Notes Upon Texts of Scripture and Popish Errors, Part 7
Of Baptiſm.
CHAP. XXIV.
That Baptiſm is abſolutely neceſſary to Salvation; ſo that thoſe who die without Baptiſm are damned. Concil. Triden. Seſſ. 7. Can. 5. Bellarm. de Amiſſ. grat. & ſtat. peccat. lib. 2. cap. 6.
THE Neceſſity of Baptiſm we conſtantly maintain; and that it is a Law of Chriſt which he hath eſtabliſh'd in the Goſpel to be for ever obſerved. But we think it very uncharitable to determine, that all thoſe that die without it are abſolutely excluded from the Grace of Chriſt: nor have all of the Church of Rome been of this uncharitable Opinion. But it is ſuppoſed, that Martyrdom, or Penance, and Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity, may ſupply the Defects of it. But if Children, which are not capable of theſe, die without Baptiſm, they very uncharitably hold, that they are excluded from all part in Jeſus Chriſt. Which being the general Opinion, the Senſe of the Council of Trent is to be ſuppoſed to intend it.
But by what hath been ſaid in the foregoing Chapter, it appears, that the Grace of God is not abſolutely tied to the Sacraments, but is rather preſuppoſed unto them. So that there is ſometimes Sanctification, Juſtification, and the other Graces, before the uſe of the Sacraments. As Abraham believed, and was juſtified, before he was circumciſed, Rom. 4. 10. Cornelius received the Holy Spirit before he was baptized, Acts 10. 19. And our Adverſaries are forc'd to grant, that there may be Acts of Faith, and Hope, and Charity, without or before the Application of them: As the Thief on the Croſs believed, though he was never baptized, Luke 23. 42. Even after thoſe words were ſpoken by our Saviour, Except a Man be born again of Water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Now if there may be this Grace of Faith without Baptiſm, then ſo likewiſe there may be Salvation. For, John 3. 16. God ſo loved the World, that whoſoever believeth in him ſhould not periſh, but have everlaſting Life. So that if they may believe without Baptiſm, then ſo likewiſe they may be ſaved; as we ſee the Thief on the Croſs was, who entred into Paradiſe without being baptized. Sacraments are Seals of Grace, which they ſerve to increaſe and confirm, as being before; but they do not give Grace or Salvation any other ways, than as they confirm the Covenant, by which it is promiſed to them who are in it.
It is not the Sacraments then which make Children to have part in the Covenant of God, and the Fruits thereof, tho by theſe Rights they are viſibly initiated into the fellowſhip of the Catholick Church. But on the contrary, they receive the Sacraments, becauſe they belong to the Covenant of God before. Gen. 17. 7. God made a Covenant with Abraham for himſelf and his Seed, to be a God unto thee, ſaith he, and thy Seed after thee; and upon this they were to receive the Token of Circumciſion, as a Seal of the Covenant, verſ. 11. So that Circumciſion followed the Clauſes of the Covenant, and did not give them a right to it, nor make them the Children of God, out preſuppoſed their being ſo.
So in the New Teſtament, God hath taken Children into Covenant, together with their Parents that believe; ſo that their Children are holy already before they are baptized, and that from the very Birth, as being born within the Covenant of Grace. 1 Cor. 7. 13, 14. The unbelieving Husband is ſanctified by the Wife, and the unbelieving Wife is ſanctified by the Husband; elſe were your Children unclean, but now are they holy. By which he cannot underſtand Legitimate in oppoſition to Baſtardy; for ſo they would have been, being born in Matrimony, though neither of their Parents had believed. But he means, they are holy to God, by virtue of the Covenant, by which he is the Parent's God, and the God of their Poſterity, Gen. 17. 7. And if the Lord be the God alſo of Children; and if they be holy, being ſprung from the Righteous Seed, how can they poſſibly periſh though they die unbaptized? For though it be a federal Holineſs only, which can be directly argued from words, yet it muſt be ſuppoſed to be ſuch a federal Holineſs, as intitles them to ſaving Benefits contained in the Covenant; which therefore if they die before their actual breach of the Covenant, they ſhall not fail to attain.
Mat. 19. 14. Our Saviour therefore …aith, Suffer little Children to come unto me, for of ſuch is the Kingdom of Heaven. Note, that as the Crown, which is put on the Head of the Children of Kings, doth not acquire to them a right to the Kingdom; but becauſe the Kingdom belongs to them, the Crown which is the Symbol thereof, cannot be denied them. So Baptiſm doth not acquire to Infants a right to the Kingdom of Heaven; but becauſe the Kingdom of Heaven is obtained for them by the Blood of Jeſus Chriſt, Baptiſm, which is the Sacrament thereof, is adminiſtred to them. But the Promiſe of God, for not being ſealed with the outward Sacrament, is never the leſs true, nor leſs conſtant.
Baptiſm ſucceeded Circumciſion, and cometh in the room of it, and is of the ſame uſe to us as Circumciſion to the Jews, as the Apoſtle teacheth, Col. 2. 11, 12. And Circumciſion was as neceſſary to the Iſraelites, as Baptiſm is to us. But now behold the Ordinance of Circumciſion. Gen. 17. 12. Every Child that is eight days old, ſhall be circumciſed among you. Luke 12. 3. In the eighth day the Fleſh of his Foreskin ſhall be circumciſed. It was not to be done before the eighth day; there is no exception made in caſe of neceſſity. Yet ſhall we ſay, that if they died before the eighth day, being uncircumciſed, that then they were not ſaved? What a cruel Law had that been then to limit Circumciſion to the eighth day? David's Child died on the ſeventh day, and therefore before it was circumciſed, 2 Sam. 12. 18. And yet he doth not doubt of the Child's Salvation; verſ. 23. I ſhall go to him, but he ſhall not come to me. Sure he doth not mean in Limbus, or in Hell, but in the place of the Bleſſed. And many of the Children of Iſrael in the Wilderneſs that were not circumciſed, no doubt died in that time, Joſh. 5. 5. And ſhall we think therefore they were all deprived of eternal Salvation? And what became of the other Sex, that were not capable of Circumciſion, if the Sacrament of Circumciſion were abſolutely neceſſary to Salvation? And if that was not abſolutely neceſſary, then why is Baptiſm ſo?
For if Baptiſm be ſo abſolutely neceſſary to eternal Salvation, that all Children dying without it, ſhould be excluded from the Grace of Chriſt, then an infinite number of Children would meerly periſh by the Fault or negligence of others, without their own. This would make the Salvation of a Child to depend upon the Will of a Midwife. If ſhe baptizeth the Child after his coming forth of the Womb, behold he is ſaved; but if ſhe cruſheth him, behold he is loſt for ever. What can be more unreaſonable than this? Ezek. 18. 20. The Soul that ſinneth, it ſhall die; The Son ſhall not bear the Iniquity of the Father. But if a little Child be not baptized, this doth not come from his Fault; and ſure he ſhall not be puniſh'd for the negligence of his Parents, or for want of opportunity. When Moſes neglected to circumciſe his Son, Exod. 4. God ſpared the Child, in that he was Innocent, but ſought to kill Moſes for his careleſneſs in the omiſſion.
Note therefore, that when it is ſaid, Mark 16. 16. He that believeth, and is baptized, ſhall be ſaved. It is plain from the following words, that Baptiſm is not of the ſame neceſſity with Faith; for it is added only, and he that believeth not, ſhall be damned. But it is not ſaid, He that is not baptized ſhall be damned, if ſo be he hath Faith. But that Baptiſm is join'd to Faith in the Promiſe, it is to ſignify and expreſs our duty of publickly teſtifying our Faith in Chriſt, by our being baptized in his Name. So that Baptiſm is here required only as it denotes our external profeſſion of the Faith of Chriſt, which is to be notified by Baptiſm, as the ſolemn and viſible Sign of it; Baptiſm being a Right divinely inſtituted for that end.
So again, when it is ſaid, Acts 2. 38. Repent, and be baptized, for the remiſſion of Sin. And, Chap, 22. 16. Ariſe and be baptized, and waſh away thy Sins, calling on the Name of the Lord. It is ſo required and expreſt, becauſe Men expreſs and teſtify their Faith and Repentance by Baptiſm, that they may obtain remiſſion of Sin. And 'tis by Baptiſm that God ſeals to them remiſſion of Sin, upon their Repentance and Faith in Chriſt, therein teſtified and expreſs'd. 'Tis the faithful undertaking of the Baptiſmal Covenant, that is the condition of Salvation. And Baptiſm it ſelf is required only as it is neceſſary to notify and own this our Conſent and Covenant unto others. And if we perform the Condition, the want of the uſe of the Sign, when it doth not ariſe from our own neglect, ſhall not hurt us.
As for John 3. 5. and Tit. 3. 5. ſee in the former Chapter.
Obſerve only this farther, that by reaſon of the Opinion of the abſolute neceſſity of Baptiſm to Salvation, the Church of Rome hath impowred Midwives, or any other Perſon, to adminiſter it in caſe of peril of Death. But this Opinion being overthrown, it is evident that that Practice is groundleſs, it being the contempt (which is a virtual rejection of the Chriſtian Faith) and not a bare want of it that is damning. Moreover, it is plain, that our Saviour hath committed the adminiſtration of the Sacrament to thoſe to whom he committed the Office of Teaching; Matth. 28. 19, 20. Go teach all Nations, baptizing them. But this Office was committed to the Apoſtles and their Succeſſors in the Miniſtry, and not to Women, to whom the Apoſtle hath prohibited it; therefore ſo is the adminiſtration of Baptiſm prohibited to them likewiſe.