­ed have done long since, come over to Baptize INTO.

I cannot be ignorant, since the first composition, what stirs and tumults have been raised all over, from Dan to Beersheba, from one end of our Land to the other, [Page] both by Baptists and Ana-baptists (to say nothing of Sebaptists, Kata-baptists, No-baptists, &c). (To whose stubborn and violent oppositions, unto the calm and prosperous receptions of former qui­et times, God give a better issue then they had in Germany, where a combined oppo­sition of Tythes, that should have sup­ported a Ministry to further peace and order through all) and Paedobaptism, the usual way of entring into the profession of the Gospel: These at first, as in Sc. History, proved but a flattering prologue (Populo ut placerent) to many a dire and dismal Tragedy) whose satisfaction there­fore it might be expected, I should have taken the occasion given (and as the Ar­gument led me) to attempt: but consider­ing the nature of those consults, fit enough to stand off aloof by themselves: the com­pass of their Controversies, wide enough to take up the labours of the parties in­teressed; The multitudes that have list­ed themselves already into that War, (it might savor of [...] to put my sickle into their harvests) but above all, the [Page] small increase my dulness hath been able to make of Disputation-meeting, confe­rence, study, or any impression tend­ing toward clear light, or immoveable firm certainty in the business; I have there­fore thought good, to let things go as they were at first, and are (Postscript and all, with but some small alterations) leaving it to others to work out (if here be any thing may serve them that way, tending that way) what their active inquires can take occasion of from hence, to the re­moving of all scruple and doubtfulness, in a matter that yet seems as dark (though confidence be bold enough to the contra­ry on both sides) as was the Rite it self, delivered first among Clouds and Tem­pests, upon the top of Mount Horeb in the Wilderness.

Nor may I fear of having overstaid my tyde, if I have any thing might have been seasonable, for the times are yet thirsty of truth, sensible of mistakes, gas­ping for reformation (the subject of all good mens prayers and tears) and times of peace and quiet order have been wont [Page] to be looked upon as affording better opportunity, calmly and kindely to ri­pen to Perfection and Maturity, all en­deavors tending this way, then when in­ter arma silent leges religio obmutescit, sana ratio exulat, vi geretur res, The strong man goes away with all, Soveraign Po­wer is alone Master at top, and looks, and must, and will be obeyed, in de­spite of whatsoever speaks Reason, Or­der, Equity or Piety.

Where I have either ventured for any new Discoveries, or made bold to recede or oppose what hath been generally re­ceived, I had much incouragement from ONE (worth ten Thousands) whose great Learning and Piety the World knows, and whose Candour and Chri­stian condescention, To make himself e­qual with those of the lower sort, I can never sufficiently magnifie, whose Grace both cherished my conjectures as proba­ble, and might lead to Truth, if they proved not so, and stablished my bash­ful confidence, by that he himself was not now to begin to baptize INTO. So [Page] that I stand not altogether alone: or if alone, in the way of Truth, or nearest probability, the inconvenience of solita­riness will easily have amends in freedom from Errour; As he spake in the Ora­tour, He had rather be the first of his no­ble Family, then the last, though ma­ny had went before: So it being more happy and safe to be one in the right, then of a Multitude, hand joyned to hand, as SOLOMON spake, to go or doe evil.

If by any thing thou here receive any benefit, Give GOD the praise, for I am a sinner: Or, if thou dissent, remem­ber thou was't baptized; Thou didst then promise to forsake the Devil and all his works, Envy, Wrath, Malice, and all such rancorous and bitter passions are notoriously such, and undeniably, (the Spawn of that infernal fiend, gene­rated in the corrupt carnal hearts of men (Whence Saint Paul, Be angry, but sinne not, retain it not till night (to part ene­mies) nor give place to the Devil, Eph. [Page] 4.27.) and then I dare trust my self with thy rudest affections, deal with me as thou wilt, as thou darest. Thou wilt not turn Apostate, forget thy vow, cancel the Oath of GOD, renounce thy renunciation, and re-imbrace the forsaken Serpent: This granted, I am secure of thy bitter and venemous pas­sions.

As to the Treatise formerly mention­ed, one word more I would crave, to re­flect on what is there in Chap-29. pa. 229. which hath been so interpreted by many, as if I did wish ill to the Divine Right of Tythes, contrary to my promise, page 7. not to meddle with it, and my repeated professions and protestations. There is no such thing: I disavow it: I disclaim it. The Words heeded have no such matter, taken with due circumstance of Antecedents and Consequents. They might have been plainer, by sparing four syllables more, which may be well, if must not be necessarily understood, by inser­tion, thus: Equal in this too that Levi's [Page] part is as good as the best, and if we had any better or higher (FOR OTHER) this would no doubt come out with the highest: But we have (FOR THEM) none; Our Tribes pretend not to a partition from heaven any of them, and therefore Levi, &c. which is that I meant, and the words (darkly) have it, and no more nor other. What sense had been else of bringing in after Levies part by it self in inference, if the censure had not there been onely of Joseph's, Benjamin's, and those that were Lay, upon which prestruction, and a Di­vine Right granted to be for Them none, it will then rationally follow, as it does, And THEREFORE Levi, (not hi­therto declared of) should not take it amiss, if HE (as they) were not preferred (if it should prove so, for this necessary du­bitation to the sense is also inserted) to a right of another sort, above other his bre­thren, but be content he had as good as the best. (This is the fourth time I make uniform Protestation this way) If all [Page] will not satisfie, [...], He that will wrong himself, his judgement, his friend,Apoc. 21.11. the truth, nothing can hinder but he may continue to do so: Let him wrong still.

Occasion taken by what Mr. Selden hath in his Book De Jure naturali & Gentium, Lib. 2. Cap 3. to discourse of Christian-REGENERATION, upon that known Text of Joh. 3.5. Except a man be born again, &c.

WHere (after due parts of Pre­face) the things there deliver­ed, Of the making of Prose­lytes, Initiation thereby, Re­generation, &c. are borrowed & brought home for illustration of that Text, with supervenient Amplicafitions, not unne­cessary.

And improved for farther use in five Derivation of Consequents.

  • 1. Whereas much of Christianity had root in Jewry, the Sacrament of our holy Communion is thought to have come from a Grace Cup, and any ori­ginal of Christian Baptism, is seldom looked into. Probably it may fetch its root from baptizing of Proselytes in [Page] Jewry (which Rite was used in ad­mitting them) and be nothing else but old Hebrew Baptism, new Christened by our Saviour (against or beyond what is received, that it bottoms low­est in the new Testament, in him or Jo. Baptist.

Which is the liker from the same name Common to both, the same general na­ture, the same Rite, End, Manner of Ad­ministration (by Washing) and Persons partakers, which among the Hebrews were even Infants, and these never exclu­ded by the Christian-Catholick Church.

  • 2. The use of God-Fathers taken up at first, continued all along, held on to our times, and no one knows whence, may (not improbably) derive it self from the Triumvirate (a Court) for admis­sion of Hebrew Proselytes; the rather for that they were then stiled FA­THERS ever after to the baptized, and ours have carryed the face of a Court with us, and been so stiled.

Which improved yet farther, That the whole eldest, and to us continued way [Page] of baptism, by Interrogation, stipulation, solemn promise and profession, &c. may (not unlikely) be of the same derivation and pedigree; with hint for farther search.

And yet more, that most of old Christia­nity is from Jewry, instanced in, Title of publick Service, Liturgy, names of di­stinct offices, as Patriarch, Apostle, Bi­shop, Elder, Deacon, vvith Gospel, Church, Degrees of excōmunication, &c.

  • 3. Endeavours in a new way toward stating and resolving that great controversie of the Schools, What was the true difference be­tween Johns Baptism and Christs? scil. By conjecturall assertion, that
    • Johns was only of proselytes, Christs of Chri­stians: His into the old Law, this into the new. One of water, the other of that and the holy Ghost. And if it be objected that Christ was baptized, and other Hebrews not capable of Proselytism: This shewed capable of manifold answer.

Or, by the way; that Johns might by the Text be nothing else but a solemn and penitentiall washing, such as the He­brews often used, (in which use it might [Page] prepare our Saviour for his great Of­fice immediatly entred into thereupon, Matth. 4.) with sundry reasons for the probability hereof, as from Josephus, &c. especially this insisted on, That in Jewry and all abroad it was received, that wash­ing did sanctifie and pu ifie even the in­side, even the soul from sin.

  • 4. The true Reason endeavoured to be as­signed of the early stirres, Acts 15. Gal. 2. &c. of bringing in Christian Circumcision as well as Christian Baptism, scil. that it might be to keep them together, which had wont not to be parted in matriculating He­brew Proselytes; for Baptism, one Rite, was admitted by Christs order. And so Mr. Medes endeavours set aside, who makes the doubt, Whether Ceremony or no Ceremony? And if Ceremony, then Circumcision? This not, for Ceremomy was already taken in in Bap­tism by Christ.

Conjecture also of the reason, why divers Christian Churches do yet retain Circūmci­sion who they are that they do so: and many have done so all along: the Rea­son of all, FOR that they found it with [Page] Baptism in and into that Law they and we do yet retain.

  • 5. Some rayes of light struck forth toward illustration of sundry dark places and things, chiefly in St. Pauls mysterious Epistles, as of Renovation, the old and new man, born of God, Dead to the world, &c. Besides, from St. Peter and St. John: But especially the context in this, John 3. cleared and made coherent, &c.

With Recapitulation and Conclusion.

This agitation of thoughts breeds further in­quiry (chiefly from that dark Text of baptizing INTO Moses, 1 Corinth. 10.2.) of the form of our Christian Baptism, Whether it be right, In the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? and resolved that it is not from the let­ter of the commission in Matth. 28.19. which prescribes INTO.

For illustration whereof,

  • 1. Noted the consent of Copies for the word [...], and for the interpretation, as said.
  • 2. Declared the various acceptions of the recei­ved In Nomine; or, In the Name: For 1. Invocation, 2. Auctorization. 3. [Page] Initiation; The difference of which is shewed.
  • 3. Pitched upon, that the last is the best: For,
    • 1. It is plain in this Text.
    • 2. No less evident in other Texts. The diffe­ring reconciled.
    • 3. Holds out fullest the nature and intent of this Sacrament, which being for admission, this declares it to be so, by baptizing INTO. An observation and enumeration of sundry other sects that have baptized as well as we; and that this best parts us from them at the Door of our entrance, by expressing admittance TO us.
    • 4. This hath, and hath had much counte­nance all abroad, from Greece as much as may be expected. From Latium some, in Tertulli­an and St. Jerom, though the most follow the old Latine, In nomine. The Greek Fathers cited particularly; and some (taken for) Coun­cels, with the sparks of light (very many) that since the Reformation have broken forth to di­rect this way.

All submitted to censure, &c.

OF Regeneration.

SERM I.

‘— Except a man be born AGAIN, (or from above) [...]) he cannot see the Kingdome of God, Joh. 3.3.’

CHAP. I.

MAN was once in a state of happiness, chiefly for that he was born happy; That Bless'd condition was annexed to his Beeing, neither could he Be, but he must therewith be happy, as it were by nature and Patrimoniall inheritance. But, alasse! this so happy estate lasted not long; 'twas extreamly good, and such advance­ments have never used to approve themselves to the world by length and duration. Habitus corporis extremè bonus maxi­mè periculosus, is a rule approved by the Physitians, Exact­est health speaks worst danger of Change, and from the wisest of Politicians, the wittiest of Poets, —Summis (que) [Page 2] negatum Stare diu. This so happy estate therefore lasted not; and the unavoidable change, not but as in extreams it uses to be, from one extream to another: Out of the Hea­then so noted by theNam ut pau­lò a [...]tè, qui supe­riorem illam se­ctam amplexi sunt contumelio­sus in B. Virgi­nem opiniones asperserunt, Sic isti in contratiam partem declinan­tes, extrema [...] i [...] noxam & perni­ci [...]m in [...]id [...]runt, ut Philosopho­rum celebre illud dictum in ipsis comprobetur, ( [...]) Extremi­tates Aequalita­tes Epiphan. l. 3. haer 79. c. 1: Christian long since, and here it took place to the full, From the pinnacle of a Temple to the bottome of a Pit, From the highest of perfection to the lowest of defection, From the top of all happiness this fall was to the worst and lowest of all kind of misery. Where­by was caught a woful bruise: Poor Man! thou feelest and complainest of it to this very day, nor have some thousands of years worn off all grief and anguish from thy distempe­red either body or soul, And yet were not thy case wholly Miserable, if any way Amendable. But as a crackt Bel that ad­mits of no reparation of fracture, it must be molten, or it re­mains good for nothing; Or as a Goldsmiths vessel, so brui­sed and batteredAc fabri quidem aerarii, & qui ex argilla vasa fingunt; cum aliquid vetustate obsoletum renovare cupiunt, primùm illud confringunt, ac deinde iterum conflant: Baptismus autem nos de [...]uò conflat; non igni sensibili sed spiritus flamma spurcitiem omnem excutiente atque abolente. Nicet. Commentar. ad Gregor. Nazianzen. Crat. 40. cap. 8. by unlucky fall, that in vain is the Craftsmans assist­ance called in, no Art can repaire and soder it to former use, but it must to the fire and furnace, to bee wholly New-Made: So universal­ly and irrecoverably was Man mis­chiefed and spoiled in all his pow­ers to Good, and abilities against Evil, that there needs a total Re­formation and Renovation, the frame so out of frame, that (no talk of amendment) the Whole must be taken in hand, andEt quam ob causam, inquis, hoc quod nobis peccata concedit, non lavacrum remissionis pecca­torum dicitur, nec lavacrum purificationis, sed la­vacrum Regenerationis? Quia non nobis simplici­ter peccata concedit, nec simpliciter nos purificat malis actibus implicatos, sed tanquam denuò Gene­ratos efficit. Nam denuò nos condit & conficit, &c. Chrys [...]st Homil. 60. ad illuminand. Tom. 1. pa. 710. Ut igitur statuam auri metallo confectam aliquanti temporis metis fumo & pulvere & aeruginis sordibus coinquinatam cum artificis manus acceperint, reno­vant fornacis ardore, & splendidam nobis lucidam­que demonstrant: ita & nostram naturam Deus ae­ruginatam mole peccati, & malorum gestorum fu­mo violatam, & omni pulchritudine, quam primò ei donaverat, denudatam, in illos aquarum fontes, tanquam in conflatorium mittit: & pro flamma, spi­ritus gratiam subministrat, & exinde rudes effectos etiam solis radiis elevat clariùs lucentes, veterem hominem conterens, novum autem ostendens longè meliorem. id. ib. New-made, or else Man is lost and un­done as to the state of two worlds. This is usually known in Christian Schools by the name of a Second Birth, or Regeneration, and hath here its necessity declared and de­monstrated to a great Scholar, that yet it seems had not learned this point of necessary Learn­ing: In the state of lapsed, decayed nature, no good is to [Page 3] be expected, and Verily I say unto thee, (says Christ to Ni­codemus) unlesse a man be (so new formed and made as to be) Born Again, he cannot see the Kingdome of God.

The words our Saviours, (the best Teacher) and spoken as they were to a Great Name, not inferiour to any of his time, Rabbi Ruler Nicodemus; Who being (as Gualter on the place) a professing, eminent Pharisee, did, no doubt, much rely upon that Pharisaical-natural-performance, ho­ping thereby to earn out a good estate toward God; chiefly by the advantage of his Sect (the straitest of his Nation) by his So being and Doing even to merit eternal life.Acts 26.5. Our Sa­viour Catechises him better, (and that his scope, says the same Authour) assuring him that in Him, or us, that is, in our corrupt natural nature (if I may so speak) dwelleth no good thing, Rom. 7.18. (flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God, nor is Corruption prepared to enter into life:) A man must be transplanted into a better stock, before he can bring forth acceptable fruit to God, renewed, advanced, purifi­ed to higher and holier capacities and powers, yea, Meta­morphosed, and exalted to another Heavenly nature by Grace, or else he is unfit to look him who is LIGHT in the face: And verily (says Christ) unlesse (to his naturall Birth) he be again so Born, he cannot see the Kingdome of God.

That is, in our first state of being we are all utterly lost, if a man remain but what his parents left him, He is verily the childe of Death. 2 Sam. 12.5. David spake it to his Prophet only in a Parable, but it is really true of all the sons of Adam, They can make out themselves no better fortune, but they live onely to Die, nor may their best endeavours help them so much as one step in the way to everlasting life. A Felon may get, but can never keep, what, under his guilt, the Law disables him to own, and he that is not rectus in curia, is deprived thereby of his otherwise due rights and priviled­ges: Even so, saith Christ, Without me, ye can do nothing, John 15 5. Be ye whatsoever ye are, or would, the tree must be made good before the fruit, He that is born Man, must be exalted far­ther and higher, beyond common humanity, by heavenly [Page 4] birth, or else, be what he will, or do what he can, He is not, he acts not the Child of GOD. The summe is, Of our best works of decayed nature in old state, there is little or no hopes to Heaven, our very righteousnesse is sin, our piety guilt, our religion abomination, and Ʋnlesse a man be refor­med to the heighth of an accessory regeneration, and more then amended, new born Again, He cannot look to see the Kingdome of GOD, what, and who is invisible.

A strange and spiritual Doctrine to the grosse conceit of a Carnal Pharisee: who measuring all things by lower hu­man reason, and entertaining nothing but according to such praeconceived notions, is startled into little lesse then a phrensie of conceit; and so absurd as to vent those thoughts bySolet hoc e­venire persona­tis Ecclesiae pa­storibus, ut si nemo illos argu­at, ipsi inscitiam suam ineptissimis quaestronibus & propositionibus publicè prodant. Gual [...]er. Homil. 7. in Joan. 1. words importing a second natural Birth, to make way whereto, he admits necessarily a praesupposition that he might and must reenter his Mothers wombe, that he may be so born, All which (from so many improbabilities to be clam­bred over) might well draw forth their mention in form of a doubt, Whether? and this doubt question of the thing no lesse then the possibility, CAN these things be So? CAN a man be born again? Is it possible he Should enter Again into the bed of his former Creation, that he may thence be so new Born? ver. 4. Our Saviour meekly instructs him, and not so much chiding, as gently leading him out of his Er­rour, shews him both the Thing and the Manner, ver. 5. What, and how: That he must be so born, and that birth be of waterCum enim duplex sit homo, ex anima & cor­pore compositus, duplex quoque est purificatio: incorporea qui­dem, incorporeo: corporea verò, corpori. Et aqua sanè mundat corpus, spiritus autem signat animam, ut abluti in corpore aqua munda, & repurgati in corde (spiritu Dei) accedamus ad Deum. Cyril. Hierosolymit. Cateches. 3. pa. 16. Cum homo sit compolitum quid, non simplex naturá, ex duobus attemperatus, corpore nimirum sensibili, & anima intelligente, gemino quoque opus erit ei ad regenerationem remedio u­trique quodammodo assini & amico. Spiritu namque sanctificatur hominis spiritus, aquá verò san­ctificata, corpus. Cyril. Alexandrin: Comment: in Joan. 3. Tom 4. pa. 147. Quandoquidem ho­mo duplici natura, hoc est animo & corpore constabat, duplicem quoque purgationem nobis dedit, nempe & per aquam & per spiritum: sic nimirum, ut spiritus divinae imaginis ac similitudinis decus in nobis instauret, aqua autem per spiritus gratiam corpus peccati deleat, &c. Jo: Damascen: Orthed: sid. lib. 4. cap. 10. And before them all. Tertullian: The mind (saith he) not the flesh, is first in fault, Spiritus enim dominatur, Caro famulatur: and yet are they both to blame, spiritus ob imperium, Caro ob Ministerium. Igitur medicatis quodammodo aquis per Angeli interventum, & spiritus in aquis corporaliter diluitur, & cano in eisdem spiritualiter mundatur li. de Baptism: cap: 4 pa: 257: and the Holy Ghost. For, That which is born of the flesh, is flesh (alone) ver. 6. That onely is born of [Page 5] the Spirit, is Spirit: Marvell not therefore that I said unto thee, A man must be born Again, for Except a Man be so born, he cannot see the Kingdome of God.

So that two things the words then naturally give just occasion to insist on. 1. Their subject, Regeneration (as a simple Theme) Ʋnlesse a man be Again Born. 2. The consequent or effect of this precedent cause, supposed and implied in the denial of that consequent or effect upon the absence or exclusion of the cause, Except he be so born, He cannot see what is Heavenly. Begin with the former, (Regeneration) Except a man be born Again, &c.

And hereof, before I come to the main I aim at, two things more I crave leave to Preface by: One of the Word, another of the Thing. Of the Word, thus.

1. Whereas our authorized English Translation has here Verily, unlesse a man be born Again, with which word in the text is a marginal note of Reference, and the Referree gives choice, or From above, Though the former is usually taken, as best agreeing with the use most men make of it, yet the latter is the right and truer, as agreeing not onely with the Original (to us) [...],As, Every good giving and e [...]ery perfect gift is from above, ( [...]) and c [...]meth down from the Father of Lights, Jam. 1.17. so [...]hap. 3.17. and John 19.11. Here in th s Chapt ver. 31. O [...] that come h from above is over all: Qui superne ve­nit, so Beza; qui desursum, so the Vu [...]gar; qui e su­per [...]s, so Eras­mus. The verse after expounds it self, He that cometh fr [...]m Hea­ven is above all. (consideratly by the old Latine rendred, desuper) but also with the scope and con­sequence of the place, (as well before as after) which make it May be thus, and renders it so indeed that it can very hardly be meant or translated any other way. For, Where­as the whole given is a set Dialogue between a great Critick in the Learning of his Nation, and our Saviour, of Heaven­ly things (mark the subject) and He had begun by telling our Lord, that he verily thought He came down from God (above) else He could not doe the things he had been seen perform, ver. 2. Our Lord answers by granting the thing, (How could he doe otherwise?) But withal he af­firms more, Raising the particular instance to a general case, My self? Nay, I say unto thee, No Man, Except hee make derivation from thence, (or from above, from that God) can so much as see or know any thing toward that Kingdome. That which is born of the flesh (here) is flesh, and can see only flesh or connatural fleshy things, That [Page 6] which is born of the spirit or from above, that onely discern­eth the things that came from whence, or belong thereto whereof it is: Marvel not therefore that I said unto thee A man must be born (or derive) [...], that is, from above, (for that is the word again) For, unl [...]sse he can truly pre­tend to such extraction, and finde the root of his pedegree in Heaven, he cannot look back thither again, or see the Kingdome of God. When this had puzled the thoughts of the grave unlearned Do [...]tor (I may well style him so, sith Christ upbraids his ignorance) and his troubled mind▪ little lesse then phrenetically carnal, had admitted the raising of no lesse then a tempest of manifold doubts, What? Can these things be? Can a man be born, and when he is old? May he return a second time to the former womb, that he may be so born? No, says our Saviour, this needs not; Hee needs but be born (where he is) of water and that sacred blast or insufflation ( [...]) which all know to come from superiour unknown regions, and that enough: Another of the same name, [...], and perhaps some nature common, bloweth where it listeth, here below, and men hear the sound thereof, but know (as little as of this) whence it cometh, or whi­ther it goeth, Such is the extraction and designation of this Grace and its work; which wonder not that I require of invisible production, for unlesse a man do so derive, or bee so born, (from whence, or to what he knows not, his hopes are little to or toward the Kingdome of God. The sum is, A man must be born again, that is, from above; from above, that is, from Heaven; from Heaven, that is, be inspi­red thence invisibly, Divinely, or else he cannot doe the works that I (or any other good man) does, or (acceptably) look in any holy just performance to God above, that dwel­leth beyond the thick clouds: Marvel not therefore that I spake in the Metaphor, requiring such supernall extraction, to be born from on high, for unlesse a man be so born, he can­not, &c. as before. This for the word, and setting to­gether the (disturbed) frame of the Text, now as to the Thing.

2. Although the head of sacred Re-Generation be such [Page 7] a subject (or article) of Christian Faith, that many things are spoken (and written) of it (with confidence enough,) and particularly this Chapter (and very Text) made a ground for them, (and many other besides) as if the New Testament spake of nothing more plainly, intentionally, clearly, and fully, yet such is the mistake, and things so far from being indeed so, that, not onely this place (so much confided in) has not the word Regeneration, (nor any of the same import, save by consequence and insinuation) Nor, having enquired with some diligence, could I finde it else-where above once or twice in this whole Code, (very seldom compleatly in this notion.) Once, 'tis beyond exception, in Tit. 3.5. where Christian purification by water is styled [...], the Laver of Regeneration, and has annexed to it fitly, the Co-assistant operation of the holy Ghost; And that of S. Peter 1.— 1.23. Being born-again not of corrup­tible semination, but incorruptible, &c. may perhaps look that way: But for that which follows there in the next Chapter, As new-born Babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may prosper by it, and our Saviours promise, Ye that have followed me in the regeneration, and my text,Mat. 19.29. These are so far from expressing a Regeneration, that the first and last have not the word, nor the middlemost, in any likely interpretation, the Thing, (as neither many other pla­ces, (the subjects of like abuse) wrested yet about to serve ends, and pressed to confesse that they meant not, nor ever knew:) For, in 1 Pet. 2.2. the Apostle onely fetches a com­parison from young and tender infants ( [...]: t t modo nati infan­tes, Beza. sicut modò geniti in­fantes: so the old Translation. As infants even now born: so the Rh [...]mists. Now-born, not New-born, as the Original word gives plain) whom hee would have desire the food of their souls, with as much sin­cerity, and free from guile and hypocrisie, as those tender babes do their natural food, (Much to our Saviours Doctrin, Matth. 10.15. to receive the Kingdome of God as a little childe, and as he calls that pattern of humility and simplici­ty, and sets it before his turbulent ambitious aspiring Disci­ples, Matth. 18.2. whichBr [...]thren be not children in understanding; Howbeit, in ma­lice, be ye chil­dren: but in un­derstanding shew your selves Men. 1 Cor. 14.20. S. Paul forgat not to take in­to his rule neither,) And that promise of our Saviour, Mat. 19. is onely of compensation his faithful followers shall [Page 8] have, (Disciples, or whosoever forsake any thing for him,) in the Regeneration says the text, in seculo futuro, expounds it Junius, in Christs temporal Kingdome yet to come (and after the first resurrection) on earth, expect theWhereof see a Learned and ingenuous Trea­tise, by M Maton, on Acts 1.6. Lord, wilt thou again at this time restore the Kingdome to Israel? Mille­narians, but in the [...], Renas [...]ntia,—instauratio. Item universalis resurrectio. Seapul. Lexic. Novis­simus hujus mundi dies, qui sic dicitur, quod eo Deus creatu [...]us sit novum coelum & novam terram, hominémque electum perfectè regeneraturus, ut Mat. 1 [...].28 Paes [...]r. Lexic pa. 170. and see also Marlorat. Enchirid. l [...]c. commun pag. 529. D [...]ae enim sunt Regenerationes, p [...]ima animarum ex aqua & spiritu in Baptismo, secundae corporum in generali resurre­ctione, quae quidem resurrectio dicitur Regeneratio vel secund [...] generatio. Ludolph. de vita Christi. lib. 2. cap. 13. sect. 13. In regeneratione cum sederit filius hominis in [...]ede Majestatis suae (quando & mortui de corruptione resu [...]gent incorrupti) se deb [...]tis & vos in soliis judicantium, &c. So S. Jerome expounds in Comment. ad Matth. 19. Tom. 6. pa. 40. Magnas qui­dem & admirandas res magnoque motu ac tremore dignas mihi, O homo, narras: Siquidem ita se ha­bent, atque postquam fatis concesserimus, ac in cine­rem & pulverem dissoluti fuerimus Resurrectio & Re-Generatio futura est. Prince Josaphat to his ghostly Father Barlaam in Damascens History chap. 9. Renovation or Restitution of all things, (men­tioned, Acts 3.21.) say those that interpret most warily and pro­bably; When theR [...]m. 8.21. Creature now groaning under it, shall be delivered from the bondage of cor­ruption, into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God, In this2 Pet. 3 13. Heaven and Earth) (purifi­ed) there dwelling righteousness, and the Tabernacle of God placed with men, and he shall dwell with them and be their God, and they shall be his people, and so shall bee wiped away all teares from their eyes: as Apocalipse 21.2, 3. For, Peter had said before, Master we have left all and fol­lowed thee, what shall we have therefore (hereafter) ver. 27.) Jesus answers, (as lifting up their eyes to the day of Judgement presently, and that fu­ture wonderful consideration of things and compensation) ye that have followed me! Verily I say unto you, ye that have followed me, (in this Generation, here) shall (hereaf­ter, in that which is to come) receive abundant remunerati­on, For in the Regeneration (forIllud verò in regeneratione, re [...]erri potest vel ad praecedentia, Qui sequuti estis me in regeneratio­ne, vel ad sequentia, in regeneratione quum sederit filius hominis, &c. Duplex autem est regenera­tio. una animorum in praesenti vitae, administrata per Evangelii praedicationem, &c. Altera est corporum, status futurae vita, quem Paulus vocat Redemptionem corporis nestri, Rom. 8.23. — Hanc Petrus Acts 3.21. vocat tempus restaurationis omnium. De hac regeneratione hic loquitur Christus, & hoc sensu ad sequentia referendum est, in regeneratione quum sederit, &c. Nova Gloss. ordinat. ad Matth. 1928. so the words are to be set together and construed, not as commonly, ye that have [Page 9] followed me in the regeneration (in this world) shall receive Thus and Thus amends hereafter in the next life, But) ye that have so followed me with losse of all things here, shall in the Rectius ad sequens comma referuntur hae voces. Grotius ad loc. So Beza both read himself and had observed it to be read in five an­cient Copies, con­form to what hec acknowledgeth a­broad. So Muscu­lus, and Marlo­rate, and Maldo­nate, and the Fathers. Chry­sost. Hom. 56. in Matth. Tom. 1. pa. 691. Hieron. ad Matth. 19. Tom. 6. pa. 40. Bernard. in De­clamat. col. 1006. Augustin. lib. 20. de Civ Dei. cap. 5. & 6. lib. 2. contra Julian: ca. 8. & lib 3. con­tra duas Epist. Pe­lag cap 3. &c. The Syriack gives, in seculo futuro, which cannot but relate to time to come. Regeneration or Restitution of all things, in that world when all is passed away, and old things become new, receive large amends: And when the Son of man shall sit on his Throne (whom now ye forsake not in his lownesse or poverty) then shall ye also (in that [...], or new mold of things) sit upon your several glorious thrones, and (as your number fits well) judge the twelve Tribes of your Nation of Israel. This was amends enough; likeliest to be promised, was here promised, and so (nor the other place) making any thing for present regeneration or change of Soul by being born of God, (though the word I confess be exact for it;) which word (in which sense) is (I said) seldome found in Scripture, (perhaps not above twice or thrice) nor the thing (save by consequence and insinuati­on) much oftner; for certain, here's no Born Again (as before) in this place. Yet, because the text is commonly so interpreted and expounded, and emphatically and plainly in ours allowed so translated, which the governing ori­ginal may bear too by the help of implication not the very remotest, I am content, rather by occasion of it, then grounding my self upon it, to continue my thoughts on this argument: (for, ground to raise any thing upon I would have always firm, such as none can except against, nor will fail in time of trial:) And whereas here are two things, a Birth supernal, and the necessity of it, shall be­gin and end with the former, Except a man be born again, or from above.

CHAP. II.

AND this, you know, is a subject of common discourse, nor Pen, nor Pulpit have been sparing of their pains, and either way they have been more then very many things that have been exhibited to the world; the most good and [Page 10] pious, some also true, and not but some (in so great variety, very like) grounded on mistake and tending to Error; De­claring rather what the speaker or writer meant (in the name of good) to affix and lay with reverence to so holy a subject, then what Was, or the truth or state of things (all things considered) would bear. I, that my Discourse may fit in with it self and be intire all of a piece, shall first take leave (with due respect) to lay aside what hath been said hither­to by others, as things already profitably known; And se­condly, that what I intend intirely mine, may be either true or very likely, shall lay the most upon the resolution of this (I think most pertinent, though hitherto quite neglected) Quaere, What was known of this argument of Regeneration, in our Saviours time? Whether any thing? In what particulars it came forth? How tendred? How received, &c? With relation whereto no doubt our Saviour spake as he did, to wit, according to the knowledge then on the Stage, or (as one would say, and as most men use) in the language of the times. For as he that would apprehend in a right notion himself, or deliver out fully to others who do not know what the Truth is, of any of the Mysteries of our Religion (asPrincipiò, quod attinet ad notionem voca­buli, praemitten­dum est, Baptismi nomen significare quamvis ablutio­nem. Itaque nonnisi usu do­ctorum Ecclesia­sticorum accom­modatum est, ut significet propriè unum hoc sacra­mentum ex illis septem novae le­gis, quae proba­vimus à Christo fuisse instituta. Gregor: de Valenc. Tom: 4: Disput: 4: punct: 1. Baptisme, Eucharist, Church, Sacra­ment. Excommunication, Absolution, &c.) It would be­hoove him farther then a bare and simple consideration of the import of those words at top, to dive deeper into the na­ture of the Things, the application, use and import of those words with us, and by study, observation, or other­wise, to acquaint himself what We mean, intend, orRes auditae non ita se habent, sicut res oculis visae & perceptae. Hac de causa non sunt ea ita solida, quae ego per auditum de ritibus Zabiorum ex libris ipsorum scio & addidi­ci, sicut sunt apud illos, qui ipsimet opera illorum viderunt. M. Maiemonid: in More Nevoch. par. 3. cap. 49. Do by them (things to be known only from us) without which a very jejune and empty Declaration is like to be fur­nished out of so great and weighty matters: Even so, He that would to the purpose speak home on this Mystical sub­ject our Saviour hath sanctified with the mention of his lips, as He meant, and must from him have been written [Page 11] down in the Scriptures, it would behoove farther then by the help of a Concordance and Lexicon, to know what the word might possibly hold forth in another place, or any where, to look and satisfie himself what it meant Here, what manner of Thing it was that was cloathed out as it were in the habit of this expression, or what the people, or times, that age did apprehend of it, which was question­lesse That was meant by our Saviour. A point and inquiry (no doubt) of manifold use, but withal of so unhappy neg­lect, that (as far as I can inform my self) it hath not at all come within the thoughts of any Writer on my Text by Commentation, Enarration, or otherwise, occasionally or purposely, in Tractate, Sermon, Common-place, or How­soever, to bestow any considerable pains about, it yet see­ming Alone that which must afford light to satisfaction. By like, it may not be the easier to begin first; Difficilia quae pulchra? Nay, we will invert, Pulchra quae difficilia, the acceptablenesse of the work may perhaps grow up under our hands with the painfulnesse of the labour, And if any thing can be found, it may be as a new Discovery to let in more light (into this profound and obscure mystery) and such an Addition as may lay in somewhat more to the gene­ral stock of knowledge, heretofore laid together by other hands. On therefore, cum bono Deo; nor may the un­troddennesse of the path repel or discourage a firm re­solute purpose; God be guide, as truth our aim, and re­velation of the hidden mysteries of Scripture, (not to be looked to or toward, but with trembling reverence) our scope and reward: Our Saviour says, Except a man be born again, &c. and what was believed, known, used about it in those times in which he lived and said so?

CHAP. III.

I Answer, Many Things. The Thing,Many of the things next fol­lowing, I confesse to borrow from M. Seldens de Jure nat. & gent. l. 2. c. 2. & 3. Before, I had them; but dark, lame, scattered imperfect; plain­nest and fullest in that most learned man: Mine be only the translation and application to this purpose. the Effects, the Rites, the Ends; in general, Regeneration was then an [Page 12] effect of Proselytism. (You must pardon the hardnesse of that word; obscure things always meet not with facile ex­pressions, and so bring in new or strange words (I adde or Things) is in this age, nor strange, nor new.) I resume therefore Regeneration was in our Saviours time a believed effect of Proselytisme, whereby the stranger that was by due rites initiated thither, was as it were mortified to his for­mer estate dead to the world, revived to a new life, quick­ned to God, regenerate, renate and born again out of this, to a new state of happinesse and life with Moses and among the holy children of Israel. From them as many as were, had their destiny praefigured in the old world, of whom, as many as missed the relief of Noahs Ark, scaped not the mischief of being drowned in the water, out of their So­ciety or Church all were in state of Perdition; As many as were taken to sanctuary with them were tearmed Prose­lytes (ofWeemse. Chr. Synag. p. 140 or of [...], as Godwin, in Antiqu. Heb. 1.3. or of the old verb [...], as Pasor in his Lexic. N. Testam. pag. 313. Comelings, as one would call them. Advenae, or Albini quasi Alibini; in Spelman. Glossar. in vocab: Albanus. Compare Act. 2.10.—6.5. —13.43. with Matth. 9.14. Joan. 12.21. Acts 8.29.—quem Philo e­tiam [...] vocat. Grot. in Mat. 23.15. [...], to come over) They that did come were esteemed to bee renewed, renate, Born Again plainly into a new world, capable of so much expression that it might afford some excuse to Nico­demus, that He thought, One must enter into his Mothers womb that he might bee so born.

But it may behoove to be yet more di­stinct: (Generality uses to be the parent of much confusion) and to make delibation of Hebrew Antiquities, as much as will serve us with knowledge of the several sorts of Proselytes that were among them, the manner of making them, the ceremonies, rites, priviledges, &c. the rather be­cause they are to be looked upon as causes of this effect my Text speaketh of, and Those that were, by Them it was they were so Regenerate, born anew, or (which is all one) made Proselytes.

By an usual distinction then two sorts of them there were,

1. Proselytes of the Godwin, An­tiq. Heb. lib. 1. c. 3. Medes Diatrib [...]on Act. 17.4. pa. 83, 84, &c. Gate, or for habitation, and no [Page 13] more, (Proselyti domicilii) a lower sort, which were so far initiated that they mightThis was a qualification much like as, To be a Christian in any sort, is, to live a­mong us: for a Jew is an outlaw by our Law: See Daniel; Histor: in Edw. 1. p. 160. Stows Chron. in 18 Edw. 1. Fullers holy war, lib. 1. cap. 4. Especially M. Selden de Jure nat. & gent. lib. 2: cap. 6. pa. 194, 195, &c. Former­ly it appears they were under the Kings protection by S. Edward Laws, in Lambard. Ar­chaion: pa. 141. L. 29. Nay, all infi­dels are by our Laws perpetuī iuin [...]ici. Cocks Re­perts 7. fol. 17. Ca [...]vins case, & Iustitut. par. 4. chap. 50. associate and converse with the Hebrews even in their own Territories, (but as stran­gers,) And these had not much done unto them: Onely with some few ceremonies they were bound over to keepWhat they were, may be seen from the Hebrew Doctors, in Ains­worth upon Ge­nes. 9.4. & M. Seld [...]n de Jure nat. &c. 1.10. But take the hest account from one of their own, a late Ruler of their Sy­nagogue at Am­sterdam. Septem praecepta, ut tra­ditur in Gemara Sanhedrin, omnes gentes observare tenentur quae iccirco vocantur [...] septem praecepta filiorum Noachi. Ex his (quemadmodum in Seder Olam: cap. 5 & apud B. Mosem in Juda-hazaqua legimus) seria Adamo data sunt: nimirum ut abstineret [...]: ab Idololatria: 2. Maledictione Numinis Divini: 3: Caede: 4. Adulterio: 5. Furto: 6. Ut judi­ces institueret quorum esset curare ut illa praecepta observarentur. Super haec Noacho septimum additum fuit, nè membrum vivo animali amputatum comederet; his verbis: Carnem cum anima & sanguine suo ne comedas; (or against eating of blood; which whether renewed or continued in Acts 15.20. I onely propose.) Haec sunt praecepta, ob quorum violationem ut ex S. Scriptura ibi­dem in Sanitedrin probatur, etiam gentes mundi à Deo punitas constat: Eum vero qui illa ob­servat vocarunt, [...] peregrinum in habitantem, quia in Israele morari poterat. Ma­nasseh Ben Israel: in Conciliator: ad Deuter: quaest: 2. pa. 221: Noahs seven Commandements, (the reputed summe of the Law of Nature for Divinity and Morality, out of which Moses Ten Commandements were after drawn, or most of them) And a few other things, that they might not offend (their Masters) the Hebrews, among whom they were permitted to live, But the fruit of this initiation did not pretend to look to any great matter, far short of so great a change as might intitle to a Renovation, or Born a­gain, and therefore I have accordingly soon done with it. But besides these of Habitation, qualified to live and converse with Israel, there was a second sort came up far­ther to a Copartnership or fraternity with them in their Re­ligion, and the priviledges therof called.

2. Proselytes of the Law, or Proselytes of Righteousnesse, (Proselyti justitiae) which were as the Cives facti, the other as one compares, the Cives nati, of the Common-wealth of Israel; And these as they were initiated with more cere­mony, so no doubt was made, those rites were in them ef­fectual to higher purposes then the former, namely, to ob­literate all they had before of corrupt Gentilisme, and to render them like men dropt out of the clouds, wholly chan­ged, Renewed, Regenerate, (as this morning born infant) naturalized Citizens of the community of Israel, and so estated in a participation thereby of their Law, Liberties, Pri­viledges, Hopes, Religion, and all the happinesse such an holy Communion could promise the true members thereof in this or the other world.

CHAP. IV.

The rites of making Pro­selytes.THE Rites or Means (as 'twere Sacraments) in this Proselytizing or Regeneration were three: (under­stand, after the giving of the Law upon M. Sinai, where one of them, Baptisme being first appointed, of necessity till then, sc. from Abraham to Moses, the two former that were must needs serve the turn, but on this side Sinai they were three) Circumcision, Baptisme, and Oblation.

1.Ainsworth on Genes. 17.12. pag. 68. The first was a sign of the covenant into which they were received: the second a sign (or means) of their purification, (compare the 24 and 25 verses of John 3.) for all Gentiles were held unclean: the third for aetonement with God. Purchas: Pilgrim: lib: 2. cap. 2. out of Drusius. Pet. Kicius de coelesti agricult. lib: 3 & Munster in 50. praecepta Mosis are alledged by him for the continuance of Circumcision and Baptisme to this day, (which thing is true) and why sacrifice is omitted, see hereafter. But remember, All three rites passed at any time onely on the Men, the Hebrew Law de [...]lined ever the Circumcision of the o [...]her half of mankinde: So, at first, but two rites could minister their initiation; since, but one, Baptisme. Cur autem foeminae non fue­rint circumcisae, & an jus habuerint ad bona foederis? Vid. Scharp. Symphon: prophetarum & A­post: part: 2. Epoch: 3. Quaest. 9. Quale item jus earum ad regnum Dei, non obstante istiusmodi circumcisionis defectu, apud Epiphan: Haeres. 3. Aebionit: Tom: 1. pag: 160. —Placeat etiam observare, Amice Lector, vel si forsan anteà observasses, in memoriam revocare, & fuisse antiquitùs & jam temporis esse, qui Circumcisionis hanc notulam utrique sexui, tàm muliebri sci­licet quàm virili, imprimere perhibentur; iique varii variarum cùm gentium incolae, tum religionum cultores. De Aeg ptiis (antiquioribus) Ambrosius: Quarto decimo anno circumcidunt mares, & foeminae apud eos circumcidi feruntur, quòd ab eo videlicet anno incipiat flagrare passio virilis & foemi­narum menstrua sumunt exordia, lib. 2. de Abraham. cap. 11. Quod idem de iisdem habetur (ex Strabonis Geographiae lib: 17.) apud doctissimum Episcop. Montacutium, in Tom. 1. Originum Ecclesiasticarum. part. 1. sect. 52. sc. solenne ipsis fuisse [...]. Nec minus de hodiernis, quae non t [...]m circumciduntur quàm ex [...]iduntur Christianae, apud Purchas: Peregrinat: lib: 6. cap. 4. De Ismaelitis refert euthymius Monachus Zygabenus, quôd Moameth propheta eorum & legislator de tircumcisione & marium & foeminarum legem ferens, interdixit etiam illis vino: Et mares quidem, inquit autho [...], circumcidere Ebraicum est, foeminas verò impudentiae Mo [...]me­thicae proprium; [...]cili [...]et ut circumcisionem in lege praescriptam hoc modo corrigeret. In Moamethicis, apud Biblio: hec: pat: Graec: Tom: 2. pag. 303. Et paulo post, docuit eos ut se circumciderent, vi­ros parit [...]r & mulieres, pag. 308. Ejus [...]em farinae est quod de Aliaticis aliis Alexan [...]er ab Alexan­dro: In Arabia gens est, inquit, Creophagos v [...]cant, quibùs nedum viri sed mulieres Judaice excindi solebant; sicut de Andramite, Lydorum rege, qui primus Eu [...]uchas fecit mulieres, sermo proditus est. Genial. [...]ie [...]um, lib: 2. cap: 25. fol: 97. Quamvis non Arabiae, sed Aethiopiae sunt is [...] Creophagi, apud trabonem, cui nec circumcisio mulierum prorsus ignota. Geograph: lib: 16. Non dissimile de Jacebitis (Christianis) in Mesapotamia, Palestina, Syria, &c. sub Pat [...]i [...]rcha in orum dispersis, s [...]r ptum reliquit ex nostratibus Brerewoodus, in Inquisit. cap. 21. pa. 153. De Abysseni [...]o five A [...]th [...] ­opibus sub potentissimo Imperatore Presbytero Joanne (vulgò Prete Gianni, nostratibus Prester John) cultum similiter Christianum amplectentibus, Idem in [...]isdem, cap: 23. pa: 165. Ant. Maginus, Geo­graph: Nov: fol: 188. Georg: Sandesius, peregrinat: lib: 1. pa. 55. E. Paget. Christianograph. p. 166. imprimis autem Damian: à Goes, pag: 559. De Maronitis, in Geographicis suis doctiss. D. Heylin: pag 553. Necnon de Guinensibus (paganis) Purchas. in peregrinat: lib: 6. cap. 16. Contra id quod passim obtinet, haec omnia, fateor; sive in scri [...]tis hominum vulgariter vel non vulgariter doctorum, sive in mentibus: Nec interim minùs digna quae vel observarentur vel ex criberentur vel notentur & in memoria teneantur quàm firmissima. Ex libris rerum cognitio: ex Commentariis au­tem gravissimorum & authorum qui imprimis fide digni sunt, haec singula deprompta: Tute, Le­ctor, judica, sive quod verius sive quod verisimilius ad libitum amplecti, vel si ita placeat repudi­are permissus. Circumcision they grounded upon the Letter of the Law, and no doubt firmly enough, Gen. 17.12. & Ex­od. 12.48. where He (the stranger) that would partake of [Page 15] of their Passeover (as twere our Communion) must first be circumcised (as with us baptized) or else he was unfit and must not approach, as yet not censed among those of their Religion. And hereof is no doubt. But whereas for the requisitenesse or expediency of their second ceremony.

2. Baptisme, they alledge that a little after in the story of the peoples washing of their garments before the receiving of the Law by order from their Governour Moses, as he from God,And the Lord said unto Moses, Goe unto the people, and san­ctifie them to day and to mor­row, and let them wash their [...]loaths. From this precept the He­brew Doctors ga­ther their Doctrine and practise for baptizing all whom they admit to their church, and covenant. Ainsworth on Exod. 19.10: Exod. 19.10. and interpret it figuratively of washing theirSo they interpret other like places, as Lev. 11.25. chap. 14 47. chap. 15 10. & chap 23. &c. Nor have they nothing before these times to countenance this rite, and that interpretation. So long be­fore us in Jacobs time they make out his counsel to the stranger Siche [...]ites, that they should cleanse themselves upon their coming over from their Idolatry to his faith, Gen 35.2. for a kind of bap­tismal washing. Aben Ezra gave it to the world in his Comments on that chapter; and M. Light-foot has given it us from him, in his Elias redivivus, pa 11. In fartherance of which interpretation M. Ainsworth grants two things. 1. That those he there spake to, might be many of them Captives taken before in chap. 34. [...]9. 2. That by cleansing is meant purifying, which outwardly was according to the Law) by washing in water, as Levit. 15.13. Numb. 31.23. bodies, sc. by Baptisme; And farther infer from hence a necessity (as well praeceptivè as exem­plariter) of the like washing of all that shall come over to the Law, If the place be viewed, judgement will perhaps be soon given (as ofA great fault! Scripturarum esse volumus quae nostra sunt: as S. Augustin complained. many other wrested in, nay, turned quite round about to serve purposes) that it was found out rather to countenance the Rite after (for what reason soe­ver) it was brought in and was desired to be kept, then af­fording any sound and substantialYe [...] some Christian Fathers reflected on this place, as countenancing our Baptisme. Sicut in lo­tione vestimentorum Exod. 19.) describitur nobis quodam [...] odo purificatio per aquam. Cyril. Alexand. Glaphyr. in Exod. lib. 3. Tom: 1. pag: 319 Vid. etiam German: Archepiscop. Constantinop [...] contemplat, in Bib. pat. Graec. tom. 2. pa: 131. ground to intro­duce it at first, or take it up when they were at liberty. I speak by what appears in the Text or from it, as it is come to [Page 16] us: That of Guil. Paris. de Legibus, which he applies to women onely, may seem fitly appliable to All in this case, (cap. 3.) Intrant mulieres in pactum Abrahae per quaedam Baptismata & traditiones quae in corpore leges non inveniun­tur. They are censed with Moses people by rites not found in Moses Law. Howsoever, whether upon ground enough from the Law, as they pretended, or otherwise, certainly they used this ceremony, (you know what the word Bap­tisme meaneth; and whether S. Paul had any allusion to such Baptisme or reputed use thereof, in his 1 Cor. 10.2. of all the Fathers being baptized into Moses, and passing through the Sea like the molten Sea, or Baptisterium) I say no more here, but it would be thought on) But theySed & nunc qui ex gentibus cir­cumcisis ut Is­maelitis, Per­sis, Turcis ad Judaismum veniunt, ab ipsis baptizan­tur. Grotius in Annot. ad Evang. Mat. 3.6. pa. 41. & hu­jus Baptismi Judaici memi­nit Scholiastes ad Juvenalem, & Arrianus in Epictero. id. ib. u­sed, I say, this Ceremony howsoever, both to men and women, not sprinkling, but baptizing them all over, or washing them with a care exceeding diligent if not Super­stitious that no part, so much as the bending of a joint might be left unwashen. This was done in the presence of aWhen his wound was whole then before three witnesses was he baptized, in which cere­mony they covered the whole body with water. Purchas. Pilgrim. lib. 2. cap. 2. & Ains­worth on Genes. 17.12. Quemlibet scilicet ejusmodi proselytum, dum stetit tem­plum, triplici initiamentorum genere admitti solenne erat, Circumcisione, Baptis­mo (publicè & coram tribus minimè peracto) & oblatione. Selden. de succession. &c. cap. 26: And so it continues: If any one would be a Jew, he must first be precisely interrogated by 3 Rabbins or men in Authority, What it is that moves him to take this resoluti­on, &c. In their presence he must be circumcised and washed, &c. Ludovic. Mutineus. de gliriti Hebraici, par. 5. cap. 2. These three were required likewise at the ad­mission of the other lower Proselytes, which was done without any Baptisme. Id. de Jure Nat. & Gent. l. 2. cap. 3. from Gemar. Babil. tit. Aboda zora, cap. 5. Triumvirate, or three chosen witnesses solemnly assisting as Godfathers; not without theSilicet ipse Baptismus in seculis legis dationem sequentibus actus habebatur forensis seu Consistorii Triumvirorum, sive publicè sive ex eorum quorum intererat abitrio, pro more constitutorum. Adeoque par est ut existimetur fuisse etiam in deser­to atque intervallo quod tractamus, actus forensis id est à praesecturis praestandus juri­dicis quae fuerint; &c. Selden. de Syned. Vet. Ebraeor. lib. 1. cap. 3. pa. 33. nature of a Court for more solemnity, with explication of the Law o­ver the Baptised as he stood in the Lavatory, and that by these overseers leaning over him, suscepturi, as they were about to take him up out of the water: Twice for failing [Page 17] both those greater and lesser commandements were so re­peated. Before which theVid. Hie­ron. Epist. ad Pammach. de erroribus Jo­an. Hierosol. Augustin. de cura pro mor­tuis cap. 12.— Confession. li. 9. cap. 6.—lib. de fide & operibus, cap. 6.— de tempore Serm. 56, 57. & 116. (which three last are ad competentes) Pamel. ad Cyprian. Epist. 13. num. 4. ad Tertullian. de Bapt. cap. 1. n. 1. Duo sunt genera Catechumenorum (ut Rabanus do­cet) Unum eorum qui audiunt conciones, sed nondum petierunt Baptismum, & ii dicuntur auditores sive Audientes: Alii petunt Baptismum & dicuntur competentes. Bellarmin. de Bapt. l. 1. c. 1. & de Poenitent. lib. 1. cap. 23. Competens (as the word was used after in the Christian Church for him was ripe for bap­tisme, or stood in vestibulo pietatis, as G. Nazian. phrased it) was in the first part of the same continued businesse of in­itiation byPost sinceram Judaismi professionem eum circumcidebant: professionem, sc. integram & perfectam totius Judaismi, & uniuscujusque legis Mosaicae capitis: Nam si unicum aliquod observare renueret foedere sacro arcebatur. Gemar. Babil. cited by M. Selden de Jur. Nat. 2.2. And in this way might be fulfilled what the Learned Apostle writ (and perhaps meant hereof) to the Gentile Galatians, ch. 5.3. I testifie to every one that is circumcised, He is a DEBTOR to do the whole Law. Bound: Why? Why not from some such accustomed formall stipulation and expresse undertaking at the ministration thereof? So M. Hooker understood it cleerly, in his Polity, lib. 5. sect. 64. pa. 338, Circumcision, if notPraefecturae juridicae quae Baptismo praeerat profitebatur (baptizandus) pro­selytus ipse majorennis (masculus qui annum 13. foemina quae 12. superaverat) le­gem Mosaicam se servaturum. Minorum verò nomine, idem ipsum profitebatur prae­fectura ipsa, uti in Christianismo susceptores minorennium seu parvulorum; saltem si nec parentes adessent qui id praestare possent, Selden: lib. 1. de Syned. Vet. Eb. cap. 3. pa. 34. Etiam Regeneratum dixêre & Renatum quemque proselytum sic factum, ve­lut infantem recens natum, &c. The reason, or reasonablenesse whereof may be deri­ved from the first pattern and instance, for the holy Text seems to give us some such convention at the first institution of Legall Baptisme. Moses (the Mediator) is to carry the Articles of agreement, Exod. 19.3. The Lord called unto him out of the Mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; yee have seen what I did unto the Aegyptians, and how I bare you on Eagles wings, and brought you unto my selfe, Now therefore if yee will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall bee a peculiar treasure unto mee a­bove all people, for all the Earth is mine: And yee shall bee unto mee a Kingdom of Priests, and an holy Nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the chil­dren of Israel. At verse 7. Moses called for the Elders of the people, and laid be­fore their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him: And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken wee will doe. Where­upon follows order for the Sacrament at verse 10. If these things be thus, we have here the first bottome, (by divine information, and proceeding from no worse then divine example, at least approved thereby) of this part of necessa­ry stipulation at Baptisme into a Law to bee obeyed; and so may better un­derstand 1 Cor. 10.2. Of the Fathers baptized into the Law. Baptisme it self) [Page 18] to declare his sincere intention to keep the Law, and every syl­lable thereof, upon which condition onely he was admit­table, for if he made exception but of Any, the least, there was a stop, and no farther proceeding; nay, the very har­dest things were culled out to be proposed, say Munster and Maimonides, that if a man were not very resolute, he might be diverted or repelled. Serious and solemn praemonition there was also of the weightinesse of the businesse in hand, the worthinesse of the Law (and the received particulars thereof) the preferment of the change by submitting to it, the dignity of those persons into whose society there was intended Co-optation, de justorum etiam Artic. 11. Credo perfe­cta fide, quòd Deus omnibus opera ipsorum recompensa­turus sit; om­nibus, inquā, quotquot mā ­data ejus exe­cuti fuerint: è contra verò puniturus sit omnes, quotquot interdicta ejus transgressuri sunt, Artic. 13. Credo perfecta fide, quòd expergefactio mortuorum futura sit; tempore sc: illo quod Deo Creatori videbitur opportunum. Cujus Dei Creatoris nomen valde benedicatur celebreturque in secula seculorum. Amen. Two of the thirteen Articles of the Jews Creed, as it is represented to us in Euxtorf. Synagogue, cap. 1. p. 4. and by Genebrard about the middle of his works under this title, Canticum sive carmen in Symbolum fidei, &c. who had it (hee saith) from the 101 page of the Hebrew Breviary. Another, the first of those Articles is, Cre­do vera perfectaque fide, quod Deus Creator, gubernator & sustentator omnium sit creaturarum, quod idem ipse operatus sit omnia, operetur adhuc, &c. The whole of so great account that it is bound up with the great Hebrew Bible Printed at Venice 1517, together with a large exposition, and this seal or censure put in for a close, Quisguis au­tem fundamentum articulumve omnium vel unicum evertat eique fidem non adhibe­at, eum ad rempublic. Israeliticam non pertinere, as we have from the same Buxtorf, pag. 16. Now for the Christian side, and their derivation, (likely) or correspondence, Hear first how the Catechised were to be admonished in Saint Augustines time. Narratione fi­nita spes resurrectionis intimanda est, & pro capacitate ac viribus audientis, pro­que ipsius temporis modulo, adversus vanas irrisiones infidelium de corporis resur­rectione tractandum, & futuri ultimi judicii bonitate in bonos, severitate in malos, virtute in omnes, &c. lib. de Catechizand, rudibus, cap. 7. tom. 4. pa. 297. Alch­win has much to the same, in Epist. 7. ad Dominum regem: col. 1489. and Gregory Nazianzene, Crede praeterea resurrectionem, Judicium, merendem ad justum Dei lancem exigendam, to his converts approaching Baptisme, in Orat. 40. in sanct. Bap­tisma, cap. 51. As to the other Article of Creation, he had said before, Crede univer­sum mundum tàm qui oculis cernitur, quàm qui oculorum obtutum fugit, à Deo ex nihilo esse creatum & Creatoris providentia gubernari, &c. Nor is the Bridge or Passage from the old to the New Church left so in the dark that altogether unseen, for among other Principles, these seem to have been the very Doctrines of Baptismes in the Apostles time and words, Heb. 6.2. the resurrection of the dead, and future judg­ment, things then to be assented to; and the Apostolical Constitutions (styled) which pretend to give the Evening of the Apostles dayes, have (with other things too long to be repeated) some, of the Creation, Resurrection, &c. then to be assented unto, and professed to be believed, in lib. 7. ca. 41. mercede, de poe­na iniquorum, de futuro seculo, and such other things (re­sembling [Page 19] a repetition of the Articles of what was then in their Belief or Creed) All, much in the sort that after­wards the first Christian Ministers took up to set forth their Sacrament of Initiation into Christ his Church (sc. not without interrogation, stipulation, promise, vow, surety, confession of faith, profession of purpose of good life, &c. of which more hereafter) and it may be perhaps no vain or frivolous conjecture to suppose they borrowed much of thisAb Hebraei­discrimen hoc (between Cate­chising and Prea­ching) ut ple­raque veteris Christianismi. Grot. ad Matth. 28.20. pa. 521: manner from them; not scorning toQuemadmo­dum aurem in magnis superba­rum aedium rui­nis marmor ac aliquid simile saepe effoditur, quod nos vete­ris praestant ae commonet, & insuper ad re­centium struct [...] ­rarum decus at­que ornamen­tum facit; Aut quemadmodum ex animantium vilissimorum stercoribus s [...]epe leguntur gemn [...]ae quae in aureorum annulorum palas immissae splendo­rem oculis ju­cundissimum afferunt; Sic quod ex corruptae Synagogae reliquiis eruitur Patriarcharum in corrup­tam religionem adhuc spirans mihi videtur & Ecclesiam ex ornare, & ad primam suam lucem de­ducere. Genebrard. in Epistol. praefixa Symbol. fidei Judaeorum, pa. 71. adorn the holy Church of Christ with the lawful spoils of the former Synagogue, or to set forth the administration of that Sa­crament which was of Initiation into the inherited faith of old Father Abraham, by the grave and decent ornaments they found and could without superstition borrow and bring along with them from the sons of Abraham; As I know not how Levies former sacred use could prophane or make any way unlawful unto followers what was in it self mo­rally grave and good before, or that the costly Tabernacle or magnificent stately Temple could make it sinful to us to worship God in Temples made with hands, fairly built, or serve him in our best, and with our best, though as good as what Aaron or Solomon dedicated, Or that we must offend by keeping the places of our nearest and solemn approach­es to Gods most holy presence clean and free from all noi­some pollution, because of what Israel was commanded to take care of about that place where the GLORIOUS PRESENCE promised to discover it self in the Camp,Thou shalt have a place also without the Camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad. Et paxillus tibi esto (a paddle or spade-staffe) praeter arma tua (besides, or upon thy weapon, so some; at thy Girdle, so the Septuagint) Eritque eum sessurus eris foras, ut eo fodias & ru [...]sus tegas excrementum tuum (turpitudin [...]m tuam, Septuag.) For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy Camp to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee, Therefore shall thy Camp be holy (or clean) that hee see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. Deut. 23.12, 13, 14. But this by the way; I return. The party so circumcised as before, (if a man) and whether man or woman, so as but now baptized, When hee had [Page 20] according to the Text alledged for it,And [...]e sent yong men of the sons of Israel who offered Burnt-offerings, &c. Exod. 24.5. added the last Ceremony, which was

3. Oblation orWhat? Two Turtles, or Pige­ons, say Weemse and Godwin in the places alledg­ed: But Holo­caustum sive ex pecore sive Tur­tu e; aut Co­lumbi. M. Selden pa. 142. & Ains­worth on Gen. 17.12. Since the dispersion the necessity of either ceaseth, till the Temple shall be reedified: So now this third is of no expectation. offering sacrifice, They now coun­ted him a perfect Regenerate man, Dead to his former e­state; alive to God, formerly a stranger, now their own, not of the Reprobates of the World, but of the Common­wealth of Israel; In a word Renate and Born Again in the full and utmost import of that strange word, and thereby estated in all the honour, happiness, blessing, pri­viledge, their alliance or religion could promise, or a Reco­vered, Redeemed, Sanctified, Saved man, expect in Re­muneration of the works of true Belief in this or the o­ther world. Besides which, some accesse of temporal priviledge was thought to accrue, consequent upon so so­lemn and ceremonial a change, as The name of an He­brew, no small honour, The freedome of that Nation, which might bring no small benefit, To live under their Law, sub alis Majestatis divinae, so they were wont to ex­pound, To be favourably tried by that Law, in sundry ca­ses, To be secure of divers shameful punishments, To borrow of a brother-Hebrew, without Usury, &c. Yet so as the chief good expected lay on the other side of invisi­ble and spiritual, which Religion could bring to the soul; and this no lesse then to be born to Heaven, and new-come hopes of as much Good as a Saved Soul might reap here or hereafter.

CHAP. V.

The effects of Proselytism.NAY yet farther and to come to the thing nearest, whereas this REGENERATION in the full sound and sense of the word might seem to speak out a thing so unlikely, that, to make it passable, some moderating trope had need to be cast for and brought in, to make that which they believed, seem probable, and it be enough for men to be as 'twere born Again, though fully they were not, This they disclaimed as short of what they would [Page 21] and was, and in the proper Notion of the word without help of a figure they took the Proselyte to bee in reality and truth indeed so Born. Wonder may be at the thing, and almost at my assertion, but whosoever will consider these three things, they yet believed, partly making, partly be­longing to a true birth, will not think much to embrace far­ther perswasion they might also believe the Birth it self (to which they did belong, or of which they were, and which could hardly have concomitancy or participation of any o­ther) As,

I. A new name obtained by vertue hereof, as of one newly come into the world.

II. A new relation or kindred, at least, as of one Dead, an obliteration of the old.

III. The man himself, (the foundation of all) chan­ged, at least, to the Soul, the chief and denominating part. This was Much; Yet all this I believe, they believed.

1. The Regenerate (circumcised-baptized-offering) Proselyte was thought worthy, (as a man newly come in­to the World) of a New name; (as, Philip or Alexan­der was called David or Solomon; Haman or Holofernes, Moses or Benjamin, and so of the rest; a fair Preface and omination of a real and individual change. For Nomina are Notamina, as one says, are or should be, the revealing discoveries of vailed Existences, or Nota rerum, as Cicero, the outsides of Things wherein they appear to our appre­hension, or Nomen quasi Novimen, so Festus, to make known a Beeing. Where therefore the Name is changed is a presumption for the thing, Why else should the Name to declare, or indeed bely, that it is so? But hereof I am not over confident. 'Tis more assured,

2. He had a new relation or kindred, at least was dead to his old; So that his Father that begate him was no longer of his alliance, nor, which is more strange, his Mother that bare him. His Brethren, Sisters, or whatever formerPristina prorsus omni­moda deleta cognationis ra­tione, consan­guineos nullos postmodùm ex jure habere Sa­cro, sive in suc­cessionis, sive in connubiorum (quod mirere) ratione censeba­tur (Proselytus) praeter posteros qui Baptismum seu initiamenta sequerentur. Selden. de suc­cession. in bon. defunct. cap. 26. Cognationem pristinam omni­modam evanuisse docent per Re­generationem, id: de Jure nat: &c. lib. 5. cap. 18. Nay, if Parent, Brother, Sister, or any of the nearest kin came over after to the same Religion, yet could not the former relations of nature be made to piece up and close to­gether again, for they were dead and gone, sealed up fast under an impossibility of Resurrection. relations he had by affinity or consanguinity, natural or [Page 22] accidental all ceased and vanished presently; what need be said more? he being so now dead to All he was, that hee had nothing now left of his former Natural-Nature. Insomuch that if a Gentile had loved his own Sister, or one whom by Law of Nature (things so remaining) he might not come near, He needed but by due rites be made a Pro­selyte of Jerusalem, and then he might take her to himself, whom before he could not, as now of no kin, (at least, consanguinity or nature hindred not) for by his new birth all was new, by the effect of those rites in Regeneration all former Relation, the closest of all, even that of con­sanguinity ceasing, (Like as upon the same ground theCum con­verius ad fi­dem & in Ch isto rege­neratus priori vitae mortuus sit, potest uxo­rem, cum con­verti non vult, dimittere; nec cum illa habi­tare aut debi­tum reddere tenetur. Sup­plem. tertiae partis. Quaest. 59. art. 4. Re­spondeo. The like is added of Non-Obligation to perform promise made before entring into Religi­on. Liberty of retaining is allowed by the sixth Generall Councel of Constantinople, which implies the contrary thought not unlawful, for I am not at liberty, where I may not as well reject. Canon. 72. fol. 343. in Caranza. More advisedly another Councel, In Baptismo solvuntur crimina, non tamen legitima conjugia. Concil. Triburiense. cap. 39. in Binius. Tom. 3. pa. 1042. Perfecters of Aquinas allow a man to put away his wife, if of a Pagan he become a Christian, as being therewith Rege­nerate by Baptisme alone, for, Generatio unius est corruptio alterius, say they, and by This that the former Pagan is, by being converted, now made new, He is and ought to be reputed Dead to what he was before: Not to speak ofAs by Monachisme; upon which change the last binding Law of the Novels al­lows dissolution of the immortal bond of Matrimony, till death us depart, by Divorce; and that whether to Man or Woman. Quodcunque enim pacti fuerint contrahentes ex morte fieri lucrum, hoc habere oportet eum qui dimittitur ab altero, by this change of state, sive vir sive mulier sit; Eò quòd & iste quantum ad Matrimonium videtur mo­ri, aliud pro alio eligens vitaeiter. Novel. 22. Tit. de Nuptiis, cap. 5. Though the ca­non deny it post carnalem copulam, not otherwise, as the Glosse there hath well noted. Li­centiam. lesser changes, orAs of the Servant of a Jew or Pagan, who being changed by Baptisme, was free of his Master by Justinians dispensation. Cod. de Episcopis & Cler. L. 3. His ita. So of a Manichee or Donatist, if he came over to the Catholike Church. Cod. de Hae­reticis, & Manich. sect. 8. Servos. lesser effects of This) Stories give, when sometimes the Plague was at Athens, it was so malignant and direly mortal, that if any fell sick, he was given over for Dead, if he did chance to recover, his friends welcomed him as from the Regions of Death, Neque seip­sum [Page 23] autem novit neque propinquos, as says theNonnullos etiam simul ac ex morbo convalue­runt, statim om­nium rerum ob­livio pariter ce­pit, ita ut neque seipsos, neque necessarios ag­noscerent, Thucid: Histor: be li Pelopounes. lib: 2. pa: [...]31. Histo­rian, He was neither Himself, nor knew any of his former Friends, even so the Renate Proselyte Hebrew was more then in danger, quite dead in this change, He had shook off all his Relations, and lost his very blood and kindred. Scaliger upon Festus, informs of another custome among those Athenians, that When one of theirs had been so long absent in the War, that he was thought to be dead, and his Friends had from their love celebrated his obse­quies, if by chance after he revived, and came to life, in their opinion, as he had been in himself always, and were desirous to converse among them, They yet suffered him not, prius quàm per sinum laxae stolae mulier eum dimitteret, tanquam denuò renasci videretur, (fol. 128.) and he was called [...], as one that was crept in­to the world of New, and was once again born of a Woman; What was here in fiction or supposition, was thought more Real and in effect by the rites spoken of, sc. that the convert was truly dead to former state and had now a resuscitation to a second true life, being born A­gain of Water, whereto our Saviour added in His, Bap­tisme of Water and a new spirit or life added thereto, sc. of Water and the holy Ghost. And hence, from belief of a true death, it followed by the Hebrew Law, that if the natural and legitimate brother died, leaving a rich inheri­tance which according to course of Law and rules of Suc­cession, should have devolved and come upon his brother, as of next bloud, yet could He not as the Law word is,This proved purposely and at large by Mr. Sel­den, de Successi­on: in bona de­functorum, espe­cially cap: 26. Ita ex Juris pa­trii fictione, riti­bus sacris, sub­nixa, etiam ipsa quibus invicem conjunge bantur Gentiles jura sanguinis naturalia deleri volebant. Or if no heir were born after such translation to Judaisme, the rule was, Quicunque bona ejus prius occupaverit ei cedunt: from Maimonides. succeed, because he was now none of the kindred hee had been of, but Dead and out of the Family, and had lost his inheritable bloud, whereunto the inheritance would have drawn; Neither (for the same Reason) could his brother Gentile succeed him, for that they were now of severalSi Pater se dederit in adoptionem, nec sequatur eum filius, emancipatus ab eo antea factus: quia in alia familia sit Pater, in alia filius, bonorum possessionem contra tabulas non potest filius ejus habere, & ita Julianus rescripsit. Dig: L. Si pater, tit: de bonorum possess. contra tabulas. Families, yea Nations; His going out so [Page 24] took all along that it left nothing with him, not so much as sparks of Native kindred, They were not now of the former house of their legal and earthly parents. And, by the way, some such thing as losse of Kindred, to some pur­poses, even upon a Death supposed by change of state and in religion too, both our Civil Laws have taken notice of as possible, and made use of upon occasion, and Others of the death and following Regeneration. For, among those six sorts of men, who, if they sue, judgement shall be demanded, whether they ought to be heard and answe­red? TheLittleton, in his Tenures, Chap. of Ville­nage, sect. 200. fol. 1 [...]2. whose is the most perfect and absolute Work that ever was written in any human science, says the Learned Coke, never any that understood him, but con­curred in his commendation, &c. We have known many of his cases drawn in question, but never could find any judgement given against them. Preface to Instit. 1. fol. 3. Oracle of our Common Law maketh the fifth to be, lou un home est enter & professe en Religion, where a man is entred and professed in Religion, for if he be, andNot otherwise, as it seems: for if the habite of Probation be onely assumed, not the habite of Profession, this (in reply) but suspends the plea till the Ordinary be written unto. Fleta, lib: 5. cap. 28. sect. 1. & lib: 6. cap: 42. compleat by vow, &c. and then sue any acti­on real or personal, the Tenant or Defendant might shew that such a one was entred into Religion in such a place, into the Order (as of S. Benet, &c.) and this shall bée sufficient to And this was the Law before, in Fleta, lib: 6. cap: 42. Item competit exceptio tenenti ex per­sona petentis peremptoria propter mortem civilem, ut si quis se Religioni contulerit, & postea ad seculum reversus, agere velit, non audietur. —Cum quis se Religioni contulerit, renunciat omnibus quae seculi sunt. Bracton lib: 5: tract: 5. cap: 20. sect: 6. stop the procéeding, by a modest and mannerly way of asking Whether such a one be a fit per­son to be answered? The reason whereof the same with the changed Proselyte before, because says theSee Littletons Tenures, sect: 202. fol: 136. The reason hereof might be from having been De­voted to God. For such were by the Hebrew Law to be slain, or their reall death redeemed by a Civil amortization. Take some light hereabout from Cornelius à Lap: Si verò res per Cherem Deo vota mortis propriè dictae incapax esset, morte morietur, id est, Mori debet morte civili. Sicut Religiosi nostri quasi voto Cherem Deo dicati civiliter mortui dicuntur, quia omni civili nego­tio & haereditate ac dominio rerum temporalium sese abdicarunt, perinde ac si mortui essent. Ita olim in lege tam Levitae quam agri, qui tanquam Cherem Domino erant devoti, civiliter morieban­tur, quia amplius ad profanus usus redire non poterunt, perinde ut jam domus Ecclesiasticorum & Religiosorum amortizantur. Comment. ad Levit. 27. ver. 29. Law, Such a one is dead in Law, Quant une home entra en Religion, & est professe, il est mort en ley, & son fits ou auter cousin maintenant lui inheritera auxi bien si come il fuit mort en fait. His son or kinsman entred as if hee [Page 25] were dead: He might have made a Will, appointed Exe­cutors, and thoseNay, if he had become bound to the Abbot of such a p [...]ace, and professing himself a Monk there, he after by steps came up to the highest of Abbot, He might then have an action for that debt a­gainst his own Executors, Him­self against him­self, or that debt was once his, in his life, by his death now come to another. Cook on Littleton, fo. 133. B. Executors (he living) should have had action for any true debt, (things remaining thus) as if he had been dead; or if he had made none, the Ordinary was to enter as in case of him had clearly and for ever left all here, and was gone to another world. This dead man revived in his Cloister might there both enter upon the actions of a New life, and manage them, sue and be sued, purchase, possesse, buy, sell, in another new created right, as Master of his house,Respondet Dominus Julia­nus, quòd quan­quam servus ad personam suam propriam pro mortuo habea­tur, ex persona tamen Domini fui potest habere jus stipulationis, Gloss. ad Instit. 3. tit: de stipulat. ser­vorum, sect. servus. Trustee for his Colledge, &c. by that well laid and most profitable distinction of Pro­prium in communi, Lording it so over Lordships, and ha­ving nothing yet possesse all things: But for any thing hee had before, it wasIllud quoque decernimus, qui in Monasterium intrare voluerit, antequam Monasterium ingre­diatur, licentiam habere, suis uti, quo voluerit modo, Ingredientem namque simul sequuntur omnino res: Licèt non expressim, qui introduxerit eas, dixerit: & non erit dominus earum ulterius ullo modo: Novel: 5. c. 5. repeated and confirmed in the Preface of Novel. 76. Nemo aliquid proprium habe­at, nullum omnino rem, neque codicem, neque tabulas, neque graphiarium, sed nihil omnino. One of S. Benets Rules. lost and found, gone and come, de­parted from him for ever, with all title to it, and accrew­ed to another: for he had been in saeculo; He was now not secular, His very kindred took as little notice of him, as he of them, Benefit, prejudice, losse or gain was no­thing to either, not to a Couzen, Brother, or Father; for he was now gone off clear, and onely intwisted with his new spiritual relations. There is a twofold death says the Commentator there, A death indeed, and a civil death or death in Law, Mors civilis & Mors naturalis, and ther­fore to oust all scruples, Leases for life are ever made du­ring the natural life, &c. Of which supposition ourI mean Bracton, de legibus Angliae, &c. l. 1. c. 10. sect. 1. l. 4. tract. 6. c. 7. l. 5. tractat. 5. ca. 18. sect. 1. &c. 23. sect. 2. Nay in some cases that which is equivalent to a Regeneration. Est etiam mors civilis in servo in servitute sub potestate Domini constituto. Hujusmodi vero servitus mortalitati compara­tur. Quia fuit aliquando in manu Domini vita ac mors: (sed modo non, propter severitatem domi­norum, sed in Manu domini Regis) Sed cum tales potestatem domini effugerint. quasi resuscitati ad vitam aliquantulum respirant, secundum quod superius perpendi poterit, de Except. cap. 20. fol. 421. And speaking of Outlaws, Item justè utlegatus & ritè non restituitur nisi tantum ad pacem, quod ire possit & redire & pacem habere, & ad actiones restitui non potest, nec ad alia, quia est sicut infans modò genitus, & homo quasi modò genitus, lib: 3. de Corona, cap. 14. sect. 12. And a little af [...]er, Inle­gati vero dici poterunt quasi modò geniti infantes, & novi homines quasi de novo creati; quia in per­sonis eorum, post utlagariam ritè factam, nulla praeterita subsistunt, sed post inlagariam tantùm prae­sentia & sutura succedunt, &c. Sect. 13. fol: 133. B as beginning the world of new. An out-lawry hee styles a civil death, 5. 5. 23. 2. fo. 426. & vide Seldeni Dissertat. ad Flet. cap: 8. sect: 3. Papinian has enough.

This forJus civile est quod quisque po­pulus, vel quae­que civitas sive proprium, divina humanaque causa constituit. De­cret: par. 1. c. 8. Nam quod quis­que populus ipse sibi jus constituit id ipsius propri­um civitatis est; vocaturque Jus Civile. Dig. de Jure & Just: L. 9. Omnes. and the Common Law of England is Jus Civile Anglo­rum. Selden of Tythes: Review of Chap: 7 and Spelman Glos­sar: p: 399. col. 2. Our Civil Law; Now for that is moreJus quidem civile en unaquaque, civitate appellatur: veluti Atheniensium, &c. sed quotiens non addimus no­men cujus sit civitatis, nostrum Jus significamus. Instit. 1. tit. 2. sect. sed jus. commonly so styled, Neither hath been forgotten there, nor sparingly remembred this civil death. For by such title is called,Mors civilis dicitur amissio civitatis & etiam servitus. Gloss: Amissio: in L. 2. Dig: de poenis. the losse of being free of the City, andEt quantum ad jus civile servus pro mortuo habetur: Gloss: ad Institut: 3. tit: de stipulation: servorum. Servitutem mortalitali ferè comparamus. Digest. de reg. Juris. L. 209: plain servitude, andPublicatione quoque distrahi societatem manifestum est; scilicet, si universa bona socii publi­centur. Nam cùm in ejus locum alius succedat, pro mortuo habetur. Instit. 3. de societate sect. 7. confiscation, andDeportatos enim mortuorum loco habendos. Digest: de bonorum possess. cont. tab: L. in con­tra. Sect. 8. & Gloss. ad mortem. Novel. 7. c. 5. Cùm autem is qui ob a [...]iquod maleficium in insu­lam deportatus civitatem amittit, sequitur ut qui eo modo ex numero civium Romanorum tolli­tur, perinde ac si eo mortuo desinant liberi in ejus potestate esse. Institut: 1. tit. 12. & vid. Dig. de liberis & posthum: L. Galius, sect. Et si quid, & Gloss. Eam semper, ad librum de Pace Constan­tiae, in Prefat. He that with us was outed from a place of high trust, as Abbot, Prior, &c. was by that privation so far Capite deminutus, that proceedings in law were as if he were dead, sc. morte civili, but not naturali, as this distinction was then laid hold of. Vide Selden, ad Flet: Dissert: sect. 3. pa. 529. 8. deportation or car­rying away to some desolate Island; Insomuch that it was needful to note, that where death was mentioned without ap­position, it was not meant ofAs in case of Convention for somewhat to be performed after death. Vide Gloss. Nisi mo­rien te, ad Digest: de Verborum obligat. L. 121. sect. 2. Civil but natural death, as possibly some might understand; vvhence the Divine takes notice, with other, of one kind of Death,Mors quadruplex Naturalis, Spiritualis, Aeterna & Civilis, Bucan. Commun. loc. 40. sect. 2. Eorum qui capite diminuti sunt, vel de gradu honoris decidêrunt. Further, a very Regeneration, and under that title, as conse­quent of some change of state, Justinian was not unacquain­ted with. For,Authent. collat. 3: tit. 5. cap. 11. writing to the General of the East a­bout the legitimation of natural children, hee willeth (a­mong other [...]ngs) that, If a man have Such by one of Servile condition, and after set her free and marry her, & jus eis (to her and her children) aureorum annulorum pe­tierit, (sc. of theNatales antiquos & jus ingenuitatis non ordó praestare Decurionum, sed à nobis peti potuit. God de jure aureorum annulorum, L. 1. Emperour himself, who only could [Page 27] grant this honour, the utmost of the Patrons Power was to allow the use of one made ofVid. Cujac. paratit. ad Digest. de Jure aureo­rum annulorum. Iron, in token of some lower Freedome: but if he sue to the Emperour for jus aureorum annulorum) & REGENERATIONIS, & in­ter ingenuos secundum justos reduxerit modos, &c. Then both the children to be to all purposes (as of inheritance, &c.) legitimate, and their mother and them restored in state to such freedome as if they never had been Servile. Which Petition the same Emperour after willing of his Grace to release and grant of course (without special suit) or rather to bee had without granting, hee useth the sameCod. l. 6. tit. 8, L. ult. words, that the manumised should have—Ex ipsa manumissione aureorum annulorum & —Nam, quasi modo sit renatus, id est, iterum natus, in ingenu­itate, ita est in­genuu [...]. Gloss ad loc. regenerationis jus—ut sint quidem liberi & ingenui, the right of the Patrons yet saved, which expression is again of the same grant in theNovel. 78. c. 1. Novel ( [...] vocat Justi­nianus, says Brissonius) and after he boasts the diffusive­nesse of his goodness herein to be comparable with An­tonine and Theodosius, who granted such favours of course, formerly restrained to suit, as he did now again,In eadem cap. 5. aureo­rum annulorum & Regenerationis Jus, to the manumissed by vertue of their manumission; Not to insist on that change of Bene-Nation in the sameCap. 2. —ut non denuò & li­bertate, & bene natione cadant. Novel, and the Patron described as Pater there, a very new Father, by ad­ding somewhat to the first natural Birth in theInterdum & servi nati ex post facto juris inter­ventu Ingenui fi­unt. Ut ecce si libertinus à prin­cipe natalibus suis restitutus fuerit. Illis e­nim utique nata­libus restituitur, in quibus initio omnes homines fuerunt, non in quibus ipse nasci­tur, de natalibus restituendis. L: 2. Pan­dects. It was like to be an occasion of some wonder to meet vvith, inLib. de Bap­tismo, cap. 5. Tertullian, and speaking of things out of the Church) a very Regeneration, and that in Pagan Bap­tisme: but there it is. And if vve consider how great aThe fruits of whose pregnant wit, and ripe judgement are thought to have been many of those Laws after collected and digested by Tribonian into the Pandects: as, Tit. de Leg. Senatusque consult. L. Ideo, qui antiqu. tit. de ac­quirend: & amittend. possess. L: si aliquam tit. de Castr. pecul. L. Miles praecipua: and from whom that samous Senatuscon. ultum Tertyllianum (whereof in Digest. 38. tit. 18.) might borrow name; So Chr. Helvicus in Chronol, ad ann. Chr. 193. and others; But without doubt erroneously. Lawyer he was, vve may cease to think it strange he should make use of a vvord readiest at hand in his own art, or they to borrow a tearm they vvere best acquainted with the use of in their own professed Civil Laws. He or they [Page 28] might derive, (besides what they had as Christian) from similitude in their own Paulus, Modestinus, Ʋlpian, Papi­nian, &c.

Thus a losse of kindred, change of state, by death, civil, and the great remove of a Regeneration, ours and o­ther Laws have left expressed, as in Israel; but these were most but Tropes and Figures; In England, Rome and A­thens, the person remained still the same, or but with ac­cidental alteration, the expression allusive, Onely at Jeru­salem there was no wonder made of a Being sent of new (antedating, in fair resemblance, the present transubstan­tiation of the Church of Rome) and really, essentially, for­mally they held the Proselyte to Be changed. For,

3. To come to the third sign, effect, or rather caus of Re­generation, (the ground of the whole) the very change of the regenerate Man, They did believe him indeed to bee so essentially, and formally, and really changed, A New man to be brought into the world, (without which that variation of kindred before could not have been) At least for the better and chiefer part, which we know by an u­sual trope to be put for the whole. For, (Credit Judaeus apel­la!) It is strange that I shall tell you, yet they believed it, That the Regenerate Convert Proselyte had by vertue of their Ceremonies miraculously working, a new soul char­med down into Him, vvith abolition of the old; Corrup­tion and succeeding-Generation are Nothing else in Nature but induing the same Matter with a New Form, This they believed in this case to be, to induce the very title of most substantial change by Generation.

They went no farther; For the visible body was seen still remaining, As the Papists allow (they Must) the out­ward Form, and cover of Bread and Wine in the consecra­ted host, and in sensible things most men will belive their senses: But, for the Soul, This they believed to be both gone and come; the old one removed, no inquiry whi­ther, a new one succeeding, they saw well from whence; That either annihilated or sent back to its former Mansion and This immediatly procured and sent down from Heaven. [Page 29] Some controversie it may be their Schools have of the pro­creation of those souls there, and no less uncertainty of their Emanation and infusion into their Proselytes with us, and even ridiculous are the fabulous brawls of the Caba­lists, touching their production from I know not what both invisible and incredible generations: But for the main they consent, that such New Souls are Made, Sent, Trans­fused, Infused, and each circumcised and by other due rites initiated Proselyte both attended by one, and from thence readily informed. Now we know that the soul is the preeminent, leading, chief part, by all belief; andEnimvero, quis non animae dabit summam omnem, cujus nomine totius hominis mentio ti­tulata est? Tert, lib. de anima cap. 13. Denomination has been used to derive it self from it accordingly: Nay, some have said it is not the chief, but the whole. Anima cu­jusque is est quisque, as the Philo­sopher, it individuates the species, it isConspicimus homines, id est, animas ip­sas; quid enim sunt homines, nisi animae corpo­ribus alligatae? Arneb: adversus gentes, l. 2. p. 73. the Man; and therefore inSed audi & istud, quia anima nomine ho­minis nuncupatur, scriptum est enim in Genesi, Filii an [...]em. Joseph qui facti sunt ei in Aegypto, animae novem. Omnes autem animae quae egressa sunt ex Jacob, Septuagiuta quinque. Et multo aptius anima vel homo Latinè, vel Graec [...] [...] dicitur; alterum ab humani­tate, alterum ab intuendi habens vivacitate; quae magis animae quam corpori convenire non dubi­um est, Ambros. lib: 6. Hexaem, cap. 8. Tom: 1. pa. 47. Solomon corrects himself having said, he had a soul, I was a towardly child, (saith he) and had a g [...]od spirit. Or rather being good, I came into a fast and incorruptible body. The person came into the flesh, Wisdome 8.19. Scripture Arithmetique, so ma­ny Souls, and So many Men have went for one, and convertible terms of equal latitude both of sense and signification. In the Ship with Paul were two hundred seventy six souls, We doe not believe them without bodies, or but Men, Act. 27.37. Joseph invited his Father, and all his kindred into Aegypt, even seven­ty five souls, their Tabernacles of mortality were not sure left behinde, Acts 7.14. By like numeration the same linage of Jacob passes together, Exod. 1.5. and in parcels, Genes. 46. The sons of Zilpah were sixteen souls, v. 18. the sons of Leah three and thirty souls, ver. 15. the sons of Rachel fourteen souls, ver. 22. the sons of Bilhah seven, ver. 25. All together threescore and ten souls, at ver. 27. in­fallibly So many persons, by interpretation of the same Moses, Deut. 10.22. A saying some have, that Lux est ve­stimentum Dei, the light we see is the shadow and outward [Page 30] covering of what (being Divine) we cannot see; Semblably haveDivini Theologi Cabalistae in Zoar dicunt ho­minem vocari animā, quia corpus est vestitus ho­minis, & vocatur [...] caro & sanguis. Quā opinionem & Plato in pluribus locis sequutus est, dein Porphyrius, Iamblichus, Proclus, Plotinus, Cicero ac Macrobius, & Lactantius: Avicennae quoque is Ego vocatur, id est, persona perfecta: & Averröes affirmat constituere to­tam rei essentiam; ita ut anima hominis sit to­tus homo, corpus non pars, sed instrumen­tum quo anima utitur: Contra Aristotelem, Augustinum, ac Damascenum, qui corpus pu­tant esse partem essentialem hominis, quia ejus sit materia. Manasseh ben Israel, in Concilia­tore. Quaest. 19. in. Genes. pa: 27. o­thers thought that Corpus est vesti­mentum animae, the Body nothing else save the outside or cloathing of the soul, wherein it is apparelled to be discernable by us theErrat enim quisquis hominem carne me­titur. Nam corpusculum hoc, quo induti su­mus, hominis receptaculum est. Nam ipse ho­mo neque tangi, neque aspici, neque compre­hendi potest, quia latet intra hoc, quod vide­tur. Coel: Lactant: lib: de opificio Dei cap. 20. Nec mirandum est quod Deum non videant (I­dololatrae.) Cum ipsi ne hominem quidem vide­ant, quem videre se credunt. Hoc enim quod oculis subjectum est, non homo, sed hominis receptaculum est, cujus qualitas & figura non ex lineamentis vasculi, quo continetur, sed ex factis & moribus pervidetur. Id: lib: 2. de Orig. Err [...]ris, cap. 3. Hence the stubborn Phi­losopher to one that beat him, Tundis vascu­lum Anaxarchi non Anaxarchum, Thou woun­dest the case, t [...]uchest not the Man. case or cover; and as these accessory arti­ficial garments are to our naturall bodies, so that natural habite to pre­serve and cherish the soul. The in­strument, or as it were working hand thereof, to perform operati­ons abroad, so others: Who though they are crossed by Aristotle and his Followers, making the Bo­dy a constituting part, yet for number are there enough in the o­ther scale to sway it this way, and it passes that the body is appurtenant, the soul the essence and perfection of humanity. If then the soul be granted change as before (so much the more eminent and denomina­ting part) an easie and gentle trope will soon traduce and bring along the Whole, the man is not but changed: Nay, if that soul be it self the Whole, what need any trope at all? The man is compleatly newborn by it, there needs but this infusion or transformation made good, and by it the Man is New made compleatly.

In short, as a Wolf made a Sheep, a Lion, a Lamb, a Vulture a Dove, or an Earthly man made Heavenly, so e­very Native Israelite looked upon the Proselyte Gentile co­ming over to him, and the inspiration of a new soul might well effect this Regeneration, which was not without the compass of their firm belief.

And thus has the lamp of the Sanctuary inlightned the things of the Sanctuary, Ierusalem discovered its own af­fairs; [Page 31] Whence probably may we know the things of In­dia, but from India? Or what but a Star from the East bring certain intelligence of the wonderful things there done and believed? The Subject chosen and here spoken of by our Saviour, had many as it were underpillars, upon which the knowledge thereof was to be raised and is to be held forth, wee have lighted upon some in their proper Seoene, and among the people spoken to, by which best guess may be made of what was spoken to them. As that such a New birth was, what it was; how it vvas: of Pro­selytes, the sorts of them, the rites of making them, the effect of those Rites, and at top of all, a REGENERA­TION as the knot in which they met, the center at which they aime and do prove the thing effectually, clearly.

All this known in the Scripture times; as the Lectures of the Schools, and practice of the Synagogue: which may give some reason why our Saviour (meek and gentle though he were, a bruised reed, should have had from Him no further violence) did yet lay so heavy an increpation as after at ver. 10. upon his Rabbi Pupil Nicodemus, Art thou (saith he) a Master in Israel, and yet knowest not these things? Each word hath its weight. An Israelite, a peo­ple of knowledge! A teacher there, and yet not taught! A Master, as 'twere of higher Form, and yet knowest not, art utterly ignorant! Of These things, which all do or may know! Thou that teachest another, Many are in high place and of re­nown, but myste­ries are revealed to the meek. Ecclus. 3.19: Solet hoc eveni­re personatis Ecclesiae pastori­bus, ut si nemo illos arguat ipsi inscitiam suam ineptissimis quae­stionibus & pro­positionibus pub­licè prodant, Gualt: Homil: 7. in Joan. 1. teachest thou not thy self? Thou that leadest, art thou blind? Can any thing excuse thy Doctoural ignorance, thy graduated in­sufficiency? Art thou Israels Teacher, and yet understan­dest not what is taught thee? But it is no unusual thing for ambitious men to over-leap desert; seeking Rabbinical both titles and preferments, vvithout ever looking after those qualifications and sufficiencies may deserve those titles, or striving to furnish themselves with those noble and rich in­dowments of Learning, worth and goodness, can alone become their dignities, or make the wearing of their pre­ferments well beseem them. Rabbi-Ruler Nicodemus is [Page 32] here so dark that he sees not things near at hand, a guide so blind he cannot follow in his apprehension what is plain­ly taught him, a Master scarce a Scholar, nay, not a Scho­lar, yet a Teacher; to make way for desert of severe re­proof, and the weight of as much indignation and shame as could be laid on from exprobration of an undeserved title, Art Thou! a Master! in Israel! and yet knowest not things commonly and vulgarly known!

And this a better way (as to me it seemeth) of speak­ing out indignation, and bringing home reproof, sharp­ning it that it might bite (as very likely by his way of ex­pression, our Saviour meant) with quickest severity, then of others who go their several ways, and yet can hardly piece out things to any likely consequence, or words so fitting Grammatical coherence; Especially for what next follows, I speak what I know, (thou also mightest) and testifie what I have seen: (every day gives instance:) and If I have spoken unto you of these lower earthly things at hand, and ye credit not, How would ye if I should mount up aloft to invisible? But of these and some o­ther hereafter. Conclude in present, by giving due praise and honour unto our most glorious and most gra­cious Lord God, by whose gracious favour it is that we have leave to meet in these Courts of his Hous, to learn the mysteries of his Counsel and Will, who blesse the op­portunities to us, &c.

Glory be to God on high: and on Earth Peace. AMEN.

SERM. II.

JOHN 3.3.

REGENERATION is a subject of much in­quiry and great discourse in Christian Schools, and so not unworthy that con­sideration we formerly had of it from this Text: The foundation or ground-work was then laid, and superstruction promi­sed, which promise we come now to perform, if the Lord permit. Those Foundations were indeed somewhat large, (nor need we now lay them open to second review) but they vvere both made and liked so, because it was judged they might serve not only for the purposes they were then alledged for, in the opening of this Text, but farther to be as grounds for raising sundry conjectures tending to the resolving of divers doubts and information of sundry other things in Christian Religion, not hitherto so well taught or clearly and fully resolved of (especially about the most holy Sacrament of our Christian Baptisme) as these things may (by Gods blessing) give ground for. I shall reduce the most to sundry Quaere's touching that Sacra­ment: as, 1. Its Original. 2. Some assistants used. 3. The comparison it hath with Iohns Baptism. 4. The Corrival­ship, Circumcision did once maintain with it: And some o­ther things which will fall in by the way. But I shall keep chiefly to these, and in order: He that is our God and Fa­ther, and the Lord Iesus Christ direct my way to you.

CHAP. VI.

AND as to the first;Quaere 1. Of Baptisme from the He­brews. our Saviour by all consents in­stituted two Sacraments, that is, Baptisme, and the [Page 34] Supper of the Lord; By one we are brought unto Christ, by the other kept to him (declaratorily;) By one we live, by the other we are kept alive: Now as touching the latter probable conjectures have been already made of its Origi­nal and how our Saviour took it up, Not instituting and framing it whole a new, but raising it out of andSee God­wins Antiq. Heb. l: 3. c. 2. out of P. Fagius in prae­cept. Heb. Bishop Lakes Sermon on Exod. 1 [...].16. And many others say the same graf­fing it (as 'twere) upon the stock of another rite of his Na­tion in use and practise long before; That use or custome was of a Grace cup (Cos hillel, or poculum lau­dis: Christian Synag. l: 1. c. 6. sect: 3. parag. 4. diat. 4 Poculum benedictionis they called it) usually served in after meat, which our Saviour (it ap­pears out of the holy Story) refused not toSee Purchase Pilg [...]im. l. 2. cap. c. p. 121. out of Scaliger. partake of, and out of This made, or consecrated it Into his Sa­crament of the remembrance of his Death, (whence 'tis called Poculum benedictionis, 1 Cor. 10.16. even after con­secration, by the old secular name it had before it came to be Religious:) Now sith our Saviour (very likely) did derive and compose his confirming and strengthning Sacra­ment (to declare Christian Communion) out of the bones and as it were praexistent materials of what was (Hebrew at least, though not Religious) in use before, What hin­ders but that his beginning or initiating Sacrament (where­by we enter Christian Communion) may intitle it self to a like Original and derivation, And, by adding to that Baptismall washing was in use for helping to initiate He­brew Proselytes before, the grace of the holy Ghost, He might So make that Baptism for remission of sins, and ma­triculation into his Church, which, if for its proper work and end it hath Regeneration thitherward, That (as you have heard before) was no lesse believed to be the effect (as from a partial cause) of former Proselyte Baptisme.

I do not say These things were so, for now I speak on­ly conjecturally, and by way of probleme, (This speak I, not the Lord) Nor doth the supposition they were so, imply or infer Christs new-born Baptisme to be the same with that in use before, that is, the same and no more. But, the same, And more, what hinders but it may be? the Same heightned to a farther degree of Honour and Power, sc. by Christs consecration? Hebrew Baptism (in a word) [Page 35] Now by ChristWe may rightly tearm Christ his Baptisme (in Jordan) Baptisma Baptismatis, the Christe­ning of Baptisme, says Doctor Featly, in his Spiritual Bethesda, pag. 208. Christened? and that with as great likelihood as a Complement may be made a Di­vine mystery, a grace Cup raised to an holy Sacrament, and that My­stery, that Sacrament advanced yet higher, and to the very highest of honour and some veneration, sancti­fied and set upon our holy Commu­nion Table. Nay, for this reason I take it more likely, because That was before but a meerI speak this according to what is abroad and most commonly received. R. C (or M. Rich: Cudworth) of Cambridge, hath not long since ta­ken very commendable, and successeful pains in a new Discovery, and to prove this Sacrament religious by parentage; to wit, that it was foun­ded in a Sacrificial Feast, (A conceit altoge­ther New, and wholly different from all be­fore.) If his well compacted reasons will hold water, as we use to say, and be so close wrought and well laid that they will stand out, and endure the touch of time (as they are very like, foun­dations he has fair, specious and large, and of much greater depth then most opinions, set aside Tradition, and received) they then prove that we feast in our Communion, from the like par­ticipation of what was sacrificed, left, and eaten by the people of Israel, and whereby they maintained (as some Gentiles also) a Communion both among themselvs and with their God: To eat together what was sacrificed to Him did u­nite and combine them as well among themselvs as with Him, and so we by Eating and drinking communicate with our God and with one another. The opinion I leave to it self; the disquisition is howsoever of much both sagacity, ingenuity, pleasure and use. May it promise of the Au­thour what was wont to be sung in the Temple every Sabbath, The righteous shall flourish like a Palm, and spread like a Cedar: Such as he planted in Gods house, shall flourish in his Courts, and bring forth MORE fruit in their Age, Psa. 92. The most and generally retain those grounds I go upon. civil busi­ness, and so needed a farther tran­slation even of the whole kind, (a very Metamorphosis) to make it re­ligious, whereas Here needed no such thing; no transire à genere ad genus, or to raise from prophane to holy, because all was sub eodem gene­re under the same head of Religious before: A Rite of Religion? yea, a rite of Regeneration, yea, a Rite of Baptismal Regeneration, and in some sense (believed) Sacramental too; to wit, as far forth as any thing among Gods own people Then was Such, As questionless some things were, Circumcision for instance, and this as far forth as Circumcision, being that in Sacramental work did bear a joint half part with it.

Neither doth this derogate from the honour of this Sa­crament (in mine opinion) but rather adde thereto, nor detract from it but rather give esteem, Nor make it infa­mous as Iewish, if the pedigree should settle and hold thence, but rather adde to its commends, as coming from the stock of Abraham, the house of Israel: Other things boast of that extraction, the other Sacrament, for instance, glories of an Hebrew Original, this is left Christian enough [Page 36] that even this determination leaves it in the highest, safest way Christian, byIf any shall object that I seem to make the blessed Sacrament of our Lords body and blood, a Jewish ceremony, sc. by deriving it from their Cup of blessing, I answer, No: For as a kinde of ini­tiatory purification was used by the Jews, &c. to make Proselytes, yet it was no more a Sacrament to them then Circumcision was to the Turks and Saracens; Thus neither was the breaking of the bread Sacra­mental to the Jew; but then it became a Sacra­ment, when Christ said of it, This is my Body, &c. Godwins Heb. Antiqu: l. 3. c. 7. Christ the Authour, Neither is it any Sacra­ment to Us but by His Divine ap­pointment, HIS allowed, bestow­ed, instituting, constituting grace creating, advancing, setting it where it is, and whatever it can in Religi­on and to Us, That only so to do erecting and enabling it. This translates and metamorphoses the whole kind, and to advantage of honour and preferment enough, though it come of Iewish parents, that Jesus appointed it who was the son of Mary, and by us believed the Son of God; whose work and authority could doe itHerein agree both Romanists and Calvinists. Siquis dixerit Sacramenta novae legis non esse omnia à Jesu Christo Domino nostra instituta A­nathema sit: Concil. Tridentin. Sess. 7. cap. 1: Au­thorem Sacramentorum esse solum Christum, Vid. Bellarmin. de sacram: in genere, lib. 1. c. 23. An institutio sacramentorum sit solùm à Deo, Vid: Aquin. part. 3. Quaest 64. artic 2. Illud quoque scire nos oportet, quod non ecclesia, sed ipso Domino instituente sacramentis utimur. Lan­celot. Institut: Jur. Canon. lib: 2. tit. 3. The Author and Institutor of all Sacraments is not any man, but God alone. Confess. Helvet. poster. cap. 19. To acknowledge Christs Institution the ground of bo [...]h sacraments, I suppose no Christian man will refuse, Hooke. Eccles. Polit. lib. 5: sect. 51. pag. 321. They derive their value from thence. Raynolds Medit. on the Lords Supper, chap. 14. Quis est Author Sacramentorum? Solus Deus. Bucan. commun. loc. 47. sect. 3. Quis Author sive causa instituens Baptismi? Deus Pater, Filius, & Sp. Sanctus. Id. loc: 46. sect: 4. Sacramenta sunt Ceremoniae à Deo mandatae populo ipsius, Pisca­tor: loc. 23. Aphor. 1. Baptismus est ceremonia à filio Dei instituta, &c. Ʋrsin. explic. Catechet. Quaest. 69. sect. 1. and see Quaest. 66. sect. 1. Ergo auctor sacramentorum quis est nisi Dominus Jesus? de coelo ista Sacramenta venerunt. Am­bros. de Sacrament. lib. 4. cap. 4. For the whole four, (that are or have been, or have been reputed) See their institution in so many distinct places of Scripture. Gen: 17. Exod. 19. Matth. 28. Mark 14. and together, 1 Cor. 41. These (some of them) no man did or can institute but the Lord and God himself Christ Jesus. Confess. Bohem. ca: 11. Christus igi­tur Baptismi Solus est Author. P. Ram. de Relig. Christiana, l. 4. c. 5. alone by the efficacious power of his word even regenerating Baptisme, and of an old, decayed Dead Ceremo­ny raising and reviving it to a Sa­crament of Life. The whole in­graffed Church of Gentilisme, as now it stands, was at first set upon or rather set into that stock whereon Iudaisme formerly flourished, Rom. 11. to bring forth fruit unto God, and may not rather the lesse then little branch of a Rite or Ce­remony.

In which derivation of some things from ancient time, rather then framing or creating all anew seems done somewhat like that whichVid. Bed. Hist. Ecclesiast. Anglorum, l. 1. c 30. Gregory the great after counselled here in England, at first Plantation of the Gospel, Baptisme with other Mysteries; Who wil­led [Page 37] the Pagan Temples not to be destroyed, if fair, but converted, and the feasts not to be abolished but transfer­red; The former, that people might be gently led along, and by their wils, to worship where they had used, & ve­rum Deum cognoscens & adorans, ad loca quae consuevit fa­miliariûs concurrat, as his Order hath; The other, that by like reason men may be brought on by degrees, ascend­ing by stairs what they could not at once, and by retain­ing somewhat of that theyLibet autem hoc loco vete­rum patrum ad, mirari prudenti­am, qui principio nascentis religi­onis, cum Genti­les patrios ritus retinendi nimio plus amantes e­rant, ut facilius eos ab inanibus umbris & ranci­da superstitione, ad novam legem veritatis & gra­tiae transferrent, praeter alios ritus hunc etiam can­didi Calcei reti­nuerunt. Joseph. Vicecomes, de an­tiqu. Baptismi ritibus, l. 5. c. 18. loved and had, they might the more easily, willingly, smoothly and peaceably, but ful as surely be brought on to whatQui sincera intentione extraneos à Christiana Religione ad fidem cupiunt rectam perducere blandimentis non asperitatibus debent studere, Ne quorum mentem reddita ad planum Ratio pote­rat revocare, pellat procul adversitas. Nam quicunque aliter agunt & eos sub hoc velamine à con­sueta ritus sui volunt cultura suspendere, suas illi magis quam Dei causas probantur attendere, Gre­gor. Epistol. l 11. Ep. 15. ad Episcop. Neopolitanum. And therefore he blames the restraint there laid up­on the Jews, from keeping their Feasts. Decret. 1. Dist 45. c. 3: they had not. For, (let rigid men opine what they will, their Opinion will never have work in order to the change of Things) Du­ris mentibus (and very sure, such churlish and untracta­ble dispositions all savage, untaught, barbarous, whether Nations or unconverted Men have) simul omnia abscinde­re impossibile esse non dubium est; quia is qui summum lo­cum ascendere nititur gradibus vel passibus non autem salti­bus elevatur, (as the Learned Historian goes on to give the reason with the fact) and he instances inAc similem plane gubernationis DEI Opt. Max. modum observare licet in rebus multis in lege nostra, quia non licèt subito & momento quasi transire à contrario uno ad alterum; & per conse­quens, secundum Naturam hominis fieri non potest, ut momento relinquat id, cui longo temporis spatio est assuetus. Cùm itaque misit DEUS Mosem Doctorem nostrum p.m. ut nos faceret Regale sacerdotium, Gentem sanctam primo in cognitione DEI Opt. Max. sicut dicitur; Ostensum est tibi ut scires, &c. Item Scito ergo hodie, & revocato ad cor tuum, &c. Deut. 4.85. & 39. Deinde in cultu DEI, sicut dicitur; & ad colendum cum toto corde vestro, &c. Item, & servietis Domino DEO vestro, &c. Deut: 11.13. &c. Et usitata tum in mundo consuetudo erat, cui omnes assueti, & cultus universalis, in quo omnes erant educati, ut variae animalium species in Templis illis, in quibus Imagines illae collocabantur, offerrentur, coram illis procumberetur, & adoleretur; certi insuper quidam essent cultores sequestrati quasi ad cultum illum destinati, qui in Templis illis in honorem Solis, Lunae, reliquarumque stellarum extructis; exercebatur, sicuti ostendimus: ideò noluit sa­pientia & providentia DEI, quae in omnibus ejus creaturis lucet, mandare, ut cultus illi omnes de­relinquantur aut aboleantur. Hujus enim rei cor humanum, quod perpetuò ad id inclinat, cui & assue­tum, naturaliter non fuisset capax; ac proptereà perinde fuisset, acsi hoc nostro tempore Propheta aliquis veniret, qui nos ad cultum DEI vocare vesset, ac diceret; DEUS praecipit vobis, ne ore­tis, ne jejunetis, ne quaeratis salutem ejus in d [...] sanguitia, sed ut cultus vester totus consistat in co­gitatione, non in opere. Propter hanc itaque causam retinuit DEUS adhuc cultus, eosque à rebus, creatus & phantasmatis, quae nullam veritatem habent, ad Nomen suum venerandum transtulit & praecepit nobis, ut illas exhibeamus Ipsi. Thence Temples, Altars, Sacrifices, Incense, Priests by the Law. Consilium autem in hac divina sapientia fuit, ut memoria Idololatriae deleatur, & fun­damentum illud magnum de Existentia & Unitate DEI in gente nostra confirmetur, nec tamen animi Hominum propter cultuum illorum abolitionem, quibus assueti erant, obstupescerent, vel alios cultus scirent. Moses Maiemonid. in More Nevoch. lib. 3. cap. 32. de praeceptorum ra ione, pag 432. As the people were not brought through the Philistims countrey, which was the nearer way, but through the Desart, which was the better way, as there it follows, Vide Aquin: secunda secundae, Quaest. 10. Artic: 11. Ideoque omnipotens & patiens creator, (says Walaf [...]idus Strabo, on the same argument, of Al­tars and Temples from the Heathen) factu [...]ae suae volens undecunque consulere, (quia propter fragi­litatem omnes con uetudines pariter tolli non posse sciebat) permisit & jussit quaedam sibi obedien­ter à piis exhiberi, quae daemonibus damnabiliter ab impiis solvebantur, as Temples and Sacrifi­ces. And other worshippers as forwardly and tractably borrowed mutually of them, de rebus Ec­clesiast c. cap. 2. JEHOVA [Page 38] (Our great LORD GOD of Israel) who took those very rites (he says) and sacrifices he found in Egypt, and sanctified them, being superstitious before, for his own peoples service, in his own Land, by his own Law, to bee used in the most holy Service of Himself, and in his own city & temple of Ierusalem. Their former prophaneness held no antipathy to keep out his more powerful sanctification, rush­ing in by force, nor their ill use or worse Masters could lay any bar against his claim or possibility of acceptance of what he chose, but that he might have, retain, use and be worshipped by that, which, before he laid his holy hand up­on it, had been prophaned to the worst even Aegyptian Idolatry. The like might Christ doe after in this matter of Baptisme, sooner giving form then making matter, rather taking what he found for his purpose at his own Ierusalem, then fetching from Arabia, or elsewhere, and placing it there, or Creating it whole anew; Nor was it so much as a Feast or a Temple, a little farther to consecrate a religi­ous rite, for Him was Master of all Religion and had power so to doe.

And we may be the better perswaded of this derivation (rather then Creation, which usually passes) if we consider the similitude and resemblance is between these we here take liberty to call the Primitive and Derivative, Original and Abstract; or the same in one Religion, and the same in a­nother, for the same end; for there was the same Name common to both, the same Rite used in both, the same End proposed of both, and the like Ministration as to the Man­ner, and Persons admitted or admittable. The Name was, [Page 39] (and is) Baptisme; the Rite, Washing or Purification by water; the End, a New Birth, to be thereby Born again or admitted to a new Religion, (questioned once whether Circumcision, the old Partner should not be also retained a­mong Christians for the same purpose? Acts 1 [...].) and for the ministration both as to the Manner and the Persons, Things may not be thought they could have been more like, then (as 'tis described by them) these were, the old Baptism in days of old, and our New at first, as it was when it was fresh and New. For, (to forbear inlarging on the first things, as touched at before, and confine to the last) as to the Manner of old Baptisme, this we make no doubt to affirm it was it self, that is, Baptisme; theSo M. Pur­chase in his Pilgrim. l. 2. c. 2 out of Pet. Ricius de coe­lesti Agricult. l. 3. & ad prae­cept. 113. whole bo­dy covered in water, and someFoemina in aquis collo­cabatur collo tenus à foemi­nis, Selden, p. 146. placed in it up to the chin.Has cister­nas adeò & profundas & aqua plenas esse oportet, ut cum descenderint in eas aqua ad collum eorum pertingat.— Quid multis? Illis circa corpus universum nè tantum quidem relinquere licet inde­tectum, quantum pilus aut filum patescat. Synag. Judaic. cap. 2. pa. 98, 99. And thereof another not lesse learned: Matronae Judaeorum, post puerperium, prius­quam viris se conjungunt, in cisternis, fontibus & lavibus [...], ac totas ita sese, ut ne ullam quidem partem corporis immundam aut immunem aquae habeant, immergere consueverunt. Dan. Heinsius, in Aristarch. Sacro, pa. 743. Buxtorftus gives us the like of another washing, for puri­fication of women post puerperium, which was so exact, a Ring must not be left on the finger, a bracelet on the arm, or chain on the neck, &c. If the Lavatory had any mud at the bottome or other filth, a fair clean stone must be chosen to tread upon, that water might misse no part at all; tandem aliquando coguntur subtus aquas se totas emergere, &c. And the like exactness was (as I believe, in all, so) sure in this in­itiatory purification. Corpus etiam integrum abluendum (saith ourSelden, pa. 144. Yet not necessarily was the party naked, for so waters passed through the clothes, nec inter eas & cutem corporis quid obstruens Baptismum intercedat, it was enough. But that necessary: Id in omnigenis Baptismis accuratiùs observandum volunt, nè aliter ipse Baptismi actus indè irritus redderetur. Id de Synedriis Ebraeorum an­tiqu. l. 1. c. 3. pa. 26. Nay, if but the tip of the finger remained dry, all the rest was unprofitable. The capacity of the vessel or place wherein, was not to be so little as of 450 Gallons. Id. ib. Authour, from Maiemonides) & cavendum ne corporis particulae ulli maneret quid quod ejusdem ablutio­nem impediret, Nothing must interpose to hinder the water from any part, as scurf, scab, spittle, gore-bloud, loose skin, [Page 40] &c. or if it did, all was as good as nothing. Now view the Christian side. The wordMatth. 3.11. Chap: 28, 19. Mark 1, 9. Chap: 16.16. Luke 3.21. Chap: 7.30. Jo: 3.22, 23. Chap: 4.1, 2. & Chap: 10.40. Acts 1.5. Cha: 2.38:41. Chap: 8:12, 13. &c Chap. 9.18. Rom: 6.3. 1 Cor. 1.13, 14, 15, 16. Gal. 3.27, &c. Dominus N. ordinavit (Baptismum) fieri per immersionem in aquam, & non per aspersionem, ut ex Matth. 28. ubi verbum Baptizantes in nomen Patris, &c. in textu Graeco idem est ac immergentes ac infun­dentes in aquam, Joan. Baptista Casalius de veter. Christianorum ritibus, cap. 19. pa. 141. used by Christ, his Apostles the Pharisees, All in the New Testament was, both the same was used when all this was required, and of the same impor [...] to BAPTIZE and BAPTISME, signifyingNeque enim de manuum vel pedum lotione, aut alterius cujusque membri sed de totius corporis immersione, scimus [...] adhiberi, Montacut. Apparat. 7. Sect. 25. For proof consult the Dictionaries, [...]: mergo, immergo: item, tingo: [...], immergo, abluo, baptizo, Pasor. Lexic. vocab. Novi Testam. pa. 131. [...], mergo, immergo, tingo, intingo, madefacio, lavo. Suidas, [...], mergo seu immergo: item submergo, seu obruo aqua, Scapul. Lexic. But above all, Stephanus; [...], mergo, immergo, &c. item tingo, (quod fit immergendo) inficere, imbuere. [...], tinctus, infectus, sc. colore aliquo: [...], bis tinctus, ut [...]. qua utitur & Plinius li. 9. cap. 3. [...], mergo seu immergo: (ut quae tingen­di aut abluendi gratia aquae immergimus.) Item mergo, id est, submergo, obruo aqua: & [...], id est, mergor, submergor. Ut autem Latini aliquem aqua obrutum dicunt, significantes submersum; itidemque vino obrutum, pro benè ap­potum & ad aebrietatem usque, nec non obrutum aliquem negotiis, praeterea aere a­lieno; sic & Graecos suo [...] metaphoricè usos esse comperio, [...] & [...]: mersio, lotio, ablutio, id est, ipse mergendi, item lavandi seu abluendi actu [...]. Stephanus Lexic. Tom. 1. The Native signification of the word is to dip into water, or plunge under water, says M. Leigh in Critic: Sac: p. 111. Or look abroad. That so much water as may denominate ablution, is necessary for Baptisme, and that the word requires it, is proved at large by Gregor: de Valenc. Tom: 4. Disput: 4. quaest: 1. punct: 2. Mersatio­ne autem non perfusione agi solitum hunc ritum indicat & vocis proprietas, & loca ad eum ritum delecta, Jo: 3. Acts 3. & allusiones multae Apostolorum (true enough) quae ad aspersionem referri non possunt, Rom. 6.3, 4. Col. 2.12. says Grotius ad Evan. Matth. 3.6. [...] is intingor, as Apoc. 19.13. It is taken from the Dyers Vate, and is a dying or giving a fresh colour, and not a bare washing onely, whence our baptisme, Leigh Critic. Sac. Plus est hoc loco (Mar. 7.4.) [...] quam [...]: quod illud vi­deatur de corpore universo, istud de man [...]bus duntaxat intelligendum: even granted by Beza in Annot. Major. ad Mar. 7.4. And therefore among the Hebrews, the great wa­shers (confiding in water) had their name from hence of Hemero-baptists. Among them were their [...] & [...], that is for washing their hands, but These immerge­bant aquis, & ita totum corpus, à vertice ad talos inundabant. Montacut Apparat. 7. sect. 78. VVhen Peters feet were washed (observed by the Learned Casaubon) and men­tion added of his hands and his head, as distinct parts, another word was used, of [...], Joan 13.5, 6, 8, 9, &c. but the rite of Baptisme was, ut in aquas immergerentur: Not: in Mat. 3.6. As when holy things are laid on the table, [...]. Liturg, S. Petri. pa. 14. set forth by Lindanus: the like whereto is in St. Chrisostomes Directory (so he stiles it) in Biblioth. pat. Gr. Lat. tom. 2. pa. 60. If this were not enough Scaliger has more. Hic fuit baptizandi ritus, ut in aquas immergerentur: quod vel ipsa vox [...] declarat satis: quae ut non signi­ficat [...], quod est fundum petere, ita profecto non est [...]: Differunt au­tem haec tria, [...]. Unde intelligimus, non esse abs re quod jampridem nonnulli disputarunt, de toto corpore immergendo in ceremonia Baptis­mi: Vocem enim [...] urgebant. Sed horum sententia meritò est jampridem ex­plosa: quum non in eo posita sit mysterii hujus vis & [...]. Scaliger: not: in Mat. 3.6. The interpretations, or insinuations of the Civil Law may be very authentick this way. There: — Baphei, aliâs, Baphees, id est tinctores pannorum. [...] enim Graece, Latinè tingere. Inde Bapheus, Baphees; id est, tinctor & lavator, ut hic & infr. gloss. ad Cod. 11. tit. 7. de murilegulis. L. 2. Baphii, Baphia, taberna est tincto­ria, [...]. Vel Baphia (ait Brissonius) sunt officinae infectorum, qui vestibus purpu­ra & cocco tingendis operam dabant. — Hujusmodi multa Baphia & in orientis & occidentis partibus Imperatores habebant, quae sub dispositione comitum sacrarum largitionum in notitia imperii Romani ponuntur. Jo. Calvin; Lexic. Jurid. pa. 110. I­tem, Baptisma vel Baptismus, graece [...], latinè immersio. ibid. & paulo post, Baptisterium: Lavacrum, &c. Coeterum bapto verbum Graecum, tingo significat. Ba­phia, loca ubi lanae tinguntur. Servius appellat Dibaphum, purpura bis tincta, &c. in vocab. baptisterium. Item: Serico baptae, serici tinctores. [...] enim significat tin­go: inde baptae apud Juvenalem dicti, quod faciem fuco illinêrunt. — Cujus (se­rici) tinctores Baphii: Id. in vocab. serico baptae pa. 443. Erant in republica Rom. per provincias imperii certa loca destinata pannis tingendis, ubi Baphia erant, Id est officinae tinctorum, & illis procuratores praepositi, veluti procurator Baphii Tarenti­ni, Calabriae: procurator Baphii Salonitani, Dalmatiae: procurator Baphii Cissensis, Venetiae & Histriae, procurator Baphii Syracusani, Siciliae, &c. In libro qui Notitia pro­vinciarum utriusque imperii in scribitur. P. Gregor. Tholosan. Syntagm. Juris universi: lib. 18. cap. 26. sec. 5. [...]. having on a vesture dipt in blood. Apoc. 19. Nor is all this against that form, or but with it and for it, according to order whereof most English Disciples have been admitted to place in that School, where now they studie, profess, and act Christians. The rubrick for publick baptisme in the Liturgy di­rected thus: The Minister shall take the child in his hands and ask the name; and na­ming the child shal dip it in the water, so it be discreetly and warily done, saying [N. I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost] And only if the child be weak it shall suffice to powre water upon it saying the foresaid words. The rubrick for privat baptisme, the lawfull Minister shall dip it in water, or powre water upon it saying these words, [N. I baptize thee, &c. after which as supposing so done, (there was a fault of disobedience to powers if it were not so done) the question is asked in the authorized Catechisme of that book, What is the outward visible signe or form in Baptisme? It was taught to be answered; [Water, wherein the person baptized is dipped or sprinkled with it] In the name of the father, and of the son and of the holy ghost. Mersion or Ablution; and this whether we regard institution, execu­tion, order, performance, Rule or practise, whether in Go­spel or Epistle. Christ the best instance and safest pattern, [Page 41] [Page 42] patern, sanctified this Ordinance by is Example in theScien­dum autem primo simpliciter in fluviis, vel fontibus baptizatos credentes; ipse enim Dominus noster J. Chr. ut in nobis idem consecraret lavacrum, in Jor­dane baptizatus est à Johanne; & sicut alibi legitur, Erat Joannes baptizans in Aenon juxta Salim quia a­qua multa erant ibi: Et Philippus Evangelista bapti­zavit Eunuchum in fonte quem reperit in via. Wa­lafrid: Strabo de rebus ecclesiastic. cap. 26. Tre­muit ille (Joannes) Quî mirum! quid (inquam) mirum, si tremit homo, nec audet attingere sanctum Dei verticem, caput adorandum angelis, reveren­dum potestatibus, tremendum principatibus. Ber­nard. Serm. 1. in Epiphan.—Tanta sese benignis­simus dignatione subjecit (Christus) ut illud sa­cratissimum caput, tremendum potestatibus, Ange­lis venerandum ad suscipiendum Baptismum servuli sui manibus inclinaret. Maxim. Taurinensis. Homil. hyemal. 8. in fest. Epiphan. Horret Joannes, & acclive sibi esse sacrum Christi. caput non patitur. Cyprian: de Baptismo Christi. River of Jordan, the known greatest of all the Countrey; whether all theJohannes Baptista & Apostoli conveniebant ad ripam Jordanis, volentes, baptizare, quos facie­bant descendere, & totum corpus in flumen immer­gere. Joan. Bapt. Casalius. de veteribus Christiano­rum ritibus. pa. 141. They were baptized, that is, plunged in water, for a sacred signe. J. Deodate in his Annotat. on Matth. 3.6. people came from Jerusalem, Judea, and all the coasts round about, who were Bap­tized in Jordan like­wise confessing their sins. Save once in Aenon, near unto Sabim, and that because Intellige non rivos multos, sed simpliciter a­quae copiam: tantam scilicet in qua facilè corpus hu­manum mersaretur, quo tum more Baptismus pera­gebatur. H. Grot. in annotat. ad loc. much water there, John else did not usually Baptize any where; and, if Expositors be not mis­taken,Bethabara: John 1.28. Which is as much as domus transitus. Videtur nomen inditum ex histo­ria quae est Judic. 3.16, 17. ubi vox Trajectus bis apparet. Grot. ad loc. That this was the place, and the mystery thereof, sc. that as the waters gave way here to Jesus Nave to let him into Canaan, so here the heavens should open into which Jesus of Nazareth and his followers were to enter, See Dr. Jackson, in Johns Answer to Christs Question: part. 2. memb. 2. se. 65. There remained a long time the stamp of a Divine Character upon it: it was known by no less then this, a power to work miracles; For Lepers thither resorted and were cured, as Baronius has from Gregory of Towrs. In Bedes times there stood a Cross, Crux lignea usque ad collum alta, quae aliquoties aquâ transendente absconditur: and a Church hard by: where it is believed our Saviour left his clothes. Baron. Annal. in anno Chr. 31: num. 19. See the travels of the Patriarchs, pag. 429. of Bethabara. Est hodiè Bethsoro (Beth-zur others call it) vicus in tribu Judae, euntibus ab Heliae Chebron in vigesimo lapide. Juxta quem fons ad radices montis ebulliens, ab ea­dem in qua gignitur sorbetur humo. In hoc est Eunuchus à Philippo baptizatus. Bed. Exposit. in Act. Apost. cap. 8. tom. 2. fol. 154. Quae (actio baptizandi) constat immersione (mora sub aqua) & emersione corpo­ris ex aqua, saltem aspersione. Bucan. loc. 47. sec. 18. near or at the very place where Israel passed before by miracle; there needed no lesse to make the depth fordable. Phi­lip and the Eunuch rode together till they came in their way to (5) water, and there they went (6) down into the water, and came up out of the water: which Circumstance [Page 43] noted and expression used of our Saviour before, Mat­thew 3.16. When he was baptized, he went up out of the water. (Remember God-fathers were at first called susceptores, and some of their office questionless in that other periphra­sis ofUtrum in Baptismo requiratur aliquis qui bap­tizatum levet de sacro fonte? Aquin. part. 3. quest. 66. Art. 7. vid. etiam artic. 8. & Supplementum 3 iae par­tis, Quaest. 56. Artic. 3. & Durand. Rational. Divi­norum, lib. 6. cap. 82. sec. 38. Levantes de sacro fonte) WhereuntoQui enim Baptizantur & aquis immergun­tur Christum mortuum & sepultum reprasentant al­legoricè, idque ut tropologica similitudine signifi­cent, sicut Christus mortuus est vitae temporali, ita se mori peccato (ait Chrysostomus) per Baptismum, quo peccata merguntur & sepeliuntur. Cornel. à La­pide in Rom. 6.4: St Pauls speech of alusion must needs have respect in divers places; especially Rom. 6.4. and Coloss. 2.12. We have in our ordinary Bibles an Illumination from which there cannot be aposta­cy with any hopes of re­turn, Heb. 6.4. The Fa­thers and those of best judgment understand there by Baptisme, the terms having bin used promiscously: Now that the Syriac gives, Atqui non possunt illi qui semel ad Baptismum descende­runt renovari, &c. as ren­dred by Tremellius, and his reason with clearness explains all, Nam immer­gebantur aquis. Add here­to that first name of the Baptisterium Vid. Socrat. Histor. Ecclesiast. lib. 7. cap. 17: & Justin Martyr. Question. & Respons. ad Orthod. 137. Piscina Lavacrum. Suidas. St Cyprian was se­riously asked, whether any other Baptisme were Catho­lick, which the Church would allow, then by Mersion? He answers affirmatively; but they were the sick who might be so priviledged; and of them, aspersio, aquae instar saluta­ris Lavacri obtinet, 'twas as good as what was done at Church though but sprinkling. Ep. 77. par. 2. tom. 1. p. 121. [...], sc. locus ubi natare possumus, (as among o­ther interpretations, Sca­pula gives this one) a washing pool, andLavacrum, God. de operibus publicis. L. 18. pro Balneo. J. Calvin. in Lexic. Jurid. pa. 510. The word interpreted Stupha in Gloss. ad God, de Episcopali au­dient: L. Judices. A nobis ita locus appellatur, in quo quis lavari commodè potest: sayes Spiegel. alledged there. Et Brissonius, Lavare veteribus significat corpus aqua in balneo abluere. vid. Heb. 10.22, 23. La­vacrum a bath; that an­tient [Page 44] Sciant etiam presbyteri quando sacrum Bap­tisma ministrant, ut non infundant à quam. sanctam super capita infantium, sed semper mergantur in La­vacro, sicut exemplum praebuit per semet ipsum Dei filius omni credenti, quando esset ter mersus in un­dis Jordanis. Synod. apud Celicyth sub Kenulpho: apud Spelman. Concil. tom. 1. pa. 331. Canon of our ancestor-Mercians, with the reason thereof, that Water should not be powred on any ones head, but he be merged, because Christ had been so in Jordan; and the practice of our first Grand­father Christians, upon whose separation from Paganisme by this rite, (which we may presume to be understandingly, not formally ministred at first) we read still of their atten­dance at Rivers: As in Yorkshire, Vir Dei Paulinus, that man of God found imploymentTantus autem fertur tunc fuisse fer­vor fidei ac desiderium lavacri salutaris genti Nord-Humbrorum, ut quodam tem­pore Paulinus veniens cum Rege & Regi­na in villam regiam, quae vocatur Adregin, triginta sex diebus ibidem cum eis catechi­zandi & baptizandi officio deditus mora­retur, quibus diebus cunctis à manè usque ad vesperam nil aliud ageret, quàm con­fluentem eò de cunctis viculis ac locis ple­bem Christi verbo salutis instruere, atque in structam in fluvio Gleni, qui proximus erat, lavacro remissionis abluere. Bed. Ec­clesiast. Histor. Gentis Anglorum. lib. 2. cap. 14. for 36 days together from morning to evening in bapti­zing the Countrey people that came in from all parts (after the King and his Family had led the way) in the River of Gleni; InBed. cap. eodem. another Province and not far from York, To so many Mr. Fox computed them in his Martyrolog. lib. 2. pa. 119. ten thousand in a day in the Ri­ver of Swale, some tradition where­of remaineth among the neigh­bour inhabitants to this day, as I learned of them; InDe hujus fide provinciae nar­ravit mihi presbyter & abbas quidam vir vera cissimus de Monasterio Peartan voca­bulo Beda, retulisse sibi quendam senio­rum, baptizatum se fuisse the media à Pau­lino Episcopo praesente Rege Edvino, & multam populi turbam in fluvio Trehenta juxta civitatem quae lingua Anglorum Ti­ovulfingacestir vocatur. Beda. lib. eod. cap. 16. fol. 82. Not­tingham-shire the King being pre­sent, many in the River of Trent, not far fromThat, as now, to be the place called as but now, by Bede, is conjectur'd by Mr. Camden in Nottinghamshire, pa. 549. Here, in token of thankfulness for so great a favour e­ven to the Minister, he had bestowed upon him mu [...]h land; some of it after converted to the 3 parks, which his successors kept till the days of our late troubles, within the last septenary. Southwell; ve­nerable Bede who gives the Relati­on, had it from one he knew and trusted much, who had it from one of the proselites that then came over. Lastly, take in the avouch­ed use of theOrientales toti in aquam mergeban­tur. Ursim. explicat. Catechet. quaest. 69. sec. 1. Of old they were wont in hot. Countreys to dip the party to be baptized (all naked) in to the water, and so he was washed all over. Mayer on the Church-Catechisme pa. 525. From service performed by occasi­on of such Baptisme of women, Phoebe. (Rom. 16.1.) is thought by many to have been sti­led Ministra. Especially see Hu. Grot. in Evangel. Matth. cap. 3. ver. 6. Easterlings to have ministred no other way; those of Arabia to know our (to bap­tize) by the word Amada [...], which imports to stand, from their standing in the Rivers, (which the son of Azalkefat hath left us in [Page 45] the very translation of the Gospels;) EvenThat Baptisme is merging, and so used by the antients, aver­red by him, Institut. lib. 4. cap. 15. sec. 9. As much (or as much as comes thereto) by Bellarmine, lib. 1. de Bapt. cap. 1. tom. 3. Calvin, and Bellarmine (the more is the wonder) in this agreeing; BesidesAquin. Summ. part. 3. Quaest. 66. art. 7. Aqui­nas his Tutius est per modum immersionis bap­tizare, repeated, and the practice of the Church to be made good by the best Re­cords, sc. that (asPart 3. Domin. 1. Ad­vent. pa. 18. Cunradius Dietericus grants it was, though he do not think it fit it should have been) till the time of Con­stantinus Vid. Histor. Magdeburg: Centur. 8. cap. 6. de Cere­moniis. sec. De ritibus circa Baptismum. Copronymus about the year 740. (who from a shamefull disgrace to this Sacrament, got that name) yet,So the learned Commentator on Sir Tho. Ridleys View of the Laws, pa. 176. till then, men used to goe into the water and there stand, Vestibus exuti, nudi, &c. Lay I say these things together and compare, and face does not more fully and proportionally answer face in water, nor any thing its like, then the manner of washing proselytes and our Savi­ours Sacrament instituted, with the practice in purest times, do picture, express, lead, fol­low, set forth, exemplifie, and in all things correspond, comply with and resemble one the other; of which many other things might be alledged, and more then very many, but that I am willing to borrow incautelous for­bearance from the Apostles,2 Corinth. 11.12. amputare occasionem eorum qui volunt occasionem: It was both and all but Sacred Sacerdotall washing, and for the manner alike on both sides of the Covenant.

So for the persons on whom it was to pass: which on Israel side was even to Minor's of­fered by their parents or the Countrey; and the mostThe Churches through Greece, Asia, Syria, Aegypt, &c. Ruteni Muscovitae, Aethi­opis, all receive it, says judicious Cassander; and all, whose use is known to us, extra fines Lati­nos, keep precisely to the 8th day. Except (perhaps) the Abissines, who stay not the females so long, but hasten them (according to the time prefixed for the mothers pu­rification frō a male by the Law) on the 40 day: so crossing Levi both in male and female. Testimonia veterum scriptorum pro paedo [...] baptismo. pa. 693. general received practice of Gentile believers hath been since to suffer lit­tle children to come unto Christ, and not forbid them, as of whom is (in right) the Kingdom of God. For, as to the former, I finde, [Page 46] Ut gen­tiles Majores ad hunc mo­dum, ex animi sui sententia proselyti fie­ban, ita mino­res (masculi ante annum decimum ter­tium, praeter unicum diem, Faeminae ante duodecimum & diem in su­per expletum) ex sententia sive patris sive fori cui suberant, in Judaismum pariter cooptati: Atque actus tàm forensis quàm paternus assensum eorum tùm in Circum­cisione & Baptismo, tùm in sacrificio offerendo, quod sequebatur, supplebat; nem­pe quia in commodum ejus res cessit. Selden, de Jure Nat. & Gent. p. 146. As much ob­served and allowed by him since. Non magis Circumcisionem, quàm baptismum parvulis tum debitam praestitamque volunt (Magistri) ut ex mox dicendis de proselytis ma­nifestum fit de Synedriis veterum Ebraeorum, lib. 1. cap. 3. pa. 28. and he alledgeth sun­dry authorities of remote and very dark inquiry, but best account; as from Maimonides, Misna Babilon: Misna Hierosolymit. &c. Plain, full, home. By their own testimony, this as common as of any other, lately observed by Mr. Light­foot: In the Talmud in Cetuboth perek. 1. they have these words. Rab. Hona saith, A little one they baptize by the appointment of the Consistory, [...] Whereupon the Hebrew gloss: If he have not a father, and his mother bring him to be proselyted, they baptize him, because there is no proselyte without Circumcision and Baptifme.—The Text proceedeth. What do we learn hence? That he hath benefit by it, and they priviledg a man even though he know it not. It is a tradition, that they priviledg a person though he know it not; but they do not dispriviledg a person with­out his knowledge. (Very good!) And thus do they answer that objection now on foot against Infants baptisme, sc. that it is not fit they should be baptized, be­cause they have no understanding: They make it a non-sequitur, for say they, A pri­viledge may be put upon a person though himself know it not: Harmony of the Evangelists, part. 2. pa. 75. those that would be proselytes to the Synagogue (be­ing under years of consent, the male a day under thirteen, the female a day above twelve the parents of the child, or the Countrey would offer any other, and this consent of theirs interpreted to supply the consent of him that other­wise could not, because it tended to the good and benefit of the receiver, quia in commodum ejus (baptizati) res cessit, says their Law, as otherwise perhaps it should not: Much as inƲpon consideration of all our books I finde this diversity, that a Parson or Vicar, for the benefit of his Church and of his successor, is in some cases esteemed to have a fee simple qualified: but to do any thing to the prejudice of his successors, in many cases the Law e­steemeth him to have in effect but an Estate for life.] Cook on Littleton, fol. 341. & Ecclesia fungitur vice minoris: meliorem potest facere conditionem suam, deteri­orem nequaquam. Briton. fol. 143: cited there. Bracton has it more fully, lib. 2. de acquirendo rerum dominio: cap. 5. se. 5. fol. 12. agreeable to the opinions of most Civilians, though some contradict. Vid. Gloss. Alimentarius: ad leg. Cum hi, qui­bus. in Digest. 2. de transactionibus. sect. Eam transactionem. our Law, a man or Corporation may be a legall actor to benefit, and the act valid enough, as it would not have been if it had tended to prejudice; and not only a man, [Page 47] but a child byEt notan­dum, quod cùm donator minori dederit curatorem, & curator nomine minoris fuerit in seysina, si donator postea quacunque ratione se posuerit in seysinam, & inde obierit seysitus, nunquam propter hoc mutabitur status minoris, quin retineat contra quoscunque. Recipere enim poterat per tutoris authoritatem, & consentire donationi sibi factae: consenti­re autem donationi ad se (or rather, à se) faciendae, vel admittendi iterum donato­rem ad seysmam non potest, alicujus authoritate: meliorem enim suam conditio­nem facere potest deteriorem nequaquam, Bracton, de acquir rerum dom. 2.5. sec. 8. fol. 14. The substance whereof has Fleta, lib. 3. cap. 3. de donationibus, sec. 17. In aliquibus casibus jus nostrum minoribus tantùm favet, ut ne quidem cum authoritate tutorum, judicii periculum subire eos patiatur, sed placitum usque in plenam eorum aetatem sistat. Cowell. Institut. Jur Anglic. lib. 1. cap. 21. sec. 5. ours, andMinoribus enim aetas in damnis subvenire, non rebus prosperè gestis obesse consuevit. Cod. de procuratoribus. L. Non èo minùs, as the gloss in Gratian: Sententia lata contra ipsum (minorem) nulla est: si tamen lata fuerit pro ipso, tenet. gloss. Pupillis. Caus. 15. Quest. 3. c. 3. And generally by the Civil Law a childe might act to his own benefit, but not, if (possibly) to prejudice, without farther consent. Auctoritas tutoris in quibusdam causis necessaria pupillis est, in quibusdam non necessaria. Ut ecce, si quid dari sibi stipulentur, non est necessaria tutoris auctoritas, quod si aliis pro­mittant pupilli, necessaria est tutoris auctoritas. (As they may take bond alone, but not give, by Institut. 3. tit. 20. de in utilibus stipulationibus. sec. Pupillus) Namque placu­it meliorem conditionem licere eis facere, etiam sine tutoris auctoritate: deteriorem verò non aliter quam cum tutoris auctoritate. Institut. 1. tit. 21. de auctorit: tutorum. See the gloss on which text: & ad Cod. lib. 5. tit. 59. de auctoritate praestand: L. Neque tutoris, & ad Cod. lib. 8. tit. 38. de contrahend. & commutand. L. 7. Neque tutoris; as Marcianus of old: Pupillus quantum ad acquirendum non eget tutoris auctoritate: alienare verò nullam rem potest nisi praesente tutore auctore: & ne quidem possessio­nem, &c. Digest. 41. tit. 1. L. 11. Ex diverso autem si pupillus paciscatur, ne quod de­beat à se peteretur, ratum habetur pactum conventum. Lib. 2. tit. 14. de pactis, L. Contra juris civilis. Pupillus tantùm hoc casu naturaliter obligatur in quo factus est locupletior, gloss. ad, Dig. de condictione indebiti. L. Quod pupillus, & vid. L. Na­turaliter: in eodem tit. & L. Cum illud aut illud: tit. Quando dies legat: & gloss. ad tit. de Novationibus, L. Cui bonis. Item L. Ait praetor: sec. 1. tit. de ne­gotiis gestis. & gloss. Continentur, ad L. Si Servus, tit. de aedilicio edicto. Yet far­ther, as that which is rich casts worth about it, so they that are but near to Minors speed the better. Sed in proximis infantiae propter utilitatem eorum, benignior juris inter­pretatio facta est. Institut. 3. de in utilibus stipulationibus. sec. sed quod diximus. other Laws may do, where it cannot suffer, andA minor of twenty, if he sell and buy with the price thereof a thing of better va­lue, is yet inabled both to retain his purchase, and recover his sale, (only paying back the mo­ney) and this in favour of his minority: says the grave author of Doct. & Student. Dial. 1. cap. 21. ['Tis known and granted by all, that Infants may buy and keep: but if an Infant sell his land he may enter against his own feoffment, and if he be put out, he shall have assise of Novel Disseisin when he cometh to his full age.] Natura brevium, fol. 132. in the Writ De ingressu dum fuerit infra aetatem.] If the husband and the wife purchase land joyntly the wife being within age, and the husband and the wife selleth all the land, the husband di­eth, the wife shall recover the whole by this Writ.] fol. 133. receive and hold in hand strong [Page 48] enough, what yet it hath not power, if it would, to part with, by wise and very conscionable provision. So there, to bring one to Israel and to be sub alis Majestatis divinae (as their word was) tended to benefit and great advantage of the Receiver, and therefore that which passed on children, or was conveyed to children, unless there followedSi verò minor, simul ac aetatem compleverat Judaismo re­nunciasset, nec eam omnino postquam ma­jor erat fuisset amplexus, Ita dein evanuit quicquid per initiamenta, &c.—ut in Gentilis planè conditionem rediret. Selden, ubi supra. Ʋpon score of like reason whereto, and for such after tryal, may have been taken up in the Christian Church that examination, which did sift the constancy, or rather consistency, of those had been taken in young, to their presumed grounds: that if they wavered, they might be known and discharged; or if they remained constant they might, by imposition of hands receive what the commoner name of that Ceremony did import, of their faith (at least a signe of) CONFIRMATION. Vasquez has from Erasmus (in the preface to his paraphraise on the Gospels) a word of most wholsome, grave, and pru­dent advice: that those who were baptized young, when they begin to write Man should be examined, An ratum habeant id quod in Catechismo ipsorum nomine promissum fuit? quod si ratum non habeant, ab ecclesiae jurisdictione liberos manere. in 3. part. Thom. disput. 154. tom. 2. cap. 1. sec. 2. If they did then stand to what their sureties had presumed for them? if not, they should be discarded. Most necessary! and of unimaginable benefit! such a scrutiny would shake off thousands of rotten hypocrites, and purge the Church of many such infidel-believers (or professers) upon whose dirty faces a little holy water was spinkled when they knew not what it was, but they no more minde the true sanctification appertaining, then the Turks or Saracens (who shall rise up in judgment against their washed filthiness) or then those of whom St Peter, It is happened to them according to the true proverb, The Dog to his vomit, and the washed Swine to wallow again in the mire. Such disci­pline of awak'd reason is that the world groans for! That men would become Christians! O, that the truth of faith, and POWER of true Christian belief might be seen in the hearts and lives of those that knowingly put the neck in Christ's yoke! af­ter-revocation, was counted valid and firm enough, it could come to no less: And even in like manner in the Christian Church, whose wisdom and charity hath been all along so free and provident as to offer to baptisme, and to receive and esteem for baptized, to all purposes and constructions, those who were so far fromNec sentiunt, nec consentiunt. Decretal. Gregor. 3. tit. 42. cap. 3. At this age they are levelled with mad men by our Law. Furiosus autem stipulati non potest, nec aliquod negotinm gerere, quia nescit nec intelligit quid agit. Eodem modo nec infans, nec qui infanti prox­imus est, qui multùm à furioso non distat, nisi hoc fiat ad commodum suum, & cum tutoris authoritate. Fleta lib. 2. cap. 56. de actione debiti. Observable, that by the Civil Law, in that was called ADOPTION of Infants no such particular express consent was needed: In Adrogation, which was another way of assuming into the Family (those that were sui juris and before the Magistrate) was required both Rogatio & mutua Interrogatio, as Gains fully, in Digest. de adoption. & emancipat. L. 2. But for those were only adopted, no such thing. Celsus 28. li­bro Digestorum. In adoptioni­bus eorum duntaxat qui suae potestatis sunt voluntas exploratur (as were the Adro­gati before; the gloss there says so; and the notes on the gloss, Adoptio pro adroga­tione) sin au­tem à patre dantur in adoptionem, in his utriusque arbitrium spectandum est, vel consentiendo vel non contradicendo. tit. eodem. L. 5. And further observable, that the word taken up by Christians to express their conceits in this like case is Adoption all along, not Adrogation, of those are assumed to the houshold of faith. Etiam infantem in a­doptionem dare possumus: So Modestinus coming home fully, tit. eod. L. 42. consenting, that they have [Page 49] no presentQuicquid autem tutor agit pupilli nomine quo ejus conditio efficitur melior, pupillo prodest etiam ignoranti: applyed to this very case of Paedobaptisme, and as the ground thereof by judicious Cassander, pa. 752. sence at all, nor after memory of what o­thers charity doth then even powre upon them for their e­ternall good; for the thing here no less tends to open benefit of the simply patient: And this, I say, hath been so all along, and from the first dawning of the fallible Church, so far off as inHe lived about 1400 years of those 1600 and odd we compute from Christs death, as may be seen in Helvicus's Chronology, in the year 204. with whom compare St Jerome, de viris illustribus, tom. 1. pa. 106. and Magdeburg, Centur. 3. cap. 3. & 7. Before him was Irenaeus: Omnes venit per semetipsum salvare (Christus) Omnes inquam, qui per eum renascuntur in Deum, infantes, & parvulos, & pueros, & juvenes & seniores. Ideo per omnem venit aetatem, & infantibus infans factus, sanctificans infantes, in parvulis parvulus, sanctificans hanc ipsam habentes aetatem, &c. lib. 2. adversus haeres. cap. 39. Before both, Dionysius Areopagita. Nihil igitur, ut reor, indignum est, si ad divinum institutum puer adducitur, sanctum habens praeceptorem, qui illi divina­rum rerum habitum tradat, malorumque servet immunem. Tradit autem puero sancta mysteria Pontifex, ut nutriatur in ipsis, &c. Et visum est nostris ducibus ad­mittere infantes hoc modo: alledged by the Centurists, Centur. 4. cap. 4. col. 236. de ritibus circa baptismum. And yet a step higher, Clemens Romanus: Baptizate quoque pueru­los vestros, & educate eos in disciplina & praeceptis Dei. Sinite enim, inquit, parvu­los venire ad me & nolite eos prohibere: As from the Apostles themselves, in Constitut. Apostolicarum, lib. 6. cap. 15. Origens days, heSecundum ecclesiae observantiam etiam parvulis Baptismus datur. Origen. Homil. 8. in Levit. tom. 1. pa. 158: and for the same so alledged by Illiricus, in Magdeburg. Centur. 3. cap. 6. sec. de ritibus circa baptismum. Pro hoc etiam (namely for the sins of infants which they bring into the world) & ecclesia ab Apostolis traditionem suscepit, e­tiam parvulis baptismum dare. Sciebant enim illi quibus mysteriorum secreta com­missa sunt divinorum, quia essent in omnibus genuinae sordes peccati. quae per aquam & spiritum ablui deberent, propter quas etiam corpus ipsum corpus peccati nomina­tur. Origen. lib. 5. in Epist. ad Roman. cap. 6. pa. 543. and so understood by Polydor. Virgil. de inventor. rerum. lib. 4. cap. 4. and by Spangenburg, Margarit. Theol. fol. 59. St Austin has let the same drop from his pen many times since: and enough others may be seen in Gre­gory de Valencia, Tom. 4. disputat 4. quest. 3. punct, 1. Postremo. But best together has G. Cassander represented the tendries of antiquity in this point; in his, Testimonia veterum scriptorum qui intra trecentos circiter annos à temporibus Apostolorum floruerunt, &c. for this opinion: pa. 668 of his works printed at Paris, 1616. The inforcement of which collection in inference very remarkable is this; Cum hi omnes, quorum testimonia pro­duximus, continuata ab Apostolis serie, diversis temporibus & locis ecclesiarum Chri­sti rectores & doctores fuerunt, non dubium est hanc sententiam, à singulis tanquam uno ore pronunciatam, communem esse doctrinam totius ecclesiae, quam ecclesia ab Apostolis acceptam ad posteros transmisit: pa. 691. In farther probability whereof he shewes the prevalence of this opinion and use to extend it self to remotest Nations, both from us and themselves, as the Churches through Greece, Asia, Syria, Egipt, Aethiopia, India, Muscovia (what is far and wide if this be not?) who were not all like to joyn in a corruption of what first delivered: or to receive with such one consent what had any other first delivery. Who trusts not the faith of the world! much more the Christian world! such a one were worthy to be banished out of both worlds. acknowledged and imbraced it for a Tradition Apostolicall then, allow it but any reasonable time to grow up to desert of that reputati­on, and we shall soon pinch hard upon St John in his banish­ment, yea upon St Peter and St Paul in their travels; Truth is, generally I believe it hath been received through Chri­stendom in its largest diffusions whether to time or place, [Page 50] though the most general rules are forced to admit of some derogatory exceptions.

Thus have we Paedobaptisme upon both sides of the dou­ble testament. Doubt may be, and upon the matter, hath, of the bridg or means of conveyance from one to the o­ther: Whether by vertue of any command of ourAs Mat. 28.19. to Bap­tize all Nati­ons, of which children are a part. Matth. 19 14. & Mark. 10.13, &c. Suffer little children to come unto me with­out any restraint So Clements Rom. expounded but now. Lord himself in scriptis directly given? or by equity of example found after in theAs in baptizing whole housholds, Act. 16.15. 1 Corinth. 1.15. & Act. 16, 33. practice of his servant Apostles? or by derivation and necessary consequence from other truths laid down upon other occasions? (as, the parents being within the Covenant, their childrens (thereby) at least pa­rentall holinessBoth Circumcision was necessary to sanctifie into the Law, says Mr. Selden, and also baptisme; that is, to them who were admitted, to all; but not, as Circumcision, Baptisme to their children after them, quos universos [...] in sanctitate, ob parentum scilicet sanctitatem, natos docere solent, De synedriis veter. Heb. lib. 1. cap. 3. pa. 23. faederal sanctification, native title to the seal, as the circumcised had the eight dayGenes. 17. ver. 12. Or, the grace of God being universall, to all sorts; Or, Christ shed his blood for all, young as well as old; Or, all have originall sin, calling for this necessary purgation (as but now Origen.) Or, no other plain ordinary way to salvation, by that barr Christ hath laid a cross, except a man be born of water, and of the holy ghost, he may not enter the Kingdom of God, John 3.3. Or, lastly, God would have all men to be saved, and come to the participation of holiness and happiness; which was pitched on in the conference between Arch-bishop Lawd, and Mr. Fisher, sec. 15. under the Law, &c.) which three have been the opinions of those [Page 51] that become the Doctrin even of this Circumstance of a Rite (for it is no more) in the sacred Text, and would have none bottomed elsewhere: Or, whether (no warrant supposed any way written) as to such an appendant or but appurte­nant of a Rite (the Right it self having first passed by clear command) that which so belongs thereto, and is but of the manner, may not be conveyed safe and sure enough from hand to hand by successive and continued practice, and the Church be intrusted to give along with security so small a thing, scarce a thing, to avoid multiplying commands; which hath been used to be called EcclesiasticallConsuetud o matris ecclesiae in Baptizandis parvulis ne­quaquam spernenda; nec omnino credenda ni­si esset Apo­stolica tradi­tio. Augu­stin. de Ge­nes ad lit. 10. cap. 23. & see lib. 4. de Bapt. contra Donatistas, cap. 24. so Baronius, ad an. Chr. 53. num. 20. Bel­larmin. lib. 1. de bapt. cap. 8. & Lindanus, in Liturg. D. Petri. cap. 1. pa. 60. with sundry other that go his way. Tradition, and is laid hold on by divers, and someMelancthon. in loc. commun. tit. de baptism. puerorum, and a treatise of Paedo­baptisme Printed last year, 1645. licensed by Ch. Herle, President of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, p. 7. and many other. Protestants in the business? But of this controversie, which I cannot be igno­rant to have been on foot a long time, and yet to be, prosecu­ted with zeal enough, and too much bitternesse, by those have interessed themselves, I leave the abettors to their se­veral opinions and disputations; let them sit and vote as they please, for the bridg or manner of conveyance, I inter­pose no farther then I have cause for the both sides: that there it was, and here it is, it had being before the Gospell, and hath had ever since the Gospel (though they that rely on simple tradition may perchance hope to gain hereby not a little advantage on their side; for if it were so indeed that in­fants were, upon what grounds or maximes soever, baptized into the Law, and this so usual that nothing more, this known, rendred it the lessThe patterns from whence most, if not all, the Customs in the Church were taken, was, the Custom of Israel in the old Testament. And this may be one special reason, why the provi­dence of God did not take so much care for the writing of every custom and ordinance for the Go­vernment of the Church in the new Testament, because the precedent from whence they were taken being at hand, if any alteration did creep in, it might easily be amended by reducing it to the pattern. The same Treatise, pa. 8. baptizing whole housholds instanced in, for one thing p. 9. needfull to give or require express or­der for every days practice, or to waft over by cumbersome [Page 52] strength of precept what the force of custom would fairly and gently but surely enough carry on along with it, espe­cially for a circumstance, when the main was secured by Command, And withall there might be Rules and received Orders then on foot, to carry on the business with light, strength, security and evidence enough, since lost Grant I say, the thing done, a glance, or but intimation, or but co­vert supposition might give as much evidence as might rea­sonably be expected in such a business from so small a Vo­lumn as the new Testament is, where we have but a very short draught of all the sure Theologie in the world: As here in England what a small account have we of infant-baptisme for about 500 years agoe as to doctrin or practice, which yet questionless was, and how much less will be a thousand years hereafter, when time shall have eat out the prints that are now legible in many things, that setteth her teeth into every thing? Things unusual claim their notice, strange come upon the Record, dark, doubtfull, uncertain, of hard belief, use to take up room of vindication into clear and o­pen light, else books must multiply in infinitum; and as to our particular of what passed under Christ, we more then guess that all was not written of him, by that supposition we know who used, that if [...], all that was, should, the world could not contain the books that should be written. Jo. 21.25.) But of these I say, I interpose no further then I have cause, the fact on both sides, and the similitude of their and our initiating rite thereby; even those that could not con­sent were admitted, before, since, under our Saviour, to the Synagogue, and the use of Christians hath been (we know in part) from the beginning, to take into the Ark Noah and all his Family, not the youngest left out to perish in the water, but saved by the water, as is St Peters saying, and mine in his sence: 1 Pet. 3.21.

So the parallell stands fair, and our baptisme comes from Israel, because in so many regards like theirs; as primitive and derivative, originall and extract, as was said before, type and antitype, the same and the same: that Jerusalem from the East which giving us one, had the other, being the likest to afford both mother and daughter.

Which admitted, as I see not but it may, there is neither impossibility, improbality, nor (of weight) inconveniency, Thereon would follow two other things to be yet super-induced by way of Corollary, sc. 1. That it is not so cre­dible as commonly believed, nor gold so good as Currant through Christendome, that our Messias, or his anteambu­lo John Baptist, at the soonest, was the very first that ever introduced this rite of Religious Baptisme into the Church or into the world; There was no such thing before, These Master builders not only raised it up to that hight (of value it justly has, and use it serves for) but laid the first corner stone thereof, as is with confidence enough delivered, byJohan­nes Baptista. sic dictus quòd Deus per ipsius mi­nisterium Sa­cramentum Baptismi insti­tuerit, pri­musque bapti­zaverit. Ex­posit. Cathol. in Matth. 3.1. Marlorate, Tom. 1. de sacramen­tis, cap. 4. pa. 100. Maldonate, Centur. 1. lib. 1. cap. 4. de baptismo. & lib. 6. sect. de ritibus baptis­mi. Illiricus, Homil. 25. in Luc. de baptism. Brencius, De re­rum invento­ribus, cap. 4. de primo bap­tismatis usu, &c. & Gloss. ordinar. nov. in Matth. 3.1. Polyd. Virgil, and diverse others both Historians, Trea­tisers, Commonplacers, Schoolmen, and both Fathers and their children of every generation, who drive on with one consent (the more is the pity) the same mistaken way: But is it so? No; it is not so: There was a rite, of Baptisme, in Religion, for regeneration, I step one foot farther, and for renovation, institution, initiation into new faith and pro­fession, beforeMatth. 2 1. Luc 2.4. Jesus (the son of a Virgin) was born in Bethlehem in the land of Judea in the days of Herod the King, or his elder servant and next Herald practised (to make way for his Master, to come)John 4.23. in Aenon, or any where else: and for this there is proof enough, full, home, pregnant, plentifull, though not Scripture-proof (and yet such as Scripture contradicts not neither) as good as the world u­ses to afford in like case. Far be it, I should be overlavish to grant the adjective of Christian regeneration, Christian Bap­tisme; That, such and Ours (by which alone we hope, so far as Sacraments may, admission into the new Jerusalem) began I believe with the New Testament, and has the form authoritatively ordered from him that could alone, and did, our highest Prophet, and Saviour▪ and Redeemer, Matth. 28.19. Thus, or to this, baptize not till now, or then. But for Baptisme (or religious washing, at large, for the words are the same) a Rite, Seal, Means, Ordinance (believed) of ingraffing to a new Faith or Religion, not without rege­neration [Page 54] intercedent (though not ours) This was both in theCertè ludis Apolli­nariis & Eleu­siniis tingun­tur, idque se in regeneratio­nem & impu­nitatem perju­riorum suo­rum agere prae­sumunt. Ter­tullian. lib. de baptismo. c. 5. world before and in the Church, Our Saviour did but transfer not bring up, dispose not create, order, appoint, metamorphose and sanctifieVerum quidem est, Christum & Apostolos ex­pressim, quae­dam alia do­cuisse ac impe­rasse in quibus fundamentatotius religio­nis Christianae collocantur, horumque nonnulla (ver­bi gratiâ, bap­tismi sacra­mentum) ex anterioribus Judaismi mo­ribus sumta ac in ipsis reten­ta sic Chri­stianismi suum formasse ac novasse, ut novatum inde Institutum divinum planè ac­cessisse inde sit dicendum. Sed ejusmodi, &c. Selden, de Synedriis vet. Heb. lib. 1. cap. 13. pa. 492. a new, not raise to beeing, that which both had been and had been holy before, making it to usTit. 3. ver. 5. the Laver of regeneration and gate of spiritual (a degree of eternall) life; as breaking of bread was before it became a pledg of Christian Communion, and as theTo conceive there was no Rainbow before the Flood, because God chose out this as a token of the Covenant, is, to conclude the existence of things from their signalities—with equall reason we may infer, there was no water before the institution of baptisme, nor bread and wine before the Eucharist. So the most exquisitly learned and judious Dr. Brown, in his Pseudodoxia Epidemica, book 7. chap. 4. The argument whereof is to prove, That the Bow was before the flood. rainbow had a being in nature, before God ap­pointed it to be significative to the world, by judgment of goodvid. Scharp. Symphon. Epoch. 2. Quest. 9. pa. 66. & Bellarmin, de Sacramentis, lib. 1. cap. 17. Philosophers-Divines, Genes. 9. and thereby a kinde ofNe diluvium alterum formidaret (Noachus) intueri Iridem, atque huic fidere Sacramento jussus fuit, Pet. Cunaeus, de repub. Heb. lib 3. c. 2. & vid. Luther. de captivitate Babilon. cap. de bapt. & Calvin. Institut. lib 4. c. 14. sec. 18. Sacrament to give sensible pledge and assu­rance of what it is there set for. In short, BaptismeSee more hereof in Grotius upon Matt. 3.6. was before, our Master brought in ours, it had a being, He made it our Sacrament, washing was in use, he new washed and sanctified it, and made Baptisme (taking in his own name) to be Christianing, which God grant it may be to all the welcome and willing partakers thereof wheresoever; the gate of heavenly life here, and of heaven it self in the Heaven of heavens hereafter. Amen, Amen.

Secondly, Hence may be made a discovery of the gates of new and old Sion of equall wideness, the dore of the Sy­nagogue as broad as the Churches, and either wide enough to let in (Sacramentally) both sexes; I mean by a solution of the great doubt, hitherto so much tossed, but to or toward satisfaction so little determined of rationally and resolved, sc. How Hac ratione Judaeorum liberi per faederis circumcisionis observationem Judaei fiunt: (sc. the males) Quod si Judaea filiolam pe­pererit, nativitas ejus tam parvi aestimatur, ut in libris eorum de ea nihil ferè scri­ptum invenire mihi licuerit: (except this little) Quod puellulae quaedam juvenculae, quando filiola nata sex hebdomadarum est, circum cunas, in quibus, linteolis pul­cherrimis cincturisque argenteis ornatis, ea posita cubat, se collocent, eamque cum cunis aliquoties elevent in altum, eique tum demum nomen imponant; & quod ea quae ad caput infantis a stat, susceptrix ejus sit: quae, rebus istis peractis, cum puellis aliis convivium paratum agitans, & edat & bibat, & ita tempus aliquod hilaris laeta­que cum eisdem transmittat. Ridiculous! yet this is all; from Buxtorfius, in Syna­gog. Jud. cap 2. de nativitate & circumcisione Judaeorum, pa. 96. women were taken into the old of Moses, or Jeho­vah's Covenant? Macherae petrinae eundem heic fuisse usum [Page 55] quem & in maribus praeputandis, die scilicet octavo, juxta praeceptum Abrahae datum, Nemo sanus puto affirmabit; im­primis de Israeliticis foemellis, DEI popularibus, JEHOVAE peculio, quarum vel circumcisionem, vel excisionem, vel con­cisionem nullibi commemorat sacra For the instances we read of, were Abraham, Isa­ac, Ishmael, Hamor, Si­chem, Ger­shom, Jesus Nazareus, John Baptist, Paul, Timo­thie, &c. all Males. The Law, Every Manchild among you shall be circumcised, Genes. 17.10. Act. 7.8. He that is 8 days old a­mong you shall be circumcised, every male in your generations. ver. 12 of Gen. 17. The un­circumcised male shall be cut off from his people, ver. 14. according to which Rule, In this will we consent, if ye will be as we, every male circumcised. chap. 34.15. proposed again, ver. 22. Nor is memoriall of any order or instance to the contrary or different, in those we imbrace for sacred oracles. pagina, vel in lege vel exemplo; si res ipsa forsan For the Rule was of males only, who had by nature the foreskin of the flesh to be cut off, the females wanting it were not to keep this rite, though they were as well as men within the Covenant of Grace in Christ, says Mr. Ainsworth on Gen. 17.12. Epiphanius proposed the question, if circumcision were needfull to salvation, How were Rebec­ca, Leah, Rachel, &c. saved, [...], who were not capable of what passed on Abraham? in Haeres. 30. cap. 30. pa. 160. Though yet call to mind what had plentifull attestation of the women of many Nations, as to more then capacity hereof, before, in the margent of chap. 3. possibilis: That they were ad­mitted, yea circumcised, as some have been apt to think, in theirMoreover, the woman is comprehended under the man, as her head, so stiled, 1. Cor. 11.3. Mr. Ainsworth in the same place. In majoribus censebantur, ex circumcisis e­nim parentibus nascebantur: circumcisis etiam maritis nuptae fuerunt. Scharp, Sym­phon. Prophet. & Apost. Epoch. 3. Quaest. 9. pa. 91. males, of not much less absurdity; considering they were one half of whole mankinde: That they were admitted without ceremony, as strange: or that they were not admitted at all. It remaineth therefore, if neither by their own circumcision, nor in their males, nor but by some rite, nor by any other, by BAPTISME which passed [Page 56] on men, which might pass onCall to minde, to increase pro­bability here­of, the plain testimo­ny of William of Paris al­ledged before: Intrant (muli­eres) in pactum Abrahae per quaedam Bap­tismata & tra­ditiones quae in corpore legis non inveniun­tur. Women are entred in­to the Cove­nant with A­braham by WASHING and other un­written tradi­tions: Re­membring, that the Texts before would scarce make good any baptisme of Proselytes, for the order by the words was only for washing of Garments in Sinai, which they interpreted of washing the person. Mr. Selden who gave us the testimony, had said before, Proselytae autem Baptismo duntaxat & oblatione initiabantur: though men were circumcised, no more passed on women but baptisme, and necessity of offering. de jure nat. & gentium. lib. 2. cap. 2. pa. 142. And H. Grotius, since: Sed & foeminas extraneas Judaeis nubentes aiunt (Hebraei) ablutas, idque olim factum Sarae & Rebeccae. annot. ad Matth. 36. pa. 41. Marrying, that is, as they were initiated into the Hebrew Religion, without which a stranger might not conceive from the Holy seed. Washing not so much a rite of Matrimony, as of conversion accompanying. women, which was fit to pass on them, which nothing hindreth the likelyhood it might pass on all, and most likely on women, who had ma­ny such special consecrations appointed by the Law, no­thing is this way inconvenient, nothing absurd, nothing im­probable; Modesty is taken care of, all fitted in to wonder­full consent of Things: and above all, the Church succeeds the Church, the New Testament the Old, and while with us bothSo ruled by the text. When the Samaritans had faith in Philip declaring the things of the Kingdom of God, &c. they were baptized both men and women, Act. 8.12. men and women continue to be baptized, of which 'tis certain men's succeed what was under the Law, it will remain a strong visible, reall, lasting argument of weight, that both came together, and that our baptisme of women (of which we have no speciall command) comes from the Hebrews, and theirs went before ours. Greedy endeavours had been before to compose things to simili­tude and likeness; whence (at hand) the Lords Supper was made to piece out the Passeover, to us; and our Bap­tisme, Circumcision, (which yet could be put in part, sith one half was never circumcised) I leave all to think how much fitter it will be, to compare not only Baptisme with Baptisme, but that which doth now pass on both sexes with that which both heretofore might, and the likelyer did for what since followes: and upon terms of how much disad­vantage should we be willing to take up but a likelyhood that the women of Israel were entred by water, which is after followed by such another known piece of the same, as (the first admitted) will put all believers in a livery, men, women, of now, and heretofore, all into the same ceremo­nious [Page 57] dress of Sacrament like themselves, the sons and daughters of faithfull Abraham.

I acknowledge the whole, as to any succession, whether of womens baptisme or mens, to be altogether new, and utterly different from all or the most that have written or spoken on the Argument before me, whether fathers or their posterity, whose opinions and confident determinati­ons have still went on upon this supposition with concession as undoubted, that our Baptisme for admission doth suc­ceed among the Hebrews, what? not a Baptisme (which hath not been thought of) but their first and great com­manded ceremony of entring into Abrahams Family and the visible Church by Circumcision; and that this is the gate to let into Christian Communion, as that did (and in succession to it) into the Jewish Synagogue, for which I couldPro Baptismo Ju­daei circumci­sione uteban­tur. Isidor. Pe­lusiot. libr. 1. Epist. 125. pa. 39. Baptismus est vicarius circumcisionis Durand. ratio­nal. divin. lib. 6. cap. 8. sect. 13. And see St. Augustine in Epist. 108. tom. 2. Bernard E­pist. 77. ad Hu­gonem de sancto Victore. Aquin. par. 3. quaest. 70. Decret. de consecrat. dist. 4. ca. Quòd autem. Decretal. Gregor. lib. 3. tit. 42. cap. 3. Lancelot; Institut. juris Canon. lib. 2. tit. 3. Feu-ardent. in Iren. lib. 4. cap. 30. Cornel. à Lap. in Genes. 17.10. Ursin Catechism. part. 2. quaest. 4. Bishop Hall, Epist. 4. Decad. 5. And yet Decades more might be added. cite of books, and in them dictates, enough: But I refer my self toCaeterùm scimus quosdam quod semel imbiberunt, nolle deponere, nec propo­sitùm fuum facilè mutare, sed salvo inter collegas pacis & concordiae vinculo, quae­dam propria, quae apud se semel sunt usurpata, retinere: Quâ in re nee nos vím cu­ique facimus aut legem damus, cùm habeat in ecclesiae administratione voluntatis suae arbitrium liberum unusquisque praepositus, rationem actus sui Domino redditu­rus, Cyprian. Epist. 72. indifferent judgment, whether this be not a more probable origination and succession, it self to it self, rather then to circumcision, another thing,Ceremonia haec neque nova planè fuit (When John began, Matth. 3.) & voca­tione gentium praelusit: sc. in the Hebrews washing of their proselytes, Grotius, ad Mat. 3.6. Bap­tisme to Baptisme for the same end of regeneration believed by both, then Baptisme to what is meerly heterogeneous and of another nature (especially sith this was always fit to have passed on women to let them in with the other Sexe, as still 'tis known with us it doth, the other nor did, nor well could) and I am perswaded as 'tis to me clear, so it will be to others, at least very probable, after they shall with a new and free judgment have digested these considerations. The rather for that 'tis observable the grouth of the Church [Page 58] to have been all along, both at beginning and ever since, most successfull among the gentiles, and they, 'tis like (in love of their own, would rather chuse to take up or continue that, for what end soever, which could fairly derive it self by inheritance from their own, and which had wont to pass on their Ancestor-proselytes, then what must graff it self, were it but for succession, upon what had passed upon their envi­ous, and 'tis well if not envied adversaries: As, howCum legislator à Deo institutus fuisset (Mo­ses) ac legem accuratè ser­vare deberet, ipse primùm hanc viola­bat: filios videlicet cum praeputio in Aegiptum se­cum ducens, illudque man­datum abo­lens, quo so­lo Hebraei à Barbaris diri­mebantur. Isi­dor, Pelusiot, lib. 1. Epist. 125. pa. 38. Jewish circumcision hath been counted all along and in all expositions, is well enough known; in so much that the Na­tion seems properly enough described by it, and deciphered, Galat. 2.7. & Ephes. 2.11. even byIn his Commentaries on the places, and see Act. 10.45. cap. 11.2. Tit. 1.10. Coloss. 4.11. Calvins interpreta­tion of those places.

In his Moses & Aaron. Book 3. cap. 2. And as much observed by Mr. Lightfoot in his Elias Redivivus, who has it from Aben Ezra in Genes. 35.2. that the washing of the Sichemits then and there, was their introduction into Jacobs Religion, pa. 11. and from Rambam, the same of the thousand forraign labourers that came in to assist the building of the Temple: and from Solomon Jarchi on Exod. 24. That Baptisme was a rite of in­duction, &c.Dr. Godwin went so far to acknowledge a kind of in­itiatory purification by water used by the Jews of old, without which no proselyte was admitted to the Church: (though he disclaim it to be sacramentall) and that my premises: Polydore Lib. 4. cap. 4. Virgil (who had been likest to have lighted up­on it in prevention, writing purposely de rerum inventoribus, or how things took their beginning) taking it in hand, de­rives it from Moses and the Synagogue, which was my con­clusion, Ego vero dixerim, saith he, Mosen primitus ratio­nem baptizandi ostendisse, quippe qui baptizavit sed in aqua solum, id est, in nube & mari: Quod, teste Gregorio Nazianz: & baptismi Johannis & Christi exemplar fuisse constat, quan­do ista omnia à Deo proficiscebantur. Of which sort theProphetavit quidem lex in Exodo baptismatis gratiam per nubem & mare. Ambros. in Luc. cap. 7. Tertium quoque testimonium est, sicut te Apostolus docuit, Quo­niam patres nostri omnes sub nube fuerunt, & omnes mare transierunt & omnes in Moyse bap­tizati sunt in nube & in mari, &c. 1 Corinth. 10.2. & Exod. 15.10. Advertis quod in illo Hebraeorum transitu jam tunc sacri baptismatis figura praecesserit, in quo Aegipti­us periit & Hebraeus evasit, Id. in lib. de initiandis. cap. 3. The like has Cyprian, in Epist. 76. ad Magnum, pa. 122. observing farther from 1 Corinth. 10.6. That these were examples to us, [...], is the word (and again ver. 11.) types and figures. See more in Ambrose, de sacramentis, lib. 1. cap. 6. lib. 2. cap. 1. & 3. in Psalm. 38. tom. 2. pa. 350. Cyprian, ad versus Judaeos, lib. 1. cap. 12. Cyril. Alexand. de adorat. in spiritu. lib. 9. tom. 1. pa. 112. & contra Julian. lib. 7. tom. 6. pa. 249. Gregor. Nyssen. de Baptismo Christi. tom. 3. pa. 373, 374, &c. Augustin. in Psalm. 77. & in tractar. in 3. Johan. tom. 11. Sym­bolum baptismi erat labrum in tabernaculo, Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech. 3. Let Tertulli­an give the close: Quot Igitur patrocinia naturae, quot privilegia gratiae, quot solem­nia disciplinae, figurae, praestructiones, precationes, religionem aquae ordinaverunt? Primò quidem quum populos de Aegipto expeditus, &c. and so he goes on to the waters of Mara, those out of the rock, &c. lib. de Baptismo, cap. 11. Fa­thers [Page 59] have much, andBaptisme was prefigured in the red Sea and in Jordan. Walafrid. Stra­bo. de rebus ecclesiast. cap. 26. In the sprinkling before the entrance into the Temple. Alphons. Salmeron. com. 2. tract. 17. In the purifying of Aaron and his sons, Exod. 29. and many other both places and things of the Old Testament, P. G. Tholosan. Syntagm. lib. 2. cap. 4. sect. sect. from the Rab­bines, In 3. things the Deluge, the red Sea, and Jordan. Durand. Rational. divin. lib. 6. cap. 83. sect. 1. approved by Jo. Calvin, in his Lexicon in the word Baptisma, pa. 110. Sa­cramenta Christiana primum in lege Naturae adumbrata, & praenunciata: — Par­ticularly Baptisme, Bellarmin, lib. 3. de poenit. cap. 3. And see hereof Alchwin. de divi­nis officiis, cap. 18. Dr. Mayer on the hard places of Scripture. tom. 2. pa. 215: from Oecu­menius, in 1 Corinth. 10. & Pet. Ramus, de religione Christiana, lib. 4. cap. 6, &c. Though after all, I acknowledge, that when these things were observed and digested, I found Mr. Selden conjecturing with me and deriving, in his excellent Commentaries on Eu­tychius, lately by him set forth: Atque sicut Baptismus Christianorum Ebraicum Bap­tismum, quo tum parentes ipsorum turn proselyti Iudaismo initiabantur, haud parum imitabatur, &c. unde nec novus visus est hic ritus, cum fide Christiana imbutis adhi­bebatur; and as the Lords Supper drew from the Passeovers, so the Ordination of Presbyters he there speaks of; whence our Ordination, Num. 10. pa. 24. others: But premises and con­clusion neither of them, I think, laid together, or scarce a­ny other; I modestly propose, let the learned judge.

And this the first probable discovery, upon former grounds, of the originall of our Baptisme, with what would follow thereon: the second followeth.

CHAP. VII.
QUAERE 2. Of the Originall of Godfathers in Baptisme.

TOuching certain Assistants that have been usually required at the administration of this Sacrament among Christians for like believed Regeneration; the expectation of the World, and continuance of Ages, has not improperly stiled them (for so they were thought to be) GODFA­THERS. About whom much hath been said (besides what hath been seen done) by many, and not the least doubt of them is of theirMult [...] ignoramus, quae non late rent si vete­rum lectio esse [...] familiaris Macrob. in Sa­turnal. 6. In omnibus re­bus animad­verto, id perfectum ess [...] quod ex omnibus partibus suis constat. & certè cujusque rei p [...]tissima pars principium est. Digest. de Origine Iuris. L. Facturus. Originall, which if well search'd into, might, as in other things, let in much light toward ending many controversies, hanging now in miserably perplexed, both obscurity and uncertainty. That they have been in the largest diffusion of C [...]rcumstance, both to time and place, in all AGES, and of all CHURCHES, appears by the Records left; theAs Justin. Martyr. Quaest. 5 [...]. ad Orthodox. Dionys. Areopagit. de coelesti Hie­rarch. cap. 2, 3, 7. as I find him alledged by Bellarmin, Vasquez, Aquinas & Maldonare. The Writer of Epiphanius his life, in cap. 8. Nicetas de saraceni Anathema [...]ismo, apud Bibliothec. Pat. Graec. tom. 2. pa. 283. Disputationes Gregentii cum Herban [...] Iudaeo, tom. 1. pag 271. Severus Patriarch. Alexandr. lib. de ritibus Baptism, apud Biblioth. veterum patrum. tom 7. pa. 732. [...] in the Greek Church;Tertullian, lib. de Co ona milit cap 3. & lib de [...]aptismo, cap. 18. Augustin. in Sermon. 116. Serm 163. Serm. 181 & in prae [...]at. ad serm. 215 Lib de peccatorum me­ritis se remiss [...] cap. 19. & cap. 34 De Nuptiis & concupisc. lib. 1. cap. 20. Contra Dona­tist. lib. 4 124. & Epistol. 23 ad Bonifacium, Gregor. Magn Dialog lib. 4 cap. 32. By P ly­dore Virgils authority they were required by Higynus Bishop of Rome about the year 1 [...]0. lib 4 de rerum Inventor cap. 4. By Genebrard, sooner: Thel [...]sphoru —p [...]oparen­tes Baptismi — constituit, aut potius constitutos & in usu habitos imperavit. (He lived about the year 110) Genebrard. Chronolog ad an Mundi, 4.27. By the Latins I finde they were stiled Patres, Patrini, Patroni, Divini patres, Offerentes, Sponsores. Va­des, Fide-jussores, Fidei doctores, Fidei-ductores, Poedagogi, Levantes de fonte sacro, &c. which may enlighten among them to their use. Susceptores & compatres, in the Latine, and a­mong [Page 61] ourBe godfaederes oꝧꝧe godsunes [...]lyht; De eaede susceptoris ad sacrum fo [...]tem, aut suscepti, vid. Spelman. Concil. Britan. tom. 1. pa. 186. in Leg. Ecclesiast. Inae regis, 11. Necnon Lambard, Archaionom. pa. 14. Quid ut su [...]ceptoris officium, vid. c [...]n­cil. Calcuth. can. 2. apud. Spelman, pa. 293. He must be able to give account of the Creed and Lords Prayer. Canon. Edgari regis, 22. pa. 450. & Lambard. Archaion. pa. 67. None to contract Marriage within degrees forbidden, or with his godribbe (since contra­cted) cum consponsali sua, Leg. Presbyterorum Northumbrens. 52. pa. 501. in Spel­man. God-sib is as much as kin together through God. Verstegans Antiqu. cap. 7. pa. 223. More may be seen in Concilio Aeuhamensi Pananglico, cap. 8. pa. 516. & King Knouts ec­clesiast. laws, ca. 7. pa. 544. Saxon Ancestors at their first illumination by Christ's saving truth, godfaeder & godsun besidesConcil. Nicen. c. 21, & 23. apud Concil. Antisiodor. can. 25. in Caranz. fol. 266. Concil gener. 6. Constantinopol in Trullo. can. 53. fol. 338. Synod Mogunt. can. 47. fol. 386. Synod. Anglican sub Oswaldo, Northanymbrorum Rege, Anno 787. apud Magde­burg. Centuriatores, Centur. 8. cap. 9. Col. 316. Ne Monachi compatres, vel Monachae commatres fiant Synod. Anglican. sub. H [...]nric. 1. in Eadm. Historia Novorum, pa. 68. Concil. Trident. Session. 24. de reformat. Matrimonii can. [...]. Ne proprium filium de Bap­tismo quis suscipiat, Synod. Mogunt. can. 55. Councels,Lombard. Sentent. lib. 4. Distinct. 6. de responsione Patrinorum, & distinct. 42. Qui sunt filii spirituales, Aquin. Summ. Theolog part. 3. Quaest. 67. Utrum in Baptismo requiratur aliquis qui baptizatum Ievet de fonte sacro? Artic. 7. Utrum qui, &c. tene­atur ad ejus instructionem? Artic. 8 & vid. Supplem. tertiae partis quaest. 56. Art. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. Nec non Augustin Hunnaeum, de Sac [...]am. Bapt. axiom. 8. & de matrimon. axiom. 8 Vasquez in 3 partem Thomae. Disput. 148. tom. 2. pa. 346. &c. Gregor. de Valenc. tom. 4. Disput. 4. Quaest. 2. punct. 3. Schoolmen,Joan. Patriarcha. Hierosolym. in vita Johannis Damasceni, pa. 12. set before his Works, Centur. Magdeburgens. Cent. 3. cap. 6 de ritibus baptismi, Centur. 5. Cent. 7. Cent 8. Cent. 9. Cent 10. in the sixth chapter of each of those tomes, under the head, De ri­tibus Baptismi, Buchannan; Histor. rerum scoticarum, lib. 18. Os [...]ald King of Nor­thumberland was Godfather to Kynigilsus King of the West-Saxons: this in the morning of our Christian light, when the bright beams of the Gospel from heaven to great joy and comfort first dispeld here the darkness of H [...]athenisme, Bed Histor. Ecclesiastic. gentis An­glorum lib. 3. cap. 7. Edilwalch King of Chichester had for his Father at Baptisme King Vulphere (of West Saxons) who gave him the Isle of Wight, and the Means about old Winchester in Hampshire) as a pledge of his love and adoption. lib. 4. cap. 13. compared with Mr. Camden in Hampshire, pa. 2 [...]8. Such another lega [...]y K. Alfred gave to Guthrun (or Gurmund) the Danish King adopted by him at Winchester, with eighteen, some say thirty of his Chiefs,: sc. the Provinces of the East Angles and Northumberland, Spelman, Concil. Britan. tom. 1 pa 378, 379. & pa. 395. Lambard Archaion pa 37. Foxe Marty­rolog. in the life of K. Alfred, & Jo. Pike, avouched by Mr. Camden in Icenis pa. 510. Not unsea­sonably may here be remembred, that it was usu­al in those days, and continued since, to bestow gifts upon those were owned for such children in God (or Religon) as a token of a kinde of adoption or assumption into the Family, with those were natural. For, Adoptio est imago Naturae, & civilis ratio quaerendorum liberorum, qui in nostra potestate sunt perinde atque liberi procreati ex justis nuptiis Cui ac: in paratit. ad Codic. lib. 8. tit. 48. de adoptionibus; or it is, fictio inducta ad similitudinem naturae. Nam est adoptio legalis actio, per quam quis fit velut filius qui non est, penè naturam imi­tans. Gloss. Imagine. ad Digest. de liberis & postum. L. 23. Filio, quem. Or, as Aqui­nas, Adoptio est extraneae personae in filium vel filiam vel nepotem legitima assump­tio, Supplem. tertiae partis. Quaest. 57. art. 1. Such Adoption seemed here, and the care and bounty of life continued to death in remembring with some kinde of Legacy, in the next classis after natural, those that were so adopted. Which abused, and as it were Simoniacally depraved, to suck out of what was Holy and Religious, corrupt worldly gain, (as, for instance, that Jew did, so often baptized in Socrates his Ecclesiast. story, lib. 7. cap. 17.) occasioned (for ex malis moribus bonae leges) those wholsome Laws in after times, sc. 1. Against gi­ving any thing: So far a Synod at Millain proceeded.—Ne cuiquam, quod ali­quando commissum est, iterandi hoc sacramentum (confirmationis) occasio praebea­tur: Quod & in Baptismo diligenter observandum: Alledged by Durant, de ritib. lib. 1. cap. 20. sect. 18. 2. Against unnecessary multiplying those relations at first. As our com­manding canons had restrained to three. Quod enim amplius est à malo est. Lindwood Constitur. provincial. lib. 3. tit. de Baptismo. Other places allow not so many. The Coun­cel of Trent, but two at most. De reformat. Matrimonii, Session. 24. ca. 2. The Canon law, one man and one woman, Gratian. in Decret. par. 3. dist. 4. c. 101. & Lancelot, Institut. Ju­ris Canon. lib. 2. tit. 13. At Lunenburg in Germany (saith my Authour) they have but one. Historians, [Page 62] Cod. de nuptiis. L. Si­quis alumnam The Glosse takes this to be a Greek Law, though wanting in Theodosius his Code, and re­fers both to Harme nop. lib. 4. tit. 6. and another body, de nuptiis prohibitis, where they are mentioned, Civilians,Decret. par. 2. Caus. 2. Quaest. 1, 2, 3, 4. part. 3. Distinct. 4. c. 100, 104, &c. Lancelot Institut. Juris Canon. lib. 2. tit. 13. Gregor. Tholosan. Syntagm. lib. 9, cap. 9. sect. 10. lib. 15. cap. 13. sect. 15 & lib. 2. cap. 4. sect. 10, 11. Canonists,Walafrid. Strabo, de rebus Ecclesiast. cap. 26. Alcwin. de devinis offic. cap. 19. col. 1062, & 1064. cap. 21. col. 1064. de ceremoniis Baptismi, Epist. col. 1153, & 1158. Durand. Rationale Divin. lib. 6. cap. 83. sect. 34, 35. Joan Beleth. Divinorum offic. explic. cap. 90. & cap. 110. Durant. de ritibus Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 19. sect. 16, 17. Jo­seph. Vicecomes, de ritibus Baptismi, lib. 1. cap. 30. de susceptorum nominibus, origene, usu, &e. Ritualists, [Page 63] Estne sponsorum, quos susceptores vocant, &c. usus necessarius? Respond. Nec necessarius. — nec simpliciter rejiciendus. But 8 Reasons alledged for their conveniency, by Will. Ducan. a Lutheran, and professor at Lozanna, the next Ʋniversity to Geneva. Commun. loc. 48. quaest. 47. Joyn to him for neighbourhoods sake and consonancy in opinion, the eloquent pro­fessor at Ulme, Dr. Theordorike (or Cunrad. Dietericus,) in praefat. ad tom. 2. An. Dominical. and some gratulatory verses before the last edition of 1644. tom. 1. were directed to him by Cunrade Backman (his successor in the Chaire) Ad reverendum, &c. Cunradum Dieterio, &c. amicum & compatrem suum. In like manner Dr. Ch. Matthias pro­fessor at Sora gratified Dr. Brockman professor at Coppenhagen in Denmark: Ad reve­rendum, &c. Erasmum Brockmannum—fratrem in Christo & compatrem longè dilectissimum, in the verses before his Works printed 1639. And the professor himself both remembers them, approves their use, and has four reasons for continuance of them in his Danish Protestant Church. Systhem. Theolog. artic. 34. sect. 5. de Baptismi ceremon. pa. 2018. tom. 3. Catechists,Bellarmin. de sacram Baptismi, lib. 1. cap. 26. Polydor. Virgil. de rerum inven­tor. lib 4 cap. 4. Herman Archbishop of Coleyne, in his consultation for a reformation of Religion in his Province: These he would have retained in his chap. of Baptisme, and of De­mands before Baptisme. Adversaries, Friends,As far abroad as Prester Johns hot regions, Ordo Baptismi secundum usum Ae­thiopum both mentions and expects them Vades, sureties and pledges for the infant, says Jos. Vicecom. lib. 1. cap. 30. Cassander inlarges, extant apud nos typis excusi ritus Bap­tismi Ruthenorum, Armenorum & Ethiopum, &c. — qui omnes infantes haud secus atque adultos apud ipsos baptizari testantur, nisi quod infantium nomine su­sceptores respondeant. Testimonia veterum scriptorum, &c. in his Works, pa. 693. The Russes are a part of the Greek Church, at their profession of Abrenunciation the God­fathers spit on the ground in defyance of the Devil, Paget. Christianogr. pa. 132. The Low-Countreys own them by Tremellius his notes on Isa. 8.2. and the same I had from credible testimony of a neighbour, who long exercised his Ministery among them. Learned Zanchy both mentions and approves them in Commentat. ad Ephes. pa. 580. Chamiet, that great light of France, magnifies them; Praeclarum inventum, &c. especially for infants in the place hereafter alledged. But above all Geneva has not discarded them. Mr. Hooker assures it, in his Ecclesiast. Politie. lib. 4. sect. 10. pa. 146. & Bellarmine, (who makes some advantage of it) lib 1. de Bapt. cap. 1. Nor do they that Town any wrong. For to one that ask'd the question and doubted of the lawfulness, Calvin did not forbid the thing, but to be surety at Popish Baptisme, in Epist. 258. To Mr. Farell, desiring his advice in some things about the Church of Berne (where it seems he was then resident, and in which Epi­stle he mentions Levantes puerum, in Epist. 147.) He is very copious. Stipulamur ab iis qui offerunt (saith he) ut adultos erudiunt in ea fide in qua baptizantur: si nemo fi­de jubeat profanari baptismum certum est. — and for what they should be, Caete­rùm minimè dubitamus, non alios esse idoneos sponsores, nisi penes quos sit praestan­di facultas, hoc est qui infantem habituri sunt in sua potestate, vel qui patris aut ma­tris rogatu fidem suam ecclesiae obligent, Epist. 149 pa. 256. To Gaspar Olevian shew­ing upon request their discipline, and for his imitation, Patres (nisi quid negotii impedi­at) jubentur adesse ut stipulationi respondeant unam cum fide jussoribus (saith he) Nemo tamen ad fide jubendum admittitur, nisi qui ejusdem nobiscum est professionis; arcentur & excommunicati ab hoc honore, Epist. 302. pa. 491. This communion of faith he again holds requisit in Epist. 381. pa. 661. as did Gregory de Valencia his way. sc. Jure divino & naturali certum est haereticos vel maximè ab ejusmodi munere prohiberi, tom. 4. Disput. 4. Quaest. 2. Punct. 3. And those are under pennance, the Councell of Paris would have forborne: Quoniam quos & lex divina à castris militaribus, ne ruina sint populi, & authoritas Canonica ab ecclesiarum sequestrant limitibus, multo magis à memoratis peragendis, &c. Concil. paris. c. 54. Dr. Brockman is earnest against both, sc. that both the scandalous and heterodoxe should be kept away. Systhem. Theolog. artic. de Bapt. Cas. conscient. 9. abroad, [Page 64] Even T. C. or Tho. Cart­wright liked to have them re­tained here because all Chutches have received them. Hooker Polit. Eccles. lib. 5. sect. 65. pa. 341. Dr. Godwin had somwhat of them in Moses and Aaron, lib. 6. cap. 1. and Dr. Mayer on the Church-Catechisme, pa. 4. I forbear any more at home, because at home: de quibus saltem pauca posuissem, nisi otiosum esset docere quae nota sunt, in the words of St Jerome Comment. in Jerem cap. 32. tom. 4. pa 303. They have been with us al­way. This sure. Witness what before, of the first days: and add those directions to the Presbytery of Northumberland, that the sponsores should make good their title, and perform their undertaking, teaching the childe to forsake the Devil and all his works, to learn the Greed and Lords Supper, &c. Or else to answer the neglect to God Almighty, Magde­burgens. Centur. 8. cap. 9. de Synodis col. 316. The thoughts of Vicecomes may be a fit close, which his pen hath left expressed in these words: Si plura veterum testimonia quis desideret, facile erit rerum divinarum scriptores, qui, &c. adjicere. Quorum plerique cum non longo intervallo, ab Apostolis disjuncti sint, necessaria consequutione col­ligimus Susceptorum usum ab ipsis Apostolis incepisse, Joseph. Vicecom de antiquis Bapt. ritibus, lib. 1. cap 30. By Caranza's credit St. Mark was so adopted by St. Peter. Hic scripsit duas Epistolas quae catholicae & canonice nominantur, & Evangelium Marci, qui Marchus auditor ejus fuit, & filius à Baptismo. summ. Conciliorum, fol. 12. in vita Petri. True indeed, St. Mark was his son: He stiles him so, and that we imbrace for Holy Writ gives it us. In 1. Epist. 5.13. The Church which is at Babylon saluteth thee, and Marchus my son. So, his son he was, and not natural: no one hath said this. Ergo. at home, and generally all sorts of Writers, which may be thought to have had occasion to mention them, who have not forgotten them. Now may not a more pro­bable origination of them then hitherto (indeed scarce thought on before) be made out, by deriving them from the like assistants, at the same rite, by the same ceremony, for the very same end of regenerating men to new Religion, though the Jewish way? (as first Christianity throughout was nothing else but Judaismus reformatus, as the learned stile it, or the corruptions of Moses and the Prophets re­formed by Jesus of Nazareth and his Discsples) and they be thought to be taken up in succession of the [Page 65] Look back to what was said of them before, pa. 16. and com­pare therewith what is said of Ordination: In Pandectis. He­braeorum ordinatio presbyterorum per impositionem manuum tribus fieri debet prae­sentibus, Selden. commentar. in Eutych. Num. 10. pa. 20. Triumvirate before spoken of, to be that Triumvirate continued, without whose presence or assistance necessary, none were ever regenerate unto the Church of Israel?

As, by the way, our making the business clearlyFor the Church of Christ is so gentle and reasonable a Mother, that she would have none forced to yeild to her Jurisdiction, or constrained without due self-conviction to yeild sub­jection to her soveraign and commanding Power. Whence way to Baptisme hath been usual­ly made not without explicite satisfaction given in two things. 1. Whether the competens or desirer thereof were willing to come over to her? 2. Whether he would frame his life accor­dingly, and not be a disgrace to that School, a blemish to that society which is the Houshold of God, 1 Timoth. 3.15. Ephes. 2.19. Galat 6.10. whose conversation Philip. 3.2. is already in heaven? So was it in the Synagogue of Israel. Nolentem non cogebant in se suscipere legem & prophetas, says Maiemonides, He that would not, should not be theirs: they forced none to their Law, (understand, the Law of Moses and to compleat proselytes; for the lower sort were as 'twere constrained, or not suffered else to live with Israel, because Israel might not associate with them:) and Munster, When any desire to be a Proselyte, they propose to him the hardest things of the Law—with some pennances—and they would seem by these means to be willing to drive men from their Religion. in Evan­gel. Mat. Hebr. cap. 22. A special part of that enquiry was, whether by love and choice, &c? Diligenter an ob simplicem Judaismi amorem in illum transire desideraret, exploran­tes, as Mr. Selden, de Jure nat. pa. 143. (in exact paralel to what in St Augustine, Utrum propter vitae praesentis aliquod commodum, an propter requiem quae port hane vi­tam speratur? de Catechizand. rudibus, cap. 16. & cap. 26. tom. 4. pa. 301.) And this might give reason why in the prosperous days of Solomon and his father, so few were admit­ted, perhaps none, but the Courts down, least Fear of power, or Hope of reward, or any thing but Love and Choice might seem to inforce or permit them to Israel. So at this day, Si alcune volesse farsi Hebraeo, primo sono tenuti tre Rabbini, ô persone di autorita interrogaclo sottelmente, che cosa lo move à far questa rissoluti­one, è intender bene se fosse à qualch fine mondana, che devono licentiarlo, è poi protestarle con notificarle che la legge Mosaica è strettissima, è che gl'Hebraei al pre­sente sono abietti è vili & esotarlo che meglio sarebbe ch'egli se ne stasso nel stato che si trova. Which by the help of a Spectacle, I thus read: If any one would be a Jew, he must first be precisely questioned by 3 Rabbines or persons of authority, What is that moves him to take this resolution, and understand well that if it be for a worldly end, they ought to leave him, and then to let him know and protest that the Law of Moses is very strict, and that the Hebrews are at present abject and vile, and exhort him that it is better for him to continue in his present condition. But if he give a fast answer: then he is to be circumci­sed, &c. from Ludovic. Mutinens. de gli riti Hebraici. part. 5. cap. 2. Now for the Christian side, beside St Augustine before, hear St Chrysostome. Sicut nos servos ementes, ipsos qui venduntur prius interrogamus, an nobis servire velint? Ita facit & Christus quan­do futurus est in servitutem te caper [...]. Pri­us interrogat, an velis illum crudelem tyrannum dimittere, & à te faedera suscipit; [...], non enim coactum est ejus imperium. Homil. 21. ad popul. Antioch. tom. 1. pa. 244. As we, when we hire servants, enquire of their will to serve us, So Christ, willing to own no one against his will. And thence he reckoneth that Baptisme unavailable which is in sickness, &c. when a man seems driven in by the tempest of pain, and has not command of his whole self: in Homil. ad Illuminandos, pa. 707. The incongruity of which time for which reason Basil left observed, Quid expectas beneficio febris bapti­zati, &c. in Exhortat. ad Bapt. Homil. 13. tom. 1. pa. 415. And the Canon Law which would not admit such into Orders, Dist. 57. cap. 1. As nor the Councel of Neocaesarea, siquis in aegritudine fuerit baptizatus ad honorem presbyterii non poterit pervenire, quòd non ex proposito fides ejus sed ex necessitate descendit. can. 12. nor Cornelius Bishop of Rome, whose restraint of the Clinici, or those were baptized in their beds may be seen in Bi­nius, in Epist. ad Fab. Antioch. pa. 163. tom. 1. Dionysius the Areopagit (to take the high­est) has left, Imprimis interrogandum esse baptizandum, antequam Ecclesiam ingre­diatur, num velit ejus esse professionis, as Gregor. Tholosau. in Syntagn. 2.4.10. Wilt thou be baptized into this Faith? Walafrid. Strabo. Notandum, quod primis temporibus, illis solummodò Baptismi gratiam dari solitam, qui & corporis & mentis integritate jam ad hoc pervenerant ut scire atque intelligere possent, Quid emolumenti in Bap­tismo consequendum, quid conficendum atque credendum, quid postremò renatis in Christo esset faciendum, de rebus Ecclesiast. cap. 26. Nicetas has it often, how free the access was in his time: Heus tu, qui à Saracenis ad Christianorum fidem accedis (said the Minister) non ex violentia quadam aut necessitate, neque dolo aut hypocrisi, sed ex tota anima & corde puro atque sincero quibus Christum & ejus fidem diligis? What! willingly, and in sincerity of heart to seek Christ alone! He answers, Re­nuncio omni Saracenorum religioni,& anathematizo Maomedum, &c. And soon af­ter, Ego qui à Saracenis hodiè ad Christianorum fidem accedo, non ex violentia quadam aut necessitate, neque dolo aut hypocrisi, sed ex tota anima & corde puro atque sincero, quibus Christum & ejus fidem diligo: I seriously renounce Mahomed, and seek my Saviour with all my heart. Nicet. Saracenica, apud Biblioth. Patrum Graec. tom. 1. pa. 282, 283. And another Nicettas (Serronius) Solo voluntatis pretio Baptis­mus emitur. Nothing but a good will can deserve to this Seal. In Commentar ad Gre­gor. Nazianz. Orat. 40. cap. 26. Tertullian, Sed nec religionis est cogere religionem, quae sponte suscipi debet. lib. ad Scapul. cap. 2. St Bernard, Fides nequaquam vi extor­quetur, sed exemplis atque ratione suadetur, de modo benè vivendi, cap. 1. And a Spa­nish Councel gravely and discreetly, De Judaeis praecepit sancta synodus nemini deinceps ad credendum vim inferri, Cui enim vult Deus, miseretur: & quem vult indurat. Non enim in viti tales salvandi sunt, sed volentes, ut integra sit forma justitiae. Sicut enim homo proprii arbitrii voluntate, serpenti obediens periit, sic. &c. Concil. Tolet. 4. can. 55. taken after into the Decree, in Distin. 45. cap. 5. Where the Canon is determi­ning, that the Minister of Religion ought to be milde, not soon angry, no striker, (from 1 Timoth. 3.3.) Pastores ete­nim facti su­mus, non per­cussores, saith Gregory, Et egregius prae­dicator dicit; Argue, obsecra, impera in omni patientia & doctrina. Nova verò atque in audita est ista praedicatio, quae verberibus exigit fidem. cap. 1. out of Gregory the great. Ad fidem enim nemo cogendus est, as the Gloss has it there. Yet more, the same Canon Law grants them dischargeable from obligation to observe Laws Christian, who in no sort consented, but in spite of express contradiction had this Sacrament forced on them. Lancelot. Institut. Jur Canon. lib. 2. tit. 3. As Erasmus would have them released of the Churches Jurisdiction, who dissent at years of consent, in praefat. in Matth. (But note that refusal must be then more then not agreeing, an actual resisting; for plus est expresse con­tradicere quam non consentire, as in the Decretals.) And in the Decree, Prius ipse Jesus caeci nati oculos luto superlinivit, & sic ad aquas Siloe misit, quia prius debet baptizandus fide incarnationis Christi instrui, & sic ad Baptismum jam credulus ad­mitti, ut sciat cujus gratiae est in eo particeps, & cui jam debitor fiat deinceps. de consec. distinct. 4. ca. 54. Hence Catechizing was wont to go before Baptizing, and in pra­ctise as well as rule, in act as well as equity: Non enim adulti sunt cogendi ad profi­tendum fidem, vel ad suscipiendum sacramenta fidei, sed inducendi instructione & admonitione ut dictum fuit, &c. in the Schools, Durand. in Sentent. lib. 4. Dist. 6. Quaest. 3. Utrum Catechismus debeat praecedere Baptismum? By the greatest reason in the world. And though Princes may compell their subjects to return to their vow, if they apostatize, or all other not to blaspheme; &c. yet it is the common sentence of the Schools, saith Gre­gory de Valencia, that to force their consciences that are at liberty to come to Baptisme, this they may not: tom. 3. disput. 1. Quaest. 10. de in fidelitate, punct. 6. So was done here in this our Land: When the Bible, unheard of, was brought and offered, and the King by the Grace of God had his heart opened to belief of the Truth, yet he constrained none of his subjects to follow him, but left it to their choice, and to bring the free-will offering of their hearts in their hands, by consecration of minde and good will, else he knew the sprinkling of a little water was but an unprofitable Ceremony. Quorum fidei & conversioni (saith Bede of those that came in after him) ita tamen congratulatus esse rex perhibetur, ut nullum tamen cogeret ad Christianismum, sed tantummodo credentes arctiori dilectione quasi concives sibi regni coelestis amplecteretur. Didicerat enim ab auctoribus doctoribusque suae salutis servitium Christi VOLUNTARIUM non coactitiumesse debere. Histor. Ecclesiast. gentis Anglorum, lib. 1. cap. 26. So is it as this day abroad. If any Jew, Moor, or other Gentile be disposed to receive the Faith of Christ, it is believed written in the Apostles books (saith Zaga Zabo, an Ethiopian, Bishop, of his Countrey, to omit other) that he is not forthwith to be admitted: But they will that he first come un­to the gate of the Church, and there to hear Sermons and the words of our Saviour Christ that before he be (wrought over and) brought (as it were by stealth or force) unto the, faith, he may know the yoke of the Law. Damian. à Goes. pa. 563. whereto we may be­lieve practise answerable. Aquinas proposeth the Question, of Jews children, Whether they are to be baptized without consent of their parents? He answers, No: nor ever had or should: quod & justitiae naturali repugnaret, & inde fides in periculum venire posset: It was both against common Justice, and destructive of the nature of Faith: So of other infidels, secunda secundae, Quest. 10. artic. 10. Lastly, our very learned neigh­bour dislikes all fighting to propagate religion (in his book of War, and for religion) particu­larly the inforcing of ours, by Scripture Fathers, and other amplificatio [...]s. Lex nova non se vindicat ultore gladio, out of Tertullian, Force is the worst Minister of Faith, and most unreasonable to perswade averse men to Heaven by the Rhetorick of the Sword H. Grot. de jure Belli & pacis, lib. 2. cap. 20. This whole in accordance to the first and best patterns: As many as receive the word [...] with delight (and pleasure, which is more then libenter with a permissive or active good will, as in the old translation( were baptized: and so there were added to the Church that day multitudes of souls, Act. 2.41. vo­luntary, in all formes, or according to all Directories of Christian Baptisme, that I have met with by repeated [Page 66] [Page 67] [Page 68] Questions orƲsed all along, and from the first: Phi­lips questioning the Eunuch, Act. 8.37. may give some coun­tenance of holy Writ. For con­tinuance, see Tertullian: de corona mil. cap. 3. Cy­prian. Epistol. 70. ad Januar. Epist. 77. ad magn. Epistol. Firmiliani ad Cyprianum, pa. 116. Acta sanctorum Martyrum, first published from the Manuscript by Baron, ad an. 259. n. 11. Hieronym. adversus Luciferian, cap. 5. tom. 2. pa. 167. Ambros. in lib. de initiandis. cap. 2, & 3. tom. 4. pa. 163. de sacrament. lib. 2. cap. 2. pa. 171. de spiritu sancto. lib. 2. cap. 11. pa. 151. Augustin. de Catechizand. rudibus cap. 16. tom. 4. pa. 301. & cap. 26. pa. 307. de Baptismo contra Donat. lib. 5. cap. 20. tom. 7. pa. 63. Homil. 2. de Bapt. in append. tom. 10. pa. 846. Nay what Interrogatories to a mans self. Serm. 116. de Temp. tom. 10. pa. 303. Lombard. Sentent. lib. 4. distinct. 6. Herman. Archbishop of Coleyne in his Treatise of Reformation, chap. [of Baptisme] Calvin. Epist. 302. pa. 491. Are they able to shew that ever the Church of Christ had any publick form of Baptisme without Interrogatories? Hooker, in his Eccles. Politie. lib. 5. sect. 64. pa. 336. Interrogations proposed to the Baptized, and exacting full answer,Scrutinium nihil aliud est quam fidei & religionis Christianae inquisitio. —& dicitur à scrutando, id est, inquirendo, quia fidei & religionis inquisitio sit. Durand. Rational. Divin. lib. 6. cap. 56. sect. 2. Certe: Nemo improbare queat seriam in tam sanctis rebus non prophanandis diligentiam: Ne, quantum fieri poterit, lateant Simones. Chamier. Panstrat. Cathol. par. 4. lib. 5. cap. 15. sect. 13. Scrutinia the antients called them, orPerpulchrum verò nobis videtur, ut ad incontaminatum accurrentes Baptisma non temetè suscipiantur. Authentic. collat. 9. tit. 25. cap. 2. sifting them for their consents (for Religion should be of all other most free and at liberty, to force men profess what they do not believe, what is it but to fill the world with Atheists and hypocrites? in a business so near us of Salvation, every one should be allowed to chuse for himself and not according to anothers Interesse: Faith is the gift of the holy Ghost, I can believe but what I know, nor should I be forced to seem to believe any more then I list, because I can believe no more or otherwise then my forestalled judgement shall lead my faith and perswasion) [Page 69] with mutuallConsider whether that [...] 1 Pet. 3.21. or Stipulatio bonae Conscientiae, as Beza has translated, may not be fitly thought to allude to some such thing? Many have thence spoken of a stipulation: and very many. Brentius: Petrus in priori sua Epistola, Baptismus (inquit) est [...], hoc est, stipulatio bonae conscientiae erga Deum. Quibus verbis Baptismi ratio valde significanter explicater. Etenim quod inter homines in civilibus stipulationi­bus fieri solet, hoe idem sit in Baptismo inter Deum & hominem. In civili autem stipulatione,(quae est, ut Jurisconsultus definit, conceptio verborum, quibus is, qui interrogatur, daturum facturumve se id, quod interrogatus est, respendet, videlicet: Spondes? spondeo: promittis? promitto: dabis? dabo: facies? faciam) primum est interrogans, quem vocant stipulatorem, deinde respondens, qui est promissor, postre­mo res ipsa de qua fit stipulatio; & in legitima stipulatione promissor stipulatori ita firmiter obligatur, ut quasi vinculo quodam solvendae promissae rei astringatur; sic in Baptismo, &c. Homil. 23. ad Luc. 3. fol. 46. which is indeed the nature of that compact, by our Bracton: Stipulatio est quaedam verborum conceptio, quae consistit ex interro­gatione & responsione, ut si dicatur, Promittis? Promitto: Dabis? do. &c. lib. 3. tract. 1. ca. 2. sect. 2. & Fleta, lib. 2. cap. 56. sec. 9. which they might have both from the Imperials: Instit. 3. de verborum obligat. sect. in hac re. Bellarmine alledges Lyranus, Gagnaeus, & Johan. à. Lovan: for this interpretation; de Sacram: lib. 1. cap. 17. Chamier ads many other, Nicetas Hesselius, &c. tom. 4. lib. 2. cap. sect. 5, & 11. Pamellius on Tertullian goes the same way, lib. de Bapt. cap. 6. num. 45. & Joseph Vicecomes. de ritibus Bapt. lib. 2. cap. 23. & Estius in his coments on the place: & Dr. Brockman, Systhem. Theol. art. 34. sect. 3. and Hooker in his Eccles. Polit. 5. sect. 63. [...] signifieth a stipulation or promise conceived in words, whereby he that is baptized covenanteth to believe and do as he is in baptisme required. Mr. Legh, Critica sacra, pa. 213. Non enim sufficit baptizando habere bonam conscientiam, nisi ad interrogationem ecclesiae suam fidem ostendat, says the Canon from 1. Pet. 3.21. de Consecrat. dist. 4. cap. Verus Baptismus. Thus af­ter mine own thoughts had led me to this conjecture, plenty of confirmation came in from abroad. Beza's attestation to all will not be despised. Sed omnino praestat ut hoc referamus ad interrogationes Catechistarum quibus Catechumeni interiorem Baptismum testifica­bantur exteriore sanciendum, ut Act. 8.37. Quò spectat Apostolicum totum symbo­lum, & illud, ab adultorum Baptismo ad insantium baptismum, magno errore, si ip­sos infantes spectes, translatum, Credis? Credo. Abrenuncias? Abrenuncio. Unde illud Tertulliani (lib. de resurrect.) Anima non lavatione sed responsione sancitur. Annotat. maior. ad 1 Pet. 3.21. stipulation between him andUbi promiseris considera vel quibus promiseris. Levitam vidisti, sed Mini­ster. est Christi. Ambros. de sacram. lib. 1. cap. 2. Gods Minister, the result whereof is by St Chrysostome and others stiled [...]. Chrysost. Homil. 21. ad popul. Antioch. tom. 1. pa. 244. When a man lyes sick upon his bed and like a block, how can he consent to those words, [...], whereby he is to contract a league with the God of all? Id. in Homil. 51. ad Illuminand. tom. eod pa. 707.—sequen­tis vitae ac purioris vivendi rationis PACTUM cum DEO in itum. Gregor. Nazian­zen. Orat. 40. tom. 1. pa. 641. vid. etiam Joan. Damascen. de Barlaam & Josaphat, cap. 8. & B [...]l. exhort. ad Bapt. Homil. 13. tom. 1. pa. 415. Baptisme implyeth a Covenant betwixt G d and man, saith Mr. Hooker, wherein as God doth bestow presently remission of sins and the holy Ghost, binding also himself to add in process of time what grace soever shall be farther necessary for the atainment of everlasting life, so every baptized soul receiving the same grace at the hand of God, tyeth it self for ever to the observation of his Law, Ecclesiast. Polit. 5. sect. 64. pa. 337. And from advantage of this preconfederation and firmness of the COMPACT we may sup­pose it to be, that those who deliberate of plain Apostacy, or falling from God to his Enemie, as Witches (having been baptized) can, as is said of them, do nothing in this accursed hel­lish business of new league till they have abjured their Baptisme and trampled under foot their former Contract, Renouncing their past Christian Renunciation, and tearing in pieces the Arti­cles of that bless'd agreement, whereby they were so (thus) made over to God in Christ, that they could not be anothers, nor enter into new covenant-service till they were discharged of their former Master; As a woman can superinduce no new relation conjugall till she have sued out divorce from whose she was; Feodum talliatum, not pass to a stranger before the tallie be taken in, and the Indenture of past appropriation revoked; A State can do nothing contrary to a Publick Act unrepealed; nor a privat person go against his own hand. All which if, and these things be so; What a great advantage must it be to Sathans Kingdom to have left out what was so contrary to him? What a loss to Christ, by his servants not being hindred from his enemie? What must follow hereon, but a Gate set ready open for Hell and Death? and (by forbearance to lay across that rub and impediment was wont to hinder) the levelling and making plain a ready smooth way to the D? But I forbear Position here: The suppositum lyes far off in a dark Region of knowledge wherein I thank God I have little acquaintance. Darkness should not make way to light. These foundation-Premises are slippery or weak, and so no confident boldness should be taken up in superstruction or conclusion. Confaederatio cum Deo, or entring [Page 70] solemn league and Covenant with the God of Heaven: Our Blessing from him, orBene­dicere alicui, pro, orare pro eo, & bene illi precati posi­tum est. Nam prius dixerat Matthaeus, ut manus eis im­poneret & ora­ret, Marlorat. in Matth. 19.15. praying for him, which the Hebrews called to Bless, (and they are not far asunder,Benedictio est sanctitatis traditio. Gratian. in Decret. Qui benedicit media­tor est ad impetrandum influxum sive gratiam ejusmodi: estque illa ratio impositio­nis manuum: solent enim qui benedicunt, imponere manus super eos, quibus bene­dicunt, ut eos disponant ad recipiendam gratiam, aut bonum ejusmodi. Quum au­tem justus aut pius benedicit, ipse est canalis per quem gratia divina profluit. Joseph. de Voisin. lib. 1. Theolog. Judeaorum, cap. 5. pa. 76. de cultu Angelorum. from the Rabbines. Blessing being in a sort the calling down or giving of God, & prayer chiefly to invoke and procure his presence, as­sistance or blessing) Our enjoyning him moreover Abrenun­ciationem seculi, in MartyrCprian. Epistol. 7, pa. 14. Epist 8. pa. 15. (so understood by Augustine de Bapt. con­tra Donat. lib. 4. cap. 2.) lib. de discip. & habitu. virg. pa. 132. lib. de lapsis. pa. 141. lib. de orat. Domin. pa. 157. & lib. de mortalitate, pa. 177. The word betokens so smart and irrevo­cable rejection as was used by Monks at entrance upon their Poverty, postquam abrenuncian conversatus fuerit inter Monachos. Novel. 5. cap. 5. abrenuncians hanc (substantiam) reliquit. cap 7. as upon other occasions, Novel. 17. cap. 8. & Novel. 18. cap. 9. Cum saeculo abrenunciaverit. gloss. Dedicare. ad Novel. 76. in praefat. Cyprians phrase and [Page 71] andAbrenun­cio Sathanae & operibus e­jus, pompis, cultui, Ange­lis & machinationibus ejus, & omnibus quae sub ipso sunt: I defy them all. Clem. Roman. Constit. Apostol. lib. 7. cap. 41. vid. etiam lib-3 cap. 18. Clement. Alexandrin paedagog. lib. 1. cap. 6. Cyrill. Alexandrin. contra Julian. lib. 7. tom. 6. pa. 248. Cyrill. Hierosol. Ca­teches. Mystagog. 1. Chrysostom. Homil. 21. ad pop. Antioch. tom. 1. pa 239, 244, 245. Homil. 47. in Julian. pa. 544. & Homil. 6. in Coloss. 2 tom. 6. pa. 200, & 201. Nichol. Ca­basil. Liturg. expos. apud Biblioth. pat. Gr. tom. 1. pa. 203. Nicet Saracen. tom. 2. pa. 283, 285. Sever. patriarch. Alexand. lib. de ritibus Bapt. apud Biblioth. pat. Lat. tom. 7. pa. 530. Basil exhort. ad Bapt. Homil. 13. tom. 1. pa. 115. lib. de Sp. sancto. cap. 27. Eli. Cre­tens. in Orat. 4. Gregor. Nazianzeni. cap. 24. & in Orat. 19. cap. 13. Nicet. Serron. com­mentar. ad ejusdem Gregor. Orat. 40. cap. 51. whence Gregory himself might say of Bap­tisme, it was, [...], a declaration for God against his adver­saries, in Orat. 32. sect. 56. tom. 1. pa. 520. so expounded by Elias Cretensis, col. 929. For the Latines (besides Cyprian above) see Tertullian, lib. de spectac. cap. 4, 24. lib. de Idololat. cap. 6. lib. ad Martyr. cap. 2. lib. de corona. mil. cap. 3. & cap. 13. de cultu faeminarum. lib. 1. cap. 2. & lib. Anima. cap. Ambros Hexaem. lib. cap. 4. tom. 1. pa. 3. Comment, in Luc. 20. tom. 3. pa. 95. Comment. in Coloss. 2. pa. 255. lib. de initiandis. ca. 2. tom, 4. pa. 163. & lib. 1. de Sacram. cap. 2. pa. 167. Hieron. Comment. in Amos. 6 tom. 5. pa. 115. Comment. in Matth. 5. tom. 6. pa. 6. Comment. in 1. Timoth. 6. tom. 8. pa. 270. & de vera Circumcisione. tom. 9. pa. 77. Augustin. Epist. 23. ad Bonifac. tom. 2. pa. 35. Epist. 89. contra Pelag. pa. 155. Concio. ad Catechum. contra Judaeos. cap. 3, 4. tom. 6. pa. 23, 24. de Bapt. contra Donat. lib. 5. cap. 15, & cap. 28. tom. 7. pa. 61, 65. serm. 116. de Tempo­re. tom. 10. pa. 304. Homil. 2. de Bapt. in append. tom. 10. pa. 846. & de Symbolo ad Ca­tech. lib 4. cap. 1. Alchwin. Epist. ad Imperat. Carol. de Ceremon. Bapt. col. 1156. de di­vinis officiis, c. 19. col. 1061, 1063. & Epist. 70. col. 1592. Salvian. de gubernat. DEI. lib. 6. Bernard. Serm. de duplici Bapt. Lombard. Sentent. lib. 4. dist. 6. Joan. Beleth. divino­rum offic. explic. cap. 90. Concil. Calchuth. ca. 3. in Spelman. Concil tom. 1. pa. 293. Sy­nod Anglican. sub. anno, 786. apud Magdeburg. Centur. 8. cap. 9. de Synodis, & Cen­tur. 9. cap. 6. ritus circa Baptismum, Gratian. de Consecrat. dist. 4. cap. 95. So all abroad this hath been received, and heretofore. Of later times, The Russes were remembred before spitting upon the ground in defyance of the Devil, credo ut hac ratione perpetuum illi dis­sidium indicent, says Joseph. Vicecom. de ritibus Bapt. lib. 1. cap. 19. The Habassines or Ethiopians are no less earnest in Pagets Christianogr. par. 1. pa. 165. The Cophri or Egip­tians thus: I such a one N. that am baptized, I do renounce the Devil and all his works, and all his Angels, and all his pride, and all his worldly error, and every one that doth consent un­to him, pa. 158. The nearer Danish Protestants continue it, by Brochman. in Systhem. Theol. artic. 34. sect. 5. tom. 2. pa. 2017. Others I forbear as near enough home, and well enough known. Vehementissima frequentissimaque apud veteres patres hujus partis & commemoratio est & commendatio; prorsus necessaria atque essentialis huic sacramento, quo initia­mur Deo & Christo: quod prorsus fieri nequit quin dermamus esse Diaboli. So Ghamier. Pan­strat. Cathol. par. 4. lib. 5. cap. 15. sect. 15. Nor may it be impertinent to compare herewith the protestation of the Essenes at their ad­mission into their Order, wh [...] e seems to have been a purification by water, and more then or­dinary. After a years Probationership without their Colledg, and two within, before they be received into fellowship, (saith Josephus, that knew them) They protest with great and solemn Oaths, To worship God, observe Justice and Faith toward all men, not wil­lingly to hurt any (though commanded) but to hate the Evil and love the Good, especially to keep faith to Governors, If ever exalted to any command to use power with sobriety and moderation, to hate pomp and all worldly ostentation, to love the Truth and strive to confute lyars, to keep their hands from picking and stealing, the soul pure from spotted with uniust gain to conceal Mysteries, hold fast received Doctrins, &c. and with these oaths or adjurations they try, arm and prepare those that enter into their Order. De Bello Judaico, lib. 2. cap 7. And the rather view this protestati­on well, because it seems much Christian; the whole Character of them there given agrees with Christ his Doctrin, and the antient Christians were either reputed Essenes, or were, or descended of them (which consent might be the reason why our Saviour, reproving the Scribes and Pharisees often, yet never meddles with them; nay they are not mentioned in Scripture at all) Whether the denying of the Faith, the Lord Redeemer, and our Lord Jesus Christ, so often laid to the charge of some unhappie Apostates in the later Scriptures of the New Testa­ment (after the Messias had been embraced by them a while) may not have reference to after-Revocation of some such precedent formal stipulation with God and pre-confederation against his enemy? may deserve to be farther thought on. 'Tis said of the Nicholaitans and Simoni­ans, by Simon Peter, that they did denie the Lord that bought them, 2 Pet. 2.1. and by Jude the brother of James soon after, that They (the same 'tis like) denyed the only God and the Lord Jesus Christ, ver. 4. The Deceiver, Antichrist, St John tels us, shall deny high points, both that Jesus is the Christ, and the Father, and the Son, 1 Epist. 2.22. and Gamaliels Schollar to his Disciple Timothy, If we deny ('tis not said How, Whom, or What) Christ will deny us: (yet after seemingly expounded) If we return to infideli­ty ( [...]) become plain Apostates, yet he cannot deny himself, 1 Tim. 2.12, 13, 14. Some more formal abnegation may have been meant, (as agreeing meetly well with the insi­nuation of these texts, and the Majesty of Scripture, whose state uses to couch much in little) yea abjuration, and of weightier import then simple dereliction, joyned thereto negation; life that [...] of the great Apostle, Matth. 26.34, 35, 75. Mar. 14.30, 31, 72. Luc. 22.34. Jo. 13.39. compared with Matth. 26.74. & Mar. 14.71. As those vertual and interpre­tative denyals of those that in a sort, held the Truth, but in unrighteousness; professing to know God (they had not cast off that cloak) but in deeds denying him (their lives were an interpretative, substantiall, reall abjuration) Tit. 1.16. may not inconveniently be thought to cast a glance this way; with 1 Tim. 5.8. and 2 Tim. 3.5. Even the words and syl­lables of Divine Oracles are considerable, the intimation of weight, the glances not to be neglected. Blessed is he that readeth and can understand. All illustrates the seriousness of Defying Sathan, his pride, Pomps, Vanities, Lusts, & ALL other HIS WORKS. others, both fathers and their children, no age or al­most another having left it out, Admitting the baptized to be One of Ʋs only upon holy condition of publick ingage­ment [Page 72] [Page 73] from that day for ever: forManens enim in pristi­no statu, & mores suos & consuetudi­nem non relin­quens, nequa­quam ritè ad Baptismum venit. Origen. Homil. 22. in Luc. Hence that transmentation or change of minde, from dead works to serve the living and true God, and to look for his son from heaven, required among the past lower things of those on whom Baptisme had passed, Heb. 6.1. Laying by that foundation, [...], &c.) He that undertakes not to reform all amiss, as well as believe in Christ aright, is to be barred this Rite by St Augustins strict Order, lib. de fide & operibus, cap. [...]1, 12. Propterea, & prius dixi, & nunc dico, & dicere non disistam, siquis morum vitia non correxit, nec sibi faci­lem paravit virtutem, ne baptizetur: Chrysost. Homil. 21. tom. 1. pa. 239. Non ideo abluimur ut delinquere desinamus, sed quia desiimus: quoniam jam corde loti sumus. Tertullian. lib. de poenit: After much dispute, Aquinas his conclusion settles on this, Ma­nens in proposito peccati non debet baptizari. part. 3. Quest. 68. art. 4. And Gregory de Valencia proves it at large, in tom. 4. disput. 4. Quaest. 3. punct. 3. Nay abroad, apud gentes etiam profanas usurpatum antiquitùs fuit, ut qui initiari vellent prius toto corpore abluerentur, haud dubie eo ipso testantes propositum innocentiae. Nam e­jus propositi sponsionem ab iis mystagogi exigebant, ut Libanius docet & Lampridi­us, H. Grot. ad Matth. 28.19. pa. 515. Both washing, and in implication of innocence, a­mong Heathens. reformation and a­mendment of life, whatever he hath been before, that now henceforth he seriously promise andThis solemn devout managing the work, makes it the more deserve that obliging ti­tle, whereby the Latins (how properly I enquire not) have thought good to render the origi­nals by the name of a SACRAMENT. Sacramentum dicitur quod jurisjurandi sacra­tione interposita geritur, said Paulus in verb. significat: & Sacramento dicitur quod sacratur fide interposita. Scaliger ad Festum. Thus is it more then a civil, a devout and Religious giving our selves over to God and Christ. sacredly vow toManet aurem societas eousque donec in eodem consensu perseveraverint (so­cii) at cum aliquis renunciaverit societati solvitur societas, Justinian. Instit. 3. tit. 26. sect. 4. forsake the Devil and all his works, (branded crimes and hainous offences, nay) the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked world,Pompa est Diaboli, in theatris spectacula, in Hippodromo cursus equorum, & venationes, & reliqua omnis ejuscemodi vanitas, à qua postulans liberati sanctus ille Dei, Averte inquit, oculos meos, ne videant vanitatem. Non ergo sis curiosus frequentia spectaculorum, &c. Cyrill. Hierosolym. Cateches. Mystag. 1. vocis illius recorderis, quam dum sacris initiareris, emisisti, Abrenuncio tibi Sathana, & pompae tuae, & cul­tuti tuo. Circa margaritarum enim curam in sania est pompa Sathanica. Aurum enim cepisti, non ut corpus vincias sed ut pauperes solvas & enutrias. Dic igitur conti­nuò, Abrenuncio tibi, Sathana: Nihil hac voce tutius, si ipsam per opera exhibeamus. Chrysost. Homil. 21. pa. 244. tom. 1. Pompa verò sathanica sunt [...], pag. sequ. Of the same esteemed detestation and professed abjuration are all lewd rimes, wanton songs, obscaene dances, &c. Thou diddest renounce them all, devo­ting thy self to Christs service, saith he, Remember thy word and that promise, and do not by the present or too morrows sports and revels, renounce that renunciation, Id. in Ho­mil. 47. in Julian. pa. 544. Quid enim in circo faciebat, (says Sathan) atque ibi furias, lites, insanas voces, manesque victorias, (Cum jam à se alienus sibimet videbatur) vide­bat? Quid in theatro faciebat renunciator turpium voluptatum? Quid in amphithea­tro—&c? Haec omnia mea post renunciationem invasit: Meus esse voluit, & Mea concupivit. Goncio ad Catechum. cap. 4. tom. 6. pa. 24. vid. etiam lib. de Symbolo ad Catechumen, lib. 4. cap. 1. Quae est enim in Baptismo salutari Christianorum prima con­fessio? Quae, sc. nisi ut renunciare se diabolo ac pompis ejus, atque spectaculis & ope­ribus protestentur? Ergo spectacula, & pompae etiam juxta nostram professionem sunt opera Diaboli. Quomodo, ô Christiane, spectacula post Baptismum sequeris, quae opus esse Diaboli confiteris? Renunciasti semel Diabolo & spectaculis ejus, ac per hoc necesse est, prudens & sciens dum ad spectacula remeas, ad Diabolum te re­dire cognoscas. Salvian. Massil. de gubernat. Dei, lib. 6. The gallants of our age would account this precise Doctrin: that gaming, racing, staging, hunting, dancing, &c. should be a breach of Articles of their Christendom, and a violation of the Covenant of their God! If they have been Christened (they know how) let them think again, and own this preciseness of severe life for no less then sacred and sworn duty, or they are as they are. Theatralibus ludis qui dat operam, venationibus, equorum cursibus ac certaminibus, vel desistat vel rejiciatur. So the Apostles Canons; let them leave their vanity or their profession, lib. 8. cap. 38. Scaenicus (sive vir, sive mulier) auriga, gladiator, Cursor stadii, O­lympius, Choraules, Citharaedus, Lyrista, no less, ib. O, for the power of our Religion! that we were but as we are BOƲND to be! and the conditions of our Faith seen in our works! Then should not infidelity stand before us, but GOD be glorifyed in all his Saints. Gaming, racing, Stageplays, light and [Page 74] wanton songs, pranking with Jewels, &c. so far the fathers extended the meaning of this Article of agreement) and all the sinfull lusts of the flesh: Renunciasti Diabolo & operi­bus ejus, mundo ut luxuriae ejus, ac voluptatibus, as gravelib. de initiand. cap. 2 St Ambrose made bold after to remember the baptized and hold him to his Bargain: Lastly, toRemem­ber what before of the present mention and premonition of those things were as in the Articles of the present Hebrew Creed, De justorum mercede, de poena iniquorum, &c. And compare the Chri­stians antient and usual repetition of his Creed, by way of answer to such Interrogation, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? &c. Of the Apostles times thus much is laid together by the Centurists: Ante Baptismatis impertitionem, quod quidem ad adultos attinet &c. Before any thing was done, they taught what Baptisme was, and why used, what the Doctrin of the Gospel and true faith in Christ. For John is said to have preached a Baptisme of repentance, Act. 3.24. The Apostles first taught of Christ, of repentance and Baptisme, and then, those that received the word by repenting and believing, they Baptized, Act. 2.38, 41. Nor would Philip admit the Samaritans, till they heard and received the Go­spel, Act. 8.12. The Eunuch being well instructed of the Gospel and Faith in Christ, out of the Prophet, Esai 53. desires to be baptized. Philip conditions, if thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayst. He answers, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, ver. 35, &c. Unde haud obscurè intelligitur baptizandos oportuisse fidei suae confessionem ante Baptismum edere. Whence is plain, that profession of faith went before admissi­on to profession of it. Magdeburg. Centur. 1. lib. 2. cap. 6. Col. 382. Among those constituti­ons are said to have been St Peters, we have both instruction into the faith to be baptized into, God increa­te, Jesus the only begot­ten son of God, the Holy Ghost, Divine Provi­dence, &c. to the last of Resurrection of the body and life everlasting, and personal as­sent testified by word, if not signed by the hand, Aggregor & credo & baptizor in unum & ingenitum meum verum Deum omnipotentem, patrem Christi, Creatorem & opifi­cem omnium, ex quo Omnia: & in Dominum Jesum unigenitum filium ejus, primo­genitum omnis creaturae, &c. Crucifixum sub Pontio Pilato, &c. Constitut, Apostol. lib. 7. cap. 39, & 41. The continuance whereof is attested by the Greek and Latine Fathers. Gregor. Nazianzen. Orat. 40. cap. 51. tom. 1. pa. 671. Chrysostom. Homil. 40. in 1 Cor. 15. tom. 5. in N. Testam. pa. 451. Cyrill. Hierosolym. Catech. Mystagog. 1. pa. 230. Atque tunc unusquisque interrogabatur, An crederet in Nomen Patris, & filii, & sp. Sancti? & confessi estis confessionem salutarem. Cateches. Mystag. 2. pa. 232. sever. patriarch. Alexander: in Biblioth. pat. Latin. tom. 7. pa. 530. Joan. Damascen: Historia de Barla­am, &c. cap. 19. pa. 867. Basil. in exhortat. ad Bapt. Homil. 13. tom. 1. 415. Nicet. de or­dine qui observatur cum quis à Saracenismo, &c. Biblioth. pat. Gr. tom. 2. pa. 288. Looking up toward heaven, and with hands stretched out thither, the Minister bids, Christo assentire, omnibusque sacris verbis, quae à Deo tradita sunt. Dionys. in Hierarch. Eccles. Tertullian. lib. de bapt. cap. 6. lib. de pudicitia, cap. 9. Cyprian. Epist. 70. pa. 101. Epist. 75. pa. 116. & Epist. 77. Baron. ad ann. 259. num. 23. tom. 2. col. 675. Ambros. de Sacrament. lib. 2. cap. 7. tom. 4. de spir. Sancto. lib. 2 cap. 11. Augustin. Confession. lib. 8. cap. 2. Con­cio ad Catechumen. contra Judaeos. cap. 1, 5, 6, &c. Homil. 3. ad Neophyt. lib. de fide & operibus, cap. 11. serm. 2. de Bapt. in append. tom. 10. Hieron. contra Lucifer. cap. 5. tom. 2. pa. 167. in proverb. 2 tom. 8. pa. 75. Symbol. Ruffini. tom. 9. pa. 63. Concil. Laodi­cen. ca. 46. de redditione fidei baptizandorum, Concil. Brac. 2. cap. 1. apud. Caranz. fol. 289. Salvian. Massil. lib. de gubernat. Dei 6. Alchwin. de divinis officiis cap. 14. col. 1061, 1063. & cap. 21. col. 1069. Epistol. ad imperat. Carol. de ceremoniis Bapt. col. 1155. & Epist ad Dominum regem. col. 1489. Jo. Beleth. divinorum officiorum explica­tio. c. 110. Gratian. de Consecrat. dist. 4. c. 37, & 59. Lombard. sentent. lib. 4. dist. 6. Por­rò, cuncti ad Baptismum venientes fidem suam profiteri debent, & exponere ad quid petendum venerint ad ecclesiam, Calvin. Instit. 4. cap. 15. sect. 19. & H. Grot. in Evan­gel. Matth. 28.19. pa. 518. From which declaration of faith so often mentioned, so usually required, so commonly made, and in an orderly way never to be left out, the seal thereon was cal­led [...], a rite of obsignation into the faith, by St. Basil. and in Tertullian, obsignatio Baptismi. lib. de Bapt. cap. 13. Nor may all this want foundation of Divine likely authority (if we take probable guesses and likely interpretations) much may be derived from the equity of Act. 8.37. (but an exam­ple, yet imitable) Dost thou believe? If thou dost, thou mayst; so he did and was. I thought thus, when (besides from the Centurists before) I had a stipulation from Beza, in his larger annotations on the place, G. Cassander, in one of his Treatises about the middle of his Works, pa. 752. Joseph. Vicecom. de ritibus Bapt. lib. 2. cap. 23. and he that so lately wrote from Rome, Joan. Bapt. Casalius, de veteribus Christianorum ritibus, cap. 5. pa. 35. No o­ther might be that confession of hope, Heb. 10.22. made, it seems, when the body was wash­ed in pure water. Cornel à Lapide, Estius, and Beza so understand, and the consequence of text favours and furthers; the very word of illightening or Baptisme (so expressed by the Syriack) follows soon after, In chap. 3.1. Christ is the Highpriest of our confession, him we then confessed, or the subject of the work, in chap. 6.1, 2. the Apostle eggs on himself with the loytering Synagogue, to leave speech of the beginning of Christ and make on, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, (Dost thou believe in God, the Father, &c.) the Doctrin of Baptismes, imposition of hands, Resurrection of the dead, and eternall judgment (which two last were the two last arti­cles of the present Hebrews Creed, before pa. 18. whereon St Augustin, Haec omnia per­tinere ad initia Neophytorum satis aperteque testatur scriptura, lib. de fide & operi­bus, cap. 11. And, what speech was this of the beginning of Christ? Sermonem in­choationis, vocat doctrinam quae tradi solet iis qui Christo initiantur: quae superius appellavit (cap. 5.12.) elementa exordii sermonum Christi: says Estius on the place. And both Beza and Cornelius a Lap. make the five following particulars so many heads of Christian Catechisme, whereof account was given and required before the Mystery: Respicit ad professionem symboli, quam faciebant baptizandi, so Estius again. Or, the Doctrin of Baptismes, may be a head to all the rest, which were so many branches of Doctrin, then delivered; the rather for that parenthesis with which those words in Luthers Edition of the Originall, are inclosed. Heed well the construction of the Greek. And (from Rabanus) the consequence and order of Matth. 28.19. Go, Teach and Baptize: and Matth. 16.16. He that believeth and is baptized. To all not unsutable may be added remembrance, that the Apostles Creed was wont to be cal­led Symbolum, as the common watch-word wherein all believers in Christ were to agree. Quod signum in nostr. lingua vertitur vel Cognitio. Quando enim dividebantur Apostoli per totuma orbem praedicationis causa, dederunt illud praedicato­ri, ut siquis talia confiteretur qualia ibi dicuntur, cognitionem daret se à Christi Apo­stolis sive à successoribus eorum didicisse. Alchwin. in Epist ad Imperat. Carolum. col. 1153. which Ruffinus had more at large before: inter opera Hieron. tom. 9. Epist. 19. pa. 63. If so, this might be the larger form of words into which Baptisme was made; dila­ting upon that of Scripture more contracted, Matth. 28.19. Of great use for continuance, to maintain consent of Doctrin. believe in God and to serve him (accordingly) which the Catechumene was [Page 75] [Page 76] after taught to have accomplishment in [to Remem­ber here again what before of the Proselytes sincere underta­king to fulfill the whole Law of Moses, pa. 18. or else no Matriculation into the S [...]nagogue; especially from Saint Paul, Every one Circumcised is bound to keep it intire, Gal. 5.3. and add thereto both what out of Oecumenius hereafter of the intimati­on (by being baptized into Moses, 1 Cor. 10.2.) of a Covenant to observe that Law, and what Mr. Selden has upon another occasion,—nec cooptatum quempiam, qui fu­turam legis Mosaicae ob­servationem in se non reci­peret: de Jure Nat. &c. lib. 7. cap. 12. And compare there­with that obligation to obey Laws Christian, and ingagement to all morall and holy strictness preimposed and conditioned, as well as after required and expected of all those came over to Jesus of Nazareth from the wilderness of this world by water and the Holy Ghost, In Heb. 6.1. Repentance from dead works is among the lower foundations, above which is requi­red much exaltation, as before. The same Apostle having remembred, a Layer of Regene­ration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, soon infers, those that have so believed in God, should (by a faithfull saying and worthy special remembrance) be carefull to maintain good works, and inforces it again, for necessary uses, and that they be not unfruitfull, Tit. 3.5, 8, 13. Our Saviours Canon is most considerable, Mat. 28.19, 20. Go, make Disciples Baptizing, &c, And teach them to observe all that I have comman­ded, in sincere performance, and an absolute integrity of all obedience, that no trifle be left out. Whereupon, to light it this way, thus Jo. Ferus, Nequis satis esse putet semel tin­ctum esse ac professum Evangelicam fidem, RURSUS DOCENDI SUNT quibus modis progredi possint ad perfectionem Evangelicae pietatis, Quasi dicat; A me ni­hil omissum est quod pertineat ad parandum salutem aeternam; Vestrum erit, nedum fidem docere, sed etiam vitam & mores informare. Nulla enim fides est quae opus Dei non habet, & adeò non prodest Baptismus, ut si non servemus quod notat Bap­tismus, id est, mortificationem carnis & innovationem vitae, vehementer etiam obsit. Comment. in Matth. lib. 4, pa. 302. and St Hierom, according to his wont, judiciously and gravely: The order is here much to be regarded, Jussit Apostolis ut primùm doce­rent universas gentes, deinde fidei intingerent sacramento, & post fidem ac Baptisma, quae essent observanda praeciperent. Ac ne putemus levia esse quae jussa sunt & pauca, addidit: Omnia quecunque mandari vobis. Ut quicunque crediderint, qui in Trinita­te fuerint baptizati, omnia faciant quae praecepta sunt, Comment in Matth. 28. tom. 6. pa. 60. Plini gives account to Trajan the Emperor of the Christians then so early mee­tings, Eos sc. se sacramento solenni obstringere solere, ne surta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent, Epist. lib. 10. Epist. 97. and from him, Tertullian: in Apologet. cap. 2. Dionysius, about those times. Tum ei exponit rationem perfectam, qua ad Deum accedendum est, ex­planataque eidem divina vita, &, ut ita dicam, conversatione, ex eo praeterea quaerit. Num ità instituat vivere? Cum promisit, manum ejus capiti admovet, &c. Dionys. Areop. ca. 2. Justine Martyr was not long after. Quo verò modo nos Deo dicaveri­mus, exponemus, saith he,—Quicunque persuasi fuerint & crediderint vera esse quae à nobis traduntur & dicuntur ac vivere se ita posse receperint, orare jejunantes & petere à Deo priorum peccatorum remissionem docentur, nobis cum illis & oranti­bus & jejunantibus; and so they are Baptized. St Augustine doubts not the Eunuch was thus articled with, Act. 8. in lib. de fide & operibus, cap. 9. The Fathers have their works full of what fasting, prayer, and all the parts and works of holy penitence (see Act. 2.38.) were requi­red to cleanse and prepare that vessel was to hold the holy water of Divine Baptisme, (the Re­nunciation afore was a part of that purification) which yet was not to be powred in neither, but with all pos­sible obligation to keep it so, sc. to obey God in all his written Laws, and to follow the Lambe whith [...]rsoever he goeth. See more in Clem. Roman. Constitution. lib. 3. cap 18. & lib. 8. cap. 40. Tertullian lib. de Baptismo, cap. 20. Baron▪ o [...] an. 259. num. 11. basil. de sancto Bapt. lib. 1. t [...]m. 1. pa 558 Cyrill Hierosolym. Catech. 3. Gregor. Nazianzen, Orat. 40. cap. 38, & 51. Augustin. lib. de fide & operibus, from cap. 6. to cap. 13. & de tempore serm. 116. tom 10. pa. 305. Damascen. Histor. Barlaam. cap. 19 pa. 867. Concil. Carthag. 4. can. 85. taken into the Decree, de Consec. Dist. 4. c. 60. [...]. Marc. Eremita de Baptismo, in Biblioth. pat. Gr. tom. 1. pa 918. And Gregory Nazianzene, [...]; the turning o­ver a new leaf. Carm. Iambic. 15. tom. 2. pa. 202. Of later times; Hominem, qui bap­tizatur, obligare seipsum ad juge Dei sacrificium, testis est D. Paulus, Epist. ad Rom. 6. ver. 1, 2, 3. Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead unto sin, live any longer therein? Are ye ignorant that they who are Baptized into Christ, are Baptized into his death? Being buried with him by Baptisme unto sin, to be raised unto newness of life? Brockman, Artic. 34. sect. 3. So Israel undertook sanctification and vow of obedience in order to their Law; Israel according to the Spirit, the same; and either at admission: Into Mr. Hookers minde it came to bring them both together. Every baptized soul receiving grace at the hands of God, tieth likewise it self for ever after, to the observation of his Law, no less then the Jews by Circumcision bound themselves (Gal. 5.3.) to the Law of Moses. Eccles. Politie. lib. 5. pa. 338. and Mr. Selden no less, Praefecturae juridicae quae baptismo praeerat profite­batur proselytus ipse majorennis (masculus qui annum decimum tertium, foemina quae duodecimum superaverat) legem Mosaicam se servaturum. Minorum verò nomine, idem ipsum profitebatur praefectura ipsa, uti in Christianismo susceptores minorenni­um seu parvulorum, de Synedriis vet. Ebraeor. lib. 1. cap. 3. pa. 34. The traduction sought for, made out plain. How Heathen initiation did promise innocence, enough was said before. keep Gods holy will and Commandments, and to serve him truely all the days of his life,] without which no Baptisme, or [Page 77] [Page 78] whereinto this did lead, and publickly and solemnly en­gage,

These, and more, and the whole grave and antient dress of this most holy Ceremony had Sacrament, as it was ap­parelled and set forth in elder days by those antient and holyNe transgrediaris terminos anti­quos quos po­suerunt patres tui, Proverb. 22.28. sc. ne transgrediaris terminos fidei, quos Catholici ab initio statuêre doctores. Hieron. in loc. tom. 8. pa. 104. Fathers (in their ministration) and martyrs, who lived and died in and for the truth of Jesus Christ, confes­sedly before the growth of superstition, I believe it would be no impossible thing to render it the fruit of labour, in­couraged [Page 79] withEt si quid tecum dissenti­at priscae veri­tatis indaga­tor, dum Apo­stolicas voces, dumque reje­ctis fabulis, veteris eccle­siae commen­tationes, Rei (que) publicae (cu­jus post Deum sumus) conse­ctetur vestigia, impunitatem meretur. This at least. Ab. Wheloc. fol. 4. Epist. ad lect. impunity, and assisted by due means of furnishing out so important and needfull a search, to prove, That they derive themselves (probably) from a fair parity and resemblance of the like doings, proceedings, underta­kings, performances annexed to a kinde of Sacramentall Baptismall initiation into the truth on the other side of the Covenant. And as it is most certain they have been in allHi ritus omnes (Catechesis, scrutinium, Abrenuncia­tio, fidei pro­fessio) ab ipsa Baptismi insti­tutione habu­e [...]unt origi­nem. Chamier. Panstrat. Cathol. 4.5.15.19. That mighty Champion of Truth, and incomparable confoun­der of all Popery; whom not all the Jesuits in Christendom shall ever be able to confute in this world, or the world to come: says Mr. Bolton of him, in his Instruct. for comforting of Consc. pa. 386. And before: Eorum (rituum) ordines duos explico: Unum le­gitimorum, alienorum alterum: Priorem qui oritur ex ipsa sacramenti natura atque ejus institutione; as these: Though he would have all discretion used (which no good man but wishes) in the application; To whom, where, when, &c. ages (much, for that hath been said before) and states of the Church, and to have come from the beginning, so that they were before likewise, even before our Saviours in­carnation, in that other Hemesphere of the true believing Synagogue, which was inlightened by the face of God from Moses and the Prophets. Which if, how likely they must not but have been to come through his and his Apostles hands? And if this, of what rare use and consequence it would be (being well proved) is left to judge, though for the weightiness is hard, in few words to determine, or many.

Certainly forQuo peraequè adversus universas haereses jam hinc prae [...]udicatum sit, Id esse verum quodcunque primum, Id esse adulterum quodcunque posterius. Tertullian. adversus Prax. cap. 2. Ne innitaris prudentiae tuae. Proverb. 3.5. Prudentiae autem suae innititur, qui ea, quae sibi agenda, vel dicenda videntur, patrum decretis ante po­nit. Hieron, in Proverb. 3. 1200. or 1400. years such Interrogati­ons, Responsions, Vow, Promise, Profession, Confession, &c. with sureties, and the interposition of divers other such requisits and performances, of solemnity and use enough, have been continued (beside the bare and simple act of Bap­tizing) by order: And if nearer the fountain and up to the very well head (as far as books and lights of information help us to see) and also beyond; if on this side of the Cross and the other, and on both sides nearest, how unlike is it but the best interceding times of our Saviour and his [Page 80] Apostles might have them likewise, and both take and give them? take them with one hand from the times before, and convey them (with Baptisme again) to the times following? They being in themselves such things as are notRitus tamen illos servandos ju­dicamus, qui sine peccato servari possunt & ad ordinem bonum pro­sunt. Confess. Augustan. art. 15. vid. etiam Cassand. Con­sultation. cap. de Ceremon. Baptismi pa. 84. evill, but grave and good, of no evident or probable iniquity in use or consequence, and so far from superstition (unless mens opinion make them so, as by enhancing their necessi­ty, or ascribing to their effects, &c.) that they tend o­penly to edifycation, and the better,Omnia Decenter & or­dine fiant. 1. Corinth. 14.40. Ergo, ersi alia desint quae ad deco­rem Sacramen­ti instituta sunt, non ideò minus est ve­rum, sacramen­tum est san­ctum, siverbum sit ibi & Elementum. Nam & in hoc Sacramento (Baptismi) & in aliis, quaedam so­lent fieri ad decorem & honestatem sacramenti, quaedam ad substantiam & causam sa­cramenti pertinentia: De substantia hujus sacramenti sunt verbum & elementum, Caetera ad solennitatem ejus pertinent. Lombard. Sentent. lib. 4. dist. 3. — Cere­monias, quae sacramenti hujus dignitatem & vim commendent, tanquam verba quae­dam visibilia, &c. Cassander, ubi supra. handsomer, fuller, if not faster inocculation or graffing wild men into that ho­ly stock which is Christs mysticall body, the Elect company of most holy Believers, his beloved Church. For how handsome is it, if those few who have the hap or rather hap­piness to be brought into the fold with Christs little flock, Renunciantes stetisse recto corpore, ad solem occidentem spectasse, manus protendisse, in coelum erexisse, complicasse, invicem collisisse, spiritum impulisse, atque etiam in terram spuere; & singulorum ratio demonstrata, apud Joseph. Vice­com. de antiquis rit. Bapt. lib. 2. cap. 19. disclaim his enemy (the roaring Lyon) upon their en­trance, and have with them sureties (fide-jussores is St Au­gustines common title, Sponsores & promissores in others) that they do and will ever after defy and Renounce that Sa­than, those maligne, opposite, adverse powers, that are most contrary to him? as by all concessions and confessions, the Devil, the World, and the Flesh are most notoriously such and undeniably. Of what great obligation must it needs be to hold men fast and close in, ever after to the Christian Law, when, (and at the very admission) the admitted shall enter upon no other terms but express and avowed under­taking, condition and promise, that he will ever after keep thereto? How compleat must it needs make the present action cannot but speak it self out of being Baptized into the Faith of Christ, if the heads or articles of that faith be [Page 81] then and there distinctlyAs in the Baptisme of Prince Josa­phat, in Jo. Da­masc. History, chap. 19. St. Augustine has an excellent treatise, of the Explication of Christian Religion, by giving the sum and heads of the Do­ctrin of the Old and New Testament, before Baptisme: de Catechizandis rudibus, tom. 4. pa. 295, &c. The like is in Gregory Nazianzene, in Orat. 40. in Sanctum Bapt. cap. 51. See also Augustine, Serm. 130. ad Competentes. repeated and rehearsed as the particular covenants of that Indenture or Agreement,Decret. 1. distinct. 23. cap. 6. so­let enim plus timere quod singulariter pollicetur, quàm quod generalis sponsione concluditur) to which theOlim in Baptismo fidem Christianam professuri publicè in coelum suspicie­bant, ac manus dextras in altum erigebant, adhibito juramento coram testibus: ac Jusjurandum manu baptizati subscriptum, ejus (que) annulo obsignatum in tabulas refe­rebatur, uti ex patribus, &c. Cornel. à Lap. in 1 Pet. 3.21. As 'twere in accomplishment of what the Prophet Esai foretold, upon the powring forth of these mysticall waters: One shall say, I am the Lords: and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob: and ano­ther shall subscribe with the hand unto the Lord: and sirname himself by the name of Israel, Isa. 44.4. Scribet in manu, DEI SUM, ut novo tyrocinio servitutis Christi se militem glorietur. Hieron. in loc. tom. 4 pa. 145. Intuentemque in coelum & manus tendentem jubet (Hierarcha) Christo assentire, omnibusque sacris verbis quae à Deo tradita sunt. Dionys. Hierarch. Postquam autem renunciârunt, convertit eos ad ori­entem, & ait tribus vicibus: — Consentio tibi Christe Deus Ego N. qui baptizor, & omni doctrinae quae revelata est à te divinitus per prophetas & Apostolos & San­ctos Patres. Confiteor quoque & credo & baptizor in te & in patre tuo, & in sancto spiritu tuo, &c. Severus patriarch. Alexand. lib. de ritibus Bapt. in Biblioth. pat. tom. 7. pa. 530. which is yet retained in those Countreys among the Cophti, (or Egophti, Egip­tians) to this day. Paget. Christianog. lib. 1. pa. 158. [...]. Nichol. Cabasil. Liturg. exposit. cap. 1. & vid. Nicet. de ordine qui observatur, cum quis à Saracenismo, &c. loco suprà citat. [...]. Cyrill. Hieros. Catech. Mystag. 1. Taking all together: Fidem professuros in coelum su­spexisse, ac manus dextras in altum erexisse; professionem publicè & alta voce fieri solitam; testes in ea adhibitos; jusjurandum additum; eam quoque in tabulas rela­tam, & profitentis vel alterius manu subscriptam; ac demùm annulo obsignatam; eorum omnium rationes allatas, vid. apud Joseph. Vicecom. de antiqu. ritibus, lib. 2. cap. 27. All this belongeth to the manner, the grave and circumstantical, studied serious way of acting in this ministration. hand and seal of publick and deliberate consent, are then and there to be af­fixed? As accordingly, how frequent and wonderfull-power­ful use, the (4) Fathers (that well understood these things, See Tertullian. de Coron. cap. 13. Chrysost. Homil. 21. ad pop. Antioch. & Ho­mil. 47. in Sanctum Julianum. Augustin. Serm. 116. ad competent. & Conc. ad Cate­chumen: adversus Judaeos. tom. 6. Cyrill. Hieros. Catechis. Mystag. 1. Nicet: Com­mentar. in Gregor. Nazianzen. Orat. 40. The sum of Baptisme, is a compact with God, ac proindè vel maximo in metu omnes esse, atque omni custodia animas nostras ser­vare debemus, ne hoc pactum violasse comperiamur. Nam cùm ad mutua hominum pacta firmanda Deus medius adhibeti solcat, quantum quaeso periculum est, ne foede­ra cum Deo ipso contracta pertregisse reperiamur? ac praeter alia peccata ipsius etiam mendacii apud veritatis tribunal rei peragamur? Gregor. Nazian. Orat. 40. cap. 8. May it not be said of all here, as our learned Countreyman (but not taking in all his particulars) upon like occasion? Videris quam fideliter, rationabiliter & prudenter haec omnia tradita sunt nobis observanda: Nemo Catholicus contra ecclesiae authoritatem, Ne­mo sobrius contra rationalem consu [...]tudinem, Nemo fidelis contra pietatis intelli­gentiam certare audeat. Alchwin. Epistol▪ [...]0. [Page 82] before time and negligence had frozen them into dull and useless forms) made of them in their holy and divine tra­ctates and Sermons, ad populum Christianum, is known to all those very well that have read their Works.

I said, some few appendants of Baptisme: But might I not as well, more and the most of old Christianity to have been in the several particulars as so many branches slipped off from the elder Synagogue, and transplanted to the or­nament of new Sion, Christ's Catholick Church? the ra­ther for that S [...] Augustine doubted not HER Truth to be coaevall with the world, and clothed only with a new name of late, for substance, to have been since the beginning. For, speaking of that the immortall soul hath to trust to to con­vey it hence to God,In lib. de vera religi­one, cap. 10. tom. 1. pa. 303. Ea est nostris temporibus Christia­na religio, saith he, quam cognoscere ac sequi, securissima & certissima salus est; That can do this alone which we now call Christian Religion, the surest guide to know and follow. Which later date (now heRetra­ctat. lib. 1. cap. 13. tom. 1. pa. 10. after expounds to be meant only of the Name, not Thing, Secundum hoc Nomen, non se­cundum rem cujus est nomen, Nam res ipsa quae nunc Chri­stiana Religio nuncupatur, erat & apud antiquos, nec defuit ab initio generis humani, quo usque ipse Christus veniret in carne, Ʋndo vera religio quae jam erat, caepit appellari Chri­stiana. Cum enim post resurrectionem ascensionemque in coe­lum coepissent Apostoli praedicate, & plurimi crederent, pri­mùm apud Antiochiam, sicut scriptum est, appellati sunt di­scipuli Christiani, Act. 11.26. Propterea dixi, Haec est no­stris temporibus Christiana religio; non quia prioribus tem­poribus non fuit, sed quia posterioribus hoc nomen accepit. For [Page 83] that we call Christian Religion (his meaning is) was of old, never but among mankind since the beginning, till Christ, of whom it was NAMED Christian, For when after his death and resurrection, his Apostles preached him and were believed; Then were men called Christians first at Antioch: And therefore said I, the Christianity of our times, not because it was not sooner, but of later times was begun to be so called. So indeed: Truth is from the beginning; coaevall with the world: Gospel truth the light and glory of all ages, from the same point of duration with the Sun of the Firmament: But not of equall brightness; for it hath shined sometimes dimmer, sometimes clearer, as the same Father again, some­times under vail, sometimes revealed, as Type or Reality, Sha­dow or Substance. Nor is that but worthy of all accep­tation, as rooted in truth, and grounded on much observati­on all abroad, of the singularly judicious H. Grotius, fit here to be called up to be heard speak again, Pleraque vete­ris Christianismi à Judaeis, most of Christian is borrowed from Judah and Jerusalem. It had been to be wished (as he was most able) that he had, while he lived, set himself on work about traduction and to imbody the particulars: No inquiry could be more usefull then what might have produ­ced satisfaction, in our darkest times (because remote from the first spreading of light) about what is pregnantly insi­nuated in Rom. 11.17. the graffing in of that Olive Tree which is wilde by nature, the Gentiles, upon the stock, or insteed of the broken branches of decayed Israel, that once most fertile and truebred natural Olive Tree; wherein it yet stands & florishes by faith of that truth, the unbelief wherof in that wretched infidel, both brake him off at first, and makes him yet continue a dead and sapless stick fit for the fire. Which till, and from better abilities, answering the difficulty, shall please God to set some fitter hand on work, to go through with it, let the needfulness and usefulness excuse this essay.

Where (omitting, though not but remembring, what we have under our hands, of the Hebrew parentage of our two [Page 84] great Sacraments (LetBut know▪ Reader, that as I had observed and digested these considera­tions, there came to my hands a very usefull treatise this way, called THEOLOGIA JƲDAEO­RƲM, Sive Opus (verè au­reum) in quo res ipsa quae nunc Christia­na Religio nuncupatur, etiam apud an­tiquos fuisse, priusquam Christus veni­ret in carne, ex Hebraeorum libris ostendi­tur; The Au­thor Joseph de Voisin a Frenchman, and of Burdeaux, Printed the last year at Paris, 1647. His scope the same with mine; and for so far as he hath gone, and those speculations he hath taken in hand (for of that nature his enquiries are, but speculations; nor hath he more then begun, as of Gods Ʋnity; Essence, Attributes of Eternity, immensity, incorruptibility, &c. according to the Schools; so far) he keeps to his text very close, and makes good his title with much faelicity of success. Good luck may he have with his honour, and a prosperous journey in this his progress for new discovery, to spin out his thread to full length and satisfaction of all lookers on as he hath begun. That I borrowed not of him, an inspection of the things will be my best and real justification; Whether he may of me, Time will shew. Let Know­ledge prosper by all means, and Truth shine out every day clearer and clearer by whomsoever. I cannot but love the name of CHRIST, and what I finde of HIM wheresoever: especially what lays deepest, and toward the bottom of time, giving opposition to his open professed ene­mies. That sweet name is my hope, be my Comfort in life and death, and after death, even for ever and ever. first be called to minde what I somewhere read in the exchange of Letters between Dr. Hammond and Dr. Cheynell, sc. that Confession of sins, Pray­er, Lection. Benediction, and the whole ordered form of Divine publick service, is said there to have come into the Church from the Synagogue, for which is alledged the famous Mor­ney du Plessy, lib. 1. de Missa. cap. 3. Then, to fit the body with a head not unanswerable, add that the title of [...] (which in it self betokensRom. 13.6. Exod. 24.13. and Pasors Lexicon on the new Testament, page 296. publick imployment or ser­vice, and by first Christian Governors was laid hold of to denote their publick sacred service) is from the old by the new Testament conveyed to our later days; yea is in the new both of the new and old, and from both, through the current of ages, conveyed down to ours. (Nor offers this any cross to whatever is or seems established now: for a new Directory is nothing else but an Established Order for Publick Sacred Service or Liturgy, and the old Liturgy was nothing but a publick agreed on Direction for sacred Ser­vice or Worship; both to further unity and consent in the things of HIM is ONE, and long since used as expository one of the other.)

For, as to the Old first, in that translation the learned ob­serve our Saviour and his Apostles to have been more con­versant then in their own native originall, because therewith their allegations are found better to agree, then (as it is [Page 85] come to us) their Hebrew edition, the publick service of the Temple there (most what Sacerdotall as well as Leviticall, and spirituall in offering Prayer, Praise and Sacrifice, as well as corporall in works of outward servility) is delivered out unto us by the title of [...], as these places do evince: Num. 8.22, 25, 26. & chap. 18. ver. 7.21, 23, 31. 1 Chron. 6.32. cap. 24. ver. 3, & 19. & cap. 28. last, 2 Chron. 8.14. cap. 31.2, 4. & cap. 3, 10, 16. Sapient. solom. 18.21. Sapient. Sirack 50.21. 2 Maccab. 4.14. To do either work is worded to us [...], Exod. 28.35, & 43. cap. 29.30. cap. 30.20. cap. 35.19. & cap. 38. last, Num. 8.6, & 31. cap. 4.3, & 26. cap. 16.9. cap. 18.7, 21. & 23. Deuteron. 10.8. & cap. 18.5, & 7. 1 Chron. 6.32. cap. 23.13, & 27. 2 Chron. 5.14. cap. 13.10. cap. 23.6. cap. 29.11. cap. 31.2. & cap. 35.3. Nehem 10.35. Ezek. 40.46. cap. 42.14. cap. 43.19. cap. 44. ver. 15, 16, 17, 19, & 27. & cap. 45.4. Daniel 7.10. Joel, 1.9, 14. & cap. 2.17. Besides the Wisdom of Sirach. cap. 4.15. cap. 45.19. & cap. 50.15. & 1 Maccab. 10.42. Even as Philo tels us the Priests had in the Temple, Bread (unleavened) and Salt (unmix­ed) thereby different from others, and it was [...], a reward of their Ministry or publick service they perfor­med there. And Joachim the high-priest, and all they that waited before the LORD, [...], offered the daily sacrifice and prayers and voluntary donations of the people with their loyns in sackcloth, Judeth 4.15. But above all, in 1 Chron. 16.4. where the following verses give upon record the manner how the Priests did perform this work of [...], or publick Ministry: to wit, by Confes­sing with a loud voice and praising the LORD, the God of Is­rael, and saying, O confess unto Jehovah and call upon his Name, make known his works unto the People, &c. as it fol­loweth, (and is a composition of the fifteen first verss of the 105. Psalm, joyning thereto the whole 96, and the last of the fourth paragraph or book of the Psames, according to the Hebrew division, which is with us the 106. Blessed be Jehovah the God of Jsrael for ever and ever, and let all the people say, Amen) whereon is recorded soon after, ver: 37. They thus praised Jehovah and left there before the Ark [Page 86] Asaph and his brethren, [...], to Mi­nister thus over against the Ark of JEHOVAH from day to day: Nor is any doubt but they continued so doing from age to age, for so long after as Simon the son of Onias his time (whoseVid. Joseph. An­tiqu. lib. 12. ca. 4. story is within 200 years before Christ) the wise son of Sirah hath left described the then service of the Temple much according, sc. by Psalmody, Prayer, Pro­stration; and all the parts of worship till the honour of the Lord was given compleat, [...], and they had finished all his service. cap. 50.20, 21, &c. Further, by another conjugate the Agent in all this work (as by and by in the New Testament) is stiled [...], Ezra 7.24. Nehem. 10. ult. & Esa. 61.6. (a plain prophesie of Evange­licall times, Vos autem Sacerdotes DEI vocabimini, [...]) and with application both to Priests and Levites, [...], Jerem. 33.21. as in the Egiptian Philo, [...], their Ministers of sacred things quenched their thirst with water, being forbidden wine: and a little before, [...], None might minister but who was spotless, lib. de vi­ctimis. pa. [...]53, 654. yea [...] were the Vessels, works, and appurtenances of that service, Num. 4.12, 26, 32. cap. 7.5. 2 Chron. 24.14. & [...], wherein they were performed, Exod. 29.30. cap. 31.9. cap. 35.19. cap. 39.1, 4.1. & Ezech. 42.14.

In the New, referring to the Old, are three places, Luc. 1.21. the days of Ministration of Zacharie the father of John Baptist were [...], Every Priest stood dai­ly ministring and sacrificing till St. Pauls time, [...]. Heb. 10.11. and all the Vessels of Ministery were sprinkled with blood, [...], cap. 9.21. Besides what a most judicious Traveller brought us home word of, that the Hebrews retain at Rome their Liturgies to this day. S. Edwin Sands, Relat. fol. 10. pa. 1, 2.

In the New Testament, of the New, St Paul continues and boasts and writes the more confidently to the Gentile Romans, because he was to them [...], such a [Page 87] Minister of Jesus Christ, presently expounded, [...], imployed in the sacred work of the Gospel, chap. 15.16. The Antiochian Prophets and Doctors being met together, and [serving the Lord and fasting] (Beza ex­pounds, Teaching; Chrysostome, Preaching; the Syri­ake, Praying; [...], is the Originall) the Holy Ghost called for a separation and Ordination▪ Act. 13.2, 3. Gamaliels Schollar if he should spend his blood, was ready to rejoyce in that Sacrifice, joyned thereto the pub­lick Ministration of the Philippians faith, [...], cap. 2.17. for so St. Chrysostome read the place, tom. 6. N. Test. pa. 81. to o­mit, that Christ disdained not the import of that title, Heb. 8.2. [...], a Minister of sacred things; whence his [...], ver. 6. Behither and on this side the Scripture, things are well enough known.

A whole heap of borrowed titles is together in Mr. Sel­dens notes on Eutychius, num. 10. pa. 16. who is speaking of imposition of hands for ordination to publick Office, which as we have, so he there makes good we borrow from the al­ledged storehouse, with other: Animadvertendum autem est (saith he) quem admodum nomina officiorum sacrorum, ut Patriarcha, Presbyter, Apostolus, Diaconus, Primas & Episcopus in Christianismum ex Judaismi veteris usu [...], jam dictis sa­tis respondentium, manarunt (unde & sacerdotum, [...], Levitarum etiam nomina nostris aptârunt majores) Ita & ritum sive presbyterorum sive aliorum (ut Patriarchae heic, which he is speaking of) creandorum hunc, ab Ebraico fonte, uti alia non pauca, tùm ex institutione, tum ex imita­tione▪ manasse. Both Patriarch, Elder, Apostle, Deacon, Primate and Bishop, all their titles of Office from Jewry, Look we upon some of the particulars.

The Hebrews were not without their Patriarch, for he is mentioned often. Eliezer the son of Zichri was such over the tribe of Ruben, Saphatias the son of Maacah over the tribe of Simeon, Hashakiah the son of Kemuel of the Le­vites, and so every other tribe had his one in Davids Poli­tie, [Page 88] 1 Chron. 27. [...], all Patri­archs of their said tribes, ver. 22. In that liber censualis (like our Domus-Dei book) which the Kings of Israel and Juda kept by them, cap. 9.1. were many more; some of their names after remembred, Salom, and Jemnaa, and Elo, &c. so many in all that verse 9. they are nine hundred fifty and six, all Patriarchs of their families or circuits, as in the Spanish edition of the Septuagint, (to which Septuagint, remember, I refer all along, as where the title is found with­out Traduction) others are in cap. 24.31. 2 Chron. 19.8. cap. 23.20. & cap. 26.12. and were continued even among them to Christian times by the fair mention is of them, in Epiphanius, Haeres. 30. num. 4, 11. God, Theodos. tit. de Judaeis. L. 14. & Consideremus Patriarchas Judaeorum, &c. in Hie­ron. Commentar. ad Es. 3. tom. 4 pa. 13. But when left off a­mong the Hebrews, taken up by the Christians, much a­bout the year 430, if Mr. Blundle be not mistaken, in the preface of his late Apology against the Biships, pa. 18. I should think much sooner.

The title of [...] was among them much more often. I do not say for a person that had Ecclesiasticall praeemi­nence, but for that which the word does import, a Gover­nor, an [...]. Suidas. Primù nam (que) ab Episcopo, quid sui nomi­nis dignitas teneat, inqui­ratur. Quoni­am cum Epi­scopus Grae­cam nomen sit speculator inter­pretatur. Cyprian. de 12. abusibus sect. cap. 10. Super inspector. Ambros. lib. de dignita­te sacerdot. cap 6. The same with the Carthaginian Sufes (or chief Magistrate) from [...] speculator in the Hebrew, Scaliger. ad Fest. pa. 185. See also Augustin. de Civit. Dei. lib. 1. c. 9. & lib. 19. c. 19. Constitut. Othonis tit. de offic. Archiepiscop. Polyd. Virgil de re­rum invent. lib. 4. cap. 6. Gratian. Decret. 1. distinct. 21. c. 1 & Leonard. Coquae. in com­mentar. ad Augustin. de C. D. 19. 19. Overlooker, a Superintendent (in which sense the verbe [...] is so frequent, as none more) as the [...] were among the Lacedemonians, to oversee that absolute Power did not corrupt into Tyranny, and as Cicero had it commended unto him by Pompey: Ego negotio praesum non turbulento. Vult enim me Pompeius esse, quem tota haec Campania & maritima ora habeat [...], ad quem delectus & negotii summa referatur, lib. 7. ad Atticum. Epist, 11. And some like inferior Offices in the Civil Law, Episcopi qui praesunt pani & caeteris vaenalibus rebus quae civitatium po­pulis [Page 89] ad cottidianum victum usui sunt. Digest. de muneribus & honoribus. L. 18. Sect. Irenarchae: like Clerks of the Mar­ket to look to provision. As, for instance, in Num. 61.14. Jud. 9, 28, 4 Reg. 11.18. 2 Chron. 34.12, 17. Nehem. 11.9, 22. Job. 20. ult. and in the language of those times to fore­shew what was to come, Et dabo principes tuos in pace, [...], Esai, 60.17. Sure a prophesie of E­vangelicall times, fulfilled in those had this title undenia­bly, in all the later Scriptures of the New Testament: Yea [...], &c. Num. 4.16. who was be­fore [...], princeps super princi­pes Levitarum, in the distribution of their Offices, cap. 3.32. and whose Office is there [...], superin­tendentia totius tabernaculi, as Nobilius translates, the over­sight of all the affairs of the travailing Temple, the Taber­nacle. Ad the Originall (for these have bin hitherto but the Septuagints translations of 1 Maccab. 1.53. and the office of [...] in the prognostication of Psal. 108.7. So al­ledged thence in that very word in the fulfilling thereof, Act. 1.20. about a subtitute for Judas: So translated (ad­visedly) by Th. Beza, Et Episcopatum ejus accipiat alius (for although the title were originally Doegs in the Psalm whence 'twas alledged, and as Forester or chief shepheard, in so good a place and thence to be removed; no more: yet 'twas fitly enough relative (saith he) to and of an Apo­stle, Solent enim pastorum, ovium, & gregis vocabula saepissi­mè ad ecclesiasticam administrationem transferri, for which the Apostle that makes the allegation gives a fit instance in one of his Epistles, Ye were all as stray sheep, but now are re­turned, [...], to the same per­son, Shepherd and Bishop of souls, 1 Pet. 2.25.) And lastly, so understood by F. Feu-ardentius in his notes on Irenaeus, lib 4. cap. 44. who speaking there of that text before (and alledged by his author, Dabo principes tuos in pace, & Epi­scopos tuos in justitia, Esa. 60.17.) Atque hinc (saith he) manifestum est antiquissimam esse vocis Episcopi mentionem: ut etiam ex Psal. 108.8. & ex prophetis per Apostolos tradu­cta sit ad Ecclesiae praefectos & principes, Annotat. 7. pa. 383. [Page 90] His author (remember) both read and understood the word in that import; St Jerome commented on it in a sense according, lib. 17. in Es. tom. 4. pa. 203. and before them both Clemens Rom. A multis enim temporibus de E­piscopis & Diaconis scriptum est, sic enim alicubi ait scri­ptura: Eorum Episcopos in justitia constituam & Diaco­nos in fide, as I finde him alledged: And it is a rule with me, to prefer often a seeming fair interpretation of the antients, though not irrefragably true, before that com­mends it self by more probability of later date, because I know they not only loved truth as well as we, but had one help to see what it was, which we have not (irrecoverable from the jawes of time) from advantage of the height of station upon which they stood. Nay, God grant they lo­ved it not better, who did so much for it; We can hardly let alone what they at much cost of care and pains and wealth, procured to leave as it was. Nor have the later Hebrews decryed this title, or forgotten it, even in this our land; for I finde Mr. Selden alledging it from the rolls in the Tower, (those Records cannot deceive, or be suborned) sc. Sacerdotium communitatis Judaeorum Angliae ab Henrico tertio Eliae, Episcopo dicto, conceditur; uti ab Edwardo pri­mo Hagino filio Deulares: in his notes on Eutychius, num. 10. pa. 34.

But here all along I say nothing (mark this well) of that great question now on foot, and disputed eagerly at push of pike, and wherein indeed is the only question, Ʋtrum Epi­scopus sit major presbytero jure Divino? This is another thing, the praeminence or difference; that if a Constable be, he shall be presently allowed to be greater then a Justice of Peace or a Chairman above the whole Committee: But the existence or beeing, that such a title, degree, order, and trust, hath been and ought to be in all times and places of the New Testament; This I believe no one will deny, but he that is ready to offer violence to the sacred text, to raze the Tables of Sions Eternall Covenant, and to deface and mutilate that fair body of truth, that (in beauty and ma­jesty, derived from above) shines for our light and con­duct [Page 91] from the glorious leaves of the New Testament of the Son of God. For there we have it, [...], expresly, in all the elements of letter and syllable: Act. 20.28. Phil. 1.1. 1 Timoth. 3.2. Tit. 1.7. 1 Tim. 3.1. Act. 1.20. Whatever the Jurisdiction prove, this is the Title: the Life is in the Power, the doubt only Praeeminence, and of this I say nothing.

[...] are yet more obvious then both: it may seem toward superfluous to collect or suggest; their evidence and frequency is such in either Testament. I believe they came first from Egipt; for there we have them before in Israel. Gen. 50.7. With Joseph went to solemnize his fa­thers funeral, the Servants of Pharaoh and the Elders of his house and the Elders of the Land: Not (adding considera­tion what after followed, Moses the Lawgiver his Marry­age with Jethro's daughter the Priest of Midian, the fa­miliarity that after grew between father and son in law thereby, the advise that was asked and given and taken a­bout the whole frame of State, Exod. 19. and in a word, the influence the Politicks of Egipt are observed by the learned to have had on the constitutions of infant Israel) may this conjecture or derivation seem altogether absurd or unreasonable. But among Jacobs posterity we have sure the Elders of Israel, and the Elders of the People, and the Elders of the Congregation ( [...], as 'twere Church-Elders with us:) as Levit. 4.15. The Elders of the Synagogue shall lay their hands upon the head of the Bullock: the like is Jude 21.16. [...]: And Solomon as 'twere, called the Elders of Isra­el to Church to the dedication of the Temple ( [...]) 3: Reg. 8.1. 2. Paralip. 5.2. which phrase is again, 2 Maccab. 12.35. more and in offi­ciall signification may be seen in Exod. 17.5. cap. 18.12. cap. 19.7. cap. 24.1, 9, 14. Num. 11.16, 24, 25. cap. 16.25. Deuteron. 31.28. ( [...] — [...]) Josh. 7.6. cap. 8.10. cap. 24.1. Jud. 8.14. Ruth. 4.2, 3, 9, 11. 1 Reg. 16.4. 2 Reg. 17.15. 3 Reg. 20.8, 11. 4 Reg. 6.32. cap. 10.1, 5. cap. 23.1. cap. 19.2. [...]. (as [Page 92] Esai. 37.2) 1 Paralip. 11.3. cap. 15.25. cap. 21.16. 2 Para­lip, 5.3. cap. 34.29. Ezra 3.12. cap. 10.8. Whosoever did not come according to the counsel of the Governors and Presbyters, his Estate to be sequestred, [...], and himself excommunicate from the Church of the Captivity. Continued yet farther in 1 Maccab. 12.35. & cap. 14.20. The collection of these made up a [...] or Eldership, Exod. 3.16, 18. cap. 4.29. cap. 12.21. Levit. 9.1, 3. Num. 22.4. (even in Mi­dian, whence Jethro was, of whom before, and Moab) Deuter. 5.23. (officiall still) cap. 19.12. cap. 21.2, 3, 4, 6, 19. cap. 22.15, 16, 17, 18. cap. 25.7, 8, 9. Judith 4.7. cap. 11.11. cap. 15.9. 1 Maccab. 12.6. 2 Maccab. 1.10. cap. 4.44. & cap. 11.27. continued to after both resurrection and a­scension of the son of God; for in the persecution raised against the Apostles, Counsell is taken with the SENATE as 'tis fitly translated, or Eldership, [...], Acts 5.21. Nor, if we believe two of the likelyest witnesses, Philo and Josephus, was the Nation in other Countreys without them, as far as Galilee and Alexandria. Ita [...] Judae­orum Alexandriae habitantium mentio est apud Philonem. Ipse Josephus simili Senatorum numero (sc. 72) [...] in Ga­lilaea constituit, cum in ibi bello praefectus esset, says H. Groti­us, ad Matth. 5.21. pa. 83. And as to the persons they remained no less, for we have them Matth. 15.2. cap. 16.21. Mar. 8.3. cap. 14.43. cap. 15. 1. Act. 23.14. cap. 25.15 (as Judaicall still) A collection of them gave Authority to persecute Paul for his conscience. Acts 22.5. A presbyte­ry [...], banded and bandyed against our Re­deemer: Luc. 22.66. made out in description to be Chief Priests and Scribes, And might be so stiled (of the Peo­ple or ruder sort in opposition to [...], that more civilized collection in Towns,Ad Mat. 16.20 pa. 295. as Grotius thinks, (as 'twere a Rurall Deanry) And lastly, since the infallible times, amongst those deprived by one Joseph their Hebrew Apostle, Epiphanius (who had been of the Circumcision) reckons up Rulers, Priests, and Presbyters; which, he says, he had information of from that very Apostle himself, [Page 93] in haeres. 30. cap. 11. pa. 135.

[...], our Deacon was among them no less. I say not always in a sacred sense, as of [...] before, (remem­ber, nor were they clearly in Church orders at first by Acts 6.) but for, at large, Ministers: And yet this succession may as well pass (and of [...] too) as that of Pres­bytery, Sacerdotes (or by what name soever we call those are above Deacons with us) to follow upon those who were but among the Jews Presbyters or Elders, no more; who were not (strictly) of the Priesthood, the sons of Aaron, but meer Lay, of a different both extraction and ministra­tion, and so needed a farther consecration (as the Priests had not) by imposition of holy hands; as well as to designe the party, to limit and guide the hoped fruit of present Invocation for somewhat to be poured out from above to inable to a new and extraordinary work, which the sons of Aaron were supposed not to want from the inherited purity of their blood. And thence also we ordain by imposition of hands those we take from amongst men, not as the Priests were, Exod. 29, by anoiting and sacrificing, but as the secular Elders commonly were) according to our pattern, Acts 13.3. 1 Timoth. 4.14. 2 Timoth. 1.6. and their pattern of preceding Elders. Though this be not commonly heeded, but our holy orders thought fit to be graffed only upon a stock of the same, no heterogeneous root will serve the turn, but only the sacred Priesthood of the Law to settle our holy ministration upon; as is with confident and publick solemnity enough delivered us in the Decree: But it is not so, witness the name; and what could be more? continued form of ordination; which gives Presbyters to succeed Presbyters, Elders Elders, not Priests or Levits; and as in these, why not in Deacons likewise? That word of Office, attendance, or ministra­tion is in three places, Esther 1.10. cap 2.2. & cap. 6.3. The Office it self in 1 Maccab. 11.58. young Antiochus gave to Jonathan [...], golden vessels and a service, which might be the sacred function in the former verse. granted, here actually given, the military power being re­served [Page 94] for his brother Simon in the verse following. For continuance to after times, among other Ecclesiasticall of­ficers and Ministers deprived by the severity of Joseph their Apostle, some mentioned by Epiphanius were Azanitae; which he hath not only interpreted to our hand, [...], Deacons or Ministers, but the word it self seems to be an easie and gentle inflexion of that title was given to like officers, for they had their [...] who had care of col­lection and their treasury which was the first originall of­fice of Deacons.Annotat. in Luc. 4.20. pa. 664 [...] The very knowing and judicious H. Grotius says the [...] were all one, as in Epiphani­us his indifferent interpretation, and that they were both the just translation of Chazanim: This if, we have them plain in the Hebrew form of our Saviours time; for he de­livered the book to one (having read his text) who was there pro more according to the custom, [...], Luc. 4.20. a minister: and Barnabas and Saul had such a John at­tendant, Acts 13.5. Jgnatius presseth the Deacons of his time, to be pleasing in all things, for as much as they are [...], in Epist. ad Trallian pa. 66. Philo speaks of the attendance of the Essenes, the forefathers of the Christian sect, [...], as free they do servile offices: lib. de vita contemp. pa. 696. and a little after, [...], &c. after the waiters are set ready for attendance, there is wonderfull silence, &c.

An Apostle hath been of much note in our Church: there might be allusion thereto in Ahijahs answer to Jero­boams wife, I am a sad messenger, or Apostle to thee, [...], &c. 3 Reg. 14.6. and in that contrary mission of Evil Angels, or by evil angels, Psal. 78.49. [...]. The brethren, the glory of Christ, are stiled, the Apostles of the Churches, 2 Corinth. 8.23. and Epa­phroditus was such, [...], an Apostle and Minister, as 'twere with relation to such known office of Hebrew stamp and power. That certainly they had such, we are beholding (out of Scripture) to Epiphanius, a lear­ned one of their own, born and bred both with and of [Page 95] them, who has left us a full description. He tels us they were a kinde of Co-assessors with their Patriarch, to assist at all times with counsell, and to be sent abroad if need were up­on weighty affairs: as to collect tenths, gather first fruits, administer discipline, &c. a kinde of Visitors and Receivers. Joseph of Tiberias he there speaks of, and was well acquain­ted with, was one, who used his trust and power with much severity, to the displacing of many scandalous Priests, El­ders and Deacons under his jurisdiction, in Haeres. Aebio­nit. n. 4. & n. 11. tom. 1. pa. 128. & 135. The credit of an imperial law will seldome deceive us; Honorius & Ar­cadius make express mention of them — Archisyna­gogi five presbyteri Judaeorum vel quos ipsi Apostolos vocant (sc. [...]) qui ad exigendum aurum atque argentum à Patriarcha certo tempore diriguntur, &c. (much to what was in Epiphan.) in C [...]d. Theodos. lib. 10. tit. 8. L. 14. al­ledged by Mr Selden on Eutychius, pa. 16. Grotius gives them the reddition of the same word, and their office of the same nature, from the most proper repository of the Tal­mud: Propriè autem vocabantur in Talmudicis libris [...] qui decimas atque alia percipiebant, atque ad Levitas defe­rebant. Of their [...] (which word we have in Scrip­ture, Acts 1.25. Romans 1.5. 1 Corinth. 9.2. Galat. 2.8.) and other things of them he hath enough from Philo of Alexandria, Ignatius of Antioch, Julian the Emperour and others, to whom their persons and Offices might be as well known as a Bishop or Arch-Deacons is amongst us; in his notes on Matth. 10.1. whereto I remit.

As to the number,, tis like they were twelve, (while the State stood in power.) We read, (That being the num­ber of their Tribes) often of the Heads of their Tribes, as Num. 7.2. cap. 25.14. Deuteron. 5.32. cap. 33.5. Josh. 14.1. cap. 19.51. yea both [...], Deuteron. 31.28. & [...], Deuteron. 29.10. & Josh. 21.1. (whose power was next to Regall, in Dr Hammonds Power of the Keys, cap. 5. sect. 13.) which, allowing a due Symmetry and proportion, and that every body has one head and no more, will give that product exactly: as indeed they are by number, tale [Page 96] and name in the first of Numbers, from ver. 4. cap. 7.4. cap. 13. from ver. 3. to 17. and in Josephs Hebrew Antiquities, twelve are chosen and sent to view Canaan, one of every tribe, lib. 3. cap. 13. The very same number, to one, which Christ sent after to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the twelve tribes of his Nation, Matth. 10.5, 6. Over whom he promised they should one day sit, as so many Judges on their so many thrones, Matth. 19.28. Luc. 22.30. In imi­tation and commensuration whereto his Jerusalem Apostle directs to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, Jam. 1.1. So was it, for a while, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into a City of the Samaritans enter not, Matth. 10.5. But af­ter inlarged to All Nations, Matth. 28.19. ratified and al­lowed, Acts 13.46, 47.

The great Court of Sanhedrim is famous; raised by Moses, (to take off a great part of the Monarchicall bur­den from himself in the beginning of their State, as ap­pears Num. 11.24, 25, &c.) continued by his successors, re­newed after the Captivity, and never but carried along through all the variations of their State, and course of their affairs to the end of their Commonwealth, to have as it were Parliamentary influence upon all persons, estates, af­fairs and things: It consisted of 70 chosen men, as usual­ly, though more truely of 72, to teach in six Twelves, or six out of every Tribe (like as Ptolomyes translators were of the same number for the same reason by bestJosep. Antiq. Hebr, lib. 12. cap, 11. Epi­phanius, lib. de ponderi­bus & mensu­ris; & Aristae­us, an Aegipti­an present and imploy [...]d in the work by King Ptolomy, in Bibliothec. par [...] Graecorū. tom. 2, pa. 859 autho­rity, though commonly propter rotunditatem numeri, and more ready conformity to common use of speech in an ar­ticle Number, they are called the SEVENTY:) And as it were in extraction from that Sanhedrim, Jesus of Na­zareth chose [...]o, say some, 72, give other both Greek and Latin texts of Luc. 10.1. & ver. 17. (the Eastern and Wes­tern agreeing to dissent in the same point both fathers and their children; a new probable reason of which diversity the premisses may perhaps afford a better light toward. then hitherto or any before) that they might be his San­hedrim, or a kinde of Collegiate and Congregationall as­sistants, by whose furthering advise and help, or seeming [Page 97] countenance and authority, he might the better carry on his great work of building a Kingdom of God in the holy Nation, wherein he lived under the like representative; a part of whose work is cut out and left there in open view upon plain Record, that they might go before his face by two and two to make way in every place and City whereunto him­self was also to come. And the phrase of the text may there the better bear this interpretation (of a meant Sanhedrim) if we shall observe, that though some translations add boldly the word Disciples, to distinguish from the Apostles before, others continue the word of Apostles, (corrupting by a kinde of Sacrilegious addition, at pleasure equally and on both hands) yet if we view the best Originals of Greek and Syriak, taking in the most authentick old Latine, with the chief of Fathers, as Ambrose, Hierom, Bede, &c. in their translations or commentations, We shall in them have no such limitation by any appropriation to what subject soever, but a bare septenary or seventy two with­out any more, as well in verse 17 as verse 1. leaving at loose as to the substantive; and an indifferent unforestalled judgement will assoon take an offer of so many Elders for a Sanhedrim, as any sort or thing else. The rather for that the Fathers of the Councell of Neocaesaraea, having occasi­on in their 13 Canon to compare with them the Chorepisco­pi of the antient Church, as Zonaras and Balsamon under­stand, the old translator thought good and made bold to add the word Seniores, as there meant: Chorepiscopi vero sunt [...], ad exemplum septuaginta senio­rum: (whether he meant and referred to the seventy our Saviour chose as the other side of his comparison, or the elder bench of Moses Sanhedrim? is left to judgment: Zonaras and Balsamon understand as I say:) AndAnnal. Eccl. tom. 1. ad an. Christi. 58. n. 10: Baro­nius proving that Seniores & Presbyteri were all one in the first Churches, doubts not to averr, both that either of these titles were those Seventys; That it could not well be otherwise; All the Fathers were of that opinion; Nay and reason (he goes on) must give they were upon that stayre of eminence and distinction. For, All the believers [Page 98] were called Disciples, (the generall title in Acts 6.1, 2, 7. chap. 9. ver. 10.19, 25, 26, 36. especially chap. 11. 26, &c.) This was the lowest stile) Deacons, the first preferment were made out of them: Acts 6.) So that unless we will allow those were SENT, with special Commission, to be Labourers in making way for the best Teacher, having Power mixed with Threat, (He that heareth you heareth me, He that refuseth you, me also) and this so effectual that it quelled, in execution, the very devils, To be of the com­mon lowest stile, and flat level with the meanest of the people, We must at the least grant them this step of exal­tation above Disciples (for Deacons were not yet in beeing) & (joining in the number) a very great likelyhood of a Seig­niory or Sanhedrim, which methinks the whole frame and complexion of the place to every one that looks upon it not prepossessed cannot but give. In farther confirmati­on both whereof, and of the former branch of succee­ding Apostleship: comes in very fitly the strength and con­currence of the learned and most learned H. Grotius, Syne­drium (saith he) quod â Mose-constitutum est, ad cujus ex­emplum hos Christus elegit, quomodo Apostolos ad exemplum phylarcharum, fuisse capitum 72, Judaei nonnulli prodiderunt, &c. in Annot. ad Luc. 10.1. pa. 711. and of Mr Calvin up­on the same place: (double strength even of assistance, conduceth much to immoveable firmness) Tenendum est me­moria quod de Apostolis duodecim diximus: Quot florente populi statu fuerant tribus, totidem delectos fuisse Aposto­los quasi Patriarchas, qui membra laceri corporis in unum colligerent, ut inde prodiret integra ecclesiae restitutio. Non absimilis in Septuaginta ratio fuit. Scimus Mosen, quum oneri non sufficeret, septuaginta sibi ascivisse judices, qui popu­lum unà cum ipso regerent, Numer. 11. This (Synedrium or Sanhedrim) the captivity of Babylon ruined, the return thence raised, Herods tyranny had now dissolved, and as the return from Babilon, was only a type of a better re­demption, videtur nunc septuaginta adventus sui praecones eligere Dominus, ut instaurationem collapsi status promittat. Comment. in Harmon. Evangeliorum, pa. 42. Yet more, the [Page 99] title of the New Testament (from the contents) [...], with the conjugates of [...], &c. are in the septuagints of 2 Reg. 18.26, 27, 28. 4 Reg. 7.9. Psalm. 63. 12. & 39.10. Joel 2. ult. That signall appellation thereof, Rom. 10.15. is borrowed by the learned Apostle from Esay 52.7. Our Saviours of Luc. 4.18. from the syllables of Es. 61.1. The title of the collection of believers of the N. Testament [...], our Saviour and his Apostles (with their followers) might with far more likelyhood take up where they found it in their own Bibles (of daily use) in the septuagint, then from those trivial, vain shallow, frivo­lous grounds of grammaticall signification and derivation, (as of [...], to call from others, as Gods people were: which yet may have been of consideration at first) As, that there it was, for a congregation, of Gods people, sometime met to serve him, we have from Deuteron. 28.1, 2, 3 8. & cap. 31.30. Judic. 20.1, 2. 1 Reg. 17.47. 3 Reg. 8.14, 22, 55, 66. 1 Chron. 13.2, 4. Ezra. 10.1, 8. Nehem. 13.1. Psalm, 21.23, 26. & 25.12. & 67.28. & 88.6. & 149. 1 Joel 2.16. Sapient. Sirac. 24.2. cap. 25.15. & cap. 50.15. be­sides [...], to call an Assembly, or the congregation to Church, Levit. 8.3. as David called his worthies under that phrase, 1 Chron. 28.1. & [...], call the people to me, as 'twere to Church, that they may hear my words, on that which was [...], a Congregation or Church-day, Deuteron. 4.10. The title, thing, degrees, use of excommunication or separation from the Church, by 1 Exclusion 2. Anathematization 3. utter devotion or finall distermination, which among the Hebrews was raised by the degrees of Niddui, Cherem, Schammatha, but by the septuagint was stiled, [...], (or [...]) & [...], This graduation might by the Scripture from thence be traduced and brought down along to our Consistories. In John 1 [...]: verse 2. we have exclusion from the Synagogue foretold, (which was be­fore in cap. 9. [...]2. & cap. 12.44. as Hebrew) In Rom. 9.3. Gal. 1.8. 1 Corinth. 12.3. & cap. 16.22. it is worse, plainly ac­cursed. In 1 Corinth. 5.5. & 1 Timoth. 1.20. the highest de­votion, [Page 100] or giving up to the Devil. The progress of the Greek Church was by one step more, [...], as in the Fathers and Counsels at large; of the Roman by one less, Excommunicatio major, & minor, as in the Decree. Caus. 3. Quest. 4. c. Engel-trudam. All, no doubt from the Leviticall Anathemata and Anathemati­zations, with which we cannot be unacquainted from Deut. 7.26. cap. 13.15. & cap. 20.17. Josh. 6.20. Jude 1.17. cap. 21.11. 1 Reg. 15.3. Ezra 10.8. and other places: though with some difference. Of which succession and compari­son, that I may not seem to walk by mine own light, enough may be seen in those that have carried the Torch before me. Polyd. Virgil. de rerum inventor. lib. 4. cap 12. Bez. annot. Ma­jor. in Roman 9.3. Godwin. Antiq. Hebr. lib 5. cap. 2. Selden, de Jure nat. & gentium, lib. 4. cap. 7, 8, 9. Hug. Grot. annot. ad Luc▪ 6.22. and a late learned and useful tract of the Pow­er of the Keys, cap. 4. sect. 5 [...], 53, &c.

A learned Italian had the last age intended to write a treatise of this argument (besides what was done this way, or let fall by the way, by Petrus Galatinus) He takes occa­sion by the ceremony of a Christians change of garment, upon renouncing his old state in Baptisme, à toga ad pal­lium, as the word was in Tertullian. This Pallium was borrowed, saith he, from Jewry, as appears by the frequent mention, in Deut. [...]2. 1 Esd. 9. Ester 8. Canticles 5. Esay 28. Zach. 13. Hence, facile adducor, ut credam, Apostolos, cum in inculto solo magnam sementem Christianae religionis facerent, hujus indumenti genus, Christianis tradidisse; pro certo habens, ea omnia, quae fidei non repugnabant, à nostris hominibus in ecclesiae exordio retenta esse, (very reasonable) ut suave Christi jugum dura daemonis servitute oppressis faci­liùs imponeretur. Sicut de more festumac solennem sabba­ti diem laetè agitandi, aliisque Hebraeorum ritibus in Diario nostro Ecclesiastico demonstrabimus. Joseph. Vicecomes, de ritibus Bapt. lib. 2. cap. 22. pa. 149. Whether he wrote that book, I know not; I could finde none by enquiry: He was well perswaded howsoever of this derivation, and very rea­sonably. For why should more changes be made, then [Page 101] needs? or heretofore should have been? There was work enough to separate the dross and fan the chaff: why should any of the coursest corn be thrown away? or good mettal, though not the finest, as gold purified seaven times in the fire?

To conclude: The President of the Divines assembled at Westminster hath licensed since the beginning of this Parlia­ment, and is by the Author thought worthy of special ob­servation, that, The pattern from whence most, if not all the Customs in the Churches were taken, was, the Custom of Israel in the Old Testament: And this may be one special reason (he thinks) why the providence of God thought not fit to commend them to writing, — because the pattern was at hand to reform, if, &c. as before, pa. And he instan­ces, in 1, A seventh day for Gods service. 2, Places deputed thereto. 3, Directions for Church-censure, of which but now. 4, Womans having leave to partake of a second Sacra­ment, from the Passeover. 5. Baptizing all, Infants, be­cause whole houses, &c. Treatise of Poedobaptisme, pa. 9. It were not hard to drive on the conjecture yet much far­ther: Materials offer themselves, with plenty, probability and pliability enough on both sides of the parallell, to stretch forth the lines to exceeding much length on both sides of the parrallel: for Salvation is from the Jews, saith he is Saviour both of Jew and Gentile: John 4.22. Many things happened to them, [...], says the profound learned Apostle, [...] Corinth, 10.11. and the Law had a shadow of things to come, Hebr. 10.1. What could be more expedient then to finde out the [...], that must exemplifie those types? (as St Peter says our Baptisme does in some things, 1 Epist. 3.21.) and the body whereto the things therof were shadows? The Law (future) was to proceed from Sion, Esa. 2.3. and Jerusalem is the Mother of us all, Galat. 4.26. (Questionless the first, highest, and fittest ruling Metropo­lis, to us Christians, (it should be so of all the world, as one of the Fathers sometimes stiled her:) I believe we have more of either then we commonly imagine or under­stand, [Page 102] and that as well belonging to Politye as Religion, to war as peace, both of stabiliment and ornament, in Church and State. Mr Selden hath much in his late learnedDe Synedriis veterum He­braeorum. lib. 1 cap. 8. pa. 225. book dispersed all over, reducible to that of the eight chapter, Nec disciplina illa (Christianae) apud eos (Christianos) alia, quàm Judaismus verè reformatus, seu cum fide in Messiam seu Christum rite conjunctus. New Christianity was no­thing but old Judaisme, reformed and purified: andAnnotat. ad Luc. 6.22. pa. 678. H. Grotius most excellently (with whom I began) Christia­ni veteres (qui, ut saepe notavimus, omnia proba Judaeorum instituta libenter sequebantur) hos ( [...]) vocabant [...], &c. They followed the most that was good, and this: (He is speaking of the degrees of Excommuni­cation.) And summing together much that I have said, in one of his last pieces,In appen. ad comment. de Antichri­sto. pa. 54. col. 1. Nimirum, Christiani (saith he) omnes mores probabiles, quos apud Judaeos receperant, seque­bantur, coalituri, scilicet cum Judaeis si ipsi Evangelium non respuissent. Inde nomen [...], inde [...] iidem qui [...] & episcopus qui: [...] inde excommu­nicationes, absolutiones, impositiones Manuum, panis & vi­ni communicatio, baptismus. The Christians took in what they could of their Hebrew fore-fathers: thence the name of Elders, Deacons, the head of the congregation or the Bishop: thence Excommunication, Absolution, laying on of hands, Com­munion by bread and wine, and Baptisme.

And the rites of Baptisme too, as was said before, the way of Baptisme, besides the thing it self: particularly a succession to their Trium-virat in a sort of like Assistants retained at first and continued ever since through the Chri­stian world. To whom at last to return (after much di­gression, 'tis hoped, without any transgression) that they do so succeed as was proposed, two things make it yet more likely. 1. Their continued name, even to us. 2. Their remaining use.

[Page 103]1 As to name, that had been with the Hebrews, and remains to usSub quo jam puer sit quasi sub divi­no Patre. Dio­nys. Hierarch. Post absolu­tum Evangeli­um ingressus est Episcopus in Baptisteri­um, & jussit Epiphanium in gredi & e­jus sororem, & cum ipsis Luci­anum, [...], qui etiam pater eorum fuit in Baptismate. In his life written by one of his Disciples, chap. 8. pa. 324. tomi se­cundi. He was born and bred a Jew, this and thus was his conversion; at least thus sealed. Et ideo non solum exemplis, sed etiam verbis eos ad omne opus bonum, admonere debetis: praecipuè tamen qui filios aut filias excipere religioso amore desiderant, &c. and soon after, Et ideo tam illi qui accipiunt, quam qui accipiuntur, id est, tàm patres quàm filii, pactum, quod cum Christo in Baptismi Sacramento conscribunt, custodire co [...]endant. Augustin de Temp. Serm. 116. tom. 10. pa. 304. Filios quos in Baptismo ex [...]tis, scitote vos fide jussores pro ipsis apud Deum extitisse. Id. Serm. 215. pa. 36.6. Spirituales patres. Durand. rational. Divin. lib. 6. cap. 83. sect. 38. Our Parents in God. Hooker, Politie, pa. 323. In the phrase of some kinde of men they use to be called Witnesses, as if they came but to see and testifie what is done: It savoureth more of Piety to give them their old and accustomed name of Fathers and Mothers in God, whereby they are well put in minde what affections they ought to bear, toward those innocents for whose Religious Education the Church accepteth them as pledges. Id. lib 5. sect. 64. pa. 339.. vid. Durant. de ritibus ecclesiae, lib. 1. cap 19. sect. 17, 18 & Aquin. Sum. par. 3. quaest. 67. art. 7, 8. & Supplem. tertiae part. Quaest. 56. art. 5. GODFATHERS; with other or less re­spect, They nor mentioned nor We, it hath passed through Jewry and Christendome, a strong argument of their mu­tual parallelisme, when the distinguishing name shall con­tinue without change to hold us to the same expectation. For us, the case cleer, and proved in assertion: For Jewry, I have it from Mr Lightfoot of Staffordshire, He from the Gloss on the Talmud, which alledging, as before, for the Baptisme of Chrildren in the Court of Three, Those Three (says the gloss, andHarmony of the Gospels. part. 2. pa. 75. He from it) become a FATHER to the Baptized, and he is a Proselyte by their hands. And Mr. Selden much to the same, fetching his Merchandize (likeProverb. 31.14. King Lemuels Lady) from far, I mean, every where adorning his pages with the rich spoyls of Babylon and Je­rusalem, De Synedriis veterum, Hebr. lib. 1. cap. 3. pa. 39. Baptizare solent, quia non fit proselytus sine circumcisione & Baptismo; ex sententia domus Judicii. Sci licet Triumviri Baptismo ejus praesunt, secundum jus ad Baptismum illorum attinens, cui necessarii habiti sunt Tri­umviri, [...], & ita fiunt ei PATER. Atque is per eos fit proselytus, &c. They become a Father to him, and he is a Proselyte by their means. By words we know [Page 104] things: they are the habit wherein they are dressed and served out to our understanding, necessary for conveyance at any distance of time or place: as the Pictures of our mindes or apprehensions of what is real, and thus made transmittable, the [...], which we can draw to send over what necessarily corrupts or passes, to the view of distance, or memmory of Posterity. Of what REALL and inward conformity to the things from which they are drawn, I enquire not. It is a hard question, perhaps too hard for our dull intellects. (When any such serious and very quick proposals are made, as dull of apprehension as our bodily eyes are to lay hold of a passing and vanishing An­gel; something we guess at, but cannot reach it) An voces habeant à natura REALEM aliquam congruentiam cum rebus? Whether Words are not so extracts, and as it were Emanations by way of Radiation from things, that they par­take and still retain some what of from whence they came? a kind of species being first reflected from them on our minds, thence on our speeches or books, which are our Words? The question is proposed by Abraham: Van­der-Mylius in his Lingua Belgica, cap. 15. pa. 59. and there may be some such thing as he after speaks of, Naturali quadam vi sua congruunt Nomina NATƲRAE rerum, quas significatu suo & forma EFFIGIANT: Words are the proper and commensurate SHADES of things, more then denoting, decyphering, describing, and delineating the proportions of their Natures and Beings: according as Mar­silius Ficinus hath left there remembred from the wise Plato, Sunt quaedam IMAGINES Nom [...] Rerum, per quas RES IPSAE agnoscantur: they are a kinde of Pi­ctures or Casements through which things are discerned; not only emergent and deduced from them, but resembling and con-natural with them. As if they be, then are they not of meer voluntary imposition, as commonly pas­ses, that White might have been as well stiled Black, or Light, Darkness, for their REALL, correspondence hin­dreth, and would keep things that are like, together. But this enquiry I pursue not. Of whatsoever relation or [Page 103] consent, The NAME I finde was here the same continued: and if, Why, but to the end all grant all names serve for, sc. to wrap up and to convey, if not to signifie and delineate the same thing to us? As, a man doth import always a man, a Father, not a Son or a Daughter, and Light, it self and not Darkness.

2. As to their use and power, they who do mention, do so make mention of them as if they had the nature of a Court, to give legall and more solemn admission to Jewish hopes; SuchThey must be Rabbie's or Persons of Au­thority and place: in the Testimonie be­fore alledged from Rabbi, Ludovicus Mutinensis. Triumviri nempè qui huic negotio sic praeerant Fori genus erant, sive authoritate publica, sive ve­lut ex compromisso, seu auspiciis eorum quorum intererat, uti & in rebus aliis fieri assolebat, selectum. Selden, de Jure nat. & Gent. lib. 2. cap. 2. pa. 143. What Court I finde not expressed or intimated. I should guess, or almost not doubt, the Court of Three, di­spersed in lesser Villages or Towns, where the whole collection of Families did not amount to twice threescore. There was, 1. At Jerusalem the great Sanhedrim (some say distinct from the Ecclesiasticall, and two other) as the supream Parliament: Summa curia seu supremus Senatus Judaeorum, quemadmodum apud nos in Germania est Curia spirensis, apud Gallos Curia Parisiensis, apud Britannos Curia Londinensis, quam alii voce Gallica vocant Parliamentum, Pasor, Lexicon Gr. Lat. pa. 246. Ab his (senatoribus) non erat provocatio. Cun. de republ. Hebr. lib. 1. cap: 12. 2. In every City of 120. Families three and twenty Benchers, to judge of Civil and Criminall matter, even to life and limb. Joseph brings it much to the same, Seven Governors, and to every Governor two Levits as­sistant, Antiqu. lib. 4. cap. 8. and compare 2 Chron. 19.4, 5. 3. In every less City or least collection of Families a Triumvirate, to judge of smaller matters, ordain Elders, &c. I should parallel, this with our hundred Court, the former with the Sheriffs turn or County Court, the first with as before. More may be learn'd from Godwin, Hebr. Antiqu. lib. 5. cap. 4. Mr Thornedike of religious Assemblies, cap. 3. Pet. Cun. de republ. Hebr. lib. 1. cap. 13. and Weemse Chr. Synagogue, lib. 1. cap. 6. sect. 8. parag 3. And it is observeable, The Hebrews being much delighted with the number of seven, that seven Triumvirats (the less) make up the next middle-Court, (the two over might be the Judges) And thrice as many sevens a­gain the great Court, near seventy. a Court they were, stiled, acknowledged, used, owned; And therefore Baptisme could not be regularly and legally administred on theBeside what is in their Laws, In festivitatibus suis Judaei corporalia munia non obeunt: addit nomocanon, neque quicquam faciunt: neque propter publicam pri­vatamve causam in jus vocantur, aut ipsi Christianos in jus vocant. Cod. de Judaeis & coelic. L. 2. & vid. L. 13. Die Sabbati. Sabbath or other Feasts, because they were a kinde of Non-le days, as we had some in the Universities, and are atThere are dies Juridici (which Britton calleth Temps Covenables) & dies non juridici. The former (save in Assizes) onely in terme; wherein also are some dies non juridici. As in all the four Terms the Sabbath, for that it ought to be consecrate to divine service. Cook, Institut. 1. fol. 135. Answerable to the old respect was wont to be given to holy times, or reputed holy, even before the Conquest. No proceeding in suits to be on the Lords day. Leg. Ecclesiast Aethelstan. cap. 9. so Leg. Presbyt. Northumb. cap. 49. in Spelman Concil. pa. 500. Concil. Aenham. K. 15. & de diebus juridicis, K 18. pa 518. & ca. 29. pa. 523.. L. Eccles. Canuti cap. 14. De temporibus Justitii. ca. 17. pa. 546. The Con [...]n joyned in. Decret. 2. caus. 15. Quaest. 5. cap. 1, 2, 3. & Decretal. Gregor. lib. 1. tit. de Feriis, cap. Omnes dies & cap. Conquestus est. Westminster, wherein [Page 104] Courts might not sit (Though if the things were done, the received rule took place,Facta tenent multa quae fieri pro­hibentur. Cook, Instit. 4. cap. 1. pa. 38. Multa enim contra jus dantur, nec ta­men ideo vel nulla vel non data dicuntur. Augustin. de baptismo cont. Donat. lib. 5. cap. 15. tom. 7. pa. 61. Multa quae non fieri debent at facta valent, as if a Priest of the Roman Church marry without license in forbidden times, the Act is valid, though the thing should not have been done; the knot is fast though there were a fault in tying; or ifCook Institut. 1. pa. 136. himself had been married, (being secular) his issue was legitimate and should have inherited with us, though it were a fault in him to contract, his faulty contract wa [...] not void, but voidable) Now in some Christian Writers, and those not of meanest account, our Susceptores were so set out as might render them very well capable of this comparison, the Schools telling us that they stood and offered for the whole Respondeo. Dicendum, quod sicut in generatione carnali aliquis nascitur ex matre & patre, ita in generatione spirituali aliquis renascitur filius Dei, sicut patris & ecclesiae, sicut matris: sicut autem ille qui Sacramentum confert gerit personam Dei, cujus instrumentum & Minister est, ita ille qui baptizatum suscipit de sacro fon­te—gerit personam ecclesiae. Supplement. Aquin. par. 3. Quaest. 56. art. 3. Church, as a Court represents, in few, a Community; one of their antient names, retained by St Augustine, is Offerentes, a kind of Publick Presenters, expounded by himself, that they did offer for the Offeruntur quippe parvuli ad percipiendam spiritualem gratiam, non tam ab iis quorum gestantur manibus, quamvis & ab ipsis, si ipsi boni & fideles sint quàm ab universa societate sanctorum atque fidelium. Ab omnibus namque offerri rectè intelliguntur, quibus placet quod offeruntur, & quorum sancta atque individua cha­ritate ad communicationem sancti spiritus ad juvantur. Tota ergo hoc mater ec­clesia quae in sanctis est, facit: quia tota omnes, tota singulos parit. Epist. 23. ad Bo­ni sac. tom. 2. pa. 35. & vid. Decret. 3. de Consec. dist. 4 sect. 229. Church, Hers their act; and lastly ours by all accounted very profound and judicious Mr Hooker de­scribing them, as if they stood forth insteed of the body of the Congregation to further and approve what Gods Steward [Page 105] and Vicegerent does in admitting or taking in a new mem­ber into Christs holy congregation Some make them to have been only a kinde of Witnesses (and stile them so) to come and see, asDe re­rum inventor: lib. 4. cap. 4. Testes, sc. ac­cessus ad Christum. Tremel. ad E­sai. 8.2. In the way of Durand, Aquinas, &c. in the places al­ledged. Polydore Virgil who ascribes their institution to about Anno 150 after Christ, to prevent that which theAs ap­pears by the frequent votes of Synods, the multiplyed de­terminations of privat men, and indeed the gene­ral loud voice of the Christian World. The so­veraign power of the Civill Law left it under strict prohibition, Cod. 1. tit. 6. Ne sanctum baptisma iteretur. Especially in L. Si qui rebaptizare. And the Canon as severely. Rebaptizare haereticum homi­nem, qui haec sanctitatis signa perceperit, quae Christiana tradidit disciplina, omni­no peccatum est. Rebaptizare autem Catholicum immanissimum scelus est. de Con­sec. distinct. 4. c. Rebaptizare. Church hath all along so carefully declined, andId auferentes quod geminabant, (Donatistae, Novationi &c.) as in Cod. Theodos. L. 5. de haeret. interpreted ill done if it hath more then once been attempted to be done well, that is (in times of persecution) Rebaptization; whom many follow, or lead, or have lighted of themselves upon the same or very near the same way: But it seems somewhat unlikely that the times of peace and quietness should go on to continue so long to call for, even in times of peace, what had been needfull, and therefore had been needfull because the times had been of trouble, as if a winter garment no summer beams should prevail to have laid aside, nor ever, that which had been once required: Reason would there should have been somewhat more at first to raise and with power carry along (which also might as a cause accompany) that which hath with so much constancy gon on and been conveyed through times and ages, continuing to call for them and bear them out with their continuance; which whether consisting with these conjectures laid down, is left (with whatsoever else I said) to judge some had stumbled so far before in this dark No doubt, to see to their Christian Education; that as their natural parents take care to bring them up in the world, so their conscience should with equall diligence think it self obliged for their nurture in religion. Qua propter eos observare, quam fieri potest diligentissim è debent, ne unquam fide & justitia excidant, utpote responsuri in die judicii de omn [...] ­bus illis, quae isti enormiter per petraverint. Joan. Beleth. divin. offic. explic. ca. 110. Sciant se fidejussores ipsorum esse ad Dominum pro ipsa sponsione, ut dum ad per­fectionem aetatis pervenerint doceant eos praedictam Orationem Dominicam & Sym­bolum; quia nisi fecerint; districtè ab iis exigetur, quod pro non loquentibus Deo pro­mittitur. Concil. Calcuthens. can. 2. apud. D. Spelman. Concil. tom. 1. pa 293. [Page 106] way of search and traduction that they had lighted (very near) upon a kinde of assistants at Circumcision (mista­ken to have led the way to Baptisme, as before) who had resemblance andVid. Tremel. ad Esai. 8.2. Puel­li circumci­dendi sive sponsor sive susceptor acce­dit. Buxtori. Synag Judaic. cap. 2. He was called Baal-Be­rith, or the Ma­ster of the Cove­nant, and held the child in his arms. Dr God­win in Moses & Aaron, lib. 6. cap. 1. out of Elias This­bites. Other­wise Saudak, that is, suscep­tor pueri. Al­so Mecabbalim, Promissores, of undertaking for the child, Weemse, Chr. Synag. lib. 1. cap. 6. sect. 3. parag 3. Tremellium sequuntur professores Leidenses in Synopsi Theolog. pa. 659. Thes. 54. inquit Brochman, in cap. de Baptism. sect. 5. de caeremoniis Bapt. nec Baptismo solum verum etiam circumcisioni proselyti Triumviros ad esse debu­isse volunt aliqui, Selden, de Iur. nat. 2.2. in whose succession they thought these Offerers followed; taking occasion by an unlikely text (as to me it seemeth) of Esai 8.2, 3. Where is menti­on made of faithfull witnesses required and assisting at the naming) not circumcising, though they often went toge­ther) of the Prophets son Maher-shalal-hash-bash, and two Priests, they are supposed to stand forth as Godfathers, Ʋriah & Zachariah: But I refer my self to indifferent judgment, whether this be not a more probable origination from like assistants at the same rite of very Baptisme, ra­ther then circumcision, a thing heterogeneous (if we were agreed of derivation from the synagogue) and of another nature; and if there be any difficulties as to the number, or our taking in the otherFaeminae quoque adoptate non possunt: quia nec naturales liberos in sua po­testate habent. Iustinian, Instit. 1. de adopt. sect. 10. Though in some cases, it follows, they might: Also by the Emperours leave, Digest. de in offic. testam. L. 29. sect. Quoni­am faeminae. sex, &c. these are either of no weight, or they will soon dispell or vanish. As to the num­ber, Time having possibly wrought thatThe first restraint I finde was in Leo's time (incorporated after by Gratian into the Canon) Non plures ad suscipiendum de Baptismo infantem accedant quam unus sive vir sive mulier: de Consecrat. distinct. 4. c. 101. And yet about then a plurality is suppo­sed, and in the same body, Caus. 30. Quaest. 4. cap. ult. The Gloss says there, The limitation had not been so soon dispersed to be under knowledge at Rome; and that's Urbans excuse for contradicting Leo: the very reason of the alteration and restraint may have been this, sc. A superinducement of that opinion (then generally received) of a kinde of alliance contracted hereby, forbidding marriage: Hence, (ne carnalis copula per spiritualem con­junctionem impediretur, as Io. Beleth contracts in cap. 116. de divinis offic.) least too many should be hindred their choice, 'twas thought good the occasioning restraint might have scope to touch the fewer, least otherwise the prevalence might offer seeds of much mischief, by hindring from that nearest amity most known friends. And the Councell of Trent seems to preface to the same purpose in session, 23. de reformat. Matrimon. ca. 2. change; di­vers times and diverse Laws producing like diversity in their limitations or permissions, (though with us the number [Page 107] held for three, by our ruling Constitution, of which here­after. And for women offerers and undertakers. 1. There may have been none at first: I do not remember to have found mention of them very early: andDe mu­lieribus, An susceptrices esse queant, nonnulli du­bitarunt. Du­rant: de riti­bus. lib. 1. cap. 19. sect. 18. De faeminis, an possint esse susceptores, aliquis dubitet, nam in antiqua ecclesia non legimus solitas fuisse suscipere; tamen ex sermone quodam D. Augustini de Pascha cognoscimus etiam faeminas fuisse susceptrices, quia admonet viros & faeminas, qui aliquem in Baptismo susceperunt, ut instituant bene eos quos susceperant. Maldonat. tom. 1. de Sacrament. cap. 3. pa. 93. great enqui­rers yeild it doubted, Whether or no they ought to be? 2. I read of some women that went into the water with wo­men at their initiatory washing into the Law (besides the Triumviri standing and looking aside) And in the Christi­an Church at first were some of the same sex, commonly thought to have assisted at the Baptisme of women; as Elige quoque Diaconissam fidelem & sanctam ad mulierum ministeria: for often the Deacon himself may not visit them, one of their own sex may. Nam ad multos usus muliere Diaconissa indigemus: ac primum cum illuminantur mulieres, Diaco­nus ungit frontem ipsarum oleo sancto, deinde Diaconissa eas abstergit. Non est enim necesse mulieres aspici à viris, &c. Clement. Constit Apost. lib. 3. cap. 15. Diaco­nissa non benedicit, sed nec aliquid ex iis, quae faciunt presbyteri vel Diaconi exer­cet ipsa, sed tantum portas custodit & ministrat presbyteris, quando baptizantur mu­lieres, propter honestatem. lib. 8. cap. 38. Quanquam vero Diaconissarum in ecclesia ordo sit, non tamen ad sacerdotii functionem, aut ullam ejusmodi administrationem institutus est, sed ut muliebris sexus modestie consulatur, aut tempore Baptismi, aut visitationis propter infermitatem, aut laboris, aut cum nudandum est mulieris corpus, ne à viris ministran tibus aspiciatur, sed à sola Diaconissa, &c. Epiphan. Her. 79. cap 3. Diaconislae ad hunc unum usum adhibeutur, ut mulierum decoris & honestatis causa sint administrae, si id fortè necesse fuerit, sive dum Baptismo initiandae sunt, sive dum earum corpora perscrutanda. Id. in exposit. fidei Cathol. cap. 21. In the Civil Law care was to be taken of their choice as those that did adorandis ministrare baptismatibus, & aliis adesse secretis quae invenerabilibus ministeriis per eas ritè aguntur, Novel. 6. cap. 6. The fourth Councell of Carthage gives their part to be, To instruct Countrey women how to answer their interrogatories and order their lives afterward. cap. 12. Only the Consti­tutions above mentioned come home to our purpose: Sacram super ipsos dicens ac nominans invocationem patris & filii & spiritus sancti, baptizabis eos in aqua: ac virum susci­piat Diaconus, mulierem Diaconissa. lib. 3. cap. 16. See also Cornel. à Lapide in 1 Tim. 5.9. Tertium, & Chamier: Panstrat. Cathol. par. 4. lib. 5. cap. 2. sec. 6. [Page 108] Saint Pauls Hooker, Eccles. polit. lib. 5. sect. 78. pa. 423. widows, 1 Tim. 5. and Phoebe, stiledVid. Comment. ad loc. inter ope­ra Hieron. tom. 8. pa. 190. & Spelman, Glossar. in vo­cab. Diaconus. Mini­stra, (Rom. 16.1.) from some such ministration. But this last I should guess to be no more nor other then some de­vout zealous convert, whose good affection to the cause of Christ moved her (by all the credit theWritten to the Romans from Corinth by Thaebe ( [...]) servant of the Church of Cenchrea. Plainer by the Syriak transla­ted by Tremel­lius, Finitur Epistola—quae—&c. & missa fuit per manus Phoebae, mini­strae fidelis. postscript can give) to do the good office for St Paul to carry this Let­ter to Rome for him; and he in lieu could not but afford her name a friendly andVide quantùm illam honorat; nam illam & ante reliquos omnes commemorat, & sororem vocat. Non est autem, modici momenti, Pauli sororem vocari, [...]. Chrysost .in loc. tom. 4. pa. 382. honorable remembrance with other his friends and assistants; and as in the first place (which she deserved) so by the merited title of [...] (that's the word in the text) which might be fully enough rendredCompare Marc. 1.13. Rom. 13.4. Luc. 8.3. Matth. 23.11. Act. 6.2. Hebr. 1.14. 2 Cor. 9.11. Luc. 10.40. & cap. 12.37. Ministra in any kinde; 'Tis not said, Sacred, and 'tis used forDiaconi nomen ad alias quam ad Ecclesiasticas personas referri potest, propter generalem significationem verbi, quod ad diversa ministeria refertur. [...], unde [...], ministro & famulor significat. Ut D. Paulus vocat Magistratus [...], ad Rom. 13. sic & Iulius Pollux, &c. Ea ratione Diaconi sacri & seculares. Pet. Gre­gor. Tholos. lib. 15. cap. 20. sect. 1, 2. Verbum [...] scriptores nostri usurpant saepe de iis ministeriis quae ad hujus vitae necessitates pertinent, ut videre est Matth. 8.15. cap. 25.44, &c. Grot. ad Luc. 10.40. pa. 718. The conjugates thereof are used both of that mi­nistery is sacred, [...], of the word, ver. 4. and of that is opposed thereto; we must not leave the word of God to serve tables, [...]. ver. 2. of Act. 6. of the Essenes Philo remembers, [...], In their feasts they are not served by slavish underlings, but by Freemen freely; lib. de vit. contemplat. pa. 696 And so again soon after. prophane or any servant or service else­where. She was latrix hujus Epistolae, observed by Corn. à Lap. on the place. 3. At the naming of a woman child about the end of 40 days (which was as her circumcision the eight day, when the name on males was imposed, per­adventure her purification by water accompanying, sure 'twas the time of her mothers purification) there was one called Susceptrix under this very title, in Buxtorfs Syna­gogue, Jud. chap. 2 page 96. But enough hereof.

I was going on to drive on the conjecture farther, That forasmuch as Christ came to fulfil all righteousness, Matth. 3.15. John we may presume a Priest not irregular or incano­nicall, [Page 109] and such things usually were required, even to the particulars mentioned, that therefore there passed on him what on others, and he had at least what all: But —

In that which is, I crave I be not mistaken, as if I went a­bout to disturb things howsoever setled, or reduce and bring back what POWERS have or shall think meet to cast a­way: Privat hands are too daring that would meddle with Churches and men too bold that shake States. Nay I ac­knowledge these things according to present grounds and rules of proceeding can have no force that way, where a re­gulation of all is held forth simply by Scripture, which here is notHarum & aliarum e­jusmodi disci­plinarum si le­gem expostu­les scriptura­rum, nullam invenies. Tra­ditio tibi prae­tendetur au­ctrix, con­suetudo con­firmatrix, & fides observa­trix. Tertulli­an: de Corona, cap. 4. pretended (that from Esai. 8.2. being but a forsaken conjecture; and of Christ in Jordan owning it self but as a modest proposition; TheAs of Ludolphus de saxon: who found them in the Example of Andrew offering his brother Simon to Christ, Io. 1.42. Ex hoc accepit ecclesia quod in Sacramento Baptismi & confirmationis utitur Adducentibus qui praesentent suscipientes sacramen­tum, qui Patrini solent vocari. de vita Christi, par. 1. cap. 24. sect. 12. Weakly: For what similitude? yet the same taken up after by Ioseph: Vicec [...]mes, de ritibus Bapt. lib. 1. cap. 30. and after both by Baptista Casalius, de veter. Christianorum ritibus, cap. 5. pa. 23. So ready are learned men to follow one another: sometimes in mistakes: sometimes in unlikelyhoods. We know in part. When that which is perfect cometh, that which is in part shall be done away. Come Lord Iesus! incongruities of others wholly rejected) But, It delighteth some to look back the way they have travelled or hath been travelled, when themselves have forsaken that way, There may be use of thePaulatim autem antiquae leges vetustate atque in curia obsoleverunt: quarum etsi nullus jam usus est, notitia tamen necessaria videtur. Decret. part. 1. dist. 7. c. 2. Li­cet leges abrogatus non teneamus, tamen notitia earum est necessaria. gloss. Membra­nas ad Distinct. 19. c. 1. Legimus aliqua ne negligantur: legimus, ne ignoremus: legimus, non ut teneamus sed ut repudiemus. Amb. in proaem com. ad luc. Lex etiam ipsa abro­gata, nedum mutata aut novata, abrogandique, mutandi, novandi ratio diligentiùs perpensa (neque enim sine hujusmodi concursu praevio benè decernit Iurisconsultus) autoritatem planè praestat amplissimam Iuri novissimo atque in repraesenti capiendo. Selden. Dissert. ad Flet. cap. 1. sect. 3. Non est novum ut priores leges ad posteriores trahantur. Digest. lib. 1. tit. 3. L. 26. knowledge of some things left, It may please to recount upon what grounds (and But upon what grounds) things have passed reaching to our selves, or all may pass if but for the reason alledged in the license of Mr. Tombs his late book, The strength being here imbattelled and [Page 110] the better Discunt autem non ut sequantur sed ut judicent atque convin­cant. Quomo­do si quispiam adversus Ma­thematicos velit scribere ignarus [...], risui pateat; & ad­versum Philo­sophos dispu­tans, si igno­ret dogmata Philosopho­rum. Hieron. in Daniel, cap. 1. tom. 4. pa. 496. D. known for opposition. Whatever it be, I sub­mit it to the censure of every body, yea if need be,Audivimus etiam illud ab eo (Origine) frequenter intexi, quod hodiè ne quidem isti imperitissimi omnium obtrectatores ejus dicere non dedignantur; ut si­quis meliùs de his locis qua ille disseruit, dixerit vel exposuerit, illi potiùs qui re­ctiùs diceret, quàm sibi auscultandum. Apolog. pro Origine. inter opera Hieron [...]: tom. 9. In hoc autem tractatu non solum pium lectorem, sed etiam liberum corre­ctorem desidero: maximè ubi profunda versatur veritatis quaestio, quae utinam tot haberet inventores, quot habet contradictores. Lombard. in Prolog. ad sen­tent. Cor­rection; or, farther, Rejection; Though I had rather findeAnd from a Christian I hope to be dealt with as a Christian. Not flattering, or snar­ling; but approving, or convincing: in meekness and sobriety, admonishing or instructing. Let all your works be done in love, is blessed St Pauls (1 Cor. 16.14.) In doctrin shewing integrity, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be reproved (Tit. 2.9.) with meekness reclaiming the discenter, (2 Tim. 2.25.) and with much sedulousness of indu­stry and utmost endeavour, studying to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Ephes. 4.3. Conviction, or Approbation. It is far enough from the pretious foundation, and so, if it should prove hay, stub­ble, or other rotten and corruptible stuff, ex qua non struitur firmum aedificium, as Beza, unserviceable for the proposed end of meant edification, yet the Worker should be himself safe and free enough by the past vote of a lea­ding and infallible Christian Casuist, the Work proving un­profitable. For, Other foundation can no man lay, says he, then Jesus Christ and him crucifyed: And if any (keeping to that) shall trouble himself fruitlesly to build hay, stub­ble, wood (thingsSo the best expositors. Calvin, Beza, Marlorate, &c. unprofitable meerly, not otherwise noxious, for the speech is of mistaken informers, not ma­lignant depravers) the Examinationem judicii igni voluit comparate juxta consuetudinem scriptura­rum. Commentar: inter opera Hieron. tom. 8. pa. 195. Quia metaphorice loquutus erat Paulus de doctrina, ipsum quoque doctrinae examen nunc metaphorice Ignem appellat, ut membra comparationis opposita inter se cohaereant. Ignis ergo hic est spiritus Domini, qui suo examine probat, quae doctrina sit instar auri, & quae instar stipulae. Quò propius ad hunc ignem admota fuerit Dei doctrina, eò magis clarescet: contra, quae in hominum capite nata fuerit, protinus evanescet, sicut stipula igne de­voratur. Io. Calvin: Comment. in 1 Corinth. 3.13. fire of severe censure shall try what it is: if it had been of proof, able to hold out tryal, [Page 111] there isCum e­nim nihil in illo sordis in­ventum fuerit pravae doctri­nae (ut in bono auro) it [...] erit ut tr [...] ­fratres in ca­mino ignis, mercedem vitam aeternam cum gloria accepurtus: quia sicut aurum & argentum & lapides quos ignis non corrumpit, ita & bonorum magister incorruptibilis perman [...] ­bit. Ambros. in loc. tom. 3. pa. 167. reward in justice for the Worker: Else he may suffer loss, (of hisSiquis negligenter docuerit aut verbo aut exemplo, perdet laborem suum. Hie­ron. ubi supra. [...], id est, jacturam hanc faciet, operis nimirum istius & laboris: ut siquis architectus non rectè struxerit parietem, non modo non persolvitur ei merces operis, sed etiam opus diruitur. Beza, in annotat. major. perishing work) [...], butPaulum de iis loqui constat, qui retento semper fundamento faenum auro, sti­pulam argento, lignum lapidibus pretiosis admiscent, nempe qui in Christo aedificant, sed propter carnis imbecillitatem patiuntur aliquid humanum— (as the Fa­thers) tales dicit Paulus salvos fieri posse, sed hac lege, si Dominus eorum ignoranti­am absterferit, &c. Vult ergo innuere se illis non adimere spem salutis, modò liben­ter faciant jacturam operis, &c. Calvin. in loc. Servabitur, id est, opere quidem ut mercede sperata, non tamen, vita mulctabitur. (This written in the heat of late troubles, when prisons were full and houses empty; when a man was made an offender for a word, as Esai 29.21. and soft Religion, that hardly permits to defend our selves, both taught and instigated to bloodshed and for Religion.) Every Table was made a snare: To think did border upon a Crime: the least discovery of warping to any side had some Armed Power at hand to Judge and Revenge: but to ascend the Pulpit-stayers (How much more yet to coyn thoughts into doubtfull words, and make them legible! Litera scripta manet!) This brought on usually a Dilemma of highest danger, Sequestration, or Treason. O tempora! O mores! Neque enim eos ut pseudo-apostolos reprehendit Paulus, quique à Fun­damento desciscant, sed ut curiosa quaedam ac humana potius quàm divina conse­ctantes, &c. Beza in annot. majore in ver. 15. himself shall be safe, though not without Porrò, tametsi purgat interdum Deus suos afflictionibus, Hic tamen Ignis no­mine Spiritus examen intelligo:—Scio quidem multos ad crucem referre, ve­rùm meam interpretationem sanis omnibus judiciis placituram confido. Calvin. in loc. fire or searching tryal, which shall pass farther even upon all, in the great criticall day, when Judgment shall be given of all the world. Whence in the texts of sundry Editions it is, Dies Domini declarabit, not some time or other, but The day of the Lord shall make declaration of all things secure till when, I go on in my way.

CHAP. VIII.
QUAERE 3. Of the difference between John's and Christ's Baptisme.

WHereas longDignus hic vindice nodus (let me usurp the words and liberty of Pet. Cunaeus) & opiniones quidem alio­rum non per­censebimus. Positae enim in magna vari­etate sunt. Et praeterea, nemo dixit quod penitûs place­ret. de Repub. Hebr. lib. 1 ca. 9. Dr. Jackson, a man of deep searching thoughts complained of it as ill stated to his time, in his treatise of Christs answer to Johns question. sect. 40. and that not without cause. I promise no more then that of St Augustine. Quam quaestionem tam sollicitè tractabimus, ut quaeramus cum quaerentibus. Utrum autem aliquid in veniamus, nihil nobis temerè affirmanti­bus, lectori benè attendenti satis indicabit ipsa tractatio. L. de mendatio. c. 3. tom. 4. p. 3 controversie hath been be­tween the wrangling regiments of Polemick Writers and a question so eagerly disputed be­tween Calvin and Bellarmine, and their fol­lowers of the Protestant and Pontifician part, What was the difference between the Baptismes of John and Christ? (as dif­ferDiscrimen interea agnoscimus, 1. in quibusdam externis ceremoniis. 2. gradu & efficacia in donis spiritualibus. 3. donis Sp. suncti visibilibus extraordinariis: quae discrepantia tamen accidentalis non substantialis est. Atque sic distinguendus uterque Baptismus, non disjungendus. Conrad. Dieteric. Domi: 4. advent. par. 1. After he had confirmed them the same for substance. And Brentius, They differ, 1. Baptismi materia. 2. Modo. 3. Donorum varietate, &c. and a little after, Johannes Minister, Jesus Magi­ster spiritus: Johannes servus, Jesus dominus: Johannes cooperarius salutis, Jesus author salutis: Iohannes famulus Christi, Iesus, ipse Christus. in Act. 1. Homil. 2. fol. 2. And Dr Brockman, having gathered things together for a substantial unity, allows yet a threefold difference; in Systhem. Theol. artic. 34. Variety is of these varieties: scarce any man hath said, what hath been thought fit to be followed by another. Reason loves truth, and the minde nauseates at what is offered not sound; Again, and Again, and Again. they did certainly, and more then a little; They that say least, grant yet a circumstantial difference) May not a more likely way be found out to satisfie all difficulties and end this controversie, then hitherto hath been, if for ground we presume what was said before, of the initiating of He­brew Proselytes by Baptisme for regeneration, and then add,

That the holy Priest John's Baptisme even of our Saviour himself (besides many other, which might give him the name of BAPTIST) was nothing else but the ordinary ex­ercise of that sacred Power, which in the Priestly executi­on [Page 113] and according to the first intent thereof, was given to consecrate proselytes in to the profession of the Law, where­as Christ came after andPraepa [...] ­bat viam Do­mino Iohan­nes lavando exterius cor­pora, ut prae­cederet exte­rius lavacrum sequuturum Baptisma, in quo conferre­tur animarum ablutio & pec­catorum re­missio. Praeces­sit quod erat ex parte ut consummatio sequeretur. Cyprian. de Bapt. Christi: pa. 267. added thereto the Holy Ghost, (look in Jo. 1.33. Act. 1.5. & chap. 11.16.) and so made up our new Christian Sacrament, by raising it so much higher then it was before, (Baptisme by water) as Baptisme by water is lower then ours hath been ever since, Baptism by that and the Holy Ghost? (heed well to which purpose that large discourse is in Act. 18. from ver. 24. to chap. 19. ver. 7. Certain, they which had the height of Johns Baptisme never yet heard of Holy Ghost; this, if nothing else, cer­tain.) So they baptized both, one as a legall Minister, the other as an Evangelicall: one to the Synagogue, the other to the Church: one into the name of GOD, JEHOVAH, ONE; the other into the same ONE, and THREE: the first, into the LAWIn Mosen: so Beza read in his Translation, and Pet. Ramus in his Commentaries, de religione Christiana. lib. 4. cap. 6. and a hundred more besides. They were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud: So the authorized Church Bible of the Queens time, ex­pounding in the Margent, into the doctrin of Moses, though Augustin understand it o­therwise. How Augustin did understand, is undertook to be shewed by Scharp: in Sym­phon: par. 2. Epock. 2. loc. 206. who there adds, vel in Mosen significat in doctrinam vel in legem Mosis, ut Act. 19. Ephesii illi baptisati in Baptismo Iohannis, id est, in ejus doctrina. pa. 434. Augustin himself may be seen in his Comment. on Psal. 77. tom. 8. pa. 347. and his eleventh Tractate upon Iohn 3. tom. 9. pa. 41. Dr. Brown (our living Aristotle, if any) read it advisedly, All were baptized unto Moses, in his late Pseudodox: Epidem. lib. 6. cap. 9. ( [...], a form remembred by St Paul, 1 Corinth. 10.2. and would be warily heeded, as containing more then is under common observation) the o­ther, into the GOSPEL ( [...], as Galat. 3.27. or [...], as Rom. 6.3. [...], Acts 19.5. (in the primitive Church it was, Into the death of Christ) or [...], &c. Mat. 28.19. not IN, but INTO that capital doctrin or head Article of al the Christians Faith, the name of FATHER, SON & HOLY GHOST. In brief, the common effect of eithers Baptism might be, A regenera­tion intended (and believed no less to proceed from the old Baptisme, sc. partially) but the specifying difference of those [Page 114] common regenerations, that whereto either did tend; The one to let into the Temple, the other into the Church, the one to captivate to Mount Sinai, the other to make free of M. Sion, the one to matriculate into Moses and Aaron, the other into Christ and all Priviledges, Rights, Happiness Christian; And the reason of those different issues the Pow­er given, that Power exercised, and the way and means whereby either proceeded, which (besids other places be­fore) is plainly and clearly set down under Johns own hand of acknowledgement, Mar. 1.7. I indeed baptize with wa­ter, but when he cometh who is mightier then I, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost: ('tis added elsewhere, and with fire:) View also to which purpose and compare Mat. 3.11. Luc. 3.16. John 1.26. Act. 19 4.

That lastVid. Bel­larmin. lib. 1. de sacram. Bapt. cap 20. secundò. place seems indeed to contradict; as if John baptized no less into Christ (in his baptisme of repen­tance) telling the people they should believe in him that was to come after himself: but the Original well heeded and texture of speech gives no such thing, but the evident or probable contrary. For, the Ephesians had not yet heard of the Holy Ghost (that gift to be powred out in the later days) No! says the Apostle: Whereunto then were ye baptized? They say, Ʋnto Johns Baptisme: (yet, it seems, nothing of that inspiration) ye might indeed, replys St Paul, ver. 4. for John did baptize (a kind of baptisme, sc. of repentance, or some change of minde; [...], a transmentation, such a regeneration) but this not effectual to the end now spoken of: which being, of the Holy Ghost, that, (or light so much as that it was) he nor had nor gave: And therefore he went farther (to strike the matter home) saying unto the people, They should believe on him that should come after (that is, on Jesus Christ) And when they heard this they were baptized INTO the name of the Lord Jesu, (ver. 5.) and so ob­tained their desire. This although it be not the usual, is, I doubt not, the true and natural meaning of the place, gi­ving the right sense, grounded upon a genuine, unforced, free offer of the words; and withall affords a new and bet­ter [Page 115] ground to raise answer to theVid. Cassand. Con­sultat. cap. de discrimine Baptismi Io­hannis &c. p. 87 88. Anabaptists, (who hence (not altogether irrationally) derive colour of Re­baptization after Christian baptisme compleat (if Johns Baptisme of Christ were such) or at least afterWhich all must grant: but they distin­guish. Nec iteratum est in his Bap­tisma, sed in­novatum. Lombard. [...]ent. l. 4. dist. 2. neque ibi fuit baptismi iteratio, sed veri Baptismi prius non ha­biti collatio. Clictov. in Comment. ad Damascen. de fide orthod. lib. 4. cap. 10. The corrupt form Iohn had used, was mended, say the Centurists. lib. 2. Cen­tur. 1. cap. 6. de ritibus circa Bapt. Dominus Iesus Christus tali Baptismo mundat ec­clesiam, quo accepto nullum alterum requiratur: Iohannes autem tali Baptismo praetingebat, quo accepto esset etiam Dominicum Baptisma necessarium, non ut illud repetatur, sed ut iis qui Baptismum Iohannis acceperant, etiam Christi Baptismus, cui viam praeparabat ille, traderetur. Augustin. de Bapt. contra Donat. lib. 5. cap. 9 tom. 7. pa. 60. (so had he determined before, in the beginning of that chapter) And he lays it down for observable, that the first Baptisme of these Ephesians was but Iohns, not Christs. and so no occasion of repetition of the same. lib. de unico Bapt. cap. 7. tom. Eod. pa. 84. For this reason he prefers the Baptisme of Iudas before the Baptisme of Iohn (and need not be renewed, as Iohns was) Quos enim baptizavit Iohannes, baptizavit Iohannes: Quos autem baptizavit Iudas, Christus baptizavit. Tract. 5. in Iohan. tom. 9. pa. 20. taken after into the Decree, de Consecrat. dist. 4. cap. Aliud. (and see also, Caus. 1. Quest. 1. cap. Dedit:) Summa est, quòd Paulus discipulos illos erudiverit de doctrina Chri­stiana, atque ita eis ut iterum baptizentur praeceperit, quum non fuissent rectè bap­tizati. Piscator. in Act. 19 1. These things pass; and are the more likely, because the teach­er of the Ephesians (the mighty Apollos) was, as to the way of the Lord, yet no more then Catechized, [...], cap. 18. ver. 25. hough fervent in Spirit. some kind of holy Baptisme precedent which Protestants, that say Johns Baptisme and Christs were all one, I do not see how can deny to be compleat) then other, or former, vari­ous, dark, uncertain interpretations, diversions, distortions possibly could. And moreover, other (I believe, all) pla­ces of Scripture treating on this argument might be better brought in to correspond then those senses others various, incoherent, and sometimes contradictory interpretations have been forced to put upon them.Part. 3. Quest. 38. per tot. Aquinas was put to use of his best wits, and had much adoe to make things cohere, or in any tolerable sort piece together; and let him take heed of but as nimble, strong, rationall, Logicall opposition: Those that led or follow of either side, are troubled no less to bring things about, or comply with their own: Veritas simplex, [...]. Clem. Alexand. Strom. 1. pa. 298. [...]. Chrysost. Homil. 3. in Epistol. ad Roman. Truth is nothing so much as ONE. error multiplex, and it is [Page 116] not much like they are all of the right who agree chiefly to cross one another.

Ob. I confess some difficulties do spring out of this new way, but withall not no likelyhoods to countervail; Divers things flatter to a more then probability, but some sowre oppositions would again cross and overturn all. The chief I foresee is this. That our Saviour was an Hebrew (He­braeus ex Hebraea, by one side at least, though not Hebraeus ex Hebraeis, asPhilip. 3 5. Whereof see [...]n Moses and Aaron: pa. 9. lib. 1. cap. 3. Paul, which was the most noble) and so not capable of proselytisme, who yet was baptized, Mat. 3. & Mar. 1. TheThere w [...]nt to Him, Ierusalem and all Iudaea and all the region round about Iordan, and were baptized of him in Ior­dan, confessing their sins. Matt. 3.5, 6. All the people and the Publicans, Luc. 7 30. whole people no less, dwelling about Jordan, who came and were received, Matth. 3.5. & Luc. 7.29. and those other of Act. 19.4. yea the very Scribes and Pharisees, the inside of that Nation, (as many under­stand Matth. 3. though a veryObserved by the late Bi­shop Montague (in Origin. Ec­cles. tom. 1. part. 2. sect. 62 pa. 392.) that, although all the people and the publicans justified God and were Baptized with Johns Baptisme, yet the Pharisees and the Lawyers rejected this way of God, and were not baptized. Luc. 7.30, 31. But these might be different times. In Matth. 3.5. they might come and speed, but here reject themselves. Conjectured by H. Gro­tius, that Iohn was now in prison; as very like from Matth. 11.2. John in Bonds heard the same of Iesus which bred the message of this chapter. And Calvin in his Harmony of the Gospels, places these Baptismes far enough asunder: pa. 79, 80. compared with pa. 244, 245. approved by Marlorate on Luc. 7.29. learned man stand on the contrary part, from Luc. 7.30, 31.) Nay andPart. 1. cap. 17. sect. 5. So Dr. Brochman: Baptismus Iohannaeus non nisi solis Iudaeis administrabatur. Systhem. Theolog. art. 34. sect. 4. Lu­dolph. de Saxonia, appropriates Johns work of Ministery to the Hebrews only.

Answ. But these difficulties I take to be easier soluble by leasure, wit and industry, then divers other in weightier matters (even about Baptisme, and this very part of Bap­tisme) or if not, I do now but propose and not determine. As if we should say.

1. That Baptisme commonly taken to have been in-itia­tory only of the Gentiles, may, not impossibly nor very improbably have been taken in with Circumcision to enter or Matriculate into the Law. The Scripture says nothing to [Page 117] the contrary; and the Scripture does say,The sense of the place seems best mad [...] [...]ut thus: All the Fathers (the congrega­tion of Israel, Exod 19) were under the cloud (upon the Mount, that covered the Hill) and all passed through the Sea (that Baptisme there mentioned, of which before) and were all baptized into Moses (that Law, in legem M [...]saicam, ut viri docti heic, quod apprimè consonum est notioni Ebraeorum, quâ in receptionem legis Baptismum illum adhibitum tradidêre, says Mr. Selden) in the cloud and in the sea, or, (as others) in that cloud and that sea. The only difficulty seems in making the sea, Baptisme. But 1. Observe, it is not said, the red Sea, which commonly runs away with all the sense. 2. Consider, the word [...] to be often rendred Waters, or a large comprehension of waters, as Psal. 69. 2. Ezek. 26.12. (through which they passed in Hebrew Baptisme, they were not sprinkled; as here, [...] they passed through) and is it self the reddition of [...], Mare, which is not far from [...] the proper word for Waters, and often used for it. 3. Call to remembrance the molten sea, for the use of washing the Priests, or baptizing them, [...], 2 Chronic. 4.6. It was made by Solomon. 1 Kings 7.23. 2 Chron. 4.2. Ʋnsetled by Achaz: 2 Kings 16.17. Quite taken away by Nebuchadnezzar, chap. 25. and in all those places, and verse 24, 25, 39. of 1 Kings ver. 10, 15. of 2 Chron. stiled a Sea, and yet in the third verse of the same expounded a bathing Vessel (ten cubits compassed [...]) Indeed it was a very Baptis [...] ­rium, or Font, so used and yet so called; as here Israel passed through the like sea. The rest is made out by Mr. Selden, de Synedriis vet. Ebrae. lib. 1. pa. 42, 43. &c. All the Fa­thers were baptized, 1 Corinth. 10.2. and in what form, from him was likelyest to know, the learned Apostle in the same place, who says 'twasSo all the Greek Fathers read: How could they well otherwise without corrupting th [...] Text? See Basil Moral. Regul. 11. cap. 5. Chrysost. Homil. 23. in 1 Corinth. tom. 5. &c. Israel olim in Mosem in nube & mari baptizatus est, tibi nimirum figurans, & quandam in sequentium temporum monstratae veritatis formam ostendeus: Tu au­tem baptismum fugis, &c. Non in Mosem Conservum fed in Christum creatorem insti­tutum. Basil. exhort. ad Bapt. tom. 1. pa. 119. Though the Latines commonly run ano­ther course; for in Mose, or as St. Augustine, per Mosem. Of later times: Sunt qui sic exponant. in Moysen— id est, cultui ac legi per Moysen sibi tradendae specie quidem baptismatis initiati; quomódo nos in Christum baptizari dicimur, id est, Christo & religioni Christianae per baptismum initiari. Qui quidem sensus non modò percommodè ex significato graeca praepositionis habetur verum etiam contextui quam optimè quadrat—Exod. 14, &c. ita ut credibile sit eos etiam gutris tùm ex aquis maris (hinc inde quà transibant in altum erectis) tùm ex nube supra ipsos ex­pansa, fuisse non nihil aspersos: quo Baptismi sacramentum evidentius significaretur. Estius in loc. Nota secundò pro, in Mose, graecè est, [...], in Mosen, sc. Legisla­torem, id est, in legem Mosaicam. Specie quidem baptismatis transeundo mare, initiati sunt Hebraei, ut nos in Christum baptizamur, id est, Christo & Christianismo per bap­tismum initiamur & incorporamur. Unde Exod. 14.31. subditur (post transitum ma­ris rubri) crediderunt Domino & Mosi servo (id est legisl [...]tori) ejus. Cornel. à Lap. in loc. Est autem baptizari in aliquem vel in ejus nomen, se ei auctorare & devorere, atque de ejus nomine appel­lari velle. Paulus, 1 Corinth. 10.2. [...] &c. respicic [...] illud Exod. 14 31. Crediderunt in Deum & Mosem servum ejus, id est Mosi tanquam Dei Ministro cum bona fiducia regendos se commisere. H. Grot. in Matth. 28.19. Nearer home: Bapti­zed into Moses, 1 Corinth. 10.2. that is, to be observers of the Doctrin and Laws delivered by Moses, as we by Baptisme are bound to the doctrin of the Gospel. Barnard. Thesaur. Biblic. in the word Baptized. In that Paul saith, We are baptized into Moses, he insinuateth a Co­venant of observing the Law of Moses; to which they were hereby bound, as we are by baptisme to observe the Ordinances of the Gospell. Dr Mayre on the place, from Oecume­nius. And R. C. (Mr. Cudworth before mentioned) wonders why it should be so Magi­sterially imposed upon us by some, That the Iews had but two Sacraments, sc. Circumcision and the Passeover.—He assures us they had many more, instancing (though by way of [...], that he will not instance, which is the strongest way of assevering, cum simula­mus aliquid praeterire, vel non scire, aut nolle dicere, quod tum maximè dicimus) in this of our Apostle, that the Fathers were all baptized unto Moses (so he translates, making advantage, no more then just occasion is given, of the Originall) in the cloud and in the sea; Like (saith he) our Christian Baptisme, chap. 2. pa. 17. I stumbled not on these things first: S [...]me faint conjectures we see what other, and how many have made. Question­less it was thus, he that said it, knew how: the Fathers were (sacramentally) baptized into Moses, or the Law. [...], INTO Moses, the very form (mutatis mutandis) after used by Christ, and is or [Page 118] ought to be continued by us to this day. Add that in the Old Testament the Text alledged for the Gentile, may seem at least, as authoritative for Abrahams Seed, if not more, for the Persons there washed were Israelites, and if, in-itiated: And in the New, our Saviour desires Baptisme, even of John the Baptist, to fulfill all Matth. 3.15. Iustitia in scripturis pro impletione legis & caeremoniarum saepe accipitur: Quare & baptizari (quum ita dominus instituisset) portio aliqua justitiae fuit, quam Christus (tametsi illi non necessariam) implere voluit, & in hoc patri obedientiam praestitit, Gloss. ordin. Nov. in loc. Dicit igitur, Sic decet nos implere omnem Justitiam, id est, quicquid praecepit pater, cui oportet me obedire. Ibid. Christ had kept the whole Law hitherto, as much as came in his way, says Chrysostome, Here he comes to Baptisme, quasi cumulum ( [...]) illud cunctis observationibus legis imponens. Homil. 10. in Matth. and a little after, Iustitiam vero hic complementum cunctorum nominat mandatorum. Vid. etiam Ho­mil. 12. tom. eod. & Homil. 24. tom. 1. opusc. pa. 281. Sic enim decet nos implere omnem justitiam, id est, omnia quidem vera sunt quae memoras, sed mei adventus est ratio, ut quia sub lege factus sum, ordo legi­timus supplea­tur: veni enim non ut mihi viverem, cu [...] ̄ vita aeterna cum patre est, sed ut conditionem vestrae mortis auferam. Et hoc est justis­simum, ut quia totum suscepi hominem, per omnia hominis transeam Sacramenta. Maxim. Taurin. Homil. 6. in Epiphan. pa. 203. and in the next but one, Redemptio­nis nostra author—ita quod Deus erat exinanivit in semetipso, ut per omnia le­galium sanctionum sacramenta transiret: ac Circumcision, Oblation and Baptisme, Ho­mil. 8. pa. 204. Maldonate grants, many went this way, (though he be in the dark) Sunt qui legis justitiam interpretantur, quae in variis (ut loquitur D. Paulus) baptismati­bus & ceremoniis externis consistebat, quam Christus implere voluerit, sicut circumcidi voluit, quia non venit solvere legem sed adimplere (Matth. 5.37.) ut Hieronymus & Eu­thymius: quibus necesse est dicere, Baptismum Johannis veteris legis Sacramentum fuisse, quod multi de Schola Theologi, Magistrum sequuti suum, docuerunt: But he o­therwise; Comment. in Matth. 3.15 col. 81. Baptismus Johannis fuit sacramentum, Lombard. Sent. lib. 4. dist. 2. and see Durand. upon that Distinct. quaest. 3. Gratian, de Consecrat dist. 4. ca. 14. Epiphan. Exposit. fidei Cathol. cap. 15. & Brent. Homil. 31. in Luc. 3. fo. 63. Nearer home: All these reasons (saith Dr Mayer) are good.— But there was one yeilded by the Lord himself which was the true reason indeed, when he saith to John, Let it be now, for Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. It was a part of that humiliation whereby he was to humble himself, in yeilding obedience to all the ordinances of his Father: for to fulfill all righteousness is, to do all things by the Lord re­quired, in his reconciliation of hard places. But yesterday from Geneva: It becometh us to fulfill all: that is, saith Mr. Deodate, Obedience to God in all things ought to be observed by me and all mine by my example, and particularly the observance of Ecclesiasticall Orders, and religious actions. annot. on Matth. 3.15. It cannot be so many to haue stragled. Righteousness was, somewhat to be observed by the Law (the rule of righteousness:) This of received and accustomed legall Baptisme as well as any thing else: though folded in silence and almost clouded in everlasting darkness to us. And this might be that councell (or will) of God some Scribes and Pharisees did reject against themselves, Luc. 7.30. which the simpler people believing (and doing accordingly) justifyed God. ver. 29 righteousness: How to fulfill what was never expected or required? (Near [Page 119] whertoEpist. 73. pa. 107. St Cyprian had observed somwhat, for giving the reason why the form was changed in that of the Hebrews by St Peters Councel, Acts 2.38. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus: he says it was, quia jam legis & Moysi antiquissimum Baptisma fuerunt adepti, they had been as it were baptized into the name of God, or the Father before: Whereupon Pamelius making hisNum. 59. pa. 110. Comment says, there is allusion to that of Moses remembred, 1 Corinth. 10.2.

Or if it be answered, This cannot be, for circumcision [Page 120] was always administred in infancy, sc. theGenes. 17.12. cap. 21.4. Levit. 12.3. Luc. 1.59. cap. 2.21. Act. 7.8. Philip. 3.5. Iohn 7.21. — quando (sc. octiduo exacto) par aetas illis do­loribus est. Manasseh Bon Israel: Quaest. 1. in Exod. pa. 95. Quia ante illum (octa­vum diem) in­fans nimis tener est, & incertum an fit vitalis futurus. Galen.: alledged by Cornel. à Lapide in Genes. 17.10. For then a childe is reckoned inter videntes aerem hujus mun­di, as we would say, able to look upon the light. Maiemon. in More Nevochim. par. 3. cap. 49. de causis praeceptorum. More may be gleaned from Cyprian. Epist. 59. ad Fidum. Ambros. de Abraham, lib. 2. cap. 11. Augustin. de Civ. Dei. lib. 16. cap. 26. Chrysost. Homil. 39. in Genes. Aquin. Summ. prima secundae, quaest. 102. art. 5. & part. 3. quaest. 70. artic. 3. Mendocha. in 1. Reg. cap. 1. ver. 20. pa. 258. Montacut. Origin. part. 1. sect. 71, 72, &c. Cael. Rhodigin. lib. 22. cap. 12. Polyd. Virgil. de rerum invent. lib. 4. cap. 4. Scaliger in Fest. in Vocab. Lustricus. Scharp. Symphon. Epoch. 3. quaest. 8. pa. 9. Godwins Antiqu. Heb. lib. 6. cap. 1. pa. 238. Willet, Hexapla in Genes. 17. quaest. 8. pa. 162. Tremell. comment. in Genes. 12.17. & in Levit. 12.3, &c. By like e­quity it may have been appointed, that a beast, whether for presentation to God, Exod 22.30. or immolation in his service, Levit. 22.27. must expect the maturation of the eighth days Sun: as observed by Mr. Ainsworth on Exod. 12.5. & Cornel. à Lapide on those texts. Then had there passed sure one Sabbath over it. R. Menachem, on Genes. 17. and what Mysteries, nay what vertues the Hebrews always believed (it may be, were) in the Septenary, all know. eight day by letter of the text in rule and practise, whereas the peo­ple were of full age, coming from Jerusalem, Judea, and the Countrey about Jordan, Matth. 3. Luc. 7. our Saviour also of 30 years, by all consents (Luc. 3.23.) They needed not, well could not therefore be or be thought to have been bap­tized: May it not hereto be replyed.

2. That though this additional did or might belong to circumcision of old, to bear a part with it in its believed work, yet delay of it might creep in in after times, As of imposition of hands for confirmation in the Christian Church,As [...], or Imposition of hands went at first with, or indeed was the outward ceremony of Conferring Divine Sacred inspiration (in the phrase since taken up we call it, The Gifts of the Holy Ghost) to those were thereby appointed and initiated assessors of the Sanhedrim. Of the first ordination of Ioshuah, &c. Num. 11.17, 25. it is said, Quâ solennitate peractâ statim delapsus aetheriis sedibus spiritus pectora eorum implevit. Et hi porrô in hunc modum initiata cum essent, alios eadem lege auctoraverunt. Pet. Cunaeus. de rep. Heb. lib. 1. cap. 12. and see hereof, Grot. annot. in Matth. 19.13. & Ioseph. de Voisin. Theol. Iudaeor. lib. 1. cap. 5. pa. 76. in the margent. which though by one of the best texts alledged for it (Acts 19) it wentThis proved at large by Ioseph. Vicecom. de antiqu. rit. Baptismi. lib. 5. cap. 28, 29. Etiam infantes statim post Baptismum confirmatos esse; ac consuetudinem ip­sam confirmationis baptismo subdendae ab Apostolis profectam. cap. 30. So Polydor▪ Virgil. de rerum invent. lib. 5. cap. 3. Ioan. Bapt. Casalius. de veteribus Christianorum rit. cap. 5. p. 55. & B. Rhenanus, si Episcopus adest, statim confirmari oportet. annot. in Tertullian: de Corona. tom. 2. pa. 857. Bellarmine labours to prove it a distinct Sacra­ment. Against whom D. Chamier opposes and proves, it was but an Appendix of Bap­tisme at first. Panstrat. Cathol. tom. 4. lib. 4. cap. 11. sect. 14, 16, &c. True enough: it was so: Proof offers it self in plenty. In the East and South, sc. in Ethiopia and Greece they continue still joyned together. Ioseph. Vicecom. lib. 5. cap. 32. with Baptisme at first, and [Page 121] Act. 8.16, 17. both did butOr, God by them, or with them, or in, by, or with the use of them. Fa­ciles esse debe­mus in verbo­rum usu, cùm de re constat. Keckerman. Logic. Every good giving and every perfect gift, both the thing and the dispensation, Is from above, Jam. 1.17. give so much grace of the Holy Ghost, as mightThe antient Custom of the Church was, after they had baptized to add im­position of hands, with effectual prayer for the illumination of Gods most holy spi­rit, to confirm and perfect that which the grace of the same spirit had already begun in Baptisme. Hookers Polit. lib. 5. sect. 66. ut pleni Christiani inveniantur. de Con­secrat. dist. 5. cap. Omnes fideles. compleat Christians (I speak after the manner of men) yet in after times that wasDe tempore quoque confirmationis video bonis viris utriusque partis non di­splicere, si ejus usus ad aetatem paulò adultiorem differatur: Quod quamvis praeter ecclesiae autiquae consuetudinem sit (in qua ad Baptismum statim, si fieri poterat, con­firmatio sacri Chrismatis accedebat:) tamen exemplo non prorsus caret. Nam & corporis & sanguinis Dominici communio haud secus utrique Baptismi & Confirma­tionis Sacramento adjungebatur, — ad quam tamen Dominici corporis & sangui­nis confirmationem nunc communi ecclesiae consensu, in ecclesiis potissimùm Latinis, non nisi adultiore aetate pueros admitti videmus. G. Cassand. Consultat. in artic. 9. pa. 85.. delayed both in rule and practise, and men might have, nay had hands laid on them after 30 or 40; why not in Baptisme in like manner? Time hath produced many strange alte­rations, in Sacraments, of Sacraments, (that is more then timing them) and in this very Sacrament of Baptisme: And as for delay of time for ministration, TheBreerwoods Enquiries, cap. 17 Circas­sians defer it till the eighth year, the Anabaptists (or ra­ther Antipaedobaptists, who sure have somewhat to say for themselves) would have none come so soon, St.The life of St Ambrose, by Baronius, before his Works, pag. 4. Ambrose delayed till he was chosen Bishop, many [Page 122] As Con­stantin the GREAT till near his death: in Euseb. de vita Constan­tin. lib. 4. cap. 62. Theodorit lib. 1. cap. 32. till the year of his age 65. says Socrates, Histor. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 26. Gregory Na­zianzene, long Monta­cut. Origin. par. 1. sect. 106. pa. 105. and so St Augustin, Confession, lib. 1. cap. 11. The learned know how much of the primitive Fathers elo­quence was spent in urging backward men not to delay Bap­tisme: The be­ginning of St. Chrysostome 59 Homily ad Illuminandos, tends that way, tom. 1. pa. 706. and see Socrates his Ecclesiast. History. lib 1. cap. 6. others til ripe or old age, and (that which is more con­siderable to our purpose then all the rest, and I believe very considerable) ThoseFor instance, the Aethiopian believers, of whom we read in Damianus à Goes, pa. 559. Nay more: Omnes nationes extra fines Latinos, statum baptismi diem, nisi mortis pe­riculo intercedente, hoc est, à partu octuagesimum expectant. Aethiopes—in fae­minis—quadragesimum, qua de re extat constitutio Leonis Imperatoris. G. Cassandri testimonia veterum pro paedobapt. In his Works printed at Paris, pa. 691. Christian Nations which, as 'tis like from their going together at the first (as shal be said more hereafter) joyn circumcision and Baptism for matri­culating into the Christian profession to this day, yet put off the later for a time. Circumcision passes the 8th day as in the Law, and as they have tradition for practise, from those who delivered them over both the rite and the Law: But Baptisme is delayed about a quarter of a year; to the eightieth day in females, to the fortieth in males, (just the limitation of time for the mothers purification by the Law, Levit. 12. to which there was annexed her Baptisme orVid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Iud. cap. 2. exact washing;) To omit that isBy Mr. Purchase in his Pilgrim. lib. 2 cap. 2. alledged from Pet. Ricius and others, that the Hebrews themselves do not add Baptisme to Circumcision the same day, as should seem, but stay till the child isBaptismus antem non adhibebatur antequam circumcisionis vulnusculum in­tegrè resanaretur. Selden, de Iur. Nat. &c. pa. 145. If he (the examined gentile) remain unshaken by his examination and protest, let him be circumcised, and when he is wel, let him be washed in water, in the presence of Three, &c. This is the late manner of Ministration, from a Venetian Rabbine, Ludovicus Mutinensis, alledged there, pa. 152. whole. Circumcision it self, notwithstanding the plainest Letter of the Law for the 8th day precisely, was yet omitted once for forty years together in the Wilderness, as may be seen in Josh. 5.5, &c. And may not then much rather an alteration creep in of timing that, which never was restrained under any certain bound and limit of time, nor it self was more then darkly com­manded?

But grant, Neither of these. Regularly or practically [Page 123] none of Abrahams seed were ever baptized, nor should have been, (though Gamaliels Schollar himself an Hebrew, and writing as St Hierom was wont to say, Hebraeus He­braeis Hebraicè, in that Epistle mentions Baptisms in the plural, as well known among them, chap. 6.2.) but grant, nor sooner nor later the holy seed ever needed or had this purification, yet

3. Might not so famous and noted a holy Prophet as John the BAPTIST (then whom among those born of women there arose not a greater, Matth. 11.11.) and in a business of BAPTISM, begin? making the best use he could devise of that rite he was so eminently intrusted a Minister of before, toward that regeneration even ofVidetur igitur Johan­nes (says H. Grotius, spea­king of this Ministration, and that it was for amendment) hac sacra cere­monia indica­re voluisse, Judaeos, quan­tumvis Dei veteres foede­ratos, in tan­tùm jam à ve­ra pierate de­scivisse, ut I­dolorum cul­toribus accen­sendi essent, planèque eo­rum exemplo totum vitae genus mutare deberent, si vellent esse salvi. annotat. in Matth. 3.6. them he saw was needfull to enter them in to the new and approaching Kingdom of God? The work it self (of entrance) he might not be able absolutely and perfectly to perform, as needed and ful out, but howsoever he might do what he could, let them to the dore by his Water Baptisme, leaving the rest to be supplyed and perfected by him that could, even let them quite in; by giving to water the gifts of the Holy Ghost. So being theAccepit autem hoc Johannes certae dispensationis gratia, non diu mansurum, sed quantum satis esset ad parandam viam Domino, cujus eum esse praecursorem agno­scebat. Augustin. de Baptismo cont. Donat. lib. 5. cap. 9. tom. 7. pa. 59. fore-runner of Christ, Luc. 3.4. the Angel of his faceAnd Malach. 3.1. Matth. 11.10. Luc. 1.76. & chap. 7.27. Mar. 1.2. and to prepare the way of the Lord, Matth. 3.3. (who meant to make more of this outward rite, even a sanctifying Sacrament, the Key of Heaven dore compleat on Earth, to let into the congregation of Sion) He might begin, bySee Luc. 7.30. Gods ap­pointment and Christs approbation, to sanctifie that Rite anew and farther, whereof he had been long an intrusted Minister, by letting it have operation upon the holy seed, and so give it some small advance, a partial consecration to­ward what it should be after compleat, by conferring what he could make it, upon the holy circumcision: To which [Page 124] purpose he administred it even most solemnly, and with fa­mous care; though with this reserve and still mentioned reference farther, When HE cometh, of whom I so often speak, and of whose shoo-strings I am not worthy to ty or unty, HE shal do more, But I have done what I could.

4. This may be: but I finde my self a little in the dark: Too far with confidence would not do wel; and yet the ho­ly text methinks heeded and not prejudged, sounds all along much this way. When behold light shineth in the dark­ness, and I am led by the hand to behold clear truth or fai­rest probability. 'Tis by him I dare trust, who assures from the Rabbines that no less Israel was baptized then E­dom, both had their initiation by circumcision and Baptism both, yea all Nations by all three, and with omission of none they came over and were ingaged to the Law. Tria adhi­bebantur initiamenta Doctis­simus, clarissi­mus, consultis­simus, & citra controversiam in re literariâ versatissimus omnigenâ I.S. in lib. de Jure nat. & gent. &c. 2. pa. 141. saith he (no fewer) sine quibus nec ipsi Israelitae, foedus illud, juxta receptam ipsorum sententiam, primo inierant, Nimirum Circumcisione, Baptismo & ob­latione. And a little after, Tribus initiamentis inierant Israelitae foedus, which were as before: andCommentar. in Eutych. num 10. pa. 24. elsewhere, (as to this) — quo (Baptismo) tum parentes ipsorum, ut volunt ipsi, tum proselyti Judaismo initiabantur, Besides whatAt the giving of the Law in Sinai, Baptisme initiatory thereinto was added; id est, ut universus populus adéoque sexus uterque tum Originariorum tum Proselytorum justitiae ante admissorum se sanctificaret atque aqua seu Baptismo mundaret. lib. 1. de Syned. pa. 22. since and byBy three things did Israel enter into the Covenant: by Circumcision and Baptisme and Sacrifice. Circumcision was in Egypt, Exod. 12.48, &c. And so in all ages, when an Ethnike is willing to enter into the Covenant, and gather himself under the wings of the Ma­jesty of God, He must do likewise, as is written Numb. 15.15, 16. As ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord: One Law and one manner shall be for you and for the stranger that sojourneth with you. How are ye? By Circumcision, Baptism and bringing of Sa­crifice, So likewise the stranger throughout all generations, &c. Maiemon. in Misn. tom. 2. alledged by Mr. Ainsworth in Genes. 17.12. St Cyprian insinuates, the reason of the form diversifyed from the usual, Act. 2.38. in Peters directing his Countreymen to be baptized in the name of Christ only, to be, because (or as if) they had been before baptized in the name of the Father; Now therefore none was needed or fit to be added but only the Son. And soon after: Alia fuit Judaeorum sub Apostolis ratio, alia est gentilium conditio. Illi, quia jam legis & Moysi antiquissimum Baptisma fuerant adepti, in nomine quoque Jesu Christi erant baptizandi, secundum quod Apostolus Petrus ad eos loquitur, Paenite­mini & baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in Nomine Domini Jesu Christi in remissionem pecca­torum, &c Acts 2.38. Jesu Christi mentionem facit Petrus, non quasi Pater omittere­tur, sed ut Patri quoque Filius adjungeretur. Epist. 73. ad Juhaian. pa. 107. And yet I confess very few glimpses of such light could I ever finde shining from the Christian Fa­thers. The doctrin was unknown to most of them, and they usually proceeded upon other grounds. Ad Iudaeos dictum purat Cyprianus (illud. Act. 2) eò quòd & ipsi Baptis­mum etiam haberent, &c. Vasquez. in 3. partem Thom. Disput. 143. cap 3. sect. 19. others. So that now the obje­ction [Page 125] vanishes, all clears up; the Hebrew seed might be bap­tized as wel as any other, for they were: Christ and the people; All about Jordan; the very Scribes and Pharisees not left out; and this by a work of Johns ordinary Mini­stry. By Text, Tradition, Custom, or howsoever it was thought to be enjoyned and accordingly observed, It was so.

Ob. I may not but take notice of what is of late published for granted, which would imply a cross hereto, sc. That that whole nation was baptiz'd once for all in Sinai, noEx pa­rentum Bap­tismo ritè per­acto posteri u­niversi pro in­itiatis, quan­tum ad Bap­tismum solum, satis habeban­tur; nec Bap­tismus ut. Cir­cumcissio erat in p [...]steris re­perendus. Sel­den. de Syned. vet. Hebr. lib. 1. pa. 23. repeti­tion was of this rite to them or any other; Circumcision was indeed hereditary and to be renewed in Posterity, but Bap­tism was such a personal act, as passing on any man, the vertue thereof was continued to his whole line, nor needed ever after be repeated in Gentile or Israelite. But,

Ans. 1. This is only said. 2. No authority produced for this variation, nor perhaps can be. Indeed the Law says, Every male child shalbe circumcised the eight day in your generations, Genes. 17. Not, you and your posterity wash your garments, in Exod. 19. But then withall the Gospel says but, Baptize all Nations, Matth. 28.19. and yet this carries for a succession: Why not that of Horeb? 3. There was equal necessity, (necessitate rei) for both, and equal authority, of Jus Divinum: Why should it be, Cir­cumcise a man and his seed, and Baptize, but not again? 4. The several intentions of these rites are in granted view; One,Ut Sa­cramentum initiationi [...] faderi Abrahae [...] Circumcisio erat, ita intelligunt Magistri Sacramentum initiationis [...] re­ceptioni legis sacrae in Sinai pariter fuisse Baptismum. Id pa. eadem. to let into the Covenant with Abraham, The o­ther, [Page 126] to the Law of Moses: Was not Israel stil to be let into both? as sure to Moses's Covenant, as to Abrahams? and the seal as necessary? and to be repeated? 5. Take the best, Real Comment: Those Judaizing Christians (E­bonites and Cerinthians heretofore; Habassines, and E­giptians, &c. of late) who retain circumcision and Baptism both, with the rites; whence should they have the repetiti­on of them, but from whom they had the rites? Sure, they yet baptize the baptized, as wel as circumcise the circumci­sed. 6. Is any text or order to be produced for our vary­ing from what was always used? We see what is done: the rite it self of washing is known to come from Jewry: the succession from what was Apostolical: No reason of change can be assigned: or time. Therefore what we do, as hath been done always, and no change can be assigned, (at the first chiefly, when change was to be made,) Very likely we take and continue as it had been before and always; else shew the variation: or would the Catholick Church have been so presumptuous as to alter and continue what no rea­son appears, or authority for, or that ever it should have been altered! Wherefore, (Pace tanti viri dixerim) I oppose not, but propose, May it not have been thus? May not the posterity of the baptized have been ever as now (and as equal strength of reason always would they should) bap­tized, as wel as the sons of the circumcised, circumcised? Was not an admission to Moses as fit and necessary and suc­cessively, as unto Abraham? and the seal of that admissi­on? Might not Jewry pattern out, To baptize of the bapti­zed, to Aebion and Cerinthus, Egipt, Ethiopia, &c. as wel as To circumcise of the circumcised, which we see done? Or, if not, I am mistaken: (which is not much: nor unlikely: and I ask pardon:) But if, then might Israel be baptized; into their Law; Scribes, Pharisees▪ and all, even our Savi­our not excepted; for usually of that Nation men were: And so, the objection above vanisheth, of the unlikelyhood of that Nations Baptisme; and the difference may have been newly aright stated between John's Hebrew, and Christ's Christian Sacrament.

Ob. If it be said, This may yet seem strange, that born, professed, natural Israelites should need, or be capable of, any new translation, as into the Law, &c.

Answ. 1. As to the plea of Nature, remember they must be also circumcised, or else they were not within the Covenant.

2. As to their possible translation, remember what be­fore of Christians deferring the undoubted Ordinances of God, as Baptisme: which might be here put off.

3. Or John might here a littleJohan­nis vero Bap­tisma Judaico multò subli­mius fuit, hu­milius vero nostro: velut pons quidam utriusqu [...] hu­jus Baptisma­tis, ab illo ad istud quasi manuducens Chrysost. Ho­mil. 23. de Baptismo Chr. tom. 1. pa. 279. vary. He might be an ordinary Minister of Proselyte-Baptisme, and called therefore, the BAPTIST, and as such baptize multitudes, all that came: But to his own Nation he might think good to alter; And change toward the Kingdom of God, that rite which ere long was thitherward to be wholly varied and changed.

And this might both reasonably startle the high court ofEx le­gatione hac Concilii Hie­rosolymitani ad Johannem, ut interroga­rent eum, quis­nam ipse esset? Pontificii san­ctam scilicet suam haereti­cae pravitatis inquisitionem probare & commendare annituntur: How, wherein, and yet how in­congruously either, see in. Conrad. Dieterick, tom. 1. pa. 51, &c. Homil. 4. Advent. Inquisition at Jerusalem, and give the occasion why their doubt by their messenger) should come forth in that form we see it does, in that reply of theirs to his former answers, Jo. 1.25. Why baptizest thou then (say they) If thou be neither Messias, nor Elias, nor a Prophet. They could not, 1, Question him for baptizing, that is, in any sort, (the rather being of the Priests line, the Son of Zacha­rias, Luc. 1.) Washings and for purification being with them and their Nation so usual as nothing more. (Re­member of them what but now enough; and add what ordered forExod. 29.6. Priests andLevit. 8.6. Num. 8.7. Levites; by divers places of the Epistle to theSo many understand, chap. 6.2. which seems yet to look another way. More to be relyed on seems chap. 9.10. Hebrews, continued to Evange­lical times.) Nor could they, 2. Trouble him about Bap­tizing Proselytes, for the same reason, and from what they saw every Priest do every day. 3. Some have thought, it [Page 128] was fromThe Question for­mall) put by Dr Jackson; Whe­ther the Priests and Levits or the Pharisees had their praenoti­ons or belief in general, That the Mes­sias his first ma­nifestation to the world should be so­lemnized by Baptisme, from written tradi­tions of the antients only? or, whether it were ground­ed upon the express testimony of Scripture or the written word of God? His answer gives for the later way: and many texts pitched upon, as Esai 35.40, 41, &c. in Christs answer to Johns question. part. 2. memb. 2. branch. 2. Baptismum aliquem universalem circa tem­pora Messiae expectabant ex zachariae 13. locisque aliis. H. Grot. annotat. in Joan. 1.25. pa. 860. Scripture, byHence the persons sent to intangle John Baptist, were Pharisees, best skilled in tradi­tions: observed by Maldonate in Joan. 1.24. sect. 192. & vide ejusdem commentar. in Matth. 3.10. col 78. tradition or otherwise (howso­ever) received, thatPersuasum habebant Iudaei fore, ut Christus cum veniret, baptizaret. id. in Mat. 3.11. At least he or his Disciples. Dr. Iackson, in his Treatise upon Christs answer to Iohns Question. sect. 35. resumed, in sect. 41. pa. 82. Sunt & qui scribunt temporibus Messiae tantam fore turbam conversorum, ut per lavacrum, non per circumcisionem sint ad­mittendi. Grot. annot. ad Matth. 3.6. pa. 41. Heed to this purpose as well the rise as conse­quence of that part of Iohns answer to his disciples interpellation, which is in Iohn 3.28. Ye are witnesses, I said, I am not the Christ, but sent before him, when news was brought of one baptizing, and many coming to him. And before, This is he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: And I knew him not, but that he should be made known unto Israel, THEREFORE am I come baptizing with water, chap. 1.30, 31. Baptisme should precede, or in some way or other belong to the Kingdom of the Messias, and ther­fore they desire to know, how he, having denyed himself to be such (in the reply before) could then take upon him such a Ministration as did not belong unto him. But these heed not, 1. The names of Elias and [...] (any pro­phet, in the text) whose degree might have born out the bu­siness as wel. 2. What but now of Baptismes, various, of sundry sorts, for sundry ends, open, visible, every day. It remaineth therefore that neither Baptisme, nor of Prose­lytes, nor as belonging to the Messias could any way trouble or give ground of reasonable doubt (which have been the things thought) But the new way (likely) Why Abrahams seed? Why thus? distorting the old ceremony to a new frame or end, or making to or toward something it had not (having noNulla, quisquis es, in te est authoritas, nihil magni aut admirabilis, Quid quaeso Baptizas? Quid, cum nihil ipse sis, rem tantam moliris? Cyril. Alexand. in Ioan. 1. tom. 4. pa. 110. authority or power extraordinary to bear out so bold or perilousNeque enim res levis momenti erat, quicquam in ecclesia Dei novare: prae­sertim novum profiteri initiationis genus, quod perfectius esset lege Dei. Calvin. Har­mon. Evang. pa: 90. innovation!) These, say they, [Page 129] thou hast disclaimed already, tel us how then thou canst, justifie thy new way, So, thus, in this manner Baptizing, whereas thou art neither Messias, Elias, nor (eminently) a Prophet. This seems to make the doubt reasonable, gives the bottom of the business fit to trouble an high Inquisition, and withall involves or permits answer to (or thitherward) the cross objection, that Christ's fore-runner the Baptist was not a baptizer of Proselytes (to the Law) because he baptized his own Nation; yes he might be both, he might do both; And here (which might wel trouble the Inquisitors for heretical pravity) be changing the one into the other, that formerly used into now-introductory to the Kingdom of God.By the way: And this opinion and de­termination might light to­ward better an­swer to that ra­tional objection made against Iohns Baptism in the Martyr Iustins time, by some who wondred how he could mi­nister and the people re­ceive baptism under the Law, they be­ing under the Law, for which they had no Law, and yet not be thereby transgressors of the Law. Si Bap­tismus Iohannis (say they) non secundum legem fuit, ut certè non fuit (they took this for granted, and to them the doubt thereby hardly soluble) quomodo ergo praeter le­gem non fuit? & quomodò ab his qui sub lege vivebant receptus fuit? (they might well say so, considering how that Nation was bound to their Law) Quomodò autem non violatores leges fuêre ( [...]) qui legi subditi cum essent, praeter legem Baptismum susceperunt. Sin sub lege Baptismus gratiae obtinuit (for that I doubt not is the sense, though Langius translates otherwise) qui neque secundum legem, neque su­pra legem, neque praeter legem dictus, [...] secundum quid extitisse reperietur? Quaestion. ad Orthod. 38. pa. 413. The answer there given is, 'Twas praevious to the Gospel, therefore above the Law, for it assoyled not legall transgressors, &c. Nor does this assoil the doubt; nor them very well from being [...], be­sides the Law, living under it. The fairer, clearer, fuller answer might be: All this was (ta­king in expressions and limitations before) according to the Law, and then what inconveni­ence could follow, or difficulties remain?

Ob. If it be farther said (in objection to the main at first) Those Baptismes were equal, one reaching as far as another; for Johns was for remission of sin, what needed or could Christs or any other do after any more?

Ans. St Augustine De Baptismo contra Donat. lib. 5. cap. 10. answered long since, Spe dimis­sa fuisse peccata Baptismo Johannis, Christi Baptismo reipsa dimitti: Johns gave hope of forgiveness, Christs reality; Or I send farther to that Father and others, with whom that doubt found long since both mention and satisfaction.

Ob. Or if it be urged lastly, they were not in Scripture, shew thence such things as these.

Answ. I proposed them not as such. Not as found in Scripture, or borrowed of Scripture, but agreeing with Scripture, furthering, I hope the interpretation of Scri­pture, as wel bottomed there too, as many currant opini­ons, [Page 130] even about Baptisme, and in the Originals, But if offe­ring any contradiction to Scripture, I am ready not only invertere stylum to raze out all presently, but to be the first shal cast off the remainder whither it deserves.

There can only remain a seeming to cross our own, or possible thwarting Protestant determinations in these. Whereof yet can be neither doubt nor fear. For, 1. As toIn pub­licis Prote­stantium ec­clesiarum con­fessionibus ni­hil adhuc mihi lectum huju­sce furfuris, (that Iohn's Baptism and Christs were all one) in eccle­siae Anglicanae [...] nihil extat, huc vel detorquendum: quum potius contra. Montacut: Origin. par. 2. sect. 60. pa. 390. Protestant Churches, they have not, as far as I know, made any determination at all, I mean in their Articles, Or­ders, Acts, Convocations, or whatever is of publick ac­count▪ Particularly, I assure my self, not the Church of our Nation; And for privat men, they may vary, Why not? with like liberty, in things not publickly determined, on all sides? Though I seek no such refuge, I need not, for, 2. I aver nothing. I binde not on other mens shoul­ders the weight of one line, or burden their faith with one assertion. All I do, is, in humility, and as a lover and see­ker of truth, to propose with—Quae cum exponit (Origines) frequenter addere solet & profiteri, se non haec quasi diffinitiva pronunciare sententia, nec statuto dogmate terminare, sed inquirere pro viribus & sensum discutere scripturarum, nec tamen profiteri quod inte­grè perfectèque comprehenderit: suspicari magis se de quamplurimis dicens, nec ta­men certum esse quia in omnibus quod perfectum est & integrum assecutus sit. Apo­log. Eusebii Caesar: pro origine, inter opera Hieron. tom. 9. pa. 114. modesty, the fruit of mine own conceptions to view and judgment, and which mine own thoughts have suggested and whisphered at least for probable truth: (dissero non assero, as he said) If to any they seem otherwise, the looker on has his leave and choice, whether to take or leave; but no reason to blame me who meant but to lend him my hand to lead (nor force) him to that I apprehended the righter way.Potest mihi aliud videri, alteri aliud: sed neque ego quod dixero praescribo al­teri ad meliorem intellectum, nec ille mihi, an utrumque accipiendum sit, si utrum (que) cum fide concordat. Augustin: Enarrat. in Psalm. 36. conc. 1. tom. 8. pa. 112. Thus, All may prophesie one and one, that all may learn and all receive comfort: for the spirits of the prophets ( [...], their gifts, revelations, Inspirations, Insufflations) are sub­ject to the Prophets. 1. Corinth. 14.31, 32. Another [Page 131] may with the same leave and love imbrace that fancy or o­pinion which is the [...]. Clemen. Alexand. Strom. 1. child of his own teeming brain, and so by the collision of differing or opposed judgments that truth chance to be struck out to light, which otherwise might have lain hid in perpetual darkness. Times of refor­mation have been reasonably looked upon as affording li­berty of disquisition; in order to the work in hand &c.

I confess I had been once like to give entertainment to another opinion of Johns Baptisme, not touched at before, as far I know, by any, much favoured by the glances of the text throughout, and meetly well agreeing with the beliefs, usages and customs both of Jewry▪ and abroad (which was the reason why I liked it:) Although it be not true, it may have of truth in it, and therefore I shall not think much to set it down; Let the probability of things all along be my excuse; it is this.

That Johns Baptisme might be nothing else but a very so­lemn and This manner of Baptizing (sc. as in making Proselytes) they used likewise in re­conciling and receiving pe­nitents, which had given scandal by any notorious of­fences, in to­ken of repen­tance & newness of life, having first before this washing testified their humiliation by fasting and prayer. Purchas. Pilgrim. lib. 2. cap. 2. of the Hebrew Law. Among the Pagans, impuritatis labes qualiscunque dilui ac satis purgari plerunque credebatur ex corporis in aqua viva ablutione. Selden. de Synedr. lib. 1. cap. 10. pa. 399. (Heed well that epithete, aqua VIVA; as in the Hebrews Law it was, [...], Levit. 14. ver. 5.50, 51, 52. as it were Quick, and of Life to work out and thereby purifie, as Levit. 15.13. Cantic. 4.15. zachar. 14.8. Ioan. 4.10. & cap· 7.38. ALL LIVING Waters,) and in the Poet — Donec me flumine vivo Abluero, Atque id. de Tertullianis, Arnobius, Lactantius, ejusmodi alii Paganis hoc exprobrant, quasi ex ablutione ejusmodi se antè flagitiis in qui natissimos satis mundatos existimarent. pa. 400. In summe, Re­ceptissima erat in sacrorum disciplina persuasio illa de impuritatis omnimodo purga­tione per Ablutiones & sui & vestium, quibus anteacti sceleris redargutio, increpatio & liberatio adeòque Poenitentia ejusque effectus etiam significabatur, uti ex Artemi­dori itidem & Achmete edisci potest. ibid. Vid. etiam Th. Aquin. par. 3. quest. 38. artic. 1. Respondeo. penitential washing, such as theTheir brazen Laver made and consecrated under (their moving Temple) the Taber­nacle, Exod. 30. their many other under (their fixed tabernacle) the Temple, 2. Chron. 4. especially their MOLTEN SEA (so big) carefully provided and stately framed by Solomon. 1 King. 7. 2 Chron. 4. what speak these but the frequency of this rite, (to them both nati­onal and religious) and such as did call for and had a good part of their traditionary or addi­tional Law, in rules hereabout? For whereas there were of the Talmud six parts, of those six one is spent chiefly in Puri­fication: and the sixth book of that sixth part intituled (containing 10. chapters) Tractatus collectionum aquarum, in quibus agitur de fonte atque aquis, in quibus baptizabantur homines utriusque sexus, ut ab immunditiis spiritualibus puri­ficarentur, says Pet. Galatin. de arcanis Catholicae veritatis, lib. 1. cap. 5. Israel Iudae­us quotidiè lavatur, quia quotidiè inquinatur, so Tertullian, de Baptismo. cap. 15. Quisquis enim immunditiem contraxerat undis abluebatur, vestesque etiam ips [...]s la­vabat, atque ita demùm aditus ei ad castra patebat, so he who might know better then another, Ioannes Damascenus, lib. 4. de fide orthod. cap. 10. Nothing was among them more usual. That Combustion in Iohn 3.25. was about their religion, for Saepè & in omni vita Iudaei baptizabant, qui & baptizando leviora crimina (nor reaching the publick or the life of a man) tolli putabant. ut & varios baptismos sive ablutiones haberent. Dan. Heins. Aristarch. sac. ad Ioan. 4.25. Sicut & apud Hebraeos aquae lotio ad emundati­onem pollutionis saepe usurpata est, ut Levit. 16. & cap. 25. Exod. 30. Deuter. 23. 4 Reg. 5. cum similibus. Greg. Tholosan. syntagm. lib. 31. 8. 6. In fact, The seventy Translators of the Bible washed and so purified themselves every morning, and to fit them for their work, before they went to their studies: Joseph. Antiqu. 12. cap. 2. The Essaeans washed every day, and in cold water, id. de bell. Jud. lib. 2. cap. 7. Those Mungrels, the Samari­tans, often: as, when they returned home from Merchandize trade, traffique, &c. Mountag. Acts & Monum. chap. 7. sect. 145. Remember, and all these had a different aim from, to Initiate. Jews (after much fasting and prayer) used for purification from their [Page 132] [...]. Damascen. de fide, 4. 10. Alii etiam fuêre in Hebraeorum ritibus baptismi (besides for admission into the Synagogue) qui non solum [...] seu sordium purgationes, sed & ut peccatorum ablutiones habebantur; de quibus Isai. 1.16. Eulog. contra Novatia­nos, lib. 2. —& Rab. Elias de Wides in Reschith Chochma, seu Initio sapientiae, c. 4. & 5. — De poenitentia verba faciens ille, — oportet (inquit) paenitentem purgare se lavacro, & postmodum sanctificare se jejuniis, &c. Et Petrus Blessensis con­tra perfidiam Iudaeorum, cap. 26. Crediderunt Iudaei & adhuc credunt, per aquam fri­gidam peccata dimitti. unde & ipsi solent multis baptismatibus exerceri. Ejusmodi e­tiam ablutionem Herbanus Iudaeus in disputatione cum Gregentio Archiepiscopo Te­phrensi memorat, ubi peccatorem poenitentem [...], ablutum (in versione Nic. Gulonii pro eo (absolutum) malè legitur) ut anima expia­tum & ad bonam mentem reversum, in templum, ex jure Hebraico, admittendum ad sacra antiquitùs fuisse ait. Selden. de succession. in bon. defunct. cap. 26. But such Baptism was only in vitae atque morum, not in Natalium Novationem seu regene­rationem, as he there notes. In aquas se submergunt, & in iisdem peccata tam plenè à se abluunt ut purissimi fiant. Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. cap. 20. sins, Washing of the body shadowing and signifying, if not furthering and operating the inward purity and cleanness of minde and soul, (as many have been apt to [Page 133] think, and those very, very many) or a kinde of atonement with Heaven (for which there was time and rite, and ve­ryFor being drawn so easily to be baptized (so many, from Ie­rusalem, Iu­dea, and all a­bout Jordan) it may be said, That washings that they might be cleansed from the sins they had committed, were in use amongst them by the Law: And therefore this being a thing they were of old grounded in, it is no marvel that they now off [...]r themselves. &c. Mayer. tom. 1. pa. 69. Of washings by the Law we have, Levit. 13.54, 58. chap. 15.10, 11, 16, 18. chap. 17.15, 16. Num. 10.19, 20. chap. 31.19, 20. Deuter. 23.11. Washing of gar­ments, in Levit. 11.25. & chap. 14.47. was interpreted of themselves, before. And from both and their multitude, It is the use of the Scripture (says Dr Raynolds) to describe spiritual duties by expressions drawn from Ceremonies and usages under the Law, as repentance is called washing, Es. 1. Serm. on Hos. 4.2. Other such allusions are in Ierem. 4.14. Psalm. 51.2, 7. Revel. 1.5. Four sorts of unlcean persons, to be cleansed must be baptized and also bring sa­crifice. 1. The Leper. 2. the Woman puerpura, that had lain in 3. the Man. 4. the Woman, that had an issue ( [...], the Septuagint gives, Levit. 15.) and this accor­ding to the Law. Ainsworth, on Levit. 12.6. pa. 63. Iosephus confirms, that the clean­sing of that infirmity requires both sacrifice and bathing in cold water, lib. 3. cap. 10. and till this were done women (post copulam) were held unclean, as having a part of their souls defiled by that act, lib. 2. contra. Apion. Which was after taken into the Christian Law. For Gregory of Rome in answer of some doubts to Augustin (first) Arch-Bishop of Cant. gives this order: Vir autem cum propria conjuge dormiens, nisi lo­tus aqua Ecclesiam intrare non debet, sed neque lotus, statim. fetching it from the puri­fying Law of old Israel, Levit. 15. and adding: that, though other Nations might teach o­therwise, Romanorum tamen semper ab antiquioribus usus fuit, post admixtionem pro­priae conjugis, & Lavacri purificationem quaerere, & ab ecclesiae ingressu Paululùm re­verenter abstinere; with (a little after) the same lavatory preparation directed for recei­ving the pledg of Christians holy Communication one with another, in Bedes Histor. Ecclesi­ast. 1. cap. 27. Taken into the Decree so late as by Gratian, in Caus. 33. Quaest. 4. ca. 7. which shews it had some influence then where the Bible went. Neque ab uxore ad sacra li­citum esse illotis adire sanxerunt (Aegyptii) remembers Clemens of Alexand. in Stro­mat. 1. pa. 306. and in the Alcoran, as if Religions did conspire in this case to make somewhat conscientious as of natural piety: Non ebrii, sed sobrii oratum ibant (Mahometani:) & post coitum, & egestionem, non priùs orabant, quàm aquâ aut pulvere mundae terrae abluti essent. Azoará. 9. Alledged by the Centurists of Maydenburg, in Centur. 7. cap. 15. de religionibus externis. col. 354. Ablution appointed by the Law) or reconciliation with God and his Church: In a word, the rite of a very set and solemn Penance (if we may borrow a word from beyond sea). And for all this are more then flattering glances of the text if the words and coherence be heeded and judged of without prejudice. As, John the person, ministring, hisMatth. 3.1, 4. chap. 11.8, 18. Mar. 1.3, 4, 6. Luc. 7.33. austerity of life like a Hoc illius etiam Rabitus ipse ostendir, qui utique compunctioni & paenitentiae congruebat. Chrysost. Homil. 10. in Matth. 10. penitentiary; the [Page 134] Matth. 3.5, 6 Mar. 1.5 Luc. 3.7, 10, 12. & cap. 7.29 peoples coming to him, as about such a business; theirMatth. 3.6. Mar. 1.5. confession of sins; forMar. 1.4. Luc. 3 3. remission of sins; and toMat. 3.7. Luc. 3.7. avoid future wrath; theMatth. 3.7. Pharisees coming with the rest, aIb. & cap. 12.3. & cap. 23.33. venemous and viperous generation that had most need (though not all of them; Some let the simple people go before them in accepting this Luc. 7.29, 30. councel of God for their justification) And the righteous son of God should have been Matth. 3.14. Iohn forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me. repelled, as in whose spotless perfection, aLavare eum in quo non erat peccatum existimabat (Iohannes) superfluum. Cyprian. de Cardinal. Christioperibus. pa. 267. Venit ad Iohannis Baptisma (Christus) sed Iohannis Baptisma habebat paenitentiam delictorum. Et ideo prohibet eum Io­hannes ducens, Ego à te debeo baptizari & tu Venis ad me! Cur venis ad me qui peccatum non habes? ille enim baptizandus est à me qui peccatum habet. Qui autem peccatum non fecit, lavacrum poenitentiae cur requirat? Ambros. in Luc. 3. Ego utique à te debeo baptizari, qui mihi est ex paterna praevaricatione corruptio, & tibi in Majestate pa­terna communio: — Ego terrenum animal tu agnus Dei. Ego peccati lege mortalis, tu autem adversus peccata veniens nescis subjacere peccato. Maxim. Taurinens. Homil. 6. in Epiphan. De Baptismo Christi. Baptizari vis Domine Iesu! Utquid enim, aut quid opus est tibi Baptismate? Nunquid sano opus est medicina? aut mundatione mundo? Unde tibi peccatum ubi Baptisma sit necessarium? — Quam macu­lam habere potest agnus sine macula? Bernard. Serm. 1. de Epiphan. Iohannes in­tuens eum, & spiritu per divinam revelationem cognoscens eum esse verum Deum & hominem nullum peccatum habentem, & ob hoc lavacro non indigentem, timuit & expavit, Et — ex reverentia eum prohibens, Ego (dixit) Domine (terrenus) à te (Coelesti, qui non eges) baptizari debeo: & tu, &c. Ludolph. de Saxonia, part. 1. cap. 21. sect. 7, 8. Vid. etiam Cyrill. Hierosolymit. Cateches. 3. pa. 20. business of that nature could take no place. But above all, the constant and repeated word of Baptisme of Repentance, Bap­tisme for Repentance, He preached saying, Repent, and (what more fitly consequent and attendant to all these, then what he also used and pressed? saying) Live not now as ye list any longer, but bring forth fruits worthy Repentance and AMENDMENT of life. With which the poor [Page 135] people were so taken and terrifyed, as it were thunder-striken with fear and amazement, that neither pleasure nor fear of their past sins can offer any rub, but in they com, thick and threefold; paleness is in their cheeks, and the word of terror on their lips (even of those that were com­puncti corae suo, Acts 2.38. Wounded at the heart,) Men and Brethren! Alass! Men and Brethren! Now: what shall we do? A confused multitude comes in and crys out first, What shall we do? The cheatingPubli­cani (ut est ge­nus hominum avarum, rapax & crudele) saepe iniquis vexationibus plebem vexabant: vitia, quibus ut plurimum laborabat ordo ille, taxat Baptista, prohibens, ne in exigendis tributis modum excedant, id. pa. 89. Publicans (toll-ga­therers, tribute-mongers, purveyers, excisemen, Customers, &c.) and what shall we do? (They had not wont to make such conscience of their ways, or doubt of gain;Luc. 3.10, 11, &c. Lucri bonus odor quâlibet ex re, as he said; but now they will be bounded by rule, and that rule the strictest, of Religion:Hanc so­licitudinem gignit verus recipiscendi affectus, ut cu­pidè inquirat peccator, quidnam velit Deus ac praeci­piat? Respon­sio autem Jo­hannis brevi­ter definit fru­ctus poeniten­tia dignos. Calvin. Har­mon. Evangel. pa. 88. What! Now: Any thing!) The ravenous, rapacious, greedy, plundering Souldiers with iron sides and harder hearts, whose swords had wont to be their rule, and their power their Law, have now a case of conscience to propose to a Prophet; Vivitur ex rapto is laid aside, & Rara fides pietasque viris qui bella sequuntur, become to them as bad as heresie; their spirits are mollified and hearts softened, their consciences ductile, to follow or take any impression. And What, say they, shall we do? To which they receive such answers severally, as may teach others (to whose guil­ty souls theJohannes quid facto opus esset à turbis interrogatus, periti medici more, sin­gulis opportuna praesidia salutariaque pharmaca praefinit. Et quidem turbis, ut mu­tua benevolentia se invicem complectantur, injungit: Publicanis vero ad telonium se­dentibus, ad immoderatam avaritiam insaciabilemque illam habendi sitim, viam ob­struit: militibus autem, ne quem temerè concutiant, non absque singulari provi­dentia Praecepit. Deus namque nullum omnino, modo justè ritéque vitam instituat, rejicit. Tit. Bostrensis ad Luc. 3. in Biblioth. Pat. Gr. pa. 781. salve of like wholsome and saving counsell might come fitly applicable) the proof of repentance to this very day. To the closehanded parcimonious people; Be not so saving and distrustfully, fearfully covetous, butTobit: 4.7. Give [Page 136] almes of that is yours, and never turn the face from any in want, and then the face of the Lord shall not be turned from you. To the Officers of the Customes, receivers, decei­vers; Leave off those hooks from between your fingers, Wash off that birdlime wrongs all you touch with your hands, 'Tis an injurious Chimistry that meddles not with any thing of anothers, but it extracts and purloyns some­what for it self, Do not plunder insteed of take, and make publick power a stalking horse to creep to privat unjust gain, but take that belongs to you and be therewith con­tented. To the rude and Masterless Soldiers, Remember that ye also have a Master in heaven, Do not tyrannize in­steed of Rule, and spoyl insteed of Protect; grating, ex­acting, worrying, fliecing, that the poor afflicted people may look upon you as so many wolves sent to guard the sheep,As a roaring Lyon and a ranging Bear, so is a wicked Ruler over the poor people. Proverb. 28.15 or bears and lyons to oversee the quiet fold; your profession is honorable, do not disgrace it by unsuitable acti­ons, staining the beauty of your Nobility by unlawful deeds, and casting dirt upon the face of your own glory: Trouble or misinform against none, but get your pay and be contented. These were the parts, works, fruits, effects of Johns Baptisme, and do they not all look much like or to­ward a business of Repentance?

The rather yet for 4. things more. Because, 1. Most practical Divines have looked upon John, as a severe Pro­phet, a legal teacher, a Minister of the Law, a terrifyer of consciences, the needle going before the threadMat. 3.10. Luc. 3.9. one that carryed the axe, &c. 2. For what Joseph the son of Matthias hath left of his whole dispensation; himself an Historian, a Jew andThis he owns of him­self, in his Pre­face to his History, Of the Wars of the Jews. a Priest; it so fell out, of the same tribe and line; and not only so but of some nearer alliance, as being of the highestCompare, for proof here­of, what is in Luc. 1. ver. 5, 8. with what this Authour hath left us of himself, in the beginning of the Relation of his own life. course of 24 with Za­charias the Baptists Father, living in (or near)For John came out of the Wilderness but in the 15. year of Tiberius: Luc. 3.1. and Joseph was born in the first of Caius Coesar. as himself writeth there. the time of his tragedy, (not above ten years difference) and [Page 137] one that had tryed the sameAfter I had heard that a certain man called Banus lived in the de­sart, clothing himself with that which the trees brought forth, and fee­ding on no other kind of meat but that which they willingly yeil­ded him (com­pare herewith Johns Locust and wild ho­ny) washing himself often-times by day & night in cold water to keep himself chast: I began to imi­tate his course of life, and af­ter I had lived with him the space of 3 years, and satisfied my desires, at last I returned into the City. ib. severe course of institu­tion by Eremiticall life which John did in the Wilderness, even to a Baptisme of himself in a penitentiall way, who gives this account. Divers were of opinion (saithAntiqu. Heb: lib. 18. cap. 7. he) that Herods Army miscarried for the execution of John, sir named Baptist: For he had done this man to death, who was replenished with all vertue, and who exhorted the Jews to ad­dict themselves thereto, and to execute justice towards men, and piety towards God. Exhorting them to be baptized, and telling them that that Baptisme should at that time be well pleasing to God, if they should renounce not only their sins, but if to the purity of their bodies they should annex the cleanness of their souls, re-purified by Justice. 3. I have somewhere read a Question, to which I never saw, or could frame to my self an answer clearly satisfactory in the affirmative, Whether it can be proved by holy Scripture that John ever baptized in or into the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost? Which I piece out a little farther, Or into Moses? or Christ? or for initiation any way? No question of his Baptisme; the text is clear for that: but whether to this end? keeping to Scripture: or where may it be found? It hath been o­therwise generally Received: But this was Delivered: and all know how low the credit of bare Tradition is now grown in most Parts of Christendom. Divers opinions may have been no better then pious presumptions; Religi­ous mistakes, which having had the hap to meet with able defenders, (Divinity Readers or Writers) at first, have by degrees prospered into Axioms, and almost Articles of Do­ctrin; having yet little of credibility, very little of Truth, Nothing of solid Scripture at bottom, but a strong faith, holpen by inclination to tread in the steps of the Wise and Learned, hath carried them currant along and made them (like Jerusalem) Ezek. 16. prosper into a Kingdom: May it not have been so here? 4. Take in the large reigne of that opinion, that water (quick and living water, as before) had power in it self in Nature to purifie the conscience from dead works: I do not say, it was so, or St John thought so, but thought it was so, all abroad, both within and without [Page 138] the pale of Jewry, which might bring multitudes to Iordan, though upon erroneous account, and Iohn took occasion thereby to exhort them to serious and real repentance; nor was he himself altogether free from errour, as appears by repelling One it was just should come, Matth. 3.15. and as to our Saviour he might conform to custom, in what he absolutely needed not, as Iohn told him; or take the best of what had some mixture of error or superstition. Sure this Gratious enlivening quality, was all over the East believed to be in water to sanctify and make clean the spotted soul.

TheQuam rationem (baptizandi) observabant & Esseni, à Py­thagoraeis, ip­sorum Patriar­chis mutua­tam: sic enim illi statuebant, Puritatem consequen­dam per pur­gationes, lava­cra, & irrigati­ones. Monta­cut. Apparat. 7 sect. 77. pa. 278. Pythagoreans thought purity to be attainable hereby, and so did the Pharisees among the Iews, inAd Luc. 12. pa. 140. And hereto be­longs what is in Mar▪ 7.2, 3, 4, 5. what was unwashen, was there common; as 'twere, opposed to sanctified & clean. Lavandi istam consuetudinem, à Lustrationibus Paganorum mutuari credi possunt Pharisaei, Aegiptiis praecipuae, & Persis. [...] enim & [...] fre­quenter apud illos usurpabantur: unde se expiandos & mundandos credebant. Appar. Eod. sect. 26. pa. 253. Ti­tus Bostrensis. The Egiptians and Persians had their fre­quent Bathings whence they thought themselves to be freed from guilt and cleansed: So did the Samaritans; who were, (that it might seem no less then very usual) like the Ebio­nites inEt aquis se identidem tam hyeme quam aestate [...] nimirum sanctitatis sibi conciliandae gratia. in Anacephal. tom. 2. pa. 140. Of whom see before, ad­versus haeres. 30. sect. 21, & 32. in tom. 1. pa. 145. & 158. Epiphanius, who reverenced some Deitie in the waters, Washing themselves as well winter as summer, to sanctifie themselves thereby. The like thought may have born sway withHabes homo in primis aetatem venerari aquarum, quòd antiqua substantia; dehinc dignationem, quòd divini spiritus sedes, gratior scilicet caeteris tunc elemen­tis, alluding to the spirit of God upon the face of the waters. Genes. 1.2. lib. de Bap­tismo. cap. 3. Sanctum autem utique super sanctum ferebatur, aut ab eo quod superfere­batur, id quod ferebat sanctitatem mutuabatur. cap. 4. Tertullian, when he commended the liquid Element as in nature, and from the beginning, the habitation of some divine spirit, & dignum Deo vectaculum, a fit convoy for a Deity: and withSiquidem jam inde ab orbis initio spiritus Dei super aquas ferebatur: ac lustrandi facultate jam olim praeditam aquam esse Scriptura testis est. Quippe tempore Noë Deus mundi peccatum per aquam Eluit. Orthod. fid. lib. 4. cap. 10. Io. Damascene (another of ours) that from the beginning the spirit of God moved up­on the face of the waters, whence it had a cleansing power seene in washing away the sinnes of the old world. [Page 139] Add, and with those su­perstitious Christians, who (sticking too much upon the letter of 1 Tim. 2.8. I will that Men pray e­very where, lifting up PURE hands, and Jam 4.8. Cleanse your hands ye sin­ners, as well as purifie your hearts ye dou­ble minded) made it consci­entious to wash their hands al­ways before their heavenly address, that so they might be morally clean and fit to lift to heaven, as Chrysostome tels us, in Homil. 72 in Joan. tom. 2 in Novum testam. pa: 466. Tertullian, in lib. de Oratione, cap. 11. & Cornel. à Lapide, in 1 Tim. 2.8. The Mahomedans were wont to say, Orationis clavis est Mundities, Clean­lyness was the Key of the work of Devotion: &, Non accepit Deus preces absque mun­datione, sen lotione, God accepts not the prayers of the unclean, as, from Algazal, is re­membred by Mr. Pocock, in his late notes on the Arabian History, pa. 302. For the Gentiles washing their hands before sacrifice, and from them the Christians, may be seen Polydore Virgil, de rerum inventor. lib. 3. cap. 5. & lib. 5. cap. 11. Cicero giving the reason why the old Law (continued toAs appears by Institut. lib. 4. tit. 18. de publicis judiciis. sect. 6. Digest. de lege Pomp. de Parricid. L. paena parricidii. & Cod. 9. tit. 16. de his qui parentes. Iustinians time) was, that he that had killed his fa­ther should be sewed up in a sack, with a dog, an ape and a viper, &c. and so cast into a river or the sea, alledges; The sack was to preserve the cleansing waters, Ne, cùm delati es­sent in mare (parricidae) ipsum polluerent, quo caetera quae vi­olata sunt, expiari putantur, asLect. antiqu. lib. 11. cap. 21, 22. This particular is remembred in Paulus Merula, in dissertat. de maribus cap 1. Who from other discourse had inferred a little before, Non igitur obscurum, quam ob causam marinas (Aquis omnibus tribuunt purgandi vim alii scriptores) undas usurparit Antiquitas in Purgationibus, ut videre est apud Catul [...]um de aversis incestisque Gellii Veneribus, Senecam in Hippolyto, Apuleium, &c. Et hinc cùm apud alios tùm Julium Obsequentem de Prodigiis leguntur Hermaphroditi A­ruspicum praecepto in Mare deportari quondam soliti; quòd nullis nisi aequoris un­dis ejusmodi portentum lavari & expiari posse arbitrarentur. Coelius Rhodiginus: which he farther clears by that the Scholiast on Aristopha­nes expounds some verses of that author, about ones coming to the sea and washing there, by Mos erat antiquis illic expi­are pollutos, the antiens were wont so to purify the unclean: as Plato in his journey to Egipt, taking with him Euripides who fell sick by the way, He was cured by the Priests wash­ing; whence Plato was wont to say, The sea washeth off all Inconveniences. in Diogenes Laert. lib. 3. in vita Platonis. The So the late Bishop Montague in his Acts and Monum. chap. 2. sect. 59. Druides had their expiations, lustrations, sanctifica­tions, often washings and cleansings, without which nothing was well, orderly or truely done or performed in their services: As Sybilla Cumanasect. 60. rinsed her self in pure running wa­ter before she addressed her self to her prophesies. The antientGreg. Syntag. juris universi. lib. 36. ca. 31. de expiatione homicidii. use (saith Sophocles) was, those that had stained their [Page 140] hands by murther, to wash them clean in water, [...], for what less, then to take off the stain of guilt? theExistima­bant antiqui eandem esse animi quam eriam corpo­ris purgatio­nem, ut cum quis in flumi­ne manus aut corpus ablu­isset post cae­dem, ille pu [...]us statim efficeretur: quare ita scribit Anti­clides libro 74. redituum. [...]: It was and is the use after manslaughter or any o­ther to wash the hands in running water to fetch off the stain. Natalis Comitis Mythol [...]g. lib. 1. cap. 10. pa. 27. cleansing of body and minde, of hand and soul they thought went together. AndIn vocab. [...]. Suidas expoun­ding that [...], says, so were believed to have expiation those were guilty of bloodshed: acknowledged byItem penes veteres quisquis se homicîdio infecerat, purgatrice aquâ se expia­bat. lib de Baptismo. cap. 5. as likewise for expiation of perjury. ibid, Quae verba satis in­dicant quantam vim ad animos ab omni scelere expiandos in aquis positam esse gen­tiles existimarint. Joseph. Vicecom. de antiqu. ritibus Bapt. lib. 1. cap. 17. Tertullian, and so understood by Joseph. Vicecomes. But e­specially and above all the rest were the Hemerobaptists. We may expect somewhat more then ordinary of them, when Dayly washing had soked into their name; as such there were and so they used. They Dicebant, neminem aeternae vitae compotem esse posse, nisi quotidiè lavarer. Respons. ad Epist. Acacii. tom, 1. & Anacephal. tom. 2. pa. 134. thought else no one could attain eternal life, saith Epiphanius; and Baronius,Rati nimirum hominem non posse vivere nisi quis singulis diebus in aqua mergeretur, atque ita ablueretur, & proinde sanctificaretur. in Apparat. 14. No living without washing and rinsing, and thereby cleansing, yea sanctification. This they did every day, both morning and evening, winter as well as summer, saysTam vere autumnoque quam aestate atque hyeme quotidiè lavant, unde & [...] appellationem adepti sunt. Ita enim statuebant, vivere aliter homi­nem non posse, quam si quotidiè se aquis elueret, atque ab omni crimine purgaret. ad­versus haeres. 17. tom. 1. pa 37. Epiphanius again, upbraiding, that their practise did confute their hope, and their doing their believing: for sith they washed and did it daily, the repetition bespake the insufficiency, and the renewing it the day after declared really the imperfection of what was done the day before. Nor may we withdraw all respect from the giddy-witted Poets? Some truth they let fall by the way in pursuit of their vainest fictions, their ma­terials were commonly sound where their plot was but a figment, a golden web, when the piece but a toy or a fan­cy; [Page 141] for what brain-sick Rhapsodist would ever have sup­posed speeches that could not have been spoken (truly?) or things that could not have been done? or words empty of all sense? or that to be, which neither was not could, nor was ever heard of? Virgil Aeneid. 2. And Dido ordering a pre­paration for sa­crifice: Dic corpus prope­ret fluviali spargere lym­pha in Aeneid. 4. And after: Occupat Ae­neas aditum corpusque re­centi spargit aqua in Aene­id. 6. And a­gain,—aliis sub gurgite vasto Infestum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni. thus brings in his Aeneas be­speaking his aged parent:

Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu patriosque penates:
Me bello è tanto digressum & coede recenti
Attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo
Abluero.

His bloody hands might not meddle with what was religi­ous, till clean and cleansed by living water. (for I purpose­ly retain that epithete.) Would another fall out with less then a shadow?

O nimiùm faciles, qui tristia crimina caedis
Tolli fluminea posse putatis aqua!

saidOmne nefas, omnem­que mali pur­gamine cau­sam, Crede­bant nostri tollere posse senes. Graecia principium moris fuit illa nocentes, Im­pia lustratos tollere facta putat. Actoridem Peleus, ipsum quoque Pelea Phoci, Caede per He­monias solvit Acastus aquas. Whereto the Poet upbraids as here, O nimium faciles, &c. in 4. Fastorum. Ovid: sure some were then perswaded that it was so; that the deepest dye of worst offence might be wash­ed off in the neighbouring brook. AndIn Hercul. furent. Seneca gravely:

Quis Tanais, aut quis Nilus, aut quis Persica
Violentus unda Tigris, aut Rhenus ferox,
Tagusve Ibera turbidus gaza fluens
Abluere dextram poterit!

Can Tanais, Nile, Rhysni, Tigris or the golden sanded Taio make cleane a guilty hand; they cannot. To omittQuid facit is, patruum qui non sinit esse maritum? Ecquid scis quantum suscipiat sceleris? Suscipit, ô Gelli, quantum non ultima Tethis, Nec genitor nympharum abluit Oceanus. And Persius, Haec sanctè ut poscas Tiberino in gurgite mergis Manè caput bis terque, & noctem flumine▪ purgas. in Satyr. 2. Catullus. The more Eastern Ganges was left out in Seneca's enumeration, but his vertue is supplyed by the beliefe and present recourse of ours, or the last age. For [Page 142] thither do people resort, if we may creditI. Hui­ghen van Lin­schoten. Book 1. chap. 16. him that brought it us from the bankes side, in multitudes, with as­sured hope that as many as wash and bath themselves in that River, be they never so great sinners, have all their sins forgiven them, and that they are thenceforth pure and clean from a [...]l sin, as if they were new come into the world as shalbe said anon. And indeed it is beleeved all over the East, saythAccepi­mus enim duobus illis elementis a­qua & igni, creditum a­pud omnes ferè gentes ex­piari posse de­licta & purifi­cari: as from Virgil., before. Ingredientes & egredientes domo, ubi mortuus erat, aqua se asper­gebant Graeci, ut se purga­rent, &c. P. Gregor. Tho­losan. Syntag. Juris. lib 31. cap. 8. sect. 7. Sed & apud Ethnichos ex­piationes & veluti purga­tiones per a­quam fiebant, &c. Id. lib. 2. cap. 4. sect 7. another, Whence the Grae­cians kept always a pot of water at the door, where a dead man lay unburied, to sprinkle and cleanse, as well at going in as coming out, the like they had at their temple doore, for the same use, ( [...] they called it) and by their Al­coran it is no lesse appointed to be used by the Mahume­tanes. Lastly, (as if there were still a naturall perswasion inhaerent in the mind of Man, of some such naturall force and power inhaerent in Water, to hold forth meanes of pu­rification reaching to the soul) it is observable, that not onely the Heathen washed at their Temple-doore asAd Annum 57. num. 108. Baronius hath from Herodotus, Cicero, Persius, &c. (and from the reliques of that opinion finding consent in the mind of man may have grown up the sprinkling with Holy Water among the Papists as they enter the Church:) but also their Temples obteyned both place and name from vicinity of Healing springs. Notandum quod Pagani sive Gentiles circa fontes templa sua facere solebant, vel saltem ibi aquam habebant, per cujus aspersionem purificari credebant, & inde Delubra vocantur, quasi Purificantia, saysRational. Divinor. lib. 6. cap. 83. sect. 1. Durand: (Which when I read it comes into my minde, to compare, the scituation of our English Churches, most of them uponSome congruity with what is ours in both these, the instances of holy scripture seem to hold out to us for safe imitation. 1. The Hillock: for (not to inlarge on the known things of Jerusalems Temple and its high scituation, Her foundations are upon the holy hills: the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob, as Psal. 85.1. or the averred place of old Shiloh upon a Mount in Ephraim) in an Oratory of Mount Olivet our Saviour spent his whole night, the next before the mission of his Apostles (a fit preparation, (and the place most fit) for so holy a work) Luc. 6.12. [...]. And a like preparation upon a place of like ascent again, the night before his trea­cherous delivery, chap. 22.39. for there is a departure from an Oratory, [...], to remove to his drowsy disciples, at ver. 45. 2 The Brook: for to another Oratory, near the gate of Philippi the Metropolis of Macedonia, which was by a Brook side, went St. Paul to preach to the devout women, Act. 16.13. Where, it so fell out, there was a seasonable and present use of the waters for initiating divers converted by him at that meeting, ver. 15. And, that Gethseman, the particular place of M. Olivet, where (before) our Saviour prayed, and rose from his Oratory, is, in St Johns consent of Story, about the Brook of Cedron. Our text goes thus far, When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his Disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden into which he entred, &c. Jo. 18.1. but the Syriack is punctual and restraining, he went [...] ad vadum, or ad transitum pedis Kedrun: to the ford of Kedrun: thither and no farther. As we would say, From London to a place na­med of Windsor forest: Gethseman is as much as, Vallis pinguedinis, the valley of fatness, or the valley of Olives, whose Mount of that name was at hand) Of like nature and use whereto were the pleasing retirements of this place (but nearer scituation to the Metro­polis) made and resorted to by David and Solomon. The chief stress of this whole conjecture lays upon an unwonted but rational interpretation of the word [...], which, in the places alledged, is commonly rendred to give the Act of Praying, I take it for [...], a place designed and devoted thereto, as Synonymon with what from Esai 56.11. is in Matth. 21.13. and Mar. 11.13. My House shall be called [...], A House of prayer to all Nations: and as in Maccab. 7.37. where thus the Priest: Thou Lord didst choose this House to have thy name called over it. that it might be a HOUSE OF PRAYER and supplication for thy people. For 1. The word will in all those places (and moreover in Act. 16.16. It came to pass as we went [...], to an Oratory: the Syriack is plain, [...], to a House of prayer: and in Ecclesiasticus, 39. ver. 6. & ver. 8. & chap, 50.21.) very well bear that sense, if not in some require it rather: for how odd were it to say, Christ continued all night in the prayer of God, [...], with an article? or S Paul traveled with his company to prayer? and not rather, the one went, the other spent time in, that which all allow Churches for, an HOUSE of GOD for Prayer? 2. Mr. Pasor warrants this possible and likely signification, in his Lexicon: p. 326. in vocab. [...] 3. The Syriack (the best Comment, and indeed better then any Comment) gives its vote clear. Etegressi sumus die sabbati extra portam urbis, juxta ripam fluminis, quia ibi conspiciebatur DOMUS ORATIONIS; [...], again, as before, an HOUSE OF PRAYER. Act. 16.13. as we would say they went on Sunday to Church. Not to speak of the smiling glance of the English this way, We went out of the City, by a Rivers side, where prayer was wont to be made. 4. Epiphanius helps us a little farther, a Jew born, but Proselyte to us, Learned, even among the Fathers: Who speaking of the Messalians, who had their Places of Prayer abroad, as had the Jews and Samaritans; Of them, says he, it is so proved from the instance of Act. 16. Where the woman seller of purple met St Paul, [...], for there seemed to be a place of prayer· Haeres. 80. cap. 1. tom. 1. pa. [...]68. exa [...]t [...] [...]greeing with what Mr. Mede (in his excellent Dia­tribae, pa. 284. who both gave me, and there a [...]serts this interpretation) says the Arabick must import, LOCUS ORATIONIS. 5. No [...] was this sense unheard of abroad. The Ro­man Poet brings in his drunken Gallant thus v [...]pouring and quarreling with the man he met, (the Picture, as the whole is there together, of what our age shews daily exemplified, in glistering colours; To shame and sin, the dregs of corruptest Gentilisme being not yet purged out of our Christian Congregations, nor any Reformation prevailing that the most sacred pledg­es of our even heavenly Communion be not still prostitute and profaned to a sort of lewd and ungodly varlets, the scum of the world, the shame of men, unworthy of civil societie, Pa­gan Rome scorned them, her Poets made sport with them: Usque quò, Domine! LORD, When will Sion be it self!) His words are, Ede, ubi consistas; in qua te quaero proseu­cha? Say, wretch, where livest thou? in what Church-Porch may I finde thy habitation? Proseucha est locus ubi mendici stipem perunt. Erant autem illo tempore Judaeo­rum fana ita dicta, says Lubine on the place: of Juvenal. Sat. 3. tolts or hillocks, neare springs or water-brooks; [Page 143] [Page 144] no doubt the sanctified successors of Pagan places of worship, there before used; and it was easier to conse­crate then to erect, indeed Naturall to continue Religious what had in any sort been devoted to God) which, with little variation, his successour Jo. Divin. officiorum ex­plicat. cap. 110 Beleth took up from him: and Servius, In Vir­gil. Aeneid. 2. remembred by Rosinus, in Antiqu. Rom. lib. 2. cap. 2. pa. 109. Delubrum à diluendo, locus ante templum ubi aqua currit: The word Delubrum is not pro­perly a temple, but a place by, of running water.

Thus in much diffusion all abroad it hath prevayled that Water sanctifies, Jordan was holy, and Ganges or any other brook, They are Pure and have operation effectuall upon the soul to Purity. Not yet that the thing is so, or Truth will beare it out, or the profound and onely heavenly Maximes of the most holy Christian faith, whose tender eyes are rather for the contrary, though he use Water most religiously. For, St1 Pet. 3.21. Peter (in whose time such opini­on might be stirring, and his full intent to give thereto just and even opposition) tels us that a washing, Baptisme, our Baptisme (the true [...] to the Deluge, not to the Ark, as commonly construed, the Neuter article will not bear that, [...], the figure to which water [Page 145] now sayeth, but of what sort? not the putting away or rin­cing off the filth of the flesh, which is that natural ablu­tion may, but somewhat internal, and which the element cannot reach, the inward stipulation, or purgation, the answer or satisfactory declaration in a good mans behalf of a good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of the type perhaps it had been otherwise presumed, and that the old world was morally cleansed by the flood. Ac primum quidem Diluvii baptisma excindendi peccati causa contigit, as in Jo. Damascene, de fid. orthod. lib. 4. cap. 10. Of the eight sorts of Baptisme this was the first, and so operative: Ʋnde illud celebre, apud Graecos, (has Grotius on Matth. 3.6.) [...], as but now from Plato in Diogenes Laertius. But is it so? no, it is not so: The Element cannot do it in present Christian belief, but some­what internal and spiritual reaching farther, not Washing but Baptisme, to be regenerate, and renewed or born a­gain of water and the holy Ghost. And accordingly they are made distinct by the author to theCap. 10.22, 23. Et aqua sanè mundat cor­pus, spiritus autem signat animam, ut ab­luti in corpo­re aqua mun­da, & repurga­ti in corde ac­cedamus De­um. Qui ita (que) in aquam de scensurus es (He speaks to the proselyte, and the use was then to go down into the Brook for Baptism) non aquae sim­plici mentem adhibe, sed Sp. Sancti vir­tute salutem accipe: nam sine utrisque ad pe [...]fectio­nem deduci non poteris. Cyrill. Hieros. Cateches. 3. pa. 16. Hebrews, Cleans­ed as to the heart internally from an evil conscience, as well as washed externally to the Body in cleansing or pure water: and the like partition is in Stca. 4. v. 8. James, Wash your hands, O sin­ners ( [...], purifie them) but that not enough, Cleanse also your hearts, ye double minded: and theHeb. 9 9, 10. former a­gain, That service which was performed by the worship­pers under the first Tabernacle, could by no means perfect, as to the conscience, those that brought, though it were both gifts and sacrifices, for it did consist only in meats and drinks and divers outward washings and carnal ordinances, Justifications of the flesh, which must expect a time of re­view or following reformation; these were but shells and shadows. Nor any other but this, might that pure and heavenly, spiritual doctrin, in His meaning, be, our Saviour took up, to contradict the gross and carnal traditionaries of the Pharisees; They cryed out, Wash all, and so purifie; Hands, Cups, Tables, Platters, else nothing but unclean: He, Obey the Commandements, Honour Parents, look all be sound within, for nothing that goes in, or is applyed to, or [Page 146] is conversant about defiles the person, or sanctifies, but what issues out FROM WITHIN (Evil thoughts, Adultery, Murther, Rapine, Covetousness, &c.) these carry the stroke in profanation or sanctification, as is express in Mar. 7. When he was invited to dinner by one of them, who won­dred so great a Prophet went not His washing way, accor­ding to the orders of the ancients, HE sits him down to dinner and without any preparatory ablution (of which he had no regard at all as to piety or impiety) excuses by return of sharp reproof, Ye Pharisees think to make all whole thus, but ye go a wrong way to work, as 'twere washing a cup or platter without, when the inside remains corrupt and naught (the pot is clean, but the meat is poysoned: Or, ye wash YOƲR outsides, your bodies, as far as water can reach, when your insides, your hearts, are full of mischief and naughtiness) Begin within, studie righteousness, DO GOOD, Give of what you have in charity, and then all shall be clean to you, whether supposed sanctifying water hath been used, or no: Luc. 11.38, &c. Matth. 15.1, &c. And elsewhere, and still blame laying upon the same branch of the distinction [...], ye outside hypocrits, Wo be to you, ye bestow care enough about that grosser part your Ceremonies can reach, ('tis your Religion) thinking with­all they reach piety and work it; but for that wherein is the life, [...], This is left as foul, as to which to due means of sanctification hath been applyed. Ye blinde guides, first regard to cleanse [...], the inside or heart by real and sin­cere inclinations to holy vertue and goodness, and then for [...], be there Lustration, or not (ye put so much, and enough, and all holyness in) This will come in the rear of things less regardable and considerable, Matth. 23, 25, &c. Otherwise ye do but paint a wall, or white a Sepulchre, wash over with a few empty and superstitious Rites that slabber­ed outside, whose heart or inside (whither such outward li­nitives cannot reach) remains nastie, and full of — and — not fit to be named. The sum, we disagree in this: ye say, water is Holy, wash and be clean; I say, Sancti­fie your selves, BE YE Clean; for bodily exercise profiteth lit­tle. [Page 147] So, of those times the gravestNeces­sum est igitur adituros tem­plum sacro­rum gratia, & corpore niti­dos esse, & multò magis anima. Haec e­nim Domina est Regina (que) modis omni­bus illo prae­stantior, ut di­vinioris natu­rae particeps. Lib. de Victi­mas offerent pa. 657. Philo, who having required as by their Law, exactness of Lustration beyond ordinary (as not of water alone, with which other worship­pers were content, but) by ashes admixed, and which does help farther, yet concludes for internal beauty and purity of minde as that is more lovely and amiable in the eyes of him that sees all. And of the same clime the not unadvisedDictum est a Moham­mede, Funda­ta est religio in Munditie: and again, Mundi­ties est dimidi­um fidei: quae ipsius dicta ut intelligantur quatuor statu­it Algazalius munditiei gra­dus. Quorum primus est mundatio exte­rioris corporis ab inquinamen­to. Secundus, mundatio membrorum corporis à sceleribus & rebus illicitis patrandis. Ter­tius, Mundatio cordis à moribus vituperio & vitiis odio dignis. Quartus, Mundatio secreti ab omni re praeter Deum. A multis quorum caligant oculi curari exteriorem illam corpo­ris quae est caeteris instar corticis extimi ad nucleum qui appetitur, cùm sit maximi momen­ti res, recessuum cordis expurgatio. Multùm ergo de iis queritur Algazalius qui de exte­rioris corporis munditie ad superstitionem usque soliciti sint, adeò ut illos qui hac ex parte minùs superstitiosi sint, pro immundis habeant, & eorum contactum fugi­ant; cum interim sit apud ipsos quod intus est, desolatum & oppletum vitiis superbiae, fastus, ignorantiae, dissimulationis & hypocrisis; rerum ordine penitus in verso. E. Pocock: in no­tis ad Histor. Arabicam Abulfurajii. pa. 302. Ma­homed, of whose Divinity one half was cleanness, he laid the foundation of all in purity: But when this comes to be expounded, his followers distinguish of 4 sorts, Corporal, Mental, and some other reduced to them, of which the chief­est is the inwardest: Washing the shel, Soul-purity the Kernel. And sad complaint is made of those are superstitiously care­full (it is no better) of the Body to be washen, shunning to draw near who is in that regard profane: whereas quod in­tus est, desolatum est & oppletum vitiis, that which is within is overrun with vices, fraud, hypocrisie, disdain, pride, igno­rance, &c. all being inverted, the first last, the last first. Among Christians Epiphanius (of that Countrey still; and they are like to have learned and taught best those things came out from them) strikes home against the Hemerobap­tists before spoken of, telling usNe (que) enim Oceanus, ne (que) mania om­nia, ne (que) perennes fluviorum aquae vel fontium, ne (que) quicquid uspiam pluviarum est, [...] si unum in locum conveniant, eluere pecca [...] hominum possunt in Haeres. 17. It is not sea and river, fountains and great depths, nor the whole congregate force of the mighty Limbick of Nature could afford to Wash and cleanse a spotted soul: and to the Aebionites, others under the same influences, Who used frequent Bathing them­selves, ( [...], and thought to have benefit of being cleansed by them) But objected them to the disgrace of Peter and the rest of the Apostles, He rai­ses [Page 148] direct and full confutation from our Saviours Dialogue in the thirteenth of John, He whose feet are washen is whole clean, [...], and so needs no further, required, used, superstitious ablutions:Id. in Haeres. 30 s [...]ct. 21. pa, 145. not to insist onQuod lex externam immunditiem & impurita­tem to [...]lat post purifica­tionem cordis. The argument of cap. 33. in More Nevo­chim. part. 3. Maiemonides, who rangeth outward purification much behind inward and sincere purity. And hence it was that Tertullian call those without the Church very appositelySed enim nationes extraneae ab omni intelle­ctu spiritalium potestatum eadem effica­cia idolis suis subministrant. Sed viduis a­quis sibi men­tiuntur. Nam & sacris qui­busdam per lavacrum initiantur, Isidis alicujus aut Mithrae. Lib. de Baptismo. cap. 5. pa: 257. viduas aquas, the Pagans yet both used and relyed on: that is, destitute of Angel and holy Ghost, asViduis scilicet Angelo ac spiritu sancto ideoque sterilibus. At nostris aquis supervenit spiritus de coelis, sanctificans eas de semeripso, & ita sanctificatae vim san­ctificandi concipiunt, quare & pariunt. Nempe Christianos vitae homines aeternae. Ob­servat. ad Tertullian. pa. 70. Rigaltius on the place; where­as by our Holy use

Paulinus, in Epist. ad Severum 12.
Sanctus in hunc coelo descendit spiritus amnem,
Caelesti (que) sacras fonte maritat aquas.

And some sageCùm multùm animus corpori praestet, observeturque ut casto corpore adeatur (ad Divos) multò est inanimis id servandum magis. Nam illud vel aspersione aquae vel dierum numero tollitur: animi labes nec diuturnitate evanescere, nec amnibus elui potest, Cicero, lib. 2. de Legibus. Philosophers have confessed as much as comes to this emptiness or viduity. He is pure only that knows no ill of himself, said Menander inStromat. 5. pa. 714. Clemens Alex­andrinus, with rejection of all insufficient elementary Lu­strations. And the Tragaedian, What's any ones bane but his Conscience? that himself has knowledge he has done amiss? for, indeed, There is no true purity but innocence. And Epicharmus excellently, Be thy mind clear within, little needs thy body the purification of water. Much more of which nature may be seen in the same Clemens Alexand. Strom. 4. pa. 531. Clemens Roman. Epist. 4. ad Jul. & Julianum: inCeterùm quae ratio est manibus quidem ablutis; spiritu vero sordente oratio­nem obire? quando & ipsis manibus spiritales munditiae sint necessariae, ut à falso, à coede, à saevitia, à veneficiis, ab idololatria, caeterisque maculis quae spiritu concep­tae manuum operâ transiguntur, purae alleventur, Hae sunt verae munditiae, non quas plerique superstitiosè curant, ad omnem orationem etiam cum lavacro totius corpo­ris aquam sumentes. De Oratione, cap. 11. Tertullian, Deorum templa cum adire disponitis, ab omni vos labe puros, lautos, castissi­mo (que) praestatis? Adversus gentes: lib. 7. pa. 212. Arnobius, and his Schollar [Page 149] Flagiti­i [...] omnibus inquinati ve­niunt ad pre­candum, & se piè sacrificasse opinantur, si cutem lave­rint, tanquam libidines intra pectus in­clusas ulli am­nes abluant, aut ulla maria purificent. Quantò satiùs est mentem potius eluere, quae malis cu­piditaribus sordidatur, & uno virtutis ac fidei lavacro universa vitia depellere? Lib. 5. de Justitia. cap. 20 in fin. Lactantius: in Cyril. Hierosol. Cateches. 5. pa. 239. Chrysost. in Timoth. [...]. tom. 6. pa. 453. Gregor. Nyssen: de Baptismo Christi, tom. 3. pa. 363. Basil. lib. de Sp. Sancto, cap. 5 tom. 2. pa. 323. Ambros. lib. 1. de Sacram. cap. 1. Ti­tus Bostrensis in Luc. 12. Gratian. de consecrat. distinct. 4. Ca. Verus baptismus. and lastly, in the EasternSure, it must have been some truth of no ordinary mark or note in Christi [...]n value and apprehension, that hath left (to continue so long) so much memory of defence and vindicati­on; and the contrary error of great disorder and very perilous consequence that stirred up so many Champions in arms, who would least Andabatarum more pugnare, struggle with the air, or fight it out with a fancy. Why all mention either of opposition or satisfaction herea­bout hath been so long laid still, as 'twere asleep within the vail of secrecie and silence, may proceed fr [...]m nothing else but the clear and final victory that Truth hath been long in aged possession of, in the gates of its adversary. So let it rest and dwell. But if any should disturb, of these things would then appear the use. — Think chiefly, that herein might be the very point of contest between our Holy Saviour, and the washing Scribes and Pharisees, They calling for the Ceremony, He for the Substance, They resting in the opus opera um, traditions observed, He not contented without real, true, and inward sanctifi [...]ation: To screw up to beyond which their Sacramental piety is that of Matth. 5.20. Ex [...]ept your righteousness (that hearken to me) shall go beyond those Scribes and Pharisee [...], ye shall no way enter into my Kingdom of H aven. Cyril, who is, [...]: Water, 'tis true, may wash the body, but somewhat quicker, inward, spiritual must reach the soul. in Cateches. 3.

Thus the world hath been divided, and though the Ma­ny be on the contrary, Truth, as received by Christians, and some other the gravest, especially such as hearken to Scriptures, seems to be on this part, That not Nature but Grace, the power of the holy Ghost not any outward Ele­ment can purge the Conscience from dead works, to be accep­table and clear in the sight of God. Howsoever, the o­ther prevailing, over the world, even the East, might bring in store to Johns Baptisme, that dwelt about Jordan and were willing to have their sins forgiven; which made them ready to trie, what they thought could do them no harm, with more plyable forwardness then the Syrian Naaman, 2 King. 5 12. General before in the same River, with forced neglect of his own A­banah [Page 150] and Pharphar. Sin in the burden of the soul, that hangeth on and presseth down, and sticketh close, and woundeth deep: Industrious care would do much to be rid of fear, to draw on hope that it shall dread no grief, from suffering pain (as well as bearing loss) which having begun knows no other bound but to Be Eternal: Upon which account many might be willing to trie what would but colour for toward redemption to Free and Safe; and from that Baptisme, which in nature cleansing, was thought to reach a little farther, to within, and did here own the sure name of, for Repentance or change of mind ( [...], by divine imposition) from that they now had, which they knew to be bad enough. So that Johns Baptism, these pro­babilities favour, might be, not of initiation to Religion, but cleansing and purification in Religion: So meant and so used; not for the Water sake, but for the Ordinance of God's sake, which in the Law had appointed such purifi­cation for sin by (or with, or not without) Water.

Which admitted, (as why may it not? the frame of o­ther Truths is hereby well enough sorted in with, as well of sacred Oracles as abroad; nor is confirmation wanting form them, as well as compliableness) in the Holy story, this would seem yet farther capable of one improvement more, as to HIM our eyes are most upon, our blessed Sa­viour; To whom such Lustration might not unfitly serve as preparative to his Entry into Holy Orders; The time where­of was now at hand, and St Matthew hath so related, as if presently he were so actually admitted. This sure: We find him soon after preaching, Matth. 4.17. Luc. 4:17, &c. and chusing his Disciples (Andrew, Peter, James and John) Matth. 4, 18, 19. (as if till now he had no power) Immediately he betook himself to the Wilderness, Matth- 4.1. Luc. 4.1. from the solitariness whereof John returned next, before his stepping forth to the Work of Preaching and Baptizing: Matth. 3.1. Luc. 3.1. Such publique Ministers of sacred things were wont not but to be washed, in fulfilling the letter of the Law, Exod. 29.4. with water. And, HE was now of fit age, sc. about thirty, Luc. 3.23. [Page 151] the ripe season for publique imployment and by the Law a­gain, Num. 4. ver. 3, & 37. 1 Chron. 23.3. besides St Hie­roms preface to Ezekiel: tom. 4. pa. 330. So that it should seem, if not for Initiation as before, but for Purification as even now, in one advanced more for INAƲGƲRATION to most sacred Office (sc. to be supream Priest, Prophet and Pastor of his Church) might, as to Christ, the work of Johns Baptisme serve and be intended; With less solemni­ty men not having been, nor needing to be let out from Pri­vat to Publique in the Church, then they were at first ad­mitted and let into it; each being assumption into a new State, (not but always ceremonious and with much forma­lity, as 'twere in a Regeneration) and whereto once the ce­remony of WASHING was requisit, and that, Jure Di­vino.

Although I resume and adhere fastest to my first, Not Of Repentance, but of Repentance and More, not only of Purification, much less Inauguration, but for Initiation in­to the Law, (as Christ did into the Gospel) was John a Mi­nister of SUCH holy Baptisme; Legal, as Christ was of Evangelical.

CHAP. IX.
QUAERE 4. Why Circumcision should have been brought into the Primi­tive Churches, and is yet retained in many.

VVHereas Circumcision as well as Baptisme had been long used for initiating or regenerating Proselytes to the Jewish Religion, and 'tis like our Saviour took in his Sacrament of admission from one of them, as before: And, Whereas ye know more, there was so long and tedious a vexing controversie in the Primitive Church, which troubled even the Apostles themselves, by occasion of some devout Pharisees, zealous of the traditions of their fathers, and o­ther [Page 152] false brethren crept in privily to spy out the new gain'd liberty in Christ, Whether Disciples of this sect were not, as others formerly, to be circumcised after the Law of Mo­ses? May not the reason of the doubt be more fairly then hitherto deduced from what before, and Be; Because our Saviour had already taken in one rite of Baptisme to matri­culate the advenae into his Religion, the other was now as needfull for the same purpose? and as Circumcision and Baptisme had went hand in hand Both to one thing, (not One, but Both) to perfect Hebrew Proselytes, so 'twas as needfull they should now continue to joyn for complea­ting the admission of Christians? the rather because the new Religion did seem to promise as much as the old (which ought to be performed) in matters of substance, and there­fore it should do very ill to scant it in Circumstance or Ce­remony.

Nothing is more certain then the devout and zealous ma­naging of strong attempts to bring in that second rite: the holyGalat. 2. ver. 3, 14, 16. cap. 5.2, 3, 4, 6 chap. 6.12, 13.13, 15. 1 Cor. 7.18, 19 Colos. 3.11. Timo­thy, though a half-Gentile, circumcised by Paul to comply with the Jews, even after the Church-sen­tence. Act. 16.3. Story lays it down at large in several places ob­liquely or by the way, directly and as of full intent in one whole chapter of Acts 15. where poor Christendom con­tributed all the force it had to establish a firm Decree, and in that first general (and only Apostolical) Councel that e­ver met (as far as we know) the Fathers consulted not chiefly, but only about this business: Nor do I remember to have met with a more likely and sitting state of the doubt occasioning the meeting then this, sc. to determine Whether Circumcision were not now as necessary to welcome advenae into Christian Religion, as it had been, joyning in with Baptisme? or Whether old friends might part here, and (which the Councel thought fit) Baptisme be enough, with­out Circumcision?

A way of stating the doubt that hath not been altoge­ther without mention before: for, though I have not ob­served many to look so deep, yetMr. Jo­seph Mede, late of Cambridg: in his Diatri­b [...], pa. 97, 98, &c. One (and in our own language too,) hath lately proposed the Question directly (a very learned man, whose Sermons are Sermons) and He assignes the reason of the Councels meeting, somewhat o­therwise, [Page 153] yet somewhat toward this, thus:

There were (saith he) two sorts of Proselytes, Some of a lower degree, Proselytes of the gate Proseliti domicilii, ad­mitted without any ceremony; and there were other made perfect Hebrews, Proselytes of Justice, and by consequent circumcised: Now the doubt was, of these two, to whom or whether, Christians should conform? VVhether to the lower, to be made without any ceremony at all? or to the other, of the Covenant; who being circumcised, if Christians were to conform to them, they must needs be circumcised also? And he interprets the Councel met to determine for the former sc. that Christians needed no more initiation then those of the lower sort, who were entred without any Ce­remony at all: Not of the higher, who were only circum­cised, and therefore Christians needed not, because to them they were not to hold conformity.

But I crave leave toAnd ex­cuse in the bor­rowed words of Pet. Cunaeus: Nam & ille, qua fuit animi aequitate, de­disset ingenuo candori no­stro veniam. Etenim in corruptam li­bertatem pro­fessi, sine à mo­re, sine odio, quid rectissi­mè dicatur [...]x­quirimus. de repub: He­braeorum. lib. 3. cap. 5. dissent from so learned a man who (it seems to me) mistakes a little: for this could not be the doubt, to which sort Christians should conform? to those made with, or without Ceremony? For this the Master of Religion had more then in part determined before, by his admission and command of Baptisme, whereof they could not be ignorant: But if to the perfecter (as he had already implyed order in ordering Baptisme) then, how far forth to them? whether that taken in already would be e­nough, to Wash and be clean? or whether there needed as a­foretime, to wash and circumcise? and so to make com­pleat Christians by the compleat use of both those ceremo­nies that had formerly went to the compleating those came over the highest Proselytes to the Hebrew Law? This, if it might have been had, would have pleased the Jews well, e­specially the more learned Pharisees, zealous of the traditi­ons of their Fathers; had been of fair pretext to keep old friends together, whose parting implyed and was a change in Religion; and many other things might have been thought of, and no doubt were: But against them all the Court determins, for a non-necessity of the Questioned rite: [Page 154] Behold, I Paul say un­to you, that if ye be circum­cised, Christ sh [...]ll profit you nothing. For, I testifie again to every one that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole Law Galat 5.2, 3. Circumcision would have been the earnest of all Moses, the Harbinger of the Law, the first link of that chain would have brought in all Leviticus. Therefore what Christ had ordred and appointed was to be rested in as sufficient; the observance of his Law, duty and burden enough, and his followers madeover unto him and consigned fast and sure e­nough by the single use of his own appointed Baptisme.

This I take to be the state of the case and ground of that doubt takes up so much place, and finds so often repetition in the story and doctrin of the later times of the New Testa­ment, which if I have so determined as none before me, it might be for want of the same grounds; and what light hath guided me to where I am, I humbly think, may guide in some measure others also.

And farther yet, into the reason of one thing more, still upon the Stage (the Quod sit whereof hath exercised the pens of many, but for the Cur sit, I have not found so much as an Enquiry attempted) sc. Why so many of old, of late, and now, both do, and did retain Circumcision with Baptism for consigning over believers into the profession of the faith of Je­sus Christ? They were and are abroad many, and 'tis like will be to all times to come, who did and do so: Whence this conjunction? Whence, but from that they did go toge­ther at first? they were found together, and so taken, and kept; even in flat contradiction of an Apostles Jerusalem Councel General, many would and will do as their ance­stors have done before them. They finde, Circumcise, in the plain letter of the Law of faithfull Abraham, as well as Wash after into Moses Law, and therefore they will retain both, Circumcise and Wash after, which is natural, rather then Wash onely, having had no occasion by Circum­cision.

For who they were, as to times past. Mr.On the 27 Article of the Church of Eng­land, propos. 1. Rogers ap­plies it to commendation of Believers in England, that, in matter of Baptisme, We do not defile the Ordinance of Christ by any unnecessary supervenient additions, but profess adver­saries [Page 155] to the Qui ita Christum reci­piunt [...]nt ob­servationem legis veteris non amittant. Hierom. in E­sai 8. tom. 4. pa. 32. Hoc igi­tur uno tam à Christianis quam à Judaeis differunt: ab illis quidem quòd in Chri­stum credant; à Christianis vero quod Ju­daicis adhuc vitibus impli­centur, velut circumcision [...], Sabbato, &c. Epiphan. hae­res. 29. sect. 7. Nazarenes who with the Jews were Circum­cised and with the Christians baptized, referring to St Jerom s Epistle unto St Augustin, de haeresibus. No such Epistle do I finde in St Jerome, but an Epistle he has, wherein he makesEpist. 89 cap. 5. tom. 2. pa. 265. — qui dum Chri­stum filium Dei confiteantur, Omnia tamen veteris legis custodiunt: So Gratian gives ac­count of them. Decret par. 2. caus, 24. quaest. 3. cap. 39. mention of these Nazarenes, writing unto St Au­gustin, not as Christians, but asErant. illi (Nazaraei) genere quidem Judaei, atque ad legem & circumcisionem adhaeserant. Epiphan. haeres 29. sect. 5. Jews (it may be they were such, or in greater part) and of some other we ac­knowledge for Christians branded with the same error asSufficit discipulo si sit sicut Magister ejus, Matth. 10. Quid igitur inquiunt (Cerin­thian?) Circumcisus est Jesus; tu igitur circumcîdere. Epiphan. haeres. 28. sect. 3. Quod ad Paulum pertinet, hunc penitus explodunt propterea quod circumcisionem abdica­rit: imò & rejiciunt propter dictum illud, (Gal. 5.) Quicunque in lege justificamini à gratiâ excidistis. Et si circumcidamini, Christus nihil vobis proderit. Ibid. Cerinthus and those Poor Ones (for so their names gives them) theEbionoei, hoc est, mentis & intelligentiae in opes quippè qui de Christo & ejus doctrina tenuiter & abjectè statuerent opinarenturque. Eum namque simplicem, vul­garem, & solum hominem censuerunt, &c. Porrò, legis Mosaicae observatione omni­nò ipsis opus esse, &c. Euseb. Histor. Ecclesiast. lib. 3, cap. 21. [...] is as much as Egenus, Indigens. Ebionites. StLib. de haeresibus, ad Quod vult deum: haer. 8, 9.10. tom. 6. pa 7. Qui se Christia­nos Nazarenos vocant, & more Judaico carnalia praeputia circumcidunt. id: de Bap­tismo contra Donat. lib. 7. cap. 1. tom. 7. pa. 75. Augustin himself has them all three together: to the former Cerinthus and his Cerinthians, adding Merinthus and his Merinthians, (if at least these be not the same; Epiphanius doubteth, in He­res. 25. sect. 8.) and to the later the Sampseans and Elcese­ans, as near of kin, out of Epiphanius. Who has them indeed, in haeres. 28, & 29. tom. 1. pa. 110, &c. and St Augustin Lib. 1. contra Crescon: Grammaticum, cap. 31. tom. 7. pa. 168. & lib. 19. contra Faustum Manich. cap: 4. tom: 6. pa: 143. They might derive from the famous Symma­chus, translator of the Bible, of whom St Jerom made so much mention and use. elsewhere remembers with the Nazarenes, the Symmachians.

Nearer home of later times, divers both Eastern and Southern Christians, upon their grounds, go on in that tract, to this day: And, by the way, we are not lightly to esteem the judgment or practise of those present Sufferers for our common Saviour: Though I doubt we do under­value them and their sufferings, who love their Christ as [Page 156] well as we, do many things for his sake, obey his will to the light of their knowledg, and suffer willingly many o [...] those losses and inconveniences, which we, if the case were ours, would free our selves from, upon terms worse agreeing with our common foundation then they do: For they maintain a life in the middest of persecution, hold it out in flames, for­sake not if they be undone and ruined as to this world, part with the fruit of their bodies in hope of the salvation of their souls, and bear chearfully along the discouraging burdens of infamy, pain, loss, disgrace, &c. all which they might be freed from if they would turn with him whose name is Peter, and renounce their Dear, Beloved, most ho­noured Saviour; Living as well as we, (if they would) who make too little use of our peace and plenty but to grow fat and wanton, and being got on the warmer and quieter side of the hedg, having little else to do, fall first a sporting and playing, and then a quarrelling and fighting with one another. They do not so, but meekly and gently take up Christ's cross and follow him, 1 Pet. 4.1. arming themselves with the like mind as, he who suffering in the flesh ceased from sin, andHeb. 12.2. induring the cross despised the shame, and is now sate down at the right hand of God; giving the greatest evidence of their love to their Master, that they do for Him, and bear for Him, and forbear for His sake, Suffering, any thing, or the lost of any thing, andPhil. 3.8. count all dross and dung that they may win Christ, and be found in Him. They follow step by step, thatHeb. 2.10. Captain of their Salvation, not made perfect but by SƲFFERING; and yet they retain stillFor, in Christ Jesus neither Circum­cision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new crea­ture. Gal. 6.15. Circumcision is nothing, and un­circumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the Commande­ments of God. 1 Cor. 7.19. a harmless rite they think they may hold from Abraham and Solomon.

The Jacobites a numberless number of Christian profes­sors, dispersed over Syria, Cyprus, Palestine, Mesopotamia, &c: (God grant they be so many indeed, and that reports fill not our working fancies with dreams of more happiness in the communion of Saints then is real, by their forged multitudes; I hope the best) Britenbachius sayes they are dispersed (thicker or thinner) over forty Kingdoms, yet they circumcise, saithSalign. Itinerar. tom. 8. cap. 1. another, both Sexes hath a [Page 157] Vitriac. Histor. orient. cap. 76. third alledged by aMr. Brerewood, in his learned En­quiries, chap. 21. pa. 153. fourth, and Dr Heylin In his Geography, pa. 553 in Syria. con­firms, who wrote since them all.

The Copti, Cophti, Aegophti, or Christians of that Land Egipt, do the like; (there are that fetch their appellation from [...], Scindo, relating hither, to cut off) or did, if they have not lately left it by perswasion of the Popes Legat, about Anno 1583. as MrIn the same Enquiries, chap. 22. pa. 156. Done in a Synod at Cairo. says Mr. Pagit in his Christia­nography, par. 1. pa. 156. Brerewood thinks they have; butIn his Pilgrimage, lib. 6. cap. 4. Mr Purchase who wrote since gives the continu­ance, and that they do, as their ancestors were, wont, [...], in the words of Strabo: lib. 17 de Aegiptiis. which I may not English.

The Abassines, or mid-land Ethiopians inhabiting a large continent, holding proportion, some say, with all Eu­rope, though others contract to a less scantlet of Spain, France, Germany and Italy (as if, it is not yet to be despi­sed; The rather because Truth is there under profession, not (as in other places) under persecution, the Scepter de­claring for the Cross, the publique Power uniting all one way, and so God having succour and favour from the things of this world. But, here again I pray, Intelligence flatter not, interposing an Optick Glass which multiplies the species, and creates us but deceit, by shew of more happiness then is, in our best Religious communion; such dealing were injurious, a friendly unkindness a courteous wrong; and Pia Fraus her self is but a gawdy strumpet in her best Holy day robe; Christ and HIS cause nor have, nor need, nor would, nor any thing but abhor and detest her, with all her devices and imaginations) The holy Gospel is there both professed and protected, Baptizing in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, saysGeo­graph. Nova. fol. 188. in E­thiop. interio­ri. Maginus, yet they circumcise too, sayPaulus Veridicus. chap. 1. pa. 15. & chap. 2. pa. 24. Dr. Heylins Geograph. pa. 733. & Brere­woods Enqui­ries, chap. 23. others, AndZaga Zabo, a Native of that Countrey: who having managed office of good credit at home, and sent in Ambassage to the King of Portugal, made this report to Damianus a Goes, a Counsellor of that Kingdom; who published both it and sandry other things, most richly worth the knowing, of that remote sunburnt Region. one that was very like to know gives, They believe their Ancestors had it and kept it from Solomon: for when their Queen went to Jeru­salem [Page 158] to be acquainted with his wisdom, (and perhaps rites) she brought back this as one of the chief flowers of the Nation, which her Posterity retain: though ourAethi­op [...]s aut [...]m ips [...]s, (refert. A [...]p [...]us) tametsi hostes, tam propenso tamen in Moy­sum animo fu­isse, ut ipsius quoque Cir­cumcisionis ritum ab eo acciperent. Euseb. Pam­phil, Praepa­rationis Evan­gel. lib. 9. cap. 27. pa. 433. Euse­bius, go a little higher and fetch it from Moses. Who (as he learned from Artapanus) going to manage a War in E­thiopia in behalf of his foster-father Cenephra, while he li­ved in Egipt, so wan by his discretion and the attraction of his person,He was so fair and ami­able, that there was not any one, how austere and inhuman so­ever, who in be­holding him would not be astonished It was so that many who met him in the streets born in his Nurses arms, would turn themselves about to behold him, intermitting their other affairs only to look upon him: for the admirable beauty of the infant did ravish all that beheld him. Joseph of the Antiquities of the Jews. lib. 2. cap. 5. Tharbis the King of Ethiopia's daughter was in love with the sight of him, and sent to offer him Marriage, though a spoiling Enemy; as there it follows. for beauty incomparable, upon that Nation, that they were content both Priest and People to retain the rite of his Religion ever since. More I believe I haveMeminit item Lutherus suo tempore fuisse in Austria ac Moravia Judaizantes, qui tam circumcisionem quam Sabbatum urserint. Conrad. Dieteric. tom. 1. pa. 119. in festo circumcisionis. Whether Innocent the third meant some in his time or since is un­certain. Absit enim ut in illam damnatam haeresim incidamus, quae perperam affirma­bat legem cum Evangelio, & circumcisionem cum Baptismo conferendam. Decretal. Gregor. lib. 3. tit. 42. c. 3. read of though I cannot upon the sodain turn to chap. and pa. believing in Christ and deriving (they meant) all from him, not abhorring that rite, himself not disallowed but accepted.

Mr Brerewood indeavours to render it in some of these, a Custom rather National then Religious: As of the last Habassines, that they are descended of the ancient Ethiopi­ans, who (as Herodotus) did circumcise; or of the Ara­bians, who came of Ishmael, Abrahams son by Keturah; and so of the rest: and their own Priest before cited (who, one would think, should best know their own) that they observed it, for a reason inAnd so one of our own Nation; The Ethiopians or Indians, who are also called Abyssenes, (but this Geography I understand not) grounding themselves upon this ex­ample (Acts 16.3.) retain the Custom of Circumcising still, as well as Baptizing. And herein they are excused by Caietan (part. 3 Quaest. 37. art. 1.) For that they use it in imita­tion of Christ: who therefore addeth also, that he shal do wel that useth Circumcision, not as a legall ceremony, or a remedy against sin, but only for conformity to Christ. Dr. Mayer, on the hard places of Scripture: on Act. 16.3. This was the Cerinthians reason before. Religion indeed, but in love, [Page 159] honour, and remembrance, professing imitation of our Sa­viour: Luc. 2.21. But

They have taken in Baptisme from Jerusalem, (say the same of the Nazarenes and all before) Jerusalem had wont to circumcise as well as Baptize: Even the Apostles times were troubled then about a conjunction thought expedient; they would not have been troubled about trifles: Might not the reasons for their union to continue inseparable, prae­ponderate and bear sway in the scales of their Judgments who sate at stern, asCausae quidem & au­thores ejusmo­di discrepan­tiae (says the Historian, spea­king of the ma­nifold diversi­ties of usage in several Church­es, in Feasts, Fasts, Rites, &c. (fuerunt Episcopi, qui variis tempo­ribus Ecclesiae praeerant. Qui autem istos ri­tus recipiunt, eos tanquam legem ad po­steros trans­mittunt. So­crates, in Hist-Ecclesiast. lib. 5. cap. 21. Church-Governors then, and by tradition or traduction, long continued derivation be brought down through other times to us? Notwithstan­ding the decree of Acts 15. for we know how usual it hath been (I do not say, should be) for whole Nations, whole Churches to reject (or retain) what other whole Nations or Churches in Canons and Councels, yea Epistles or Go­spels have thought as fit with like liberty and Religion to determine of otherwise: witness the Church of Rome com­pared with ours, and other instances enough: And, as to that book and that chapter, and that Councel and very decree, 'tis known we make no conscience of eating of blood, though under the same prohibition there with cir­cumcision (so we find it, and distinguish who can) Harlo­try and Idol-sacrifices, placed also in the same range of, One as 'tother rejected or allowed.

So for Mahomet: we have it from our ownMacho­meth volens placere utri­usque testa­menti cultori­bus, quaedam quae legem, quaedam quae evangelium contingunt, praedicavit: de veteri testamento Circumcisionem, de novo Baptismum. Marth. Parisiens. Histor. Angl. in Henric. 3. pa. 412. story (written when was much intercourse hence with Jerusa­lem) that he useth both circumcision and baptisme; we have it fromPurc. Pilgrim. lib. 3. cap. 3. pa. 244▪ Juverunt eum duo haeretici; Sergius Nestoria­nus, & Johannes Antiochenus Arianus, & quidam Judaei. Magdeburg. Centur. 7. cap. 15. sect. de Mahometanismo. col. 331. other, that he had conversation as well with Abdalla the Jew, as Sergius the Nestorian Monk, and borrowed of both: Might it not be like, if he loved bap­tisme the better to sit the Christian and serve his own turn [Page 160] therewith, that he took up the pair where he had them to­gether in the Hebrew Law, rather then any thing hitherto said by others? Wherein he agreed also with many Chri­stians? and so the same storehouse furnish each shop, Jerusalem the Holy City, or CITY of RELIGION, be the Mother of all? Most Masters of Religion have lo­ved and used to coyn as little as they might; or if they must, their high judgments have led them to new stamp, only that mettal had wont to go under other signature for tryed and currant before▪ as in planting of gardens, desire is to bor­row slips from the neighbouring plots of like soyl, or in making a posy the flowers are commonly gathered from divers beds and walks, owing little to the maker but the disposal or composition: For it is easier to dispose then pro­vide, to compose then to give beeing, to borrow then to raise and create; and in any thing shall please the people (never but jealous of change) a safe rule and of great use, To innovate as little as may be, especially in the dearest and closest interest of them All, about matters of Reli­gion.

To conclude this point: we have found this conjuncti­on of Rites for initiation both in Scripture (as interpreted) and since, dispersed over Egipt, Ethiopia, Arabia, Syria, &c. of late and before, both in Christendom and with­out and beyond; May they not have come both together wheresoever we find them (from where it is confessed they Both were, and whence most other things of the same kind amongst us, are allowed and confessed to have come? and They, We, All, (who would have joyned circumcision and Baptisme, or have, or do) fetch all from Jerusalem, the Grand-mother of Religion? and particularly from Pro­selyte-admission? whereabout was my fourth Quaere, and in my fourth inference or promised derivation.

CHAP. X.
Sundry other dark Texts inlightened, alluding to a Regene­ration.

I Add a fifth; more then I promised. And hence also a true, natural, genuine unforced interpretation of sun­dry dark allusions (yet remaining dark) and seeming hard expressions of divers places of the later Scriptures, especi­ally in St Pauls In which are some things of pro­found conceit, [...], hard to be under­stood, is St Peters censure of them, 2 E­pist. 3.16. or [...], deep and of dif­ficult interpre­tation, as Epi­phanius, in hae­res. 30 cap. 25. If it be not ra­ther to be heed­ed which Beza and Estius have observed in their Com­ments, that the Relative is not [...], as referring to Epistles, but [...], among which things, of the last judgment, often treated of by St Paul, and likewise thereby St Peter, Among them are di­vers things hard, &c. This seems probable, and would set a new face both up [...]n the sense of the text, and controversies managed by interpretation or distortion thereof. mysterious Epistles, hardly if at all possibly intelligible but from these prestructions. That greatWhereto I was appointed a Preacher and an Apostle, a Master or Teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity, 1 Tim. 2.7. Master of Christian Religion was we know also a learned Hebrew, an acute Pharisee, a Doctor of the Law, of Gamaliels Colledg, and being expert in all the Customs and Questions of the Jews, (which height he was after glad to meet in his learned Judg Agrippa) spake, no doubt, and wrote according to that knowledg in himself, which in the tendry thereof did still presuppose a Regeneration. How shall we understand what he spake, without having first learned those grounds upon which he spake? How shall we possibly attain to the proper and genuineScire legis non hoc est, verba earum tenere, sed vim ac potestatem. Digest. de legibus, senatusque. L. 17. meaning of those words (he has left his sense wrapped up in) without a foreknowledge of those things, from which he derived the use of those words? and without a presupposition both of which knowledge in him, and foreknowledg of them in us, we can neither imagin how he should have spoken as he did, nor can we possibly apprehend him? As, the fre­quent reflections of his pen upon generation spiritual, pa­rents not natural, born to God, and a bless'dA man in Christ a new creature, 2 Cor. 5.17. and see Galat. 6.15. Ephes. 4, 22, 23. 1 Corinth. 5.7. 2 Corinth. 4.16. Titus 3.5. New crea­ture: [Page 162] The Hereof in Colos. 2.9. Ephes. 4.22. Old man also he tels us is Roman. 6.3, 4, &c. Colos 2.11, 12, 20, &c. dead and buri­ed even by Baptisme alone (Circumcision, for some obliga­tions attending, or other inconveniences, was it seems then left out) and a Colos. 3.1, 9, 10. E­phes 4.2 [...]. si­quidem Rege­neratio, quod ipsum etiam nomen, decla­rat, alterius vitae initium est. Basil. lib. de spiritu sanct. cap. 15. Renovatur quod finitum est, protelatur quod adhuc durat Digest. de damno in­fecto. L. Dies. new man raised up instead thereof: nay such a prevailing and universal change, that (as the Hebrew of his Renate Proselytes2 Cor. 15.17. Old things were passed away, and all things become new New kindred (in God) new (hea­venly) relations, a new name, Saul called Paul) new faith, new hopes▪ a new mind, a renewedFor our conversation is in heaven, whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ, Phil. 3.20. conversation: I say THEREFORE and testifie in the Lord that ye hence­forth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkned, aliens from the life of God, &c. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new man framed to a similitude of God in righteousness and the holyness of truth. Lye not one to ano­ther: He that stole, give it over: Lay all bitterness aside and wrath and malice, and Be ye followers of God as his dear children, &c. Ephes. 4.17, 18, &c. A new FORM; what could be more? and that is in Rom. 12.2. (not a transfigu­ration but a Transformation) I beseech you, Brethren, by Gods mercies, that in reasonable service you offer your selves to God a sacrifice, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your minds [...], which is somewhat light, and of the outside, [...], a very Meta­morphosis. As the Corinthians are said to be so translated to Gods Image, 1 Corinth. 3.18. (a thing done) and My little children, of whom I travel till this FORM of Christ be brought forth in you. Galat. 4.19. In regard whereof the foreknown of God are said to be predestinate to a Con-For­mity to the image of Gods Son▪ Rom. 8.29. who was before (as is elsewhere said) the first Draught as it were of the in­visible God, They, (the elect Romans) but (in their New making) Conform and like to HIM, and so He being before, and they after, and but after him, He hath in all things the priority or preeminence, as Colos. 1.18. or, as here, is here­by made the first born of many brethren. From which TRANSFORMATION, by the way, (in various expres­sion [Page 163] so often pointed to, and must therefore have had much Reality both in it self and common belief and from the truths depending thereon, (but those consequences o­verstrained, as the manner is) Might those perverse dispu­ters, men of corrupt minds, that lived in those morning days, draw colour of their claimed Liberty, indeed open and boundless wild Licentiousness, who questioned (as appears by the Apostles often questioning them) the dissolving of all bonds, natural, moral, political, oeconomical and of all worldly obligations, by coming over to their new and re­generate freed condition. If we look into 1 Corinth. chap. 7. Ephes. 5. Coloss. 3.1. Timoth. 6. Ephes. 5. & 1 Pet. chap. 2. We shall there find servants ready to forsake their Masters, women to divorce their husbands, children rising up against their parents, subjects against their liege Lords, All champing irefully upon the bit, and ready to take up the words of the Psalm, Let us break their bonds, and cast a­way their yokes from us, All whatsoever that have held the world in quiet and kept us in duty and subjection, Whence but from that change sounding in their ears, and treasured up in their hearts, They were not now what they had been? They were Dead to the world, Alive to God, a chosen genera­tion, a peculiar people, Born again, the SONS of the most High, and must they yet be held in by their old rotten bonds of corrupt carnal relations? Which made the cau­tion needfull (and hence we have its just place and use) taken up in the Epistle to the Galathians, (to keep all in order and due bounds) ye have been called unto Liberty, grant that; but not such a liberty as may give occasion to the flesh, or fleshly men to follow the swinge of their exorbitant desires, to what they list, and unbounded appetite may crave, but in love still to serve one another; and by another Apostle to the same sense, As free (so ye are) saith St Peter, only use not your new liberty (justly claimed and freely granted) for a cloke of maliciousness, or licentiousness to any thing,1 Pet. 2.16. but as becomes the servants of God, those would not shame a hea­venly relation, honouring all men, loving your own fraterni­ty, fearing God, obeying your King, and submitting to all [Page 164] humane orders for Gods sake, &c.

1. Ʋse not your due liberty as a cloke, [...]: in a metaphor taken from sordid men; who though their cloths be underneath torn and vile, yet if they get a handsom cloke to cast over, they walk the streets in appearance neat; the vileness is covered but the sordidness remaineth: So, ma­ny are apt to abuse Holy Religion and just Liberty, to be a cloke and cover of their licentious, wild, unbridled passi­ons and corrupt affections; envy, malice, pride, covetous­ness, ambition, revenge, and the whole heap of trouble­some and cursed sins sedition, insurrection, sacriledg, disobedience to POWERS, which is, as the sin of witchcraft) those reigning spirits, their dominiering lusts within are subtle and active enough to tempt them to; they have not their Christian liberty unless they may withhold their Tithes, pull own Churches, destroy societies, discompose States, subvert Government, obey whom they list, do what they list, think, speak, act as they list: But do not ye do thus saith the Apostle, Ye have not so learned Christ or the freedom of his Gospel, if ye have heard of him or been taught of him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off that old man corrupt according to such erroneous lusts, and put on the New, created in righteousness, that giveth every one his own, and True holiness: O be not so impious to profane a shrine to cover a strumpet, to wrap up an Idol in Aarons holy robes, to make Religion a stalking horse to come (unsuspe­cted) at corrupt, carnal, seditious, sacrilegious ends, Let it be abomination and as the sin of witchraft, to make sanctity a cover of iniquity, fair liberty, for any thing that is foul [...], as a cloke.

2. And, as a cloke of Maliciousness; not Malice, a par­ticular passion, as usually translated, and commonly under­stood, but [...], ofHujus vir­tutis contra­ria est vitiosi­tas: sic enim malo, quam Malitiam appellare eam, quam Graeci [...] appellant, nam MALITIA certi cujusdam vi [...]ii nomen est, VITIOSITAS omnium. Cicero, Tusculan: Quaest. lib. 4. Quas enim Graeci [...] appellant, Vitia malo, quàm Malitias nominare Id. lib 3: defi­nibus. Naughtiness in general, an ill dis­position, or Habit of wickedness: so observed and suggest­ed by learnedIn his excellent and judicious Sermon on that text: pa. 21. Dr Sanders, so translated by him there [Page 165] and by others from theAs in Gen. 6.5. Wicked­ness was great on the earth, [...] in Exod. 23.2. Thou shalt not be with the many in ill, [...]. So deuteron. 31.18 Jud 9.56, 57. cap. 20.3, 12, 13. 1 Reg 12 19, 17, 20. cap. 17.28. cap. 24.12. and in many other pl [...]e [...]e­sides the Origi­nal of Eccles. 33 32. Idle­ness teacheth much ill, and chap. 15.21. All wickedness small to the wickedness of a woman: twice together: and in the New Testament, Acts 8.22. 1 Corinth. 5.8. chap. 14.20. Ephes. 4.31. Jam. 1.31. and in the beginning of this very chapter, Lay aside all ILL: In all which places, and many more, [...] (the word here) may be well, and can be well nothing else but the head or comprehension of all Naughtiness. Septuagint in divers places and that which is only rendred by that unusual abstract in theMetum accipiendum Labeo, dicit, non quemlibet timorem, sed majoris mali­tatis. Digest. Quod metus causa. lib. 4. tit. 2. LL. 5. Civil Law from Malus, Malitas, the head or compre­hension of all evil; and as in the Vulgar of Matth. 6 34. Sufficit diei Malitia sua, sufficient for the day is the mischief thereof, any ill or inconvenience; do not abuse your privi­ledg to such designe, your granted liberty by real change to an occasion or colour of ANY Evil As elsewhere, when it was questioned, May a new-born Christian1 Cor. 7.10, 11. put away his old wife? No: nor a woman her husband, but if the infidel will depart, let him, or her, depart: Rom. 13.1. 1 Pet. 2.13. Let every soul continue subject to the higher powers: Ephes. 6.1. Col. 3.20. Children o­bey your parents, still:Ephes. 5.22. Colos. 3 18. Wives your Husbands, Ser­vants your Masters And1 Tim. 6.1, 2. if any have believing Ma­sters, let them not despise them because they are now brethren, but do them service because they are faithfull and beloved par­takers of the same benefit, as a man had rather serve a friend upon the same stair of common goodness, then an adversa­rie, or an enemy; The sum, 1 Pet. 5.5. Be ye clothed in humility, Rom. 12.10. in honour preferring one another, not scandalizing the Gospel, 1 Cor. 7.17, 20, 24. remaining in the same state ye were called with God, Ephes. 5.21. submitting to each other in his fear, and under all old carnal relations remaining still readyGalat. 5.13. A divine sentence not fit to be written but in l [...]tt [...]rs of gold. N [...]thing is m [...]re Christianly religious: Give it obedi-ence, and from it alone we sh [...]uld s [...]e a new fa [...]e of [...]hri­stendom. in love to serve one another. This was the needfull doctrin, upon all changes allowed, which the Apostles preached; which changes (to go on) we have not in St Paul alone. For,

In1 Pet. 1. [...]3. [...]5. St Peter we have births proceeding from a dou­ble semination: One corruptible, as of the flesh, but this (natural) lasts not, another supernatural, as from immortal generation; [...], whereby somewhat is quickened which abideth for ever. In St John is a second and beyond-and-after-natural1 John 2.29. Generatio [...], out of the RIGHTEOƲS one, as 'twere from God above; The con­sequent whereof is there is consequence of discourse con­tinued in the next chapter, To be the Children of God in present now, to those were the compleat sons of men be­fore, and whatever they shall be hereafter (which is un­known, chap 3 ver. 2.) And the seed of that Divine birth is said after to remain, John 1.12, 13. as an antidote against ill, or inward receit at the heart to hold antipathy and keep out the wor­king of temptations that they may not close in and generate unto sins, ver. 9. All this, even out of GOD, chap. 1. ver. 1, & 18. Besides the like intimation and expression, e­ven to words and syllables in the Gospel of the same Apo­stle: As many as received him, to them he gave power to be­come the sons of God: who were born (to this estate) not of bloud, nor of the lust of flesh or men, but of God.

These are in Peter, Paul, John, abroad: nearer home I chiefly insist on the 10. ver. of this present chapter; the coherence whereof seems not so well made, the sense given, nor deduction of consequences followed, as these things (in my understanding) may give ground for. The usual interpretation is this: That Nicodemus, (a great Master in Israel knew not, (as well how could he?) the great myste­ry of Regeneration, (revealed only by whisper from hea­ven, which he had not) Hence he, (destitute of that reve­lation, which was not in his power) makes an answer chil­dish and grosely carnal, (which yet no one canHomo hominis nisi ipso indicante non intelligit cogitatum: Quantò minùs Divinum quis poterit inve­stigare consili­um, nisi cui ip­se voluerit re­velare. Bern. in Epistol. 77. suppose how he should have mended) talking of entring into his mothers womb, (to which his invincible ignorance as ine­vitably led him) and being thence born again: whence our Saviour reproves him sharply, Art thou a Teacher of Other, a Master in Israel and yet thus ignorant? But how do these things hang together? That our Saviour (meek and gen­tle) [Page 167] should dispose to blame him (who would do nothing without reason) for ignorance of that, he nor did know, nor could know, nor any other could well tell how he should! in a mystery of Religion to be revealed, dropped only from heaven, which instillation, inspiration 'tis granted he had not! Might he not well have answered for himself, Ye call me Rabbi and Master, and ye say well. for so I am, but how can I speak, in that I was never taught, or know these things unless some one (from above) shew me? Such re­velation I have not, why am I blamed for that I never could have? can I take what was never sent, or receive what was never given? If this must come from God, and he gave it not me, how am I (though I have it not) blamed, or but ex­cused! Whereas in the other way, blame comes home, in­excusable, unanswerable, unavoidable; sc. That he was blind where he might see, an ignorant professor of what he might know, destitute of the knowledg of his school, the tendries of his associates, the light then upon the stage, the learning of his place: from whence he might have had in­struction of the whole business, but he a trewant or a drone neglected even the usual tendries of his own Religion, offe­ring him what as a Doctor he refused, the doctrin of a Re­generation. And thus our Saviours increpation comes home indeed, the blow lights hard and smarts as he intended it: Art thou a Master in Israel, and knowest not these things, thou shouldest, mightest, oughtest know! thy Liturgy, thy Breviary, thy Catechisme, thy profession! the badg where­of in thy professing ignorance doth but blazon thy folly, and in thy long robe (that lying outside) thy ridiculously incongruous simplicity and duncery! So the Schollar might have known, otherwise our Saviour would not have blamed him for want: and that without impossible Revelations, which were never accounted in mans power, and so should be out of reach of blame: for the learning of his own Schools might have been in this his sufficient instruction, the doctrin extant (to have been furnished therewith) a shield of strength to keep off this increpation. And so this place, [Page 168] not (asBy St Chrysostome, in Homil. 23. in. Johan. tom. 2. pa. 153. and many more. usually alledged) affording instance of what is after, in 1 Cor. 2.16. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolisness unto him; nei­ther can he skill, for they are spiritually discerned. for by the ordinary acquirable knowledg of his own School he might have come to notice of them by study and industy, as a Schoolman to the opinion of Scotus and Thomas, and a Priest to his rites by his own rituals.

The co-herence moreover would thus be well made out and carried along with clearness of sense to some verses fol­lowing. Dost not thou a Master know these things? 11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak what we know, thou mightest, and testifie what we have seen, it is every days object, and yet, seemeth it strange to you? ye receive not our testimonie. 12. If I have spoken unto you earthly things, within reach of every days sence, and ye apprehend not or believe not as out of reach, How would ye believe if I should strain higher, to speak of those things, from whence I am and whereto I could ascend, heavenly things? 13. Whereunto 'tis hard for any other to climb in apprehension; for No man hath ascended or can ascend up to heaven to understand things there (ascendere in coelum dicitur, qui arcana coeli pe­netrat, saith Grotius on the place) save he that came down from heaven, from the bosome of the Father, even the son of man that is now in his contemplation and omniscience in hea­ven. 14. And as Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness heretofore on high, so must the Son of Man be thither from whence he is lifted up again, that whoso believeth on him may not perish, but have everlasting life. Thus are the words chained together fast and close, in a handsome coherence of sense as well as Grammar: Thus they enlighten one an­other, still supposing a Regeneration known upon earth and visible (as was said at ver 11. We testifie what we have seen) So is offered to us all of a piece, light and clear, (not to speak of others miserable distortions, and incongruous, inextricable perplexities) and in a word, This makes the text together look like it self, the word of God and sense A diligent in­quiry would I believe find out many other (consider of [Page 169] Jam. 1.18. & 2 Cor. 3.8, &c.) which interpreters have hither­to tormented themselves in vain to give any tolerable inter­pretation of, and after all have scarce left handsome Alle­gories of those the holy Ghost meant for notable Elegan­cies; The places are rich in deep sense and profoundness of matter, but the well hath been hitherto stopped, there have wanted to draw the riches forth. What I have now laid before you, I commend unto the blessing of that GOD to continue, who hath I hope hitherto guided both my heart and tongue: if all or any may conduce to the guiding if it be but of one benighted soul, or inlightening of any ob­scure and clouded text of Scripture, I have then of my pains and search aboundant recompence. Ye also some, of your tempted patience, which if not accustomed to such length or thornie difficulties, you may the rather bear for once with that is not usual: Consider what I have said, and the Lord give you understanding in all things.

And thus, with my sands run, I am at last arrived at the end of my way, whence 'tis usual to stand still and look back: Remember therefore, &c.

All which yet I desire to have taken as offered, and accept­ed as intended, non tam asserendo quam disquirendo, in the words of my greatCano­nes, sed tamen mobiles, sive axiomata in­choata, quae nobis inqui­rentibus non pronuncianti­bus se offerunt, praescribimus & constituimus. Utiles enim sunt si non prorsus veri Illustrissimus Baconius, in prolegomen: ad histor. Ventorum. author, that I meant to propose only to attention and judgment, not so much with the confidence of a peremptory resolver as theSi cui, verò in disceptatione profundum aliquid occurrerit, de hoc quidem di­cendum: (said Origen.) sed non cum omni affirmatione. Hoc enim aut temerarii hominis est, ejus qui sensum humanae infirmitatis perdiderit, oblitusque sui sit: aut certe perfectorum virorum, & eorum qui confidenter se sciant ab ipso Domino Jesu didicisse, id est, à verbo veritatis & ab ipsa sapientia, per quam omnia facta sunt, ag­novisse, vel eorum qui divina responsa ingressi, turbinem & caliginem ubi ipse Deus est, caelitus acceperunt: in quod vix ille Moyses ingressus, vel intelligere talia potuit, vel proferre. Nos verò pro eo solo quod mediocriter licet, credimus tamen Domino Jesu, & ejus gloriamur esse discipuli: Nec tamen audemus dicere, quod facie ad fa­ciem ab ipso traditam susceperimus intelligentiam eorum, quae divinis libris referun­tur, quae quidem certus sum quod ne ipse quidem mundus pro virtute ac majestate sensuum cape­re potest. Propter quod, pronunciare quidem de his quae dicimus, sicut Apostoli potuerunt, non audemus. In eo autem gratias agimus, quod cùm multi imperitiam suam nesciant, & morus suos incompositos & inordinatos, interdum etiam & ineptos at fabulosos, cum omni intentione, sicut sibi videtur, quasi verissi­ma assertione annuntient, nos de rebus magnis & his quae supra nos sunt, ignoran­tiam nostri non ignoramus. Apolog. Eusebii Caesar: pro Origine, inter opera Hie­ronymi, tom. 9. pa. 114. modest haesitancy of a see­ker [Page 170] and yet learner; and as One that had rather doubt of many things he thinks he knows, then over rashly deter­mine, or impudently pronounce and contest for those things he thinks there is the least cause to doubt. The way was untrodden, where as it was not impossible to err at first, (nor improbable) so should it not be unpardonable, there to have stept awry, where scarce any had set a foot before. It had been, easier to take on in the beaten road, as the fashion is, to skim the top, and by laying together by helf of a Concordance those places of sacred writ where Born and Again are mentioned, to have heap­ed together such Materials, and hammered out such a form of doctrin as those places, severally and joynt­ly, would have afforded: But theLevium metallorum fructus in sum­mo est: illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena. Seneca, in Epist. 23. vein of precious me­tal lies lightly deeper, the surface of the ground there is often dry and barren, and to lay a sure foundation of true interpretation, it may be needfull sometimes to dig deeper then the very text in its originals, The Scriptures are, I confess, light of themselves, and have from heaven to guide our souls into the ways of peace, but if they chance to burn dim (as in many hard places they must be confessed to (do or have their light eclipsed by any interpositions, (worst of the rubbish contracted by time) the light of a candle there may not be despised for help, to light us at least up to their sense, nor the snuffers of the Sanctuary (made though they were ofScire prophana qui­dem sanctis non credo prophanum, Si non illo­ [...] mente pro­phana legant. Joan. Buxtorf. in Grammat. Heb. prophane gold from Ophir) to trim the light, to quicken its brightness, to make it shine clearer, direct far­ther, guide surer then otherwise of it self, it would or could: [Page 171] And for this the things delivered have, I hope, here some use. I say again, it had been easier to have bin the following Chariot, to have traced others, to have kept the beaten path, when not only the comfort of society might happily have lightened some burden of the way, but the directing feet of passenger before have preserved from error, and guided surer and safer those that were to follow after: But this liked not me. This had been but to repeat others toughts, I esteem it more to add of mine own; as coun­ting it more answerable to the desire and expectations of good men, and greater advantage to truth, to be the au­thor of one new thought, then the continuer or repeater of twenty: which is more then to trade with the old stock, to lay in by addition somewhat of new store, to make a be­neficial and fruitfull increase of what is already come in, and to set up a new mark or stand as it were, to direct yet farther into the terra in cognita of divine mysteries, then past discoveries or intelligences have, or could have brought us acquainted with. But a grain of truth is precious, yet more, of Christian truth, most of all, in the profoundest, obscurest, richest, divinest mysteries thereof; toward dis­covery whereof these things I hope may afford some light: and so leaving all to your consideration, meditation, appli­cation, conclude, as I use, by giving due praise and honour to our most glorious and most gracious Lord God, by whose gracious favour it is, that we have thus leave to meet in his house, to enquire and learn the things of his councel and will; who bless the opportunities to his own allowed ends, that we may proceed from knowledge to know­ledg, from vertue to vertue, from faith to faith, til we be perfect in Christ Jesus our Saviour: To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be honour and praise everlasting. Amen.

Cyprian: de baptizand. Novat. Epist. 77. Rescripsi, fili charissime, quantum mediocritas, nostra valuit, & ostendi, quid nos, quantum in nobis est, sentiamus; nemi­ni praescribentes, quo minùs statuat quod putat unusquisque praepositus, actus sui rationem Domino redditurus: secundum quod beatus Apostolus Paulus in Epistola sua ad Romanos scribit & dicit, Unusquisque nostrum pro se rationem dabit. Non ergo nos invicem judicemus.

Opto te, fili charissime, semper bene valere.

Of the Form of Baptisme.

‘Go ye therefore and teach all Nations (or, as ye go, or going, make Disciples of all Nations) baptizing them [...], INTO the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Matth. 28.19.’

IT is agreed on by all that this is the very Commission-text or Letters of Orders, enabling all the deputed Mini­sters of Jesus Christ to Baptize; All men, say some, Others, the Gentiles only, there was order for the Hebrews before; but this if it be, clearly appears not (at least, to this way of Baptizing) and therefore say I, This is Christ's Catho­lick ordination of Baptisme Ʋniversal; Of all persons, of all Nations, not the peculiar Hebrew excepted (though he stood much upon his high priviledg, and would sparingly be allowed any need of change) but, take in him says Christ, and every other, and all universally; for, I am at top, All power is now given unto me both in heaven and earth, Go therefore, and as ye go, take in all, baptizing them (my way of Matriculation) Into the Name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

In which verse are usually made two parts, and those clearly distinct, and that distinction, with the order thereon argu­mentative, for satisfaction in a very weighty business. For troubling the Church, object some, and raising needless controversie; Nay, for stablishing the Church, says the Anabaptist, and putting end to one great controversie, sc. for the total and final exclusion of all Infants from this Holy Sacrament, by laying barr in the way of necessary knowledg, to them impossible; for our Saviours words are more plain then that they may be evaded, and he knew his own mind best who chose in these words to interpret it, GO, TEACH AND BAPTIZE.

The first of which is preparative, the last the main; That introductory, to bring unto this; yet so as both are ne­cessary, [Page 174] and in this order, First, instruct, and then, initiate.

1. For it might seem unreasonable to admit men they know not whither, or enter them to they know not what. [...], in the words of Festus, Acts 25.27. very in­congruous to priviledg whole multitudes to the greatest height by droves: and though it be in the way to heaven, it might be expedient a man carry a light in his hand, as well for his other comforts, as to be sure he hit the right way: Catechizing of Nations is therefore to go before Baptizing them, Illumination before they be admitted to profess the Light, To try the Schollars aptness and fitness, before he be preferred to a higher form, for fear he may prove dull or scandalous: And do so here; examin, ap­prove, and then Baptize.

2. But admit afterward: For the complaint ran high in the Prophet, A day of trouble, rebuke and blasphemy that Children came to the birth and there was not strength to bring them forth: Esai. 37.3. When good desires shall be denyed their errand, earnest suitors driven from heaven gate, They that would may not enter, but be beaten from Noah's ark, the desires of their souls still hovering about the windows. This is a sad case. Of a good School 'tis the commendati­on to have many good Schollars, Heaven loves to be fur­nished with guests, and the felicity of the righteous re­ceives much increase by their number and multitudes: Of those therefore that would enter let none be kept back, of those that would be admitted let none be excluded: My Father keeps open house, why should any of his servants be churlish or illiberal, straightning either the hand of his bounty, or the gratefull performance of good offices from themselves? Who is prepared let him be received, and Baptize all that are taught.

Thus the Ana-baptist (or rather Antipoedobaptist, for there is a great deal of difference, and they that would have no children Christened, do yet as much disclaim to Ana-baptize; for that which was administred in infancy, they say, was no Baptisme, and in their seeming repetition, [Page 175] they do therefore at ripe years, but begin, not renew) and having laid such a foundation, much is the following use his importunate perversness makes of it. For when we re­quire Nations to be baptized, 'tis the plain word of com­mand, Christ willed so: Good, saith he, But he first wil­led them to be taught. When we reply, Federal holyness, Children within the Covenant, The sons and daughters of Abraham, a faithfull Generation, a holy Seed: Be it, saith he, But every thing in its own order, Christ's Sheep hear his voice; and that is here, Teach and Baptize. When we think to strike all dead by instance of Circumcision the eigth day, administred to as very infants as ours can be; what made or supposed them fit, may by a parity of reason as well supply all imaginable deficiencies of ours of the same Covenant: Well, sayes he, for Jehovah once said so, to the Sons of the Old Testament this was Gospel; but Christ hath been since, and he hath said, A new Comman­dement give I unto you: So that now, though not necessita­te rei, for the need of Instruction's sake, yet necessitate prae­cepti, for obedience to this Commandement's sake, that is necessary, which might before be at liberty: Nor may our dutie be taken out a syllable shorter then the length of Christ's precept, which here forbids the profanation of what is holy in our ignorant service, or that we stumble at a wrong administration in the dore of entrance to Religi­on (by pressing on like bruits unbred and untaught) but we are first to know what is to be done (or is supposed or implyed) and then obey or receive accordingly; Believe, and then receive the Seal of Sacrament; first be Taught, and then Baptized.

Thus is this the grand refuge of the great disturber, his gladius [...] that wounds both wayes, or rather his Sword and Buckler whereby he both defends himself, and gives out offence to his adversaries: for when we urge the right of all Nations in terminis so set down, federal holy­ness, or children in their parents, Circumcision the eighth day, &c. he keeps off all with, Teach before any thing: When we require reason for disturbance of Christ his [Page 176] Church of 1500 years possession, Teach, saith he again, This is required distinct and preparatory: So that this one word, is his ready and chief both guard and weapon, let us see how fast he holds it.

Not so fast but it may easily be wrested out of his hand, for the weight of his whole argumentation is setled upon two slippery or false Foundations. 1. That in this verse are two, and those distinct precepts or commands; two propositions, two bidding verbes, two duties laid down by them, and their order argumentative, whereas here is no such duplicity, but One plain, simple, general rule of Christ, how, the Earth being given to him, he would have the Na­tions taken into his confederacy, and it stands thus: All power is given unto me, as was said before, both in heaven and in earth, and I inlarge yourOptimè cohaeret cum superioribus: quando id jus mihi datum est, vos estote ejus juris ad­ministri atque legati. H. Grot. annot. in E­vangel. Matth. pa. 514. Commission accor­dingly, (As the Father hath sent me, so send I you, that the Syriack Copy hath put into the text) Going therefore Post re­surrectionem ex mortuis, ad impleta jam in ipso prophetia Da­vidis, ex per­sona Dei ac Patris dicen­tis, Filius meus es tu, ego hodiè genui te: Pete à me & dabo tibi Gentes haereditatem tuam, & possessionem tuam terminos terrae (quod & factum est & jam omnium oculis expositum) discipulis suis deinceps, qua­si aliud mandatum priori opponens, quo in vias gentium abire prohibuerat, praecepit dicens Profecti, docete omnes gentes, &c. Basil. lib. 1. de spir. sanct. tom. 1- pa. 560. confine not now as formerly to Judea, Matth. 10.5, 6. but take in, or make Proselytes of all Nations, and do it thus, Baptizing, &c. as I have said. Let your work e­quall your power, that is extended by your Commission, that not stinted but by my authority, and this governs over All: You see your bounds, do and so: As ye go, Teach, Baptizing all. And how? this is the second slippery ground; first by Teaching, then Baptizing! No, here is no such thing, here is no Teach: 'Tis [...], which is not necessarily of that import, and may as well signifie somewhat else; nay it does, and better, and the true and proper import of that word is, to make Disciples, or to enter into a School, Sort, or Sect. The sound of Teach hath indeed gone out into all lands, and the noise thereof in­to the ends of the world, for ever since the old Latine hath prevailed, which hath been at least long enough, this word hath gone for Gospel; but look to either the Original of this text, or the Hebrew, in which many say St Matthew [Page 177] wrote (as theFinis Evangelii san­cti praedicati­onis Mattas, quod praedi­cavit Hebraicè in regione Pa­lestinae. In the end of St Mat­thew, in Ju­nius's Bible. De novo nunc loquor testa­mento, quod Graecum esse non dubium est, excepto Apostolo Matthaeo, qui primus in Ju­daea Evangeli­um Christi Hebraicis li­teris edidit. Hieron in prae­fat. in quatuor Evangelia. close of the Syriack Gospel witnesseth he did) which hath [...] or the Syriack it self, or the Arabick translations (for which two last I interpose the credit of a very learned professor of those Languages) in all those ancient Eastern draughts of the mind of the holy Ghost, we have to import nothing but Discipulate or Discipulos facite, Enter into my School, or bring to me, make Proselytes, no Teach.

In the Grammatical possible signification I grant it may be otherwise, and the Hebrew word import first, to make to learn, and then, to Teach; or by derivation, in the Greek, make Disciples, which being not without documents instil­led, so secondarily Teaching comes in: But consider we the next sense of either that which will first follow of [...], (which sure signifies in Scripture butFor so in the New Testament: See Matth. 5.1. cap. 8.21. chap. 9, 10. chap. 10.1. chap. 11.1. Mark 2.18. chap. 10.23, 24. Luke 6.40. chap. 14.26, & 27. John 1.35, 37. chap. 2.2. chap. 3.22, 25. chap. 9.27, 28. Acts 1.15. chap. 6.1. chap. 9.1, 10. chap. 20.1, 7. but especially verse 30: of that chapter. And no farther then this chapter no fewer then four times, sc. verse 7, 8, 13, 16. beside that full and pertinent exposi­tion of [...] by [...], at the very act of Baptizing, in John 4.1. The Pharisees heard that Jesus maketh more Disciples and baptizeth them then John. a Disci­ple) how gladly that noune would come along with and be lodged in theAs it seems to do, Matth. 13.52. but more plainly, chap. 27.57. verbe, whatVolkelius acknowledgeth, that according to Castellio, Erasmus, and Beza, it is ei­ther discipulum facere, actively, or neutrally, discipulum esse: The first it cannot be here, Ergo. lib. 6. cap. 14. Of Beza it is true. Quidam subtilius interpretantur [...], discipulos facite, quasi in conjugatione Hiphil dicas, Discipulate. Nec etiam alio quam discipulorum nomine initio fuerunt, vocati, &c. And G. Pasor, [...], &c. Docete omnes gentes, hoc est, colligite mihi discipulos ex omnibus genti­bus: in Lexic. Gr. Lat. pa. 457. Teach, or word for word from the Greek, Go, make them Disciples, as the word is expounded John 4.1. E. Legh. Critica sac. pa. 355. Di­scipulate, liceat sic mihi loqui gratia docendi, sive, facite mihi discipulos. Bullinger: ibid. others have pertinent­ly and judiciously observed of it before, and above all how fit in this place and this sense alone it makes the words and whole series of things stand fair and handsomly toge­ther, [Page 178] This will soon discard the former, and retain only this, That Christ's purpose was by his word, no other but to have Disciples gathered unto him, or entred unto HIS, and not to have any Taught first, that they might be en­tred. Add, that the word properly betokening so much finds place immediately after, sc. [...], Teaching the baptized to observe all that I have Commanded; and might have been here, if Christ had this intended: (which vari­ety is also in the Syriack and Arabick translations, by the authority before:) That the same [...] was received the most common yet proper word for such import through the whole Bible. as in theDeute­ron. 4.10, 14. chap. 11.19. chap. 31.19, 22 2 Chron. 17.7.9. Job. 21.21. Psal. 24.4, 5. & 33.12 & 119.66. Septuagints translation (to which Jewry was used in the holy times) in theRomans 12.7. 1 Co­rinth. 4.17. chap. 11.14. Galat. 1.12. Ephes. 4.21. Colos. 1.28. chap. 2.7. 2 Thes. 2.15. 2 Tim. 2.2. 1 Jo. 2.27 & Heb. 5.12. where speech is of the principles of Faith to be taught, which is supposed here. Epistles, in theMarc. 2.13: chap. 4.12. chap. 6.30. chap. 8.3. Luc. 4.15. chap. 5.3, 17. chap. 11.1 chap. 12.12. chap. 13.10, 22 chap. 21.37. chap. 23.5. John 6.59. chap. 7.14. chap. 8.2 chap. 9.34. chap. 14.26. chap. 18.20. Gospels, in thisChap. 4 23. chap. 5.2, 19. chap. 7.29. chap. 11.1. chap. 13.54. chap. 15.9. chap: 26.5. Gospel, in thisVerse 5. & 20. chapter, where with incredible frequencie it hath been let fall: also, that besides it there isIn Acts 22.3. chap. 7.22. Ephes. 6.4. Rom. 2.20: 2 Tim. 2.25. chap. 3.16. Tit. 2.12. Heb. 12.9. [...], which properly beto­kens to instruct youth, or filial instruction, from the primi­tive whence it comes: andAs, where the Jew boasts himself to be catechised out of the Law: No doubt he was so: Rom. 2.18. Catechising is so ancient. And, Let the Catechised communi­cate with his Catechist, the taught with his teacher, in All: [...]; (a large measure to cut out Ecclesiastical allowances by: yet is that extent Jure divino) Galat. 6.6. And Apollos was so Catechised ( [...]) before Baptisme. Acts 18.25. Observe how our Ecclesiastical words have footing in Scripture, and add for this, Luc. 1.4. & 1 Cor. 14.19. [...], the very same from which we use and name to this day Catechizing, and im­ports teaching Proprie est Viva voce instituere ac docere. Erasm. in 1 Cor. 14.19. Propriè, Resono, item instituo viva & s [...]nanti voce, [...]. Pasor in Lexic. Graec. Lat. pa. 352. by word of mouth, as a Master to his [Page 179] Schollar, or [...] to sound or resound as by an Echo, to an­swer like the s [...]und of an Ec [...]o: Mr Leigh in [...]rit. sac. pa. 309. Sci­licet, sicut in Echo una vox bis auditur, ita quo (que) Ca­techistae vox bis audiri de­bet, tam ex ca­techumeno, quam ex ipso Catechista. Pasor ubi su­pra. It signi­fieth in its com­mon and large sense to Re­sound, to in­struct others viva voce, by speech sounding in their ears, Acts 18.25, &c. in special, to teach the rudiments and elements of any doctrin whatsoever, and more peculiarly to teach the first elements of Christian Religion; unde dicti Catechumeni quibus fidei mysteria vocis ministerio credebantur. Mr Leigh, where before. Echoing in his ears repeated instructions, which the Learner resounds or Echoes back to him; or as [...] Homil. 21. ad popul. Antioch. tom 1. pa. 235. St Chrysostome, so to ring in ones ears that the noise be not forgotten. Lay, I say, these together, and that from a view of them all, which our Saviour no doubt had, he yet chose none (when to fit his purpose, he yet singled out one of them in the next line, when he meant the thing) and it will be very unlikely he meant that thing; passing by these words and laying hold of an obscure, dark, remote Meta­phor, as 'twere to lead us into Error, or leave us in Error, in a thing so clear, and touching Salvation, so neer concer­ning us.

But above all, take theFrom ver. 18. [...]. As much as, Jesus coming said to them, All power is given to me in Heaven and Earth: Going therefore make Disciples of all Nations, Or the Heathen, Baptizing them in­to the name of Father, son and holy Ghost, teaching them (Teach comes after) to keep whatever I have commanded you, and behold, I and you together to the end of the world. Amen. Is here any thing for Catechisme before the Font? what that looks like it? 'Tis hard to find where 'twas occasioned; if read with a free and clear eye. text and context in their in­tire originals. There's commonly more life and quickness in those first draughts of any ones mind, that growes pale and wan in best translations, nor do pieces of a Writing but furnish us with a parcel understanding. The whole uses to illustrate the whole, and as Wine, so rich sense most times loses, grownes flat and dull by being drawn from Ves­sel to Vessel. Take then the whole, without parcel­ling, the Original without derivation, and in that face no sign appears of requisite instruction. I do not say, not at all; but, not here; in this word; and inevitable order; before [Page 180] the element applyed, which is that alone will please the An­tipaedobaptist. How or when, is another consideration, I only vindicate this text: one of the strongest holds he has, that quarrels our Charity for suffering little children to be brought unto Christ by Baptism: And sure, for him here is no TEACH AND BAPTIZE.

I retort his chosen weapon: and what if here be much for Childrens Baptisme? for being taught only after the Sa­crament, if this text and the sure order thereof be argu­mentative? and more, that Infants may come in with the throng (of Nations) whether they be taught or no? Both these, I aver, are here. For first, (setting aside the amphi­bologie of the first Teach, as but now) in the 20 verse fol­lowing we have sure Teach; and sure after, and neither Translation nor Order can be evaded: where is the Petro­brusian now? Will he be ruled by this Text? will he have the Order regarded? shall Baptize AND Teach, in this series of words and things unavoidable, be as authorita­tive to him, as Even now was Teach AND Baptize, if he could have made it good. Let Christ's words together (by his own reading) end the quarrel, who saith thus: All power is given to me in Heaven and in earth: Go therefore, Initiate all Nations, Baptizing them, &c. then TEACH­ING them to observe all that I have commanded, Will now Tho. Munzer say, Teaching them first?

Secondly, besides, Infants may be Baptized: I argue from hence; for they are a part of All Nations, and All Nati­ons ought by Christ's words: Let the answerer chuse which to deny. If Madagascar or some Indian Prince should send word, He and his Nation would be Baptized, why should I think he excepted any, except his exception did express it self in some, as in tender babes? Or if our Go­vernors should authorize me to convert and initiate the Na­tions next New England (or in all America) and I should take my Commission (with my associates) in very Gospel words, from them directed, [...], and so as it follows, As ye go take in all the Nations, or all the people, or al the countrys, what reason had I [Page 181] think any sort meant to be excluded the Ark, or shut from admission to society under them, sith they willed ALL by me to be admitted. Some one might cast doubts, The children are unfit, they cannot take the Oath of Allegiance or en­ter into necessary Engagements: But I speak of their Commission and my duty, what I find written in the one, and I ought to extract and see not left undone in the o­ther; They bid me take in [...], as Christ did, and I am to obey them in rational construction: If therefore I shall be busie or froward to thrust back clildren, or any that offer or are offered, how shall I excuse, being questi­oned, who was to take in the comprehension of Nations, much less if All the Nations? though there be peradven­ture yet more in their parents or other Offerers, then I can promise my self in Their ingenuity, or indiscoverable fu­ture dispositions, for their present gracious reception. It is sure enough children are no sure part of Families, and it satisfies when 'tis alleadged, that Lydia and her houshold were baptized, Acts 16.15. the Goaler, He and all his, ver. 33. the houshold of Stephanus, 1 Corinth. 1.16. that possibly here might be no children, for we read of none, and some Families alwayes have been without: But that any Nation should be without children, or any thing to have its force upon Nations, that hath nothing to do with chrildren, was not heard since the beginning of the world, much less All Nations. The Amazones lived without Men for a time, and some sullen Men perhaps as much without women, but that All Nations should be with ut children, or not include children, is very hard to be belie­ved, and unreasonable to understand: The quintessence is in this, A Nation is comprehensive of all, (Men, Women, Children, Servants, Bond, Free,) But all Nations are here to be Baptized: Therefore—

Thus the order of this text layes no rub in the way of childrens Baptism: the order, if any thing, requires that that which is alleadged for a rub before (TEACHING) should come after Baptism: and Christ appointing Na­tions to be Proselyted, takes in them for a part, and so [Page 182] seems here to imply and call for their Baptism. Which was more then I meant, for my aim is at another thing and yet not more then needed, considering times and things; and that much of it may not have come under observation before. Next after Making Disciples, and of all Nations, is How, or by what rite Jure divino: which is a point where­in Christ hath not left himself to us without witness, the witness of his own immediate words, for he hath prescribed this manner, Baptizing them INTO the name of Father, Son and holy Ghost.

1. Which is first the Dixit & factum est, the solemn and authoritativeTo ac­knowledge Christs institutution, the ground of both Sacraments, I suppose no Chri­stian man will refuse: for it giveth them their very na­ture, it appoin­teth the matter whereof they [...]nsist, the form of their admi­nistration it teacheth, and it blesseth them with that grace whereby to Ʋs they are both pledges and in­struments of life. Mr Hoo­ker, Eccles. Politie. lib. 5. Sect. 61. pa. 321. erection or elevation of this Act of Natural washing into a holy and religious rite or Sacrament to Ʋs. For the Jews had their Baptisms of many sorts, their Even Baptisms of Proselytes into their Religion, by opinion of the most learned among them, And the Gen­tiles their Washings, Lustrations, Februations, &c. much of the same general nature: But here was that divine and powerfull word of Creation to Ʋs, that made this rite used, (perhaps prophaned) before, a Christian and holy Sacra­ment of life, and without which our Religion had been superstition Do this in remembrance of me, was said be­fore, and by verture thereof we yet Do that which is well pleasing in his sight, our natural piety is by obedience to his command sanctified into Religious: So, Do this, saith Christ, Congregate unto me by the Ceremony of Washing; now 'tis holy what else were superstitious, though it passed from us as Religious; Have not I commanded you, Go, take in, Baptize.

2. Here is also the person to whose care and work the ministration of this rite pertaineth, Take in All Nations, but Baptize YE. That is, the Apostles and their Succes­sors, Men deputed for this holy work, called of God as was Aaron; for to them belongs the application of this rite, to whom is made application of the words from the 16. ver. They went there to Galilee, according to command; Them Christ there met according to his promise; To them he directs his full speech and commission; The same he inau­gurates [Page 183] and intrusts with that power no man can exercise but from heaven: You, and in naming You, I name no o­thers, in naming but You I exclude all others, Go, take in, Baptize You.

3. The manner or sort is no less evident and perspicu­ous, Do, and do it thus. Depart not from my form, Vary not from my prescription, Obey my Order, Do as I would, or as good do nothing at all: Lo I have commanded you, Do thus, or do not this: Baptizing into the name of Fa­ther; Son and holy Ghost.

Where is also, 1. The form or substance of faith Bap­tized into, sc. That is, to be dedica­ted and con­secrated unto the name of, The Father, as his Sons, The Son, as his re­deemed ones, The Holy Ghost as his Sanctified ones. Bernards Thesaurus Bib. in the word Baptized. Father, Son and holy Ghost. 2. The form or manner of admission or entrance into that faith, in Nomine is most usual, but in Nomen is the right, which makes initiation or admission, entrance INTO the faith of Father, Son and holy Ghost, or whatTo baptize to any one, or the name of any one, is to devote and consecrate unto him, to be called of him; Christiani igitur tres sui dogmatis auctores agnoscere jubebantur, P. F. & Sp S. nihilque ut necessarium admittere quod non à Patre ortum, à Filio pro­ditum, à Spiritu verò esset partim explicatum apertius, partim obsignatum. Grotius ad Matth. 28.19. pa. 516. proceeds from them. 3. The expression of the person in Ministration left at liberty; so the form be kept, that is not limited, but may vary. TheAs in Aquinas, part. 3. Quaest. 66. artic. 5. Vasquez, in 3. part: Thom. disput. 142. c. 1. Sextò Cornel. à Lapid. in 1 Corinth. 1.13. Bellarmine lib. 1. de Bapt. cap. 3. de forma baptismi. Alphons. de Castro, lib. 3. adversus haeres. cap. 2. Paget: Christia­nogr. par. 2. pa. 120. Mr Gregory, in his notes, chap. 39. pa. 107. from the Euchologue. Greek Church administers in the third person, Baptizetur N. servus Christi in Nomine Pa­tris, filii & Sp. S. and so does thePaget. Christianogr. par. 1 pa. 118. and Severus, Patriarch of Alexand. in lib. de ritibus Baptismi: in Bibliothec. Pat. Latin. tom. 7. pa. 732. Egiptian, Such a one N. is Baptized in the name of the Father, Amen, of the Son, Amen, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. WhichIn 4. Sentent. dist. 3. Quaest, 3. sect de secundo. Scotus allows for good, if the Pope would allow it; andIn decreto fidei quodest in Concilio Florentin. post ultimam sessionem. Ita Vasquesius in 3. part. Thom. disput. 142. cap. 2. sect. 10. Eu­genius the fourth hath allowed it in the Councel of Flo­rence, because the Validity of the Sacrament arises not from [Page 184] this, but the Trinity invoked: But now the Western Church generally takes in the first person, with applycation from him that Ministers to the receiver, I Baptize thee: I should be loath to say either is faulty while both hold fast the form of sound words, 2 Tim. 1.13. or that type of Doctrin, Rom. 6.17. which was here left by our Saviour. Who has not restrained any more then to substance, the Circumstance left at large, to one or other: Baptize, that's the rite; the persons, Ye, the faith, of the Trinity; the manner, INTO; and that all is needfull.

I have chosen the last (for which also I chose the text) and almost the least (for it is but one syllable in the Ori­ginal, two in translation, [...], into) to insist upon: sc. how it is Christs will this should lead to the mention and use of the Trinity. Neither of the other parts but are mise­rably distorted, and more then seem to need some diligent hand, and the industrious imployment thereof to set them to rights: the Arrians, Eunomians, Cataphrygians, Va­lentinians, &c. having so wofully perverted their clear and evident sense, that some wonder 'tis how such havock should be made of precious truth, a corruption of so much in so little a compass, or so many errors creep into so nar­row and small a room: But that I would enquire into only, is, that I have said.

But little ground, I confess, a small compass of pedistal to set foot upon; the greater care, if not more skill, would be required to build sure, if of any bulk or height, upon so narrow a foundation. Even theNeque enim vel sylla­ba vel apiculus est in sacris li­teris in cujus profundo non sit grandis quispiam thesaurus. Chrysost. Orat. 21. in Genes. Equidem collando in moribus tuis discendi studium atque industriam, supra (que) modum delector, ista instantia vigilantiaque mentis tuae, qui putas nullam vocem ex his quae per universam scripturam de Deo praedicantur oportere in discussam relin­quere, ô—frater Amphilochi, &c. Basil. de Sp. Sancto. cap. 1. tom. 2. pa. 291. Nam haud oscitanter audire sermonem de rebus divinis disserentem, sed conari [...] non est eorum qui segnes sunt ad pietatem, sed qui intelligunt scopum nostrae vocationis, &c. — Proinde syllabas excutere non est aberrare à scopo, &c. ibid. least things are worth consideration in Religion, chiefly those are so [Page 185] near the heart and pith; About this I haveThe first spark that light­ed me to vari­ous construction, I observed from Bellarmin, lib. 1. de Conciliis. cap. 12. speaking of the power left by Christ to call Councels, in Nomine meo. sc. by my Authority. A difference for­mally made, but lightly turned off. I after found in Gerards Common places, between, In Nomine, & In Nomen. An exact discussion I promised my self in Gab. Vasquez, who has, one would think, all the Questions and quirks imagi­nable in disput. 143. in 3. part. Thom. but in vain. There­fore said I, Hearken even to me, I will shew mine opinion; in the words of Elihu, Job 32.10. hardly met with any purposed and formal disquisition before, where yet the mistake would be perilous and dangerous enough.

The first consideration would offer it self about theI make no formal division, but the steps I would be heeded to proceed by should be these. 1. VVhat the word is and does import. 2. VVhat it has been taken to import here, sc. In the name, or Trinity invoked, In the name, or by the power, and In or Into the name or faith. 3. VVhich last is right, from first the nature of the work; secondly the authority of context: thirdly the tradition of the Church, in elder and later times. word, both what it is in the text, and what it imports in the world, the corner stone upon which all that follows is to be laid, and had need therefore to be well looked into, lest we plunge into all the inconveniences following upon error in principio.

And in the Text, note, it is constantly, universally the same, [...]. Other words are commonly perplexed with va­riety of Readings, Meus codex habet, sic Anglicus sic alii aliter, &c. the seeds of everlasting uncertainty; for who can tell what should be meant, when the book is not a­greed with it self of the word? But here no such thing, fate or providence hath still preserved, in the variation or distortion of the sense, the means of rectifying all in the undoubted word fast and safe retained: Luther, Beza E­rasmus, Sixtus Senensis, St Hierome, or whosoever has had, a hand in reforming the Text, having left no hint of variety or mark of uncertainty upon any Letter of this word: Add the like constant, univocal transcription and allegati­on wheresoever, and this promises well for a beginning, we have fast hold at least of a word to trust to.

For import and signification of that word, no less is the concord and agreement: sc. that it is motive or termina­tive, casting the signification into the accusative case, and making way to INTO. So all Authors have rendred it: Proofs are numberless: No word is more common in any known sense: It may be superfluous to prove that Pater is a Father, Filius a Son, Veritas Truth, or Homo a Man: Of, like both certainty and evidence is the import of this par­ticle, [Page 186] and unless we will allow of such Enallages and sub­stitutions whereby any thing may be made of any thing or any one word put for any one other, I see not but it must stand in sense as it does in Lexicon, that [...] is not [...], nor the signification thereof IN, or any thing else but INTO.

The word secured, and the translation: next for the sense that hath been made of it, or the sense that should be made of it here, and indeed how it leads, (for so it does) the sense of all that follows, (Father, Son and holy Ghost being led, and looking to various imports for several pur­poses as this shall go before and direct) Thus the most in­terpretations I have met with areMr Deo­date hath briefly couched all these three senses together in his late Com­mentaries on the Bible; though to a pre­ferment of which in his judgment led that the words should lead him, is easie to guess by his words. Baptizing in the name, that is, saith he, to consecrate un­to the only true God (re­vealed in 3 persons of the holy Trinity, 1 Jo. 5.7.) by the baptism administred by their power and authority, which are also called up­on to ratifie the external ceremony thereof, each one by the special property of his ope­ration, annot. on Matth. 28.19. Good: and all true; but how much of it is here in the text? It is easie to guess what he found in the place, and what was buzzing in his ears from the noise of the world. The VVord is the rule; and that ought rule us. reducible to three heads: that In the name should import either. 1. Invo­cation of the name. 2. His Authority whose is the name. Or 3. Consecration, Devotion, dedication, institution into him whose the name is: Who being here three and one, makes the consecration to be into that Name or Faith, of that Trinity, that is, either to believe it, or what come from it, either from the Father, through the Son, by the holy Ghost, or from the Father, and the Son, and the holy Ghost, or simply that they BE (belief of their revelations will come after) sc. that there is Father, Son and holy Ghost.

The first of these is Calvin's, Beza's, Bellarmin's, Aqui­nas's, Luther's Ambros's, Augustin's, and indeed whose not? Most others. Maldonate expounds it and contends for it by many reasons. The Latine Fathers (not to in­stance in particulars) went the same way generally; the Schoolmen and Canonists followed; as Gratian, Lombard, Scotus, Vasquez, &c. with Liturgies, the most that I could inform my self from, and Ministers, no doubt, according­ly [Page 187] in their ministration: not to speak of Treatisers, Le­cturers, Expositors, Common-placers, Systematists, Cate­chists, &c. which let them all make good if they can, ei­ther from theNot this; for all say and use Baptisme as initiatory, the Dore of the Church, as shall be hereafter said more fully: Now with this what hath in­vocation to do? I mean, as to the act, though it may be a conve­nient appurte­nant. nature of the business in hand, or likelyNor this: for how many tropes would be needfull to translate and lift off a plain and simple order of Baptizing in the name, if it were so, of Father, Son and holy Ghost, to a capacity of such a sense as should give order for Baptizing, that is, Invoking (or baptizing by invoking) that glorious name? Must there not be an intire and full piecing in of this whole uninter­essed word of Invocation? and by such an immense license of figure as might bear out any thing to made of any, thing? or any thing to be said or put for any thing? or meant by any thing. interpretation of these words (the ground) or possi­bleNor lastly this: for how can the words whose plain and open sense lead to initiation and nothing else, be applyed to such a work as declares and spends it self in an act of another nature, which is invocation? application of these words to this business in this sense. They mean, I doubt not, In-vocation, or Ad-voca­tion of the most holy name of God, One and Three, over the baptized, according to that of St Augustine, O Bapti­zati, audito me, &c. obsecro vos per nomen quod super vos in­vocatum est, that this does the work, so far as water and words (the outward ministration) can reach; or simpleSo also Josephus Vicecomes, — ita ut in nomine idem fuerit ac nominan­do. And a little after, In quo verbo (in nomine) Catholica Eccl [...]sia Divinitus edo­cta optimè intellexit non virtutim aut fidem indicati — sed tres personas san­ctissimae Triados nominandas esse. de ritibus antiquis Baptismi. lib. 4. cap. 5. pa. 272. vid. etiam pa. 274. APPELLATION or NOMINATION, say some; Invocato aut appellato nomine Patris, filii & Sp. Sancti is Maldonates, whence the Canon Law (and Schools too, a­greeable herein with most of the Latine Fathers) they that have been Baptized even by Hereticks, if there have been In­vocation, or as some Confession, for there is still variety in Er­ror, of the Trinity over the baptized, they are not to be wash­ed again, otherwise they are.

That which gave occasion of this way of interpretation might possibly lay in two things. 1. As to the word, the long prevalence of the old Latine Translation, which we know hath domineered over Europe from above a thousand [Page 188] years since, and is latelyStatuit & decrevit (sancta syno­dus) ut haec ipsa vetus & vulgata editio, quae longo tot faeculorum usu in eccle­sia ipsa proba­ta est, in pub­licis lectioni­bus disputationibus, praedicationibus aut expositionibus pro authentica habeatur, & quod eam nemo rejicere quovis praetextu audeat vel praesumat. Session. 3 Can. 2. Canonized in the Councel of Trent, for uncontrolable: Where, in Nomine being first found, and all along continued, to make out sense of that they under tood not (nor sought further for, whether it were right? taking that for granted) hence they were forced to hammer out such a meaning as they could make some tolerable interpretation of to the people, suitable a little with the argument, and hence Invocation danced all over, when Men were to be Baptized unto the Trinity, the Trinity was invoked or named over them, and this (but how incongruously let the world judg) did the business. 2. As, to the thing, the use of anThey had in ancient allowed Directions for administring the other holy Sacrament a preparatory prayer (no doubt from the purpose and contents thereof) called [...], wherein they seemed and meant to Invoke down something upon the work, persons or thing in hand, whereof is mention made in St Basils Liturgie, pa. 10. in St Gregories Liturgie, pa. 34. and in St Cyrils, pa. 53. of the same volumn, translated out of the Arabick, and Printed 1604. That title I find expounded in that use, and it is like it was the same here, to be [...], an Invocation of the holy Ghost, and that they pray­ed therein for the [...], or [...], the descent of the holy Spirit upon the things under hand; somewhere by Dr Hammond, and in St Pe­ters Liturgie, (as said to be) [...], very often; and so in St James's and St Chry­s [...]stomes in Biblioth. pat. Gre c. tom. 2. pa. 4, & 6. pa. 77, & 78, &c. The Pagans used the like over their Sacrifices, St Cyril tels us so; co [...]paring and averring, that, As those things which are offered upon Altars being pure, [...], are defiled by Idol-Invocations, so on the contrary pure water receiving vertue of the holy Ghost and Christ, [...], at Invoca­tion, is made partaker of holyness, in Cateches. 3. pa. 16. The jugling Marcosians had their initiations not without somewhat of like nature, [...]: others of them lead their seduced Proselytes to the water, [...], &c. and baptizing, they say over them, into the name of the incomprehensible Father of all things, &c. (where observe by the way, the intent of their mysteries was, To lead and convey over UNTO, [...].) Others of them frighted with hard and uncoth names, [...], BASEMA, CHAMOSSE, BAAEANORA, MISTA­DIA, RHƲADA, CƲSTA, BABOPHOR, KALACHTHEI: which are not interpreted without [...], &c. and yet others went (to the same sense) a little otherwaies: In Epiphanius, haeres. 34. de Marcosiis. cap. 20. pa. 255. out of Irenaeus. And before, there was an used [...], appre­hended effective of strange things, cap. 1. pa. 233. of which or another of the same sort is re­petition in the next page. There was a form of BENE­DICTION in Aarons Dire­ctory, Numb. 6.24, &c. accor­ding to which he and his sons were wont (as is conceived, for such was their Office Deut. 21.5. 1 Chron. 21.13.) at dismission to bless the Assembly, [...], which I interpret actively or datively to give them Blessing; for Benedictio est sanctitatis traditio, in the Canon Law) and this was so successfull that the fruit or consequent thereof is said to be, He did thereby put the NAME, or Jehovahs Name upon the sons of Israel, and Jehovah himself followed him, [...], verse 27. And I the Lord will so bless them. Nor was this so effectual Bene-Diction without long continuance, for so long after as in Simeon the High Priests time mentioned in Ecclesiasticus, 50. at the end of the most solemn service, He went down and lift up his hands over the whole congregation of the children of Israel, to GIVE THE BLESSING OF THE LORD with his lips, and to rejoyce in his NAME: And they bowed themselves to worship the second time, that they might RECEIVE a BLESSING FROM THE MOST HIGH, verse 20, 21. of our English Trans­lation, which is agreeable enough with Junius's Edition, ut daret benedictionem Domini labiis suis, and that of Complutum, or Alcala de Henares in Spain, [...], in the genitive, though Sixtus 5. corrected it in his Edition, [...], to give blessing or praise to the Lord. In much conformity to which of old, the Ministers of Jesus Christ (serving, as the sons of Aaron did heretofore, in the Assemblies of his Saints) have been wont with much strength of endeavour to attempt to GIVE the PEACE OF GOD, or the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost (from the conclusion of the second Epistle to the Corinthians) to be with their people and continue with them to comfort them till their next meeting in Gods presence. It seems more then a sim­ple intimation, or plain comfortable declaration, or earnest petition and obsecration, a power­full imprecation, yea a solemn and successfull authoritative dispensation or distribution of those favours from heaven are then more then wished for, presently invoked, called down and given out by Gods faithfull servant to his expecting and worshipping people For more effectual doing whereof and Authoritative, if many were present that had Commission, and one in pow­er above the rest, it was ordered that he whose authority was thought greatest, should stand up for this part, to Give this Blessing. All these seem to meet in somewhat of one general nature, or, as we say, to hang upon one string: VVhen we understand them we may perhaps have found out therewith a new and better way then used of saying or GIVING the Peace of God; (to which the ceremony of Elevation or lifting up the hands, as in weighty matters, once ap­pointed by God himself, or used by his approved Ministers, Levit. 9.22. Eccles. 50.20. yea by our blessed Saviour, Luc. 24.50. might not be I think an unfruitfull appurtenant.) Illu­mina quae sumus Domine Deus tenebras nostras. [...] (which word yet [Page 189] to all purposes, and every corner of the meaning thereof, I confess I clearly understand not, and for some reasons hope I never shall) applyed to Baptism too some times, and importing to INVOKE, as the name of GOD, or GOOD, or EVIL upon a party, place, people, &c. In many deriva­tives [Page 190] thereof we meet with it often in theAs, Deut. 12.5, 11, 21. chap. 14.23 4. chap. 16.2, 6, 11. chap. 26.2. chap. 28.10. 2 Reg. 6.2. 3 Reg. 8.43. chap. 17.20, 21. 2 Chron. 6:20, 33. chap. 7.14. Esai. 63. ult. Jer. 7, 10, 11, 12, 14.30. chap. 14.9. chap. 15.16. chap. 32.34. chap. 34.15. Dan. 9.18, 19. Amos 9.12. and 1 Reg. 13.2, 4. which compare with 2 Reg. 23.16. These places are most of them translated (and in our last and best English) by, called by Jehovahs name, as in Jam. 2.7. Do they not blaspheme that good Name by which ye are called, or by Calling as by way of prayer, upon that name: But the un­avoidable evidence of the Originals was such as made it need to be added by way of supplement in the Margent of the most, for, that Name being CALLED UPON, the party, place, peo­ple, &c. As for instance in 3 Reg. 8.43. that they may know that this house is called by thy name; but the Margent has: Heb. thy name is called upon this house. 2 Chron. 7.14. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, &c. that is, according to the Hebrew, upon whom my name is called; in the Margent again: And the like annotation is in 2 Chron. 6.33. Esai. 63.19. Jer. 7.10. chap. 14 9. chap. 15.16. chap. 34.15. Dan. 9.18, 19. Amos. 9.12. The most exquisite Tremellius hath in text or margent alwayes super quos, or super quae invocatur nomen tuum: Sixtus 5. in his Roman Editi­on never otherwise; I mean in his Latine translation: and the Doway gives it very oft, par­ticularly in 2 Chron. 7.14. Esai. 63.19. Jer. 14.9. chap. 15.16. chap 34.15. Dan. 9.18, 19. & Amos. 9.12. Somewhat there was in it that made all these wary translators retain so hard and to us almost unintelligible phrase of speech: they meant to give plain English or Latine again, as before, Illumina quae sumus Domine Deus tenebras nostras, & calliginem igno­rantia qua in hac vita laboramus obsiti, dispelle propitius, per Christum Dominum nostrum. That SƲPER-NOMINATION of Exod. 20.24. belongs hereto, [...], wheresoever I shall place my name there; which might be and was in di­v [...]rs other places: and Thither will I come, in the following words: as in Deut. 12.5. & 2 Chron. 12.13. both Super-nomination and In-vocation have the same text [...]. Ob­served by Nobilius in his Notes on the Septuagint there, that St Augustine should say, [...] was exactly rendred by Supernomination or Adnomination; rather then by Cog­nomination or simple Nomination: and 'tis true St Augustine has this critical and very usefull observation: Quod Graecus habet [...], supernominavero aut adnominavero ex­pressius dicitur, quod usitatius cognominavero nonnulli interpretati sunt: sed non ha­bet necessariam significationem cognominavero, propinquiùs autem dicitur cognomina­vero quam nominavero; nam & hoc aliqui interpretes dixerunt. Locution. de Exod. lib. 2. tom. 3, pa. 49. and he is there examining the propriety of speech of that book. Seaventies translation of the Old Testament, and theActs 2.21. chap. 22.16. Jam. 2.7. Acts 9.14, 21. chap. 15.17. Rom. 10.14. text it self of the New, besides theSee 1 Maccab. 7.37. 2 Maccab. 8.15. and I prayed and understanding was given me, [...], I used In-vocation and there came a spirit of Wisdome unto me. Sapient. Solomon. 7.7. Apochrypha of the former the meaning whereof is so little understood, that it hath, [Page 191] Scarce been handsomly questioned, What it is? and the doubt so farr from being fully satisfied, that the inquiry hath before been scarce fairly and pertinently raised. There might be intended by it some in-vocation of the great NAME of GOD, IEHOVAH, under the Old Testa­ment, of which our Schools or Books make little mention, and this operative and effective of the DIVINE PRE­SENCE in such a way as we little dream of; And the ra­ther for thatJer. 7. ver. 10, 11, 12, 14.29. where this in-vocation is most mention­ed, as an effect or consequent God says his nameSee the English transla­tion of Deut. 12.5, 11, 21. chap. 14, 23, 24. chap. 16.2, 6, 11. chap. 26.11. 2 Chron. 6.20. Jer. 7.12. there Was, He placed it, he hadWherefore, goe to my place in Selo, where I had placed my name formerly, [...], setled or lodged it, Jer. 9.12. (the word used in Nehem. 11.9. wherewith compare 1 Chron. 23.25.) And both Jerusalem is called, A place of the Lords name, Esai. 18.7. and his name both was to be there, and Was there, and to continue: 1 Reg. 8.16, 29, 44. chap. 11.3.6. chap. 14.21. 2 Reg. 21.4. chap. 23.27. 2 Chron. 12.13. yea, for ever, 2 Reg. 21.7. 2 Chron. 7.16. & chap. 33.4, 7. Where mark still and from the Text, the words of placing, setling, dwelling, a House for that purpose, and, by vertue of that enjoyned Bene-diction (remember before) of Num. 6.24, 25. The Priests shall put my name upon the Sons of Israel; God him­self coming as 'twere along with it. We may compare things not all out the same: The Marcosians, mentioned by Irenaeus, acknowledged some such thing, After their imprecati­ons before spoken of, & the NAME invoked by Priest and Proselyte, [...], & so they proceeded to a noyling him, &c. they pronounce that are present, Peace be to all upon whom this name (of Jao) re­steth. Adversus haeres. lib. 1. ca. 18. p. 108. and from Epiphanius in the place alledged. And it was the adjuration by the Sanhedrim to the High Priest of Israel on Expiation Eve, that he would change none of the service for that day, Noste jurare jubemus per eum, cujus nomen in hac aede habitat, as rendred by Pet. Cunaeus, We adjure thee by him, whose name dwelleth in this house; de repub. Heb. lib. 2. cap. 6. out of Maiemonides. inshrined it once in Shiloh. Under the New Testament likewise there might be some such in-vocationSt Isidore proves the Deity of the holy Ghost, by that it is completive of the holy Trinity, [...], and in this Epiclesis or In-vocation of the holy Baptisme, with the Father and the Son, it was judged purgative of sin. Isid. Pelusiot. lib. 1. Epist. 109. pa: 34. annexed to our Baptisme by the pregnant insinuations ofThe voyce from heaven to Saul, Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, Calling upon the name of rhe Lord. Whereupon is Vasquez's observation: Quoniam haec verba denotare videantur invitationem ex parte Pauli (Arise thou, wash thou, &c.) yet that this performance is to be a third persons, sc. the Ministers, appears by that; his is to be the in-vocation, whose the accompanying ablution, But (No man washeth himself, Sebaptists are scarce heard of, Be thou baptized, here) this was to be the Ministers, Er­go, in 3. partem Thom. Disput. 143. cap. 2. sect. 17. So the sense this, Be thou bap­tized, sc. by some fitting Minister, and let that Baptisme be by (or not without) Calling upon Gods name, the Epiclesis mentioned. Act. 2.16. and [Page 192] Do they not revile that good name, [...], that is called over you? And add what of this import we meet with often in those who trod next after the steps of the A­postles: As in those stiled The Constitutions of the Apo­stles, in many places, especially lib. 7. cap. 43. in Justine Martyrs. second Apology, pa. 94, &c. and many other places. Iam. 2.7. But grant it were, and to continue to us, I see not how this Text hath any thing to do with it, or it with this Text, the words whereof if duely considered, not su­perficially flubbered over, lead clean another way: Grant In-vocation, and of the holy Trinity needfull, yet what ground have we for it here? and how must not the phrase of speech but be more then miserably wracked and torment­ed to force a look of the words toward any such business? Follow as they lead, hear as they speak out their own mind, and they gently, but fully, confess an intent toward Christ, a will to Christ, an admission into Christ: But any In-vocation of Him, or Trinity, Any calling upon Any thing, This was not left here and we idly seek, in vain we hope to find it.

Indeed, the occasion of much error may have been, (perhaps even here) Truth: yea the derivation of truth from truth, the grounding of one truth upon another; the setling, I mean, of opinions warrantable enough in them­selves, upon other as warrantable as they, but so incongru­ously and without coherence of any necessary concatena­tion, that of things that should flow and follow, there is no dependance, nor, being compared, any establishment they can afford mutually one to the other. He that says, little children should be assumed to Christ by his own Or­dinance of matriculation into Church-fellowship and the Communion of Saints on earth, (as well as no doubt they are into the society of the first born in heaven) says well: and it is more certain, that the Saviour of us all declaredMat. 19.13, &c. Mar. 10.13, &c. Luc. 18.15, &c. his good will toward them in special manner (and to [Page 193] thoseOf such is the King­dom of God: ve. 14. Christ doth not say, of them. As be­fore, in the ex­clusive, Verily I say unto you, unless ye turn back and become as lit­tle children, ye shall in no wise enter in­to the King­dom of hea­ven, Whosoe­ver therefore shall humble himself low as a child, he shal be exalted greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, Matt. 19.1. Signifi­canter dixit Talium, non Istorum, ut o­stenderet non aetatem regna­re, sed mores, & his qui simi­lem habent innocentiam & simplicitatem praemium repromitti. Apostolo quoque in eandem sententiam congruente, 1 Corinth. 14.20. Fratres, nolite effici pueri sen­sibus, [...] but in malice be ye such, &c. Hieron. Matth. 19. tom. 6: pa. 40. Humilitatis ergo signum Rex noster in statura pueritiae probasti, cum aisti, Talium est regnum caelorum, &c. Augustin. Confession. lib. 1. cap. 19. like them, whose is the Kingdom of God, by the Text) for he took them up in his arms, he laid his hands up­on them and blessed them: But he that shall upon all these ground their invitation or due acceptation to our Lords holy Baptisme, doth but, as to me it seems, build a Castle in the air, link the slippery sands, or settle a firm Spanish Fort upon the Pike of a Tenariffe; piece together I mean inconsequences, and raise the weight of firm and sacred truth upon the foundation of an immoveable rock, but such and at so remote distance, that it can no way come near to contribute any furtherance of establishment to that truth, whereof it was intended the sufficient suppor­ter: Even so, grant the In-vocation of the Trinity need, full over the baptized, (as it may be, or may not be) yet how impertinently do men urge this Text for it, sith here is no rest for the sole of its foot? no pedistal to settle on? no words may bear this sense, or occasion that consequence? Thus to prove, is to add truth unto truth, heap truth upon truth, by no means farrly and gentile to collect and derive truth, one from another: for, search and look, for certain no such thing can hence be made to follow. A Baptism, and into the Christian faith, this is real­ly offered, and we may as surely take up, but any such thing as falling upon, or what can be easily wrested thitherward, e­ven by the fairest help of Enallagie or any licentious trope, in vain do we seek for; it is not, & we cannot hope to find it.

Thus In-vocation is discharged, and that how usuall soever, though rooted in custome and spread abroad far and wide over the face of the Earth.

Next forHoc enim dicimur facere Nomine alterius quod illius jussu & authoritate fa­cimus. Jo. Maldonate: tom. 1. de Sa­cramentis, ca. 1. de Bapt. pa. 5.1. To Baptize in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost doth signifie to do it by their warrant and Com­mission. Bishop Lake, Sermon on Matth. 28.19. pa. 232. Significat autem in Nomi­ne, 1. Jussu & authoritate communi horum trium (sc. patris, filii, &c.) institutum esse Baptismum, atque has tres personas mandare, ut qui velint esse membra eccle­siae illi sic baptizentur. Ursin Catechet. par. 2. Quaest. 71. Oportet quod in forma Baptismi exprimatur causa Baptismi. Est autem ejus causa duplex, Una quidem principalis aqua virtutem habet, & haec est sancta Trinitas: Alia autem instrumen­talis, sc. Minister, qui tradit exterius Sacramentum: & ideò oportet in forma Bap­tismi de utraque fieri mentionem. Minister autem tangitur cum dicitur, Ego te baptizo: Causa autem principalis, cum dicitur, In nomine patris, filii, &c. Aquin. par. 3. Quaest. 66. artic. 5. Quòd autem Apostoli dicuntur baptismum administrasse in nomine Christi,—istis verbis hoc tantum docetur administrasse eos jussu, au­thoritate, mandato & ex praescripto Christi. Caspar: Brockman: Systhem: Theol. artic. 34. sect: 3. Sic etiam Schrapius, in Cursu Theol. col. 1367. de forma Bapt. Emanuel Sa. in annot. in Bib. magn. ad Matth. 28.19. Jacob. Tirin. in eandem locum. Gregor. de Valentia tom. 4. disput. 4. quaest. 1. punct. 3. Gab. Vasquez. in 3. part. Thom. disput. 142. cap. 1. sect. 9. & cap. 2. sect. 19. Alexand. item Alensis, & Sotus, & Canus, & recentiores plerique: atque in hujus expositionis confirmationem plura scripturae testimonia afferunt, in quibus idem est, in nomine alicujus, facere, quod authoritate & virtuti ipsius operari inquit, Vasquez. disput. 143. cap. 2. sect. 9. And this way, though he corrupt the sacred inviolable Text, even in its first original, goes the late Patriarch of Constantinople Cyrillus Lucaris in the confes­sion of his faith, set forth in the name of the whole Eastern Church lately, cap. 16. In so much, saith he, that, whosoever is washed in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost ( [...]) is re­generate, purified and justified. See whither dulness and drousiness are in time apt to corrupt the best forms. So dealt Mr. Petly with the Greek Translation of our Liturgy; as shall be said hereafter. Power and Authorization, this indeed [Page 194] has more colour as well from the words and syllables in some reading of the Text, as from the granted and neces­sary sense of the same phrase in many other places even among our heavenly oracles: forIn Scri­pturis illud In Nomine ubique ferè accipitur pro eo quod est ex auctoritate. Bellarmin. lib. 1. de Concil. cap. 12. But then it is to be understood, that that in nomine is rightly given out of the Original, sc. by the preposition and case: But not so here, Ergo. Among Vasquez's Criticismes this distinction had place. Qua phrasi ( [...]) Christus est usus, Matth. 28. cum formam Baptismi tradidit in illis verbis, In nomine, &c. Cùm autem dicitur Marci ult. In Nomine meo daemonia ejicient; hoc est, virtute & authoritate mea non dicitur [...] sed. [...]. disput. 143. in tertiam part. Thom. cap. 2. sect. 16. in the name (if it [Page 195] were so rightly translated) doth both there and abroad beto­ken POWER. Abroad, to do any thing in ones Name, is to do it in his power, by vertue of his authority or name, as an Officer commanded such a thing in his Majesties Name which imprinted a publick power in a privat precept: The Prophets came and acknowledged they came (of them­selves they had no power)See Jer. 14.14, 15. chap. 20.9, 16, 20. chap. 29.9. chap 44.16. Dan. 9.6. Zach. 13.3. Also 2 Sam. 6.18. 1 Chr. 16.2. 1 Sam. 17.45. 2 Chr. 14.11. And 1 Sam. 25.5. 1. King. 21.8 Esth. 3.12. & chap. 8.8. () Data utrinque fide dicat Sacer­dos: Ego tan­quam Dei Mi­nister, vos in Matrimonium conjungo, In no­mine Patris, & filii & Sp. Sancti. Modus administrandi sacramenta, &c. ex Pasto­rali Mechliniens. Colon. 1618. In the NAME of the LORD: and amongst us the Ministers of the invisible GOD, in his form of solemnizing Marriage the Liturgy way (it so fell out, in this form of words, and very sense too) stood forth, and when all ceremonies of agreement had evidenced the contract finished, as 'twere by a voice from heaven (sure by a vicarious power assumed at least from thence) declared; that for as much as N. and N. had consented in holy wedlock and were now joyned, &c. they were Man and Wife, which I pronounce, saith he, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In which form in theAdjuro te, immunde spiritus, in Nomine Patris, Filii & Sp. Sancti, ut exeas & discedas ab hoc famulo Dei. Dr. Brockman, artic. 34. sect. 5. pa. 2015. Danish Church they continue still to exorcise. In promised Scripture, no otherwise: (though observablyHow yet it may be even in this sense here reasonably and needfully used, sc. to au­thorize and solemnize this great work of making a Christian, may be seen by comparison from Nicetas, De ordine qui observatur cum quis à Saracenismo, &c. In Nomine tuo, Domini Deus veritatis, & unigeniti filii tui, & sancti tui spiritus impono ma­num, &c. in Bibliothec. pat. Graec. tom. 2. pa. 284. In the Name, to that purpose, is another phrase in the original, and of different constru­ction) [...]) I instance in 2. Thes. 3.6. We com­mand you brethren in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ, that ye seperate your selves from inordinate livers, that is, by hisIn nomine, id est, per Nomen Jesu Christi, id est, per ipsum Jesum Chri­stum: Nomen enim ponitur metonymicè pro re nomine significata. — Praeci­pit ergo per Christum, id est, Christi nomine, vice, potestate & authoritate, qua fun­gebatur quasi Legatus, Vicarius & Apostolus Christi: Cornel. à Lap. in loc. Qui­dam obtestati­onem esse pu­tant, quasi di­cat, Per Nomen Domini, &c. at multo rectius est ut authoritatis sit allegatio, quomodo haec phrasis (In nomine) frequenter accipitur in Scripturis; ac nominatim 1 Cor. 5.4, 5. ubi in negotio simili verba haec interponit, ostendens, &c. sensus ergo est, Praecipimus vo­bis nomine & authoritate Christi Domini, cujus sumus vicarii, idque potestate ab eo accepta. Haec ferè omnium expositio est. Estius, in commentar. ad loc. Non nos haec dicimus, sed Christus: Hoc enim est in Nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, [...]. Per Christum (inquit) annunci­amus. Chrysost. Hom. 5. in 2 Thes. tom. 6. pa. 393. power, as from him, so the words will bear and [Page 196] seem to require. In Mar. 16.17.Nomen enim potesta­tem & autho­ritatem signifi­cat in scriptu­ra, ut Marci ultimo, In nomine meo daemonia ejicient, & Joan. 5. Ego ve­ni in Nomini Patris, &c. Bellarmin. lib. 1. de Bapt. ca. 3. Saepe in sa­cris literis Nomen significat virtutem seu potentiam ut Marci ult. In nomine meo, &c. & Psal. 53. Deus, in Nomine tuo salvum me fac: sequi­tur enim quasi expositio, & in virtute tua judica me. Estius in Mat. 28.19. And ac­cording hereto in following use, Epiphanius speaks to the Emperours Nephew, who was to be raised from death, Surge puer ( [...]) in nomine Jesu Christi crucifixi: when yet he had conditioned before, that upon his revocation to life his mother should be bap­tized [...], Into the name of him that was crucified. In vita Epi­phanii. sect. 50. tom. 2. pa. 3. 62. These signes shall follow them that believe, In my name shall they cast out de­vils and do many wonderfull works; as if, I will inable them, give them strength and power so to do. Iohn brings word to Christ, chap 9.38. Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and forbad him because he is not of our company: Iesus answers; forbid him not: No one that d [...]es any thing, exercises any power in my name can lightly speak evil of me. Elsewhere, I have come in the name of my Domine Patris Dei veniunt, qui ab illo mittuntur, & commissa sibi Dei nego­tia fide bona agunt. Suo autem nomine veniunt qui affectu pravo excitati sua sponte currunt, & privatis modo commodis serviunt: Gualter. in Homil. 44. in Johan. No­minatim dicit (Matth. 21.9.) Qui venit in nomine Domini: Quòd Messias venturus esset quasi Missus, & qui se non ingereret sed mandatum haberet à patre. Nam venire dicitur in nomine Domini, qui se non ingerit, sed Dei jussu & mandato suscipit reg­num. Marlorat. Exposit. Ecclesiast. in Matth. 21.9. Father and ye receive me not, another shall come in his own name, and him ye will receive, though he come of himself and urge no farther authority. All this is explai­ned and both by Question and Answer, this way, in Act. 4. The Councel, met to examine Peter and Iohn of their Do­ctrine, aske, By what power or what name, qua authoritate, so Beza, ( [...]) they did what they did, preaching the resurrection? Be it known unto you, [Page 197] they answer,Non no­stra virtute, non nostra ju­stitia; benè e­nim nobis conscii sumus nostrae imbe­cilitatis & in justitiae;— Nec potentia aliqua Magica, quippe qui nullis nec car­minibus, nec characteribus, nec exorcis­mis (quibus rebus Magi uti solent) ho­minem excita­vimus, sed sola virtute, poten­tia & Nomine Jesu Christi Nazareni, quem vos cru­cifixistis, &c. Brent. Homil. 17. in Act. A­post. In the name or by the name (for so it must be to answer directly their question) of Iesus Christ of Nazareth doth this man stand here before you whole. But plainest of all is that about that dreadfull act of excom­munication, 1 Cor. 5.4. where 'twas needful indeed to pro­duce POWER to open or shut the gates of another world. In the In Nomine Christi, id est, auctoritate ac vice Christi, qua fungor dum impero & judico: Cornel. à Lap. in loc. NAME of our Lord IESƲS CHRIST (you being met and my spirit assisting) with the Ʋnà cum potestate Domini, hoc est, non ex vestra auctoritate, neque ut priva­ti homines, sed imperio ejus communiti cujus Nomine convenistis. Erasmus, apud Bez. in loc. This expounds the phrase notable clearly. POWER of (the same) our Lord IESƲS CHRIST, to deliver such a one to Sathan for the destruction of the flesh, &c. Could any thing be more awfull? worthy the NAME OF THE LORD, (what else could have given answerable POWER to it, leaving an impression of terrour yet, to make him tremble now, that considering reads what was then done?) I forbear to transcribe other places, Matth 7.22 Mar. 9.38. Luc. 10.17. Acts 9.27, 28. Jam 5.10.14. Acts 16.18, &c in all which, In the Name, is, By the power and authority of him whose is the name: and in the this sense our Text runs thus, I baptize in the name, that is, by the power and authority of Father, Son, and holy Ghost: I do nothing of my self, but my Commis­ssion gives me leave; That Power gave me Commission, I would do as I should, this shews I do as I ought, behold here it is, I hold it forth to act by it, to the honor of whose is the power, Baptizing IN THE NAME of Fa­ther, Son, and Holy Ghost. And in this sense to baptize is as to preach. 2 Cor. 5.20.Hoc ad fidem legationi astruendam non parùm valet, imò penitus neces­sarium est. Quis enim hominis testimonio acquiescat de aeterna sua salute? Ma­jor res est, quàm ut hominis pollicitatione possimus esse contenti, nisi conster à Deo esse ordinatos, Deumque per ipsos loqui. Calvin. in Commentar. ad loc. vid. etiam Chrysost. Homil. 11. in 2 Corinth. tom. 5. pa. 613. in Christs name or steed: We are Ambassadors for Christ, as if God did intreat by us; we beseech in Christs steed, be ye reconciled to God. The like [Page 198] Vicarious power or exercise of authority delegate does this form import in the second Monosyllable sense, I bap­tize IN the Name

But now the dissyllable (whereto I adhere) imports more: Not the name IN which, but the name To which, not the power from whence, but the end Whereto, not the Authority by vertue whereof but the Faith and Religion where-Into this was meant to import and declare admissi­on and institution: sc. toPer Baptismum e­nim adscribi­tur quis primò caetui fidelium. Durand. in Sentent. lib. 4. distinct. 3. quaest. 2. sect. 6. Hence Bap­tisme and Making Disciples goe together Joh. 4.1. As expository one of the other. And, the fruit or consequent of both, Apposition to the Church: Acts 2.41. As many as recei­ved the word were baptized, [...], and there was an addition that day (to former collections) of about 3000 souls. Ubi videmus Baptizari nihil aliud esse quam in ecclesiam intrare. Bellarmin. lib. 1. de Baptism. cap. 8. enter, adopt, convey, translate, carry over a manIpse vos tinguet, pro eo quod est, per ipsum tinguemini, vel in ipsum. Ter­tullian: de Bapt. cap. 11. pa. 260. Cùm locutio haec (Matth 28.19. — [...]) varias habeat ex Hebraismo significationes, eam ex his praeferendam arbi­tror, quae Baptismo maximè propria est. Est autem Baptizari in aliquem vel in ejus Nomen, se ei auctorare atque devovere & de ejus Nomine appellari velle. Paulus (i Cor. 10.2.) [...], respiciens illud Exod. 14.31. Crediderunt in Deum & Mosem servum ejus, id est Mosi tanquam Dei Ministro cum bona fiducia regendos se commisere. Sic Paulus neg [...]t quenquam baptiza­tum in suum Nomen, 1 Cor. 1.13, 15. hoc est, sibi velut novi dogmatis auctori man­cipatum. Maimonides de bello capta, [...] baptizet eam in no­men proselytarum, id est in eam religionem quam profitentur proselytae. H. Gro­tius, annot. ad Matth. 28.19. And Estius saw as much, though fettered with the forms of his own way. Probabilis expositio est In Nomine id est in virtute: Nam saepe in sacris literis Nomen significat virtutem seu potentiam, &c. Verùm quia in Graeco est [...], videri posset hic sensus, Baptizantes eos in nomen patris, id est, Bapti­zando eos incorporantes & asscribentes numero fidelium eorum qui fidem S. S. Tri­nitatis profitentur, vide Jansenium; & nostra in 4. dist. 3. Estius ubi supra. And so Bishop Lake brings about his In the name, though how to fit that sense with those words let himself see. In Nomine Trinitatis, is to baptize unto their service, and to dedicate to them, saith he in the place before: The original has [...]. And therefore the Ministration of Baptisme is accompanied with Abrenunciation, Those that are baptized renounce the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of the world, &c. They devote themselves unto God, to believe the Arti­cles of the creed, and obey the ten Commandements. Quibus scilicet verbis, Patris, & fillii, & spiritus sancti confessionem edocemur. Jo, Damascen. de fide orthod. lib. 4. cap. 10. Jubet ut in universum terrarum orbem effun­dantur (Apo­stoli) compen­diariam quae per Baptisma fieret doctri­nam indigi­tans. Chrysost. tom. 1. in N. Testam. pa. 928. upon this pastoral commission. Est enim Baptismus sacramentum initiationis, quo in ecclesiae visibilis coopta­mur societatem, ut inter filios Dei, ab illis censeamur, &c. Piscator. Aphor. loc. 24. sect. 4. from Calvin: Institut. lib. 4. cap. 15. sect. 1. And so the later Helvetian. Confession, chap. 20. A parte nostra sacramentum est spiritualis militiae, quo perpetuum illi (Christo) pollicemur obsequium. Calvin. in 1 Cor. 1.13. Damus enim ei Nomen in cujus No­men baptizamur. ib. To be baptized in the name of Christ is to be inrolled, entred, and received into the Covenant and family, and so into the inheritance of the Sons of God. Confess. Helvet. poster. cap. eod. we are billed Souldiers for the holy warfare, that all our lives long we should fight, &c. ib. see Rom. 7.23, 24. Ephes. 6.10, 1i, &c. We are received by Baptisme into the number of those Souldiers, who by the good guiding of Christ do through all their life exercise a warfare against the world, Sa­than and the flesh. Declarat. of the former Helvetian confession, and to that sense Pet. Ram. de religione Christian. lib. 4. cap. 3. [...]. Cyrill. Hieros. Cateches. 3. pa. 16. to those were to be baptized. INTO the faith, belief, [Page 199] confession, profession of the holy Trinity, and all revela­tions and declarations of the will of heaven proceeding thencefrom; as a student is entred into such a society, a stranger into such a Colledg, a man into such a fraternity and corporation; or as a Soldier is listed, inrolled, entred into such a troop, or a Towns-MAN before, matriculated to a new University: And even as it is after explained and declared in the manifesto or publick profession following by the order of the Liturgy, where the Minister of Bap­tism declared the event consequent, saying, We receive this Child (as he was baptized, or should have been) IN­TO the Congregation of Christ's flock. [...] hic notat sinem, the preposition here declareth the scope of the work, observed byIn his Lexicon, in the word, [...] pa. 511. G. Pasor, a good grammarian. And to be baptized into any ones name is to be devoted to his ser­vice, that a man may be named from him as his Lord, and addict himself wholly unto him, as we may learn from the words of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 1.12. andIn the word [...]. pa. 266. before, in no­men, that is, in cultum, baptizing unto the service of the Fa­ther, [Page 200] Son, and holy Ghost; very well agreeing with theGloss. ordinaria Nov. in Mat. 28.19. gloss upon that Text, and the learned ScottishIta ut haec praeposi­tio in istis lo­quendi formu­lis (1 Cor. 10.2. Act. 19.3. 1 Cor. 1.13. Ro. 6.3. 1 Cor. 12.13.) cau­sam finalem significet, Symphon. prophetarum & Apost. par. 2. Epoch. loc. 30. p. 378. And see in his Cur­sus Theolog. col. 1370. de forma Baptis­mi. Dr. Scharpe upon other occasion. If we regard modern in­terpretations, more may be called in for the same, who discoursing at liberty at last drave things hither. Beza: [...], id est, invocato Patre, Filio, & Sp. Sancto: vel, In Nomen; nam Baptismo consecramur Deo, quoniam ibi nostra adoptio Christo per spiritum sanctum sancitur, either by invocation, or Devotion To God, in annot. major. in Matth. 28.19. and in manyIn carnem suam, Gal. 6.8. Ego puto [...] re­spondere [...] Hebraeorum, tertio casui praeposito, & finem seu sco­pum declara­re. To that sense upon chap. 3. ver. 23. & Eph. 2. ver. 21, 22. Baptizari in ejus nomen dicimur, cui nos per Baptismum dicamus ac consecramus. id. ad Act. 19.3. other places. The late Commentators on the Bible, 1645. In the Name, Gr. Into the name; by that rite initiating into the service of one God in three persons, and of depending for salvation upon Christ alone. Mr. Barnard of Sommerset shire a little before, Baptized into the Name, Matth. 28.19. that is, To be dedicated or consecrated unto it, in his Thesaurus Biblicus, printed 1644. Baptizari in ejus nomen (utpote Patris, Fi­lii & Sp. Sancti, Matth. 28.19.) dicimur, cui nos per bap­tismum dicamus & consecramus. We are baptized into his name, to whom we devote our selves; so Marlorate, in En­chirid. loc. com. pa. 60. Docete, &c. baptizantes in nomen patris, &c. Sic vertendum, non in Nomine. The truer ver­sion is INTO the Name; so Piscator, in comment. ad Matt. 28.19. for which compare 1 Cor. 1.13. And a little after, Baptizari in nomen alicujus est illi consecrari in cultum, To be baptized into any ones name is to be devoted to his service: And hither was even Josephus Lib. 4. de ritibus Baptismi. cap. 5. de Baptismi forma. Viceco­mes driven at last after he had ranged far after the old La­tine (his Canon, and that by the Trent Canons) and came home to dive into the sure Originals. Doctor Hammond gives liberty, in the additionals to his practical Catechisme; But lay aside prejudice, and remove prepossession, come home to the bottom of that Text he alleadges, the gran­ted preposition, the nature of the business, and scope or [Page 201] purpose, A coincidence of so many inductives will soon perswade which way a free judgement is to take, and where to settle; nor can a tractable mind but by help of that light is allowed, see it self led from truth to truth, from presumption of one truth, to assurance of another, by degrees to the place where we would be. This is full, clear and home, the other seems jejune and empty: This declares wherefore the thing is done, which is most consi­derable in every action, speaks the end, and thereby makes the Rite it self, a Sacrament of IN-ITIATION (which all presume and use it for) I Baptize, saith the Mi­nister, that is, by authority from above: So: but may it not be pertinently replyed, Whereunto? This satisfies: Into the name, faith, belief of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Nor is this very preposition and phrase, (of like final import still) less abused, in another place of this very Gos­pel, chap. 18.20. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. In my name, that is, by authority and power from me, or, with invoca­tion of my name, say hundreds and thousands, (from the same bottom of the old Latine trusted to) making use of the very words and syllables for direction of prayers, regulating of assemblies, calling, ordering, ru­ling, overruling, Synods, Councels, all Christian Congre­gations; as if here were nothing plainer then a Commis­sion or authorization, and that could not but end well that had so happie beginning, as in Christs name: But here is no such thing, no Commission, no invocation, but [...], For my name, or honor, or glory. Upon which occasion strange it were if Christ should not assist, or but be ready to back his Ministers, and further the work of his own service. So he promises he will, and where his people meet, not refuse to give them a meeting, If but two or three are gathered for ME, there am I in the midst present. So not here neither any delegation, depu­tation, surrogation or substitution, but as far as purpose from power, and beginning from end, where many or few [Page 202] are for my name ('s sake) there will I not fail to give a meeting: but this by the way.

To return. Plain I think it is now what we mean: as plain that the thing is the same here meant: the word, sense, work, nature of the action lead all, not to invoca­tion, or commission, but (which have been the three inter­pretations) Admission or Initiotiation. In which sense, to look abroad, and this alone, this form would afford a necessary discriminating difference between this Baptisme and that, or those of otherAdde, quum do­ctrinae prior datur locus, inter hoc my­sterium & adulterinos gentium ri­tus, Quibus se in SUA sacra initiant, verum statui discrimen. Calvin. Harmon. evangel. pa. 683. Non enim is est qui donat legitimum Baptisma, qui simpliciter ait, Domine, sed qui nomen exprimit & rectam fidem habet. Ideoque salvator non quovismodo bapti­zandum praecepit sed primùm dixit Docete: ac deinde Baptizate [...] in No­men Patris, Filii & Sp. Sancti, ut ex doctrina recta fides oriretur, & cum fide per­fectio Baptismatis adderetur. For others wash also as well as we, &c. as hereafter Athanasius contra Arrian. Orat. 3. tom. 1. pa. 414. Religions. Many have u­sed this rite, it behoved they should have difference, where could that difference better arise then in the form of ad­ministration? This form, and this alone holds out that difference, and in the present work in hand, perspicuously, clearly, needfully, fully. I Baptize, says theCircumciduntur enim Saraceni & se in aquis currentibus abluunt in parti­bus sc. corporis inferioribus, ut sic quasi quodam Baptismi Lavacro purificentur. Matth. parisiens. in Histor. Angl. pa. 412. in Henr. 3. For farther similitude it may be noted, that, as Christ our Messias by Jo. Baptist a Priest of the Law preceding, so Maho­met was baptized by Sergius a Christian Monk, in Polydor. Virgil. de rerum invento­ribus: lib. 7. cap. 8. Purchas. Pilgrim. lib. 3. cap. 3. Johan. Boem. lib. 2. cap. 11. & G. Sands's travels, lib. 1. pa. Though I take it to be no better then a currant mistake, as well in tradition, as the later of those Authors, in Nicholas de Nicholai (in his Oriental peregrenations) lib. 4. cap. 16. and many others, that Mahomet in favour of Christ and his Doctrine appointed, no Jew to be taken into his sect unless first baptized, that is, Chri­stianed, nor into his Moschite but by the only way previous and preparatory, Our Catholick Church: (Even as heretofore none went into the Temple of Honor but by the Temple of vertue in Pagan Rome, or into the Sanctuary of Holy Jerusalem but by Solomons Porch, those lea­ding into these.) To have them baptized indeed he requires; I grant: But this no more to Chri­stianing, then washing the hands is necessary to prepare for supper, or the known threefold vow, to make a Dominican or a Franciscan, which may as well speak to a Carthusian or a Benedictine, they all by this dore of threefold hard obligation entring into their several Cloi­sters or Orders. Baptism indeed is Epicence and introductory to many, the manner or form alone can spe­cifie and bring home to any particulars, to Other or Ʋs: Which way I believe Mahomed nor any of his followers ever required or liked in any coming over towards them: the rite it self might presume as well for introducto­ry to Persee or Bannian as Hebrew, Mahumetane or Christian. Though it be yet true enough, that the infidel desires even Christian Baptism for worldly ends, sc. propter cor­poralem medicinam, as to obtain some bodily cure, whereof see the collections of Pet. Greg. Tholosan. Syntagm. juris. lib. 2. cap. 4. sect. 14. Mahu­metane, [Page 203] (to begin at the hither end of time) and so does theWe have it from the ex­cellent observa­tions of Mr. Herbert, in the published ac­count of his late Travels, lib. 1. pa. 44, 45. Bannian, and so does theIn the same Author, pa 52, 53. The manner is. As soon as the child is born, the Da­roo (or Priest) is sent for. He hastens, and ha­ving calculated the Nativity, in­vents the name which the mo­ther is after to impose. This d [...]ne, they hasten to the Eggaree or Temple, where the Priest puts a little pure water into the barque of a holy tree (Holme they call it) thence poures it upon the infant, and prays (therewith) it may be cleansed from all impurity. At 7 years age it is confirmed by the Daroo, &c. Persee, and I believe so did John Baptist, as well as the Christian: But, where­unto? may it be well questioned, and that would essenti­ate the difference. I Baptize in the name of Machomet, would the former say? though this I do; No: but to dif­ference mine from the Christian, and all other sects, into the faith of Machomet. And I Baptize, says the Persians Daroo: what, in the name of Perhaps a corruption of the old name Zoroaster, a great Master, and known so to have been of Religion in those parts. Of him mention has been made enough in books formerly extant, as Ammian. Marcellinus, lib. 23. Psellus, Patricius, Delrio, &c. Zertoost, our Lawgiver? I believe in him indeed, but I baptize into the Zundevastaw, his Law given. And, I Baptize too, says the other Bra­min (or Priest) to his beloved Bannian: But into the Sha­ster, our Law or Religion, which hath more Emphasis of specification of the work, then In the name of our most holy and reverend Bremaw that taught us our Religion: (As the Son of Aaron might perhaps say, I Baptize into the Law of Moses, whereto is reference, 1 Cor. 10.2. or [...] into the Most HOLY NAME. But now, I Baptize too (at last to come home to our selves) I do the same act, says the Minister of Jesus Christ: What, in the name of my Prophet, or God? That I do, I could not do other­wise, but more; Into his name: sc. into his holy doctrine, faith, religion, profession: Hear me, heed me, I devote to HIM, Baptizing, as he taught, to lead into the name of [Page 204] Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Which none of them will do, nor will I as they: which they abominate, I can as ill like of theirs: into which faith they would not be entred, nor I into what they believe: and as they would not have this NAME calledOr ƲP­ON HIM, I al­lude to the ex­actness of the Jerusalem A­postles speech, in Ja. 2.7. by which it should seem there was a kind of Invocation or calling of the name of Christ over or (down) upon the baptized, or dismissed: Though if so, this Text of Matth. 28. hath nothing to do with it, whose words and meaning are much different. Do they not blaspheme, says St. James, or traduce, or maligne, or revile that glorious or excellent NAME that is called upon over you? ('Tis not said in Baptisme, and may have been at dismission or other solemn occasions.) Quod in-vocatum est super vos, so Calvin and Beza, and the old Latine, which goes far, agreeable to the Greek and the Syriack; and in English, which is invocated upon you, so the Rhemists, affecting exactness, where it may be had: the very word that is used in the advise to Saul, Act. 22.16. Arise and be baptized, [...], having called upon the name of the Lord. A hard phrase, mistranslations make it easie: full of darkness, mistakes clear it up to shew of light. There seems more in it and of a different nature from that appellation of Acts 11.26. Christians from Christ, or is understood in Gen- 48.16. of Israelites from Israel, or in Esa. 4.1. as H. Grotius has it upon the place, sicut filii de parentum, faeminae de marito­rum dicuntur nominibus, as children are named after their parents, women after their husbands. Compare with the Originals of Deut. 28.10. 2 Sam. 6.2. 1 King. 17.20, 21 Esa. 63. last. Jer. 7.10, 11, 12, 14, 30. chap. 14.9. chap. 15.16. chap. 25.29. Dan. 9.18, 19. Amos 9 12. and mark well the Seventies translations of those places. In the new Testament light may be had from Act. 2.21. chap. 9.14, 21. chap. 15.17. Rom. 10.13. In them all seems an invocation, advocation, or calling the most holy or sacred name of GOD, JEHOVAH, or CHRIST upon or over the party, place, people, &c. What that In­vocation. over their baptized (to use a dark and doubtfull phrase) so nor would I theirs, nor that which they do. Agreed on therefore it isThe Church is discerned from other Gentiles by certain Rites and Ceremonies insti­tuted of God, usually called Sacraments, &c. Confession of Saxony, artic. 12. Baptism is a badge, for it serveth for our confession, for by this we do plainly confess in the Church that we, together with our children and all our Family do profess the Christian Religion. Artic. 21. of the former Helvetian Confession. As, Sacraments (in general, art. 25.) so, Baptism (in particular, artic. 27. of the Church of England) is not only a signe of profession, or mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from other that be not Christianed, But it is also, &c. as there it follows. And therefore making Disciples and baptizing them, are conjoyned so fitly in Scripture, One is indicative of the other: John 4.1. The Pharisees heard that Christ made Disciples and baptized them for his, more then John. between us, that as Baptism or Sacramental ablution (so used and so e­steemed [Page 205] by us all) is to us ALL thePrimum omnium Sa­cramentorum locum tenet Baptismus, quod vitae spi­ritualis janua est: per ipsum enim membra Christi ac de corpore effici­mur ecclesiae, &c. Concil. Florentin. a­pud Barth. Caranz. fol. 457. Quod coeleste regnum initiatis aperit, said Isidor: of Pelusium in Epist. 37. lib. 2. and at home, Ingredientibus hoc mare magnum naufragiis plenum prima tabula nos ad portum salutis adducens Baptismus esse dignoscitur, quem omnium Sacramen­torum esse januam Salvator instituit, & eum sequentium sanctorum patrum testatur auctoritas. Constitution: Octoboni. tit. de Baptismo. Sacramentorum quaedam deser­viunt ad ingressum in Ecclesiam, quaedam ad progressum in Ecclesia, quaedam ad egressum ab Ecclesia: Baptism is of the first. Lancelot. Instit. juris Canon. lib. 2. tit. 2. whence Aquinas, Utrum effectus Baptismi sit apertio januae regni coelestis? and affirmed by him in part. 3. quaest. 67. art. 7. And from hence the places of Baptism have been ac­customed to be near the Church dore, in mystical signification of what was there and thereby intended to be done. The Abassines (or Ethiopians) baptize to Christ there yet, sc. in the Church-porch says Mr. Paget in his Christianography, par. 1. pa. 165. and so do the Nor­thern Russians, pa. 132. and the antient Western Christians were so wont, as appears by many things alleadged by Stephanus Durantes, out of their books, lib. de ritibus Ecclesiae, cap. 19. sect. 4. agreeable to what Josephus Vicecomes had collected, non in ecclesia sed propè ipsam in porticu. de ritibus Baptismi. 1 cap. 6. Durant has more, what signifi­cantly Dionysius (de ecclesiast. Hierarch.) ascribed hereto, sc. to be [...], as 'twere the womb of our heavenly adoption. sect. 10. & — Regenerationis Sa­crarium, which is St. Ambrose his Epithete, in lib. de initiandis, cap. 2. Deinde quum Baptismus velut ingressus sit in Ecclesiam ac Symbolum nostrae in Christum initiationis, &c. acknowledged by Calvin in Tit. 3.5. tom. 5. And lastly, hence before Baptisme there can be regularly no ordination, as of one without the Church, in gloss. Bap­tizari. ad Decret. 1. Distinct. 77. cap. 3. or if there have been, all must be, as upon such mis­take, begun anew. Caus. 1. Quaest. 1. cap. si presbyter. dore or entrance into our several sorts, sects, kinds, Churches or Congre­gations, a holy mark of several regiments of believers, and their Symbolum or declaratory signe of initiationEjus amplectimur fidem in cujus nomen baptizamur. Calvin. Institut. lib. 1. cap. 13. sect. 16. In unius Christi doctrinam initiamur per Baptismum. Id. in 1 Cor. 10.2. Whosoever is now baptized must also of necessity enter into the profession of Christianity. Willet on Genes. 17. quaest. 10. into several ways, so the form or manner of administration al­ter, vary, and be so ordered that it express and hold forth that difference; You washing in water one way, we ano­ther; You admitting your several religious Congregati­ons in your form, we Christ'sAccensemur sancto rationalique Christi gregi, &c. Cyril. Cateches. 1. flock, no otherwise then he hath ordered; You baptizing into this or that, Macho­met, Zertoost, Bremaw, &c. we (by the same act) into that God, Name, faith none of you will allow, HIM that is One and Three, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This makes the rite speak out it self clear, specifying the action notably [Page 206] by declaring the end: This makes a rite ofBy Bap­tism doth God separate us from all other Religions of people, and doth consecrate us a peculiar people unto himself. Confess. Helv. poster. cap. 20. We are received into the Church of God, and se­parated from all other Nations, and all kind of strange religi­ons, being conse­crated unto him alone, whose badge and cog­nizance we wear. Confess. Belgic. Separati­on or Admission as was intended, to enter and let into one new from all other perswasions: and in one word, this distinctly, clearly, briefly, but fully makes sense of what is done. How better, or what could do it more, then a mark in the bowels? a close conveyed note into the heart, or form of administration? I confess the barren and scant way of delivery of these things informs us not fully of any of these forms from the Authors: as neither of the con­trary or different; the intelligence was as bad as written in sho [...]t-hand through all the ranges of my Enquiry, and so not reaching full home to instruct in all particulars. So that I am fain to conjecture rather then pronounce, and ar­gue rather then declare, and give in or from history, Me­thinks it should be thus: from reason, from the nature of the work, from the end of its designe, what was fit to have been done and said; All which seem to call for a declaration of doing rather then of power, sith the in­tent was here, as all say again, that thing which we call from the wordA non­nullis ideò signum initia­le populi D [...]i Baptismus ap­pellatur. Ra­mus de relig. Christiana lib. 4. cap. 5. Perpulchrum vero nobis videtur ut ad incontaminatum venientes Baptis­ma non temerè suscipiantur sed cum quadam observatione & instructione quae, ini­tiationis tempore fieri solet. Novel. 144. cap. 2. [...], we are made over to God. Nichol. Cabasil. Liturg. exposit in Biblioth. pat. Gr. tom. 2. pa. 211. IN-ITIATION: Of in-ire, to enter, actively taken; which one word gives us both the begin­ning of its derivation, and end of its work, much in the sense that a radical simple verbe varied to the conjugation Hiphil in the Hebrew, increases its signification to, To cause; so here, to cause IN-ITION.

But to look beyond our own time, these were of yester­dayHere take in (as between both) what a great Traveller hath left written ('tis not impertinent) of the River of Ganges: It belongs to what before as being of our times, it relates aptly to what follows, as shewing a Pagan-Eastern-belief and use of this rite, it both illustrates and confirms what was said in the former Treatise of the Power believed, even naturally inherent in water for Mental purification, and it may be some wonder to hear of born again at the banks of Ganges, to find a Purification from sin, and by water, believed there, in order to Aeternall life! The words shewing that belief, expectation, use, and faith are these. But returning to Bengala and the river of Ganges, you must understand that this Ri­ver is holden and accounted of all the Indians to be a holy and blessed Water, and they doe certainly believe that such as wash and bathe themselves therein, be they never so great sinners, all their Sins are clean forgiven them, and that from thenceforth they are so clear and pure from sin, as if they were new born again, and also that he that washeth not himself therein cannot be Saved: For the which cause there is a most great and incredible resort unto the same from all parts of India and the East-Countries in great Troops, where they use divers strange Ceremonies and superstitions, most horrible to hear; for they doe most stedfastly believe that they shall thereby merit Eternall Life. Huighen van Linschoten, in his Eastern Voyages, lib. 1. cap. 16. pag. 27. The River is thus reputed venerable by Bremaw (their great Prophet's) frequent resort thi­ther: Washing in it often, they suppose themselves purified from sin; Mr Herbert's Tra­vels, pag 45. But it is not of yesterday, or our days alone, that [Page 207] Baptism hath been known out of Christendome: Rome and Greece have heard of its fame (perhaps from Jerusa­lem, the famous treasury of Truth: whence [...] is often repeated byAs obser­ved, and to this purpose, by Dr Hammond in his Power of the Keys, c. 6. sect. 6. p. 133. Clemens of Alexandria, most Foraigners stole thence their Jewels) Its name and use was great long agoe, and so long agoe, and so far, and in that state, before they were by a true faith sanctified; All this handed over to us by credit of most credible in­telligence. Jewry had their Baptismes, by the Epistle to the Hebrews, and so had Egipt, and so had Italy, and so had Greece, Persia, and what Religion or Nation not? which we have light of, as well from the Christian Fathers, as others; Them it may be proper enough my search lay together, relying for the other upon references and cita­tions.

And first, I haveIn a Manu­script I had by me of a nameles Author, but wel learned. read that St Augustine should say, That (as the Turks and other Mahumetans use Circumci­sion for initiating men into their superstitions at this day, so) Anciently (said the Book) did the Pagans make use of Water for introducing men to them, and for this re­ferred to the 25 Chapter of St Augustines third Book against Cresconius. No such thing doe I finde there, but [Page 210] in the second Book against Cresconius, chap. 25. doe I find that which had this occasion. In hisLib. 1. contra literas Petiliani, c. 9. tom. 7. p. 90. Books a­gainst Petilian he had mentioned some that were baptized in Temples of Idols, as it were, à mortuis, by those that were Dead: This Cresconius took offence at, among other things, or perverted. HeIn the same Volume, p. 175. contra Cresc: Gram­maticum. vindicates himself that his meaning was not, à mortuis; that is, by Dead men, but by their Gods in state of Death, as neither in Heaven nor Earth, forasmuch as that Temple-Idoll, Baptisme, had its force, not from the Priests, which were but Ministers thereof, but from the Gods in whose name it was given: as, upon the credit ofIn his annotations, up­on the Evange­lists, p. 515. on Mat. 28.19. H. Gro­tius, in his Books against the Donatists, In multis Ido­lorum sacrilegiis sacris baptizari homines perhibentur, In many of their no less sacrilegious then Idolatrous sa­crifices men are said to pass through Baptism. But look abroad, and we shall have more, and more certainty, as well of before as after; begin at Highest. The MartyrPorrò, lavationem hanc cum au­dissent doemo­nes per Pro­phetam pro­mulgatam, ut & ingressuri in delubra eo­rum & acces­suri ad illos, atque libatio­nibus & adipis nidoribus offe­rendis operaturi seipsos aquae aspersione lustrarent, effecerunt, Apologet. 2. pag. 92. A part of that foundation whereupon Jos: Vicecomes raised this conjecture: Meum judicium semper fuit multa in Religionem nostram derivasse, quae ipsi Idolorum cultores antea observabant. Cum enim vaferrimus humani generis hostis audisset Dei immortalis interpretes atque internuncios coelestia nobis arcana aperuisse, at (que) ad Ecclesia ritus & caeremonias salutaribus disciplinis & futurorum predicatione informasse, prae insito fallendi studio, suis cultoribus ut eadem praestarent facili momento persuafit; De antiq. ritibus Bapt. lib. 1. cap. 17. Justine having spoken of a kinde of Christian Bap­tism, In the Name of the Parent of all things, and of Jesus Christ who suffered under Pontius Pilate, and the Holy Ghost who spake by the Prophets, (but with Invo­cation I confess and supernomination of thoseA strange use he confesseth of one of which, in the beginning of his first Apologie, p. 45. Per NOMEN Jesu Christi sub Pontio Pilato crucifixi adjurantes sanarunt, &c. I wonder when I use to meet with such passages, and yet they are not to be denyed to be in the Ancients; Many: All the operations of my soul can drive it, no farther then, such Wonder! Names, no more) This washing when the Devill heard proclaimed by the Prophet (understand Esa. 1.16. Lavamini, mundi estote, &c. alledged before) they then brought it to pass (saith he) that as many as entred their sacred mysteries, and came over to them, or were to offer In­cense, [Page 211] &c. should purifie themselves by sprinkling of Water. To which initiation of the Church he is likewise thought to allude in his mention of the other ceremonies about two leaves after: and in those Initia Histrio­natu pari ne­scio quis Mi­thra propha­navit Evange­licae fidei no­strae sacra. Non aliter enim Christi­ani suo Chri­sto nomen da­bant, quam suo Mithrae Milites initia­bantur, hoc est se dedicabant seu consecra­bantur, &c. Pamell. in ad­notat. ad Ter­tullian, de Prae­script. cap. 40. num. 242. Mithrae, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, pa. 296. (from the Prophet Esay his Aqua—fidelis, cap. 33.) And yet again, in pag. 304. Tertullian is next and very pl [...]in: The Tingit & ipse (Diabo­lus) quosdam uti (que) creden­tes, et fideles suos expositi­onem (or de­positionem) delictorum de lavacro repromittit. Et, si adhuc memini (or, as some read, & sic adhuc initia [...]) Mithra signat Illic in frontibus milites suos. De praescri­ption. haeret. cap. 40. Devill dips also his believers and proselytes, pro­mising them thus remission of sin: and, If I well remember, Mithrae cultus Sacramenta Christianae religionis imitabatur, tingendo, sig­nando in frontibus, panis oblationem celebrando, resurrectionis imaginem indu­cendo, denique coronando suos sub gladio. Atque sic initiati Mithrae milites di­cebantur, B. Rhenanus, in annot. ad lib. 1. Tertul. advers. Marcion. Mithra signes Disciples in their fore­heads. And treating purposely of Baptism (our Baptism) afterward;Nam & sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur (nationes extraneae) Isidis alicujus aut Mithrae, Lib. de Baptismo, cap. 5. pag. 257. Certè ludis Apollinaribus & Eleusiniis (or Pelusiis) tinguntur; idque se in regenerationem & impunitatem per­juriorum suorum agere praesumunt. —Quo agnito hic quo (que) studium Diaboli cog­noscimus, res DEI aemulantis cum & ipse Baptismum in suis exercet, id. in sequent. For by some sacred lustra­tions, as of Isis or Mithra are Foraigners admitted or initiated: And soon after, In Apollo's games, and some other, men dip, and they presume it to be for Regeneration and remission of sins. Strange Do­ctrine! to be found out of Christendome! And yet soon after; Whereby, we learn the Devils sedulity, who imitates the works of God, and leaves not Bap­tism unpractised: Which way also many other passages are considerable in his first Book against Marcion, especially Chap. 23. The Devill, sayes one, is Gods ape, and he apishly imitateth the things of God; his works, wonders, orders, institutions; and [Page 212] transfers them to the service of Idols, that so he may seem to be the friend and familiar of God, or rather indeed to be God, to whom such service is due and ap­pertaineth, to take in by the way that not imperti­nent observation of a greatBp. Mon­tague, in his Acts and Monu­ments, chap. 3. s [...]c. 59. pa. 203. Scholar, and he gives hereof there instances enough, in Sacrifices, Oblations, Tithes, First fruits, Sanctifications, Ex­communications, Expiations, Lustrations, &c. To which many more may be added out of Walafri­dus Strabo, in his book de rebus Ecclesiasticis, the se­cond Chapter.

Proceed in our way to grave and profound A­thanasius, who discoursing against the Arrians of our Baptisme, that both shews our faith, and ini­tiates there-INTO (for that is his words import, so to Enter) ranging abroad, he comes to tell, that Certè aliae etiam haereses, eaeque numero non exiguae, n [...]mine tenus ritum istum pronunciant, sed non recté sentientes, ut dictum est, neque sanam fidem retinen­tes, inutilem possident a­quam, quam impertiunt; nimirum numine & re­ligione desti­tutam: adeo ut qui ab illis adspergantur, sordescant po­tius prava religione, quam redimantur. Oration: 3 contra Arrianos. tom. 1. pa. 413. other sects, and those not few, make use of the same rite in Name, but with their Ut superstitio omnia Dei opera praeposterè aemulatur, stulti homines varia Sacramenta fabricant pro suo arbitrio: sed quia non subest verbum, tanquam ani­ma, inanes sunt ac lusoriae umbrae. Calvin. Harmon. Evangel. pa. 683. erroneous opinions they have no more but simple water, and that in stead of washing, defiles them. Saint Ambrose next, [...]here are many kindes of Baptismes indeed Lib. 2. de Sacramentis. cap. 1. tom. 4. p. 169. saith he, and yet the Apostle avers there is but one Bap­tisme: Therefore the Heathon have Baptismes which are upon the matter no Baptismes. Lavacra sunt, baptismata esse non possunt. Caro lavatur, non culpa diluitur, imò in illo lavacro contrahitur. The Body is washed, the offence not washed off, but ra­ther [Page 213] contracted and drawn on. His good son St. Au­gustine we had before, whose coaevall St. Jerome leaves us not altogether without witness. In hisMulta (que) sunt lavacra quae ethnici in suis mysteriis & haeretici p [...]llicentur, led non lavant in salutem. Propterea ad­ditum est: & in aqua non es lotus in sa­lutem. Com­mentar. lib. 4. in Ezechiel. 16. tom. 4. pa. 369. C. Commentaries on Ezekiel, speaking of our Baptismall water, from that There Jerusalem was not washed. There are many washings, saith he, like ours typified there, which Heathen and Hereticks make much promise of, but they wash not unto clean­ness, as that does. Of the meaning whereof I the less fear mistaking, because theLombard: sentent: lib. 4. distinct. 4. Master of the Sentences hath since made use of it to prove, that a man may receive Sacramentum, and yet not rem Sacramenti; the Element, but not the Sacrament, which he there avouches St. Ierome to have allowed Pagans, without any grace of sanctification; which must be granted they had not. And yet not so, say I. True: they had no sanctification, but they had no Sacrament, for they had onely water and their forms, which can never make a Sacra­ment; and so no argument that a true Sacrament may go without the grace of the Sacrament. Epi­phanius may be taken in for hisIn haeres. 34. Marcosior. cap. 20. pag. vid. etiam Ire­naeum adver­sus haereses, lib. 1. cap. 18. Marcosians; for they were scarce Christians: yet they used som­what neer of kin to ours; for vvater and washing, for initiation, this is certain they had, and so made believers theirs, by redeeming them from the world. Lastly, and the great Critick Tho. Dem­ster touches at a [...], or previous lustration a­mong the mysteries of Bacchus, in his inlargement of Rosinus's Antiquities, lib. 2. cap. 11.

As to those that alledge others, & without the pale of Christian, the learnedIn his Annotations on Mat. 28.19. pag. 515. Supra ostendi­mus apud Ju­daeos moris fu­isse, ut bapti­zarentur qui se à falsorum Deorum cultu ad cultum unius DEI convertel an [...]. Sed apud gen­tes etiam pro­fanas usurpa­rum antiqui­tus fuit, ut qui initiari vellent, prius toto corpore abluerentur, haud dubiè eo ipso testan [...]es propositum innocentiae. Nam ejus pro­positi sponsio­nem ab iis my­stagogi exige­bant, ut Liba­nius docet & Lampridius. Grotius produces ma­ny, Libanius, Lampridius, Homer, &c. Besides Cle­mens of Alexandria: our most learned Mr. Selden, sundry other, Hesychius, Apuleius, Nonnus, &c. Be­sides our Tertullian (the words are worthy reading in either) and they that are throughly acquainted vvith Athens, and Rome Pagane, the Washing, Lustra­tions, Februations, &c. of them and other Gentiles abroad; or have leisure, opportunity, means, books, to search, may I beleeve yet add many more; as out of Alexander ab Alexandro, Carolus Sigonius, Cae­lius Rodiginus, &c. chiefly from Gyraldus his Syn­tagma de Diis gentium, about the 17 chapter.

But these may be enough to make good what I undertook, that as vvell in ours, as elder times, baptizing hath been known and used vvithout and beyond Christendom, may do now, and many Re­ligions have heretofore thus entred into their seve­rall vvays, some of vvhich vvere possibly on foot in our Saviours time, from all which it behoved his Baptisme should differ, and in this vvay it is ex­pressed to differ, and difference from them all and singular. Some glance or offer whitherward the other in interpretation may chance hold forth, for none of them vvill or vvould invoke our Trinity, or act from it, but they come not home to fasten the difference full and clear vvhere it ought, in the nature of the thing, vvhich is to be a sacrament of innovation or admission to vvhom or vvhatsoever, nor in the vvay of administration to express a pur­posed and present entry INTO this or that, which is the thing in hand. As if it were said, what ever o­thers [Page 215] do or mean, this admits & enters into Christs Church: Into what Colledg or Society soever sacra sacrilega vvould them lead; this brings unto the Congregation of Beleevers, the Church of the first-born, a fellowship with all Christian souls: of what profession soever of truth they stand at the door to let in, this gives admission TO the Name (faith, religion, profession) of that which none of them will allow, or not defy, Father, Son, and ho­ly Ghost. Strange words! vvhich they would ab­horre, as we defie the Divell and all his works: In the nature of a charm, vvhich they might not come neer, or as abominable as an Idoll; but we reverence and cast our souls upon vvhat we derive from them; to Us there is bound up in them all our comfort and hopes for this and the next life, and vve are solemnly entring into the Porch of those rich possessions, by them, vvill bring us further to eternall life.

Some one may perhaps say, These are things di­stant from us both in time and place, & yet farther from vvhere we would be in the heart of religion, shew us if you can, them or the like from the Scri­pture; that book of God vve vvill beleeve, the rest of the vvorld is large and vvide, contract thither and we vvill hearken to you.

Good: Who hath appealed unto Caesar, unto Caesar let him go. Let this holy Scripture, vvhich Christ hath bid us Search, be the Umpire and Rule, the sole and supreme Judge and Oracle from whose last and definitive sentence in this case shall lye no appeal.

There is first our presentNemo certè insiciari poterit bapti­zari debere jux [...]a Christi institutum in Nomen Patris, Filii, &c. Cas­s [...]nder in ap­pend. de Spir. Sancto invo­cando, pa. 298. Nec enim dis­putamus quo­modo haec verba intelligi possunt; sed quomodo de­beant. Debent autem eo in­telligi sensu quo à Christo dicta sunt, non quem sibi ani­mo quisque finxerit. Maldonat. in loc. And so far resolute, well: Though he warp to In Nomine, which Chr: nor meant, nor said. Text to be heeded, vvhich for the thing in question (let be heeded al­so) speaks full, home, clear and indubitable: And this one worth many, if there vvere many other texts or reasons, to contradict; because it is the first originall scaled Patent and Commission in this case for the Officers of the most High to do as they may ever after justifie. Other examples in practice, or other places in transcription, or con­jectures by derivation, might perhaps give shew of other things, But against them all this one would hold up the Buckler, and make good the ground (how many soever) for baptize INTO.

I am not ignorant, I should have noted, but have in part intimated before, how commonly Transla­tors have both used and rendred this Text other­wise, even those of fairest note and greatest reve­rence, the whole body of theAmbr. lib. 1. de fide, cap. 1, 2. lib. 1. de Sp. Sancto, cap. 14. & lib. 2 cap. 10. lib. de institut. Virginis, c. 10. &c. I was going on to have mustered the rest, but the places are so obvious and numberlesse, that as he that runs may read, so he that begins can hardly tell where to finde an end. I confesse enough, the whole stream to run this way. Latine Fathers at least, besides others, as Cyprian, Ierom, Am­brose, Augustine, Leo, Fulgentius, Hilary, Lombard, Aquinas, Calvin, Bellarmine: and who not? But a­gainst them all our affirmative of that question in the Schools, An soli Ut enim veterum librorum fides de Hebraeis voluminibus examinanda est, ita novorum, Graeci sermonis normam desiderat, Hieron. Epist. 28. ad Lucinium, taken after into the Decree. Distinct. 9. c. 6. Et est hic argumentum quod quan­tumcumque authenticum sit aliquod instrumentum, si tamen de ipsa aliquid in du­bium revocetur, semper exhibendum sit illud à quo originem ducit, ut distinct. 76. cap. Jejunium, and other places. Gloss. Graeci, ad distinct. 9. c. 6. fontes Scripturarum sint authentici? is armor of proof to repell and keep off what ever in Translation, or Logicall probabi­lity can be brought in opposition or contradiction. [Page 217] Besides the counterpoise of tradition of theAs Justin Martyr, in ex­p sit. fidei, de recta invocat. pa. 376. Anti­ochus Monach-H [...]mil. 1. de fide in Biblioth. pat. tom. 1. pa. 1028. and infinite o­thers, as well in their casuall allegations of the Text, as (how it could be otherwise without manifest corruption of) the Text it self. Greek Fathers, and some Councels as univocally standing forth on the contrary part: And as to Translati­on 'tis onely INTO can give the originall, truth, emphasis, and business. And lastly, so also (beside other formerly touched upon by occasion) diversAs Calvin in institut. lib. 1. cap. 13. sect. 16. &, In Patris, Filii & Sp. Sancti Nomen baptizamur, in Comment. ad 1 Cor. 1.13. And Brentius, Hoc autem nihil aliud est (speaking on this Text) quam baptizare Ordinatione, mandato & vice Pa­tris, Filii est Sp. Sancti, ac per Baptismum IN NOMEN Domini, hoc est in haereditatem & proprietatem omnium divinorum bonorum, quae per Christum parta sunt, inaugurare, Homil. 23. in Luc. 3. And a little after, Jussit Apostolos bap­tizare in Nomine, sive IN NOMEN Pat: Fil: & Sp: Sanct: Nimirum significans, quod qui baptizatur sanctificetur per Baptismum ad communionem omnium bono­rum DEI & recipiatur IN NOMEN, hoc est, in gratiam, misericordiam potentiam & Majestatem DEI Patris. &c. But, it must be confessed, these (and other) wavered and were inconstant. That truth which dashed in their faces, stayed not, to make any fair and kindly impression in their souls. The glimpses of light soon gave place to prevailing darkness, and (without offence be it spoken) Error. Latines have translated.

But look abroad; This was the foundation and undeniably thus, Consider we what was after buil­ded in following Scripture beliefe or practise. Saint Luke hath a parenthesis delivering clearly the form of Baptism as to this part, by this occasion, that the Samaritans had not by it received the holy Ghost, onely (saith he) they had been baptized Translated by Beza IN NOMEN Jesu, in Tremellius's Bible, and so by Calvin, as al­ledged by Mar­lorate on the place, Acts 8.16 [...], into the Name of the Lord, that God they beleeved) for other, likely, then baptized unto their Gods which were but Idols, but the Samari­tans had been cleansed into the LORDS Name. After, when there was doubt of theActs 19.3, 4, &c. Ephesians, who, it seems, having yet been baptized too, had not received the holy Ghost, question is made, [Page 218] Qua igi­tur doctrina imb [...]ti & ini­tiati estis? Beza ad loc. [...]? Whereunto, or whereinto then were ye baptized? They answer,Baptizari in Johannis Baptisma significa [...] profi­teri doctri­nam quam praedicabat & sigillo Baptis­mi obsignabat, & baptismo adhibito eam amplecti. Scharp. Sym­phon. par. 2. Epoch. 2. loc. 30 pag. 378. Quum igitur hoc ignoretis (sc. concerning the holy Ghost there mentio­ned) quaero, In Quid sitis baptizati, id est, in quam doctrinam si­ve Religio­nem? in cujus doctrinae Reli­gionisve obsig­nationem? Piscator Schol. in Acts 19.1. Into Iohns Bap­tisme, the same preposition and case again) when it proved that was not enough, let more be done, & it was, the text saith for the form) they were bapti­zed. In Nomen Domini Jesu, Beza. In Nomen Domini nostri Jeshua Christi, Tremellius, from the Syriack. in To the Name of the LORD JESU, [...], &c. Some other places are com­monly interpreted as tropical or allusive, and there may be some trope folded up in them, or morall or doctrinall signification made way for in their hi­storicall declarations or argumentations. But the texts themselves are for the main such, that is, plainly historicall, or simply declarative in com­memoration or admonition of what was, o [...] was to be done. As in Rom. 6.3.Quicunque in Christum Jesum tincti sumus, in mortem ejus tincti sumus, Tertullian de resurrectione carnis, cap. 47. qu. d. Paulus. Per baptismum estis inserti in Christum, quasi rami in novam arborem, & sacti estis de corpore ejus, Cornel. à Lap. ad loc. Baptismus igitur datur [...] in mortem. Jesu, Clem: Constitu [...]. [...]ib. 3. cap. 16. As alleadged by Chamier: in his Fanstrat. Cathol. 4.4, 11, 25. Know ye not that as many as were baptized INTO Jesus Christ, were baptized INTO his death (in reference whereto there is as well in the Apostles Canons as in other accounts of eldest times such a form upon record as used, some did baptize into Christs death. And Gal. 3.7. As many as were baptized INTO Christ, [...], have put on Christ. In both which we have the same case, composition, construction, translation, (either is or should be) and all of finall import what the business of that word tended TO: sc. plain intimation, or open expression what was meant the work of that work, an incision, or inocu­lation [Page 219] into ChristsWe are baptized into one body of the Church, that we might well agree with all the Members, &c. Confess. Helvet. poster. cap. 20. Scimus enim Deum testari nobis adoptionis suae gratiam hoc signo, quia non inserit in corpus Filii sui, ut nos in grege suo censeat, Calvin. Harmon. Evangel. pag. 683.—Nos in suam ecclesiam co­optans, & inferens in corpus Filii sui, Id. in Commentar. ad Tit. 3.5. Whence in the Thanksgiving after dipping or sprinkling, We yeeld thee hearty thanks, most mer­cifull Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant by thy ho y Spirit, —and to incorporate him into thy holy Congregation. Ad hoc Bap­tismus valet ut baptizati Christo incorporentur, & membra ejus habeantur, De Consecrat: dist. 4. c. Ad hoc. Out of St Augustine. mysticall Body; which ve­ry word of Corporation and Baptism leading there­to, we have together in one place elsewhere, For by one Spirit were we all baptized INTO one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, Bond or Free, 1 Cor. 12.13. If we look back into the beginning of that1 Cor. 1.9, 10, 11. Book, we shall there find this body both at unity in it self, as it should, and after miserably broken into many fractions by faction, what so like to do it as Baptisme, and this way of Baptisme in­to severall ways, that one spake to one thing, ano­ther to another, one led this Way, another that? God is faithfull, saith the Apostle, beginning his argument, by whom ye were called and moulded by degrees into one holy Communion or Church fel­lowship; which I would might be continued. But it is declared unto me there have been partitions. How? What was that could formalize the difference? or divide you that you might continue divided? Had you severall Baptismes? This might do the thing: for nothing more effectually or irreconcileably di­vides, then to be entred and engaged hereby seve­rall ways. But this not. For though ye say, One of Paul another of Apollo, another of Peter, another of Christ; Christ was not so divided, nor Paul crucified; [Page 220] nor any baptized An in Nomen Pauli bapt zati estis? sc. Nos Chri­stiani denominandi sumus non à Docto­ribus seu Mi­nistris, sed à solo Christo capite & Do­mino nostro, in cujus No­men, hoc est, cultum baptizati sumus. Qui ab Ecclesiae doctoribus, quantumvis excellentissimis se denominant, eos tanquam Idola sacrilegè venerantur, & pro Idololatris sunt ha­bendi, Pasor. Lexicon. Gr. Lat. pa. 133. in vocab. [...]. Non dixit, nunquid Paulus vos baptizavit? (baptizavit enim multos; for some the Text is clear) sed haec non erat questio, à quonam baptizati essent? [...], sed in cujus. Nomen baptizati essent? Nam quoniam haec erat causa schismatis, quod vocarentur ab iis qui baptizarant hoc quoque corrigit, dicens, [...], nunquid in Nomen Pauli baptizati estis? Ne dixeris enim, inquit, Quis baptizavit? [...], sed in cujus Nomen? Non enim baptizans, sed invocatus ad baptisma quaeritur, Chrysost. Homil. 3. in 1 ad Corinth. tom. 5. pa: 22. Alii sic exponunt, num per baptismum asscripti estis in No­men meum, ut Pauliani diceremini, tanquam accepto Pauli baptismo? —Hic sensus est in Graecorum commentariis, & Graeco textui & iis quae sequuntur accommodatius est. Estius in Comment. ad loc. INTO the name of Paul, or any other. As to me, I thank God, I baptized none of you at all (save Crispus and Gaius) to give the least occasion that any might say I had made over any by that parting riteGraecè est, [...], in Nomen meum baptizavi: sc. ne quis ca­lumnietur & dicat, quod vos baptizando transcripserim in Nomen meum, & de me Paulianos (as there was after Paulianistae, for another reason) tanquam meo baptis­mo sanctificatos, Joan. Menochius, in annotat. in Bib. magn. ad hunc loc. That is, hee had not caused them in their Baptisme to devote or addict themselves to him as their Master. Mr Tombes's Examen, &c. against Poedobaptisme, par. 3. sect. 1. Baptizari in Nomine alicujus significat, Nos ei per Baptismum dicare in cujus Nomen baptizati sumus. Ideò rectè Paulus, 1 Corinth. 1. negat se in Nomen suam quenquam baptizasse, Scharp. in Symphon. ubi supra. Multi quidem sic exponunt, Nequis vestram in Baptismo sanctificationem asscribat virtuti ac merito meo; quasi pro merito baptizantis, &c. Ita ferè Latini. Aliter & graecae lectioni congruentius— Nequis me calumnietur & dicat, quod vos baptizando transscripserim in Nomen meum, ac de me Paulianos vocari voluerim, tanquam meo nomini sanctificatos, Estius in Comment. ad loc. Baptizari in ejus Nomen (utpote Patris, Filii, &c. Matth. 28.19.) dicimur, cui nos per baptismum dicamus & consecramus. Quamobrem rectè negat Apostolus, 1 Corinth. 1:13, 15. quenquam Corinthiorum in Nomen suum baptizatum fuisse, Mar­lorat. Enchirid. in vocab. Baptisma. — Was either Luther or Calvin crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the Name either of Luther or Calvin, or any other man? That any of you should say, &c. So Dr Saunderson Comments on this Text, in his Sermon on 1. Pet. 2.16. pa. 18. INTO mine own Name stil. For I was sent about somwhat else, scil. to preach, &c. This is the sum of that discourse, and in two places the same Praeposition, Case and Constructi­on that was before, scil. That the work of this rite [Page 221] is to lead INTO. Into one Body▪ as before, or as here, Into one Communion or fellowship (so long as there was [...], as Ephes. 4.5.) But when this was parted there followed division into this or that. I thank God! gave not the occasion by frequent Baptismes, lest any should say, I baptized into mine own name. Where Beza is exact again. In No­men Pauli, vers. 13. which he says was bor­rowed from the like in Matth. 28.19. and In nomen meum, verse 15. Of the convenience whereof Tre­mellius it seems convinced, was fain to put it into his margent with words of the same purport, In no­men meum, that is, to draw Disciples after me. And Calvin who both reads and comments upon the place accordingly, frequently using this phrase; as likewise he does writing upon 1 Cor. 10.2. AndSymphon. Prophet. & Apostolorum, pa [...]. 2. Epoch. 2. loc. 206. pa. 345 Scharpius whose use is the same of both pla­ces. And lastly, Cornelius à Lapide; to whom though the old Latine lay in his way to divert him and others of his perswasion from a true text; yet at last heNota. Baptizari in Christi nomine, idem est, quod in invocatione professione, virtute, merito & baptismo Christi bapti­zari; ac conse­quenter in nomen Christi transscribi (but that consequence let himself look to) ut à Chri­sto dicamur Christiani, non Pauliani vel Apolliniani; Ita Graeci Com­mentat. in 1 Cor. 1.13. pa 202. comes about to end in a Translation INTO Christ, intended by the work, which is that and all we contend for. And is of moment wor­thy contention: for even a quiet man wil strive for a Pearl or a Diamond, though he pass over trifles & greater toys; and the very filings of gold are preti­ous, more then which are of value the syllables of Scriptures. From which truer construction heeded, and the sense thus restored, Note we may 2 things, 1. The very text redeemed from those absurd, vari­ous and darkning expositions (for they have been no other or better) wherewith the Latine Fathers and others had rendred it perplexed; who general­ly [Page 222] urge it so as the most Emphaticall words lose all their strength and vigor, becoming onely dark & idle impertinencies, instead of adding intended elegancy; scarse of sense, sure of no use. I have ob­served many; thou (Reader) mayst have more, per­haps some hundreds at least in all, where this most significant and pithy phrase is neer wholly lost; thus redeemed from barreness and unusefulness, to much signification and sense, and former want of matter recompensed with apparent life and Empha­sis. 2. Hereby falls to the ground that which the Grecian Churches made and continue a weak and needless reason of their separation from the La­tine in matter of this form of Baptisme, suffering none of theirs to declare in the first person, as we,Graeci di­cunt, baptizetur iste servus Christi. Scot. Reportationes in Sent. 4. dist. 3 quaest. 2. Vide etiam Jacob. Tirin. in anno­tationibus ad 1 Timoth. 1.16. Scot. in sentent. lib 4. distinct. 3. quaest. 2. De se­cund. Th. Aquin. part 3 quaest. 66 artic. 5. ad. 1. & Vasqu. in par. 3. Thom. disput. 142. c. 2. n. 15. I baptize, &c. but in the third person leaving things at large, N. such a one is baptized thus or thus; because in severall names, I. such a one, and I. such a one, did here in the Corinthians sow the seeds of division, and mutually wasting Separati­on. But hereto, 1. Vasquez hath wellCap eod. num. 23, 24. obser­ved, Those Factions did not arise here from any (by the text) likely power or authority supposed to be in those Baptizers to administer in their own names that the Factions thence emergent should give the Grecians warning to take heed of the like in their like cause. 2. Truly to speak, here was no such thing, no acting In any ones name, but INTO this or that (if the words used by the holy Ghost may be thought to give us his mind, or ought to frame ours) which was the right way to formalize and diversify into lasting factions: Not the diffe­rence of Ministers, but their different ministrations; [Page 223] Not the beginning of an action, but the end (first aimed at) giving it specification; not the per­son from whom, in whose name (of which here was none) but INTO Whom, or What, being that which was apt to make Sects, and did it here. But this by the way: and not far from, wherein we were going. If Scripture may be Judge, I hope now we see what we are to trust to in the case under con­tention: If that may over-rule, or reason beare sway, the scope of the business rule the action, or due manner of administration give law to the words, these All conspire and meet to make the injoyned form of administration speak out the Sacrament to be it self, and a rite of Regeneration Into new state or life, whereby due partakers areWe assu­red y believe, that by Baptism we are ingraffed into Christ Je­sus, Confess. of Scotland, of 1581. It was given to us to testifie our adoption, be­cause that ther­in we are in­graffed into Christs body, Artic. 25. of the French confession. graffed into the Church, as is the expression of the 27 Article of the Church of England, and the Minister does not, ought not so much invoke any Name, or professe to act in any Name, as declare the end of the Action (most considerable in every action) by standing forth and saying, Now I make a Christian, Now I take a perishing soule into the Ark, Now I reach in a wandering sheep to safety and priviledge of Christs fold: This party I devote from all the world to HIM, as I express meaning, and baptizing him INTO the Name of the Father, Son, and holy Ghost.

And this declaration of intention enough: what needs any more? It might be superfluous to al­ledge authority, or multiply words of Power up­on every occasion. Hic in terris (to use the words ofBella [...]m. de Sacramen [...]o Poenit. lib. 2. cap. 2. one thought himself very Learned) cum fa­mulus aliquid agit quod non potest nisi jussu Domini [Page 224] (& non est stultus) omnes intelligunt eum habere mandatum, etiamsi is non dicit se habere manda­tum: Ut si lictores capiant aliquem magnum virum in medio foro, aut si viatores indicant Senatoribus tali die habendum Senatum, &c. When a servant does that he cannot doe without his Masters order, he is supposed to have it even when he does not alledge it, (if he be Master of his own reason) as in arrests, citations, &c. As with us a Steward may admit a Tenant, or do an act in Court, and yet not say I doe it by vertue of my Patent from A. B. the Lord; it is sufficient he has his Patent by him to produce upon occasion; or a Justice of Peace imprison, discharge, baile, retain, or doe any act within the compass of his Assignavimus, binding, and yet not alledge that authority for every thing he could not doe without it, or indict himself a Justice at every word In his Majesties Name, for what he still does, and could not do But in that Name. Quod subintelligitur non deest: in many things it behoo­veth there be a suppression of what is, but is under­stood, else expressions must multiply to infinite, and there had need be almost Words without end.

Twice yet, to confesse all at once, there seems in Scripture variation: Once, whereAct. 2.38. Ʋpon which place Bucan. Quod Apostoli leguntur bap­tizasse in Nomine vel in Nom [...]n Domini & Christi, vel in synechdochi­cè dicitur, ut vult Ambro­sius: vel in No­mine, hoc est ex Nomine vel ex jussu Christi, id est, ut ille praeceperat, ut Nomen saepe pro Mandato accipitur: vel terminus ad quem, id est, finis & scopus vel effectum baptismi, non autem forma Baptismi significatur: ut sit sensus, baptizasse eos in Nomen & professionem seu etiam mortem Christi, & incorporasse Christo per Baptis­mum; & huic tanquam mediatori Christianos consecravisse & obsignavisse sub for­mula baptismi consueta, Catech. l. 47. sect. 20. In this last Beza accords, translating the Text by In Nomen, observing well and truly; Deest tamen hoc membrum apud Syrum interpretem: which is true, as may appear by examining. St Chrysostome made so bold as to alter the Text, with like liberty as others have used about the Commission. Poeniten­tiam agite & baptizetur unusquisque vestrum [...], in Homil. 21. ad populum Antioch. tom. 1. pag. 239. St Peter [Page 225] counsels his troubled Disciples to appease their ra­ging minds by being baptized, [...], in (by or with) the name of the Lord Jesu. And where he gives order the believing Family of Cornelius should be baptized [...], Acts 10.48. In the name of the Lord. But, in answer.

1. G And Mr. Marshal grants that the pre­position [...] in 1 Cor. 7.14. (on which he is discoursing) usually tran­slated By, may as fitly be ren­dred In or To, giving other places fairly capable of that exposition, as Galat. 1.16. 2 Pet. 1.5. Acts 4.12. 1 Cor. 7.15. In his Sermon of Infant Baptisme, p. 24. which is not disliked by Mr. Tombs in his Examen, or reply to that Sermon. Pasor a good Grammarian, interprets [...], that is, [...], in the later, (and why not as well as the contrary inversion, [...], for [...], ordinary enough?) for he says there is heterosis Hebraica a change by Hebraisme, and in the former [...], is but the signification of [...] in the Hebrew, and to be translated, In nomen Jesu Chri­sti, scil. in cultum Jesu Christi, into the name or service of Iesus Christ. For [...] hic indicat causam finalem, as in the construction before often re­peated. Or,

2. St. Peter might in either place give order for Baptisme in Christs Name, that is,In Lexic. p. 511. in vocab. [...]. by authority and order from him, but that not touch theQua utique locutione (Acts 2.38. & 10.48.) non forma verborum inter bapti­zandum adhibita, significata est, ut quibusdam visum fuit, sed potius auctoritas, vir­tus ac meritum ejus cujus in nomine Baptizari dicuntur. Estius in Commentar. ad 1. Corinth. 1.13. form of Baptisme, which he is not there medling with, but giving wholsome direction about other expe­dients, of which this was one, scil. that as of every thing else, so of Baptisme, What ye do in word or deed, All in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by him, as Col. 3.17. This might be for true and good, but not (as to [Page 226] the form) for true and full: (no one has said, this was given for exact form) declaring that which was to be, but not setting forth the full of that which was to be:1 Cor. 7.38. As another Apostle spake, He that giveth forth in marriage doth well, but he that otherwise doth better. I should be loath to say, He that baptizeth in the name of the Trinity, doth ill, scil. in that faith, or by that power. But he that INTO doth better, because he strikes farther, and reaches in more, indeed the needfull Whole; with the authority, that which is also the end of the action, most considerable, to consecrate into the Christian faith, according to Christs Order. Though

3. If there be any difference in the Texts, it seems far more reasonable, that the fewer should yeeld to the more, then the more come in to the fewer: where the disproportion is so manifest, and the prevailing part for number hath one for weight sways as much as the originall Commissi­on. Which way also best lets into the nature of the business. Nor let any put in to even the scales, the confessed use and practice of the Church, which has been as it has: for it rests agreed on by Protestants, that this is but the dust of the balance, of little weight, (though some when it lays clear on any part.) But Tradition how aged soever, must yeeld and give way to prevailing Scripture.

Nor is most of this but this way neither, be it of what power it will: Scripture, I take it, is secured, besides Reason; Nor shall industrious search be able to find there any line, or sentence, of a pro­bable different interpretation, or not fairly capable [Page 227] of this. Nor have the ANCIENTS said any other; many relie much on them: for they lo­ved not their lives to the death: they ventured their souls on the Bible-truth, they gave over to us our truths: Nor need we doubt of their Charity or Ju­stice, (whose zeal and piety was so eminent) that they would have us deceived in any thing so good, so loved, they left all to be able to leave unto us: upon which presumption it cannot be less then very expedient to hear what they have said in any Chri­stian business. Tell the Church, bids our Saviour, beyond which for reso [...]ution is no appeal in this world: and the past deserves as the present may. Petimusque damusque vicissim. Here we use to be meted as we measure; And so much is like to be returned to us in those ages when our power and passions are past, as we now in love, reverence and due regard of what kind soever mete out to them were in their Watch-towers under Christ before us. But remember where we are; now a story low­er then what is high divine. That commands, this perswades; that forces our faith, this invites, not without incouragement and some violence yet of force: it would hear very ill in the world not to re­verence the gray hair, to despise the aged, to kick off our Ancestors as those our advanced judgments have learned to contemn below us; and men give it a worse title then uncivil, to be undutifull to FA­THERS.

Now for them, I had cast abroad to learn, as they offer themselves to consideration under these four heads.

1. Directing (no doubt but by the assistance of [Page 228] the holy Ghost, who will not fail his Church to the end of the world) in those rules agreed on by pub­lick consent, the no less publick administration of the things of Religion, by those excellent compo­sitions we may call Directories, but are commonly called The Lyturgies of the Church.

2. Determining in their publick meetings, for ending controversies, composing strifes, restrai­ning heresies, &c. (in succession to what is left in patern from the Apostles, Acts 15.) what seemed good unto the holy Ghost and to them for so good an end (for we are not to presume of error, where two or three are met together for Christ his name; nor are onely privat bosomes capable of inspiration: He that should so think, I should much doubt, whe­ther he be guided by the holy Ghost: or indeed take his perswasion but for a fancy,) which mee­tings have in the World born name of Synods and Councels.

Other Writing upon other occasion, whether Polemically or Didactically; of which sort, the number is worthy farther partition into.

  • Three Greek Fathers.
  • Four Latine Fathers.

And as to the first, I could wish the publique orders for Administration of Divine Christian Of­fices had been better laid together (that yet I be­lieve have been) then by any inquiry I could yet learn they have. Cassander is said to have done som­thing this way, as to a part, but the Book I could not fetch within compass of my eye; nor Cassians Collations, which perhaps might have relieved in the case; by reason whereof, my inquiry, as shrunk [Page 229] in the sinews, is like to go lame in this first and prin­cipal limb.

Nor like to be much stronger in the second, for a like reason: (The Latine Councels, I cast into the Latine Fathers following;) and for the Greek have not much, nor that which is as to the bottom, whereupon it stands of much firmness. In the Apostles Canons, by that time they were wrote (which was sure not very long after the Apostles days, at least for the first fifty; though the Bench of Antiquaries deny the rest to be ancient, and these to be truly Apostolical) so soon some departing from the form of Divine Institution, and received usuage of thrice dipping, to conform their words to their faith and practice, had taken up to baptize [...] into the death of the Lord Christ, (peradventure borrowed from St. Paul, Rom. 6.3.) against whom a Canon there (the 49 in Caranza, the 50 in other) thus: Si quis, Episcopus aut Pres­byter non trinam mersionem unius mysterii celebret, sed semel mergat in Baptismate, quod dari videtur In mortem Domini. So Gentianus, Hervetus thought good to translate, though Diony­sius Exiguus, and the most have, In morte. G. Holoander. hath as Hervetus, and Tertullian: Diem Baptis­mo solenniorem Pascha praestat, cum & passio Domini, in quam tinguimur, adim­pleta est, lib. de Bapt. cap. 19. [...] in mortem Domini, damnetur: Non enim dixit nobis Dominus, In morte mea Baptizrate, [...], in Mortem meam, in Greg. Holoanders Translation. sed Euntes, Docete omnes gentes, bapti­zantes eos in nomine Patris, &c. but the Greek hath again, [...], &c. Where with what sense could these Perverters, or any other mortal men be, with shew of reason, imagined to have entained purpose of su [...]h a change as this, In the Name, sc. By the Authority, if they had so understood, of Father, Son, [Page 230] &c. into In the Death, or Into the Death—that is—of what? Or were ever the unequal sides of a meant opposition (which should be always [...]) so unevenly or almost ridiculously, as well as incongruously set together, as we received not order for baptizing into Christs death, but were bid baptize In the name, power, authority of Father, Son and Holy Ghost: No: opposita are ad idem, and so reasonably must these, both referring to the end of Baptism: not Christs Death or Faith thereof, which yet is true, and we believe, but Into the Name, saith, belief of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, which was the form left, whereto not onely the thing, but the evident construction and signification of the words leads us also. Remember that the same final Preposition, with its case, is here all along ( [...] indicat causam finalem before) And take in that Expository inference which was added in Franc. Turrians Edition, which cannot, but make all clear, [...], &c. vos igitur O Episcopi, Baptizate terna mersione in unam Patrem & Filium, & Sp. Sanct. as the same is lately translated by the Learned L. Primate of Ireland, with no mention of name, or any thing may seem to countenance intent of Authority, but onely theNon tan­tùm te dimit­tis, quantum Christus, CUI baptizaris, hodierno die, [...], said Gregory Nazianzene to a proud Master, that scorned to be baptized with his servant, Orat. 40. cap. 26. page. 656. end of the action set forth, and whereinto the Baptism is intended, sc. Into the Trinity: which very Praeposition and Form for substance is men­tioned to have been retained tenaciously afterward, in opposition to a like Haeretical distortion cor­ruptly [Page 231] foisted inNon in Trinitatem sed in Christi mortem bapti­zant. Socrat. Histor. Ecclessiast. li. 5. cap. 23. Sozo­men. Hist. lib. 6. cap. 26. & Scharp. Curs. Theolog. col. 1390. yet of this form the Apostolike Constitutions make often mention with­out offence. Cognitum autem sit vobis, Charissimi, quod Bapti­zati In mortem Domini Jesu, amplius peccare non debent. Nam. &c. lib. 2. cap. 7. Datur igitur baptismus in morttm Jesu, aqua pro sepultura, &c. lib. 3. cap. 17. Eodem modo contenti sint uno solo baptismo qui in domini mortem, traditur, lib. 6. cap. 15. Dominus in suam passionem non est baptizatus, ne (que) in mortem, neque in resurrectionem, nihil enim horum adhuc venerat, &c. Qui vero in ejus mortem initiatur, primùm jejunare debet, & postea baptizari, lib. 7. cap. 23. Nullus qui n [...]n sit initiatus, ex iis mysteriis comedat, sed tantum qui sunt baptizati in mortem domini, cap. 26. The praeposition motive and termi­native all along, INTO. So in Ignatius, [...], in Epistola ad Philippenses. So in Tertullian, Diem. Baptis­mo solenniorem Pascha praestat; quum & passio Domini, in quam tinguimur adim­pleta est. Lib. de Baptismo cap. 19. by Theophronius Eutychius, Euno­mius, and others, a sort of Arrians, in the days [...]f Valentinian and Valens the Emperors; who having it seems no very good opinion of the Tri­nity, devised to shuffle up the matter in this gene­ral of Into the death of Christ, and this should com­prehend all he taught, whether Trinity or not: but the Orthodox would not suffer it so to pass, for among all the changes and chances of this world, Providence hath shewn it self stil awake to keep this Anchor of the Faith firm and stable, this fundamen­mental truth One, and amongst all to baptize in­to the Trinity and Revelations thereof, as the bond and cement of the much distracted Christian world, as I hope it shall be always, whatever prove our other differences; that if the sides of disagree­ment should remove to never so wide distance, yet all meeting in this general, it may be a means to compose and lay together again their remotest distractions. Nor was that above, all the Apo­stles Canons afforded: that next before, guided the same way, and the words are so plain and arti­culate, they are able to speak for themselves: If any Bishop or Presbyter shall baptize not according to our Lords Appointment, [...], [Page 232] [...], Into Father, & Son, & Holy Ghost but into three Eter­nals, & three Sons, and three Comforters, let him be de­posed: where the Latine Translation hath again as usual in morte, though whither Reason would have led, is easie enough to be guessed, both as to affirma­tive and negative, Into, or Not into, This or That; nor did Gr. Holoanders wariness miss here the right again in his Translation, both that annexed to the Canon-Law, and that set forth by Rufin: Toranus among St. Clement's Works, Siquis Episcopus aut Presbyter secundum ordinationem Domine non bapti­zaverit in patrem, & filium, & Sp. Sanctum, sed in tres principio carentes, aut tres Filios, aut tres pa­racletos, deponitor. If any shall baptize not ac­cording to our Lords Order, INTO Father, Son and Holy Ghost, but into thre Eternals, &c. let him suffer; nor it should seem was the jealousie without cause: Balsomon, who was very like to know, lets us un­derstand, some had actually brought in this inno­vation, whom to reduce, the Canon revokes to primitive Institution, [...]: And these Commentaries make the next Canon of the same import, Statuit enim, per tres immersiones peragi oportere mysterium sacri baptismatis, [...] &c. For he appoints the Celebration of this mysterie, INTO Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Be next the Constitutions of Clement himself, (thought worthy of the mention of St. Pauls own pen in his Epistle to the P ilippians, chap. 4.3. and by many of the Fathers, that he was Author of that to the Hebrews) or those which he collected [Page 233] and imbodyed: in the sixth Book whereof is histo­rically laid down, as 'twere by recognition what the Twelve do acknowledge to have Done and Taught (as in the Acts of the Apostles) and a­mong other Orders this comes in (in chap. 15.) for one: Eodem modo contenti sint uno solo Baptismo, qui in mortem domini traditur, non ministerio abominan­dorum Haereticorum, sed probatorum sacerdotum, [...]. As before, let them acknowledge God one, Parents to be honored, Disorder to be shunned, so, let them be content with one Baptism INTO Christs death, ad­ministred not by profane Haereticks, but allowed Priests, INTO the Name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Bo­vius hath translated there, as his old Latine, In Nomine; but Zonaras kept to the Text in his editi­on of the Greek: and so in lib. 7. cap. 40. Our Lord commanded, saying, first, Teach all Nations, and then Baptize them [...], &c. Into that Name, &c. And so after, in the end of Chap. 43. and so before, in the beginning of Chap. 23. of that se­venth Book. Confession is thus made (in the same account at Chap. 41.) he that hath renounced the Devil, and revoked kimself to the banner of Christ, professeth [...], &c. I am listed to Christs Regiment: and I do believe, and am baptized INTO one onely true God, uncreated, Omnipo­tent, &c. and into his onely begotten Son the Lord Jesss, the first begotten of every creature, by whom all things were made in heaven and earth, who in these last days came down from heaven, and was incarnate, born, lived, dyed, rose, ascended, and [Page 234] shall come again at the lact day in glory, to judge both quick and dead, of whose Kingdom shall be no end: And I am baptized Et in dominum Jesum unigenitum filium ejus, primogenitum omnis crea­turae, genitum beneplacito Patris ante saecula, per quem omnia facta sunt, quae sunt in coelis & in terra, visi bilia, qui in novissimis die­bus descendit de coelis, & carnem assum­psit, & ex san­ctu virgine Ma­ria natus est, & conversatus sanctè secundum leg [...]s dei, & Patris ipsius Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato, mortuus pro nobis: Resur­rexit mortuis tertia die post quam passus cit. Ascendit in coelos, sedet ad dexteram Patris iterum venturus est in consummatione saeculi, cum gloria, ju­dicare vivos & mortuos: cujus regni non erit finis. Baptizor & in spiritum sanctum, hoc est Paracletum, qui operatus est in omnibus sanctis, qui fuerunt à saeculo: postea missus est Apostolis a Patre, secundum promissionem salvatoris nostri, & Domini Jesu Christi: & post Apostolos omnibus credentibus in sancta Ecclesia catholica. Carnis resurrectionem, peccatorum remissionem, regnum coelorum, vitam venturi saeculi. This large Confession the party made him or her self: And it were to be wished, where Paedo-baptism is continued, that a personal ratification were thus made of what had been undertaken for them, by the parties themselves, come to full age: or else they might not be looked upon as wholly admitted, at least kept from the visible pledges of mystical Communion. Faith is personal, Every tree is known by his OWN fruit, Luke 6.44. Why should any be judged Believers that are not? or to be so, that having opportunity and ability, yea some kinde of necessity, refuse to profess it? INTO the Holy Ghost; who is the Comforter, which wrought in all Saints from the beginning, after in the Apostles, and in Be­lievers to the end of the world. The Resurrecti­on of the flesh, or into a faith and belief of the re­surrection of the flesh, the forgiveness of sins, a king­dom of heaven, the life of the world to come. See the whole face of this Confession together, and that it looks TO Jerusalem, to devote, conse­crate, enter and profess admission INTO Christ and the Articles of faith, or heads of Doctrine imbraced from him? The baptized did in his own person profess as much: he did not look at the Ministers Authority, or the Invocation used (though that was used, but it was not the thing here) onely he looked and declared whither he was going, what the Ceremony did intend, how he understood it, motive, alterative. and terminative, to bring him from the world to God and Christ, or God in Christ: and therefore was he baptized; and thus, saith he, I express mine own meaning, I am listed, matriculated, baptized INTO. Not much [Page 235] to insist on what is elsewhere.Nam baptizati in nomen domi­ni, at (que) in ejus resurrectio­nem, veluti infantes nuper nati nullum peccatisensum, actionem (que) habere debe­tis, lib. 5. c. 17. They that being lately converted from Idols to God, Have been baptized INTO the name of the Lord, and INTO his Resurrection, have now no more sence of incon­venience, nor power to work sin, then the childe that smiles in his mothers face, being yesterday born.

As to the Fathers, they divide themselves by their language, and stand as much distant in their opinions, about the thing under our hands: yet so as there is some commixture. Those of the Italian having some of the Graecians among them, and the Greeks interspersed with some Romans.

Generally they of Greece are for the [...], Into the Name, as well in their allegations of this Text of Matth. 28.19. and other of the same im­port and words, as they have occasion; as in their form of speech upon other occasion, commonly intwined with such matter, or grounded upon such matter as would not suffer them to speak other­wise. As where they baptize into Christ; into the death of Christ (or faith thereof) Into the Trinity, or Into Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, without any Name. Also, where divers of wrong perswasion are mentioned to have baptized Into somwhat else, whose error could not have been so justly and evenly opposed by the Orthodox, (nor had they so fully opposed them) unless there had been on both sides Into, or not Into, This or That.

And these wise men of the East, I take by the way, to be in this case most to be trusted to, for that they were of the East, whence most of our light came, and so they drew near the fountain. [Page 236] And moreover, they both did read & write in the Gospels own language, and so had not one occasi­on of error, all Translators and Traslations, and what ever depends on them, are inevitably tempt­ed with, scil. by traduction out of one Language into another. He that goes out of one room into another, may possibly stumble by the way, though he take it to be very plain, and so he that depends on any derivation: As he that does not so (as for instance, He that writes the things of England to us in English) is likelier to hit and keep the truth first written in that language; because he misses the great danger of one slip (might have been hurtfull to him) in the passage, by continuing still in the same room in which things were first delivered.

But to particulars; and one of the first highest note isIn Epist. ad Philippenses. Ignatius, who descanting on the un­searchable mystery of our Religion, Trinity yet Unity, Three Persons yet One God, (not therfore three Fathers, or three Gods, but one Father, three Persons, yet one God.) Sith this is so, saith he, Our Lord sending his Disciples to catechise all nations, wil­led them to baptize [...], &c. INTO the Name of Father, Son, and holy Ghost. And in pro­cess of speech, [...], Not into One with three Names, nor into Three incarnate with man, but IN­TO still Three of the same honor and equality. I know the Latine Translators retain usually the La­tine form in the first, praecepit eis baptizare IN No­mine, &c. and that to the last and best of 1642. But the force of the same construction carried them on to, Non in unum quendam Trinominem, neque in [Page 237] tres incarnatos, sed in tres ejusdem honoris, in the la­ter; why it should not have had the same force and operation before, is hard to divine; chiefly the words remaining the same, and (which should least have been perverted) the words of the Oracles of God. A little before he had, There is one Father, and one Son, and one holy Ghost, and one Baptism into the death of Christ, [...], or faith thereof, and One Church, therefore there ought to be but one faith, as in Eph. 4. I quarrell not here again the authority of the Epistle, let it be but ascribed to Ignatius: It is thereby very ancient, and the point in question has thereby as much credit as such a testimony can give: it is sure the form of speech agrees best with the ancientest.

As appears by comparing with the next.Advers. hae­res. lib. 1. c. 18. Ire­naeus, who both giveth, andHistor. Ec­cles. lib. 4. c. 10. Eusebius, andIn haeres. 34 cap. 20. Et sanè interpres Lati­nus Epiphanii per casum accu­sandi loco citato, & haeres. 73. transtulit: says Vasquez, in 3. part. Thom. disp. 142 cap. 1. Al­though Peta­vius, a later Translator, hath indeed mended, that is, quite mar­red it. E­piphanius, have the same of one Marcus the Patri­arch of the Marcosians, who agreed with Cerdo and Valentinus, all to corrupt the simple form of Bap­tism, left by our supream Prophet, and needs they must add Crotchets of their own, [...], INTO the name of the unknown Father of all things, INTO Truth the mother of them, INTO him that descended into Jesus, &c. where note, the form not found fault with, is still Into, as remembred by several Authors; nor could it be faulted, for it was that (so far) left by Christ and his Apostles. But the matter, they would add, and affix conceits of their own, in countenance of their opinions, restraining what was left at large without any father of all things, Mother Truth, &c. [Page 238] to enter into their opinions, and plot a co-incorpo­ration of their fancies into the heart of Religion, by first baptizing into them. As did another Eu­nomius, a follower of Aetius, of the Sect called A­nomaeans (though remarkably he kept this form of speech and construction.) Rebaptizat autem (saith Epiphanius) in nomen Dei increati, & in nomen filii creati; & in nomen spiritus sanctificantis, & à creato filio procreati, Haeres. 76. cap. 4. tom. 1. p. 992. Still, good made the occasion of ill, and uniting Baptism in its nature, intent, and declared work. Of Sects not onely the occasion, but the seal and very effectuall furtherer. This the Fathers found fault with, justly they might, 'twas new amiss: but for the form this was right enough; else, when the hand was in, it had not been hard to have noted the error, nor but unusuall to take purposed heed of one fault, and let pass another; but they could not. This was according to the Orthodox, received, and Scripture appointment. Here again must be craved, as reasonable there be no reputed infalli­bility of translation, nor a necessary tie to any: To all we cannot, for they vary: To some we ought not; for they are, in contrariety to the true, erro­neous: if choyce be allowed, that would take the draught of the original. The old Translator, Fronto-Ducaeus, Feu-Ardentius, Christophorson, Fillius, Pe­tavius, these all have in a row, In Nomine, as the way was led by Ruffinus in Eusebius: But it is well noted by one of them, that Cornarius and Gallasius thought as fit to give it otherwise, scil. In nomen ignoti, &c. though himself were not so well advi­sed to follow it. And another adds, that the ori­ginals [Page 239] of Eusebius, Epiphanius, Haeretic. sabularum. lib. 1. cap. de Marco. Theodoret, & the very precedent chap. 12. here did instruct him the same way, though he chuse to follow Ruffinus's La­tine error, a very bad copy to write after, compared with that lay in his way. It seems both their judg­ments were convinced (as they mu [...]) what they ought, but the rode kept them in, that is, out, Hence In nomine.

That great Champion of his days, & valiant con­futer of Heresies, steps forth next, Athanasius; nor was Alexander himself more successfully stout and couragious in the field, then used to be at the Desk this noble Alexandrian; who keeps himself, as it were with religion, to the words & syllables of his Master, asIn Epist. ad Serapion, tom. 1. p. 179. & p. 186. Epist. ad Orthodoxos, tom. eod. p. 944. Et Epist. ad Sera­pion, tom. 2. p. 14 occasion is to use them, and when he inlarges of his own, he departs not from either word or meaning. The Arrians are in danger of lo­sing the integrity of this mystery, saith he, for while perfect initiation is made, [...], &c. Into the name of Father and Son. But they express not the true Father, by denying there is any consubstantia­lity with him, and deny the true Son as a Creature. How do they not evacuate this whole Sacrament? For the Arrians do not administer Into the Father & Son, but Into Creator and Creature, Maker and the thing made. As then the Creature is different from the true Son, so is their Baptism from Truth, though they see­mingly retain the Scripture words: for the word is not enough without the faith contained under it. And therefore our Saviour left order for first instruction, Teach aright, and then baptize into the name of Father, Son, and holy Ghost. How can there be a Baptism but into somthing? Or, how into what [Page 240] is not, or not aright understood? This was in his third Oration against the Arrians, tom. 1. p. 413. And in the next Oration but one, Our Baptism, which is as the point wherein all the Articles of our faith concenter, is not administred, [...], into the word, which had been wrong, but [...], INTO the Father, Son and holy Ghost. Orat 5. contr. Arian, p. 535. I rely here nothing upon Translators again, who commonly plod on accor­ding to the Latin presumption; but the Translators Rule, and that gives as I say.

More then, Noble St Basil begins thus his 17. Ho­mily, (A King even of Divines, with allusion to his name; [...], asHist. Eccles. lib. 4. cap. 7. Theodoret spake of him, that great light that gave shine, not onely to the East, but to the world.) [...] Basil. hom. 17. tom. 1. p. 437 [...], &c. He that is baptized into the Trinity, he is baptized, into Father, Son, and holy Ghost: not into Principalitie, not into Powers, or any creature. In his Sermon on the 40Tom. eod. p. 358. Martyrs he is speaking of one of the Apostles falling back from our Saviour. Another (Matthias) stepping up in his room, Paul turninng about from persecutor to professor; and in like manner the executioner there, when one of the fourty fell off, stept up to recruit the number, [...], and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and was baptized into him by his own ministery, not in water, but by his own blood. I foresee an objection. This was but a strain of Rhetorick, no reall Bap­tism. Good: But it gives the form of Baptism, the phrase of Baptism, the nature of Baptism, and [Page 241] the Orators conceit of the reality of it; else his strain had been not so much Eloquence as De­lusion; and this enough to my purpose. To the same his constancy ties him in many otherLib. 1. de Baptismo. tom. pag 560. lib. 3. contra Euno­mium tom. eod. p. 752. Moral. regul. 12. cap. 3. tom. 2. p 423. pla­ces; as in alledging the Comission of Mat. 28. where sometimes the Translator gives his originall; but with our point in hand, that in hisTom. 2. p. 316. Book of the Holy Ghost, Chap. 12. notably shews the connexion between Faith and Baptism; which is born out by theJoan. 1.12. And in con­junction with the like signi­fication & ap­plication to Baptism, Acts 19.4, 5. John (saith Paul) in his speech refer­red further, [...]; Which when they heard, those there were ba­ptized, [...]: Into the name of the Lord Jesu. phrase of the holy Text; and opens also that Article of declaration of our Creed, wherein we profess in a distinct and somewhat unusual form of speech to believe, [...], In God and his Son Jesus Christ; the words are these, Faith and Baptisme are two means of our salvation, conna­turall, inseparable: for faith is perfected by baptism, and baptism leans on faith; and both depend on the same words: for as we believe one Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (or our faith relies on them) so we baptize into Father, Son, and holy Ghost. Thus faith goes be­fore and leads the way to salvation, Baptism follows after and perfects the work.

Two other lights of magnitude not much inferior, give shine the same way: they were so faithfull and diligent Watchmen over Christs flock, that Providence hath wrapped up Diligence and watch­fulness into their names, the two Gregories. He of Nyssa in Caria, elder brother to St. Basil, findsOrat. 11. contra Eunom. tom. 2. p. 706. fault with the Baptisme of Eunomius (whereof before from Epiphanius) that it was not [...], &c. Not into Father, Son, and holy Ghost, as he gave order that [Page 242] gave the mystery to us but into Maker and Creator, &c. In this pla [...]e though Grotser there translate In no­mine, yet Si­phanius was after more wa­ry in alledging the same Com­mission, Quae sunt verba Do­minici praece­pti, baptizan­tes eos in No­men, &c. Serm. in Bapt. Chri­sti. tom. 3. p. 372. And so he appeals to the form in Matth. 28.19. Again, when the hand was in, finding no fault with the preposition, or termination; which pre­ocupates reply, if any should say, The ground was here an error, and so unstable to raise any thing of ob­servation or argumentation: for the error was here in the matter, not in the form, which was left untou­ched, as I am confident, to note so much once for all, that sence can hardly be made of the matter accompanying this and many other, both positi­tions and oppositions of the Writers of this Lan­guage, if the name of the Trinity be interpreted to import either authority vouched, or any thing in­voked, or but this intention of active initiation declared; and to make it more then likely so here, The Name, whose mis-interpretation gave occasion of all the mistake; is very observably not mentio­ned, but simple Baptism into the Trinity only. And as our confession of Faith might be whole and sound, though not so clear and sweet, if we did de­clare to beleeve in the Son of God, or the holy Trini­ty, though we take not in so much as in the name of the Son of God, or the name of the Trinity, which does but adde emphasis, and grace the expressi­on: so but that it is not safe to meddle with those are given to change, Prov. 24.21. might be ourThe learned Vossius declares for this liberty: Bapti­zare in alicu­jus Nomen est ei per ablutio­nem initiari & consecrari in religionem & cultum. ut illius arbitrio vivamus. To baptize is to de­vote. Atqui hoc fit seu di­cas, In Nomen Dei, seu Trinitatis, seu Patris, Filii, & Spir. Sancti, seu Jesu Christi, seu simile quid [...], &c. Thes. 5. de Bapt. Disp. 2. p. 307. Quoniam & aggregor Christo, & Credo, & Baptizor in unum ingenitum meum verum Deum omnipotentem, pa­trem Christi, &c. Et in Dominum Jesum filium unigenitum ejus, primogenitum om­nis creaturae, &c. & in Spiritum Sanctum, hoc est paracletum, &c. Carnis resurre­ctionem, peccatorum remissionem, regnum coelorum, vitam venturi saeculi. Con­stitut. Apost. l. 7. c. 41. Bap­tism, [Page 243] and the declared Administrations thereof: for, As we Believe, so we Baptize: But now from St. Basil.

The other Watchman of those days, Gregory of Naziansus in Cappadocia, makesOration 40. cap. 51. tom. 1. p. 671. known be­fore hand to his Expectant, how he meant to en­ter them into their new Law. Who would lend him the tables of his heart, he would be a Moses to him; nay he would borrow the finger of God, to inscribe a new Decalogue: and [...], &c. When I take thee in, I will baptize thee into the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Whereupon Nicetas in his Commentaries, Pri­mùm in Sanctam atque individuam Trinitatem te Baptizabo, cujus nomen commune Divinitas est. First I will baptize thee into the Holy Trinity, &c. And they both give the heads of faith into which Ba­tism was to be administred, Believe that the world which we see, and which we not see, is Gods Creation, &c. A littleCap. 48. p. 669. before, the Father, If I should please men, I were not the servant of Christ, as saith the Apostle: If I should worship any Creature, or be baptized into any Creature, [...], I should not have the benefit of a divine Change: And the same Preposition and Case kept a little after; upon which place the sameTom. 2. Col. 1083. Nicetas likewise com­menteth, Si filium ut creaturam adorarem, aut in fi­lium ut creaturam baptizarer, nunquam Deus futuru; essem.

Epiphanius Haeres. 7. cap. 11. This he after more fully expounds this way, in the recapitulation of his greater work, tom. 2. p. 137. and yet again in the very end of that recapitulation, p. 157. proves the Deity of the Holy [Page 244] Ghost from conjunction with the persons in Ba­ptism to make a Trinity: for so, saith he, the Scri­pture order d, As ye go, Teach, Baptizing, [...], &c. (Remember what before from another place in him, and of the forms of Heretical Baptism, right in this) and when he was to raise the Em­perors sisters Son to life:In vita S. Epiphanii per Johannem, unum ex discipuli [...] ipsius, cap. 51. p. 36 [...]. which if I shall, will ye then believe, [...], and be baptized into that contemned, but powerful Name of him that was crucified? Whereto they answer, they would: He did, and they performed the conditi­ons. Elsewhere differencing the Jewish from the Christian Rites:Ad versus Haeres. lib. 1. Haer: 8. sect: 6. tom. 1 p. 19. They had, saith he, a carnal Circumcision, till the great Circumcision should come of Baptism, and this both cleansing us of sin, [...], and sealing up to the name of God.

Voluminous Chrysostome is next, out of whose many Tomes, I onely note how constantly he keeps to theSermon. in Mat. 28. tom. 1. p. Sermon. de Sancta Trini­tate tom. 6. p 191. & serm. de Cananaea. tom. eod, p. 202. form, this form, [...]; and upon Acts 19. Paul Homil. 40. in Act. tom. 3. in Nov. Testa­ment. p. 351. spake of Johns Baptism as he did, to perswade Apollos further, [...], to be baptized into the name of Jesus. FromVid. com­mentar. in Esa. lib. 5. tom. 2. p. 859. &c. Cyril of Alexandria but the same; with some addition, that his Translator hath been more care­ful. If Father, Son and Holy Ghost did denote all the same, and one included in the other,Comment. in Joan. 2. tom. 4. p. 17. Quid porrò necesse est in Trinitatem potius quam in unitatem baptizari? and to the same sense [...], &c. in Dialogo, Quod unus sit Christus. tom. 5. p. 773. [...]. Lid de recta fide. tom. 5. par. 2. p. 108. Vid. etiam Oration. de recta fide sect. 52. p. 173. elsewhere.

The words of Mark the Hermite are very re­markable, Fides est ut non solum in Christum bapti­zemur, Lib. interrogat. & respons. Marci. Eremitae de Baptism. in Biblioth. par. Graec. om. 1. p. 918. sed etiam ejus mandata opere compleamus: [Page 245] Our faith requires not onely to be baptized into Christ, but to fulfil his Commandments. Mr.In his notes and obser­vations (excel­lent Criticisms) lately published, ch last. p. 170. Gregory, late of Christ Church in Oxford, cites the Euchologue for the form of Baptism to be this, The servant of God N. such a one is baptized [...]. And lastly, John of Damasco, (besides what inJo Damas­ceni Histor. cap 7, 8, 11. & 28. his History of Barlaam and Josephat) the whole tenth Chapter of his fourth book De fide Oxtho­doxa, is worth reading to this purpose, Quocirca qui in Patrem, & Filium, & Sp. Sanctum baptizati sunt, &c. —and, Qui in Sanctam Trinitatem baptizati sunt, &c. are his phrases translated: and, We are baptized into Christ and his death, we are ba­ptized into the holy Trinity: all these together, and much more; and I believe in other Authors more then very much more to this purpose. A hasty view hath espied this which is here, enough (if there were yet no more) to justifie this interpretation of INTO, &c. and to give it countenance expedient from the whole body of those that wrote o [...] the New Testament Sacrament in the New Testament language.

Sparingly, I know, there isAs in the Martyr-Iustines second Apology. p. 94. Athanas. Epistol. ad Se­rapion. tom. 1. p. 204. Chrys. de serpente Mosis. tom. 6. p. 63. Basil. lib. 1. de Bap­tismo, and some other. variation: very sparingly: but one Swallow makes not summer. There hath been seldom universal agreement in any thing, and those that do dissent, we have their consent upon other occasion: The constant, loud, prevailing, general voyce carries it for this way clear, shrill and home, both in words, and such matter precedent and subsequent, as must bring on those words: and all joyning in with this leading Commission Text, often cited, scarce ever but to [Page 246] this purpose; sci. To make the visible word of this Rite intentionally and declaratively introductory into the Religion of Christ then assumed, and to be ever after named and reputed from, or the chief head point thereof, the Holy Trinity, Go, make Disciples of all, thus, baptizing INTO Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

The Fathers are not to answer for the transgressi­ons of their children, nor could they foresee or pre­vent by any humane providence, that these should not either deceive or be deceived; who being the most of them of younger days, have rendred things according to fore-received notions and conceits, giving out the liquor strongly tasting of the vessel that held it, and that first possessed and throughly seasoned with In nomine: But the original is still the same, & gives out the same to us howsoever. Some Interpreters also have hit the right, and a small measure of reason will serve; now the doubt is started, to determine with much of assurance how all should. If much consent of Greece may bear us witness, we shall not doubt of testimony enough from her, and truth, and Scripture beside: the East is still the noble treasury of light, and thence uni­versally the beams shine clear and home for Adopt INTO.

But we have staid long amongst our friends: cross next the Adriatique for Rome, and see what her translation of the knowledge of things thither hath thence afforded the world: Her Natives remember all, or as many as borrow language of her in the Provinces, are but so many Interpreters, and so to be looked upon by us, and consequently [Page 247] not with the same eye of respect as unto those that had one help of truth more, and one occasion of er­ror less, then those that read and wrote without de­rivation. The fountain's clearest; these were but the streams, which by many accidents may run troubled and disturbed; and the transcript, both in Reason and Law is never best, but to be correct­ed by the original.

And these all, as with one mouth, deliver error from one another: Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, Leo, Chrysologus, &c. When an opinion is once started, if it be but a mistake, the busie world keeps it going, and tis hard to still the cry, as hath been here; consent even of the learned, and for ages hath went for In nomine.

I except (of the Fathers) scarce any but Tertul­lian; a man of an uncouth stile, and ragged language at first, drawing near to the harshness of Barbarism, but after acquaintance none more pleasing, sweet, fluent and familiar: His wit was very sharp, his judgement very deep, his disquisitions of much li­berty and likelihood, but learning universal; whence he not onely stuck at many things swallowed by others, and doubted where they seemed to know; but on the other part, his enquiries made out far beyond their reach (some say too far; which made him hear ill) and indeed his blame may have been in many things, not that he reacht not truth, but that he went beyond it. From the strength of his parts, and depth of his knowledge: as his appre­hensions were very exact, so his speech was exceed­ing wary, and (to our purpose) he was one of the first that ever taught the four Gospels to speak [Page 248] Latine, sanctifying the Dialect of Remus and Ro­mulus to sound abroad to the world, what was holy of Sion and Jerusalem; and so had no preceding errours to lead him in Translation, drawing him­self first from the original; and so is yet the more to be relyed on by us, not onely for his great parts, but likely purity and soundness of language, not mixed with those errors are used, to be drunk down the more pleasingly, and without suspition from mistaken friends. He speaking of some that thought it enough to partake of the faith of Abraham: But now, saith he, more is prescribed: Obsignatio Baptis­mi, vestimentum fidei, quae retro erat nuda, &c. Lex enim tinguendi imposita est, & forma praescripta. Ite, in quit, docete nationes, tinguentes eas in nomen Pa­tris, Filii, & Sp. Sancti: To have faith sealed by Baptism, cloathed with ceremony: for a new Law is now enacted, and the manner prescribed, Go Teach, Baptizing Nations into the name of, &c. The In­terpreter, or rather Perverter, soon corrupts into, in nomine: but yet he is fain to grant it is ad ver­bum ex Graeco, [...], and why could not he then retain truth from truth, agreeable with truth, rather then change to worse, or not leave his tract for better, when he saw it before him? elswhere the same Father, When one fell off, he sent the other eleaven, and commanded them to go, Ite & docete Nationes, intinguendas in Patrem, & in Filium, & in Sp. Sanct. to instruct nations to be dipped into the Father, and into the Son and into, &c. where the setter forth grants he had the repetition of the preposition in, from several Manuscripts, and the first print; very observably, The name being left out in all, whereof [Page 249] use may be made. And after to Praxeas, The Fa­ther and Son are not the same, for Christ (among other things) undertook to send the promise of the Father after the Resurrection, and commanded, ut tinguerent in Patrem & Filium & Sp. Sanctum: (mark again, without any Nomen) Nam nec semel, sed ter, ad singula nomina in personas singulas tin­guimur, to the same sense as before, dipping into the persons, and each several person: And in the same construction is mention enough of the same person afterward. A fair testimony for one man: We soon grant most of the rest (except S. Hierome, who hath somewhat this way) though knowing with that grant where the original resteth, and thinking how expedient it is all after-draughts should conform to the first copy. This should rule and over-rule if any thing in process be drawn amiss, or slipt awry; how much more, when (as here) so many Master-workmen in their own lan­guage, have so used the rule to draw or keep things to Rite: which primitive vote of Greek Writers, counterpoiseth the derived Latine: and, I believe, the most will say, have it no less then their due to overpoise them.

The next ages were dark: Our Writers general­ly account them so; and it were lost labour to seek light from darkness. So long as the old La­tine was Canon, look for no amendment: The Rule was crooked, but the Reformation was as the dawning of the morn. See next what sparks of light brake forth here to clear our way.

Before much hath been dispersed looking hither­ward: & not from few, nor Authors much to be de­spised: [Page 250] Adde to them more from Calvine, Bucane, Marlorate, &c. Commun. loc. 47. S. 24. Question and Answer are first from Bucane as followeth:

Quest. Quid est Baptizari in nomine Patris, & Filii, & Sp. Sancti? Resp. Hac phrasi significatur, invocato patre, filio & sp. sancto, eum qui baptizatur, remissis peceatis, in gratiam accipi a Deo, qui est pater, &c. Et adoptari, obsignari, initiari, in augurari, recipi & consecrari, in peculium, familiam, jus, potestatem, cultum, faedus, gratiam, religionem, fidem & communionem patris, filii & sp. s: (id est, veri Dei, natura uni­us, proprietatibus trini, &c. Ideo non in nomina sed in nomen dicit, ne sc. occasio ex hoc loco detur tres Deos statuendi. In quem sensum hanc phrasin accipiendam esse percipitur ex Pauli verbis. 1 Corinth. 1.13. ubi negat se in nomen suum quenquam baptizasse. Baptismo igitur consecra­mur Deo Patri, &c. What is it to be baptized in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost?

Hereby is signified that Fa­ther, Son and H. Gh. being in­voked, he which is baptized is received into favour with God, by remission of sins, who is Fa­ther, Son, &c. And is adopted, initiated, sealed, installed, re­ceived and consecrate into the proper possession, family, right, dominion, service, covenant, grace, religion, faith and com­munion of Father, Son, &c. (that is, the true God, one in nature, and three in person, &c.) Therefore it is not said, into many names, but into the Name, least hereby occasion should be of making three Gods. In which sense that this phrase is to be taken, we learn from 1 Corinth. 1.13. where Paul denies he baptized any into his own name. By Baptism we are therefore devoted to God the Father, Son, &c.

This is full, clear, home and sound. Master Calvine proving the Deity of the Holy Ghost in the first of his Institutions. Chap. 13. sect. 16. con­senteth thus:

If we be entred by Baptism into the faith and Religion of one God, we must needs think him to be God into whose name we are baptized.Ergo si in unius Dei fidem ac reli­gionem initiamur per baptismum, no­bis necesse est verum censere Deum in cujus nomen baptizamur. Nec ve­ro dubium est quin hac solenni nun­cupatione perfectam fidei lucem jam esse exhibitam testari voluerit Chri­stus quum diceret, baptizate eos in nomen Patris, Filii & Sp. Sancti. Si­quidem hoc perinde valet arque bap­tizari in unius Dei nomen, qui solida claritate apparuit in Patre, Filio & Spiritu. Nor is doubt but by this solemne Dedication, Christ would have it testified, that the full light of faith now shineth out, when he ordered, Baptize into the Name of Fa­ther, Sonne and Holy Ghost. Sith this is as much as to be baptized into the Name of one God, who fully appeared in Father, Son and Spirit.

Marlorate, in his Collection of Protestant Expo­sitions of the Gospel, hath these words upon this Text of Matth. 28.19.

Therefore to baptize in the Name (or into the Name of F. S. and H. G.Ergo baptizare in Nomine (sive in nomen) Patris, Filii & Sp. S. est initi­are & consecrare eos qui baptizantur in unius Dei fidem & religionem, ut credant Patrem, Fil. & S.S. esse unum Deum, in quem unum spectare illos oportet, & in eum unum se conferre, in eo uno haerere, ut fixum in se ha­beant, unum esse solum Deum, &c. Observemus igitur Baptismo nos ob­ligari, initiari & consecrari in unius Dei Religionem & cultum, ut illius ar­bitrio vivamus. is to enter and devote those that are baptized into the Faith and Re­ligion of one God, that they may believe Father, Son and Holy Ghost to be one God, on whom they are to bestow them­selves, &c. Heed we therefore, that by Baptism we are initi­ate and consecrate into the Re­ligion and Worship of one God, to live accord­ing to his will.

Hulderic. Zuinglius, in lib. de vera & falsa Reli­gione, cap. de Baptismo: as he alledged by Vossius, Thes. 5. de Bap disput. 2.

Multò vividius est, quod Graeci, Mat: 28. habent, baptizantes eos in Nomen Patris, Filii & Sp. Sancti, quàm in nomine, quemadmodum Latini ha­bent. Not to insist upon what Isaac L. Fe­guernek. hath collected from Marlorates Thesaurus, in his Enchiridion loco­rum communium. p. 233. Quarto (fides) capitur pro obligatione illa, facta in baptismo, ad profitendam veram Religionem, & ad credendum in hunc Deum, in cujus Nomen baptizamur, 1 Tim. 5.11, 12. in vocab. Fides. Nor on what Mr. Bernard hath left this way, in his Thesaurus, alledged before. Nor the confidence of Cassander, Nemo certè inficiari poterit, baptizari debere juxta Christi insti­tutum in Nomen Patris, & Filii, & Sp. S. It cannot be denyed by any, but that Christs institution leads to baptize INTO the name of Father, Son and H. G. Lib. de Spiritu Sancto invocando. page 298.It hath more life a great deal as the Greek is in Matth. 28. Baptizing them Into the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; then In the Name, as the La­tines.

Of more publike attestation take in the Con­fession of Saxony: We do often expound the sum of the Doctrine, &c. I baptize thee into the Name, that is, invocation of the true God, whom thou shalt acknowledge and invocate, and distinguish from all other fained Gods, &c. Artic. 13. In hujus veri Dei nomen (having mentioned the Holy Trinity) id est, invocationem, te baptizo, quem agnoscas, &c. as in the Apology for the Ausburg Confession, offered to the Councel of Trent, p. 147. Of Helvetia the later, Baptism is called of some a sign of initiation of Gods people, as that whereby the Elect of God are consecrated unto God, Chap. 20. Of Ireland, baptism is not only a sign of our profession, but a Sacrament of our admission into the Church, Artic. 89. Of Eng­land, We are by Baptism graffed into the Church. Artic. 27. Lastly, ofGovernment and order of the Church of Scot­land. ch. 3. p: 19 Scotland to the same sense, Thirdly, he that presenteth the childe, maketh [Page 253] confession of the faith into which the child is to be bap­tized, & promiseth to bring up the child in that faith, and the fear of God. Fourthly, being informed of the name, He (the Minister) baptizeth into the name of Father, Son, and holy Ghost. Grotius was not to learn how, and he proposeth his question very wa­rily,Votum pro pace ecclesiae, ad artic. 9. An Christus ab Joanne baptizatus fuerit in nomen Patris, & Filii, & Spiritus sancti: Whe­ther Christ were baptized by John INTO the Trinity? Familiarly using the same construction in his Commentaries on Matth. 3. and Matth. 28.19. And lastly, Brentius is cited byLib. 1. de baptismo, cap 3 from Brentius his Catechism, cap. de Bap­tismo. Bellarmine andIn 3. par­tem. Thomae disput. 142. cap. 1. Vasquez, to take so much liberty this way, that giving first the nature, and regarding the end of Baptism, he thought enough, if after the owning of the Creed by the Catechumene, the Mi­nister stood forth, and received him thus, Audivi jam ex te confessionem fidei, quod credas in Deum Pa­trem, & filium, & Spiritum Sanctum: In hanc igi­tur confessionem intingo te in aquam, ut hoc signaculo certus sis te esse insertum in Christo, though he ad­vise the usuall form to be kept. Much of which liberty has not elswhere dislike fromHorum locorum col­latio docere nos potest cum vete­res regu­lam fidei aut baptismi im­mutabilem di­cunt, non ad certam & re­ceptam ubique verborum for­mulam eos re­spicere, sed ad vim atque sententiam interrogationum quam breviter, ut solet, Lu­cas ita comp [...]ectitur, Acts 8 12. When they believed Philip preaching the things of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized. H. Grot. annotat. in Matth. 28.19. p. 518. others, orQuod idem cernimus in baptismo, ne (que) enim certus sonus aut numerus sylla­barum in Scripturis determinatur, quo forma baptismi pronunciari debet, sed solum sententia ejus formae ex Evangelio colligi potest. Quare quemadmodum ex eo quod Dominus ait Matth. 28. Docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eas, &c. Colligit Ec­clesiae formam illam, Ego te baptizo, &c. Nec tamen cenferentur non verè bapti­zare, qui dicerent, Ego te abluo, seu tingo, sive aspergo, &c. Sic etiam, &c. Bel­larm lib. 3. de poenitentia, cap. 16. himself.

These by their words appear to have been the thoughts of men & Churches abroad, & ofVide Ur­sin. Explicat. Catechet. par. 2. quaest. 71. p. 467. Baptizati in nomen ali­cujus duplici­ter sumitur; Impropriè, & ita Judaei di­cuntur bapti­zare in Mo­sem: Pro­priè verò dici­tur baptizari tantùm in no­men Patris, Filii, & Sp. san­cti; quia bab­tismus non po­test propriè fieri in nomen creaturae. Nam baptizari in nomen alicu­jus est ejus mandato & authoritate in ejus cultum, fi­dem & obedi­entiam bapti­zari, quod nul­li creaturae convenire po­test. Scharp. Symphonia. part. 2. Epoch. 2. loc. 206. In the reconciliation of 1 Corinth. 10.2. in Mosen baptiza­ri, & chap. 1.13. In nomen Pauli. some more. The force whereof prevailing neerer home with our T. C. (a man known to have been very much conversant in the writings of the Scripture, and precisely carefull to conform all to the patern in the Mount) may be thought to have enduced him to make bold with a change long since; and to add this so much contended for syllable unto hisI mean that said to be Tho. Cartwrights, which came forth about November 1643. His, the more likely, because the same syllable is retained in the Allegation from T. C. made by Mr. Hooker, in his Ecclesiasticall Politie, lib. 5. sect. 62. p. 328. in the Margent, And it holds conformity with the Church of Scotland, with the tendryes whereof he was known to keep much correspondence. Directory, printed or reprinted very lately, and to order Baptism Into the name of Father, Son, and holy Ghost Which I take to be the sense like­wise, though not the very letter of that interrogato­ry is very neer preparatory to the act of Initia­tion: and immediatly after confession of Faith by recitation of the Apostles Creed in our Lyturgy; Wilt thou be baptized, says the Minister, in this faith? whereto answer is given, It is my desire. In this faith! What? in the Ministers faith? or the offerers, or any others belief of the Articles then re­peated? Or rather INTO this faith, that is, that which (by the self or by thy Sureties) thou hast now repeated, and yeelded thy self a proselyte of by ratification of firm consent? Say: No­thing shall be done without thy pledge of good wil: Strike up the bargain; & as thou hast said, All this I firmly believe; Printed 1571. by Reynold Wolfe, at London. Wilt thou now be baptized into [Page 255] this faith? So it was expressed in the old Latine translation, when the sense of the Composers was fresh abroad. Minister. Credis in Deum patrem omnipotentem? &c. Respons. Omnia haec firmiter credo. Minister. Cupisne in hanc fidem baptizari? Resp. Cupio. And so in the Greek of Mr. Petile within this ten years; [...]. I wonder he continued not his care to what follows, to render to it self that which was first written in this language, ru­ling Scripture, the immediate and underived word of Oracle given by the holy Ghost. For thus he proceeds to give the form. (Strange!) misgiving both together, preposition and case. N. [...]. And a little before, Christ out of his most pretious side did powre both water and blood, and gave commandement to his Disciples to go teach and baptize, [...], &c. No: it was not so; Each is a de­pravation both of Text and Work: Christ gave commandement for [...], &c. view his words; Search the Scripture: the syllables whereof give that and nothing else, and he perverts that besides this way leads any other. But his excuse may be, he followed the Rode and his present Text. One er­ror very gently, but powerfully, leads on another. How this went a good while since, we may have from St. Cyrill of Jerusalem: Postea deducebamini ad sancti divini baptismatis lavacrum, &c. Atque tunc unusquisque interrogabatur, an crederet in Nomen, [...], Patris, Filii, & Spiritus sancti: & confessi estis confessionem salutarem, Catech. Mysta­gog. 2. But to return here at home, the interroga­tion [Page 256] propounded in the sense given, would make fit way, as it does, to baptism then at hand; an act of adoption, admission, consecration, regenerationLearned and pious Dr. Hammond, (remember here) in the late Additions to his Practicall Ca­techism, of the two possible interpretations of that Text, giving the fo [...]m of Baptisme, Matth. 28.19. na es this one: INTO the Names of Fa­ther, Son, &c. Mr. Hooker, He which baptizeth, bapti­zeth into Christ. He which conver­teth, conver­teth into Christ. Eccles. Polit. lib. 8. p. 202. Mr. Dell, if he be the Au­thor of the late Tract, Against Water-Bap­tism, professing to lay aside all to hearken one­ly to the Divine Oracles, he maketh use enough of this Criticisme his way. Nor could ma­ny of his arguments hold if it were any other then INTO the Name, power, faith, and assi­stance of the Trinity, &c. pa. 15. into a new state faith, religion, profession (the proper end of the work) Which past, there follows soon after the induction or legall investiture of the proselyte into his new heavenly profession, and the believed possessions of grace; We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christs flock: with yeelding most heartyBenedictus Deus & pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui pro ingenti miseri­cordia sua regeneravit te in spem vivam, in haereditatem incorruptibilem & incon­taminatam & immarcessibilem, &c. Ʋpon the Baptisme of Prince Josaphat in Jo. Dama­mascenes History, pa. 19. thanks unto the Father of Heaven, that he hath been pleased to regenerate that child, sure unto somewhat, some new state, to receive him for his by adoption, and to Neither do we think that this custom is only an idle ceremony, but that the infants are then indeed received and sanctified of God, because that they are then ingraffed into the Church. Confession of Saxony, Artic. 13. incorporate him into his holy Congregation: and prayer that being dead un­to sin and living unto righteousness, he may lead the rest of his life according to that beginning.

I know not what to other, but to me nothing under any cloud of darkness or doubt seems ever to have been better recovered to clearness, certain­ty and light; agreeable with the words of Scrip­ture, the sense of the business, the sound judgement of believers, orthodox and pious, of elder times and later; and above all, to the scope and nature of the work, to make this holy divinely-instituted Rite speak out it self to be a Sacrament of renova­tion, [Page 257] consecration, admission into a new religion, faith and belief; or (which one word is both pro­per and significant enough) a very CHRI­STIANING, or admitting INTO CHRIST, as the old word was once, even at theConstitut Provincial. li 3. de effectu baptismi circa Sacramentum. Font, I Cristen the in the Name of the Feder, and of the Son, and of the holy Goste. Or as it was in Lyndewoods time (because some love the mouldy best) I Crystyn the in the name of the Fader, and of the Sone, and of the holy Goste.

Insomuch that (all things fit in so well) I cannot but incline to wish (now that all is sub incude, under the revise of strict Scripture-examination, with which these things agree meetly wel) that (among other) this may find place of consideration, and (if any thing be found really amiss by those are fit to judge) be (by those that have power also) refor­med and amended. The business is of weight and moment touching our Freehold, as men use to say, the quick of our Religion (one of our inmost mysteries or Sacraments) and the highest of that which can be done amongst men (by Christs ap­pointment too) forQuem Baptismum omnium Sacramento­rum esse janu­am Salvator noster insti­tuit, &c Cùm igitur circa in­gressum januae error maximè periculosus existat, praedictus legatus, &c. Constitut Octoboni. tit. De Baptismo. admitting into the visible Church and estating in heavenly hopes; as giving of theQuae verba, scholae vocant formam Baptismi nos formulam verborum dicere malumus. Bucan. loc. commun 47. sect. 20. form and essence of that Rite, whereby we are (sacramentally made (or declared) Christi­ans, as some love to say, the form of that form: And whereof we may say contrary to those who have written de fossilibus, who after much turning [Page 258] find little metall, and so have parvum in multo: but here is multum in parvo, very much in very little, the worth of a Talent in the weight of a Scruple. What shall it profit a man to win the whole world, and lose his own soul? How further the salvation of his soul, but by being in Christ,Neque enim parva re [...] haereticis & modica conce­ditur, quando à nobis baptis­ma eorum in acceptum re­fertur; Cùm inde incipiat omnis fidei o­rigo, & ad spem vitae aeternae salutaris pro­gressio. Cypr. Epist. 73. inserted into him! How this but by Baptism? And about This, yea This of This, do these things direct, and this gate on earth of Life Everlasting, do they concern most nearly. I said, Days should speak, and mul­titude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almigh­ty instructing him: Therefore said I, Hearken unto me, I also will shew mine opinion. Job 32.

Nor let any say, Much of it might have been spared. Ut quid perditio haec? as he in the Gospel: Why so much pains to so little purpose? Curiosi­ty is it self another fault (in nature, in morality, in religion, even in reformation) Apices juris non sunt jura: We are to walk by line, not by letter, & lex non curat de minimis: Why should we? Whereto I answer, This may serve Providence for preserving this part of the new Law in the accu­rateness of Matth. 5.18. Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle of this shal not be unfulfilled. It is not without the reach of every ones knowledge, that great care and conten­tion has been wont to be about small things in matters of Religon: words &Ne (que) enim vel [...] syllaba vel apiculus est in sacris literis, in cujus profun­do non sit grandis quis­pium Thesau­rus. Chrysost. Hom. 21. in ca. 4. Gen. tom. 2. p. 200. And a little after, Nam si in scriptis quae de soecula­ribus negotiis ab hominibus conficiuntur, saepe (que) tempo­re corrumpun­tur, vel unam prooemii sylla­bā deesse, multū momenti habet: multo magis hoc in scripturis divinis à Spiritu sancto compositis invenitur, modò sobrii simus & non temere progrediamur, sed intenta mente dili­genter omnia consideremus, & non negligentiores fimus aliis, qui hoc studio in pro­phanis utuntur. syllables have ta­ken, [Page 259] and been used to take up the deliberate con­sultations of the gravest and wisest. (How was the Empire divided about a Diphthong, [...]) Nor about any (— I speak absolutely) hath the exactest search and scrutiny bin thought to have so litle toward supererrogation, as about these; the votes of many privat Doctors, yea of publick Schools, and sometimesCum sa­cramentū bap­tismi omnium sacramento­rum sit princi­pium & funda­mentum, & i­deò propter summam ne­cessitatem, forma ejusdem à Christo n [...]ti­tutore tred [...]a, à nullo fideli­um maximè del eat ignora­ri, ipsam for­mam quae infra scriptis verbis conti­netur recen­semus: Petre, vel Maria, Ego baptize te in no­mine Patris, Filii, & Spiri­tus sancti sub [...]rina aspersio­ne vel immer­sione, nihil interposito vel detracto. Quam siquidem formam Canones sacros imitantes, m [...]andamus & praecipimus de caetero ab omnibus baptizantibus irrefragabiliter ob­servari. Concil. Ravenna te 2. rub. 11 apud Sever. Binium, tom 3. pa. 1514. As but now from the Provincials of England: in Lyndewoods Constitut. lib. 3. tit. de Baptismo & ejus effectu. solem­nest determinations, (as of whole Councels and learned Assemblies) having contributed to keep all to rights here; not w [...]thout some dan erous influ­ence suspected to whole Christianity upon creeping in of not the greatest mistake. This was that which therefore not but needfully both awaked my jea­lousie, and prompted my industry with some fervor of zeal, and strength of endeavour amplifiedJudes Epist. vers. 3. to contend earnestly for this part of the faith, delivered unto the Saints, by their Saviour: But the ramenta or filings of gold are pretious, each sparkle of a Diamond has value, and a Mite not without regard in the greatest judgment of him shall iudge all; wherein yet methink I could almost condescend to wish toward owning of some mistake my self, ra­ther then so many others should as both have, and (I doubt) must. The door of the Church should be kept fair and open, the porch clear and safe, the entrance not but free from all obstruction. And though of Error in principio, the present deviation [Page 260] be not great, yet the consequence may be so signal, that here a little in mistake may prove worse then a great deal. There have been who have went about to unchristian a good part of Christendom, by far­fetcht supposition, That he who after proves to be a Bishop, may not have been, by the due admi­nistration of this Sacrament, rightly admitted at first himself: he proceeding to Ordination, seems to let in other (beyond a Being, to a degree of power and authority in the Church) which yet he does not, being without himself: They go on to open the door for severall others; but to as little purpose, having the key either not delivered, or not rightly delivered unto them. Of which last some also may prove Baptizers or Ordainers, &c. to propagate mistake, and a succession of dead Ordi­nances; (in effectuall operations even of the myste­ries of life,) from generation to generation. So numerous is the brood of multiplying error. E par­va origine, ad tantae magnitudinis instar, as the Hi­storian speaks, from so small a spark so great a flame may be kindled; In consequences unseen errors, not great of themselves, spreading far and wide, like slips or strings that shoot out from the root under ground. Or,Mat. 13.22 The grain of mustard seed, whereof our Saviour spake, which being the least of all other, grows great among Herbs, & becomes a tree, the birds of Heaven come and lodge in the branches of it. Even of the Sacramentall words, F. G. In ter­tiam partem Thomae. tom. 3. Disput. 129. de materia & forma sacramenti, cap. 7. Est igitur Catholica senten­tia, Sacramenta constare praescriptis ac determinatis verbis & rebus, cap. 5. prae­ced. & tam in Sacramento Baptismi, quam Eucharistiae, certa & definita verba dicit (Lutherus) esse necessaria. Ibid. Vasquez hath [Page 261] these two considerable Rules, 1. Mutatio si­ve per additionem, sive per ablationem, sive alio modo fiant, quae non corrumpit verum sensum formae, non tollit valorem Sacramenti: That change, by ad­dition, substraction, or howsoever, which cor­rupts not the sense of the form, leaves the Sacra­ment of full force and vertue. But so as, 2. Muta­tio quovismodo facta corrumpens verum sensum for­mae semper destruit valorem Sacramenti: Any alte­ration made to the corruption of the sense, IN WHAT WAY SOEVER, takes away the life and operation. How many wayes it may be done, Joannes de In libro, De Sacramen­tis in genere. Disput 2. sect. 6 Lugo (a late Spaniard) hath taken great pains to shew by exact view & pensita­tion of the words; as in Hoc est corpus meum, so here examining distinctly EGO, TE, BAPTI­ZO, &c. And determining where he takes to be the perillous mistake: Nor in any of those noted by him, does corruption seem to proceed to worse disturbance and depravation of the sense, then here. So that, as of a dangerous error, distempering the very heart of Religion, this would not, but ought to have been taken notice of for consultation, cure, and remedy.

To conclude, what ever be mine opinion, or any others, it cannot but be safe and requisite for thee, O Christian, to hearken to the WORD OF GOD; those draughts of Heavens mind, sacred inspirations from above, divine Oracles, which will neither deceive, nor suffer any to be deceived.John 5.39. Search those Scriptures, says our Saviour, for in them is life: but [...], do it with prying, quick­est, sifting diligence. There sith is found Bapti­zing [Page 262] Rom. 6.3. into Christ, into his death,Acts 8.16. into his name; and they thatGal. 3.27. put h [...]m on, were so baptized into: Sith the1 Cor. 12.13 Corinthians were matriculated into his Corporation, theActs 19.5: Ephesians into his Name, or Faith; Paul 1 Cor. 1.13. & vers. 15. had not so formalized Sects, scil. by baptizing into this or that (the onely way to do it) and all according to Commission here, [...], from which is seldom variation. In consequence hereupon, I suppose there will remain little cause of doubt or deliberation with any, what is reasonably fit to be done or amended here by all those who submit to the Scepter of the Lord Jesus our belie­ved Saviour. Kiss that Son, lest the Father be an­gry: To whom with the holy Ghost (for as we be­lieve, so ought we be baptized, before from St. Ba­sil: and into whom believing, we are baptized, Un­to him to give glory) be all honor, praise and glo­ry. from his whole Creation, for Ever Ever & Ever.

AMEN.

POST-SCRIPT. In one word more, good Christian.

WHat thou hast here beheld in open light, was at first as 'twere opened in darkness, what is now preached on the house top, having been delivered, scarce published in the whis­pers of a very privat Countrey Congregation. Partiall estimation (such as friendly always uses to be) made the thoughts seem not unworthy thinking over again; Thence their review; Thence this bulk: and it is left to thy discretion to sever what was first spoken frō what was likeliest to have been since written. It was held convenient thus to cōmu­municate All; if for no other reason, Because1 Cor. 5.10. the day is coming when we must all appear before the judg­ment seat of Christ, to render account of what we have done in our bodies, and as well what we haveInter pres­suras atque an­gustias praesen­tis temporis & nostrae officia servitutis, cogi­mur dilectissi­mi non tacere, quùm potiùs expediat flere, magis quàm aliquid dicere. Verunta­men nequid minus lucri Arcae Domini accedens, dicatur nobis, Serve nequam & pi­ger, tu erogares pecuniam meam:, & ego veniens cum vsuris exigerem eam. Peto charita­tem vestram, ut quae ipse paterfamiliâs per nos vobis ministravit, libenter acci­pere dignemini. Augustin. Concio ad Catechumen. contra Judaeos, cap. 1. tom. 6. pa. 23. not done, as what we have (for our omissions are not without fault.) And as to this, the season added speciall opportunity, all being now under revise, [Page 264] both for Agenda & Credenda, for Doctrine and Discipline; seeming to call in those words of the Masters of the Assemblies, after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, Acts 13.15. Ye men and brethren, as many of you as have any word of exhorta­tion for the people, say on.

If any thing here shall run theNullam e­nim existimo Scripturam a­deò [...]oeliciter procedere cui [...]ul [...]us omnino contradicat C [...]emen. Alex­and Strom. 1. It is a common frailty of our Nature, which may be watch­ed, but cannot be remedied, be­wailed not hel­ped: possibility of Erring, a misery from which his Ho­liness is not ex­empted when he sits in his Apo­stolick Chair. Besides, as of bodies, so there may be differing com­plexions of judgement: One mans meat is another mans poyson; and one mans thanks anothers aver­sation; yet of the thing yet the same. Pro captu lectoris, &c. It hath been so, and will: Doe our REASONS differ! face of all other (for nothing could yet be found to have pleased every body) thy courtesie, or rather thy Christianity is bespoken and intreated.

1. Cavill not at words: the last refuge they will yet make to, that are resolved to continue Ca­villers. It was matter was heeded, notSanè quisquis legis, nihil reprehendas, nisi cum totum perlegeris, atque ita fo [...]è minus repr [...]hendes. Eloquium noli quaerere. Multum enim de rebus labora­vi [...]us, &c. Unde hactenus ac prope nulla fuit nobis cura verborum, Augustin. lib. de Mendacio, cap. 1. tom. 4. pag. 3. Them: so that please, the rest may be spared. Or thou mayst even herein be satisfied; for, so the substance be kept, 'tis left to thee to alter the dress of out­ward expressions to thine own judgement or fancy; or if thou wilt, think the thing already done.

2. Take me not in pieces; but either the whole, or a whole part: And that after thou shalt have per­used and considered the whole. Partition belongs to choyce: That, in taking some, leaves the rest: and therewith an interpretative concession, that what was left was judged hard, and scarce malle­able, therefore in prudence let alone. The world will judge s [...]: deal therefore intirely; and, heed all along the scope: for that also I heeded.

3. Contract not thy brow too severely, that I [Page 265] make use ofNon me latent ea eti­am quae ab ali­quibus impe­ritè omnia me­tuentibus ja­ctantur, qui dicunt oporte­re in iis versa­ri quae sunt maximè neces­saria, & quae fi­dem conti­nent: externa autem & quae sunt super va­canea transi­lire, quae nos frustra conti­nent ac deti­nent in iis quae nihil ad finem conferunt. Alii autem Philo­sophiam etiam cum maximo malo & ad per­niciem homi­num venisse in vitam ex­istimant, ut quae profecta sit a maligno aliquo inven­tore. Ego au­tem quod viti­um quidem habeat malam naturam, ne (que) alicujus unquam boni causa esse possit, in his Totis Ostendam, libris, qui [...] dicuntur, tacitè significans, aliqua ratione divinae opus providentiae esse Philoso­phiam. Clement. Alexand. Strom. lib. 1. p. 278. some parts of remote, obscure, pro­phane, disdained pieces of knowledge, thou (so much a Scripturist) judgest altogether unprofita­ble. I was long since taught by Dr In his published Sermons on Psalm 110. v. 4. p. 480. Neque verebuntur commen­ta [...]i nostri, uti iis quae sunt pulcherrima ex Philosophia & iis quae praecedunt disciplinis. Non enim solum propter Hebraeos & eos qui sunt sub lege, par est fieri Judaeum, sed etiam propter Graecos Graecum, ut omnes lucrifaciamus, Clem. Alexand. Strom. 1. p. 277 Reynolds, whom I believed, That there is no part of Learn­ing in the whole Circle thereof, which is not helpful, and may not contribute to the understanding of holy Scriptures, and some part or other of a Divines im­ployment. I particularize his general into Jews and Gentiles, Councels and Fathers, Schoolmen and Historians, Decretals and Imperials, and hope one day to be better acquainted with the Alcoran and the Sybils, the Talmud and the Sanhedrim. For how else should we understand out sundry things of the Bible (our Religion) depending on these? or how make toward the requisite perfection of that Scribe in the Gospel, throughly furnished to the Kingdom of God; who is like an House-holder well stored, who contents not himself with neighbour provision, some single Commentary, or broken patched systeme, but hath ready by him for all supplies, and as the occasions of the Family call for it, both New and Old: With an evil eye these Mouldy remnants are looked upon by many, who could peradventure readily enough wish the whole heaps of them thrown away at once, and all of Jewry or Samaria dealt with, as those Magick books [Page 266] were, upon conversion to sound knowledge, Acts 19.19. I am perhaps too far on the contrary part; as, wishing our Libraries may be the safest part of our Land, so that these jewels may be treasured up in the safest Archives of our Libraries, hoping for more light yet to shine out of the east by them, and if ever the Bible be made plain and legible to the vulgar, or Learned, those Divine Oracles un­sealed to sure and certain sense, and the Book of our Redemption it self redeemed from that cloud of darkness, and mist of obscurity, the delusion of false Glosses, corrupting emendations, interest of States, and Tyranny of times, and manifold such impositions have cumbred it withal, that from the rising Sun alone we must expect the soveraign healing beams to proceed, whose fresh and morn­ing influence hath POWER to produce that disper­sion; being not without temptation to some kinde of Idolatry, in worshipping with a face settled to­ward the East, and thence really expecting anotherHomines enim Hebraei, agregia erudi­tione, sagaci (que) ingenio, cum sacri codicis sensa patrio Sermone evo­luta nobis da­rent, multa fae­liciter repere­runt, quae alio­rum nunquam assecuta esset industria. Pet. Cunaei lib. 3. de repub. He­braeorum. cap. 5. p. 422. Star (as full of Corporeity (soon it may be) as was the last) to guide all those shall be accounted amongst us Worthy, Watchful and Wise, to the yet unknown things of Jesus the Son of a Virgin, born in Bethlehem. For that was the Land where the affairs of our Religion were done, whence else should we expect an illustration and elucidation of them? That was the scaene of wonderful things, to raise expectation of a wonderful knowledge: There was Power shewn likely to breed an amazing Light: Nor may the full sense of Isa. 2.3. The Law from Zion, and the Word from Jerusalem, be so wholly already drawn out, but that our Mer­chants [Page 267] may bring us some rich Remainders (God bless our Merchants of Knowledge) and their neg­lected, despised, moth-eaten Rolls and Records help us to see our own light, or to make a right use of it, and inrich us thereby beyond Caesar and Craesus and Crassus.

4. (Here I would be accounted earnest) Christian, if thou be, deal with me as thou art and wouldest, remembring thy Saviours Rule, and mine, Both our Masters Meekness, not only as his Quality, but our Qualification, and our Duty in his Example, Learn of me, Matth. 11.29. for I am so: we never read, His voyce was heard in the streets, Matth. 12.19. We no where hear him loud in venemous and and boisterous reproaches: we finde him not at any time raging for truth, passionately. Religious, truly Seditious, bitterly Zealous: but if the weigh­tiness of the occasion had need to draw from him powerful reproof,Luke 4.32 They were amazed at his teaching, for his word was with power. Mat. 7.29. he taught as having Au­thority, not as the Scribes, Mark 1 22. Percelleban­tur super do­ctrina ejus. The soberest modera­tion may be most effectual in power. his Word was with power, but his Severity with some Lenity, his strongest Phy­sick ministred in an inoffensive dose, and nothing dropped from him ever, but what bespake declared, and left assured a most soft and gentle Genius. Oh! this is that for which Christendom hath cause to mourn and lie down in sackcloath and ashes, that Truth comes often a woing, apparelled like a Hag or a Fury, the Orators of Heaven mix wilde-fire with their zeal, perswasives labour their end rather with teeth to bite, then arguments to convince; The tongue that should lick whole mistakes in an erring Brother, ministers venome to wrankle, rather then salve to heal up, Vinegar is not sharp enough, but Aqua fortis must be taken in, and that [Page 268] ink is blackest is fittest, not to write the cause, or convince the Arguments, but besmear the reputa­tion of a tractable recoverable adversary (As Da­vid observed in his time, and complained:Psal. 64.3. And I lie even among the chil­dren of men, that are set on fire: whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword, Psal. 57.5. They shoot out their arrows, even bitter words, in speaking with their mouth,Psal. 59.7. Swords are in their lips, for who doth hear? nay, their poysons have reached to my very soul) This, this is that, but for the permis­sion whereof, Christendom hath much to answer, by men of sober and Gospel Spirits not to be re­membred, without tears of blood, and which, God grant it turn not the grave and prudent advice of an admonishing Apostle, into the misfortune of a Pro­phetick curse (so calculated and composed as 'twere of purpose for the Religion, Meridian, Clime and Age under which we live.)Gal. 5.15. If ye will needs go on to bite and tear one another, take heed ye be not devoured one of another.

As it hath been seen oft enough before. Where malice hath fretted it self quite away on both sides, two obstinate Champions have left neither alive; both have ceased to be, because one would have had victory. May it never be so with us, where CHRISTS name is reverenced, and at top of all (as the prize of all our concertations) that strife should ruine what it fights to preserve, and that word and Gospel which is now the rule of Princes,Psa. 103. [...]6. The Place that hath known it, shall know it no more.

5. Think not thou hast to deal with an un­tractable adversary, but one would be glad to turn the ear to reproof, as being not yet past the Learners form ( [...], that is the utmost) a very Seeker [Page 269] (of Truth and Verity) which Tertullian so much commended and pursued: and that loves that of the Psalm, Let the righteous smite, Psal. 141.5, 6. it shall be a fa­vour, but let not the precious balms of flatterers break mine head, I will yet pray seven times more against all such wickedness. There was peradventure too much of the Stoick even in Socrates himself, of whom St. Augustine somewhere, Hoc tantùm scio, quòd nihil scio: he presumed no farther knowledge then onely of his ignorance: But as much as fol­lowing times have too little, where presumption of knowledge attained already, bars forwardest reso­lutions of seeking any more; Prejudice and Pride will admit no increase of former riches, the active inquiries of the soul are stopped, and our wings clipped, that would soar to any new discoveries: Therefore we know not, because we think we do: sitting still in little more then a dull and contented ignorance, scorning to learn what we think we have already attained. I thank God, I know many things I do not know: I thank God, I see, many have cause to doubt of what they think they know: I thank God, I have assurance, that what I think sure, yet I may have more abundant confirmation of: And what I nor know, nor opine, I am willing to learn. I pray my darkness may be enlightned, my ignorance instructed, my errors reformed, my true perswasions strengthened: but above all, that Truth may conquer and be glorious: As Christ is TRUTH, John 14.6. To whom be due praise for ever.

His te volebam. Now judge, and be charitable. My last thoughts may not unfitly come out in the [Page 270] concluding words of whosoever was the not over-confident Author of the second History of the Mac­cabees; And here shall be an end, if well I have said, [...], and hit the mark, 'twas that I aimed at: if otherwise, that I could: And so (with offer of mine) wishing and hoping to meet a return of the courteous imbraces of thy love, I bid thee Christian, heartily.

FAREWEL.

March 29. 1647.

Immortali DEO Immortales gratias.

FINIS.

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