Of Baptism, Chapter 10
CHAP. X. In which is handled the ſecond particular, propoſed in anſwer to the argument drawne from Circumciſion, to wit, how farre the ordinances of the old Teſtament ſhould reg… late and determine by way of rule and institution thoſe of the New.
QVeſt. the ſecond, what ever ſhould become of the firſt queſtion, the next is, how farre the ordinances of the old Teſtament ſhould regulate & determine by way of rule and inſtitution thoſe of the New.
I anſwer nothing at all, eſpecially in the eſſentialls of it, amongſt which the ſubject of ordinances in the mayne qualification of it, muſt needes be accounted: Becauſe things become ordinances to us by vertue of a word of inſtitution, foraſmuch as the efficacy & energy of ordinances, hangs upon the will of God, not the reaſon of them.
There are certain neceſſary circumſtances about ordinances that common reaſon will ſuggeſt, though the inſtitution ſhould not, as time and place, but by the ſame common reaſon, to add other circumſtances, which in themſelves are not ſimply neceſſary, or by conſequences drawne from the ordinances of another covenant, is to ſet our poſts by Gods poſts, & to be wiſe above what is written, and to be guilty of adding to the will of God, in that which is moſt purely his will, the ordinances of inſtitution; And I beſeech you conſider whither this way of working hath not brought in, if not all, yet as great & conſiderable errors into Popery as any: That a church is a foundation ordinance of the new covenant, we all grant, but ſayes the Pope as that of the old Teſtament was rationall, and but one in all the world, the truthes of God being then confined to a narrower compaſſe, ſo now ſince the Goſpel is preacht to every creature under heaven, by juſt conſequence the Church of God ſhould be univerſall and Catholike; and as then though there were many ſubordinate Prieſts and Levites, yet there was one high Prieſt, who ſate in power and place above all the reſt; ſo by juſt conſequence there ſhould be now a Summus Pontifex, a high Prieſt, a Biſhop of biſhops, who ſhould be the laſt object of appeales upon earth, and the great moderator under Chriſt, who both then was, and ſtill is, the inviſible head of the church. And if you ſhall object now that the New Teſtament gives no ſuch extenſion to the Church, nor power to an univerſall Biſhop, that thoſe things were typicall and proper to that Teſtament or covenant (which is the ſame that is ſaid by thoſe who oppoſe the Baptiſme of Infants) they will not fayle as well as the patrons of Infant Baptiſme, to tell you, that beſides ſome little footeſteps they finde in the new Teſtament, this is par ratio, a like reaſon, a due conſequence, and good reaſon may be ſhewed that it is for the honour and ſafety of the Church, that things ſhould be ſo adminiſtred; Hence comes the ornaments and veſtures of Prieſts, the holynes of Temples, and for ought I know the baptizing of bells from the circumciſion of trees, or what ever elſe a bold and preſumptuous heart may, under the title of juſt conſequence, intrude into the worſhip of God; I confeſſe there are ſome things of common equity, the rule of life was the ſame then that now, and the ſame Chriſt that now is, was the ſalvation of the elect, ſuch things therefore as are of ſuch a common nature, may be illuſtrated and inferred from one Teſtament to another, eſpecially amongſt thoſe that doubt of the new Teſtament, and the light of it, as the Iewes did, with whom our Saviour and the Apoſtles had to do.
But in inſtituted ordinances, the reaſon of which lyes in nothing elſe, but a particular will of the inſtitutor, it is bold and unſafe to inſtitute above what is written in the new covenant, at leaſt in any eſſentiall thing, concerning either the parts of the ordinance, the manner of adminiſtration, and the ſubject of them, and it is further to imply an infaithfullnes, and an unclearenes in the new Teſtament, in things eſſentiall and neceſſary to the worſhip of it.
The ſumme is, that it is unſafe arguing from one inſtitution to another, becauſe the inferrences and conſequences cannot be drawne from our reaſon, as not falling under the judicature of common light, or ſpirituall reaſon in the generall, but of a particular diſtinct & independant will in Chriſt, from whence, not from the reaſon of the thing they draw all their vertue and efficacy, the reaſon that makes it good to us, being onelyonly the impreſſion of his will upon it; but eſpecially this will take place in ordinances of differing covenāts, for the ordinances of oath covenant are fitted to the meridian of that covenant.
The rationallity of that church, the typicallnes of that which was called holynes and uncleanes amongſt them, the generality of the ſubjects, which were not onelyonly men, women & children, but beaſts, birds and trees, their very garments, their very land, to what alone is called holynes and ſin; now with the ſubject of it, ſhewes a great boldnes & preſumption to force inſtitutions in the ſubject or any of the parts of them by a par ratio, or conſequence from this old, worſt, firſt, vaniſhing covenant, as the Apoſtle ſtyles it Hebr. 8. to this new, better, ſecond covenant, as hee ſtyles that under which wee live, in the ſame place.
Now that circumciſion (though of uſe before the law, as Baptiſme was alſo before Chriſt) was the great ordināce of the Moſaicall law, as I could bring many places, if any doubt of it, ſo I will content my ſelf with one or two, Acts 21.21. They are informed of thee, that thou teacheſt all the Ievves vvhichwhich are among the Gentils, to forſake Moſes, ſaying, that they ought not to circumciſe their children, neither to vvalke after the cuſtomes; where the prime inſtance of forſaking Moſes, was not to be circumciſed; that place more ſhall ſuffice Gal. 5.3. For I teſtify againe to every man that is circumciſed, that hee is a debtour to doe the vvhole lavv: The yooke of circumciſion they could beare, not the debt to which it obliged them, therefore that was the leading ordinance of another covenāt, namely the law; Now to make this mayne ordinance of the law, inſtitutive to us, as touching a great eſſentiall in our Chriſtian Baptiſme, namely, the ſubject of it, is to make not onelyonly one ordinance inſtitutive to another, of which no good accoūt can be given, but infinite and viſible inconveniencyes follow, as wee have ſeene; but to ſend us to ſchoole to the old covenant, in that which was the leading, maine & diſtinguiſhing ordinance of it, which no good Chriſtian, I hope, will conſideringly admit of, eſpecially ſince we are ſo aſſured of the ſufficiency and ſaithfullnes of our Law-giver Chriſt Ieſus, by whom we have grace and truth and vvho is the vvay▪ the truth and the life to us, as well in the matter of his ordinances, as in any other thing that concernes our duty, as that we need not turne aſide to other guides and teachers.