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THE
Doctrine of Baptism,
AND THE
Distinction of the COVENANTS;
OR
A Plain Christian Treatise, explaining
the Doctrine of Baptism, and the two
Covenants made with Abraham, and
his two-fold Seed.
CHAPTER TWO
The Ordinance of Baptism explained.
For the better and clearer speaking to this point in hand, I shall explain what
this Ordinance of Baptism is in four things which will more clearly appear
if we examine the Commission that Christ gives his Disciples in Matt. 28:19, 20.
Here we find in verse 16 that the eleven Disciples were sent by Christ Who had
all power in heaven and earth given to Him, verses 18 and 19. He says, "Go ye
therefore and teach all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you."
The Four Essentials of Baptism.
From whence you may observe four things contained in this Commission,
essential to this Ordinance of Baptism. Here is:
First the Ministry,
Secondly the Form,
Thirdly the Name into Whom the were baptized, and
Fourthly the Subjects.
The Ministers
First, who are the Ministers who must dispense this Ordinance? They are preaching
Disciples. So in the 16th verse the eleven are so denominated, "then the
eleven disciples went away into Galilee, and Jesus (in verse 18) came and
spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth; Go ye
therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them."
Who is a Lawful Minister of Baptism?
Where you may observe that the persons bid to go are Disciples enabled to
teach the doctrine of the Gospel for the conversion of souls to faith, and repentance.
For it is clear That they who are bid to teach are bid to baptize also. So from
this Commission I gather that a disciple enabled to bring down God to a soul, and to
bring a soul again up to God, is a lawful Minister of Baptism. For that is the
tenor of the New Covenant, Heb. 8:10. "I will be to them a God, and
they shalt be to me a people; and I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine,"
Canticles 6:3.
What the True Minister Preaches
God in Christ is to be opened in all the fundamental Doctrines of faith
for man's salvation. Then is the soul's conformity to God to be preached as
the soul's duty to God again. Where God has furnished a Minister with abilities
from Himself to declare the Doctrine of Faith and Repentance, to conversion,
and having converted that soul, he is furnished with the knowledge of God to
teach to this soul all the fundamental Ordinances according to the Commission which
says, "Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you," it
is without doubt that this is a justifiable Minister sent from the Lord
according to the Commission.
A True Minister Must Know About Baptism
Though a man should be able to preach the doctrine of Faith ably for the
conversion of souls unto that faith, yet being destitute of the true knowledge of the
doctrine of Baptism and how it ought to be dispensed, to be sure this
man is not a justifiable Minister according to the Commission. He is ignorant
of his Commission. When he has converted souls to the faith he neither knows how
to discover to these men the fundamental Ordinances of God, nor can he discover to
them the evil of those superstitious practices which they have been nursed up in by the
Traditions of their Fathers.
Minister According to God's Gifts
Yet, notwithstanding, I dare say so far as they have a gift they are warranted
from I Peter 4:10 to administer it, "Let every one as he hath
received the gift Minister." So it was lawful for any Christian man, in
that sense, to administer such gifts which God had bestowed upon them.
Those Pedobaptist Ministers are Not Sent of God
But sure it is that these who are utterly unacquainted as to how they are to
dispense the Ordinance of Baptism were never sent of God to dispense it::
That instead of dipping, do sprinkle, and instead of the true
subject, A Believer, dispense it upon a carnal ignorant child;
instead of baptizing into the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
do sprinkle them at the naming of so many words only.
The True Form of Baptism
In the second place, the true form of Baptism is commanded of the
Lord Jesus by way of dipping, and as it were, by drowning, overwhelming,
or burying in Water and not by sprinkling with water, as appears from many
ways.
Never Rantism for Baptism
First, in that although there be frequent mention made of that appointment of
Christ, in His last Will and Testament, yet it is never expressed by the word that may
be rendered Rantism or Sprinkling, but by the word that is rendered Baptism
or Dipping.
Definition of Baptism
Secondly, in that the word by which it is so frequently expressed, does in proper
English signify to Dip, to plunge under water, and as it were to drown them,
so as with safety the party (as to the manner) may be drowned again and again.
See the instance of Naaman, who dipped himself seven times in Jordan, 2 Kings
5:14. To this sense of the word (at least in this place) both the Greek, Latin, and
English Churches agree, as is affirmed by able Authors.
The Preposition IN
Thirdly, in that the phrase where there is mention made of such an appointment
of Christ, it does necessarily import dipping. Therefore, when mention is made of
baptizing, which is commonly translated in, or into, suits
with dipping, and not that preposition which signifies with, and so suits
with sprinkling.
It may be as well rendered, I baptize you in Water, and he shall baptize
you in the Holy Spirit, Mark 1:8. So it is rendered, John did baptize in
the wilderness, and in the River of Jordan, verses 4 and 5; or that John was in
the Spirit on the Lord's day, Rev. 1:10. They were baptized in the Cloud,
and in the Sea, 1 Cor. 10:2. It may as well be rendered, I baptize you or
dip you into Water. As it is rendered, "they were casting a Net into
the Sea," Mark 1:16 for which the words are affirmed to be the same. It
would be too improper a speech to say, John did baptize with the wilderness, and
they were casting a net with the Sea.
Fourthly, that this appointment of Christ, is by way of Dipping and
not sprinkling appears:
Dipping Resembles the Israelites and the Red Sea Wherein the Egyptians Picture the
Old, Hard, Cruel Things Which Held The Saints in Bondage
In that, for the resemblance and likeness hereunto, the Israelites passing
under the Cloud and in the Sea, where the Egyptians who were their Lords and
Commanders, their Pursuers and Enemies, who sought their destruction, were drowned, left
behind, and seen no more. This is, by the Holy Spirit, called a Baptism, 1 Cor.
10:2. They were baptized in the Cloud.
Baptized IN the Red or Bloody Sea
Here observe, it is not here rendered with the Cloud and with
the Sea as in the other place, Mark 1:8, with Water, because it
suits with sprinkling although the word be the same, but in the Cloud,
and in the Sea. This suits with Dipping or Over-whelming. So with the
appointment of Christ, they passing on to dry land through the midst of the Red or
bloody Sea which stood on both sides as a Wall, and being under the Cloud, as men (in a
carnal eye) overwhelmed and drowned. But they were truly saved and safe from
their Enemies.
Philip and the Eunuch
Fifthly, that this appointment of Christ is not by sprinkling but by dipping
or putting the person into or under Water, appears by Philip's baptizing the
Eunuch. It is said, "They went both down into the Water", both
Philip the baptizer and the Eunuch, who was the person to be baptized. Being there in the
water, Philip baptized or dipped him in that water as John did Jesus
in the River of Jordan.
They Both Went Down Into the Water
It is said they descended or went down into the water. So they also ascended
or went straight way up or out of the water. See for this Acts 8:38:39; Matt.
3:16. Mark the expression, "And Jesus when he was baptized went up straightway
out of the Water." Therefore, He had been down in the water.
John Baptized Where There Was Much Water
Sixthly, that this appointment of Christ is not by sprinkling but by
dipping, or as it were, a drowning, appears in that John the Baptizer
(his work being to baptize) remained in the Wilderness, by the River of Jordan, and
afterwards in Enon near Salem. The reason is rendered by the Spirit of the Lord as why he
abode there was, because there was much water. This need not have been if that
appointment could have been performed by sprinkling and not by dipping. See Luke
3:2,3; John 3:8,23.
At His Baptism, The Believer Testifies of His Union with Christ in Death to Sin,
Satan, the Law and its Curse.
Seventhly, this appointment of Christ is not to be performed by sprinkling
but by dipping. This appears from the nature of the Ordinance itself. It is
such an Ordinance whereby the person who submits thereto does visibly put on Christ
Jesus the Lord.
The believer is hereby visibly planted into His Death.
The believer holds forth therein a lively similitude and likeness
unto his own Death whereby only through faith he now professes he has escaped
death and is in hopes to obtain life everlasting.
So the believer is to have fellowship with Christ in His Death and
to reckon himself dead with Him to Sin, Satan, the Law, and the Curse,
Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:2, 3, 4, 7, 9; 1 Cor. 15:29.
But the planting of a person into the likeness of death is no way
resembled by sprinkling. By dipping it is lively set forth and demonstrated.
Dipping Resembles the Believers Union with Christ in His Burial
Eighthly, this appointment of Christ's baptism is an Ordinance whereby the
person who submits thereto does hereby, visibly and clearly, resemble the burial of Christ
and his being buried in respect of the old man and his the former Lusts and Corruptions
(like the Egyptians) are to be taken away and seen no more, see Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12.
But sprinkling does no way lively resemble the Burial of Christ or the
person being buried with him as Dipping does.
Dipping and Rising Up Resembles the Believer's Union with Christ in His Resurrection
and New Heavenly Life
Ninthly, this appointment of Christ's baptism is an Ordinance whereby the person
who submits thereto does visibly and lively hold forth herein the Resurrection
of Christ, declares Him whose life was taken away from the earth, to be
alive again. Who, although He died and was buried, yet He was not left in the grave to
see corruption but was raised again and behold, He lives for evermore.
The Gospel in Baptism Shows these Particulars
As hereby he holds forth the Resurrection of Christ, so he also
holds forth his own resurrection, having been planted in the likeness thereof. So
he reckons himself to be in Soul and Spirit quickened and risen with Christ
from henceforth to live unto God Who is the Fountain of Life and Christ
Jesus the Lord, Who died for him, and rose again. The believer is helped so to walk
in newness of life in this present world, being also begot into a lively
hope that in the world to come he shall be raised and quickened both in soul and
body, to a life everlasting. See Rom. 6:4,5,8,11; Acts 8:33,35,36; Col.
2:12; 1 Cor. 15:29; 1 Pet. 1:3.
Sprinkling Shows No Resemblance to the Gospel Work of Jesus Christ
Sprinkling does no way lively resemble the resurrection of Christ or
the Soul or bodies rising or being raised by Him as dipping does.
Therefore, this appointment of Christ was and still is to be performed by
way of dipping or putting the person into or under the water and not
by sprinkling.
Dipping Holds Forth a Conformity to Christ
Tenthly, dipping does hold forth a conformity to Christ in
His sufferings and afflictions as Christ says, "I have a Baptism; and how am I
straitened until it be accomplished," meaning his sufferings.
One End of Baptism is to Represent Christ Sufferings and Deliverance and Our Union
with Him Therein
One end of Baptism is to represent Christ's Sufferings and our
Sufferings with Him. This is set forth in a lively manner by dipping into water. Therefore,
when the Saints do express their afflictions they do set them forth by being in the depths
or in the deep waters, as David said in Psalm 130, "Out of the depths have
I cried unto the Lord," meaning deep afflictions. God says in Isaiah 43:2,
"When thou passest through the Waters, they shall not overflow thee,"
meaning affliction. Therefore, a believer is to be dipped and plunged all
over into the river or water to hold forth that now he must resolve to take up
the Cross of Christ and suffer. Not only so, but his being raised and delivered out
of the water again by the hands of the Minister, does hold forth that so
shall such believing souls be saved and delivered from all their
afflictions as in Psalm 34:17. "Many are the Afflictions of the
righteous, but God shall deliver them out of all."
This Pictures Our Total and Complete Salvation
This does sign or signify our salvation, 1 Pet. 3:21 "the
like figure whereunto Baptism does now save us," and Mark 16:16,
"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved;" So that Baptism
is to sign and confirm signally our Sufferings and Afflictions
with Christ, so Salvation or Deliverance from them all. One is seen in dipping
and plunging a believer in Water, the other in raising a believer out again.
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