Discourse Concerning Baptism, Title page – Preface
Aqua Genitalis: A DISCOURSE CONCERNING BAPTISM.
Firſt delivered in a Sermon at Alhallows Lumbardſtreet, OCTB. 4. 1658. and now a little inlarged.
Into which is ſince inſerted, a brief Diſcourſe to perſwade to a Confirmation of the BAPTISMAL VOVV.
By SYMON PATRICK, B.D. Miniſter of the Goſpel at Butterſea.
foreign.
ROM. 2.29.
Circumciſion is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter.
LONDON, Printed by R White, for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleet-ſtreet, 1659.
Be pleaſed to correct theſe faults that have eſcaped the care of the Printer.
IN the Epiſtle, pag 2. line 13. read ſent. In the Preface, p. 3. l. 4. r. foreign. p. 10. l. 5. t. notice. p. …4. marg. r. foreign. p. 16. l. 17. t. Obedience. V…on. l. 21. of it; we may. In the Treatiſe. p. 21. l. 9. r. foreign Ib. foreign p. 22. l. 6 r. And. p. 34. l 27. r. Dilherrus. p 35. l. 8. r. Grabern. p. 38. l. 20. r. as for. p. 40. marg. r. L. 1. p. 41. l. 26. r. we are. p. 47. l. 12. r. will … well. p. 75. l. 7. r. ſtrengthner. l. ult. 1. for me. p. 79. l. 19. r. creditable. p. 88. l. 8. r. all the Goſpel. p. 91. l. 9. marg. r. foreign.
Reader,
IT is not needfull to detain thee with many words about the Matter or Author of this Treatiſe: The Matter I am ſure will commend it ſelf to thee, if thou wilt be pleaſed ſeriouſly and impartially to read, and conſider it. And as for the Author, I muſt not without diſpleaſing him, ſay any thing of him, but only give thee the true reaſon of the Publication of this Diſcourſe: which I dare affirm on my credit is not from any itching deſire to appear in print, and I believe none that know him, but will bear witneſs with me in this behalf. The ſubſtance of it was at my earneſt entreaty firſt preached, and afterwards for mine, and the ſatisfaction of ſome other friends, tranſcribed, and becauſe I would not give him the trouble of tranſcribing ſo many Copies as were deſired, and he not judging it ſafe to give liberty to other Copies that were not writ by himſelf, and I, together with others, judging it of ſingular uſe for the begetting of right apprehenſions of Baptiſm in theſe days of ſo much conteſt; I made it my further requeſt it might be printed, and with his leave have now ſet it abroad, which I could not in civility do without this acknowledgement of the high honour he hath done me herein, which I doubt not but will prove as real a ſervice to thee, and the Truth. Whatever advantage thou ſhalt reap from it, aſcribe the praiſe to God, and look upon thy ſelf as concern'd to pray for the Author, and let him alſo have a ſhare in thy prayers, who hath been an occaſion of ſo great a good unto thee, and is
Thy Servant in the Lord, E. V.
THE PREFACE.
ALL things coming §. 1 from one Fountain and Father of being, there muſt needs be ſome marks and Characters of himſelf upon the face of every one of them, and they cannot but have ſome cognation with, and reſemblance of each other, as things that proceed out of the ſame womb of the eternal goodneſs. Material beings & ſpiritual one would think were at the greateſt diſtance, and yet they challenge a kindred one with the other, and there are lines and ſtrokes in theſe outward ſhapes, that expreſs ſomething of thoſe internal and inviſible beauties. All this world below is but the image of the world above, and theſe corporeal things are but pictures (though pale indeed & dull,) of things ſpiritual, as the Tabernacle of God among his antient people may inform us. For as ſome modern Philoſophers call the Londſtone a Terrella, or little Earth which draws ſimilar bodies into its Embraces; ſo Philo ſome where calls the Tabernacle a little World, a ſmall image of the whole Ʋniverſe, (the moſt holy reſembling the higheſt Heavens, the holy place, the upper Regions where the Lights of the world are placed, and where God hath ſet a Tabernacle for the Sun, & the outward court, the lower parts and skirts, as we call them of this world,) whereby God would ſhew that he could not dwell in houſes made with hands, but that the whole world was his Temple, the ſouls of men his Altars, Love his holy fire, and all men his ſacrifices. And ſo the Apoſtle calls it*Heb. 9.1. foreign, a worldly ſanctuary, perhaps in this ſenſe that I have mentioned. Now the ſame Apoſtle afterwards tells us, verſ. 23, 24. That this Tabernacle and Appurtenances were foreign and foreign, Patterns, and Figures, or Copies of things in the Heavens; and ſo doth the whole Scripture draw repreſentations and images of the other world and things to come, from the Sun, the Stars, the Light, the Feaſts, and ſuch like things that are in this, wherein we inhabit.
Man is made by God foreign, §. 2 (as one ſpeaks) of kin to two worlds,Fibula utriuſ que mundl. the knot as it were that ties them both together, or the Button that faſtens then one to the other. He lives in the confines of each, and with his mind is capable to look into the world of ſouls and ſpirits, and with his body he converſes with theſe material images. God therefore hath thought fit to teach his mind the things of the one, by the Miniſtry of his bodily ſenſes which have acquaintance only with the other. And beſides, the whole book of the Creatures (every letter of which is full of God,) he hath alwayes given man ſome ſpecial leſſons and documents by outward Characters, which he hath more induſtriouſly cut and ingraven to impreſs his mind with ſpiritual notions. For though man be foreign, as I ſaid, in the confines of both worlds, yet he is bred up among ſenſible Creatures, and contracts acquaintance here, before his ſoul is grown ſo high as to take any notice of things above; and therefore he being moſt affected with the bodies companions, it is the ſingular care and providence of God to teach him by ſuch things as are moſt familiar to him, which he hath done in all ages of the world. It was a cuſtome among the Antients, (as they report,) before the knowledge of Letters and Writings to ſing their Laws, leſt they ſhould forget them, which was in uſe among ſome people near to Scythia in the days of Ariſtotle. And this is one reaſon why the Pſalms are in verſe, becauſe they would be the better remembred, and more ſafely repoſited, being a Magazine of ſpiritual Learning. They knew well enough that what affects the ſenſes, and runs ſmoothly, is moſt regarded, and we our ſelves ſtill experience, that Rithms which make a pretty noyſe or gingle, are ſooner fixed in peoples minds then words in proſe: Seeing then that outward things do ſo notably teach us, and the more any thing ſolicits any of our ſenſes, the more acceptable it is unto us, God hath been pleaſed ſo to deal with man, that he ſhall not want ſuch leſſons.
This manner of Diſcipline may be deduced from the firſt Adam to the Second. For God placed the firſt man in a Paradiſe, a fair and beautifull Garden, abounding with all manner of fruits, &c. which was but a Type of the coeleſtial paradiſe above, that is watered with ſtreams of Light from the face of God, and rivers of pleaſures from his heart, in the midſt of which the Son of God is the tree of life. An image I ſay God gave him of Heaven, but none as yet of Hell, becauſe man was made to be happy. So God likewiſe gave him a Commandment (the matter of which was outward and ſenſible) of abſtaining from one tree in the Garden, which was but a document of the ſubjection he did ow to his Creator, and of the tenure whereby he held all his injoyments. After his diſobedience men were ſome way or other directed by him to make offerings to God of their beaſts and fruits, as acknowledgements of their dependance and homage, and adumbrations of the Sacrifice of that ſeed that was newly promiſed. In proceſs of time, when obedience grew cold, and their thoughts (its like) of another life but dull, God took Enoch to himſelf when he was but 365. years old, to teach them by themſelves, as well as other things, that there was another life, and a reward that remained for thoſe that walked with God, which was hetter then the longeſt term of years in theſe earthly poſſeſsions. But wickedneſs ſtill increaſing, God deſtroyed the world by a Deluge of waters, which was but a ſhadow of the dreadfull ſhowers of wrath, the ſtreams of fire and brimſtone that ſhould fall upon the heads of the wicked in the other life, whereby God would terrifie the new planters of the world, and give them an image of Hell, as he had done before of Heaven. But this was not a laſting viſible monument of Gods anger, and therefore in aftertimes, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jude 7.and Cities about them were ſet forth for an example, ſuffering the vengeance of an eternal fire; which places lay juſt in the view, & under the eye of that people whom God made peculiar to himſelf, & ſerved as continual marks of his dipleaſure, and inſtances of his wrath, to make them for ever to beware. That peculiar people God ſeparated to himſelf by the ſign of Circumciſion, the ſeal of the Covenant that he made with them. This mark was moſt properly made in that part of their fleſh, becauſe the great promiſe to Abrah. was, that he would multiply his ſeed as the ſtars of Heaven,Gen. 17. and that in his ſeed all the Nations of the world ſhould be bleſſed, and it aptly repreſent (beſides other things) that they were to be an holy ſeed unto the Lord. After this God did by two perſons, Iacob and Eſau, ſhadow forth unto them that his favours are at his own diſpoſal, and that they are not confer'd by nature, but by grace.
In the line of Iacob, beſides that, there were many myſtical and ſecret ſignifications of his Will, which God made by ſundry perſons and actions, there were alſo many outward manifeſt images given of heavenly things. In the Law that Moſes delivered to them, their ſeveral waſhings, their meats, their ſacrifices (to name nothing elſe) were all ſigns of all ſorts of purity and obedience, too many now to be particularly related. Their offerings, and ſome of their ſacrifices repreſented the obedience and ſervices of particular Chriſtians, who are made Prieſts unto God, but the chiefeſt of them repreſented the offering and ſacrifice of the high Prieſt of our profeſsion, which was Chriſt himſelf.
And (that I may not be tedious) when God would ſhew the greateſt favour to the world, and open moſt of Heaven, and things above, he comes & dwels amongſt us in the perſon of his Son, and in an outward ſhape manifeſts himſelf to our eyes and ears: For in the very humanity of Chriſt ſo much of Divinity appeared, and the Majeſty, Wiſdom, Power and Goodneſs of God ſo rayed forth, that he ſaith to Philip, He that hath ſeen me, Joh. 14.9.hath ſeen the Father alſo. Yea, When God would give a Teſtimony of Jeſus to be his Son, he doth it by the viſible deſcent of the holy Ghoſt, which he ſaw coming down upon him like a Dove; as if he would tell us, that his own Son ſhall likewiſe be taught by theſe outward ſigns & reſemblances, he being in all things to be conformed unto men.
§. 4 Though our Lord therefore hath taught a Religion more full of ſpiritual notions then had been manifeſted before, and hath given more clear notions of things above unto mens minds then had formerly come unto them; yet he would not quite alter the old manner of Diſcipline by outward things, but retains ſome of them in his Oeconomy, knowing how weak the minds of men are, and how much more eaſily they apprehend by ſenſe, then by themſelves. Only it is to be obſerved, that he hath made eventheſe outward things to ſpeak more plainly, and tell their meaning more diſtinctly, & hath writ their inſtructions in a greater, and more legible letter then ever before.
§. 5 Baptiſm is one of thoſe Reliques, a Symbole of great and clear ſignificancy, the Sacrament ef Regeneration, or the ſecond birth, which it doth moſt aptly expreſs, as the following Treatiſe will ſufficiently ſhew you. For the preſent it may ſuffice to ſay, that water (of all things that are eaſie to be got, and are at hand) was the moſt fit thing that can be thought on to be choſen to make an Embleme of the ſpiritual Generation. For we naturally come out of a liquid, moiſt ſubſtance, out of a ſlimy water, or in Jobs phraſe, We are poured out like milk, and then curdled in the womb like cheeſe, Job 10.10. It is not unuſual in the Scripture to ſpeak of our natural procreation under the Metaphor of Water, as may be diſcerned by conſulting but theſe two places, Prov. 5.15, 16, &c. Prov. 9.17. And it is well known that while we lie in the womb, we ſwim in a ſweet liquor, and hang by the Navel in the midſt of a watry nouriſhment. Oſiris and Iſis (if we may believe Plutarch) were nothing in the Aegyptian Muthology, but the river Nile and the earth, between which two all things were begotten.
So the Scholiaſt upon the firſt verſe of Pindar, foreign.thinks that therefore water is to be reputed the beſt of things, becauſe out of it the other three Elements are begotten; out of the ſubtil part of it, the air is begotten; out of the groſſer, being curdled and compacted, the Earth; and out of the more aetherial and ſpiritous part, the Fire. But perhaps I do not well to purſue this notion ſo far, and our Saviour might not have reſpect to ſuch things as theſe. Yet this we are ſure of,John 3.5. that we muſt be born again of water and the Spirit, and that our ſpiritual nouriſhment after Chriſt is conceived with in us, is compared unto water alſo, as you may ſee, John 4.14. And I cannot but likewiſe think, that he had ſome regard in appointing Baptiſm to the cleanſing and cooling quality that is in water; and that it excellently repreſents unto us, the Spirit of God to be poured forth to the purifying and waſhing us from the filth of ſin, and the blood of Chriſt to the extinguiſhing our guilt, and quenching the heat of Gods anger, that might juſtly burn in our ſouls when we did remember that we were ſinners.
But there have ſo many ſeveral §. 6 winds of Doctrine blown upon theſe Waters of Baptiſm, and ſtrove together, that they are become troubled and darkened, ſo that one can ſcarcely ſee with any clearneſs to the bottom of them.
The great Controverſies that have aroſe about the perſons that ſhould be baptized, have ſo toſſed and agitated mens thoughts, that I doubt few have any calm and ſetled apprehenſions of the nature and end of Baptiſm it ſelf. Moſt books that treat of this ſubject are ſo concerned in the quarrel of Infants, that the uſe which men ought ſeriouſly to make of it, is much forgotten. If men thought more of its true ends, they would lay aſide their Diſputes, or not manage them ſo roughly, and they would ſoon ſee, that we are all baptized into the ſame Spirit, and made of the ſame body, and entred by it into the ſame ſociety and community of holy and peaceable Ones. What more cool then water? What ſooner puts out all our fires? If the waters of Baptiſm (next to the blood of Chriſt) were ſprinkled upon our intemperate heats, they would aſſwage our boiling paſsions, and we ſhould contain our ſelves within the due bounds of a loving and gentle Zeal.
But as I ſaid, it is but little thought of, for what Chriſt did inſtitute this holy Rite. Some look upon it but as a cold Ceremony; and many ſpeak of it as a thing that muſt be done, becauſe Chriſt hath commanded, but cannot tell to what purpoſe; and others glory in it as a priviledge, but little underſtand any thing of duty that it requires of them.
L. 31. c. 2.Pliny tells of a water in Cilicia which is called (he ſaith) foreign, or Mind, becauſe it will make their ſenſes that drink it ſubtil and apprehenſive. Suidas on the contrary ſaith, that it is called foreign, or want Wit, becauſe it makes people fooliſh, and takes away their underſtanding. Such a different eſteem do men ſeem to have of theſe waters of Baptiſm, while ſome who ſeem wiſe, deſpiſe them as of no efficacy, and uſe them only in compliance with ſimple people; and others make them ſuch heavenly waters, that they doubt not at all, but being baptized, they are wiſe enough unto ſalvation; but both of them are agreed in this, to underſtand no Engagement that is laid upon us by them, and to expect that what they can do, ſhould be wrought alone by them, without any help or aſsiſtance from our ſelves. And we find the greateſt multitude of that ſort, who do glory in Baptiſm, as the Jews did boaſt of Circumciſion, who ſay in effect, what Julian (its like falſly) makes Conſtantius ſay,In his foreign, &c. That our Religion requires nothing of the greateſt ſinners, but only this, Waſh, and thou art clean from all thy foul crimes; and if thou commit them again, do but knock thy breaſt, and beat thy head, and all is well. But Juſtin Martyr might have anſwered him, and gives us all another leſſon in his Dialogue with the Jew; foreign, &c.where he ſaith, What good doth that Baptiſm that ſcours the skin only, and makes the body white? Baptize your ſelves from anger, and from covetouſneſs, from envy and hatred, and then behold your body is clean.
It is a ſign and ſeal of Gods great bleſsings, and ſo it is of our promiſe to him of Obedience, upon condition then that we own this Covenant when we underſtand it, and keep our ſelves ſtrictly and religiouſly to the terms of it. We may ſay of theſe waters, as Euripides of the ſea (upon the accaſion of Plato's recovery by the ſalt waters in Aegypt) foreign. They waſh away and heal all the evil diſeaſes of men.Vitruvi. L. 8. cap. 3. But otherwiſe they will be like ſome waters in Thrace, in which whoſoever waſhes, he certainly dies.
I have therefore adventured to §. 7 expoſe to the world a few of my green and unconcocted thoughts concerning this Argument, and to repreſent what I conceive to be the true meaning of Baptiſm, which is nothing different from the ſenſe of the Church of God. There are a multitude of Books I know in the world, and men complain of it; they that do, may let this alone; and of others I may eaſily obtain a pardon for putting my ſelf into the crowd, ſince I take up but a little room, and make but a very ſhort ſtop in their paſſage to better Authors. Others (it may be ſaid) might have been better allowed to have handled this matter. I think ſo too; and believe there are great numbers that underſtand better, and multitudes that underſtand as much, and ſome that can inlarge theſe things that are here ſaid, into more perſpicuous and profitable diſcourſes: and I dare not ſo much as flatter my ſelf, that I am able to lead the way to any of them; if I may provoke them to do better, I think my labour well beſtowed. I am ſenſible that the images of truth make but a weak and wateriſh impreſsion upon my mind, but they may draw more lively pictures of themſelves upon other ſouls, and let them give us a Copy of their conceptions.
§. 8 Since the preaching of this Sermon, it came ſo ſtrongly into my mind (by taking notice of ſome diſcourſes abroad) to inſert ſomething of Confirmation, that I could not well put away thoſe thoughts, and ſo I have let them take their place in the body of the Sermon, by way of perſwaſion to a more hearty, and open owning of the baptiſmal Covenant.
Thereby men will aſcend from Water unto Wine; from a weak eſtate, to a more ſtrong and manly conſtitution: and God will not only ſprinkle clean water upon their faces, but even lay his hands upon their heads, thereby taking more firm hold of them, and apprehending them for his own, and conferring his bleſsings more abundantly on them, now that they put themſelves into his hands, to be directed and ruled in all things by him, as thoſe that are wholly in his power.
I dare not keep you any longer in the entry, for fear you grow weary, and loth to ſtep over the Threſhold of the next leaf, and look into the main Building. And there I ſhall not ſtay your eyes long, for my furniture being little, it was not wiſdom to make the houſe too wide and ſpacious.
S. P.