Of the holy sacraments.
ACCORDING to the former rate, they answer that text, 1 Cor. xi. 26, of shewing forth the Lord's death (by the celebration of his last supper) till he come; that is, say they, with Hymeneus and Phile tus, till his coming spiritually in our hearts. And they supposing that he is so come, there is an end of the time limited for the celebration of that or dinance of Christ.
Though they cannot deny but that Christ was so come in the hearts of the holy apostles, and of the purest primitive Christians and blessed martyrs, none of whom dreamed of the time being thus ex pired; but did continue, and the catholic church, from their days to this, in the religious observance of that holy institution, thinking it obligatory till his coming again, that is, at the literal resurrection in the last day.
The same time that was limited to the continu ance of the other sacrament of baptism, Matt. xxviii. 20, that is, always, even unto the end of the world, as it is there said by Christ to his apostles and their successors, Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them—and, lo, I am with you (that is, you and your successors, in the execution of this commission of baptizing, &c.) alway, even unto the end of the world: for if this be the time during which Christ promised to assist his commission, it must doubtless infer the like continuance of the things required in the said commission.
And I would fain know from any Quaker, why teaching does not cease as well as baptism, since both are in the same commission, and the time of continuance spoken equally of both, and the neces sity of baptism greatly enforced in the same commis sion, (Mark xvi. 15, 16,) Go ye into all the world He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and upon the Quaker pretence to infallibility, and the unerring guidance of the light within every particular person, why should not all outward teach ing cease as well as baptism; for what need of teaching to infallibility? And is not teaching an outward ordinance as well as baptism 2 and to last only till we are taught? And does not the light within teach sufficiently? The Quakers dare not deny the sufficiency of the light within; therefore there is greater need, by their own principles, for the continuance of baptism than of preaching; be cause baptism is an initiating ordinance, and there fore always to be continued while there are any to be initiated or admitted into the society of the church; but teaching does of its own nature cease, when men are sufficiently taught; therefore to those who hold the sufficiency of the light within, outward preaching must be wholly inconsistent; yet they keep up preaching, and abolish baptism All that can be said is, that their power of interpretation is a very arbitrary and despotic power; and we must ask no reasons: inward baptism must supersede the outward, but inward teaching must not, even to those whose sole foundation is the inward teaching.
Let me here add one observation for the sake of those who pretend that the baptism which is spoken of, Matt. xxviii. 19, Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them, &c. was meant only of the spiritual baptism, or the baptism with the Holy Ghost; let me observe to those, that Christ only is he who could baptize with the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost is his gift only: to say that man could bestow God (which the Holy Ghost is) is the highest blasphemy.
Men indeed are made ministerial officers, by whose hands Christ does bestow the Holy Ghost in the use of those rules and means which he has appointed; and Simon Magus himself understood it no other wise, Acts viii. 18, 19; he desired only to be made such a ministerial officer, through whose ministry the Holy Ghost might be given: and in all the gos pel there is no such command given to any apostle, as to baptize with the Holy Ghost; nor is it said that any of them did baptize with the Holy Ghost: that is the peculiar of Christ himself, and spoke cha racteristically of him alone, John i. 33. They indeed were empowered, as John, to baptize with water, which being duly administered and received accord ing to Christ's institution, he has promised the spi ritual baptism with the Holy Ghost to go along with it; but as his gift, not as the gift of his ministers, by whose hands he pleases to convey it. Therefore, if the Quaker interpretation of Matt. xxviii. 19. does hold, it will follow, that the apostles and their suc cessors have power to baptize with the Holy Ghost; which is blasphemy: and this must be the conse quence, if when Christ gave them his commission to baptize all nations, the spiritual and immediate baptism with the Holy Ghost be meant, and not the ministerial and mediate baptism of water.
And as this outward baptism with water was an ordinance instituted as a means of grace, whereby the inward baptism with the Holy Ghost was con veyed, it was therefore the form appointed of admis sion into the society of the church, and thereby giv ing a title to all the privileges and promises which are annexed to it; and likewise it was a public and avowed owning of our Christianity. Upon all which accounts it was necessary, even where the inward baptism with the Holy Ghost was already attained; as St. Peter said, Acts x. 47, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have neceived the Holy Ghost as well as we?
And St. Paul, though converted and instructed immediately from heaven, was commanded to be baptized with water.
And it is very observable, that among those things wherein St. Paul was instructed thus immediately from Christ, he tells us, 1 Cor. xi. 23, that one was the institution of the Lord's supper; upon which he lays so great a stress, that he charges grievous diseases sent among the Corinthians, and death it self, verse 30, upon their neglect and abuse of this holy mystery: how then would he have censured the preaching down this and the other sacrament of baptism, as carnal and hurtful things' And let me here seriously mind these Quakers, and admonish others, how their neglect of the outward ordinances and signs has lost to them the reality, and the thing signified; for it had been impossible for any who had been kept in the constant use and practice of the sacrament of the Lord's supper to have forgot Christ's outward dying and shedding of his blood, or to have turned it, as many of the Quakers have done, into their wild notion of his spiritual suffering within us, and that the light within is Christ him self, as before is shewn in sect. X.
I say, how could any who frequently used to shew Jorth the Lord's death by the visible representation of it in the sacrament of the holy communion, by the bread broken like his body, and the wine poured forth as his blood was upon the cross; how could any who had practised this, and seen persons daily baptized into Christ's death; how could such a one ever have so much as imagined, how could it ever have come into his head, to spiritualize away the lite ral humanity and sufferings of Christ? No, it could never have been done. But the enemy having once deluded men into a neglect of the outward signs and seals, pledges and means of grace, whereby God guarded and fenced the soul and spiritual part of his religion, (as a kernel is by the shell in which it grows,) the Devil having stolen from us the body, or outward part of religion, the soul soon disappeared, and left behind it a noisome carcass of religion; for religion can no more live and be preserved to us here, while we are in the body, without outward and corporal means, than the soul can live to us here, while we are upon the earth, without our body; and hence the corporal service, the presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, &c. is called our reason able service, Rom. xii. 1: and whoever goes about to separate the bodily from the spiritual worship, does as much murder religion, as he that should separate a man's soul from his body.
This is so necessary and plain a truth, that those who take upon them to abrogate the outward insti tutions of Christ, do, at the same time, invent and set up others of their own, as has been before ob served of the Quakers’ institution of women's preach ings and women's meetings, at the same time that they threw off, as carnal, the sacraments of Christ's institution.
They did it upon this poor pretence; that baptism is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience, &c. 1 Pet. iii. 21, which text they so understand, as that the outward baptism is thereby disannulled, because the inward baptism is preferred before it, and not reckoned perfect with out it; that if one make no other account of baptism but the washing of the skin, it is indeed no baptism to him, and he is wholly deprived of the spiritual effects of it. And so it was in the institution of circumcision under the law; the outward circumcision of the flesh was not the chief thing meant by it, but the inward circumcision of the heart, as the apostle speaks, Rom. ii. 28, 29, For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. Will it follow hence that there were no outward and literal Jews? or, that there was not an outward and literal circumci sion under the law 2 But though the outward circum cision was not the circumcision, i.e. not that alone, unless the inward did accompany it; yet the out ward circumcision was commanded, and that under pain of death. Thus both baptism and the Lord's supper are as positively commanded under the gos pel, as circumcision and the passover were under the law; and yet neither the water in baptism, nor the bread and wine in the Lord's supper, are the things themselves, or alone, without what is signified by them. But notwithstanding, they are as indispens able and useful to Christians, as the other institu tions were to the Jews: and as none but Christ, who was greater than Moses, could put an end to the in stitutions of Moses; so can none but Christ, or some greater than he, put an end to his institutions, or say that they are determined.
But having treated particularly of this subject, since the first edition of this book, I will not enlarge any further here.
Only let me tell the Quakers, that their objections, which are answered in that treatise, are mostly the same which the Socinians have set up against these two holy sacraments, that they may see out of whose quiver those arrows came which they have so de sperately shot against the sacred institutions of Christ our Lord.
And let them and others observe this with it, that as far as any have gone from the outward ordinances of Christ's appointment, so far have they been car ried from the true faith of what was exemplified and guarded by such outward seals and sacraments of it.
Thus the Socinians, having thrown off or slighted the sacraments, have lost the true faith in the di vinity of Jesus, and have rejected him from being the Christ, or Word of God; which, they say, only dwelt in him, or inspired him, but was not person ally united to him. Thus say the Quakers; and to this have they come by throwing off the sacraments, and other outward means which Christ commanded, and to which he has promised his blessing, which they justly forfeit, who think themselves wiser than he, by neglecting or despising his outward institu tions as ineffectual to secure his religion.
Since my discourse of baptism was printed, I sent a book to a very learned and judicious friend of mine, and one particularly skilled in all the north ern languages; who returned me some observations of his to fortify my first section concerning the true signification of the word baptize, and to shew that this northern, as well as the more learned part of the world, have always understood it in the same sense that I have given, to mean an outward and literal washing, and that even in Matt. xxviii. 19. And, to gratify the reader, I have here inserted the letter, which is as follows:
SIR,
The verb in the Saxon tongue used to express baptivare, to baptize, is pullian, or pullizean, which literally signifies to wash, rinse, and to cleanse, and purify by washing and rinsing. Hence the noun pullene in Saxon signifies a fuller, Mark ix. 3. J hur peap punbon zlicinienbe. rpa hpice rpa rnap rpa man pullene open eonpan ne maeg rpa hpite zebon, and his raiment became shining, as white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. From this verb pullian, to baptize, comes the noun pulluht, for baptism. And from the noun pulluht, John the Baptist is always called in the printed Saxon version of the Gos pels, which follows the ancient Latin Vulgar, or Italic version before it was revised by St. Hierom, Iohanner re pulluhtene, John the washer, rinser, or cleanser. And as the verb pullian is used in that version to baptize with water, particularly Matt. iii. 11, picoblice ic eop pullize on paetene to baebboce, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; so it is used in translating the so lemn commission which our Lord gave the apostle to go, and baptize all nations, Matt. xxviii. 19; panap plcoblice J laenap ealle peoba. J pullizeap hig on naman Faeben J Suna j paer palzan Irar cer; Go therefore and teach all nations, and wash them in the name, &c. The Saxon church, as all the churches of God before it, understood this commission to mean water baptism, and there fore they called the baptismal, or Christian name, pulluht-nama, and the font, pulluht-rcope, bap tism; locus; pulluhter-baep, or pulluht-baep, bap tism; lavacrum; J hune zecnurtnab. J hune ept aepten paece mib pulluht-baep appozh; And he catechised him, and again after a little time washed him in the laver of baptism. Bed. Hist. Eccles. p. 176. What the translator of this ve nerable author here expresses by a circumlocution of washing in the laver of baptism, he expresses afterwards, p. 392, by the forementioned verb pul lian; he nappe pa penunze co crurcmienne oč co pullianne on nihte zeleonnian mihte; He could never rightly learn the office of catechising, or baptizing.
The manuscript Dano-Saxonick version of the Gospels, in the Cottonian library, which follows the translation of St. Hierom, useth the same verb pullian, or pulpian, Matt. xxviii. 19, only ill spelt; zaa8 poppºon lenu& alle 1cynno pulpianbe him in noma Faeboner J Suna, J Dalzerzarter; For which cause, go, teach all generations, or Gen tiles, washing them in the name, &c.
But the other Dano-Saxonick version of the Gos pels, in the Bodleian library, commonly called Codea. Rushworthianus, useth the verbs byppan, and bepan, for to baptize; and truly very pro perly, those words signifying to dip, or immerse, as 3awrígely doth. So Matt. iii. 11. Ic eoplc bepe j byppe in pycne; I baptize, or dip you in water: and the participle of the same verb is used in Matt. xxviii. 19. of that version; Go therefore, and teach all nations, [byppenbe] dipping, or im mersing them in the name, &c.
In the ancient Gothick version of the Gospels out of the Greek by Ulphilas, bishop of the Goths, Garríčew is rendered by the verb daup; an, from whence the Saxon dyppan is derived. And from 6 daupian, 'Iwavyn; 6 Bartłºwy, John the Baptist, is rendered Johannis sa Daupians, John the Dip per; and 3amrap?; is rendered by the noun dau peins, which literally signifies dipping, or immer sion, or washing by dipping or immersion, as is plain from Mark vii. 8, where 3attiapa?: Torºplov, washing of cups, is rendered in the plural num ber daupeinins sticle—baptismata calicum—wash ing ofcups. Indeed neither Matt. xxviii. 19, which is the text in controversy betwixt you and the Quakers, nor Mark xvi. 16, are to be found in the maimed copy of the Gothick version, which wants many whole chapters, and parts of chapters, which are lost; but it may be presumed that the verb daupian, to dip or immerse, was used in both places, because in the ancient Francick or German language the verb douphem, or touphem, signifies to baptize; and the noun doupha, toupha, douph, touph, signifies baptism, as in the paraphrase of Willeramus on the Canticles, the sielan, the ther, jugethet sint in thera doupha, animae, quae reno vantur in baptismo. In Cant. Cantic. cap. 1. So toufen is to baptize; and toufar is baptista: Ol frid's Rythmical Version of the Gospel. But I have not the book by me to cite my authorities, nor to give you the words in which he renders our blessed Saviour's commission to baptize, Matt. xxviii. 19. I wish it were now in my power to consult for you the noble Francick book, which is one harmonical Gospel made out of the four Gos pels in the Cottonian library, or Junius's copy of the Francick version, or Tatian's Monotessaron in the Bodleian library, in which the Francick is compared with the Gothick and Saxon versions, by that most learned man: but my distance from the city and university, and want of health, will not allow me to take journeys to consult MSS. in win ter. But I presume the verb toufen, doufen, or douphen, to dip or immerse, is the verb used in those MSS. Matt. xxviii. 19, or some other verb in Francick, which would equally prove that those translators understood baptizing in that text in the literal sense, for baptizing with water.
In Luther's German translation of the Holy Bible, that verb is also made use of, Matt. xxviii. 19, HDarumb gebet him, unt ſchret alie (Holtåct, unt, tauffet gie in mammen beg (Hatterg, &c. There fore go hence, and teach all people, dip, or wash them in the name of the Father, &c. And in the Dutch translation, Öact ban bitten, outletºppgt alle be (Holtåtten begelbe doopende in ten nome beg (Aaberg, &c. Go then hence, and teach all people, dipping or washing them in the name of the Father, &c.
In the most excellent translation of the Bible into the Islandish tongue, printed at Stockholm, 1584, to baptize is always rendered by the verb at gåpra, which literally signifies to wash with water, but to wash with it mystically, or with mysterious purposes and intendments, according to religious rites, customs, ceremonies, and insti tutions. And from this verb the nouns 35pring and gåprgga signify mystical washing, or lustra tion by water, as in Hebrews ix. 11, where the divers ritual and ceremonial washings or lustra tions under the law are called marguiggiùat gºi tingar. And therefore John's baptism being a mystical washing or baptism unto repentance for the remission of sins, the college of antiquities at Upsal, in their Islandish version of the Gothick Gospels, render Johannis sa daupiands, John the dipper, 3obanneg ºfprare, John the mystical washer. And for the same reason the word is used to signify baptizing of Christians; Christian baptism being a mystical or sacramental washing of the body by water, not only as it is a ceremony of admission or initiation into Christ's mystical body the church, but as it is a sacramental sign and seal of remission of sins to all true believers, as it is written, Mark xvi. 16, He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved. In the Islandish version, i9tler bann truer, og berbur gāprout, ga gital #rcigabur berba, Whosoever believes, and is mystically washed, shall be saved. So Acts xxii. 16, Ananias said to Paul, Arise, and be bap tized, and wash away thy sins. In the Islandish, lºgg up, or, ſaat gåpra thig, og aftbuo go tijimat gimber, Rise up, and be mystically or sacrament ally washed with water, and so wash away thy sins. From this secret, mystical, or sacramental meaning of baptism, it is called by the apostle the washing of regeneration; and therefore is pro perly rendered in the Islandish translation by the verbal noun skyrn, which signifies washing with lustral water. But to conclude, without further entering into your province, the solemn commis sion which Christ gave to his apostles for this mystical, lustral, or sacramental washing, Matt. xxviii. 19, is thus rendered in the Islandish ver sion: 3rpret thui gange thier thie og laeret aliat Chiober, og gåprit that i mafile 3robt, &c. There fore go abroad, and teach all nations, and mys tically wash them in the name of the Father, &c.
Thus, sir, I have sent you the old northern versions of Matt. xxviii. 19, with the Islandish ver sion of the place; all which shew that the several interpreters of it understood it of water-baptism in a literal sense. And I heartily pray God that these observations, in defence of his holy ordi nance, may help to make our English Quakers sensible of their great error and sin in neglecting and despising of it. I also beseech God to bless all your labours for reducing of them with success, and remain with all respect,
Dear sir, Your most faithful friend and humble servant.
Jan. 24, 165/7.
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haebno. ↩︎
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