The Grounds and Ends of the Baptism of the Children of the Faithful, Chapter 19
CHAP. XIX.
Silveſter.GOE on a long, and tell mee what you anſwer to the third exception againſt our Engliſh Baptiſm, that is, the falſe manner, in which it is adminiſtred, to wit, by ſprinkling, not by dipping.
Silvanus.I might anſwer you truly, that if dipping were the onelyonly way to bee choſen, in which children are to be baptized, yet, even ſo by dipping is Baptiſme appointed to bee adminiſtred in England, by the very Rubrick in the Common-prayer booke. The Miniſter ſaith the Rubricke ſhall take the childe in his hands, and asking the nam… ſh…ll dip it in the water (ſo it bee diſcreetely and warily done:) And i… the childe bee weak…, it ſhall ſuffice to poure water upon it. Blame not therefore the Baptiſme in England for being adminiſtred in ſuch a mann…r, a… your ſelfe deſire; and not directing the other way, but in caſe of the childes weakneſſe, wher… God himſelf… would …ather accept of m…rcy then ſacrifice.
But I ſee not how ſprinkling in any caſe can bee true Baptiſme.Silveſter.
For 1. Baptiſme never ſignifyeth ſprinkling, but dipping. So that ſprinkling i… againſt the Inſtitution whereby the Apoſtles ar… commanded to baptize Diſciples which is to dip them, not to be-ſprinkle them.
2. The examples of Baptiſme in the New Teſtament ſhew that Baptiſme was adminiſtred by Dipping, not by ſprinkling, Iohn Baptiſt baptized …y Dipping Ioh. 3.23. Mat. 3.16. ſo did Philip the Evangeliſt. Acts 8.38, 39.
3. Dipping doth lively Repreſent our fellowſhip with Chriſt in his Death, Buriall, reſurrection; not ſo ſprinkling.
It is utterly untrue, that Baptiſme never ſignifyeth ſprinkling,Silvanus. but dipping. It ſignifyeth generally waſhing, whether by dipping or ſprinkling: infuſion, or affuſion. In Acts 22.16. Bee baptized and waſh away thy ſinnes, the latter word interpreteth the former. In 1 Cor. 10.2. the Iſraelites are ſaid to have been al baptized in the… cloude, and in the ſea: Wherein nevertheleſſe they were not dipped, nor drenched, nor douſed, but onelyonly ſprinkled, for they went over dry-ſhod, Exod. 14.22. In Heb. 9.10. where it is ſaid in the Greeke the ſervice ſtood in divers Baptiſmes, the tranſlation readeth i…, in divers waſhings. In Dan. 4.33. where it is tranſlated he was wet with the dew of Heaven, the Greeke Septuagint expreſſeth it in the ſame word, whereof Baptizing is derived.
Touching the ſecond inſtance, whereby you ple…d for dipping from the ex…mple of Iohn Baptiſt and Philip, I willingly acknowledge, that Dipping is a lawfull manner of Baptizing. Bu… if you contend from theſe example…, that dipping is the onelyonly way of Baptizing, and ſuch a dipping as amounts to drenching, or douſing, that is, to dipping of the whole body over head and eares, thoſe examples doe not pr…ſe upon us either of theſe: For though Iohn Baptiſt did bapti…e ſometime in Iordan, ſometime in Ae…n, where there might … water enough to drench the baptized▪ yet where h…d th… Apoſtl… water enough in the ſtreets of Hieruſalem to d…nch the … p…rſo…, whom they baptized in one day? Acts 2.41. It is much more probable, that they either ſprinkled them with water, or poured water upon their face or heads. For it is not ſaid, that the Apoſtles carryed them away from thence to any poole, or river, where they might bee drenched. In Philips baptizing of Eunuch, it is ſaid, they went down both together into the water, to wit, both Philip, and the Eunuch, Acts 8.38. But their going downe into the water was not part of the Baptiſme: For Philip went downe into the water, as well as the Eunuch. And it was no part of Philips meanning to baptize himſelfe. Beſides, the words tranſlated they went downe, expreſſeth no more but that they deſcended out of the Chariot into the water: but how deep is not at all mentioned.
Furthermore, It is a conſideration of weight with mee, that though the perſon baptized bee ſaid to deſcend into the water, yet the baptizing lay not in the deſcending, or dipping of the body into the water, but in the ſprinkling, or pouring the water upon the body. For in dipping wee apply the body to the water: In ſprinkling, or pouring the water, the water is applied to the body: which doth more lively ſet forth the grace of Chriſt in the waſhing away of our ſinnes; which is done, rather by applying Chriſts blood to us, then by applying our ſelves to the blood of Chriſt.
Moreover when you ſtand ſo much for dipping, I demand, and I pray you anſwer to mee, (or to your ſelfe ingenuouſly) Whether would you have the whole body dipped or part onelyonly? If the whole body, whether naked, or clothed? If clothed, then outward baptiſme is not a waſhing of the fleſh, but of the cloaths rather; If naked, how will it ſtand with civility or modeſty to Baptize men and women of grown yeares, (for children you admit none) in the face of the whole Congregation? No marvell then, if the Sect of the Adamites grow out of your Sect. But if you require but part of the body to bee baptized, I demand what part? If the face, that is our uſuall manner of baptizing in England; but that you implead, as falſe. If the hands and feete, and head alſo, that is it inde…d which Peter offered in a like caſe, Joh. 13.9. But Chriſt anſwereth him the waſhing of one part was enough, and would ſuffice to ſignify the waſhing and purifying of the whole man, every whit, v. 10. And in very truth, the whole virtue and efficacy of the death of Chriſt is as well, and as fully applyed in the Act of ſprinkling, as of dipping. When Eſay prophecyed the Application of the death of Chriſt to the Redemption of many Nations, hee foretold, that Chriſt ſhould ſprinkle many Nations, Eſay, 52.15. And when the Apoſtle exhorteth us to draw neer unto God in full aſſurance of faith (in reſpect of the perfect Oblation of Chriſt for us once for all, Heb. 10.22.) hee expreſſeth our drawing neare as having our hearts ſprinkled from an evill conſcience, and our bodies waſhed with pure water, The faithfull people of God are not wont to value the virtue of the gifts of Chriſt, from the bulke of outward ſignes, but from the lively virtue and power of the Spirit of life conveyed in them. The Spirit of a Cordiall is as much conveyed in a ſmall dôſis, as in a groſſe drugge. It is a ſmall morſell of Bread, and a little cup of Wine, which wee partake in at the Lord… Supper: and yet therein wee partake of whole Chriſt, God and Man. If wee ſhould eate the whole Naturall body of Chriſt, and drinke all his Blood, it would not profit us ſo much. It is the Spirit that quickneth us, Ioh. 6.36. Bodily exerciſe profiteth "little. 1 Tim. 4.8.
But ſay you in your third exception, againſt ſprinkling, ſprinkling doth not ſo lively repreſent our fellowſhip with Chriſt n his Death, Buryall, and reſurrection, as dipping doth.
Anſw. Why not as lively, ſeeing as fully? Being ſprinkled in our hearts from an evill conſcience, wee draw neare unto Chriſt in full aſſurance of Faith, as you heard even now out of Heb. 10.22. and Chriſt in ſprinkling many nations applyed to them the whole efficacy of his Death, Iſa. 52.15. And the Apoſtle ſetteth forth the faithfull of the New-Teſtament, to have come to the rightfruition of the riches, of gratious, and glorious Priviledges of the Heavenly Hieruſalem, in that wee are come to the bloud of ſprinkling, Heb. 12.24. And Peter alſo ſetteth forth the full benefit of our election, in being choſen (as the Originall words runne) to the obedience and ſprinkling of the Blood of Ieſus, 1 Pet. 1.1. If therefore being ſprinkled with the blood of Chriſt, wee have full fellowſhip with Chriſt in his Death, ſurely the ſprinkling of the perſon baptized with water in Baptiſme, doth fully and lively reſemble the ſprinkling and pouring out of the blood of Chriſt upon him. And in his lying under the water poured and ſprinkled upon him, thereby is plainly ſhewen forth his fellowſhip with Chriſt in his Buryall. And in his ariſing from under the water, is in like ſor… held forth his fellowſhip with Chriſt in his Reſurrection.