Gold Refined, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Proving Baptiſm to be Immerging or Dipping, from thoſe Typical and Metaphorical Baptiſms ſpoken of in Scripture.
THat we might remove every ſtumbling-block out of the way, if poſſible, we ſhall ſhew you what thoſe Metaphorical Baptiſms ſpoken of in the Scripture do hold forth.
1. We read of the Baptiſm of Afflictions or Sufferings,Woy great Afflictions are called Baptiſm. Mat. 20. 22, 23. Mark 10. 38. Luk. 12. 50. I have a Baptiſm to be baptized with, and how am I ſtraitned till it be accompliſhed! From the literal Signification of the word Baptizo, viz. drown, immerge, plunge under, overwhelm, great Afflictions come to be called Baptiſm, and ſignifies, as Vo…lius ſhews, not every light Affliction, but that which is vehement and overwhelming, as there are Waves of Perſecution and Tribulation mention'd in Scripture; ſo ſuch as are drown'd and overwhelm'd by them may ſeem in a myſtical way to be baptized; the reaſon of the Metaphor is taken from many deep Waters to which Calamities are compared; He drew me out of great Waters, ſaith David, Psal. 32. 6. I am come into deep Waters where the Floods overflow me, Psal. 69. 1, 2. and hence great Afflictions are called Waves, or compared to the Waves of the Sea that overflow, T…y Waves and thy Billows are gone over me, Psal. 42. 7. Chriſt spake of his Suffering, who was as it were drowned, or drenched, or overwhelmed in Miſery, no part free: every Suffering is not the Baptiſm of Suffering, but great and deep Afflictions, suffering unto Blood and Death, in oppoſition to a leſſer degree or meaſure of them, being dipp'd and plunged into Afflictions.
Mr. Wilſon on the Baptiſm of Affliction renders it to plunge into Afflictions or Dangers as it were, saith he, into deep Waters; ſo that it appears alſo from this Metaphorical Notion of Baptiſm, to baptize is to dip, or overwhelm, or cover the Body in Water.See Continuation of Mr. Pool's Annotat. on Mat. 20. 22▪ See what our laſt and beſt Annotators poſitively affirm on Matth. 20. 22. To be baptized, is to be dipped in Water, ſay they, Metaphorically; to be plunged in A…flictions. I am, ſaith Chriſt, to be baptized with Blood, overwhelmed with Sufferings and Afflictions; are you able ſo to be? &c.
2. We read of the Baptiſm of the Holy Ghoſt and Fire:Mat. 3. 11. Mark 1. & Luk. 3. 16. I indeed baptize you with Water, saith John, but he ſhall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with Fire. Now the Queſtion is, What we are to underſtand to be meant by the Baptiſm of the Holy Ghoſt? whether the ſanctifying Gifts and Graces of the Spirit are intended hereby, which all the Godly receive? or thoſe extraordinary Gifts or miraculous Effuſions of the Holy Ghoſt only, which many received in the Primitive Times?
I know ſome are ready to make uſe of the Baptiſm of the Spirit to juſtify their Rite of Sprinkling or Pouring, becauſe God is ſaid to pour the Spirit upon his People, and to sprinkle them with clean Water, which we do grant does intend the Graces of the Holy Spirit.
But certainly if they did conſider the ground and reaſon why Perſons were ſaid to be baptized with the Spirit, they would ſoon perceive this Argument would utterly fail them likewiſe, or ſtand them in no ſtead.
For we do affirm that every Believer who hath the Holy Spirit,What it is to be baptized with the Spirit. cannot be ſaid to be baptized with the Spirit; like as every one that is under Afflictions and Sufferings, cannot be ſaid to be baptized with Sufferings, as we have ſhewed.
But in the firſt place, it is neceſſary to underſtand the difference between the Baptiſm commanded and the Baptiſm promiſed; the Baptiſm commanded is that of Water, the Baptiſm promiſed was that of the Spirit. Our Saviour after his Reſurrection gave forth his Commiſſion to his Diſciples, to teach and baptize, and then being aſſembled together with them, Mat. 28. 20commanded them that they ſhould not depart from Jeruſalem, but wait fo… the Promiſe of the Father, which, ſaid he, ye ha… heard of me, Acts 1. 4. What was that? why 'tis expreſt in the fifth Verſe, Ye ſhall be baptiz'd with the Holy Ghoſt not many days hence; and this was made good to them on the day of Pentecoſt, Acts 2. 1, 2 3. which was no other than the Spirit in an extraordinary manner, or the miraculous Gifts thereof; theſe the Apoſtles and believing Jews received firſt, and in the tenth Chapter of the Acts the ſame extraordinary Gifts,Act. 10. 46. or Baptiſm of the Spirit, the believing Gentiles received, I mean Cornelius, and thoſe with him, for they ſpoke with Tongues and magnified God: and Peter ſaith, Chap. 11. And as I ſpake unto them, the Holy Ghoſt fell on them, as on us at the firſt; then, ſaith he, I remembred the word, &c. Ye ſhall be baptized with the Holy Ghoſt, ver. 15, 16.
Now no other Gifts of the Spirit than theſe great, and extraordinary, and miraculous Effuſions of the Spirit we do conclude is or can be intended or meant by the Baptiſm of the Holy Ghoſt. And that you may ſee we are not alone in this Opinion, ſee what Dr. Du Veil ſaith on Acts 1. 4, 5. ſhall be baptized, Dr. Du Veil on Act. 1. 4, 5.the Greek word foreign, ſays Caſaubon, is to dip or plunge, as if it were to dye Colours; in which ſenſe, ſaith he, the Apoſtles might be truly ſaid to have been baptized; for the Houſe in which this was done was filled with the Holy Ghoſt; ſo that the Apoſtles might ſeem to have been plunged into it, as in a large Fiſh-Pond.
Hence Oecumenius on Acts 2. ſaith,Oecumenius on Acts 2. 2. a Wind fill'd the whole Houſe, that it ſeem'd like a Fiſh-pond, becauſe it was promiſed to the Apoſtles, that they ſhould be baptized with the Holy Ghoſt.
To the ſame effect,See Key to open Script. Metaphors, lib. 4. p. 36. ſaith another, as is noted in our Book of Metaphors, Baptiſm is put for the miraculous Effuſion of the Holy Spirit upon the Apoſtles, and other Believers in the Primitive Church, becauſe of the Analogical Immerſion or Dipping, for ſo Baptizo ſignifies; for the Houſe where the Holy Spirit came upon the Apoſtles was ſo filled that they were (as it were) drowned in it; or the reaſon of the Metaphor saith he may be from the great plenty and abundance of thoſe Gifts in which they were wholly immerg'd, as the Baptized are dipp'd under Water.
And it appears by what Mr. Del…un hath written and tranſlated out of Tropical Writers,Philologia Sacra, p. 190. that Glaſſius and others aſſert the ſame things.
And ſo likewiſe Mr. Goſnold, Treat. of Bapt. p. 62.a worthy and learned Man, underſtood it, ſpeaking of thoſe Scriptures; We have here cited, ſaith he, theſe places diligently compared together, evidently shew that the Baptiſm of the Spirit is a diſtinct Baptiſm from that of Water, and hath no Reference at all to the inward ſanctifying Graces of the Spirit; but notes out the moſt extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit that ever were given to the Sons of Men, therefore called the Baptiſm of the Spirit.
Object. But yet this Baptiſm however was by a pouring forth of the Spirit, and why may not Baptiſm be adminiſtred ſo?
Anſw. 'Tis evident 'twas not by a ſprinkling or dropping of the Spirit, and therefore no ways for your turn; and though it was by a pouring out, or a pouring forth of the Spirit, yet in ſuch ſort that the Houſe in which they were is ſaid to be filled, and ſo they immerg'd or baptized with it: But however, all confeſs this was but a Metaphorical Baptiſm, and therefore your Argument from hence at beſt is but far fetched, and ſignifies nothing, for 'tis a strange way to go to the Metaphorical Notion of a word to prove a Practice that is contrary to the literal and proper Signification thereof. Moreover, if this be granted which we have hinted here, it may ſerve to detect the Error of ſome Men who own no other Baptiſm than that of the Spirit, and think that the ordinary Gifts and Graces of the Spirit is the Baptiſm of the Spirit, which there is no ground, as I can ſee, to believe; nor was there any other Baptiſm to continue to the end of the World, but that of Water without doubt, ſith the Baptiſm of the Holy Spirit was given only to the Apoſtles and Saints in the Primitive Time for the Confirmation of the Goſp…l, as theſe Scriptures ſhew, Mark 16. 16, 17, 18, 20. Heb. 2. 3, 4. Therefore let ſuch take care who ſay they have the true Baptiſm, and are baptized with the Spirit, left they are found Liars, and to be indeed without any Baptiſm at all; for though the Saints before that great Effuſion of the Spirit, nay before Chriſt was manifeſted in the Fleſh, had the Holy Spirit, and ſome of them in a glorious manner; yet, as ſome learned Men obſerve, they were not ſaid to be baptized with it: ſo likewiſe Believers in theſe days have the Spirit of Chriſt in the ordinary Gifts and Graces thereof, yea and the Promiſe of Chriſt is, that the Bleſſed Spirit the Comforter ſhall abide with us for ever, yet are not we, nor any now baptized with it, nor have any (as I humbly conceive) ſince thoſe miraculous and extraordinary Gifts ceaſed in the Church.
Thirdly, There is another Typical or Metaphorical Baptiſm ſpoken of, viz. the Children of Iſrael, or the Fathers are ſaid to be baptized to Moſes in the Cloud, and in the Sea, 1 Cor. 10. Some have of late intimated, That the Rain that fell from the Cloud, ſprinkled them as they paſt through the Sea, and from hence would have Baptiſm to be Sprinkling: Truly, if that was a Baptiſm, viz. it raining upon them, the People may ſave their Mony, and never go to Prieſt …or Miniſter more to Chriſten their Children, for 'tis but to carry them abroad when it rains, and they will be ſo baptized; and it will be as true a Baptiſm, no doubt: for the uſing the Name of the Father, &c. doth not make Baptiſm, though true Baptiſm cann't be warrantably adminiſtred without mentioning the Names of the Sacred Trinity. But we muſt conclude, there was ſomething elſe than that which theſe Men ſuppoſe in that Caſe, which cauſed the Apoſtle to ſay, Our Fathers were baptized unto Moſes, in the Cloud, and in the Sea. It was doubtleſs a Type and plain Figure of Goſpel-dipping, or burying in Water; for they were overwhelmed, 'tis evident, as it were, in the Cloud, and in the Sea.
And we muſt give our late Annotators their due at this turn alſo,See Continuation of Mr. Pool's Annotat. on 1 Cor. 10. 1, 2. for they ſpeak much the ſenſe of the Spirit of God in that place; pray take their own words, after they have given the ſenſe of divers Learned Men upon the Text; this they fix upon us to be moſt probably the meaning of the Scripture; Others, ſay they, moſt probably think, that the Apoſtle maketh uſe of this term, in regard of the great Analogy betwixt Baptiſm, (as it was then uſed) the Perſons going down into the Waters, being dipped in them; and the Iſraelites going down into the Sea, the great Receptacle of Water, though the Waters at that time were gathered on heaps on either ſide of them; yet they ſeemed buried in the Waters, as Perſons in that Age were when they were baptized.—A very plain Figure doubtleſs, they having the Water on each ſide of them; and to which they might have added, the Watery Cloud over them, whether it broke down upon them or no, they were, as it were, buried in the Cloud and in the Sea; ſo that this Notion of Typical Baptiſm makes nothing for Sprinkling.
And thus we hope we have fully evinced, and clearly proved, to all unbyaſs'd Men, what Baptiſm is you have heard.
Firſt, It is immerging, or dipping into the Water, from the proper, literal, and genuine signification of the word Baptizo.
Secondly, From the manner of Baptizing in the Primitive Times.
Thirdly, From the Spiritual Signification of the Holy Ordinances of Baptiſm, together with the great Deſign and End of Chriſt in the Inſtitution of it.
Fourthly and laſtly, From the Typical and Metaphorical Baptiſms we read of in the Scriptures. We ſhall now proceed to ſpeak of the Perſons who are the true Subjects of Baptiſm in the next place.