The Improvableness of Water Baptism, Title page – To the reader
THE IMPROVABLENESS OF Water-Baptiſm: OR, A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Gravity and Seriouſneſs of the Action, AND THE Ʋſefulneſs of the Sacred Inſtitution of BAPTISM. Inſtructing all Parents, how great a thing they do, when they bring their Children to that Holy Ordinance. And all Perſons, whether young or old, what Obligations their Baptiſm hath brought them under; what Wrath it hath expoſed wicked and impenitent perſons to; and what Ʋſe they may make of their Baptiſm for Confirmation of their Faith, and quickning them to Repentance and an holy Life. Diſcourſed from Rom. 6. 3, 4. by way of SERMON. By JOHN COLLINGES, D. D. Miniſter of the Goſpel in NORWICH.
Gal. 3. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Chriſt, have put on Chriſt.
Ambroſ. lib. de Sacr. Veniſti ad ſontem, ingreſſus es, conſidera, quid videris, quid locutus ſis diligenter—Et alibi—Non ſanat Baptiſmus perfidiorum, non mundat ſed polluit, &c.
London Printed by A. Maxwell and R. Roberts, 1681.
TO THE READER.
Chriſtian Reader!
THE Age wherein we live hath been ſo fruitful in good books of all ſorts, above all the Ages that have gone before us, that were it not for the former part of that Prophecy, Iſa. 11. 9. They ſhall not hurt, nor deſtroy in my holy mountain (at which work we daily ſee Papiſts and Atheiſts yet very buſie), We ſhould conclude this the very time there prophecied of, when the earth ſhould be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea. So as were it not for ſome particular ſubjects, not yet ſo fully handled, and the vanity of humane nature, rather to affect to read the ſame thing in a new book, and a new ſtile, than in one of ancienter date, there might a ſuperſedeas be given to the Preſs, that the world might contain the books of men.
Amongſt other ſubjects, ſomething (in my opinion) as yet too little diſcourſed of, is this of Baptiſm. It hath been diſcourſed by many Syſtimatically, and by many Polemically, but by few Practically. The Papiſts, who for a thouſand years had held the far greater part of the Chriſtian World in ſubjection to their moſt erroneous Doctrines, and ſuperſtitious uſages, attributed ſo great a vertue to the work of Baptiſm done (whether by a Prieſt or a Midwife), and had laid ſo much of their hay and ſtubble on this foundation, that men of ſenſe and Religion could by no means agree to them; and ſome on the other extreme began to think, Baptiſm in the whole was but a needleſs Ceremony, becauſe the Papiſts had added ſo many idle ceremonies to it. Bellarmine reckons no leſs than Twenty-two. 1. The propounding the name. 2. The ſcrutiny, whether the perſons were competent. 3. The Renouncing the Devil, and all his works. 4. A profeſſion of the perſons faith. 5. The ſign of the Croſs. 6. Exorciſms. 7. Breathing on the perſon baptized. 8. Salt put into the mouth. 9. Touching the Childs noſe and ears with Spittle. 10. Unction with Oyl. 11. Laying the Prieſts hands on the child to bleſs it. 12. Abſtenence from wine and fleſh. Theſe he makes Ceremonies neceſſary before Baptiſm. At Baptiſm, 13. The giving of the name to the perſon baptized. 14. Sureties. 15. The Conſecration of the water. 16. Dipping thrice. 17. That it be at Eaſter or Whitſontide. After Baptiſm he makes neceſſary, 18. An holy kiſs. 19. An anointing the crown of the head with Oyl. 20. Putting a lighted Wax-candle into the baptized perſons hands. 21. Putting upon him or her a white garment. 22. Giving the perſon baptized Milk, Honey, or Wine. How vain doth man become in his imaginations, as to ſacred things, when he leaves the word of God! Our Forefathers were imployed in throwing out the Popiſh rubbiſh, and reſtoring the Ordinance to the purity of its Adminiſtration; and while they were doing that, they were troubled with the Socinians (whoſe opinions in this the Quakers now eſpouſe) making Baptiſm needleſs; and with the Antipaedobaptiſts, denying its uſe as to Children: and multitudes of books have been wrote on theſe Arguments. By this time another generation appeared, maintaining Baptiſmal Regeneration, or rather real and true Regeneration, as well as Juſtification upon Baptiſm. Some few books have been wrote on this argument. And I perſwade my ſelf, that one great thing which hath led ſome Divines of note, to aſſert, that the baptized perſons are forthwith juſtified and regenerated, is becauſe they have thought it abſurd ſo much as to imagine, that Chriſt ſhould create an Ordinance that ſhould have no real effect or uſefulneſs; and what effect they ſhould aſcribe to it leſs than this, worthy of ſo great an Inſtitutor, they could not tell: Beſides, that this notion excelently ſerved the deſign of others, who without this diſcharge of the guilt of Adam's, and Original ſin, would have found it an hard task to have maintained a power in mans will to what was ſpiritually good; or Juſtification any other way, than by the imputed Righteouſneſs of Chriſt. Theſe controverſies have ſo imployed the Pens of thoſe great and learned men, who have wrote about Baptiſm, that ſcarce any hath wrote fully and practically upon it, to ſatisfie the world of the uſefulneſs of Baptiſm, or to inſtruct it concerning the exceeding ſolemnity, gravity and ſeriouſneſs of the Action. It is thirty years ſince I (at that time a very young man) endeavoured my own ſatisfaction in the caſe, and then communicated my Meditations from the Pulpit, to the people to whom God had at that time ſet me in relation. Lately I fell upon my Notes, and reviſed them, adding ſome things from my maturer judgment: Diſcourſing them privately, I was deſired by a firſt, and a ſecond perſon, who heard me, to give them the Copies of them, they being perſons whoſe Piety and Judgments I had reaſon to value. I thought they might alſo be uſeful to others, and reſolved to give them both to them and others from the Preſs. Two fruits of this Diſcourſe I would hope for, and ſhall pray for; which if I obtain, I ſhall gain my great end in the Publication of it.
Firſt, That thoſe Parents into whoſe hands it ſhall come, and to whom God ſhall hereafter give Children, which they ſhall offer to God in Baptiſm, would as ſadly reflect upon their former perfunctory performance of their duties in this grave and moſt ſolemn action, and their neglects in minding their children when they have come to years, of this dedication, and of the ſolemn Oath to God, in which they engaged them, and call upon them to remember it to fulfil it: ſo that they would be more grave and ſerious in thoſe actions for the time to come, and not make Chriſtnings (as they call them) meerly times for Compotations, Collations upon friends, and banquets. I did not think it neceſſary; but I bleſs God, this Ordinance had always that awe upon me, that I chuſe to baptize my Children on the Lords-days in the publick Congregation, and with very little company attending from the houſe to the Congregation, thinking in that action I had ſomething elſe to do than to entertain my friends with ordinary diſcourſes.
Secondly, That all perſons baptized may from hence be inſtructed, how uſeful their Baptiſm may be to them, if the fault be not in themſelves, though it doth not actually juſtifie, and waſh away Original ſin (which I durſt not aſſert). By this ſhort diſcourſe, Reader, thou mayeſt (if I miſtake not) eaſily underſtand the nature of Baptiſm, and of thy engagement to God in thy Baptiſm; and know how to make uſe of an Ordinance of God, under which thou haſt been brought, and which, it may be, hath lyen dead by thee many years, becauſe thou knoweſt not how to make a ſpiritual uſe of it. Such as the diſcourſe is, it is now tendred to thee; if it doth thy Soul any good, pray for the Author, who is a debtor to thee, and to all, in the buſineſs of the Goſpel, and
Thy moſt affectionate Friend and Servant for thy Souls advantage, JOHN COLLINGES. Norwich, Dec. 13. 1680.