Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 7
SERMON VII.
Preached at a Christning.
GAL. 3. 27.
For, all yee that are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
THis text is a Reason of a Reason; an Argument of an Argument; The proposition undertaken by the Apostle to prove, is, That after faith is come, we are no longer under the Schoolmaster, v. 25. 26.the law. The reason, by which he proves that, is: For yee are all the Sonnes of God by faith, in Christ Jesus; And then the reason of that, is this text, for all yee that are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
Here then is the progresse of a sanctified Man, and here is his standing house; here is his journey, and his Lodging; his way, and his end. The house, the lodging, the end of all is faith; for whatsoever is not of faith, is sinne. To be sure that you are in the right way to that, you must find your selves to be the Sonnes of God; And you can prove that, by no other way to your selves, but because you are baptized into Christ.
So that our happinesse is now at that height, and so much are we preferred before the Iews, that whereas the chiefest happinesse of the Jews was to have the law, (for without the law they could not have known sinne, and the law was their Schoolmaster to find out Christ) we are admitted to that degree of perfection, that we are got above the law; It was their happinesse to have had the law, but it is ours, not to need it: They had the benefit of a guide, to direct them, but we are at our journies end; They had a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ; but we have proceeded so farre, as that we are in possession of Christ. The law of Moses therefore, binds us not at all, as it is his Law; Whatsoever binds a Christian, in that law, would have bound him, though there had been no law given to Moses. The Ceremoniall part of that law, which was in the institution, Mortale, (it was mortall, It might die) and by Christs determination of those Typicall things, Mortuum, (It did die) is now also Mortiferum, (deadly) so that it is sinne to draw any part of that law, into a necessity of observation; because the necessary admission of any Type, or figure, implies a confession, that that which was signified, or figured, is not yet come; So that that law, and Christ cannot consist together. The Iudiciall law of Moses, was certainly the most absolute, and perfect law of government, which could have been given to that people, for whom it was given; but yet to thinke, that all States are bound to observe those lawes, because God gave them, hath no more ground, then that all Men are bound to goe clothed in beasts skinnes, because God apparelled Adam, and Eve in that fashion.
And for the morall part of that law, and the abridgement of that morall part, the decalogue, that begunne not to have force, and efficacy then, when God writ it in the tables; but was always, and always shall be written in the hearts of Men; And though God of his goodnesse, was pleased to give that declaration of it, and that provocation to it, by so writing it, yet if he had not written it, or if (which is impossible) that writing could perish, yet that morall law, those commandements, would bind us, that are Christians, after the expiration of that law, which was Moses law, as it did (de Iure) bind all those which lived, before any written law was. So that he that will perfectly understand, what appertaines to his duty in any of the ten Commandements; he must not consider that law, with any limitation, as it was given to the Iews, but consider what he would have done, if he had lived before the Tables had been written. For certainely, even in the Commandement of the Sabbath, which was accompanied with so many Ceremonies amongst the Iews, that part onelyonly is morall, which had bound us, though that Commandement had never been given; and he that performes that part, keepes the Sabbath; the Ceremoniall part of it, is not onelyonly not necessary; but when it is done with an opinion of necessity, it is erroneous, and sinfull. For neither that Commandement nor any other of the ten, began to bind them, when they were written, nor doth bind now, except it bound before that.
Thus far then we are directed by this Text, (which is as far, as we can goe in this life) To prove to our selves, that we have faith, we must prove, that wee need not the law; To prove that emanecipation, and liberty, we must prove, that we are the sonnes of God; To prove that ingraffing, and that adoption, we must prove, that we have put on Christ Iesus; And to prove that apparelling of our selves, our proofe is, that we are baptized into him.
All proofes must either arrest, and determine in some things confessed, and agreed upon, or else they proceed in infinitum. That which the Apostle takes to be that which is granted on all sides, and which none can deny, is this, that to be baptized is to put on Christ: And this putting on of Christ, doth so far carry us to that Infinitissimum, to God himselfe, that we are thereby made Semen Dei, the seed of God; The field is the world, Mat. 13.and the good seed are the Children of the kingdome; And we are translated even into the nature of God,2 Pet. 1. By his pretious promises we are made partakers of the Divine nature; yea, we are discharged of all bodily, and earthly incombrances, and we are made all spirit, 1 Cor. 6.yea the spirit of God himselfe, He that is joyned to the Lord, is one spirit with him. All this we have, if we doe put on Christ: and we doe put on Christ, if we be baptized into him.
These then are the two actions which we are now to consider: Baptizari, To be washed.Divisio: Induere, To be cloathed.
Induere, is to cover so far, as that Covering can reach; A hat covers the head; a glove the hand; and other garments, more; But Christ, when he is put on, Covers us all. If we have weake heads, shallow brains, either a silexce, and a reservednes, which make the foole and the wise equall, or the good interpretation of friends, which put good Constructions upon all that we say, or the dignity of autority, and some great place, which we hold, which puts an opinion in the people, that we are wise, or else we had never been brought thither, these cover our heads, and hide any defect in them. If we have foule hands, we can cover them, with excuses; If they be foule with usurious Extortion, we can put on a glove, an excuse, and say, He that borrowed my money, got more by it, then I that lent it; If, with bribery in an office, we can cover it and say, He that knew, that I bought my office, will be content to let me be a saver by it; If our hands be foule with shedding of innocent bloud, as Saint Hierome sayes that Adam eate the Apple, Ne contristaretur Delicias suas, left he should over grieve his wife, by refusing it, Ne contristaremur Delicias nostras, either because we would not displease another, or because our beloved sinne, to which we had maried our selves, did sollicite us to it. Particular excuses cover our particular defects, from the sight of men, but to put on Christ, covers us all over, even from the sight of God himselfe. So that how narrowly so ever he search into us, he sees nothing but the whitenesse of his Sonnes innocency, and the rednesse of his Sonnes bloud.
When the prodigall child returned to his father, his father clothed him intirely, and all at once; he put a robe upon him, to cover all his defects: which Robe, when God puts upon us, in clothing us with Christ, that robe is not onelyonly Dignitaes quam perdidit Adam, as Augustine says, but it is Amictus sapientiae, Augustine. Ambrose.as Ambrase enlarges it, It does not onelyonly make us aswell, as we were in Adam, but it enables us better, to preserve that state; It does not onelyonly cover us, that is, make us excusable, for our past, and present sinnes, but it indues us with grace; and wisdome to keep that robe still, and never to returne to our former foulnesses, and deformities.
Our first parents Adam and Eve were naked all over; but they were not sensible of all their nakednesse, but onelyonly of those parts whereof they were ashamed. Nothing but the shame of the world makes us discerne our deformities; And onelyonly for those faults, which shame makes us take knowledge of, we goe about to provide; And we provide nothing but short Aprons, as that word signified; and those but of fig-leaves; That which comes first to hand, and that which is withered before it is made, that doe we take for an excuse, for an aversion of our owne conscience, when she begins to cast an eye, or to examine the nakednesse, and deformities of our soules.
But when God came to cloath them, their short aprons were extended to coates, Gen. 3. 21.that covered them all over, and their fig-leaves to strong skins; for God saw that not onelyonly those parts, of which they were already ashamed, needed covering, but that in all their other parts, if they continued, naked, and still exposed to the Injurie, and violence of the weather, they would contract diseases, and infirmities; and therefore God covers them so throughly, as he doth not onelyonly provide for reparation of former inconveniences, but prepare against future.
And so perfect effects doth this garment, Christ Iesus, work upon us, if we put him on; He doth not onelyonly cover Originall sinnes, (which is the effect of those disobedient Members, which derive sinne, upon us, in the sinfull generation of our parents) but he covers all our actuall sinnes, which we multiplie every day: and not onelyonly those, which the world makes us ashamed of, but which we hide from the world; yea which we hide from our selfes; that is, sinnes, which by a long custome of practise, we commit so habitually, and so indifferently, as that we have forgot, that they are sinnes.
But as it was in Adams Clothing there, so must it be in our spirituall putting on of Christ. The word used there, Labash, doth not signifie that God cloathed Adam, nor that Adam cloathed himselfe; but as the Grammarians call it, it is in Hiphil, and it signified Induere fecit eos; God caused them to be cloathed, or God caused them to cloath themselves; which is also intimated, nay evidently expressed in the words of this text; we are our selves poore, and impotent creatures, we cannot make our selves ready; we are poore and beggerly creatures, we have nothing to put on; Christ is that garment; and then Christ is the very life, by which we stretch out our armes and our legs, to put on that garment; yea he puts it on upon us, he doth the whole worke: but yet he doth not thrust it on: He makes us Able to put it on: but if we be not willing, then he puts no necessity upon our will: but we remaine naked still.
Induere then, to put on, is an extension, a dilatation over all; And sometimes it signifies an abundant, and overflowing, and overwhelming measure of Gods judgements upon us, Princeps Induetur desolatione, Ezech. 7. 27. & 16. 16.The prince shalbe … with desolation and with astonishment: But most commonly, the rich and all-sufficient proportion of his mercies and spirituall benefits: as he expressed it to his Apostles, at his ascension, Stay you in the Citty, quousque Induamini virtute ex alto; till ye be indued (so we translate it) that is, cloathed with power from on high. And this was per fidem ei innitends, Luke 24. 49.and per opera cum declar ando, says Saint Augustine, He onelyonly hath pat on Christ, which hath Christ in himselfe by faith, and shewes him to others by his works, which is Lucern… ardens, (as Christ said of Iohn Baptist) a burning lamp, and a shining lamp, profitable to others, as well as to himselfe.
There is a degree of vanity, and pride, whereby some Men delight to weare their richest clothes innermost, and most out of sight; But in this double garment of a Christian, it is necessarily so; for faith is the richest, and most precious part of this garment; an this, which is our Holy-day garment, is worne innermost; for that (our faith) is onelyonly seen by God; but our outward garment, of workes, which is our workyday garment, that is our sanctification is seen of all the world. And that also must be put on, or else we have not put on Christ: and it must cover us all over; that is, our sanctification must goe through our whole life in a constant, and an even perseverance; we must not onelyonly be Hospitale, and feed the poore at Christmas, be sober, and abstinent, the day that we receive, repent, and thinke of amendment of life, in the day of visitation, and sicknesse; but as the garment, which Christ wore, was seamlesse, and intire, so this garment, which is Christ Iesus, that is, our sanctification, should be intire, and uninterrupted, in the whole course of our lives, we must remember, that at the Mariage which figured the kingdome of heaven, the master of the feast reprehended,Mat. 22. and punished him, that was come in, not expresly because he had not a wedding garment, but Qu…modo intrasti, says he, how camest thou in not having on thy wedding garment? So that (if it could be possible) though we had put on the inside of this garment, which is Christ, that is, if we had faith, yet if we have not the outside too, that is sanctification, we have not put on Christ, as we should; for this is Indui virtute ex alto; to have both inside, faith, and outside, sanctification: and to put it on so, that it may cover us all over, that is all our life; because it is not in our power, if we put it off, by new sinnes, to put it on againe, when we will. I have put off my coate, how shall I put it on, 5. 3.was the doubt of the spouse, in the Canticles, even when Christ had called her: So hard a thing is it, if we devest the righteousnesse of Christ, after we have put it on, to cloth our selves againe in that garment.
As then this word, Induere, to put on, to be clothed, signifies a largenesse, and an abundance, according to that, The pastures are clothed with sheep, and the vallies with corne: Psal. 65.So is this garment, Christ Jesus, such a garment, as is alone so all sufficient, as that if we doe put on that, we need no other; Put yee on the Lord Iesus Christ,Rom. 13. and take no thought for the flesh; if ye have put on that, you are clothed, and armed, and adorned sufficiently.
In the first creation, in the Faciamus hominem ad Imaginem nostrûm, when God seems to have held a consultation about the making of Man, man put on all the Trinity, all God; & in the redemption God put on all Man; not onelyonly all the nature of Mankind in generall, but in particular, every Man. But as the spirit of God,I…d: 6. 34. is said to have put on a particular Man, Spiritus Domini induit Gedeon, the spirit of the Lord, clothed, or put on Gedeon, when he selected him for his service, so must the spirit of every particular Man, put on Christ, he must not be content, to be under the generall cover, (either under his general providence, because he is a Creature, or a member of his Mysticall body, because he adheres to a visible Church) he must not say, I am as warm clothed, as another, I have as much of Christ in me, as a great many, that doe well enough in the world, but he must so inwrap himselfe in Christ, and in his Merits, as to make all that to be his owne. No man may take the frame of Christs merit in peeces; no Man may take his forty days fasting and put on that, and say, Christ hath fasted for me, and therefore I may surfeit; No man may take his Agony, and pensivenesse, and put on that, and say, Christ hath been sad for me, and therefore I may be merry. He that puts on Christ, must put him on all… and not onelyonly find, that Christ hath dyed, nor onelyonly that he hath died for him, but that he also hath died in Christ, and that whatsoever Christ suffered, he suffered in Christ.
For, as Christs merit, and satisfaction, is not too narrow for all the world, so is it not too large for any one Man; Infinite worlds might have been saved by it, if infinite worlds had been created; And, if there were no more Names in the book of life, but thine, all the Merit of Christ were but enough to save thy one sinfull soule, which could not have been redeemed, though alone, at any lesse price, then his death.
All that Christ did, and suffered, he did and suffered for thee, as thee; not onelyonly …s Man, but as that particular Man, which bears such, or such a name; and rather, then any of those, whom he loves, should appeare naked before his Father, and so discover to his confusion, those scarres, and deformities, which his sinnes have imprinted upon him, (as his love is devoutly, and plously extended by the Schooles and some contemplative Men) Christ would be content to doe, and suffer, as much as he hath done, for any one particular Man yet: But beyond Infinite, there is no degree: and his merit was infinite, both because an infinite Majesty resided in his person, and because an infinte Majesty accepted his sacrifice for infinite.
But this act of Christ, this redemption makes us onelyonly servants; servi à servand…, we are servants to him, that preserved, and saved us, is the derivation of the Law. But the application of this redemption (which is the putting on of Christ,) makes us s…ns; for we are not to put on Christ, onelyonly as a Livery, to be distinguished by externall marks of Christianity; but so, as the sonne puts on his father; that we may be of the same nature and substance as he; and that God may be in us, Non tanquam in denario, not as the King is in a peece of coine, or a medall, but tanquam in filio, as he is in his sonne, in whom the same nature both humane, and Royall doth reside.
There is then a double Induere, a twofold clothing; we may … 1. Vestem, put on a garment; 2. Personam, put on a person. We may put on Christ so, as we shall be his, and we may put him on so, as we shall be He. And even to put him on as a garment is also twofold; The first is to take onelyonly the outward name, and profession of Christians upon us;Hag. 1. and this do…h us no good; yee cloth ye, but are not warme, says the Prophet, of this kind of putting on of Christ. For this may be done onelyonly to delude others;Zach. 13. which practise God discovered, and threatned, in the false Prophets, The Prophets shall not weare a rough garment to deceive; As God himselfe cannot be deluded, so for the encouragement of his Church, he will take off this garment of the Hypocrite, and discover his nakednesse, and expose him to the open shame of the world; He shall not weare arough garment to deceive.
For this is such an affront and scorne to Christ, as Han… cutting off of Davids servants clothes at the middle,1 Chron. 19. 4. was; we make this garment of what stuffe, and what fashion we list; As Hanun did, we cut it off in the middle; we will be Christians till noone, (in the outward acts of Religion) and Liberti…es in the after-noone, in putting off that garment againe; we will be Christians all day, and returne to wanto…nesse, and licentiousnesse at night; we do that which Christ says, no Man doth, (that is, no Man should doe)Mat. 9. we put new peeces to an old garment; and to that habite of sinne, which covers us as a garment, we put a few new patches of Religion, a few flashes of repentance, a few shreds of a Sermo…, but we put not on, that intire and feamlesse garment Christ Jesus.
And can we hope, that these disguises, these halfe coates, these imperfect services will be acceptable to God, when we our selves would not admit this, at our children, or at our servants hands? It is the argument by which the Prophet convinces the Israelites, Mal 1.about their uncleane sacrifices; offer this now unto the Prince; will he be conte…t with thee, and accept thy person? If thou shouldest weare the princes Livery, in a scantler proportion, or in a different fashion, or in a courset stuffe, then belongs to thy place, would he accept it at thy hands? No more will Christ if thou put him on, (that is, take his profession upon thee) either in a co…ser stuffe, (Traditions of Men, in stead of his word) or in scantler measure, (not to be always a Christian, but then, when thou hast use of being one) or in a different fashion, (to be singular and Schis…aticall in thy opinion) for this is one, but an ill manner of putting on of Christ as a garment.
The second, and the good way is, to put on his righteousnesse, and his innocency, by imitation, and conforming our selves to him. Now when we goe about earnestly to make our selves Temples, and Altars, and to dedicate our selves to God, we must change our clothes;Gan. 35. As when God bad Iacob, to goe up to Bethel, to make an Altar, he commanded all his family to change their clothes; In which work, we have two things, to doe; first, we must put off those clothes which we had; and appeare naked before God, without presenting any thing of our owne; (for when the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and that he prophecyed, his first act was,1 Sam. 19. to strip himselfe naked: And then s…condly, we come to our transfiguration, and to have those garments of Christ communicated to us which were as white, as the light; and we shall be admitted into that little number,Mat. 17. of which it is said, Thou hast a few Namees in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, Revel. 3.and they shall walke with …e in white.
And from this (which is Induere vestem,)Personam. from this putting on Christ as a garment, we shall grow up to that perfection, as that we shall In…ere personam, put on hi…, his person; That is, we shall so appeare before the Father, as that he shall take us for his owne Christ; we shall beare his name and person; and we shall every one be so accepted, as if every one of us were all Mankind; yea, as if we were he himselfe. He shall find in all our bodies his woundes, in all our mindes, his …; in all our hearts, and actions his obedience. And as he shall doe this by imp…tation, so really in all our Agonies, he shall send his Angels to minister unto us, as he did to Eli…s; In all our tentations he shall furnish us with his Scriptures to confo…d the Tempter, as be in person, did in his tentation, and in our heaviest tribulation, which may ex… from us the voice of diffidence, My God, My God, why hast … forsaken me? He shall give us the assurance to say, In manus tuas &c… Into thy …ands O Lord have I co…nded my spirit, and there I am safe; He shall use us in all things, as his sonne; and we shall find restored in us, the Image of the whole Trinity, imprinted at our creation; for by this Regeneration, we are adopted by the Father in the bloud of the Sonne by the sanctification of the holy Ghost.
Now this putting on of Christ,Baptismus. whereby we stand in his place at Gods Tribunall, implies, as I said, both our Election, and our sanctification; both the eternall purpose of God upon us, and his execution of that purpose in us. And because by the first (by our Election) we are members of Christ, in Gods purpose, before baptisme, and the second, (which is sanctification) is expressed after baptisme, in our lives, and conversation, therefore Baptisme intervenes, and comes between both, as a seale of the first, (of Election) and as an instrument, and conduit of the second, Sanctification.
Now, Abscendita Domin…, Dea nostro, quae manifesta su…s nobis; let no Man be too curiously busie, to search what God does in his hedchamber; we have all enough to answer, for that, which we have done in our bedchamber. For Gods eternall decree, himselfe is master of those Rolls; but out of those Rolls he doth exemplifie those decrees in the Sacrament of baptisme; by which Copy, and exemplification of his invisible and unsearchable decree, we plead to the Church, that we are Gods children, we plead to our owne consciences, that we have the Spirit of adoption, and we plead to God himselfe, the obligation of his own promise, that we have a right to this garment, Christ Iesus, and to those graces, which must sanctifie us; for from thence comes the reason of this text, for all ye… that are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
As we cannot see the Essence of God, but must see him in his glasses, in his Images, in his Creatures, so we cannot see the decrees of God, but must see them in their duplicats, in their exemplification, in the sacraments. As it would doe him no good, that were condemned of treason, that a Bedchamber man should come to the Judge, and swear he saw the king signe the prisoners pardon, except he had it to pleade: so what assurance soever, what pri…y marke soever, those men, which pretend to be so well acquainted, and so familiar with the decrees of God, to give thee to know, that thou art elect to eternall salvation, yea if an Angel from heaven comedowne and tell thee, that he saw thy name in the booke of life, if thou have not this Exemplification of the decree, this seale, this Sacrament, if thou beest not baptized, never delude thy selfe with those imaginary assurances.
This Baptisme then is so necessary, that first, as Baptisme (in a large acceptation) signifies our dying, and buriall with Christ, and all the acts of our regeneration, so in that large sense, our whole life is a baptisme: But the very sacrament of Baptisme… the actuall administration, and receiving thereof, was held so necessary, that even for legall and Civill uses, (as in the law, that child, that dyed without circumcision, had no interest in the family, no participation of the honor, nor name thereof) So that we see in the reckning of the Genealogy,1 Chron. 3. and pedegree of David, that first sonne of his, which he had by Bathshebae, which dyed without circumcision is never mentioned, nor toucht upon.) So also, since the time of M…ses law, in the Imperiall law, by which law, a posthume child, borne after the fathers death, is equall with the rest in division of the state, yet if that child dye before he be baptized, no person which should derive a right from him, (as the mother might, if he dyed) can have any title by him; because he is not considered to have been at all, if he dye unbaptized. And if the State will not beleeve him to be a full Man, shall the Church beleeve him to be a full Christian, before baptisme? Yea, the apprehension of the necessity of this Sacrament, was so common, and so generall, even in the beginning of the Christian Church, that out of an excessive advancing of that trnth, they came also to a falshood… to an error, That even they that dyed without baptisme, might have the benefit of baptisme, if another were baptized in their name, after their death… And so, out of a mistaking of those words,1 Cor. 15. 29. Else what shall they doe, Qui baptizantur pro mortuis (which is, that are ready to dye, when they are baptized) the Marcionites induc'd a custome, to lay one under the dead bodyes bed, that he, in the name of the dead man, might answer to all the questions usually asked, in administring of Baptisme.
But this was a corrupt effect of pure, and sincere doctrine, which doctrine is, That Baptisme is so necessary, as that God. hath placed no other ordinary scale, nor conveyance of his graces in his Church, to them that have not received that, then buptisme. And they, who doe not provide duly, for the Baptisme of their children, if their children die, have a heavier accompt to make to God for that child, then if they had not provided a Nurse, and suffered the child to starve. God can preserve the child without Milke; and he can save the child without a sacrament; but as that mother that throwes out, and forsakes her child in the field, or wood, is guilty before God of the Temporall murder of that child, though the child die not, so are those parents of a spirituall murder, if their children, by their fault die unbaptized, though God preserve that child out of his abundant, and miraculous mercy, from spirituall destruction.
When the custome of the Christian Church was to baptize but twice in the year, at Easter, and Whi…sontide, for the greater solemnity of that action, yea when that ill custome was grown (as it was even in the Primitive Church) that upon an opinion, that all sins were absolutely forgiven in Baptisme, Men did defer their Baptisme, till their death-bed, (as we see the Ecclesiasticall histories full of such examples, even in some of the Christian Emperors: and according to this ill custome, we see Tertullian chides away young children for comming so soon to Baptisme, quid festinat innocens aetas, ad rem…ssionem peccatorum, why should this child, that as yet hath done no sinne, make such hast to be washed from sinnce?) which opinion had got so much strength, that Saint Basil was faine to oppose it, in the Easterne Church, and both the Gregories, Nazianzen and Nissen, and Saint Ambrose in the Western; yet, in the height of both their customes, of seldome baptizing, and of late baptizing, the case of insants, that might be in danger of dying without baptisme, was ever excepted, So that none of those old customes, (though some of them were extreamly ill) went ever so farre, as to an opinion, that it were all one, whether the child were baptized or no.
I speake not this, as though the state of children that died without baptisme were desperate; God forbid, for who shall shorten the Arme of the Lord? God is able to raine downe Manna and Quailes into the soules of these children, though negligent parents turne them out into the wildernesse, and put God to that extraordinary work. They may have Manna, and Quailes, but they have not the Milke, and Hony, of the Land of promise; They may have salvation from God, but they have not those graces, so sealed, and so testified to them, as God hath promised they should be in his Sacraments. When God in spirituall offences, makes Inquisition of bloud, he proceeds not, as Man proceeds; for we, till there appear a Man to be dead, never inquire who killed him; but in the spirituall Murder, of an unbaptized child, though there be no child spiritually dead, (though Gods mercy have preserved the child from that) yet God imputes this as such a murder to them, who endangered the child, as farre as they could, by neglecting his ordinance of baptisme.
This is then the necessity of this Sacrament; not absolutely necessary, but necessary by Gods ordinary institution; and as it is always necessary, so is it always certaine; whosoever is baptized according to Christs institution, receives the Sacrament of baptisme; and the truth is always infallibly annexed with the signe; Nec fieri potest visio hominis, ut non sit Sacramentum quod figurat; Though the wicked may feele no working by the Sacrament, yet the Sacrament doth offer, and present grace as well to the unworthy as to the worthy Receiver:Calvin. Nec fallaciter promittit; The wicked may be a cause, that the Sacrament shall doe them no good; but that the Sacrament, become no Sacrament, or that God should be false in his promises, and offer no grace, where he pretends to offer it, this the wicked cannot doe; baptisme doth truly, and without collusion, offer grace to all; and nothing but baptisme, by an ordinary institution, and as an ordinary meanes, doth so: for when baptisme is called a figure, yet both that figure is said there to save us, 1 Pet. 3. 21.(The figure that now saveth us, baptisme; and it is a figure of the Arke; it hath relation to it, to that Arke which did save the world, when it is called a figure; So it may be a figure; but if we speake of reall salvation by it, baptisme is more then a figure.
Now as our putting on of Christ was double, by faith, and by sanctification, so by this Sacrament also, we are baptized in Nomen Christi, into the Name of Christ, and in mortem Christi, into the death of Christ: we are not therefore baptized into his Name, because names are imposed upon us in our baptisme: for that was not always permanently accustomed, in the Christian Church, to give a name at baptisme. To men who were of years, and well known in the world already by their name… if they were converted to the Christian faith, the Church did not use to give new names at their baptisme: neither to Children alwayes; but sometimes as an indifferent thing, they left them to the custome of that country, or of that family, from which they were derived. When Saint Augustine sayes, that he came to Milan, to S. Ambrose, at that time, qu… dari nomina oportuit, when Names were to be given, it is true, that he speaks of a time, when Baptisme was to be administred, but that phrase of Giving of Names, was not a receiving of Names at Baptisme, (for neither Ambrose, nor Augustine, received any new name at their Baptisme) but it was a giving up of their Names, a Registring, a Matriculating of their Names in the book of the profession of the Christian Religion, and a publique declaration of that profession.
To be baptized therefore into the name of Christ, is to be translated into his Family, by this spirituall adoption, in which adoption (when it was legall) as they that were adopted, had also the name of the family into which they were adopted, as of octavius Octavianus, and the rest, so are we so baptized, into his name, that we are of Christus Christiani; and therefore to become truly Christians, to live Christianly, this is truly to be baptized into his name.
No other name is given under heaven, whereby we can be saved; nor must any other name accompany the name of God, in our Baptisme. When therefore they teach in the Romane Church, that it is a good Baptisme, which is administred in this forme, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and Sonne, and holy Ghost, and the virgin Mary, if he which baptizes so, doe not meane in his intention, that the virgin Mary is equall to the Trinity, but onelyonly an assistant, this is not onelyonly an impertinent, but an impious addition to that God, that needs no assistant. And as in our baptisme, we take no other name necessarily, but the name of Christ: So in our Christian life, we accept no other distinctions of Iesuits, or Franciscans; but onelyonly Christians: for we are baptized into his name, and the whole life of a regenerate man is a Baptisme. For as in putting on Christ, sanctification doth accompany faith, so in baptisme, the imitation of his death (that is, mortification) and the application of his passion, (by fulfilling the sufferings of Christ in our flesh) is that baptisme into his death. Which doe so certainly follow one another, (that he that is truly baptized into the name of Christ, is also baptized into his death) as that Saint Paul couples them together,1 Cor. 1. 13. Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized into the name of Pa…l? If you were not baptized into his name, then you have no interest, no benefit by his death, nor by any thing which he suffered, that his merits, or his works of supereragation should be applied to you: And if he did not suffer for you, (if all that any Paul (much lesse any Ignatins) could doe, were but enough, and too little for himselfe) then you are not baptized into his name, nor to be denominate by him.
This is then to be Baptized into Christs death, Habere, & reddere testimonium, Christam pro me mortuum, to be sure that Chirst dyed for me; and to be ready to dye for him; so that I may fulfill his sufferings, and may think that all is not done, which belongs to my Redemption, except I finde a mortification in my selfe. Not that any mortification of mine, works any thing, as a cause of my redemption, but as an assurance and testimony of it; … sit pignus & sigillu… redemptionis; It is a pledge, and it is a Seale, of my redemption.
Christ calls his death a Baptisme; So Saint Augustine calls our Baptisme a death, Quod crux Christo, & Sep…lcr…m, id nobis Baptisma; Baptisme to us, says he, is our Croffe, and our passion, and our buriall; that is, in that, we are conformed to Christ as he suffered, dyed, and was buried. Because if we be so baptized into his Name, and into his death, we are thereby dead to sinne, and have dyed the death of the righteous.
Since then Baptisme is the death of sinne, and there cannot be this death, this conquest, this victory over sinne, without faith, there must necessarily faith, concurre with this baptisme; for if there be not faith, (none in the child, none in the parents, none in the sureties, none in the Church) then there is no baptisme performed; Now, in the Child there is none actually; In the sureties, we are not sure, there is any; for their infidelity cannot impeach the sacrament; The child is well baptized though they should be misbeleevers; for, when the Minister shall aske them, Doest thou beleeve in God? dost thou renounce the Devill? perchance they may ly in their owne behalfes; perchance they doe not beleeve, they doe not renounce, but they speake truth in the behalfe of the child, when they speake in the voyce of the Church who receives this child for her childe, and binds her selfe to exhibit, and reach out to that child, her spirituall paps, for her future nourishment thereof. How comes it to passe, says Saint Augustine, that when a man presents another mans child at the font, to be baptized, if the Minister should aske him, Shall this man child be a valiant man, or a wise man, shall this woman child, be a chast, and a continent woman? the surety would answer, I cannot tell, and yet, if he be ask'd, of that child, of so few dayes old, Doth that child beleeve in God now, will he renounce the Devill hereafter? the surety answers confidently, in his behalfe, for the beleefe, and for the renouncing: How comes this to passe, says Saint Augustine? He answers to this, that as Sacramentum Corporis Christi, est secundum modum Corpus Christi, so Sacramentum fidei est fides; As the Sacrament of the body, and bloud of Christ is, in some sense, and in a kinde, the body, and bloud of Christ, says Augustine, so in the sacrament of faith, says he, (that is, Baptisme) there is some kinde of faith. Here is a child borne of faithfull parents; and there is the voyce of God, who hath sealed a Covenant to them, and their seed; Here are sureties, that live (by Gods gratious spirit) in the unity, and in the bosome of the Church: and so, the parents present it to them, they present it to the Church, and the Church takes it into her care; It is still the naturall child, of her parents, who begot it, it is the spirituall child of the Sureties that present it; but it is the Christian child of the Church, who in the sacrament of Baptisme, gives it a new inanimation, and who, if either parents, or sureties, should neglect their parts, will have a care of it, and breed it up to a perfection, and full growth of that faith, whereof it hath this day, an inchoation and beginning.
As then we have said, that Baptisme is a death, a death of sinne, and as we said before, sinne dyes not without faith, so also can there be no death of sinne, without sorrow, and contrition, which onelyonly washes away sinne: as therefore we see the Church, and Christs institution, furnishes this child, with faith, which it hath not of it selfe, so let us bring to this action, that sorrow and that condoling, that we produce into the world such miserable wretches, as even by peccatum involuntarium, by that sinne, to which no act, nay no will of theirs concurred, that is, Originall sinne, are yet put into the state of damnation.
But let us also rejoyce, in our owne, and this childes behalfe, that as we that have been baptized, so this child, that shall be, have, and shall put on Christ Jesus in Baptisme.Augustine. Both as a garment, for Sacramenta sunt vestimenta, As Christ is a garment, so the Sacraments are Christs garment,Idem. and as such a garment; as Ornat militem, and convincit desertores, It gives him, that continues in Gods battailes, a dignity, and discovers him that forsakes Gods tents, to be a fugitive; Baptisme is a garland, in which two ends are brought together, he begins aright, and perseveres, so, Ornat militem, It is an honour to him, that fights out in Gods battaile, but Convincit Desertorem, Baptisme is our prest-money, and if we forsake our colours, after we have received that, even that forfaits our lives; our very having been baptized, shall aggravate our condemnation. Yea it is such a garment, as those of the children of Israel in the wildernesse, which are (by some expositors) thought to have growne all the forty yeares, with their bodies; for so by Gods blessed provision, shall grace grow with this infant, to the lifes end. And both we and it, shall not onelyonly put on Christ, as a garment, but we shall put on his person, and we shall stand before his Father, with the confidence, and assurance of bearing his person, and the dignity of his innocence.