Of Baptism, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Wherein, of the first and great end of that ordinance, the ſealing up of our union with Christ, and more particularly, of the moſt illustrious tipe of Baptiſmeall ſealing, in the Baptiſme of Chriſt.
THE Scripture holds forth no point with more glory and certainty, then the onenes which we have with Ieſus Chriſt, which union is the riſe and ground of all that is good and happy in us: this therefore is the firſt and great thing that is made ours by Baptiſme, wee are baptized into the name of Chriſt; for wee, though wee be baptized into the name of the Father and Holy Ghoſt likewiſe, and have an union with them, yet the Fathers love is made good to us through Chriſt, and the Spirits efficacy is derived through and for Chriſt, who is the Mediatour, the middle perſon, the bond, betweene God and us, ſo Rom. 6.3. Ye are baptized into Ieſus Chriſt. And Gal. 3.27. For as many of us as have beene baptized into Chriſt. This therefore is the great ordinance, aſſuring and ſealing up; If God had kept his minde to himſelf touching our eternall eſtate, there had beene a ſureneſſe in it, but there had not beene a ſealing to us; but when he tells us his heart, and his minde, and bids us beleeve it, doubting nothing, & when hee ſhall yet ſpeake more ſenſible to us, to our ſight and to our touch, and ingage almoſt all our ſences, when hee ſhall marke us with ſenſible ſignes and ſeales, and ſpeake viſible words alſo, this muſt needs aſſure; and of all aſſurances there is none ſo great as this firſt peece of our union, to have this ſealed and ſigned, to be baptized into Chriſt, to be ingrafted into, and made one with him, how great a matter is it: Now God is not wanting to our faith, in the truth of the repreſentation, betweene the ſigne and the thing ſigned, betweene the ſeale and the thing ſealed, & therefore Abraham in his beleeving, received the ſigne of circumciſion, a ſeale of the righteouſnes of his faith, Rom. 4.11. that is, the righteouſnes which he had by faith, the acceptation hee had, was ſealed up to him by the ſigne of Circumciſiō, by that marke; now what Abraham had by circumciſion, that the Saints have by Baptiſme; for ſo the Apoſtle intimates in Coloſſ. 2.11.12. (which place wee ſhall have occaſion to open hereafter) where hee ſhewes the uſe of Circumciſion, which was a figure of things to come; ſo when Cornelius and his companie were baptized, the holy Ghoſt fell upon them, as that to which the ſeale immediately was to be ſet, Act. 10.47.48. But the moſt illuſtrious ſealing of all others was, as it became it to be, in our head Ieſus Chriſt, when he was baptized, Matth. 3.16.17. And Ieſus vvhen hee vvas baptized, vvent up ſtraightvvay out of the vvater: and lo, the heavens vvere opened unto him, and he ſavv the Spirit of God deſcending like a dove, and lighting upon him; and lo, a voyce from heaven, ſaying, This is my beloved Son, in vvhom I am vvell pleaſed. There the whole Trinity appeared, to make the Triumph and ratify that affaire; never any ordinance was graced, with ſuch a preſence. And as Baptiſme is a viſible ſeale to our faith, ſo here the Trinity, in whoſe name wee are baptized, made themſelves viſible together; the Father by a voyce, the Son in his body, the Holy Ghoſt like a birde. Firſt there was the Heavens opened, but to him, ſo are the words Marke 10. its ſaid, hee ſavv the heavens opened or cloven or rent; that is, hee ſaw a cleaving or rending, ſome great Hiatus; now this was for Chriſt himſelf, for it was as Luke ſaies, as he vvas praying, Luke 3.21. which was, that ſo the voyce & the ſpirit might be knowne to come from heaven, it being a great evidence of the preſence of God there. Then hee ſaw the ſpirit like a dove, lighting upon him; as the multitude in the Acts, ſaw the ſpirit as it were in cloven tongues like ſire, the ſpirit tooke upon him the ſhape of a dove, and reſted and abode on him; that ſealing ſpirit, that ſeales us all, ſealed Chriſt and abode with him, for ſo ſayes Iohn, VponUpon vvhom thou ſeeſt the ſpirit deſcending and abiding, that is hee. And then there came a voyce, and that admirable and conſiderable; this repreſented God the Father to his eare, as the dove repreſented the ſpirit to his eye, ſo while the ſpirit ſate upō his head, the Father ſpake from heaven, the great ſealing word, This is my vvellbeloved Sonne, in vvhom I am vvell pleaſed: This, that is, this man Ieſus whom I ſhew and point out, by my ſpirits abiding upon him, Is, this is hee whom I have promiſed, now ye have him, or, thou art, (ſpeaking to Chriſt) my Sonne, wee cannot be ſealed to ſuch a Sonneſhip in all reſpects; wee are adopted children, hee was the naturall and proper Sonne, the only begottē foreign, that beloved, many are beloved, but hee was onelyonly beloved, as onelyonly begotten; we are ſonnes, becauſe wee are beloved, but hee was loved, becauſe hee was a Sonne, In vvhom, not in any other who ever he be unles by this One; I am vvell pleaſed; In whom I am cōtented, in whom my minde reſts, that is, who onelyonly and ſingularly pleaſeth me, and in whom there is nothing that diſpleaſeth mee; therefore I delight wholly in him, and reſt in him ſo as every thing will be acceptable to me that hee doth, by whom I ſhall be pleaſed with others, & by whom others may pleaſe me; for the Father here intimates, that his love ſo reſts in Chriſt, as it deffuſeth it ſelf to others, ſo as beholding him, he puts of all offence, and anger towards others, whom hee beholds in him, oppoſing him to every thing.
All theſe things were to his perſon, but reſpected alſo his office, which was unſeparable from his perſon. Therefore firſt, to him the heavens opened, whoſe office it was to opē heaven, and to make an entry for us thither, againe to open heaven, and to draw downe the great miſteries of it to us, the doctrine of the Trinitie was here declared, and truth came by him alſo, what he had ſeene of the Father, that he revealed.
Secondly the ſpirit came in the ſhape of a dove, as to ſeale us before, ſo to ſhew that hee ſhould converſe here up and downe in a dovelike manner; ſhould have neither weapons without nor gaule within, to offend withall, although his condition was not greatly to pleaſe, therefore ſuch paſſages as theſe, fell ſometimes from him, Learne of me that I am meeke and lovvly; Yee knovv not of vvhat ſpirit you are. This abiding and this uſe of the ſpirit, is that prophecied of him Eſay. 61.1, 2. The ſpirit of the Lord God is upon me, becauſe the Lord hath anoynted me, to preach good tidings unto the meeke; hee hath ſent me to bind up the broaken hearted, to proclaime liberty to the captives, and the opening of the priſon to them that are bound: To proclaime the acceptable yeare of the Lord, and to comfort all that mourne; and hee was to be filled with the ſpirit, that it might deſcend upon us his members, and that we might be baptized with the holy Ghoſt.
Thirdly for the voyce, This is my beloved Sonne, in vvhom I am vvell pleaſed; it was then the office of Chriſt to execute and manifeſt the wellpleaſing of God in himſelf, to the redeeming, reconciling and renewing of the world that ſhould beleeve in him, and the reſtoring of all things. This is that expreſſion that is to be oppoſed to that other Gen. 6.7. It repents me that I have made man; God can never repent him more that he hath made man, when hee is ſo well pleaſed in the man Chriſt Ieſus, ſo aboundantly ſatisfied & contented, and in him with all his. This Baptiſme of our Saviour was the Epoche or terme, whence they reckoned Acts 1.22. &c. Beginning from the Baptiſme of Iohn, unto that ſame day that he vvas taken up from us.
I have beene the larger in opening this illuſtrious tipe of Baptiſmall ſealing, that the nature and way of it may be ſeene in the higheſt patterne.
Wee ſhall be ſealed alſo, with our difference of younger brothers; the heavens in Baptiſme opens upon us; and the Father, the Sonne & Holy Ghoſt, who are viſibly preſent here, are preſent alſo to our ſealing, and ready to give us the ſame witneſſe, but with its diſtinction as before, this is my beloved Sonne, in vvhom I am vvell pleaſed; and as wee are then viſibly united to Chriſt, who ſanctifies this ordinance for us; ſo the ſpirit is ready to ſeale us up; and God by the ſpirit, to witnes every good thing to us, let us therefore put a valew and a price upon this ordinance, more then wee have done; and after being once baptized into Chriſt, let us know and be aſſured, that we have a right to what hee hath, and to what he had, & to what he is; for what ever he was or is, as Mediator, hee is for us: with the great difference of elder brother, and having that in his owne right, which wee have in his; and therefore the ſealing of his Baptiſme, belongeth alſo to our baptiſme, as his dying and riſing againe, doth to us, who dye and riſe againe with him in Baptiſme.
To add a word or two of the ſeale, Paul hath two words foreign and foreign. Signum & Sigillum; a ſtatue, a repreſentation may be a ſigne, but it cannot be a ſeale; we ſeale thoſe things which wee would keepe with the greateſt ſecurity, and have remayne untoucht, therefore letters and evidences are ſealed, that no man might doubt of the truth and authentiquenes of them.
Againe, two conſiderations more there is in a ſeale; firſt things ſealed, and marked, are kept for their maſters uſe, My beloved is a fountayne ſealed up, Cant. 4.12. kept onelyonly for the uſe of the ſpouſe; ſo their wells and ſprings were ſhut up in Iſrael, they were not for every body: Amongſt the Perſians they had fountaines of which onelyonly the King and his eldeſt ſonne drunke, under capitall puniſhment to all others; in Spayne they have alſo one of the ſame ſort; ſo as we are markt and ſealed for Chriſts uſe our husband, wee muſt not make our ſelves common therefore to the world, & lye expoſed to every luſt, to every love, ſince God hath impropriated us.
Secondly, we ſeale or marke things precious, as coyne, gold or ſuch things, as we ſet a price and vallew upon; God by his ſealing lets us know, what a vallew he puts upon us, how he ſeparates us from refuſe & baſe things, therefore we ſhould not defile our ſelves.