t , , » » ' * ..^ -..itatJJL j5.c£MxJi.«L»»JL.,- fkJLjL. h (grx DOCTRINES OF BAPTISM, AITD THE LORD'S SUPPER: IN THREE DISSERTATIONS. BIT SXTERAI. A1TTBOBS, REASONS FOR THE NECESSITY SILENT WAITING, IN OBDEB TO TRE SOLEMN WORSHIP OP GOD. BY MARY BROOK. NEW. YORK : PUBLISHED BT THB NEW-YORK YEARLY MEETING Ot HtlBNBS. MAHLOH DAY, FRINTBB, So. 374 PE AKL-STKKET .; 1837. DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS, REDUCED FROM ITS ANCIENT AND MODERN CORRUPTION; AND RESTORED TO ITS PRIMITIVE SOUNDNESS AND INTEGRITY ACCOBDINO TO THE WORD OF TRUTH, THE SUBSTANCE OF FAITH, AND THE NATURE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. BY WILLIAM DELL, Uiuister of tho Gospel, aod fonnerly Master of GonTQIe and Caius CoUege, ia Cambridge. " Tbat which hatb oot been told them they shall see ; aod that which they have not heard, they stiaU consider."— laa. lii 15. FIRST PRINTED IN LONDON IN THE TEAR 1653. NEW- YORK : BB-PDBL ISHED BY THE NEW-YOBK YEABLT MEETING OP FBIENDS: MARLON DAY, PRINTER, 374 PEARL-STREET. 1837. TO THE READER. The doctrine of baptisms hath been dark and obscure in the church from the. very primitive times, and hath had more of human notion than of divine truth in it ; and therefore Zuing- lius, writing touching this point, speaks thus in the beginning ofhis book, entitled De Bapt. Tom. 2. F. 57. " Illud mihi in genue circa libri initium dicendum est, fere omnes eos, quot- quot ab ipsis apostolorum temporibus, de baptismo scribere in- stituerunt, non in paucis (quod pace omnium hominum dictum esse velim) a scopo aberravisse :" that is, " In the beginning of my book," saith he, " I must ingenuously profess, that all most all those that have undertaken to write of baptiam, even from the very times of the apostles, have (which I desire may be spoken with the favor of all) not in a few things erred from the scope." And as he affirms, that almost all before him had erred in many things touching baptism, so did he himself also err, as well as they, riot in a few : and it is as free for me or any body else to differ from hira, and other late writers ; es pecially if that be true, which godly and learned Chemnitius affirms out of Augustine, that these things are not " Tanquam articuli fidei, a quibus diversam sentire piaculum sit anathe- mate dignum." Chemnit. Examen Concil. Trident, lib. de Bapt. And therefore, Reader, I acquaint thee beforehand, that in this point I shall speak much otherwise than all former or later writers whatever, that I have met with : and though I do not, wiihout some fear and trembling, dissent from so many worthy 1* vi and gracious men that have been, and are otherwise minded ; yet it is the less grievous to me, because I differ from them (I can say it in the truth before the Lord) not out of any desire to be singular, or for any worldly or carnal end whatsoever, but only that I might cleave to the clear and evident word of God alone, even there were I see the very faithful to leave it ; seeing I am rather to join to the word without men, than to join to men without the word ; and where I find the hohest men in the'worid and the word parting, I am there to leave them, and to go along with the word. And so in all love and meekness I tender this discourse to thee ; desiring that if thou canst not at present agree to what is therein contained, yet that thou wouldst not rashly judge and reproach it, seeing, through God's goodness, it may come to pass, that what thou knowest not now, thou mayest know afterwards. But.because I see this present generation so rooted and built up in the doctrines of men, I have the less hope that this truth will prevail with them ; and therefore I appeal to the next generation, wliich will be farther removed from those evils, and will be brought nearer to the word ; but especially that people whom God hath, and shall form by his Spirit for him self ; for these only will be able to make just and righteous judgment in this matter, seeing they have the Anointing to be their Teacher, and the Lamb to be their Light. THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMS. The Lord, foreseeing how great an evil it would be in the church, to leave men either to their own or other men's opinions and judg ment in the things of God, did, in the very be ginning of the Gospel, command and bind all the faithful to hear Christ alone ; saying from heaven, that we might give absolute credit, to his voice, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear him :" and the more the faithful have kept to the word of Christ, the more they have been free from error : and the more they have left this, and turned aside aft^r the doc trines of men, though men in some measure faithful and holy, the more have they been per^ verted and seduced ; insomuch that the true church of God, and the very faithful themselves, have received, held and maintained, divers er rors, false doctrines, and opinions, even for many ages and generations ; yea, and have not been altogether free from some,from the very apostles' time : and because many, or most godly men, in former ages, held such and such opinions, there fore the following ages have taken them upon trust from them, and have entertained them as sure and certain, though not at aU consulting in those points with the great Doctor and Apostle of the New Testament, Jesus Christ. And thus have the very elect themselves been drawn into much error, though they have still had Christ for their foundation, and were built on him so firmly by faith, that the gates of hell could not prevail against them. Now, to free the faithful from the former mis take, and consequently from all error, there ia no other way than this, wholly to forsake the doctrines of men, and to lay by all those opinions that we have sucked in from our very cradles, and which are now become even a natural relig ion to us ; I say, utterly to lay by, and wholly to forget all these things, and to come immediately to the pure unerring word of God, and to the voice of Jesus Christ himself, by his spirit, wherein all things are true, sincere, and perfect ; and not bring hearts to the word that are prepossessed with doctrines and opinions learned of men, but to come thither with hearts and consciences free and unengaged ; and in all meekness, upright ness, and simplicity of heart, to hear what Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witness, will say by his Spirit, which also is the Spirit of Truth ; and to receive and believe that alone, though never so differing from the opinions and doctrines of this present age, as well as of the former, and thoughperhaps the whole nation would be offend ed with it. And this is the course that I have observed, to come to some clear and certain knowledge in the doctrine of baptism : for having read much, and discoursed with many, touching this point, and having seriously considered what they say, as one that searched after' the truth, for itself only, and for the satisfaction of my own soul ; I do profess, I could not find any thing almost, spoken for my spirit boldly and safely to lean on, as perceiving mostof what they said, to be but the apprehensions and thoughts of men, and that they spake very much by conjecture, and at uncertainty in this matter ; and thereupon I re solved wholly to withdraw from such discourse, and to lay down whatever opinions I had before entertained touching this point, and to come to the plain and manifest scriptures, and from thence (after much seeking God) to learn whatever the Lord should please to teach me ; choosing rather to build on the clear word, though alone, than on any uncertain inferences and blind conject ures of men, though embraced and magnified by all the world. Now, in this inquiry from the word, I met with that place, Heb. vi. 2. where the apostle, speaking of some of the first and initial points of the Christian religion, names Ba7rrto-/<6)i/ A^iaxris, " the doctrine of baptisms;" whence I perceived, that in the primitive church they had the doctrine of baptism in the plural number ; and therefore did apply myself to search from the word, what these baptisms might be, and so met with the Baptist's own doctrine, touching baptisms, men tioned in Mat. iii. Mark i. Luke iii. and John i. (for all the evangelists make mention of this, it being a matter of so great concernment) and Luke makes mention of the ground of this doct- 10 rine ofthe Baptist, chap. iii. 15. " As the people were in expectation," saith he, " and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, saying," &c. The people, it seems, had great and high thoughts of John, because he was the son of the high-priest, conceived after an extraordinary manner, his parents being both well stricken in age, and past children by the course of nature : and then the manner of his life was strange, for he lived in the wilderness, out of the ordinary converse of the world ; and his apparel and diet were unusual, being raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his meat locusts and wild honey ; but especially his ministry was mighty, being in the spirit and power of Elias ; and his baptism new and fa mous ; so that all the people stood in great ex pectation of some work or event from him, that should manifest him to be the Christ ; wherefore John, to take them off from that gross and dan gerous mistake, plainly told them all, and that openly, that he was not the Christ ; but that there was a great deal of difference between himself and the Messias, and that both in regard of his person and office. . First for his office. For he begins to shew the difference from thence, because the newness of his baptism was the occasion of the people's conceiving that he was the Messias ; whereupon he vilifies his own baptism in respect of Christ's saying, " I indeed baptise you with water ;" that is, my baptism is but water-baptism, that washes the body only with a corporeal element • " but 11 one mightier than I comes," for I am but a creature, he the Power of God ; I but a servant, he the Lord of all ; and one so infinitely excel lent above all that I am, " that the latchet of his shoes I am not worthy to unloose :" that is, I am unworthy to perfoi^m the meanest and lowest office for him. And having thus first spoken meanly of his own baptism, and then magnified Christ's person above his own ; now he proceeds also to magnify Christ's baptism above his own .; *' he," saith he, " shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire ;" that is, I that am a ser vant do baptise with water, but he, that is, the Son, baptises with the spirit ; my baptism washes but the body from the filth of the flesh, but his, the soul from the filth of sin ; so that by how much the spirit excels water, and God the creature, so much his baptism transcends mine. Now hence I gather clearly, even from the Baptist's own mouth, that John's baptism and Christ's were distinct baptisms, the one water- baptism, the other fire-baptism : and though our late writers and teachers have, and do affirm, that John's baptism and Christ's make up but one entire baptism : yet all generally of the ancient Christians apprehend them to be distinct; one whereof saith, "Illud manifestum est, alitim fuisse Johannis baptismum, alium Christi:" August, contra Liter. Petil. cap. 37. And I could produce many more testimonies be sides, but it is not my meaning to entangle any body with the authorities of men, and therefore I shall make it plain by clear Scriptures, and 12 evidences from them, that John's baptism and Christ's are distinct. 1. John's baptism and Christ's are distinct in their appellations in Scripture ; for John's bap tism was still so called, even when the apostles used it ; and it was not called by their names who administered it, but was still called John's baptism : yea, after Christ's baptism came in, John's still retained its name, as being distinct ' from it ; and therefore in Acts xviii. 24, 25. it is said, "ApoUos taught dihgently the things of the Lord, knowing only to Boirner^a 'laimm, the bap tism of John." 2. The Scripture saith, that Christ's baptism was to follow John's, and did not accompany it at the same time, for in Matt. iii. John saith, eyoi ixcv Ba!r,T.fu, " I do baptlsc you with water, but he that comes after me," i e. in the order of time, omros i,,ios Bairnmi, " hc shall baptise you." And in Mark i. cyaixevcPawTi,ravizas,_ " I iudccd have bapti sed you," avTos Se Bwr.™, " but hc shall baptise you ;" which places plainly declare Christ's bap tism did not go along with John's, but was to follow it, and that he was to baptise with the Spirit, after John's water-baptism had had its full course ; to wit, when he was risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven. And therefore Christ, after he was risen from the dead, and immediately before he was to ascend into heaven, though his disciples had used water- baptism, or John's baptism, for above three years, yet affirms that which John had said of him, touching his baptism with the Spirit, was not yet fulfilled, but was shortly to be fulfilled 13 as appears in Acts i. 4, 5. " Christ being as sembled with the apostles, commanded them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which,'' saith he " you have heard of me ; for John truly baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Spirit not many days hence ;" and this was fulfilled at the day of. Pentecost. Whence it is evident, that Christ's baptism did not go along with John's, and make that up one entire baptism with itself, seeing it followed almost four years after, and therefore John's baptism and Christ's must needs be distinct. 3. It is evident, that Christ's baptism and John's were distiiict, inasmuch as the baptism of Christ was necessary for those very persons who had before been baptised with the baptism of John ; whereas, if John's baptisiii had been one-and the same with Christ's, that only had been sufficient ; but now those whom John had -baptised with water, Christ was to baptise again with the Spirit, as in that place before mention ed, " I have baptised you with water, but one comes after me, who shall baptise you with the spirit ;" even you whom I have before baptised with water : and this was not a second baptism, but the first baptism of the New Testament, John's baptism being more legal than evangeli cal; and evangelical only in so much, as it pointed out this baptism of Christ at hand. Again, the Baptist himself saith, "I have need to be baptised of thee;" so that the very author, or chief minister of water-baptism, stood in need of spiritual baptism himself ; Paul also, 2 14 Acts xix. when he found certain disciples bap tised only with the baptism of John, he baptised them again in the name of Christ, because they liad, not received the Spirit ; and this baptism into the name of Christ, was not the repeating of any water, but raerely the gift, of the Spirit ; for Paul preached to them largely the doctrine pf faith in Christ (for the text relates but the abstract of the thing) and laid his hands on them, and through his ministry the Holy Spirit came upon them ; and this was Christ's baptism iftdeed, and no renewing of watier at. all as the Anabaptist would fain enforce from this place. By these things it is evident, that Christ's baptism and John's are distinct ; and therefore, as what God hath joined, no man ought to put asunder, so what God hath put asunder, no man ought to join; as if the baptism of Christ were insufficient and incomplete, except we should add to it the baptism qf John ; which is exceed ingly to eclipse the brightness of the Son of God, and to draw a veil over the greatest glory of the New Testament, which is the baptism of the Spirit. Object. If the ordinary objection shall be offered against this, to wit, " That John's doc trine was the same with Christ's, and therefore his baptism also was the same with his." I answer. It is most true, that John did preaqh Christ clearly, both in regard of his person and offices ; but this was not his proper work, as he was the Baptist, but, insomuch as he preached Christ in the Spirit, he belonged to the kingdom 15 of Christ, which is spiritual, as also Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, and all the prophets, did- in the same sense ; but so far forth as he preach ed the doctrine, and administered the baptism of repentance, and both these not really and spiritually, but only in the letter and sign, so far he belonged to the Old Testament^ rather than to the New : here was John in his proper office, I say, so far as John preached Christ spiritually, he did not that as John the Baptist, but as Joha a believer ; and so the same John in regard of his Baptist's office, belonged to the Old Testa ment ; but according to the revelation which he had from the Father touching Christ, andhis faith in him, and confession of him, he belonged to the New. And except we learn thus to dis tinguish of John's doctrine, to wit, what he preached as Baptist, and in his proper office, and what as a believer who had the revelation of the Father, we shall never understand his baptism; aright: for John's baptism was the seal ofthis Old Testament doctrine, and not of his New ; or of his own immediate ministry, and not of Christ's ; at the highest, John's ministry and baptism pointed out Christ, but neither of them were the same with Christ's. And thus having cleared from the word, that John's baptism is distinct from Christ's, I shall proceed to speak of each of these baptisms apart by themselves, and to hold forth to others what myself have learned touching them from the same word. And first I begin with John's baptism, as being the first in order of time. 16. Now the baptism of John was brought in, be sides the rite and manner ofthe law, and so was a sign~ of a great ehaiage to follow : the Jews. indeed had their baptisms in the law, for they washed their members, garments^ vessels, &c. and by this they were cleansed from legal pollu tions, but not from, any sin or stain that did cleave to their consciences :. but John was the author or first minister of a new and unwonted baptisrn, calling all men to repentance from sin,, and to flee from the wrath to come,, and awaken ing them to confession' of sin and aihendmenfe of hfe I and also pointing out one to come, and now at hand, who should do^ aU these things for them indeed, which neither he nor his baptism could do. Now, touching John's baptism,,! shall shew. First; The honorableness of it in itself. Secondly, .The weakness and imperfectness of it, in reference to Christ. Thirdly, The continuance and duration of it. , I. For the honorableness of it in itself, it ap pears in several passages. First, That though the baptism of John ia itself was. more legal than evangelical, yet in this it did excel all the former legal baptisms, that it pointed out Christ's baptism near at haiid : for as John himself was greater than all the former prophets, because he pointed out with his finger Christ the true and great prophet of the church; so his baptism, was more excellent than all the former baptisms, because it pointed out Christ's greatand glorious baptism now at hand, as he saith, " I baptise you with water, but ha 17 that comes after me, shall baptise you with the Spirit. Secondly, John's baptism was from, heaven, and not from men ; it had its institution from God, and was not an ordinance he took up of his own head. Luke iii. 2. It is said, that at the beginning of John's setting foi:th to his baptism and ministry, " That the word of God came to him in the wilderness ; that is, he was inspired, instructed and taught by a word from God him self, touching his ministry-baptism, and the dis covery of Christ's he was to make ; and John 1. 6. " There was a man sent from God, whose name was John ;" and ver. 33. "He that sent me to baptise with water, said; unto me :" he went not ofhis own accord, butGod sent himtO' baptise ; so that as God was the author of those inferior baptisms of Moses, so of this more high and excellent baptism of John's and hereupon the publicans, that received John's baptism, are- said to justify God ; and the Pharisees and law yers that refused it, to reject against themselves, that is, to their own harm, the counsel of God> Luke vii. 29, 30. Thirdly; Christ himself, who was bom under the law, and subject to the law, submitted him self also to the baptism of John, as the- last and liveliest ceremony ; Matt. iii. 13. " Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised of hira ; and so Christ, who had sub mitted hiraself to the circuracision of Moses, submitted himself also to the baptism of John, and as he submitted himself to all the ceremo nies of Mosesjuot for his own sake but for ours ; 2* 18 so also to the baptisra of, John. For seeing Christ was free from sin, he stood in no need of repentance, and sq not of that baptism, which was the baptism of reperitance for the remission of sin: but there the head, who was free from sin, was baptised for the. body, which wasfuU bf sin, thathe might fulfil all righteousness in his own pers.on. And this was. a great honor to the baptism, of John, that Christ (though in re ference to our flesh more than his own) submit ted himself to it. " Thus it appears, thatthe baptism of John was very honorable and of high account in its time, so that the very disciples -of Christ took it up, and Christ himself suffered them, because John's baptism was the sign and forerunner, of his, and because the time of his own baptisra was not yet corae ; but Christ hiraself used it not, as John witnesses, chap. iv. 2. saying^,." Jesus himself baptised not, but his disciples," to- wit, with John?s baptisra, which was wates- baptism. For it becarae not the Son of God tosbaptise with a creature ; nor the Lord of all, to use the baptisra of a servant. And thus having shewed, how honorable John's baptism was in itself (wherein I con ceive I have not done him, though a servant, the least prejudice, but have fully attributed to his, office, whatever the word, or he himself, a messenger firom God, attributes, to it) I shall now proceed to shew, that the baptism of John, h,QW honorable and exceUent soever, is yet far beneath and below Christ's ; yea, and most weak and imperfect in comparison of his. For first, John's baptism was with a creature. 19 with the element of water ; for the creature could baptise but with the creature, that is, John with water ; and so this was far beneath the baptism of Christ, which was the work of God by God, the work of the Father by the Son, and of the Son by the Spirit. Secondly, John's baptism was tantum exterius lavacrum, but ouitward, and reached the out ward man only ; the baptism of water reached but the body, audit could pierce no deeper ; and after all the washing of the body with watery the soul still remained as, full of filth, sin, and Gorru])tion, as ever ;: and so it was far beneath Christ's which reaches the scml : the baptism ©f John was the baptism of bodies, but the baptism of Christ the baptism of souls : and only the baptismi of the spirit reaches the spirit, and at tains to the soul, conscience and inner man, to purge and purify them. Thirdly, Tbe baptism of John was but a sign and ceremony, though it had more life and light in it than any of the signs of the law, as being nearer to Christ, and more newly revived by God ; and so though useful in its season, yet the efficacy of it after the manner of all signs, was but weak. For, First, It did not give the Spirit one drop of the' Spirit ; yea, some who were baptised with John's- baptisra, did not know the way of the Lord perfeetly ; that is, had no certain knowledge of Christ, the only way to God, as ApoUos, Acts xviii. yea, some of them did not so much as know whether there were any Holy Ghost or no, as those twelve disciples, Acts xix. much less had received the Spirit.. 20 Secondly, Neither did it give repentance and remission of sins (for what was the plunging of a man in cold water towards repentance and remission of sin ?) hut these were the works of Christ's own baptism, which is the baptisra of the Spirit ; for no man can repent of sin. but by the presence of the righteousness of God in his heart, which is the work of that Spirit which is given in Christ's baptism ; neither can any re mit sin but God : our sins are' never forgiven by God, until God dwells in us through Jesus Christ, bythe work of the Spirit ; so that, re pentance was given, and sin forgiven, but in hope only in John's baptisra, but really and truly in Christ's, which was the real baptism of re pentance and remission of sin. Thirdly, Neither did it give entrance into the kingdom of God ; for the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and no earth ly or corporeal thing cari give entrance into it : the baptisrii in the water of Jordan could deliver no man up; into the kingdom of God, but the baptism in that river that makes glad the city of God, Psal. xlvi. 4. in that river clear as crystal, that pro ceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb, which is the Spirit, which delivers up all that partake of it, first into the kingdom of the Son, and after, through that into the kingdom of the Father. The baptisra of John left men in that old world wherein it found them ; but the baptism of Christ delivers them up into the new world, or the kingdom of God. Now in all these regards, it appears that John's baptism did not do the work of the baptism of; 21 the New Testament ; for then that only had been sufficient, and there had been no need of Christ's to corae. And thus you see that the baptism of John, as it is distinct from Christ's, so it is far inferior td his. And therefore great hath been the mistake of many for several ages, who have made John's baptism equal to Christ's ; for what is this, but to make the servant equal to the Lord, and to sit down the creature in the throne of the only begotten of the Father? Yea, and it is the quite perverting of John's office, for John was to be a burning and shining light, to usher in Christ the true Light : he was to be as a morning star to usher in Christ the Son of Righteousness, and was not to be so much clouds and darkness to obscure him ; he was but to point out Christ, and depart again, and not to sit in equal glory with hira, oh his throne, in the New Testament. John said, " He was not worthy to bear his, shoes ;" and therefore they do not well who have prepared an equal crown for him with Christ, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords. Wherefore we must take great heed that we do not so magnify John's office as to intrench on Christ's, and to make the Son, out of the bosom ofthe Father, to take up the baptism of John a servant, and not to administer one entirely his own ; surely this would not have been suitable to the glory of the only begotten Son of God. The third thing I propound to speak to, touch ing John's baptism, is the time of its duration or continuance, and that was but very short : for John's baptism, as all the ceremonies of Moses, 22 was but for a time ; yea; this being nearer the truth and substance than they, was of less dura tion ; as the morning-star, though brighter than the rest of those heavenly Ughts, shines less while than they, because the hasty appearance of the sun swallows it up. And so John's bap tism -was of great use a little before Christ's manifestation to Israel, and continued until the time of his ascension ; and then when Christ's baptism began^-the shiadow was to give way to the substance, and the sign to truth, and the let ter to the Spirit, and the servant to the Son ; so that Christ's baptism put an end to John's ; fire- baptisra to water-baptism, and Spirit-baptisra to creaturcrbaptisra ; for as all the prophets were until John, so John was until Christ ; and John must no more exceed bis bounds, than Moses and the prophets theira; but as the prophets gave up to John, so John must give up to Christ John's temporary ministry had a temporary bap tisra ; but the everlasting gospel (which is that word in our flesh) • hath an everlasting baptism, which is the pouring, out ofthe Spirit. So then, John being a servant and forerunner of Christ, Christ was not to take up his baptism, but John was to resign up his baptism to Christ ; yea, and as a servant, to deliver up all things into his hands as heir and Lord : and so John's water- baptism was to last but until Christ's fire-baptism should come in, and then the fire should lick up the water ; and as Spirit-baptism should increase, water-baptism shouid decrease. So that John's baptism, or water-baptism (which is all one) be longs not to Christ's kingdom, which is a king- 23 dom not of the letter, but of the Spirit ; not of signs and shadows, but of the truth : and there fore we leave it where we found it, even with out the bounds and reach of Christ's kingdom : for John's office and baptism reached unto Christ's kingdom, but hath no place in it;, and to bring signs and ceremonies into the kingdom of truth, is, if rightly understood, to act against Christ glorified. Object But some will say, " This is strange indeed, that water baptisra should have no place in the kingdora of Christ: and therefore pray stay a little, for we have many things to object against it." Object 1. Why, this would rob us of our Christianity. I answer, no : for it is not water, but Spirit baptism, that makes us Christians'; and water- baptism hath been an unlawful blending or mix ing of the church and world together ; so that hitherto they could not be well differenced from each other, to the great prejudice of the congre gations of Christ. Object. 2. But have so many ages erred, that have used water-baptism ? Answ. For the errors of former ages, and their great mistakes in many of the truths of God, I have nothing to say, but that of the apostle, "How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out !" Object 3. But you are the first man, for ought we know, that ever opposed it, Answ. One single mean man with the word, may very justly and lawfully contradict the 24 whole world without it : tryith is not to be judged by multitudes, or an unity, but by the word. Object. 4. But Christ himself was baptised with water, and surely that perpetuates it in the church. Answ. Christ's being baptised with water lander John, no more perpetuates water-baptism in the Christian church, than his being circum cised under Moses, perpetuates circumcision in the Christian church ; or his submitting to other Mosaical ceremonies, perpetuates them : Christ brings no temporal or carnal thing into his ever lasting or spiritual kingdom, though himself sub mitted to them under their several dispensations in the season of thera. Object. 5. But Christ justifies and commands water-baptism in John iii " Except a man be born of wat^, &c." And Mat. xxviii. " Teach and baptise." Answ. I confess these, are places that many have mistaken, to justify the practice of water- baptism ; but I shall shew you that they do in deed misunderstand them. For that first place, John iii. 5. " Except a raan be born « vSaros Kai nmv- iiarog, of watcr aud the Spirit, he cannot enter in to the kingdora of God ;" I confess many of the ancients have by water here understood material water, and have interpreted the place of external baptism, which was John's only : and hereupon divers of thera have exceedingly magnified water, and ascribed" to it the washing of souls, and the regeneration of Christians in some mea sure ; they not considering in the mean time, what -Christ saith in the very next verse, " That ' 25 which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit ;" by which they might have learned, that outward and corporeal water can do nothing but outward and corporeal things, and can contribute nothing to the clean sing of souls and consciences from sin. So that this place cannot be understood of cor poreal water; and I could produce the testi monies of many godly men, of good note, to this purpose, but do forbear, because I would not have our faith built upon the authorities of men ; but the thing is evident from the text itself, for it saith, " Except a man be born of water," which shews the water he speaks of, must be such as is able to give a new birth, and to make a man anew, that is, a spiritual, holy, heavenly crea ture ; and no water can do this, but the Spirit ; and therefore Christ adds, to water, the Spirit, by way of explication, as if he had said, " No man can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be born again of water ;" but the water I speak of is no material water, but the Spirit, which is able to produce in you a heavenly na ture, through which only we can have an en trance into an heavenly kingdom, seeing flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; so that the water, Christ means inthis place, is the Spirit. And many other places give witness to this, John iv. ID. " If thou didst know who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of hira and he would have given thee living water:" and verses 13. 14. " Jesus said unto her. Whosoever drinks of this water ;" (meaning the water of the well called 3 26 Jacob's well) shall thirst again ; but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give hira shall be in hira a well of water springing up into everlasting life ;" and John vii. 37, 38, 39. "Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink ; he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living ,water ;" but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him should receive. Now by water, in all these places, is not meant material water, but the Spirit, as Christ himself explicates, and sure his testiihony alone is sufficient. But again, if in this place, " Except a man be born of water and the Spirit," you will needs understand raaterial water, why then, upon the sarae ground, you raust needs understand that place in Matthew of material fire, where it is said, Mat iii. 11. "He shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire ; which is absurd to very reason to think : but water and fire in each place, added to the Spirit, shew only the efficacy of the Spirit ; and so you may as well bring in the use of material fire in baptism, from the text in Matthew, as of material water from the text in John. So that this place in John, proves no authority of Christ foi- water-baptism in his kingdom, which is the church of the New Testament. Now the other place. Mat. xxviii. 19, " Go ye and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 27 Spirit," is also of as little force as the former, to prove water-baptism to be an institution of Christ. Indeed I find, that wherever men have met with the words baptism, or baptise in the Scriptures, presently their thouglits have des cended to material water ; they not so well con sidering or understanding that water which is the Spirit, vehich is the only water that performs all the baptism in the kingdom of God. Now for that place, " Go teach all nations, baptising thera," they understand it thus : teach thera and baptise thera with material water, using this, form of words, " I baptise thee in the narae of the Father," &c. But herein they err frora the mind of Christ : for by these words Christ leads his disciples from John's baptism to his own ; as if he had said, John indeed baptised with water, and ye have hitherto used his bap tism, but I shall now shortly baptise you with my own baptism of the Spirit ; and from that time I would have you go teach all nations, and by the ministration ofthe Spirit, not baptise them, or dip them in cold water (as John did in his own baptisra, and you in his) but bajitise them, or dip them into the narae of God the Father, Son and Spirit ; and note, that he saith not here BairnfoiTK avTSS cv ra ovofiaTt, ITl thO Uaffie, bUt ='5 to ovOjid, into the name of the Father, &c. and by the name of God, is meant the power and virtue of God, or God himself, as Mark xvi. Christ saith, " In my name they shall cast out devils ;" that is, in my power and virtue ; so that the sense lies thus, Teach the nations, and baptise them into the name, &e. that is, by your ministry, which 28 shall be of the Spirit, and not of the letter, you shall baptise them, or dip them, or interest them, into the name of God, who, is the Father, Son, and Spirit, as he hath discovered himself in his last and most glorious discovery of himself, in the gospel ;'you shall, I say, dip thera into his name, or sprinkle his name upon them, that they may be holy, just, true, merciful, righteous, gQod,&c. that is, your ministry, after you have received the Spirit, shall have such efficacy that it shall clothe men with the narae of God, and transform them into his very nature. So that this place cannot be understood of water, but instead of baptising in material water, as John, he tells them, they should baptise into the name of God, in such sort, that they -that were before sinful, corrupt, and evil men, should now be taken up into the glory of the name of God. Neither can this place be understood of a form of words, which the apostles and their successors should use in baptising, as most men have thought and taught, seeing no place of Scripture can be named, wherein the apostles, in baptising used this form of words, saying, " I baptise thee in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit," which they had undoubtedly done, if Christ had commanded it as an absolute form. And because many will presently be ready to be enraged at this assertion, I will a little cool their heat with what Zuinglius saith of this place, who was one of the greatest enemies to the Anabaptists that was in his time ; " Christus lesus (saith he) baptismi formulara, quo uteres mur, his verbis non instituit, queraadraodura iheoligi hactenus falsa tradiderunt," Zuin! lib. 29 de Bapt. p. 56. tom. 2. oper. that is, " Jesus Christ did not in these words institute a form of baptisra, which we should use, as divines have hitherto falsely taught :" and he affirms it upon the same grounds I have mentioned before. Again, if this place, " Go teach and baptise," be meant of water-baptism, Paul did very ill ob serve the command of Christ, who baptised but two or three believing families, at the most, with water-baptism and yet preached the word in a circuit from Jerusalem to lUyricum, Rom. xv. 19. through many kingdoms, countries, villages, peo ple ; but I say, Paul, though he used not water- baptism yet did punctually fulfil the command of Christ and did teach them, and baptise them into the name of God. So that no question there were many churches planted in Paul's time, who believed in Christ, and received the Spirit, and walked in fellowship with the Father and the Son, and with one another in the Father and the Son, who never were washed at all with water- baptism ; for Paul knew well, that no outward thing was of any account in the kingdom of God ; and that as circumcision and uncircumci sion were nothing, so neither water-baptism nor the v/ant of it were any thing, but a new creature is ALL ; and if there be faith and the Spirit, they are sufficient to the kingdora of God, without any outward ceremonies whatsoever. So that neither of these two places prove any institution of water -baptism, of Christ, but that still remains John's baptism and not Christ's. Object 6. The last, and that which seems the strongest objection, is, that the apostles practised 3* 30 water-baptism, not only before Christ's baptism came in, but after ; and this is most evident in very many places in the acts ofthe apostles. I answer. True indeed, the apostles did prac tise water-baptism, but not from Christ but from John, whose baptism they took up, and an out ward ceremony of honor and account is not easily and suddenly laid down ; and hence some of the apostles used circuracision, and that after the as cension of Christ y for circumcision was an hon orable ceremony used from Abraham's time, and so they could not (no not in the time of the New Testament) suddenly and abruptly leave it off; but they did use it for a time, for their sakes whe were weak, well knowing that the circura cision without hands, would by degrees put an end to the circumcision, made witii hands. For ceremonies are best laid down, and old customs best laid aside, by the efficacy of the Spirit and power of righteousness. And so in like manner the apostles used the baptism of John, or water- baptism, it having been of high account in the dawning of the day of the Gospel, and for the. present still continuing so ; but they knew that spirit or fire-baptism, w.ould by degrees consume water-baptism, and lick up all the drops of it ; for so John hiraself intimates, saying, " he must increase, but I must decrease ; that is, the truth must eat out the ceremony, and the substance the sign, and the more his ministry and baptisra come in, mine shall go out ; and the ministry of the Son shall swallow up the ministry of the servant, as the sun-light doth the moon-light; and the baptisra of fire shall devour the baptism 31 of water ; and his spirit-baptism by degrees shall put an end to my water-baptism : and therefore Paul, as you have heard, after he had used this baptism twice or thrice, quite forebore it and yet planted many churches of Christ ; and so prob ably by degrees did other apostles too ; for they knew that Christ's baptism included John's, and was fully sufficient of itself without it ; and there fore we find Paul teaching in Christ's kingdom but one baptism and this the baptism ofthe Spirit, Eph. iv. from which the church of the New Tes tament, both Jews and Gentiles, was to take its beginning, and not from outward elements of water-washing. Wherefore seeing these things are so, the Ana baptists have extremely mistaken, who have made their water-washing so essential a work of the New Testament, that they would neither hear the word, nor have Christian communion with any one that was not so washed ; yea, though they were convinced touching them, that they had received the Spirit : this, I say, hath been the great error of very many honest and well-meaning people, through misunderstanding t,he word, to make washing with material water so necessary a thing in spiritual worship ; yea, and more essential to the communion of saints, than the very Spirit itself ; whom I do not there fore judge, but pity. And thus much for water-baptism, which was John's, and belonged only to that middle ministry, betwixt the prophets and Christ. Now the other baptism I am to speak of, is Christ's which is spirit or fire-baptism ; and this 32 is the one and only baptism of the New Testa ment, as we find Paul affirming, Eph. iv. 4, 5. where he saith, that in Christ's kingdom there is but one body and one Spirt, and one hope of our calling, and one Lord, and one faith, there is also but £" BaTrrw^a ouB Baptlsm ; and this is the baptism of the Spirit, as the apostle elsewhere shews, saying, 1 Cor. xii. 13. "For by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body, and have been made all to drink into one Spirit" Now this spirit-baptism did not go along with John's water-baptism, but followed it about four years after, as you have heard, and as ap pears by the forementioned place of Christ, Acts i. 5. where he tells his disciples, saying, " John verily baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." And this proraise of Christ, and of the Father, was fulfiUed at the day of Pentecost, when the apostles being all met together, " There came a sound frora heaven, as of a inighty rush ing wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them , clo ven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of thera, and they were all filled with the Spirit." Here was the first beginning of Christ's or Spirit-baptism, for it began not until after the ascension of Christ into heaven, and his sitting down on the throne of God ; and John the apostle also witnesses to this, chap. vii. 39. saying, " The Spirit was not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified :" but as soon as. he was glorified, then did he begin to baptise with the Spirit, not the apostles only, 33 but also the Jews and Gentiles, and aU sorts of people that did believe in his name through the word of the gospel ; so that then Christ's baptism began to take place, and prevail, as you may see, Acts viih 14, 15, 16. "When the apostles that were at Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the word of God by the preaching of Philip, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he was fallen on none of them (only," saith the text, " they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus," i. e. they had only been baptised vsrith John's baptism, who only baptised with water, saying, that they should beUeve on Christ that was to come after : for John's baptisra was yet usual, inasmuch as Christ's baptism was but new begun) " then did the apostles lay their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit : so that here now was the progress of Spirit- baptism. And after, when Peter preached to Cornelius, and his family and friends, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Acts. x. And Peter gives this account to those of the circum cision at Jerusalera, Acts xi. 15 "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning ; then remerabered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptised with water, but, ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit: so that Peter evidently declares, the gift of the Spirit by the ministry of the gospel, to be the baptism of Christ, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit and 34 fire, which Christ promised at his ascension into heaven. And this is the only baptism wherein all the church of the New Testament are to partake with Christ : I say, not the baptism of water, but of the Spirit : he and we drinking into one Spirit, and the same Spirit descending on us as did on him. The pouring out of the Spirit on the flesh of Christ, was his New Testament baptism, and it is ours too ; and all our true and sound comfort and happiness lies in this, that we are baptised with the same Spirit that he was ; for it would be as little spiritual comfort to be dipped in the same water with Christ, as to eat with him at the same table, or to drink with him in the sarae cup, or to go along with hira in the same ship, as Judas did, , and divers of the unbeliving Jews ; but to drink with him in one Spirit, is to partake of one Spirit with him, and to be one Christ with him ; and this is a comfort indeed. Now the outward instrument of Christ's,^ or Spirit-baptism, is not material water, but the word, as Christ shews. Mat. xxviii. where he saith, " Teach and baptise ;" shewing, that teaching the word is the outward raeans of baptising with the Spirit. And again, John xvii. 3. " Now are ye clean through the word," not which Moses ' but " which I have spoken unto you," (and therefore is the gospel called the ministration of the Spirit, because it pro ceeds frora the Spirit, and communicates the Spirit, and Christ baptises with the Spirit, through the ministration of the Spirit, which is the preaching of the gospel) and Eph. v. 26. 35 " Christ gave himself for his church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, Tu x»rpa. r» viams ev ^miau, with the washing of water by the word ;" that is, Christ cleanses his church by such a washing of water, as is brought about by the word and the water, with which the word washes in the Spirit ; for by the word the Spirit is given ; and the word cleanses by the Spirit, and the Spirit by the word : and therefore it is also said, 1 Cor. vii. 1. " Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit. From all this it appears, that Spirit-baptism is not to be performed by water, but by the word ; and no man under the New Testament, receives the Spirit through the baptism of water, but through the ministry of the New Testa ment, which is the only ministration of the Spirit. To conclude : this baptisra of the Spirit, that is performed only by the word, is that baptism of which so many exceUent things are spoken in the New Testament. As, 1. This baptism of the Spirit gives a new nature, and this nature is a divine nature, or the nature of God ; and hence it is said, " Except a man be born of water and the Spirit ;" so that the baptisra of the Spirit gives a new birth, and so a new nature : and again, " That which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit ;" so that the bap tisra of the Spirit makes us Spirit, and through the baptism of the Spirit, we become that which the Spirit itself is ; pnd so the true foundation of Christianity begins frora faith and a new creature, and not from water-washing. 36 2. This baptism gives a new name, not John or Thomas, &c. but as Christ saith, Rev. iii. 2. " I will write upon him, to ow/ia im to Kumv, my new name. Our own name is sin and ignorance, and pride, and injustice, and envy, and covetousness, and uncleanness, and all evil; and this is the name which the first Adam wrote upon us ; but the name the second Adam writes on us, is righteousness, and holiness, and truth, and love, and meekness, and wisdom, and all good ; , and this is the name the second Adam writes on us, or his own new name ; for Christ himself was baptised by the Spirit into the narae of God ; that is, was taken up into God and the things of God, which are hiraself, as into the truth, wis dora, justice, mercy, power, &c. and all the whole flesh or humanity of Christ, even all his members are baptised into the same name of God with him, and so are called by his new narae ; so that this name of Christ, this new name, which is given us by God, through the baptism of the Spirit, is infinitely better than that narae which is given us by parents or god-fathers in water- baptism. 3. Christ's baptisra translates us into a new world : " Except a man be born of that water, which is the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." No man can possibly enter into the church of the New Testament, which is the kingdora of God, but through the baptisra of the Spirit ; the baptisra of the Spirit makes a new creature, and this new creature enters into a new world, which is the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven. 4. Spirit-baptism enables us to the same work 37 with Christ ; that is, to the ministry of the Ne\v Testament; saith Christ, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach," Isa. Ixi. 1. And he began his ministry from his Spirit-baptism, which did immediately follow his water-baptism, but was in no sort one baptism with it ; and having throtigh the open^ ing the heavens received the Spirit which taught him the Name of God, he presently began to teach the name of God to others ; and Christ himself was not a minister of the New Testa ment, but through the baptism of the Spirit. Now all believers that are anointed with him in his unction, or, which is all one, are baptised with him in one baptism of Spirit, are anointed and baptised to the same ministry : for the anointing of the Spirit is the teaching of God, and they that are taught of Gad themselves ought also to teach others ; and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy, and they that have re ceived that S-pirit^nru St proph esy, as it is written, " It shall oome to pass in the last days, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy ;" which very place Peter, Acts ii. applies to the baptism of the Spirit; so that this Spirit-baptism of Christ makes all prophets that partake of it; 5. -Spirit-baptisra makes all those one with Christ the Head, who partake of it, Oal. iii. 27. "As many as have been baptised into Christ, have put on Christ ;" so thatby the true baptism of the New Testament, we do actually put on 'Christ, and are made one with Christ : and this is not done by any water-washing, but by the 4 38 (Spirit ; for through the gift of the Spirit only we are made one flesh with Christ, yea, through this we necessarily become one Spirit with him too, as it is said, " He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit ;" so that not through water, but Spirit-baptism do we put on Christ, the Spirit carrying us into Christ., and bringing Christ into us, and being one and the same Spirit in both ¦; and this is to be baptised into Christ. Now this baptism that makes us one with Christ, makes us to partake both of his death and resurrection. First, Through baptism of the Spirit we are dipt into the death of Christ, Rom. vi. 3, 4. " Know ye not, that so many of us as are bap tised into Jesus Christ, are baptised into his death ?" And this is, as the apostle unfolds it, ver. 6. " The crucifying ofthe old man withhim, .that the body of sin may be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin ;"" and all this is done, not through any water-washing, but through the gift of the Spirit ; for it is through the Spirit only, that we are able to mortify the deeds of the flesh ; and nothing but the presence of the Spirit in us is the destruction of sin ; so that the Spirit of Christ baptises us into the death of Christ Secondly, Spirit-baptism makes us partakers ofhis resurrection as well as of his death, yea, therefore do we die with him, that we may live a better life, Rom. vi. 3, 4. " Therefore we are buried with him by baptism (that is. Spirit-bap tism) into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father 39 (i. e. the Spirit) so should we also live in new ness of life ; for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Where you see that the same baptism of the Spirit, that makes us die with Christ, doth also quicken us into his resurrection,, and deprives us of our own life ; not that we remain dead, but that it raay com municate to us a better life than our own, even the life of Christ himself ; that we who are men, may live the very life of the Son of God in our" own souls and bodies, and may be quickened with him, and raised up with him, and set in heavenly places in him. Thirdly, as- Spirit-baptism makes us one with Christ the Head, so with the church the body, 1 Cor. xii. 13. " For by one Spirit are we all bap tised intoone body, whether we be Jews or Gen tiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit ; so that by drinking into one Spirit with the church, we be come one body with it, and no other ways : I say, not by being dipt into the same water, but by re ceiving the same Spirit, do we becorae one body with the church ; and it is not being of one judg ment, or opinion, or form, or the like, that makes men one true churchj or body of Christ, but the- being of one Spirit ; and they are no more of that church, which is the body of Christ, than* they that are baptised with that one Spirit of Christ Fourthly, Spirit-baptism truly washes and cleanses from sin ; what water-baptism doth in the sign, this^ doth, in- the truth, even cleanses. 40- ffom all carnal and spiritual filthiness : and na man is cleansed from sin, but by the washing of the Spirit ; the pouring forth of the Spirit on all flesh, is the killing of sin in all flesh, I Cor. vi. 9, 10, 11. " Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor- adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of them-- selves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,. nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God ; and, such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are- sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God ;" so that Spirit- baptism cleanses from all sin, whatever it is, and- there is no man cleansed from sin, but through, this baptism. And again, Eph. v. 26, 27. " Christ gave him self for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious^ church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish ;" and nothing doth thus purify the. church, until it be without spot, wrinkle, or blem ish, and until it be perfectly holy, but the bap tism of the Spirit. And therefore, though the baptism of John was administered but once, yet the baptism of Christ is a continued baptism ; for as long as. corruption. is.,in the flesh, the baptisra of the -Spirit is in use: so that the nature and life of a Christian are under, a constant and con tinual baptism, God every day pouring forth his. Spirit upon a believer, for the purifying and sanctifying of him, and making him meet for the immediate presence of God, whither no vtxk- 41' clean thing comes, nor the least uncleanness ih anything. Fifthly, Spirit-baptism saves ; whatever in: us is washed with the Spirit, is saved as well' as sanctified ; and how much any one hath re-- ceived of the Spirit, so much' is- he already saved. Tit iii. 5. " According to his mercy he ^ hath saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our' Saviour:" where the' apostle teaches- us- how God saves, and that is not by John's baptism; or water- washing, but by the laver of regenera-- tion, which is- the renewing of the Holy Spirit,. poured on. ua abundkntly through Christ ; so* that he ¦ calls the baptism of the Spirit the laver of regeneration; such a laver that removes the old nature ; yea, and -begets a new one; so that a man through this baptism- is -wholly changed, not in a few good works,- but in his whole nature; and fromihis-newness of nature flows newness of life ; so that he is-no'moreas he was, but is,' and lives, and loves, and thinks, and speaks; and acts, otherwise than he was wont ; and this cannot be the work of water in any measure; but wholly of the Spirit ; for where men are destitute of the Spirit, though washed with: water a thousand times, there is no change of nature in them; but the change of nature, wrought by Spirit-baptismy is so much present' salvation, even in this present world. There ¦ is another Scripture witnesses the same thing, and it is 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. " A few (that is edgiiti souls), were saved by water, to which 4f- 42 figure, baptism answering, doth now also save us, not that whereby the filth of the flesh is cast away, but whereby a good conscience answers well to God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ ;" Peter having said that baptism answers to the flood, and saves the church now, as the flood did the church then ; "yea," saith he, " but I mean not the outward baptism, or the washing away of the filth, of the body, but the answer of a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ;" which jJace is difficult, but I thus conceive -it ; the efficacy of Christ's resurrection is the gift- of tbe Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ in a believer, rectifies his conscience, and raakes it good, so that it can return a sweet- answer to God upon every' word of his ; fbr the work of the Spirit in the heart, answers every word of faith spoken from God ; par ticularly it can say to God, I was indeed filthy and unclean throughout;- buti am now washed,. and justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of my God ; and this Spirit-baptism is that which saves ; and not the water, which puts away the filth of the flesh only, but leaves, the -filth of the Spirit as much as ever. So that, in this place, Peter puts an end to baptism in the flesh, as Paul, Rom. ii. 28. puts an end to circumcision in the flesh, saying, "He is- not a Jew thatis one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew that is one inwardly, and ejrpumcision is th at of the heart in the Spirit, aind; not- in the letter, whose praise is -not, of*. 43 men, but of God :" that is saith Paul, in the kingdom of Christ, where all things are spirit ual ; circumcision in the Spirit puts an end to circumcision in the flesh : .and in the same king dom of Christ, saith Peter, baptism in the spirit puts an end to baptisrn in the flesh , for he is not a christian who is one outwardly, neither is that baptism which is outward in the flesh ; but he is a christian who is one inwardly, and baptism is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise also is not of men, but of God. For under the gospel, which is the minis tration of the Spirit (as ye have been oft minded) we can find nothing among all outward things, through the use and exercise whereof we may attain the cleanness and purity of righteousness in our natures; and therefore Christ hath put an end to all outward, carnal, and earthly things of the first testament, by the inward and spirit ual, and heavenly things of a second and better testament : and by his- own death and resur rection only, not without us, but within us, through the power and efficacy of his Spirit, all the baptism of the New Testament is fully and perfectly perforraed. And thus, in all these particulars, you see the infinite excellency and glory of the Spirit- baptism above water-b."5ptisra, and this only is sufficient iri the days of the gospel, as being the true and proper baptism ofthe New Testament : for as Christ himself only is- sufficient to the faithful without John, though John was cf use in his season to point out Christ : so the baptism of. Christ only is sufficient to the faithful, with- 44 out' the baptism of John, though the baptism of John were of use in its season, to point out the baptisra of Christ ; and the Baptist him self was of this judgment, who said to Christ, "I have need to be baptised of thee;" which- he means not of water-baptism (for so Christ himself, as you have heard, did not baptise) but with the baptism of the Spirit;, and so the Baptist himself, who was never baptised with' water, neither by Christ nor the apostles, nor any body else, yet was baptised with the Spirit';' and the baptism of the Spirit was sufficient for the Baptist without any water-baptism ; an 1 so Christ's Spirit-baptisra; by the word; is sufficient fbr all the faithful now, without John's water<^ baptism : for he that is truly washed frora all filthiness of flesh .and spirit, and hath the Holy Ghost in hira* to- renew his nature, and to con- fbrm him exactly to Christ's own image, and to work him in this present world into the true similitude of heaven, and to be inhim a foun tain of water springing up unto everlasting life ; . what need hath he of cold material water to be poured on his body, under the pretence of any sign whatever, either of Moses or John, when^ as he hath the truth,, substance and heavenly thing itself?,' Now this, it raay be, may seem strange and' dangerous to some of low, and fleshly, and customary religion ; but let all such (if it be ¦ possible) considei-, that; where the substance- comes, the shadow is at an end : and the cere-- mony where the truth comes ; and the creature where Godl comes ; and if they understand not.' 45 this for the present, I hope they may understand it afterwards ; for we speak not at uncertain ties in this point, but what we have in some measure seen, and felt, and handled, of the "word of life, that we deliver to you, that ye may have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is. with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, through the Spirit, A DISSERTATION NATURE AND EFFECT CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. ST JOSEPH PHIPPS. NEW- YORK; PUBLISHED B^ THE NE-W-TOBK TEAEL-y MEETING OP PEIENDE. MABLON DAY, PKIIfTEK, 374 PE ARL-S T E E E T. 1837. A DISSERTATION ON BAPTISM, John the Baptist was sent as a voice crying in ihe wilderness, to proclaim the approach of the Messiah ; to point hira out, upon his personal appearance, to the people ; to preach the neces sity of repentance for the remission of sins ; arid to baptise with water, as prefiguring the spiritual administration of the Saviour under the dispen sation of the gospel, in baptising with the Holy Ghost to the purification of souls, and fitting them for an eternal inheritance with the saints in light. John came not to institute, but to preceed and prepare the way for this glorious dispensation ; he therefore represented the new covenant of the Prince of Life and Peace, under the title of the kingdora of heaven, which he declared to be at hand, or near to take place. This Gospel establishment, the prophet Jere miah had foretold, should'^ not be according to the old covenant of symbolical forms and sha dows, which the inspired author of the epistle * Jer. xxxi. 32. 50 Ito the Hebrews observed,* " could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience ;" because it " stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and car nal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation." John's baptism-, being of the same exterior nature with the rituals of the law, could no more add towards the purification of the heart, and the perfection of agood conscience, than they : like thern, it was a figure for the time then present, to shadow forth' the internal effect of the Lord's baptism, but no further requisite thereunto, John. knowing this, when Jesus came to partake of his baptism, as he likewise did of the ordinances of the law (not that he might give a sanction to their continuance, but that he might fulfil theria, as having been primarily of dj,vin-e authority, and not yet disannulled) appeared surprised that he whom he knew to be the inward and effectual baptiser, should apply to hira for his outward baptism, saying,! " I have need to be baptised of thee, and comest thou to me ?" but upon our Lord's answering, " Suffer it to be so now," (which intiraated his own spiritual baptisra was not yet to commence, so as to put a final period to that of John) he admitted it ; and soon after directed his hearers to him, saying,^ " behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." For this gracious end, the Son of God resign ed himself up to become § a ransom for all man- * Heb. ix. 9, 10. t Mat. iii. 14, 16. t John i. 29. §1 Tim. ii. «. 51 kind, to be testified, or outwardly verified, in due time ; by which he shewed the love of God to fallen raan, and his willingness to pardon sin ners upon their repentance ; in order to which he ¦*¦ " received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among thera.." Hence f " the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man, to profit withal," that, on their embracing it in faith and obedience, they might by its baptising power and virtue, be delivered from the condemnation due for sins coraraitted, and be cleansed frora all unrighteous ness. To this import are the following expressions- of John ; + " i indeed baptise you with water unto repentance ; but he that cometh after rae (or whose rarnistration shall succeed mine) is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire ; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner ; but he wUl burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." John here shews the true distinction betwixt his own baptisra, and that of our Saviour ; the first with water ; the last with the Holy Ghost ; and also raetaphoricaUy inculcates, that the baptisra of Christ should winnow the soul of its, chaffy or sinful nature, and operate as fire, to the perfect consuraption of all its defileraent. § " He must increase, said John, but I must decrease." This indicates, that as the spiritual * Psalm Ixvjit K. 1 1 Cor. xii 7. X Mat. iii. 11, 12. I John.iii. 30. 52 ministration of Christ should advance, John's watery one should recede, not be joined with it Neither was the- regenerating baptism of the spirit consequent upon it when administered ; for the -* Samaritans received the Holy Ghost some, tirae after their water-baptism ; f Cor nelius and his friends received it before ; and t Simon the sorcerer received it not at all, though he was baptised with water. Spirit-baptism, therefore, is not connected with water-baptism, nor at all dependent upon it. The baptism of the Saviour is complete in itself, without exterior form and shadow. By its renewed irapresslons on the believing and attentive soul, the new-birth of the Spirit is brought forth therein, and in proportion to its growth and increase, the old raan, with his cor rupt deeds becomes crucified, and the soul de livered, and raised up into newness of life. This is the baptism which is essential to sal vation, as our Lord gave Nicodemus to under stand, when he said, § " Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." And again, " Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" The word water here, like that of fire, Mat. iii. 12. is used to signify the purifying virtue of the spirit in the regeneration of the soul. II Bishop Taylor saith, 'The water and the spirit in this place signify the same thing ; and by water is meant the effect of the spirit cleans- * Acts viii. t Acts x. 47. t Acts viii, S John iii, II Liberty of Propheesy- ing, pag-e 213, 53 ing and purifying the soul, as appears in its parallel of Christ baptising with the spirit and fire' That our Lord meant it of the spirit only, sufficiently appears frora his own explanatory expression, verse 6. '^That which is born of the flesh,, is flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit." Those- who-advoeate the continuance of water- baptism, plead our Saviour's commission, Mat. xxviii. 19. but he there makes no mention of water, nor do his vvords iraply it, for his expres'- sions are such as suit only with his own spirit ual baptisra. Neither did his disciples fromi thence begin, the practice of water-baptism. They had taken it up some time before, most probably from John's example, whom they just ly venerated as a messenger sent from God, and in great estimation with their Lord and master ; fbr they administered it after the same manner- he did, and so continued to do, when they used it after our Lord's ascension, as well as before. Whereas, if they had understood his command to- intend water-baptism, they would certainly have altered their terms, and have administered it in the very words of his commission} which we do- not find in holy writ they ever did. It was. therefore still John's baptism in- nature, and far below the effectual baptism ofthe great Messiah, who, notwithstanding he bore such honorable testimony concerning John, as a burning and shining light, and one of the greatest prophets. burn of women, as being his immediate fore- 5.* 54 runner, yet at the same time he said, ^ " He thatis least in the kingdom of God, is greater than he." This implies that the lowest attain ment in the spiritual dispensation of Christ, is superior in nature to the highest in John's minis tration : this being, but the temporary sign, and that, the substantial and permanent reality signified by it. Let us now consider what the commission was, and to whom it was given. It appears to have been merely verbal ; for we find it was not immediately attended with the authority re quisite to its execution. The qualification still necessary was the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, which the disciples were to receive afterwards ; without which they -vi^ere not to enter Upon the work of the rainistry, but to wait in patience for its Ulurainating and powerful virtue, to put them forth, and to abilitate them for their service, f " Behold," said the great Minister of the sanc tuary, " I send the promise of my father upon you ; biit tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." t " John truly baptised with water ; but ye shall be bap tised with the Holy Ghost, not many days. hence," § " ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Thus was the Spiritual baptism of Christ, which had been predicted by John, to commence * Luke vii. 28. t Luke xxiv. 49. % Acts i. 5. Acts v. 8. 55 first upon the ministry, and through them to be communicated to the people ; for they were to teach baptising into the same spirit themselves were baptised with. Unless the ministers were baptised with the spirit, they could not baptise their believing hearers with it ; nor could their hearers without faith receive it. This appears to be the baptism intended in the comraission ; for it relates not to the bap tism of John, but to that of Christ, and holds forth the preaching of the Gospel in the spirit and power of God. Therefore the commission was given to those in the primitive age, who were divinely inspired for that purpose, and it unquestionably reaches to their successors in THE SAME SPIRIT and to such only, to the end ofthe world. The -words of the commission are, * " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them, ets TO ovojua, into the name ofthe Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The word name here is not to be understood literally, but of that divine power, virtue and heavenly influence, which emphatically denotes and characterizes the Godhead above all other beings ; which our Lord often expressed by the sarae word. John xvii. 6. "I have manifested thy narae unto the men which thou gavest me ;" ver. 12. " I kept them in thy name;" and ver. 11. he prayed, "Holy Father keep through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me !" In this name is strength and salvation, t " The name of * Mat. xxviii. 19. t Prov. xviii. 10. 56 the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." The knowledge of it gives faith. * " They that know thy name will put their trust in thee." It is the consolating unction from the Holy One. f " Thy name is as ointment poured forth ; therefore do the virgiiis (the chaste in heart) love thee." Into the internal virtue and influence of this saered and all suf ficient name, or spirit, are all the truly regene rate measurably baptised ; for, ^ " If any raan have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." The apostles, with many of the priraitive brethren, received thisbaptism into the name, or spirit, of the Godhead to a high degree, which enabled them to teach baptising with such effi cacy, that multitudes ^ were pricked in their heart, || " and with great power gave the apos tles witness^ of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus," so that even T their enemies were not able to resist the wisdom andthe spirit by which they spake. Peter relating the result of his visit to Cor nelius and his company, about eight years after the great effusion of the Holy Ghost at the time of Penticost, thus testifles to its baptising power in the true ministry ofthe word : ¦^''^ " As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on thera, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptised with water ; but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost" This plainly^ ?>Esalm ix. 10. t Cant. i. 3. } Rom. viii. 9. S Acts ii. 37. II Acts iv 33i ITActs vi. 10. ??Actsxi..lS.10.' 57 shews that the spiritual baptism of Christ ac companied their preaching, and therefore was the baptism intended in his commission. The same apostle also witnesses more generally, * that the gospel was preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Some object, that it is not in the power of men, but of God only, to baptise with the Holy Ghost : but let such consider, that he is pleased to work instrumentally, as well as immediately ; and though in a common way of expression, we may say, the ministers of Christ baptise with the spirit of Chiist ; it is no more meant that they can do it in their own wills, or by their own powers,- than it was so intended of the primitive ministers, who are said to work mira cles. To the Lord alone is the power and glory of all to be attributed. He is the sole effecter of aU good, and the best of men are but his in struments when he is pleased to make use of them ; yet by a metonymy of the instruraent for power that useth it, it is usual to say, such a person instantly made the cripple to walk, heal ed the diseased, or conferred the Holy Ghost, without any intention to attribute that to man which is only due to God. t " Without me," said our Lord to his disci ples, "ye can do nothing." But when he had endued them with the spirit, t they ministered the spirit, as well as the doctrines of Christianity ; for true gospel ministry is not that of words only, but of words with power. Therefore the true » 1 Peter L 12. t John xv, 15. t Gal. iii, 5. 5S minister of the gbspel always baptiseth more or less, in his ministry, according to the measure of divine influence upon , him ; who without it would be only as salt without savour, however he might be furnished with scholastic argument and human eloquence. These may entertain the head, and move the passions, which is not the business of an inspired minister ; but to sub ject them, and to instruct, and quicken the soul into an inward, sense of the effective power and virtue of the divine life, * "My speech, and my preaching," said Paul, though a learned person, " was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in deraonstration of the spirit, and -of po.wer ; that your faith shoald not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Our Lord constantly gave his followers an ex araple- of this; basptisraal teaching in his own practice ; which induced bis- hearers to confess; that he taught f -with authority, and not as the scribes. They were astonished at his doctrine ; for t his word was with power. The scribes had human authority, but his was divine ; which so struck , even the officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to take him, that they excused themselves by saying § " Never man spake like this man." This was unquestionably true; for if any other spoke the same words; none could enforce them with the sarae fulness of divine power and authority. Thus he led the way to what he afterwards commissioned *- 1. Cor. ii.. 4, 5. ' t MM., vii.,29., t Luke iy. 32., § John vii. 46,. m and empowered his disciples to do, in the measure he afforded them respectively. The apostle Paul undoubtedly had an equal share in the gospel coramission with any other inspired minister, and was equally bound to bap tise in the sense intended therein ; but, with water, he declared * he was not sent to baptise : consequently water-baptism was not the baptism enjoined m the commission. But he asserts, he was sent to preach the gospel,' whicfi is the ¦special matter of that commission ; that is, to teach, baptising into the life arid power of the Holy Spirit that qualified him for it Accord ingly he reminds the believers, t " Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." He also shews the effect it had on thera ; t " When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men ; but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectuaUy worketh aisoin you that believe." Hence we raay observe this distinc tion, that the preaching of the gospel by im mediate inspiration, is to be received as the word of God ; but preaching concerning it with out inspiration, is only to be esteemed as the word of man. Many have been trained up to believe, that our Saviour made water-baptism the condition of our admittance into his kingdora. Were it so, the salvation of all mankind depends upon it ; and if the sprinkling or dipping of infants be, • 1 Cor. i 17. tl Thes. i 5. t Thee. u. 13, 60 either the saving baptism, or the sole means through which it is to be received, the salvation of the child who dies before it attains to years of understanding, or power of choice, depends upon the precarious conduct of its parents or that of others, without any v^^ill, knowledge or default of its own. But what rational aud considerate person can believe, that the just Creator, and kind Saviour of mankind, is so void of. equity and commisera tion, as to suffer those innocents who die in their infancy, to fall into everlasting raisery, for the want of a ceremonial, which, if it be a duty, can not be theirs, but that of their parents, or of those who have the care of their concerns upon them, and whose omission must be their fault, if it be any, and not that ofthe children, who can be no way chargeable with it ? The solemn denuncia tion ofthe great God, who affords of his * saving grace unto all men, is, f " The soul that sinneth, it .shall die." " The son shall not bear the ini quity ofthe father: neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son, The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him,- and the wicked ness of the wicked shall be, upon him." The tender infant hath neither ability to re ceive a law, nor to transgress it, therefore it can not be guilty of the cpmmission of sin ; and to hold it guUty, because its primogenitors trans gressed long before it existed, and that it is justly punishable merely for descending from them in the state of their fallen nature, which it could *Tit.ii. 11. t Ezek. xviii. 20. 61 not avoid, is too barbarous for truth and rights ousness to warrant. Yet this cruel notion, the production of error and bigotry, hath been zea^ ously espoused and propagated. Fidus, an African bishop, in the third century, advised the baptism of infants for the purgation of original sin, alledging that the Jews circura cised theirs. This at first seemed new and strange to Cyprian ; but he afterwards fell in with a collection of sixty-six bishops and pres byters, who enjoined it. The practice became preached up afterwards by divers as necessary ; and the Milevitan and Carthaginian councils, in the fore part of the fifth century, went so far as to fix an anathema upon aU who held that young children might be saved without water-baptism ; which was ratified by several succeeding popes. Augustine carried the matter still further, teach* ing that even embryos, if they had been quicken*- ed in the mother's womb, and there died unbap- tised, were damned, as guilty of original sin. This put the wisdom of the priesthood upon contriving a remedy ; some they took up out of their graves, and christened, as they super stitiously called it, the dead body : others they baptised by proiy, in imitation of those early misled professors among the Corinthians, vvho also doubted of the resurrection ; in proof ttf which, the apostle doubly argued with them ; First, from their own practice, who, from a notion of the necessity of water-baptism unto salvation, took upon thera to be baptised for those who died without it ; * " What shall they • I Cor. xr. 29, 30. 6 62 <5o," said be, '" who are baptised for tke dead, if ihe dead rise not at all ?" " Why are they then ¦baptised for the dead ?" The manner of this baptism was thus ; one of them placed himself under the bed of the deceased, who being asked -if he would be baptised ; tke party under his bed answered for him in the affirraative, and then was baptised in his stead; which Godwin, properiy enough, compares to the acting of a play upon the stage. See God-win's Moses and Aaron chapter v. Secondly, The apostle reasons from his own exercise, and that of his concerned brethren ; ^'Why stand we in jeopardy every hour 1" The import .of which seems to be, why are we contin ually baptised in affliction, suffering, and danger, for the sake of those who are dead in. trespasses and sins, that they may be quickened, by the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, if none are to be so quickened, and if there shall be no resurrection hereafter ? As the' followers of Jacobus Cyrus took the word -water, John iii. 5. in the literal sense, so they did the word fire. Mat. iii 11. and thence branded their children either in the face, or upon the arm, with a heated iron in the forra of a cross. But this having something of cruelty, as well as absurdity in it, did not so generally obtain as water sprinkling ; in the ministration of which, the P..omish church teemed abundantly with modes and fancies of iraaginary significance. The self-flattering notion, that the new birth of the spirit is either concurrent with or conse quent upon the ministration of water-baptism, js •163 neither supported by scripture nor experience". If it insensibly accompany it, how do we knov/ it ? If it immediately follow, how do its fruits appear more in those who have received water- baptism, than in those who have not I * "The fruit of the spirit," saith the apostle; "is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodnessi faith, meekness^ teraperance."— ^t " The fruit of the spirit is in all goodness-, and righteousness and truth." Are these Iruits raore conspicuous in the baptised, than in the unbaptised. If those' who are baptised with water are born of the" spirit and made heirs of the kingdom of heaven, how comes it that such as have received it, either' in adult age or infancy, and become afterwards' awakened to a sense of their condition, ape stiil conscious of a body of sin remaining wi*hia thera, and are made to cry out in anxiety of soul,. A Saviour, or I die ! A Redeemer, or I perish for ever ! Are not such painfully sensible, that they still want remission and regeneration^ notwith standing their water baptism ? If any say. This may arise from sins commit-- ted after their baptisra ; I answer, the apostle John saith, f" Whosoever is born of God (and abideth in hira)' doth not comrait sin ; for his seed remaineth in hira, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." But is it evident in fact, that he who is baptised only with water; can sin as- freely and fully as he who is not : therefore he who is baptised with water, is not in consequence bern of God. »-GaI. v. 22, 23. t Eph. y\ 9.. tl Johniii^. 64 It is pleaded,,, that Peter commanded water- baptism. Acts X. 48. which he certainly would not have done, had he not held the practice ne cessary. On the same foundation it may be ar^ gued, that he would, not , have * compelled the- believing Gentiles to live after the raanner ofthe Jewish law, had he notheld it necessary ; yet we find Paul openly reproved him for it. This shows. that Peterj. though one of the most eminent aposr itles, in the early time of the gospel, sometimes. went a little too far, in compliance with the pre judices of his Jewish brethren, divers of whom were present when he commanded those Gentile converts, to, be baptised. But in this particular instance at the house ©f Cornelius, Peter might not be blameable j for -vye have reasori to believe,, that such a. prudential tenderness both towards; Jews and Gentiles, was permitted for a season, as to, allow the practice of divers rituals, till their attachment tothem should become lessened, by the prevalence of the Holy Spirit: in their hearts. Upon this ground he probably exhorted the people Actsii. 38, 39.. "repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, apd to your children, and to all that are afar off/' This general promise he had thus cited from Joel in the beginning of his discourse ; t " It shall corae to pass in the last days, saith God, I »G#iI. ii. 14, t,A.cts,ii. 17. 6'5 will pour out of ray spirit upon aU flesh, and your" sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young raen shall see visions, and your old raen shall dream drearas : and on ray ser vants, and on my hand-maidens, I will pour out ini those days- of my spirit, and thoy shall pro phesy." This dispensation of the spirit to both sexes, then eminently took place, and the apostle un doubtedly, expressed hiraself inthe words before cited, with allusion to the spiritual baptisra of Christ, which operates to true repentance, and brings to experience that conversion of heart-,- which is followed by the reraission of sins, audi the reception ofthe Holy Ghost This he plainly taught in a parallel passage of the following, chapter: *" Repent ye therefore, and be conr verted, that your sins may be blottedout, when' the times of refreshing- shall corae from the pre--- sence of the Lord." These.- renovating and' consolatory effects-fol-- low not in consequence of the ministration of water-baptism-: for if they did, Simon the sor cerer, and all the wicked amongst men that ever' received it, would have had remission^ and the- gift of the Holy Ghost: We find the apostle Paul also conformed- at times in this,- and. divers other ceremonials ; but when he afterwards perceived hurt already had^ and was likely to still ensue frorii such conformi ty, he forbore it ; and f thanked Gnd that he had- oidy baptised Crispus, Gaius, and the household^ ?Acts iii. 19... + 1 Cor. i. 14.-&cj - 66 of Stephanas; declaring ' that Christ sent him not to baptise (that is, with water) but to preach - the gospel. Peter hiraself also afterwards, probably ob serving a danger of water-baptism being receiv ed and espoused as the real baptism of the gos pel, guards the believers against such a dange rous mistake, * by shewing what the truechrist- tian baptism is ; to wit, that it is riot that which puts away the filthi of the flesh, but that which- pfoduceth the answer of a good conscience. towards God. Thus it is not the figjurative, but the effective baptism pointed; to^ by the figure, ^e refining^ baptism of the Holy Ghost, that, savethi. Itis well known by the experience of many,, Ikat this baptisrii is gradttally effected by spiritual imraersions ofthe soul, according to< the measure of corruption it hath imbibed, and-; to the strictness or laxity of its attention to the great Bap-tiser. A sense of its. sinful condition, with the distance it stands at frora the God of' perfect purity, is. first given, it, whereby it is br,pught into self-abaseraent, contrition, and at length, into hurable resignation of all to him. Thus it becomes baptised intoi the similitude of the deatk, of Christ, which is. a death unto all that is of a carnal and sensual nature. Through ' baptism it also riseth with hira into newness of life, which enableth it to bring forth the fruits of the spirit to his praise. To those who had thus followed Christ, in the regeneration, the *4.Peter iii. ,2J, 67 apostle said, * " Ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power. In whom also ye are circuracised with the circum cision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumci sion of Christ ; buried with hira in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with hira, through the feith of ¦t;he operation of God." True christian baptism is a great' and impor tant work ; the work of Christ himself, whereby the soul is raeasureably baptised into his spirit,, and endowed with its virtues. This is quite ano ther thing than a ceremonious formaUzation un der his name. The latter is easy to the flesh,; but the forraer crucifies it. t " They that are- Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affec tions and lusts." ^ " As many of you," said Paul,, " as have been baptised into Christ, have put on. Christ" To take the name christian upon us, and to be joined to the promiscuous body of a, professing church, is only to put on a profession. of Christ ; but to have really put him on, is to be endued in degree with his Holy Spirit , and na ture ; which those, who have been baptised into him certainly are. For, § " if any man be iri Christ, he is a new creature : old things are pas sed away, behold all things are become new, and all things are of God." Such are become in wardly united to Christ, grafted as branches in him the living vine, daily partaking of his life and, virtue, which renders them fruitful according to their measure ; to these he pressingly shews. * Col. ii. 10. &c, tGal.v.24. t Gal. iii. 27. {2 Cor. v. 17, 18.. 68 the' necessity of care and watchfulness, that they may abide in him : * " As the branch," said he, "cannot bear fruit of itself (or) except it abide in the vine, no raore can ye, except ye abide in me. I arn-the vine^ yeare the bi-anches. He t^t abideth in me, and I in him^ the same bringeth forth' much fruit ; for withont me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." This mani fests that maxim, once in grace, and always in grace, to be no better than a broken reed, and dangerous for any who have been sensible ofa divine visitation torest their salvation upon. It is iraproper toimagine, thatthe sign of oircum-" cision; given to Abrahara and- his-descendants,- was a type oFwater-baptism, which 'was only an outward and typical sign itself , Ceremony arid' substance are ;type and' antitype ; not cereraony and ceremony. What the- circumcision of the- foreskin pointed to,' was the inward circuracision ¦ ofthe fleshly heart, called' for by Moses, Deut.. x: 16. and proraised, chap. xxx. 6. Water-bap tism in like man ner typified f the washing of re generation ; which is effected by the renewing of lAie Holy Ghost Mark xvi. 16. " He that believeth and is bap tised shall be saved."- This niust be understood of that saving faith, which worketh by love, to' the purification of the heart, and of that saving baptism, which operates to the answer of a good conscience. If we do not believe unto obedi ence, if we have not that faith which overcomes . John XV. 4,. 5, 6.- t Tit. iii..'5. . 6f> the world in our hearts, we shall not be found in the faith once delivered to the saints ; and if we are not * washed by the Lord hiraself, who ever else may baptise us, we have no part in him. Simon Magus believed and was baptised with water, yet remained so far froin a state of salvation, that when he offered money for the Holy Ghost, the inspired apostle sharply answer ed hira, t " thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God^ — I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and inthe bond of iniquity." What therefore had his bare believing and water- baptism done for hira ? Misapprehension at first, and tradition after^ wards, having inculcated water-baptisra as a perraanent institution of our Lord's, and an in dispensable part of the Gospel ministration,, some of its advocates, have weakly argued for it as such, from his -washing t the feet of his dis ciples, and directing it as their duty to do the like to each other. But this instance had no re lation to that ceremony, for our Lord was not then instructing his followers how to initiate new converts, but figuratively shewing them what their own conduct should be amongst themselves, by setting them a pattern of humiU ty, condescension, and brotherly kindness one to; another. This undoubtedly was his intent ; not the establishment of the exterior act of pedal ablution. Water-baptism being aa essential part of * John xiij. 8.. t Acts viii. 13, 21,, 23.. t John xiii.. 70- John's commission, he properly admitted his- disciples by it ; which the great administrator of spiritual baptism did not When he called to any, FoUbw me, those who obeyed his call, im mediately became his disciples, without any ceremonial. We find he accepted Peter, An drew, John, James-, Levi, Phillip, Nathaniel; and Zaccheus, without either baptising thera, or directing them tobe baptised with water. As it was then so it remains^ to be : those who are obedient to his call are his followers, whether they are water-baptised or riot. On the contra ry, those who obey not the internal manifesta tions of his Spirit, are none of his, whoever baptiseth them with water. Formality may render any man a nominal Chrstian ; but the effectual baptism of the spirit only can make a real one. The practice of sprinkling infants under the name of baptism, hath neither precept nor pre cedent in the New Testament For want of real instances, mere suppositions are offered in support of it. Because it is said in the case of Lydia, * that she was baptised; and her house hold ; and by the apostle, " I baptised also the household of Stephanas ;" it is supposed, there might be infants, or little children, in those h ouseholds ; from whence it is inferred such were baptised. But could such improbabilities b e ever so well ascertained, they would fall very short of proving the practice a divine and. perpetual institution. »-AlAiaLO,H DAY, PRINTER, 374 F £ A,RL-S T R £ E T. L837., WATER BAPTISM, THE LORD'S SUPPER, &c SECTION I. 'duakers reject Baptismand the Lord's Supper— much censured for it — Indulgence solicited for them ou account of the difficulties connected vrith these subjects — Christian religion spintual — Jevrish types to be abol ished — Different meanings of the word "baptise" — Disputes concerning the mode of baptism — concerning also the nature and constitution ol the Supper — concerning also the time and manner of its celebration — This indulgence also proper, becansethe duakers give it to others who differ &om them, as a body, on the subject of leligien. The Quakers, among other particularities, re ject the application of Water-baptism, and the administration of the Sacrament of the Supper, as Christian rites. These ordinances have been considered by many, as so essentially interwoven -with Chris tianity, that the members of this Society, by re jecting the use of them, have been denied to be Christians. But, whatever may be the difference of opin ion between the world and the Quakers upon these subjects, great indulgence is due to the latter on this occasion. People have received the ordinances in question from their ancestors. They have been brought up to the use of them. 84 They have seen thera sanctioned by the world. Finding their authority disputed by a body of men, who are insignificant as to numbers when compared with others, they have let loose their censure upon them, and this without any inquiry concerning the grounds of their dissent. They know perhaps nothing of the obstinate conten tions, nothing of the difilculties that have occur red, and nothing of those which may stiU be started on these subjects. I shall state therefore a few considerations by way of preface during which the reader will see, that objections both fair and forcible may be raised by the best dis posed Christians on the other side of the ques tion ; that the path is nol so plain and easy as he may, have iraagined it to be ; and that,-if persons of this denoraination have taken a road different from hiraself on this occasion, they are entitled to a fair hearing of all they have to say in their defence, and to expect the sarae candour and in dulgence, which he himself would have clairaed, if, with the best intentions, he had not been able to corae to the sarae conclusion, on any given point of importance, as had been adopted by others. Let me then ask, in the first place, What is the great characteristic of the religion we pro fess? If we look to divines for an answer to this question, we may easily obtain it. We shall find sorae of thera; in their sermons, speaking of circumcision, baptis trial washings and purifica tions, new moons, feasts of the passover and un leavened bread, sacrifices and other rites. We 85 shall find them dwelling on these, as constituent parts of the religion of the Jews. We shall find thera immediately passing from thence to the religion of Jesus Christ. Here all is considered by thera to be spiritual Devotion of the heart is insisted *upon as that alone, which is accepta ble to God. If God is to be worshipped, it is laid down as a position, that be is to be wor shipped in Spirit and in truth. We shall find thera also, in other of their sermons, but particu larly in those preached after the Reformation, stating the advantages obtained by that event. The Roman Catholic system is here considered by them to be as ceremonial as that of the Jews. The Protestant is held out as of a more spiritual nature, and as more congenial therefore with the spirit of the Gospel. But what is this but a confession, in each case, that in proportion as men give up ceremonies, and become spiritual in their worship, their rehgion is the best ; or that spirituaUty is the grand characteristic ofthe religion of Jesus Christ ? Now there iramediate-- ly arises a presumption, if spirituality of feeling- had been intended as the characteristic of any religion, that no ceremonious ordinances would have been introduced into it. If, again, I were to raake an assertion to di vines, that Jesus Christ came to put an end to the ceremonious part of the Jewish Law, and to the types and shadov/s belonging to the Jewish dispensation, they would not deny it. But Bap tism and the Supper were both of them outward Jewish ceremonies, connected with the Jewish religion. They were both of them types and 8 66 ishadows, of which the antitypes and substance* kad been realised at the death of Christ. And •tkerefore a presumption arises again, that these were not intended to be continued. And .that they were not intended to be continu ed, may .be presumed again from another con- .sideration. For, what was baptism to any but a ¦Jew 1 What could a Gentile have understood by it? What notion could he have fiormed, by means of it, of the necessity .of the baptism of -Christ? Unacquainted with purifications by wha ler, as symbols of purification of heart, he could aievej- have entered, like a Jew, into the spirit- >ual life ^of such an ordinance. And similar ob servations may be raade with respect to the Passover^supper. A ^Gentile could have known nothing,, like a Jew, of the meaning of this cere mony. He could never have .&een in the Pas- ^chal lamb any type of Christ, or in the dehver ance :of the Israelites frora Egyptian bondage, .any type of his own deliverance frora sin, so -clearly and feelingly as if the facts and customs kad related to his own history, or as if he had been trained to .the connection by a long series of prophecies. In short, the Passover could have had but little meaning to him. Frojn these Xiircumstances, therefore, there would -be reason to conclude that these ceremonies were not to be continued, at least to .any but Jew:s,, because they were not fitted to the knowledge, .the .genius, or the condition of the GentUe world. But independently of these difilculties, whick arise from a general view of these ordinances as aimexed to .a religion, whick is confessed to he sr spiritual, others arise frora a particular view of each Onthe subject of Baptisra, there is ground for argument as to the meaning of the word " baptise." This word, in- consequence of its re presentation of a watery ceremony, is usually connected with water in our miodS. But it raay also very consistently be connected even with fire: Its general meaning is to purify. In this^ srense many understand it : and those who do, and who apply it to the great coraraand of Jesus^ to his disciples, think they give a better interpre tation of it than those who connect it with wa ter ; for they think it raore reasonable that the Apostles should have been enjoined to go into all nations, and to endeavour to purify the hearts of individuals, by the spirit and power of their preaching, from the dross of heathen notionsj and to lead them to spirituality of mind, by the inculcation of Gospel-principles, than to dip them under water, as an essential part of their new religion. Bufron a supposition that the word "baptise" should signify to iraraerse, and- not to purify, another difficulty occurs ; for, if it was thought proper or necessary that persons should be initiated into Christianity by water-baptisra, in order to distinguish their new state from' that of the Jews or Heathens; who- then- surrounded them, it seeras unnecessary for the children of Christian parents, who were bom in a Christian coraraunity, and whose ancestors for centuries have professed the Christian narae. Nor is it to be considered as any other than a difficulty, that the Christian world, have known. 88- SO little about water-baptism, that they have been divided as to the right manner of perform ing it. The Eastern and Western Churches differed early upon this point;, and Christians continue to differ upon it to the present day, some thinking that none but adults,, others that none but infants, should be baptised ; sorae that the faces only of the baptised should be sprink-.. led with water ;, others, that their bodies, should be immersed* On the subject of the Sacrament of the Sup per, similar difficulties^have occurred. Jesus Christ unquestionably permitted his dis ciples to meet together, in remerabrance of their last supper with him. But it is not clear thati this was any other than a permission to those only who were present, and who had known and loved him. The disciples were not ordered to go into all nations, and to enjoin it to theii; converts to observe the same ceremony. Nei ther did the Apostles leave any comraand, by which it was enjoined as an ordinance of the Christian: Churck Another difficulty, which, has arisen on, the subject of the Supper, is, that? Christians seem so little to have understood the nature of it, or in what it consisted, that they have had, in dif ferent ages, different views, and encouraged dif ferent doctrines concerning it. One has placed it in one thing, and another in. another. Most of tihera, again, have attempted, in their explanation of it, to blend the enjoyraent of the spiritual es sence with that ofthe corporeal substance of the l^ody and blflpd, of Jesus. Christ, and; thu^.tp 89 unite a spiritual with a ceremonial exercise of religion. Grasping therefore at things apparent ly irreconcilable, they have conceived the strangest notions ; and, by giving these to the world, they have only afforded fuel for conten-^ tion araong theraselves and others. In the tirae of the Apostlesdt was the custom of converted persons, grounded on the circum* stances that passed at the supper of the Passr over, to raeet in religious communion. They used on these occasions to break their bread, and take their refreshment and converse to-f gether-. The object of these meetings was to^ imitate the last friendly, supper, of Jesus' with his disciples, to bear a public raeraorial of his sufferings-andof his death, and to promote their love for one another. But this custora was nothing more, as far as evidence can be had, than that of a brotherly breaking of their bread together. It - was no sacramental eating. Neither was the body of Jesus supposed to be enjoyed, nor the spiritual enjoyment of it to consist in the partaking of this outward. feast. In process of," tirae, after the days of the Apostles, when this simple custom had declined, we find another meeting of Christians in imita* tion of that at the Passover-supper, at -which both bread and wine were introduced.. This different coraraeraoration ofthe sarae event, had a new narae given to it, for it was distinguished from the other bythe name of Eucharist. Alexander the seventh bishop of Rorae, who introduced holy water both into houses and churches for spiritual purposes, made some 8* 9cr alterations in the ingredients of the Eucharist, by mixing water with the wine, and by substi tuting unleavened for comraon bread. In the tirae of Irenses, and Justin the Martyr, we find an account of the Euchrist, as it was then thought of and celebrated. Great stress was then laid upon the bread and wine, as a holy and sacramental repast: Prayers were made that the Holy Ghost would descend into each of these substances. It was belie Ved4hat it did so descend :, and that, as soon as the bread and wine perceived it, the former opera ted virtually as the body,, and the latter as the blood of Jesus Christi From this- time the bread was, considered to have greafe virtues;: and^ on this IfettBr account, not only children but sucking infants were admitted to this sacra ment. It was also given to personSfon the ap proach of death. And many afterwards; who had great voyages to make at sea, carried it- with-, them to preserve them both from temporal and, spiritual dangers; In, the twelfth century, another notion, a little modified from the former, prevailed upon this' subject ; which was, that consecration by a priest had the ])ower of abolishing the sub stance of the bread, and of substituting the very body of Jesus Christ. This was called the dobtrine of transubstantiation. This doctrine appeared to Luther, at the dawn of reformation, to be absurd ; and he was of opinion, that the sacrament consisted of the substance of Christ's body nnd blood, together with the substance of the bread and wine ; or. 91 in other words, that the substance of the bread remained, but the body of Christ was inherent in it, so that the substance of the bread of the body and blood of Christ was there also. This was called the doctrine of con substantiation, in contradistinction to the former. Calvin, again, considered the latter opinion as erroneous. He gave it out that the bread was not actually the body of Jesus Christ, nor the wine his blood, but that both his body and blood were sacramentally received by the faithful in^ the use of the bread and wine. Calvin, how ever, confessed himself unable to explain even this his own; doctrine ; for he says, " Ifit be asked me how it is, thatas, how, believers sacra mentally receive Christ's-body and blood, I shall- not be ashamed to confess, that it is a secret too; high for me to . comprehend in my spirit, or ex- plaih'in w-ords," But, independently of the difficulties, which have arisen from- these different notions, con cerning the nature and constitution of the Lord's,^ Supper, others have arisen concerning the tirae and the raanner they celebrate it. The Christian Churches of the East^ in the early tiraes, justifying themselves by tradition and the custom of the Passover, maintained that the fourteenth day of the month Nissan ought to be observed as the day of the celebration of this feast, because the Jews were commanded to kill the Paschal lamb on that day. The Western, on the other hand, maintained, upon the authority of tradition and the primitive practice, that it ought to be kept on no other day than that of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; Disputes again of a different complexion, agita ted the Christian world upon the same subject. One church contended that leavened, another that unleavened bread only should be used on this occasion. Others contended whether the administration of this sacrament should be by the hands of the clergy only. Others, whether it should not be confined to the sick, Others, whether it should be given to the young and mature, promiscuously. Others, whether it should be received by the communicants standt ing, sitting, or kneeliiig, or as the Apostles re ceived it. And othCTs; whether it should be adt ministered inthe night time, as>by our'Savipur> or whether in the day, or whether, only once, as at the Passover, or whether oftener in the year. , Another difficulty, but of a, different nature^, has occurred with respect to the Lord's Supper; -This has arisen from the circumstance, that other ceremonies were enjoined by our Saviour; iu terms equally positive as this, but which most Christians notwithstanding have thought themselves at liberty to reject. Among these the washing of feet is-particularly-to be noticed. This custom -was of. an embleraatic nature. It was enjoined at the sarae tirae as that of the Lord's Supper, and on the sarae occasion. But it was enjoined in a raore forcible and striking raanner. The Sandiraaniansy when they rose into a society, considered the injunction for this ordinance to be so obligatory, that they dared not dispense with it ; . and therefore, when they determined to celebrate the supper, they de-- 93" termined that the washing of feet should be an- ordinance of their church. Most other christ ians, however have dismissed the washing of feet frora their religious observance. The rea son given has principally been, that it was an eastern custora, and therefore local. To this the answer has been, that the Passover, from whence the Lord's Supper is taken, was an eastern custom also, but that it was much more- local. Travellers of different nations had their feet washed for them in the East. But none- except those of the circumcision were admitted to the Passover-supper. If therefore the injunc tion relative to the washing of feet be equally strong with that relative to the celebration of the supper, it has been presumed that both ought to have been retained ; and, if one has. been dispensed with on account of its. locality,, that both ought to, have been discarded. That the washing of feet was enjoined muck, more- emphatically than, the supper, we may collect from Barclay,, whose observations upon it I shall ta:anscribe on this, occasion : " But to give a further evidence," says he,. " how these consequences have not any bottom frora the practice of that cereraony, nor frora the words following, ' Do this in remembrance of me,' let us consider another of the like nature, as it is at length expressed by John : * Jesus riseth frorn supper and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself: after that, he poureth water into a basin, and began to *.[(^tm,xiii. 3, &o. 94 wash- the disciples feet, and to wipe them witEi the towel wherewith he was girded ; Peter said unto him, ' Thou shalt never wash my feet :^ Jesus answered him, ' If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.' So after he had washed their feet, he said, ' Know ye what I have done to you ? If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.' As-- to which let it, be observed," continues Barclay,. " that John related this passage to have been done at the same tirae with the other of break ing of bread ; both being done the night of the Passover after supper. If we regard the narra tion ofthis, and the circnmstances attending it,,. it. was done vdth fkr more solemnity, and pre*- scribed far more punctually and particularly, than the former. It is said only, ' as he was- eating he took bread,' so that this would seem to be but an occasional business : but here, ' he rose up, he laid by his garments, .he girded him self, he poured out the water, he washed their feet, he wiped them with a towel.' He did this to all of them ; which are circumstances, surely, far more observable than those noted in the other. The former was a practice common araong the Jews, used by all raasters of farailies, upon that occasion ; but this, as to the manner, and person acting it, to wit, for the master to rise up, and wash the feet of his servants, and dispiples, was more singular and observable. In the breaking of bread, and giving of wine, it is apt pleaded by our.advejsaries, nor yet mentiouT- 9=5 •ed in the text, that he particularly put them into the hands of all ; but breaking it, and blessing it, gave it the nearest, and so they from hand to kaaid. But here it is mentioned, that he washed not the feet of one or two, but of many. He saith not in the former, if they do not eat of that bread, and drink of that wine, that they -shall be prejudiced by it ; but here he says expressly to Peter, that ' if he wash hira not, he hath no part with him ;' which being spoken upon Peter's refusing to let hira wash his feet, would seem to import no less than not the continu ance only, but even the qiecessity^f the ceremo ny. In the forraer he saith, as it were passing ly, ' Do this in reraerabrance of me :;' but here "he sitteth down again, he desires them to con- -sider, what he hath done, tells them positively, 'that as he hath done to them, so ought they to do to one another; and yet again he redoubles that precept, by telling them, ' that he has given them an example, that they should do so like wise.' Ifwe respect the nature of the thing, it kath as much in it as either baptism or the breaking of the bread; seeing it is an outward eleraent of a cleansing nature, applied to the out ward man, by the command and the example of -Christ, to signify an inward purifying. I would willingly proposethis seriously to men, that will be pleased to make use of that reasonand under standing that God hath given them, and not be imposed upon, nor abused ky the custom or tradition of others, whether this ceremony, ifwe respect either the tirae that it was appointed in, X)V the circumstances wherewith it was per^- 96 forraed, or the comraand enjoining tke use of it, hath not as much to recommend it for a stand ing ordinance of the Gospel, as either watet'- baptisra, or bread and wine, or any other of that kind ? I wonder, then, what reason the Papists •can give, why they have not numbered it among iiheir sacraments, except merely ' voluntas Ec- clesise et traditio Patrum ;^ that is, the tradition 'of the Fathers and the will of the Church." The reader will see by this tirae, that on sub jects, which have given rise to such -controver sies as Baptisra and the Lord's Supper, have now been described to have done, people may be readily excused, if they should entertain their own Opinions about them, though these may be different from those, which are generally receiv ed by the world. The difficulties indeed, which have occurred with respect to these ordinances, should make us tender of casting reproach upon •others, who should differ from ourselves con cerning them. For, when we consider that there is no one point, connected with these ordinances, about which there has not been some dispute ; that those, who have engaged in these disputes, have been men of equal leaming and piety ; that all of them have pleaded primitive usage, in al- mbst all cases, in behalf of their own opinions ; and that these disputes are not even now, all of them, settled ; who will take upon him to cen sure his brother, either for the oraission or the observance of one or the other rite ? And let the Quakers, among others, find indulgence from their countrymen for their opinions on these sub jects. This indulgence they have a right to claira, frora the consideration that they them- 97 selves never censure others of other denomina tions on account of their religion. With respect to those who belong to the Society, as the rejec tion of these ceremonies is one ofthe fundamen tals of Quakerism, it is expected that they should be consistent with what they are considered to profess. But with respect to others, they have no unpleasant feelings towards those who ob serve them. If a raan believes that baptism is an essential rite of the Christian church, the Quakers would not judge him, if he were to go himself, or if he were to carry his children, to receive it. And if at the communion table, he should find his devotion to be so spiritualized, that in the taking of the bread and wine he real ly and spiritually discerned the body and blood of Christ, and was sure that his own conduct would be influenced morally by it, they would not censure him for becoming an attendant at the altar. In short, the Quakers do not con demn those of a diflferent persuasion for their attendances on these occasions. They only hope that, as they do not see these ordinances in the same light as others, they may escape censure if they refuse ^o admit them among themselves- 99 SECTION II. Baptism — Two Baptisms-^that of John and of Christ— That of John was by water; a Jewish ordinance, and used preparatory to religious^onver- sion and worship — hence John used it as preparatory to conversion to Christianity — Jesus submitted to it to fulfil all righteousness — others as to a baptism tn repentance — but it was not initiative into the Christian church, but belonged to the Old Testament^ — Nor was John under the - Gospel, but under the Law. I COME now to the argument, which the Qua kers have to offer for the rejection ofthe use of Baptism, and of the sacrament of the Supper ; and first for that of the use of the former rite. Two baptisms are recorded in Scripture, the baptism, of John, and the baptism of Christ. The baptism of John was by water, and a Jewish ordinance. The washing of garments and of the body, which were called Baptisms by the EUenistic Jews, were enjoined to the Jewish nations as modes of purification from le gal pollutions, symbolical of that inward clean sing of thfe heart, which was necessary to per sons before they could hold sacred offices, or pay their religious honiage in the temple, or be come the true worshippers of God. The Jews therefore, in after times, when they made prose lytes, from the Heathen nations, enjoined these the same customs as they observed themselves. They generally circumcised, at least, the prose lytes ofthe covenant, as a mark of their incor poration into the Jewish church, and they after wards vi'ashed them with water, or baptised them ; which was to be a sign to them of their having been cleansed from the filth of idolatry. 99 and an emblem of their fitness, in case of a real cleansing, to receive the purer precepts of the Jewish religion, and to walk in newness of life. Baptism therefore was a Jewish ordinance, used on religious occasions ; and therefore John when he endeavored by means of his preach ing to prepare the Jews for the coming of the Messiah, and their minds for the reception of his new reUgion, used it as a syrabol of the purification of heart that was necessairy for the dispensation, which was then at hand. He knew that his hearers would understand the meaning of the ceremony. He had reason also to believe, that on account of the nature of his mission they would expect it. Hence the San hedrim, to whom the cognizance of these legal cteansings belonged, when they were informed ofthe baptism of John, never expressed any surprise at it, as a new. or unusual, or improper custom. They only found fault with him for the administration of it, when he denied himself to be either Elias or the Christ. It was partly upon one of the principles, that have been mentioned, that Jesus received the baptism of John. He received it, as it is record ed, because, " thus it became him to fulfil all righteousness." By the fulfilling of righteous ness is meant the fulfilling of the ordinances of the law, or the customs required by the Mosaic dispensation in particular cases. He had already undergone circumcision as a Jewish or dinance. And he now submitted to baptisra. For as Aaron and his sons were baptised pre viously to their taking upon them the office of 100 Jewish priesthood, so Jesus was baptised by John, previously to his entering upon his own ministry, or becoming the high priest of the Christian dispensation. , . But though Jesus Christ received the baptism. of John, that he might fulfil all righteousness, others received it as the baptism of repentance from sins, that they might be able to enter the kingdom that was" at hand. . This baptism, how ever, was not initiative into tke Christian church. For the apostles re-baptised some, who had been baptised by John. Those, again,, who re ceived the.baptism of John, did not profess faith in Christ. John, again, as well as his' doctrines, belonofed to the Old-Testarmeiit He w^is no minister under the new dispensation, but the last prophet under the law. Hence Jesus said, that "though none of the prophets were greater than John the baptist, yet he that is least in the king dom of heaven is greater than he." Neither did he ever hear the Gospel preached ; for Jesus did not begin his ministry till John had been put into prison, where he was beheaded by the orders of Herod. John, in short, was with respect to , Jesus, what - Moses* was with respect to Joshua. Moses, tiiough he conducted to the promised land, and vs^as, permitted to see it from mount Nebo, yet never entered it, but gave place to Joshua, whose name, Uke that of Jesus, signifies a Saviour. In the same manner, John conducted towards Jesus Christ. He saw him once with his own eyes ; but he was never perraitted, while alive, to enter into his new kingdora. 101 SECTION in. Second baptism, or that of Christ— this the baptism of the Gospel — this dis tinct from the former in point of time — and in nature or essence — As lhat of John was outward, so tliis was to be inward and spiritual — it was to cleanse the heart — and was to be capable of making even the Gentiles the seed of Abraham — This distinction of watery and spiritual baptism pointed out by Jesus Christ— by St, Peter — and by St. Paul. The second baptisra recorded in the Scrip tures is that of Christ. This may be called the baptism of the Gospel, in contradistinction to the former, which was that of the Law. This baptism is totally distinct from the for mer. John himself said, " I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance ; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."* From these words it appears that this bap tism is distinct in point of time from the former ; for it was to follow the baptisra of John : and secondly, in nature and essence ; for whereas that of John was by water, this was to be by the Spirit. This latter distinction is insisted upon by John in other places. For when he was ques tioned by the Pharisees, "why he baptised if he was not that Christ, nor Elias, nor that prophet,*' t he thought it a sufficient excuse to say, " I baptise with water." That is, I baptise with water only. I use only an ancient Jewish - custom. I do not intrude upon the office of •Mat. iii. 11. t John 1. 25. 9* 102 Christ, who is coming after me, or pretend to his baptism of the spirit. We find also, that no less than three titties in eight verses, when he speaks ofhis own baptism, he takes care to add. to it the word " water," * to distinguish it frem the baptism of Christ^ - -As the - baptism of John cleansed the body from the filth ofthe flesh; so that of Christ was really to cleanse the soul, from the filth of sin. Thus John, speaking of Jesus Christ in allusion to this baptism, says, " whose fan isin his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, knd gather his- wheat into; the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with- unquenchable fire."t By this he insinuates, that in the same manner as the former- with the fan in his hand winnows the corn, and separates the.light and bad grains from the heavy .and the good, ahd in the same manner as the fire_ afterwards destroys the chaff — spthe baptism, of Christ, for which he was preparing them, was of an inward and spiritual nature, and would effectuaUy destroy the light and corrupt affections^ and thoroughly cleanse the floor of the human heart This baptisrn too was to be so searching as to be able to penetrate the hardest heart, and to make even the Gentiles the real children of Abraham. " For think not,"|: says John, in al lusion to the same baptism, " to say within your selves, we have Abraham to our father ; fori say unto ypu, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." As if he ?Johni. 25,34. ,+ Mat. iii. 12. tMat.iii.9. 103 had said, I acknowledge that you Pharisees can, many of you, boast of relationship to Abraham, by a strict and scrupulous attention to shadowy and figurative ordinances ; that many of you can boast of relationship to him by blood, and all of you by circumcision : but it does not fol low therefore thatyou are the children of Abra ham. Those only will be able to boast of being his seed, to whom the fan and the fire of Christ's baptisra shall be applied. The baptism of him, who is to come after me, and whose kingdom is at hand, is of that spiritual and purify ingn ature, that it will produce effects very different from those of an observance of outward ordinances. It can so cleanse and purify the hearts of men, that if there are Gentiles in the most distant lands, ever so far reraoved from Abrahatn, and possessing hearts of the hardness of stones, it can make them the real children of Abraham in the sight of God. This distinction between the watery baptisra of John and the fiery and spiritual baptism of Christ was pointed out by Jesus himself; for he is reported to have appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, and to have commanded them, " that they should not depart from Jerusa lem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which," says he, " ye have heard from me. For John truly baptised with water but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not raany days hence "* St. Luke also records a transaction which took ? Acts i. 4. 104 place, in which Peter was concerned, and. on which occasion he first discerned the baptisra of Christ, as thus distinguished, in the words which have just been given :" And as I began to speak,"* says he, "the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John, indeed, baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised by the Holy Spirit;" A similar distinction is made also by St. Paul ;-^ for when he found that certain disciples hacl been baptised only with the baptism of John, f he laid his hands- upon them and baptised them again— ^but this was evidently with the baptism of the Spirit. In his . Epistle also to the (Corin thians we -find the following expression ; " For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body."t SECTION IV. The Question now is which of these two baptisms is included in the great coinmisslon given by Jesus to bis apostles, " of baptisihg in (he name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost"— Quakers deny it lo be that of John, because contrary to the ideas of Sf. Peter and St. Paul — because the object of John's baptism had been completed — because it was a type under the law, and such types were to cease. It appears then that theie are two baptisms recorded in Scripture, the one the bajitism of John, the other that of Christ ; that these are distinct frora one anotlier, and that the pne does ' Acts xi. 15, 16. t Acts xix. * 1 Cor. xii. 26. 105 not include the other, unless he who baptises with water, can baptise at the same time with the Holy Ghost. Now St. Paul speaks only of one * baptism as effectual ; and St. Peter must mean the same, when he speaks of the baptism that saveth. The question therefore is, which of the two baptisras, that have been mentioned, is the one effectual or saving baptism ; or which of these it is that Jesus Christ included in his great commission to the Apostles, when he com manded them to " go and teach all nations, bap tising them in the namesof the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."! The Quakers say, that the baptism included in this conijaaissiott wasnotjfcla^Jaa^ptisnLxvtJahrL^ In the firsi place, St. Peter says it was not in these words,! " which soraetimes were disobedi ent, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was prepar ing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water, whose antitype,^ Baptism, doth no w also save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con science towards God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." The apostle states here concerning the bap tism that is effectual and saving ; first that it is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, which is effected by water. He carefully puts those upon their guard, to whom he writes, lest they * Ephes. iv. 5. tltis on this great command that Christians found the doty of water- baptism. t 1 Piter iii. 20, 21. { Antitype is the proper translation, and not " the like figure ^hereunto." 106 should consider John's baptisra, or that of water, to be the saving one to which he alludes ; for, having raade a beautiful eoraparison between an outward salvation, in an outward ark, by the outward water, with this inward salvation, by inward and Spiritual water, in the inward ark of the testaraent, he is fearful that his reader should connect these imag-es, and fancy that water had- any thing tp do with this baptism. Hence he puts his caution in a parenthesis, thus guarding his meaning in an extraordinary man ner. . He then shows what this baptism is, and calls it " the answer ofa good conscience towards God by the resurreotion -of Josus Chriat." - In fact, he States it to be the baptism of Christ, which is by the Spirit ; for he maintains, that he only -is truly baptised, whose conscience i^ made dear by the resurrection of Christ in his heart. But who can make the answer of such a conscience, unless the Holy' Spirit shall have first purified the floor of the heart ; unless the spiritual fan of Christ shall have first separated the wheat from the chaff ; and unless his spiritual fire shall have consuraed the latter ? St. Paul makes a similar declaration : " For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ."* But no man the Quakers say, merely by being dipped under water, can put on Christ ; that is, can put on his life, his pature, and disposition, his love, raeekness, and teniperance, and all those virtues, which should characterize a Christian. »GaU. iii. 27. 107 To the same purport are those other words by the same apostle : ^" Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus. Christ were baptised into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."* And again, " buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him, through the faith of the co-operation of God who hath raised him from the dead."t By these passages the apostle Paul testifies, that he alone' is truly baptised, who first dies unto sin, and is raised up afterwards frora sin unto righteousness ; or who is raised up into life with Christ ; or who so feels the inward resurrection and glory of Christ in his soul, that he walks in newness of life. The Quakers show, again, that the baptism of John could not have been included in the great commission, because the object of John's baptism had been completed even before the preaching of Jesus Christ. The great objectsof John's baptism was to make Jesus known to the Jews. John himself declared this to be the object of it : "But that he should be made manifest unto Israel, therefore am I come baptising with water."! This object he accom plished in two ways: First, by telling all whom he baptised, that Jesus was coming ; and these were the Israel of that time ; for he is reported to have baptised all Jerusalem, which was the *K6ra. vi. 3, 4. r Coloss. ji. 12. t Johni. 31. " 108 metropolis, and all Judea, and all the country round about Jordan. Secondly, by pointing him out personally.* This he did to Andrew : so that Andrew left John and followed Jesus. Andrew again made hira known to Simon, and these tor Philip; and Philip to Nathaniel: so that, by means of John, an assurance was given that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. The Quakers believe, again, that the baptisra of John was not included in the great conimis- sion, because it was a type under the Law ; and all types and shadows under the Law were to -cease underthe Gospel-dispensation, or the law of Christ The salvation of the eight by water, and the baptism of John, were both types pf the bap tism of Christ. John was sent expressly before Jesus, baptising the bodies of men with water, as a lively image, as he hiraself explains it, of the latter baptising their souls with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The baptisra of John, therefore, was bbth preparative and typical of that of Christ. And it is remarked by the Quakers, that no sooner was Jesus baptised by John, with water in the type, .than he was, ac^ cording to all the Evangelists, baptised by the Holy Ghost in the antitype.! No sooner did he go up out of the water, than John saw- the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God des- . cending like a dove, and lighting upon hira. It was this baptism of Jesus in the antitype, which occasioned John to know him personally, and * Johni. 40. tMatt. iii. 16. 109 enabled him to discover hirh to others. The 4)aptism of John, therefore, being a type or figure under the Law, was to give way when the antitype! or substance became apparent. And that it was to give way in its due time, is evident from the confession of John himself For on a question which arose between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying, and on a report spread abroad, that Jesus had begun to baptise, John says, " He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease."* This confession of John accords also with the following expressions of St Paul:! "The Holy Ghost thus signifying, that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing; which was a figure for the time then present" — "which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordi nances, imposed on them until the tirae of re formation." SECTION V. Quakers, show that the baptism included in the great commission, which has now appeared not to be the baptism of John, is the baptism of Cbrist, from a critical examination of the words in that commission- — Way in which the Quakers interpret these words — This interpretation confirmed by citations from St. Luke and St. Paul. Having attempted to show, according to the method of the writers in the Society, that the baptism of John is not the baptism'iiaelud edin the great cpmmission, I shall now produce thbse * John iii. 30. + Heb. ix. 8, 9. ID. 10 110 arguments, by which they maintain, that tke baptisra, which is included in it, is the baptism of Christ. These arguments will be found chiefly in a critical exaraination of the words of that cora mission '. , ^ To enable the reader to judge of the propriety of their- observations upon these words, I shall transcribe from St. Matthew the three verses that relate to this subjecti '' And Jesus came and spake unto them., saying, AU power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and' teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy, Ghost ; teaching them _to observe all things whatsoever I have coraraandedypu. And lo, I ara with you alway, even unto the end of the world."* The first observation which the Quakers make is, upon the word "therefore." As all power is given unto me both in heaven and on earth, and as I can on that account, and as I will qualify you, go ye therefore ; that is, having previously received from me the qua,lifications necessary for your task, go ye. The next observation is, that the comraission does not imply that the Appstles were to teach and to baptise, as two separate acts ; but, as the words intimate, that they were to teach baptis ing. . " The Quakers ' say, again, that the word " teach" is an im.pro.per translation ofthe origin- *Mat. xxviii. 18,19,20. Ill al Greek.* The Greek word should have been rendered "make disciples ' or proselytes." In several of the editions of our own Bibles, the word " teach" is explained in the margin oppo site to it by " make disciples or Christians of all nations," or in the same manner as the Quakers explain it." On the word " baptise" they observe, that be cause its first meaning is to wash all over, and because baptism with Christians is always with water, people cannot easily separate the iraage of water from the word, when itis read or pronoun ced. But if this image is never to be separated from it, how will persons understand the words of St. Paul, " for by one spirit are we all bap tised into one body ?" or those words of Jesus, " can ye drink of the cup that I drink of, or be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?" or, if this image is not to be separated from it, how will they understand the Evange list, who represents Jesus Christ as about to baptise, or wash all over, with fire ? To baptise, in short, signifies to 'dip under water, but in its more general raeaning to purify. Fire and water have equally power in this respect, but on differ ent objects. Water purifies surfaces.- Fire pu rifies by actual and total separation, bringing those bodies into one raass which are horaogene ous, or which have strong affinities to each oth er, and leaving the dross and incombustible parts by themselves. * AiSaiTKa is the usual word for teach ; but jiaBjiTeva is used in thg com mission ; which latter word occurs but seldom in the New Testament ahd always signifies to "disciple." 112 The word " in," they also look upon as im properly translated. This word should have been rendered " into."* If the word "in" were the right translation, the words " in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," mightbe construed into a form of words to be used at the tirae of baptism. But we have no evidence that such a formula was ever used when any of the apostles baptised. Indeed the plain meaning of the vs^ord is " into," and there fore all such formula is groundless. " Jesus Christ did not," says Zuinglius,! " by these words institute aform of baptism which we should use, as divines have falsely taught." On the word " name" the- Quakers observe, that when it relates to the Lord, it frequently sig nifies in scripture his life, or his power, or his spirit Thus,,"in.ray naine they shall cast out devils ;"! and " by what power or by what, narae, have ye done this ?"§ From the interpretation, which has now been given, of the meaning of several ofthe words in the verses that have been quoted from St. Matthew, the sense of the com mission, according to the Quakers, will stand thus.: " All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. In virtue of the power which I have, I will give you power also. I will confer upon ypu the gift pf the Holy Spirit When you have received it, go into .different and distant lands. Go to the Gentiles, who live in ignorance, dark ness and idolatry, and make- them proselytes to my new dispensation, so purifying their hearts, * The original Greek is eis, and not ev. t Lib. de Bapt. p. 66, to ii. Oper. tMark xvi. 17. S Acts iv. 7. 113 or burning the chaff of their corrupt affections, by the active fire of the Holy G-host which shall accompany your preaching, that they raay be made partakers ofthe divine nature, and walk in newness of life.. And lest this should appear to be too great a work for your faith, I, who have the povver, promise to be. with you, with this my Spirit in the work, till the end df the world." The Quakers contend, that this is the true in terpretation ofthis commission, because it exact ly coincides with the nieaningof thesame com mission, as described by St Luke and St. Mark, and of that also, which was given to St. Paul. St. Luke states the commission given to the apostles to have been, " that repentance and re mission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."* The meaning therefore of the coraraission, as stated by St. Luke, is precisely the same as that stated by St. Matthew, as we have just explained it. For; first, all nations are included in it. Sec ondly, purification of heart, or conversion from sin, is insisted upon to be the object of it. And thirdly, this object is to be effected, not by the baptism of water (for baptism is no where men tioned) but by preaching, in which is included the idea ofthe baptism of the Spirit St. Mark also states the commission to be the same in the following words : " And he said unto thera. Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and. is baptised, shall be saved."! .Here all na tions, and the preachifig of the Gospel, are men- * Luke xiv. 47. t Mark xvi. 15. 10* 114 tioned again. But baptism is now added. But the baptism, that was to go with this preaching, the Quakers contend to be the baptism ofthe Spirit. For, first, the baptism here mentioned is connected with salvation. But the baptism according to St Peter, "which doth also now save us, is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience tow ards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or the baptism of the spirit. Secondly, the nature ofthe baptism here mentioned is explained by the verse that.follows it Thus, " He thatbeliev- eth and is baptised, shall be saved. And these signs shair follow thera that believe : They shall speak with new tongues." This therefore is the same baptism as that, which St. .Paul conferred^ upon some ofhis disciples, by the laying on of his hands : " And wheri Paul had laid his hands upon them; the 'Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied."* Thus again, it is demonstrated to be the baptisra ofthe Spirit- The commission also, which has been handed down to us by St Matthew, wi]l be found, as it has been novv^ explained, to coincide in its object with that vvhich was given to St. Paul, as we find by his confession to Agrippa. For he declared he was sent as a minister ta the Gentiles,! "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness. to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among thera which are sanctified by faith in Christ." But what was this, the,,Quak- * Acls,xix. S. t Acts xxvi. 17, 18.. 115 ers say, but to baptise them into the life and spirit of a new and divine nature, or with the baptism of Christ? And as we have thus obtained a knowledge from St. Paul of what his own commission con tained, so we have, from the same authority, a knowledge of what it did not contain ; for he pos itively declares, in his first Epistle to the Corinthi ans, that; " Christ sent him not to baptise (evi dently alluding to the baptism by water) but to pi^eack the Gospel." It is clear, therefore, that St. Paul did not understand his coraraission to re fer to water ; and who was better qualified to un derstand it than hiraself? It is also stated by the Quakers, as another- ar gument to the same point, that if the baptisra in the coraraission had been that of water only, the Apostles could have easily adrainistered it of themselves, or without any supernatural assist ance ; but in order that they might be enabled to execute that baptism,which the commission point ed to, they were desired to wait for divine help. Jesus Christ said, " I send the promise of my Fa ther upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jeru salem, until ye be endued with power from on high ; for John truly baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence."* Now the Quakers ask. If baptism by water had been the baptism contained in the great commission, why could not the Apostles have performed it of themselves ? What should have hindered them more than John frora gonig * Luke xxiv. 49, 11© with people into the rivers, and immersing them ? Why were they first to receive, themselves the baptisra of the Spirit ? Bi;it if it be allowed, on the other hand, that when they executed the great commission they were to perform the baptisra of Christ, the case is altered. It becarae them then to wait for the divine help. For it required more than human power to give that baptism, which should change the disposition and affection of men and should be able to bring them froiri darkness unto light, andfromthe powerof Satan unto God. And here the Quakers observe, that the Apostles never atterapted to execute the great commission till the tirae fixed upon by our Saviour in these words, " But tarry ye in. the city of Jerusalera, until ye be endued with ppwer frora on, high." This vvas the day of Penticost. After this " they preached," as St Peter says, " with the Holy Ghost sent down from, heaven," and with such efficacy, that " the Holy Ghost fell upon many of them who heard their words." SECTION VI. Objection to the foregoing arguments of the Quakers j namely,. " If it be not the baptism of John, that is included in the great commission, how came the Apostlesto baptise with water ?.' — Practice and opinion of Peter considered — also ofPaul— also of Jesus Christ— This practice, as explain ed by these opinions, considered by the Qtiakers to turn out in favour of their own doctrines on this subject. I HAVE now stated-the arguments by which the merabers ofthis society have been induced to be lieve thatthe baptisra by the Spirit, and notthe baptism by water, was included by Jesus Christ 117 in the great commission, which he gave to his apostles, when he requested them " to go into all nations, and to teach them, baptising in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Against these arguments, the following ques tion bas been usually started as an objection : " Ifit be not included in the great commission, how came the Apostles to bajitise ? or would they have baptised, if baptism had not been consider ed by them as a Christian ordinance ? The Quakers, in answering this objection, have confined themselves to the consideration of the conduct of . the apostles Peter and Paul. For though Philip is sairl to have baptised also, yet he left no writings behind him, like the former, nor are so many circurastances recorded pf hira, by which they raay be enabled to judge of his character, or to know what his opinions ultiraate ly were upon that subject. The Quakers consider the Apostles as men of the like passions with ourselves. They find the ambition of James and John, the apostacy and dissimulation pf Peter, the incredulity of Thomas, the dissention between Paul and Barnabas, and the jealousies which some of them entertained towards one another, recorded in Holy Writ. They believe thera also to have been mostly men of liraited information, and to have had their pre judices like other people. Hence it was not to be expected that they should corae all at once into the knowledge of Christ's kingdora ; that, educa ted in a religion of types and ceremonials, they should all at once abandon these ; that," expecting 118 a temporal Messiah, they should at once lay aside teraporal views ; and that they should corae itri- mediately into the full purity ofthe Gospel prac* tice. With respect to the apostle Peter, he gave early signs ofthe dullness of his cofliprehension with respect to the nature of the character and kingdom of the Messiah ;*for, when Jesus had given forth but a single parable, Peter was obli ged to ask him the ineaning of it. This occa sioned Jesus to say, " Are ye also yet without understanding?" In a short tirae afterwards, when our Saviour told him,! that he hiraself must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things, and be killed, and be rais ed again ihe third day : Peter took hira and re buked him ; saying, " Be it far from thee. Lord ! This shall not be unto thee." At a subsequent time, Jiaraely, just after the transfiguration of Christ, he seems to have known so little about spiritual things, that he expressed a wish to raise three earthly tabernacles ; one to Moses, one to Elias, and a third to Jesus, for the retention of signs and shadows, as a Gospel-la bour, at the very tirae when Jesus "Christ was opening the disraission of all but One, naraely, " the tabernacle of God, that is with men." Nor did he seem at a more; remote period to have gained more large or spiritual ideas. He did npt even know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was to be universal. He considered it as limit ed to the Jews; though the words in the great * Matt, XV. 16. t Malt. jvi. 21, 22. 119 commission, which he and the other apostles had heard, ordered them to teach all nations. He was unwilUng to go and preach to Cornelius on this very account, merely because he was, a Ro man centurian ; or, in other words, a Gentile ; so that a vision was necessary to remove his scru ples in this particular. It was not till after this vision, and his conversation with CorneUus, that his mind began to be opened ; and then he ex claimed, " Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons ; but in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is ac cepted with him." The mind of Peter began now to be opened, and to see things in a clearer light ; when a new occurrence, that took place nearly at the sarae tirae, seeras to have removed the film still more from his eyes ; for whUe he preached to Corne lius and the others present, he perceived that "the Hply Ghost fell upon all of them that heard his words, as on hunself and the other apostles at the beginning." Then remembered Peter the words ofthe Lord, how that he said, " John in deed baptised with water, but ye shall be baptis ed- with the Holy Ghost ;" that is, Peter finding that Comelius and his friends had received, by means ofhis own powerful preaching, the Holy Ghost, perceived then for the first time, to his great surprise, that he had been executing the great commission of Jesus- Christ; pr that he had taught a Gentile, and baptised him with the Holy Spirit. Here it was that he first made the discri mination between the baptism of John and the baptism of Christ 120 Prom this time, there is reason to think that his eyes became fully open ; for in a few years after wards, when, we have an opportunity of viewing his conduct again,- we find him an altered raan, as to his knowledge of spiritual things. Being called upon, at the counsel of Jerusalem, to de liberate on the propriety of circumcision, tp' Gen tile converts; he maintains that God gives his Holy Spirit as well to the Gentiles as to the Jews. He maintains, ag^Sinrthat God purifies by faith. And he delivers it as his opinion that cir cumcision is to be looked upon as a yoke. And here it may be reraarked, that circumcision and baptism uniformly -went together, when prose lytes of the covenant were made, or when any of the heathens were desirous of conforming to the whole of the Jewish law. ¦ At a time, again, subsequent to this, or when he wrote his Episties, which were to go to the strangers all over Pontusy Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithyriia, he discovers hiraself to be the same full-grown man in spiritual things pn the subject of baptism itself, in thc^eiemarkab'e words which have been quoted, " whose antitype, baptisra, doth also now save us (riot the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God) by the resurrec tion of Jesus Christ ;" so that the last opinion of Peter on the subject of water-baptism, contra dicted his practice when he was but in his no viciate in Christ's kingdom. With respect to the apostle Paul, whose prac tice I am to consider next, it is said bf him, as of St Peter, that he baptised. 121 That Paul baptised is to be collected from his own writings. For it appears by his own accounti, that there had been divisions among the Corinth ians. Of those who had been converted to Chris tianity, some called themselves after the name of Cephas, others after the name of ApoUos, others after the narae of Paul ; thus dividing theraselves nominally into sects according to the name of hira, who had either baptised or converted them. St. Paul mentions these circumstances, by which it coraes to light that he used water-baptism : and he regrets that the persons in question should have made such a bad use of this rite, as to call themselves after hira who baptised thera, instead of caUing themselves after Christ, and dwelling on him alone. "I thank God," says he, "that I baptised none of you but Crispus and Gaius ; lest any should say that I baptised in my Own name. And I baptised also the house of Stepha nas. Besides, I know not whether I baptised any other. For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel."* Now this confession of the Apostle, which is usually brought against the members ofthis So ciety, they consider to be entirely in their favor, and indeed decisive of the point in question. For they collect from hence, that St Paul never considered baptisra by water as any Gospel-ordi nance, or as any rite indispensably necessary, when men were admitted as members into the Christian Church. For, if he had considered it inthis light, he would never have said, that Christ ? 1 Cor. i. 14, 15, 16. 11 122 sent him not to baptise, but to preach his Gospel. Neither would he have thanked God, on account of the mere abuse of .it, that he had baptised so few ; for doubtless there were many among the learned Greeks, who abused his preaching, and who called it foolishness ; but yet he no where says, thathe was sorry on that account that he ever preached to them ; for preaching was a Gos pel-ordinance, enjoined bim, by which many were to be converted to the Christian faith. Again, if he had considered water-baptism , as a necessary mark of initiation into Christianity, he would have uniformly adopted it, as men became proselytes to his doctrines. But, among the thou sands whom in all probability he baptised with the Holy Ghost among the Corinthians, it does not appear- that there were more than the mem- of the three families of Crispus, Gaius, and Ste phanas, whom he baptised with water. But still it is contended, that Paul says of him self that he baptised. The Quakers agree to this ; but they say that he, must have done it in these instances, on motives very different from those of an indispensable Christian rite. In endeavoring to account fpr these motives, tke Quakers consider the apostle Paul, not asin the situation of Peter and others, who were a long time in acquiring their spiritual knowledge, du ring which. they might be in doubt as to the pro priety of many customs, but as coming, on the other hand, quickly and powerfully into the knowledge of Christ's kingdom. Plence, when he baptised, they impute no ignorance to hira. They believe he rejected water-baptism as aGos- 123 pel ordinance, but that he considered it in itself as a harmless ceremony ; and that, viewing it in this light, he used it out of condescension to those EUenistic Jews, whose prejudices, on account of the washings of Moses, and their customs rela tive to proselytes, were so strong, that they could not separate purification by water from conver sion tc a new religion. For St. Paul confesses himself, that " to the weak he became -as weak, that he might gain the weak, and was made all things to all men, that he might by all means save some." Ofthis his condescension many in stances are. recorded in the new Testament, though it may be only necessary to advert to one. At the great council of Jerusalem, where Paul, Barnabas, Peter, James, and others were pre sent, it was determined that circumcision was not necessary to the Gentiles.* St. Paul himself, with some others, carried the very letter of the council, containing their determination upon this subject, to Antioch, to the brethren there. This letter was addressed to the brethren of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. After having left Antioch, he went to Derbe and'Lystra; where notwithstand ing the determination of himself and the rest of the council that circumcision was not a Christian rite,! he circumcised Tirnotheus, in condescen sion to the weakness of the Jews, who were in those quarters. In addition to these observations on the prac tice and opinions ofthe Apostles, in the course of which the Quakers presume it will be found * Acts XV. t Acts xvi. 3. 124 that the baptism of John is not an ordinance of the Gospel, they presume the same conclusion will be adopted, if they take, into consideration the practice and opinions of Jesus Christ; That Jesus Christ never forbade water-baptism, the Quakers readily allow. - But they conceive his silence on this subject to have arisen from bis knowledge of the internal state of the Jews : he knew how carnal their minds were, how much they were attached to outward ordinarices, and how difficult it was all at once to bring thera into his spiritual kingdora. Hence he permitted ma ny things for a time, on account ofthe weakness of their spiritual vision. That Jesus subraitted also to baptisra himself, they allow. But he submitted to -it not because ke intended to make it an ordinance under the new dispensation, but, to use his own words, " that he might fulfil all righteousness." Hence also he was circumcised ; hence he celebrated the Passover ; and hence he was enabled to use these reraarkable words -upon the cross, " It is fulfilled" But theugh Jesus Christ never forbade water- baptisra, and though he was baptised with water by John, yet he never baptised any one himself A rumor had gone abrbad-among the Pharisees, that Jesus had baptised raore disciples than John the Baptist. But John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, who had leaned on his bosora, and who knew more of his sentinients and practice than any other person, is very careful in correcting this hear-say report, as if unworthy ofthe spirit- 125 ual mind of his master, and states positively " that Jesus baptised not* The Quakers lay a great stress upon this circum stance : for they say, that if Jesus never baptis ed with water himself, it is a proof that he never intended to' erect water-baptism into a Gospel- rite. It is difficult to conceive, they say, that he should have established a sacrament, and, that he should never have administered it. Would he not, on the other hand, if his own baptism had been that of water, have begun his ministry by baptising his own disciples, notwithstanding they had previously been baptised by John? But he not only never baptised himself, but it is no where recorded that he ordered his disciples to baptise with water.! He once ordered a leper to go to the priest and to offer the gift for his cleans ing ; at another time,! he ordered a blind man to go and wash in the pool of Siloara ; but he never ordered any one to go and be baptised with water. On the other hand, it is said by the Qua kers, that he clearly intimated to three ofhis dis ciples at the transfiguration, that the dispensa tions of Moses and John were to pass away ; and that he taughthimself " that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation ;" or that it consist ed not in those outward and lifeless ordinances, in which many of those, to whom he addressed himself, placed the essence of their religion. * John iv. 2. -l Matth. ^ iii. 4. t John ix. 7. 11* 126 SECTION VII. Supper of the Lord^Two such suppers ; one enjoined by Moses, the other by Jesus Christ — The former called the Passover — original manner of its celebration — the use of bread and , wine added to it-^these long in use when Jesus Christ celebrated it — Since liis time alterations made in this supper by the Jews — but bread and wine still .continued to be corapo nent parts of it, and continue so to the present day — Modern manner of the celebration of it. There are two suppers of the Lord recorded iri the Scriptures ; the first enjoined by Moses, and he second by Jesus Christ The first is called the supper of the Lord, be cause it was the last supper which Jesus Christ participated with his disciples, or which the Lord and Master celebrated with them in commerao- ration of the Passover. And it may not improp erly be called the supper ofthe Lord on another account, because it was the supper, which the lord and master of every Jewish family celebra ted, on the same festival, iri his own house. This supper was distinguished, at the time al- luddd to, by the' name of the Passover-supper. The object ofthe institution of it was to commem orate the event of the Lord passing over the hou- es of the Israelites in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered the former from their hard and oppressive bondage. The directions of Moses concerning this festi val were short, but precise. On the fourteenth day of the first month, call ed Nissan, the Jews were to kill a lamb in the evening. It was to be eaten in the same eve ning, roasted with fire ; and the whole of it was 127 to be eaten, or the remains of it to be consumed with fire before morning. They were to eat it with loins girded, with their shoes pn their feet, and with their staves in their hands, and to eat it in haste. The bread, which they were to eat, was to be unleavened, all of it, and for, seven days. There was to be no leaven in their hou ses during that time. Bitter herbs also were to be used at this feast. And none, who were uncir cumcised, were allowed to partake of it. This was the simple manner, in which the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, (which was included in it) were first celebrated. But as the Passover, in the age following its institution, was not to be killed and eaten in any other place than where the Lord chose to fix his nanie, which was afterwards at Jerusalem, it was suspended for a time. The Jews, however, re tained the festival of unleavened bread wherever they dwelt At this last feast, in process of time they added the use of wine to the use of bread. The introduction ofthe wine was followed by the introduction of new customs. The lord or master of the feast used to break the bread, and to bless it, saying, " Blessed be thou, O Lord, who giv est us the fruits of the earth !" He used to take the cup, which contained the wine, and bless it also : " Blessed be thou, O Lord, who givest us of the fruit of the vine !" The bread was twice blessed upon this occasion, and given once to ev ery individual at the feast Butthe cup was han ded round three times to the guests. During the intervals between the blessing and taking ofthe bread and ofthe wine, the company" aeknowl- 128 iedge the deliverance of their ancestors from tlie Egyptian bondage ; they lamented their present state ; they confessed their sense ofthe justice of God in their- punishment; and they express ed their hope -of his-mercy, from his former kind dealings and gracious promises. In process, of time, when the Jews were fixed at Jerusalem, they revived t-hecelebration of the Passover ; and as the feast of tinleavened bread was connected -with it, they added the- custoais of the latter, and blended the e_ating cf the larab', and the use of the bread and wine, arid their sev eral accompaniments of consecration, into one ceremony.. The bread therefore and the wine had been long in use as constituent parts of the Passover-supper, (and indeed of all the solemn feasts ofthe Jews) when Jesiis Christ took upon himself, as the master-bf his bv('n family of dis ciples, to celebrate it When he celebrated it, he did as the master of every Jewish farnily did at that time. He took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave itto his disciples. He took the cup pf wine, -and gave it to them also. But he" conducted himself differently from others in one respect ; for he corapared the br6ad of the Pass over to his own body, and the wine to his own blood, and led the attention of his disciplesfrom the old object ofthe Passover, or deliverance from Egyptian bondage, to a new one, or deliverance from sin. - Since the time of pur Saviour, we -find that the Jews, who have been dispersed in various parts of the world, have made alterations in this supper ; but all of thera have concurred in retaining the 129 bread and wine as component parts of it. This will be seen by describing the manner, in whick it is celelirated at the present day. On the fourteenth day ofthe month Nissan, the first-born son of every faraily fasts, because the first-born in Egypt were smitten on that night. A table is then set out, and covered with a cloth. On the middle of it is placed a large dish, which is covered with a napkin. A large Passover-cake of unleavened bread, distinguished by marks, and denominated " Israelite," is then laid upon this napkin. Another, with different marks, but de nominated " Levite," is laid upon the first ; and a third, differently marked, and denominated " Priest" ialaid upon the second. Upon this again a large dish is placed ; and in this dish is a shank- bone ofa shoulder of iamb, with a small matter of raeat on it which is burnt quite brown on the fire. This is instead of the larab roasted with fire. Near this is an egg, roasted hard in hot ashes that it may not be broken, to express the totality of the lamb. There is also placed on the table a small quantity of raw chervil, instead of the bit-, ter herbs ordered ; also a cup with salt w^ater, in remembrance ofthe sea crossed over after that re past ; also a stick of horse-radish with its green top to it, to represent the bitter labor that made the eyes of their ancestors water in slavery ; and a couple of round balls, made of bitter alraonds pounded with, apples, to represent their labor in lime and bricks. The seat or couch ofthe mas ter is prepared at the head of the table, and rais ed with pillows, to represent the masterly author ity, of which the Jews were deprived in bondage. 130 The meanest of the servants are seated at the ta ble, for two nights, with their masters, mistresses and~superiors, to denote that they wereaU eq-ual- - ly slaves in. Egypt, and tliat all ought to give the same ceremonial thanks fpr tlieir redentptiori. Cups also are prepared for the wine, of which each person must drink four in the-courts of the ceremony. . One cup extraordinaty is set onthe table for Elias, wliich is drunk by the youngest in his stead;. All things havirig been thus prepared, the guests wash their hands, and seat themselves at table. The master ofthe family, soon after this, takes his cup of wine in his right hand, andthe rest at the table doing the same, he says, together with all the others, " Blessed art -thou, O Lord, our God, king of the universe, who hast created the fruit of -the vine !" This is followed by a thanks giving for the institution of th e Passover. Then the cup of wine is drunk ky all. Afterwards the master of the family says, "Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, king of the universe, who hast sanctified- us with thy commandments, and com manded us to cleanse our hands !" Then the master ofthe family desires the guests to partake ofthe chervil dipped in salt water, which he gives them with an appropriate blessing. He makes them tbuck also the dish containing the egg and shank bone of the lamb, and to re peat with him a formula of words suited to the subject. He then takes the second cup of wine, and uses words, in conjunction with the rest, expressive ofthe great difference between this and any other night. After this, copious reraarks 131 follow on the institution ofthe Passover. Then foUow 4ueries and answers of the Rabbies on this subject. Then historical accounts of the Jews. Then the fifteen acts ofthe goodness of God to the Jewish nation, which they make out thus : He led the Jews out of Egypt. He pun ished the Egyptians. Heexecutedjudgment on their gods. He slew their first-born. - He gave the Jews wealth. He divided the sea for them. He made them pass through it as on dry, land. He drowned the Egyptians in the same. He gave food to the Jews for forty years in the wil derness. He fed them with manna. He gave them the sabbath.. He. brought them to Mount •Sinai. He gave thera the law. He brought thera to the land of proraise. He built. the Temple^ When these acts ofthe goodness of, God, with - additional remarks on the Passover out of Rab bi Gamaliel, have been recited, all the guests touch tlie dish, which contains the three cakes of bread before mentioned,. and say, " This sort of unleavened bread, which we eat, is because there was not sufficient tirne for the dough of our ances^ tors to rise, until the blessed Lord, the king of kings, did reveal himself to redeem them : as it is written, ' and they baked unleaved cakes ofthe dough, which they brought forth out of Egypt: for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt,- and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victuals.'" Af ter this they touch the horse-^radish, .and join in a narration on the subject of their bondage.. Then they take their third- cup of wine, and pronounce a formula of adoration and praise,- accompanied 132 with blessings and thanksgivings; in allusion to the historical part ofthe Passover. After' this the master of the faraily w'ashes his hands, and says, " Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, king of the universe, who hast sanctified us witk thy^ commandments, and commanded us to -cleanse our hands l" He theri breaks the Uppermost cake of bread in the dish, and says, "Blessed art thou, O Lord, our Gpd, king of th6 universe, who hast brought forth bread frora the earth !" Then he takes half of another cake of bread, and breaks it, and says, " Blessed art thou; 0 Lord, our God, king of the universe, who hast sanctified us with thy commandments, and commanded us to eat the unleavened bread !" Then he gives every one at the table of each ofthe two cakes of bread that are broken, and every one repeats audibly the two last blessings. - He- then takes the green top frora the hjDrse^radish, and puts on the balls be fore mentioned, and pronounces a blessing. He then puts these into the hands of the guests, and they pronounce the same. After this he cuts the bottom cake, and puts a piece of it upori a piece of horse-radish, and pronounces a formula of words in allusion to an historical fact. These ceremonies having been thus coraplet ed; the guests sup. . After supper a long grace is said. Then the fourth cup is filled. Along prayer follows on thesubject of creation. This is again followed by a hymn, enumeratirig- and specifying the Jweive wonders, which God did at midnight. Another hymn succeeds, spe cifying the fifteen great works, which God did at 133 different times both on the night and on the day of the Passover. Then foUovt-s a prayer in praise of God, in which a desire is expressed that they may be again brought to Jerusalem. Then follows a blessing on the fourth cup, which is ta ken ; after which another hynm is sung, in which the assistance of the Alraighty is invoked for the rebuilding of the Temple. This hymn is follow ed by thirteen canticles, enumerating thirteen re markable things belonging to the Jews ; soon af ter which the ceremony- ends. This is the manner, or nearly the raanner in which the Passover is now celebrated by the Jews. The bread is still continued to be bless ed,, and broken, and divided, and the cup to be blessed and handed round araong the guests; and this is done whether they live in Asia, or in Europe, or in any other part ofthe known world. SECTION vm. Second Supper is that enjoined-by Jesus at Capernaum — It consista of bread from Heaven — or of the flesh and blood of Christ - But these are not ofa material nature, like the Passover-bread, or corporeal part of Jesus — bat wholly of a spiritual. Those who receive it are spiritually nourished byit, and may be said to sup with Christ — fl'bis supper supported thePatriardhS and must be taken by all Chrfstians- Various ways in which this supper may be enjoyed. The second supper recorded in the Scriptures, in which bread and the body and blood of Christ are raentioned, is that which was enjoined by Je sus when' he addressed the raultitude at Caper naum. Of this supper the following account may 12 134 be given ; " Labour not,"* says he to the muUi- tude, " for the meat, which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you. A little further on in the same chapter, when the Jews required a sign from heaven (such as when Moses gave their ancestors manna in, the wilderness) in order that .they. might believe -on him, he addressed them thus : "Verily, verily, I say unto you,Moses gave yon not that bread from heaven ; but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. Forthe bread'jof God is he that cometh down from heaven, and .giveth light unto the world." " Then said they unto him, Lbrd, ever-more give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them I am the bread of life. He that cometh unto me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. ' It appears thatin the cpurse of these and other words, that were spoken upon this occasion, the Jews took offence at Jesus Christ, because he said he was the bread that came down from heav en : for they knew he was the son of Joseph ; and they knew both his father and mother. . Jesus therefore directed to them the following observa tions : " I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. , This is the bread, which cometh down from heayen, that a man may eat thereof, and npt die. I am the living bread, whick came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.. * John vil 27. 135 And the bread that I will give is my flesh, whick I will give for the life of the world. The_ Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying How can this man give us his flesh to eat ? Then Je sus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except, ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso ever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last. day : for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and Hive by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me; This is that bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead ; he that eateth ofthis bread shall live for ever." As the Jews were still unable to comprehend the meaning ofhis words, which they discovered by murmuring, and pronouncing them to be hard sayings, Jesus Christ closes his address to them in the following words : " It is the spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." It appears froni hence, according to the Qua kers, that Jesus Christ, in mentioning the loaves, took occasion to spiritualise, as he did on all other fit occasions, and to direct the attention of his followers frora natural to spiritual food, or frora the food that perisheth to that which giveth eter nal life. Jesus Christ caUs hiraself on this occasion the 136 living bread. He says that this bread is his flesh, and that this flesh is meat indeed. The first con clusion which the Quakers deduce on this sub ject-is, that this flesh and blood, or this bread, or this meat, which he recommends to his foUowers, and which he also declares to be himself,;is not of a material nature. It is not,as he himself saySj like the ordinary meat that perisheth, not like the outward raanna, which the Jews ate in the wik derness for their bodily refreshment. - It cannot therefore be common bread, nor such bread as the Jews ate at their Passover, nor any bread or meat ordered to be eaten on any public occa sion. Neither can this flesh or this bread be, as some have imagined, the material flesh or body of Jesus. For, first, this latter body was, born of the Virgin Mary : whereas the other is des cribed as having come down frpm heaven. Secondly, because, when the Jews said, " How can this man give us his flesh ?" Jesus replied, " It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh pro fiteth nothing ;" that is. Material flesh and blood, such as mine is, cannot profit any thing inthe way of quickening, or cannot so profit as to give life eternal : this is only the work of the Spirit. And he adds, " The words I have spoken to you, they are Spirit, and they are Life." This bread then, or this body, is of a spiritual nature. It is of a spiritual nature, because it not only giveth life but preserveth from death. Manna, on the other hand, supported the Israel ites only for a time, and they died. Common bread and flesh nourish the body for a time, and 137 it dies and perishes ; but itis saidof those, who feed upon this food, that they shaU never die. This bread or body must be spiritual again, because the bodies of men, according to their present organization, cannot be kept for ever alive. But their souls may. The souls of men can receive no nourishment from ordinary meat and drink, that they should be kept alive, but from that which is spiritual only. It must be spiritual again, because Jesus Christ describes it as having corae down frora heaven. The last conclusion, which the Quakers draw frora the words of our Saviour on this occasion, is, that a spiritual participation of the body and blood of Christ is such an essential of Christian ity, that no person, who does not partake of thera, can be considered to be a Christian ; " for, ex cept a man eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, he has no life in him." The Quakers, therefore, believe that this ad dress of Jesus Christ to his followers, near Ca pernaura, relates wholly to the necessity of the souls of men being fed and nourished by that food, which they are alone capable of receivipg; namely, that, which is of a spiritual nature, and which comes from above. This food is the Spir it of God, or, in the language of the Society, it is Christ. It is that celestial Principle, which gives light and life to as many as receive it and believe in it Itis that spiritual Principle which was in the. beginning of the world, and which afterwards took flesh. And those, who receive it, are spiritually nourished by it, and may be said to sup with Christ ; for he himself says, 12* 133 ' "Behold I stand kt the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him^ and he with me."* This Supper, which Jesus Christ enjoinS;, is that heavenly manna, on which the Patriarchs' feasted before his appearance inthe flesh, and by which their inward man becarae nourished, so that some of them were said to have walked with God ; for these, according to St. Paul, " did, all eat the sarae spiritual meat, and did all drink the sarae spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock that foUowed thera, and that Rock was Christ"! This Supper is also " that daily bread," since his appearance in the flesh ; or, as the old Latin translation has it, it is that super-substantial bread which Christians are desired to pray for in the Lord's Prayer ; that bread which, according to gpod commentators, is above all substance and above all created things : for this bread fills and satisfies. By extinguishing all carnal de sires, it leaves neither hunger nor thirst after worldly things. It redeems from the pollutions of sin. It so quickens, as to raise from death to life; and it gives therefore to man a sort of new ^nd divine nature, so that he can dwell in Christ and Christ in him. This Supper, which consists of this manna, or bread, or of this flesh and blood, may be enjoy ed by Christians in various vvays. It raay be enjoyed by them in pious meditations on the • Rev. iii. 20. 1 1 Cor. x. 3, 4, 139 Divine Being, ui which the soul of man may have coramunionr with the Spirit of God, so that every meditation may afford it a salutary supper, or a celestial feast. It may be enjoyed by them when they wait upon God in silence, or retire into the light of the Lord, and receive those di vine impressions, which quicken and spiritualise the internal man. It may be enjoyed by them in all their several acts of obedience and regard to the words and doctrines of our Saviour. Thus may men every day, nay everyhour, keep a com munion at the Lord's table, pr coraraunicate, or sup, with Christ. SECTION IX. The question then is, Whether Jesus Christ instituted- any new Supper, distinct from that of the Passover, and in addition to that enjoined at Ca pernaum, to be observed as a ceremonial by Cl^ristians 1— Quakers say that no such institution canbe collected from the accounts of Matthew, or of Mark, or of John— the silenceof the latter peculiarly impressive in the present case. It appears then that there are two Suppers re corded in the Scriptures ; the one enjoined by Moses, and the other by Jesus Christ The first of these was of a cereraonial nature, and was confined exclusively to Ihe Jews ; for to Gentile converts, who knew nothing of Moses, or whose ancestors were not concerned in the deliverance frora Egyptian bondage, it could have had no meaning. The latter was of a spiritual nature. It was not limited to any nation. It had been enjoyed by many of the Patriarchs. Many of the Gen- 140 tiles had enjoyed it also. But it was essential ly necessary for all Christians. Now^the question is, Whe'ther Jesus Christ, when he celebrated the Passover, instituted any new Supper distinct from that of the Passover, and in addition to that, which he had before enjoined at Capernaum, to be observed as an or dinance by the Christian world? The Quakers are of opinion that no institu tion of this kind can be collected from Matthew, Mark, br John. St, Matthew* mentions the celebration of the Passover-supper in the follow ing manner : "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave to his disciples, and said. Take, eat, this is my body. "And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying. Drink ye all of it. " Ppr'this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. " But I say unto you I will not, drink hence forth of the fruit of the vine, Uritil that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. St. Mark gives ak acconnt so similar to the former, that it is unnecessary to transcribe it Both mention the administration of the cup ; both, the breaking arid giving of the bread ; both, the allusion of Jesus to his own body and blood ; both, the idea of his not drinking wine any more but in a new kingdom : — but neither of thera mentions any command nor even any insin- • Matt. xxvi. 26. 141 uatipn, by Jesus Christ to his disciples, that they should do as he did at the Passover-supper. St John who relates the circurastance of Jesus Christ washing the feet of his disciples pn the Passover-night, mentions nothing even of the breaking ofthe bread, or ofthe drinking of the wine, upon that occasion. As far, therefore, as the evangelists Matthew, Mark and John are concerned, it is obvious, in the opinion of the Society, that Christians have not the least pretence either for the celebration of the Passover, or of that, which they usuaUy call the Lord's Supper ; for the command for such a supper is usually grounded on the words " Do this in remembrance of me." But no such words occur in the accounts of any of the evan gelists now cited. This silence with respect to any command for any new institution, is considered by the So ciety as a proof, as far as these evangelists are concerned, that none was ever intended. For, if the sacrament of the supper was to be such a great and essential rite as. Christians make it, they would have been deficient in their duty if they had failed to record it. St Matthew, who was at the Supper, arid St Mark who heard of what had passed there, both agree that Jesus used the cereraony of the bread and the wine, and also, that he made an allusion from thence to his own body and blood ; but it is clear, the Quakers say, whatever they might have _ heard as spoken by him, they did not understand him as enjoining a new thing. But the silence of John on this occasion they consider as the 142 most impressive in the present case. For St. John was the disciple, who leaned upon the bosom of Jesus at this festival, and who of course must have heard all that he said. He was the disciple, again, whom Jesus loved, and who would have been anxious to have perpetuated all that he required to be done. He was the disciple, again, who so particularly related the spiritual Supper which Jesus enjoined at Caper naura, and in this strong language : that " except a man eat his flesh and drink his blood he has no life in hirh." Notwithstanding this, . St John does not even mention what took place on the Passover-night, believing, as the Quakers sup pose, that it was not necessary to record the particulars of a Jewish ceremony, which, being a type, was to end when its antitype was realized, and whick he considered to be unnecessary for those ofthe Christian name. SECTION X. Account of St. Luke examined — according to him, Jesus- celebrated ohly the old Jewish Passover— signified all future passovers with him were to be spiritual — hence he turned the attention of those present from the typei to the antitype— recommended his diaciples to take their meals occasion ally together in remembrance of their last supper with him j or if, as Jews, they could not get rid of the yoke of the Passover, to celebrate it " with a new meaning. St. Luke, who speaks of ihe transactions which took place at the Passover-supper, is the only one of the evangelists who records the remarkable words, on which the ceremonial in question is grounded, " Do this in remembrance of me." 143 St. Luke, however was not hiraself at this sup per. Whatever he has related concerning it was frora the report of others. But though the Quakers are aware of this circumstance, that neither Matthew, Mark nor John, gives an account of such words, yet they do not question the authority of St Luke con cerning them. They admit them on the other hand, tp have been spoken. They believe, how ever, on an examination of the whole of the nar rative of St Luke, on this occasion, that no new institution of a religious nature was mtended. They believe that Jesus Christ did nothing more than celebrate the old Passover ; thathe intimat ed to his disciples, at the time he celebrated it, that it was to cease ; that he advised them, how ever, to take their meals occasionally, in a friend ly manner, together, in remerabrance of hira : or if, as Jews, they could not all at once relin quish the Passover, he permitted thera to cele brate it with a new raeaning; In the first place, St Luke, and he is joined by all the other evangelists, calls the feast now spoken of "the Passover." Jesus Christ also gives it the same narae ; for he says, " With de sire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." Jesus Christ, according to St. Luke, took bread, and brake it, and divided it araong his dis ciples. He also took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it amongthem. But this, the Quakers say, is n,p more than what the raaster of every Jewish faraily did on Ike Passover-nigkt. Nor is it any more, as will have already, appeared, 144 than what the Jews of London, or of Paris, or of Arasterdara, or of any other place, M^here bread and wine are to be had, dd, on the same feast, at the present day. But though; Jesus Christ conducted himself so far as other masters of families did, yet he de parted from the formula of words that was gen erally used upon these occasions. For, in the first place, he is described to have said to his disciples, that " he would no raore eat of the Passover, untUit should be fulfiUed inthe king dom of God ;'•' and a little farther on, " that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine, till the kingdom of God should come ;" or as St. Mat thew has it, " till he should drink it riew with them iri his Father's kingdora." By these words the Quakers understand, that it was the intention of Jesus Christ to turn the attention of his disciples from the type to the antitype, or from the paschal lamb to the Lamb 'of God, which was soon to be offered to thera. He declared that all his PassoVer-suppers with them were in future tb be spiritual. Such spiritual Passovers, the Quakers say, he afterwards ate with thera on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of Gpd carae upon them ; when their minds were opened, and when they, discovered for the first time, the nature of his kingdom ; and these spiritual Passovers he has since eaten, and continues to eat, with all those whose riiinds, de^ tached from worldly pursuits and" connections, are so purified and spiritualized as to be able to hold coraraunion vvith God. It is reported of hira next, that " he took bread, 145 and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave to his disciples, saying, this is ray body, which is given for you." On these words the Quakers raake the fol lowing observations : The word " this" does not belong to the word " bread ;" that is, it does not raean, that this bread is ray body. For the word " bread" in the original Greek is of the masculine, and the word " this" is of the neuter gender. But it alludes to the action of the break ing ofthe bread ; frora which the foUowing new meaning will result : " This breaking of the bread, which you now see rae perforra, is a sym bol or representation of the giving, or, as St. Paul has it, of the breaking of my body for you." In the same raanner they say that the giving of the wine in the cup is to be understood as a symbol or representation of the giving of his blood for them. The Quakers therefore are of opinion, when they consider the raeaning of the sayings of Jesus Christ, both with respect to the bread and to the wine, that he endeavoured again to turn the attention of his disciples from the type to the antitype, from the bread and wine to his own body and blood, from the paschal lamb, that had been slain and eaten, to the Larab that was go ing to be sacrificed ; and, as the blood ofthe lat ter was, according to St. Matthew, for the remis sion of sins, to turn their attention frora the an cient object of the celebration of the Passover, or salvation from Egyptian bondage, to a new object, or the salvation of themselves and others by this new sacrifice of himself 13 14 6 It is reported of him again -by St. Luke, after he had distributed the bread, and, said, " This is my body which is given for you," that he added, " This do in remembrance of me." These words the Quakers believe to have no reference to any new institution, but they contain a recommendation to his disciples to meet in a friendly manner, and break their bread together in remembrance of their last supper with him ; or if, as Jews, they could not all at once leave off the custom of the Passover, in which they had been bbrn and educated, as a religious cere mony, to celebrate it, as he had then modified and spiritualized it, with, a new meaning. - If they relate to the breaking of their bread together, then they do not relate to any Pass over or sacraniental eating, but -only to that pf their common meals ; for,, all the Passovers of Jesus Christ with his disciples -were in future, as we* have already shown, to he spiritual — and in this sense the primitive Christians seem to have, understood the words in question ;- for in their religious zeal they sojd all their goods, ?and, by means of the produce of their joint stock, kept a .common table and lived together : but in process of time, as this custom, frora various cau^ ses, declined, 4hey met at each other's houses, or at other appointed places, to break their bread together in memorial of the Passover-supper. This custom, it is remarkable, was denominated the custom " of breaking of bread ;" nor could it have had any other name so proper, if - the nar- * See quotations from Matthew and Luke, p. 145. 147 ration of St. Luke be true. For the words " do this in remembraiTce of me" relate solely, as he has placed them, to the breaking of the bread. They were used after the distribution of the bread, but were not repeated after the giving- of the cUp: If they relate, on the other hand, to the cele bration of the Passover as it had been modified and spiritualized with a new meaning, then the interpretation of them will stand thus : " As some of you, my disciples, for ye are all Jews, may not be able to get over all your prejudices at once, but may celebrate the Passover again ; and as it is the last tirae that I shall celebrate it with you as a ceremonial, I desire you to do it in remembrance or as a memorial of me. I wish the celebration of it always to bring to your recollection this our last public meeting, the love I bear to you, and my sufferings and my death. I wish your minds to be turned from carnal to spiritual benefits, and to be raised to more iraportant themes than the mere escape of your ancestors from Egyptian bondage. If it has hitherto been the object of the Passover to preserve in your memories the bodily salvation of your ancestors, let it be used in future, if you cannot forsake it, as a memorial of your own spiritual salvation ; for my body, of which the bread is a representation, is to be broken ; and my blood, of which the wine is an emblem,, is to be shed forthe remission of your sins." But in whatever sense the words " do this in remerabrance of me" are to be taken, the Qua kers are of opinion, as far as St Luke states the 148 circumstances, that they related solely to the dis ciples themselves. Jesus Christ recommends it to those who were present, and to those only, to do this in remembrance of him; but he no vvhere tells them to order or cause it to be dene by the whole Christian world, as he told them to preach the Gospel to every creature. To sum up the w'hole of what has been said inthis chapter; If we consult St. Luke, and St Luke only, all that we can collect on this sub ject will be. That the future Passover-suppers of Christ with his disciples were to be spiritual ; that his disciples were desired to break their bread together in remehabrance of kim ; or if, as Jews, they could not relinquish the Passover, to celebrate it with a new meaning ; but that this permission extended to those only, who were present on that occasion. 149 SECTION XT. St. Paul's account — he states that the words " do this in remembranpe of me" were used at the Passover-supper— that they cbntained a permission for a custom, in which both the bread and the wine were included^that this custom was the Passover, spritualized by Jesus Christ — but that it was to last only for a time — Some conjecture this time to be the destruc" tion of Jeruaalem — butthe Quakers, till the Disciples had attained such a spii itual growth, that they felt Christ'akingdom substantially in their . hearts — and as it was thus limited to them, eo , it was limited to such Jewish converts, as might have adopted it in those-times. The last of the sacred writers, who mention the celebration of the Passover-supper, is St Paul, whose account is now to be examined. St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthi ans,* reproves them for some irregularities com mitted by thera in the course of their religious meetings. What these meetings were is uncer tain. They raight have been for the celebration ofthe Passover-supper ; for there was a Syna gogue of Jews at Corinth, of whom some had been converted. Or they might have been for the celebration of the Passover as spiritualized by Jesus Christ, or for the breaking of bread ; which customs both the Jewish and Gentile converts might have adopted. The custom, how ever, at which these irregularities took place, is called by St. Paul the. Lord's Supper. And this title was not inapplicable to it in either of the cases supposed, because it must have been, in either of thera, in commemoration ofthe last sup per, which Jesus Christ, or the Lord and master, ate with his disciples before he suffered, ? Chap. xL 13* 150 But, whichever cereraonial it was that St. Paul alluded to, the circumstances of the_ irregu larities ofthe Corinthians obliged hira to advert to, and explain, what was-said and done by Jesus on the. night of the Passover-supper. This ex planation of the apostle has thrown new light upon the subject, arid has induced the Quakers to believe that no new institution was intended to take place as a ceremonial to be observed by the Christian world. St^ Paul in his account of what occurred at . the original Passover, reports that Jesus Christ made use of the, words " this do in reriaerabrance of me " By this the Quakers understand, that he permitted soraething to be done by those, who vvere present at this supper. He reports also" that Jesus Christ used these words not only after the bfieaking of the bread,' but after the giving of the cup ; from whence they conclude, that St. Paul considered both the bread and the wine as belonging to that, which had been pernaitted. St. Paul also says, "for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup,, ye do skovv tk6 Lord's death till he come." By these words they be lieve they discover two things ; first, the nature of the thing permitted ; and secondly, that the thing permitted, whatever it was, was to last but for a time. The thing, then, which was permitted to those, who were present at the Passover-supper, was to show or declare his death. . The words " show or declare" prove, in the first place, the connexion of the thing permitted with the Jewish Passover ; 151 for, after certain ceremonies had been performed on the Passover-night, " the showing forth or declaration," as it was called, followed, or the object of .the meeting was declared aloud to the persons present ; or it was declared to them publicly, in what particulars the Passover-feast differed from all the other feasts of "the Jews. Secondly, the word " death" proves the thing per mitted to have been the Passover, as spiritualized by Jesus dhrist ; for, by the new modification of it, his disciples, if they were unable tp overcome their prejudices; were to turn their attention from the type to the antitype, or frora the sacrifice of the paschal lamb to the sacrifice of himself^ or to his own sufferings and death. In short, Jesus Christ alw.ays attempted to reform by spiritualiz ing. When the Jews followed hira for the loaves, and mentioned manna, he tried to turn their attention from material to spiritual bread. When he sat upon Jacob's well, and discoursed with tke woman of Samaria, he directed her at tention from ordinary or elementary to spiritual and living water. So he did upon this occasion. He gave -life to the dead letter of an old cereraony by a new meaning. His disciples were from henceforth tp turn their attention, if they chose to celebrate the Passover, from the paschal lamb to himself, and frora Ihe deliverance of their an cestors out of Egyptian bondage, to the deliver ance of themselves and others, by the giving up of his own body, and the shedding of his own blood, for the remission of sins. And as the thing permitted was the Passover spiritualized in this manner, so it was only per^ mitted fora time, or "until he come." 152 By the words " untU he come" it is usually Uri* derstood, until Christ come. But though Chris tians have agreed upori this, they have disagreed as to the length of time, which the words ma;^ mean. -Some have understood that Jesus Christ intended this spiritualized Passover to continue for ever, as an ordinance of the Churchj for that "till he corae" must refer to his coraing to judge- the world. But it has been replied to ttiese, that in this case no Uraitation had been necessary ; or it would have been said at once, that it was to be a perpetual ordinance, or expressed in plain er terras than in the words in question. Others have understood_the words to mean the end of the typical vvorld, which happened on the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Jews were dispersed, and their Church, as a national orte, done away. For the coming , of Christ and the end ofthe world have been considered as taking place at the same time: Thus the early Chris tians believed" that . Jesus Christ, even after his death and resurrection, would come again, even in their own life-time, ahd that the end of the vvorld would then be. These events they coup led in their minds;* "for they asked him private ly, saying, TeU us when these things shall be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end ofthe world." Jesus told them in reply, that the end of the world and his coming would be, when there were wars, and rumors of wars, and earthquakes, and famine, and pestilence, and tribulations on the earth ; and that these calami- Mark xxiv.. 153 ties -would happen even before th« generation, then alive, would pass away. Now all these things actually happened in the same genera tion : for they happened at the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus Christ therefore meant by the end of the world the end of the Jewish world, or of the world of types, figures and ordinances : and he coupled naturally his own coming with this event ; because he could not come fully into the hearts of any, till these externals were done away. He alluded, in short, to the end of the Jewish dispensation, and the beginning of his own spiritual kingdom, or to the end of the cere monial and the beginning of the Gospel-wprld. Those, therefore, who interpret the words " till he coine"to mean the end of the typical world, are of opinion that the Passover, as spiritualized by Jesus Christ, was allowed to the disciples while they lived ardong a people so wedded to religious ceremonies as the Jews, with whora it would have been a stumbling-block in the, way of their conversion if they had seen the apostles, who were their countymen, rejecting it all at once; but that it was permitted them till the destruction of Jerusalem ; after which event the Jews being annihilated as a nation, and being dis persed and mixed araong the infinitely greater bpdy of the Gentiles, the custora was to be laid aside, as the disuse of it could not be then preju dicial to the propagation ofthe Gospel araong the coramunity at large. The Quakers, however, understand the words " till he come" to mean simply the coming of Christ substantially in the heart. Giving the 154 words tkis^meaning, they; Emit TKe'^uiatioii of this spiritiialized Passover, but do not speoify- the tirae. It might have ceased, they say, witk some of those present on the day of Pentecost, when they begair to discover the nature' of Christ's kingdom ; and they think it probable, that it ceased with all of them when they found this kingdom realized in their hearts. For it is reraarkable -that those, who becarae Gospel-wri ters (and it is to presuraed that they had attained great spiritual growth when they wrote their" re spective works) give no instruction to others, whether Jews or Gentiles, to observe the cere- mbnial permitted to the disciples by Jesus, as any ordinance of the Christian' Church. And in the same rhanner as the Quakers conceive the duration of the spiritualized Passover to have been limited to the disciples, they conceive it to haye been limited to all other Jewish converts, " who might have adopted it in those times ; that is, till they should find, by the substantial enjoy ment of Christ in their hearts, that Cereraonial ordinances'belonged to the old, but that they were not constituent parts of the new kingdom. 155 SECTION XII. Quakers believe, from the preceding evidence, that Jesus Christ intended no ceremonial for the Christian Church — for, if the custom enjoined was the Passover spiritualized, it was more suitable for Jews than Gentiles — If intended as a ceremonial, it would have been commanded by Jesus to others besides the disciples, and by these to the Christian world — and its duration would not have been limited — Quakers believe St. Paul thought it no Christian ordinance^three reasons taken from his own writings. The Quakers, then, on an exaraination of the preceding evidence, are of opinion that Jesus Christ, at the Passover supper, never intended to institute any new supper distinct from that ofthe Passover, or in addition to that enjoined at Ca pernaura to be observed as a cereraonial by Chris tians. . , For, in the first place, St. Matthew, who was at the supper, raakes no raention of the words " Do this in reraerabrance of me." Neither are these words, nor any of a sira ilar import, recorded by St, Mark. It is true, in deed, that St. Mark was not at this supper. But it is clear he never understood from those who were, either that they were spoken, or that they bore this meaning, or he would have inserted them in his Gospel. Nor is any raention made of such words by St John. This was the beloved disciple, who was more intimate with Jesus, and who knew more of the mind of his master, than any of the others. This was he, who leaned' upon his bosom at the Passover-supper, and who must have been so near hira as to have heard all that passed there ; and yet this disciple did not think it worth his while. 156 except manuscripts have been mutilated, to men tion even the bread and the- wine that were used upon this occasion. Neither does St. Luke, who mentions the words " Do this in remerabrance of me," estabUsh any thing, in the opinion of the Quakers, material on this point For it appears from hira that Jesus, to make the most of his words, only spiritualized the old Passover for his disciples, all of whom were Jews, but that he gave no coraraand .with respect to the observance of it by others. . Nei ther did St. Luke himself enjoin or call upon others to observe it. St. Paul speaks nearly the same language as St Luke, but witk this difference, that the sup per, as thus spiritualized, by Jesus, was to last but for a time.*- Now the Quakers are of opinion, that they have not sufficient ground to believe, frora these autho rities, that Jesus intended to establish any cer eraonial as an universal ordinance for the Chris tian Church. For, if the custom enjoined was the spiritualized Passover, it was better calcula ted for Jews than for GentUes, who were neither interested in the motives nor acquainted, with the customs of that feast But it is of little import ance, they contend, whether it was the spiritual ized Passover or not ; for, if Jesus Christ had in tended it, whatever it was, as an essential of his * The extraordinary silence of St. John on this subject, as before mention ed, is considered by some «s confirming the idea, that this e-vangelist himself believed that the Passover, as 'spiritualized by Jesus Christ, was to cease with the Jewish constitution, or after the destructipn of Jerusalem. For St. John did notwritehisGfospel- till after this great event.' But if bethought the ceremonial was then to cease, he would have hsld less reason for menr tionin°'it, than any of-thosc who wrote prior to this epoch. 157 new rehgion, he would have commanded his dis ciples to enjoin it as a Christian duty and the dis ciples themselves would have handed it down to their several converts in this Ught. But no in junction to this effect, either of Jesus to others, or of themselves to others, is to be found in any of their writings. Add to this, that the limitation of its duration for a time seems ' a sufficient arguraent against it as a Christian ordinance, because whatever is once, raust be fur ever, an essential in the Christian Church. The Quakers believe, as a further arguraent in their favour,that there is reason to presume that St. Paul never looked upon the spirituaUzedPass- over, as any permanent and essential rite, which Christians were enjoined to follow. For no thing can be more clear, than that, when speak- incr ofthe guilt and hazard of judging one another by meats and drinks, he- states it as a general and fundamental doctrine of Christianity,that the "kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but right eousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost*." It seems also by the raodcof reasoning, which the apostle adopts in the Epistle to the Corin thians on this subject, that he had no other idea of the observance of this rite, than he had of the observance of particular days ; naraely, that if men thought they were bound inconscience to keep them they ought to keep them reUgi ously. "He that -regardeth a .^ day," says the apostle, "regardeth it to the Lord:" that is, "He that esteemed a day," says Barclay, and placed conscience in keeping it, was to * Romans xiv. 17. 14 158 regard it to the Lord ^arid so it was to hira, in so far as he regarded it to the Lord, the Lord's day) : he was to do it Worthily ; arid if he were to do it unworthily, he would be',guilty,of the Lord's day, and so keep it to his own con demnation." Just in the same manner, St. Paul tells the Corinthian Jews, that if they observed the ceremonial of the Passover, or rather, "as often" as they observed it," they were to observe it worthily, and make it a religious act. They were not then come together to make merry on the anniversary bf the deliverance of their an cestors from Egyptian bondage, but to meet in memorial of Christ's sufferings and death. And therefore, if they. ate and drank the Passover, under its new and high allusions, unworthil}'-, they profaned the ceremony, and were guilty of the body and blood of Christ. It appears also from the Syriac-and other ori- ental'versions of , the New Testament, such as the Arabic and Ethiopie, as if he only permitted the celebration ofthe spiritualized Passover for a time, in condescension to the weakness of some ofhis converts, who were probably from the Jewish synagogue at Corinth. For in the seventeenth verse of the eleventh chapter ofhis first Epistle to the Corinthians, the Syriac runs thus : " As to that, concerning which I am now instructing you, I commend you not, because you have not gone forward, but you have gone down into ..matters of less importance."* It * The Syriac is a very ancient version, and, as respectable, or of as high tuthority, as any. La"u8den and Schaaf tra"nslate -the Syriac thus : "Hoc autem, quod pra;cipio, non tanquam laudo vos, quia rion progressi cslis, sed ad id, quod minus est, descendistis." Compare this witb the English edition. 159 " appears frora hence," says Barclay, "that the apostle was grieved, that such was their condi tion, that he was forced to give thera instruction concerning those outward things, and doting upon which they showed that they were not gone forward in the life of Christianity, but rather sticking in the beggarly eleirients. And there fore the twentieth verse of the same version has it thus : " When then ye meet together, ye do not do it, as it is just ye should in the day of the Lord ; ye eat and drink."* Therefore showing to them, that to meet together to eat and drink outward bread and wine was not the labour and work of that day of the Lord. Upon the whole, in whatever light the Quak ers view the subject before us, they cannot per suade themselves that Jesus Christ intended to establish any new cereraonial distinct frorn the Passover-supper, and in addition to that, which he had before commanded at Capernaum. The only supper which he ever enjoined to Chris tians was the latter. This spiritual supper was to be eternal and universal. For he was always to be present with those " who would let him in, and they were to sup with him, and he with them." It was also to be obligatory, or an es sential, with all Christians. " For, except a man were to eat his flesh and to drink his blood, he was to have no life in him." The. supper, on the other hand, which our Saviour is supposed to have instituted on the celebration of the Pass-: over, was not enjoined by him to any but the * Qnum gitur congregamini, non sicut justiim est dio Dsmini nostri comeditis et bibitis. — ^Leusden et Schaaf Lugduni Batavorum. 160 disciples present. And it was, according to the confession of St. Paul, fo last only for a time. This time is universally agreed upon to be that ofthe coming of Christ; That is, the duration of the spiritualized Passover was to be only till those, to .whom it had been Recommended, had arrived at a state of religious manhood, or tUl they could enjoy the supper, which Jesus Christ had coramanded at Capernaum; after which re past, the Quakers believe, they would consider all others as empty, and as hot having the pro per life and nourishment in theni, and as of a kind not to harraonize with the spiritual nature ofthe Christian religion. REASONS THE NE CESS ITY SILENT WAITING, IN OHDEB TO THE SOLEMN WORSHIP OF GOD. TO WHICH ABB ADDED SEVERAL" QUOTATIONS ROBERT BARCLAY'S APOLOGY. BY MARV BROOK. PRIH-PED IN LONDON IN THE YEAR 1774. N E W - Y O R K : SE'PUBLXfeHED BY THE NBW-TOKK VEAKLY MEETING OF FHISKDS. MAHLON DAY, PRINTER, 374 P E ARL - S TH E E T. 1837. REASONS roa THE NECESSITY OF SILENT WAITING, &c. Solomon saith, " The prepa.rations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, are from the Lord."* If the Lord alone can prepare the heart, stir it up, or incline it towards unfeign ed holiness, how can any man approach hira ac ceptably till his heart be prepared by him ; , and how can he know this preparation, except he wait in silence to feel it 1 It is by the spirit that believers have access to the Father,! and are riot the impressions and influences ofthe spirit to be felt and distinguished from the workings of our own carnal minds 1 If they are, ought npt be lieyers to wait patiently in silent submission of soul, in order to distinguish when the golden scep- ptre is stretched out, which gives liberty to ap proach the Sacred Presence ? And must not the preparations of the heart by the spirit raake us sensible of our real wants, before we can ask aright ; and also of our miserable state,, before we can seek that relief which is, proper for us ? Must not the spirit likewise impart help and con- *Proy. rvil. tEpb. ii. ig, 164 solation to us, before we can rejoice in its salva tion, praise the Lord on the banks of deliver ance, and raake sweet melody in our hearts unto him ? Can webow-before hirii in true reverence and fear, in faith, till the spirit hath mercifully begot these sensations in the soul ?' Must not the carnal mind, which is at enraity with God, be silenced in us before these impressions prevail over all ? If we presurae to approach hira without the sensible drawings of his spirit, raay -We not speak unadvisedly with our lips, and offer somewhat like the polluted sacrifice of the wicked, whieh is an abomination to hira, and therefpre cannot be acceptable frora a disciple ef Christ? To such the apostle saith, " It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."^ Must we not consequently wait in silence till this will be raised in us, and power given us to perform a holy worship, and to offer an offering in righteousness? The influences -of the spirit are not at. our coraraand, circumscribed in our time, or limited by our wills, and therefore must be humbly wait ed for, seeing we can have no access without it ; and if that in which all our spiritual ability, and strength is, be not our own, nor at our command, but must be freely dispensed to us afresh by the great Giver, must .we not submissively wait in silence for his qualifying-power, by which alone we can move aright? Hence David, deeply sensible of his own inability, saith,- Psal. Ixii. 1. " Truly my soul waiteth upon (or as in the mar- ?Phil. ii. 13. 165 gm is silent before) God ; from him cometh my salvation ;" and verse 5. " My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is frora him." Do not these remarks clearly point out the necessity of pur patiently waiting upon the Lord in silence for renewed strength, that by the in ward and powerful operations of his Spirit, he may pluck the feet of our minds out of the mire and clay of corrupt thoughts and carnal inclina tions, and also beget a suitable concern and tra vail of spirit in us, that from tke arising of a true spiritual exercise, tke mouth may speak what the panting soul feels when it is athirst for God ; or, at least, be humbly sensible of those sighs and groans begotten therein by the Spirit, whieh cannot be uttered in words ? Is not this concern oinl tTsicioioc vvliciciii fcttc &uul i& deeply tJiiya,- ged, and the judgraent clearly convinced, raore acceptable to the all-seeing God, who calls for truth in the inward parts, than a raultitude of fine unfelt expressions dropt from the lips, whilst the heart is wandering without due restraint, far from a sense of his presence t Nay, will not five words spoke from a good understanding under the influence of the Holy Spirit, have more weight with the Almighty, than five thousand uttered from a luke-warra, insensible; or care less mind ? Can we suppose the infinitely wise Creator of all things is, like short-sighted man, either to be deceived or pleased with our much speaking ? Our Lord saith, " Wheii ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the Heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for tkeir much 166 speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them ; for your Father knovveth what things ye have need of before ye ask him," Mat. vi. 7, 8, The inspired prophet Isaiah, in the last verse of the fortietli chapter, saith, " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their .strength." In the first verse of the next chapter im mediately succeeding, he shews what is meant by waiting in these words, "Keep silence before rae, O is lands! and let the people renew their strength." Certainly this silence iraports the sarae thing as waiting in the former Verse, seeing, the sarae ef fect is attributed td both ; . and is not the carnal mind and corrupt imagination here commanded to keep silence before God, that the soul may properly wait and watch unto prayer ? The pro phet adds, " Let them come near, theri let them — epetJifer" - ¦nrri5--cilT5t7. Ttjspoxtro to oall "the flunroTtcll soul into deep silence, that therein it may first receive divine help tp draw near in spirit to the great Jehovah, and then. speak forth its humble petition, under a sense of that holy, solemn, aw ful reverence, which is due from a dependent creature in its approaches towards its Almighty Creator. - - ^ A certain rainister of the church of England,* writing on the Coramon-Prayer, and the senten ces placed at the beginning of- the service, ob serves, " That prayer requires so much attention and serenity of mind, that it can never be per formed without some preceding preparation-; for which reason," says he, " according to Bing- * Charles Wheatly, M. A. Vicar of Brent and Turner's Pelham in Hert fordshire. ' , ¦ 167 hara's Antiquities, vol. 5. book 13. chap. 11, 12. when the Jews enter into their synagogues to pray, they reraain silent for sorae tirae, and meditate before whom they stand." Can we think such a reverent practice amongst Chris tians would not be more suitable and accepta ble to him, who need not be told what we are, than the tpo common custom of hastily approach ing his Sacred Presence, and presuming to speak to him without previous recolleption,- and due consideration before whom they stand ? " Keep thy foot, saith Solomon, when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools ; for they consider not that they do evil."* If caution and consideration were requisite under the law of Moses, which made nothing perfect as pertaining to the conscience, how rauch raore is it so under the gospel dispensation, which more directly re quires that the Lord be worshipped in spirit and iri truth ;t riot feignedly with the Up only, but with the whole heart spiritually exercised ? What footis this that raust be'keptin such subjection? Is it only the foot of thebody, and not rather the hasty forwardness ofthe carnal mind; that the at tention of the soul may become fixed upori God, the fountain of all spiritual strength and living mercies, who raust teach our hearts to pray if ever we pray effectually? Isaiah saith, " Thou wUt keep him in perfect peace w-hose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee."t Can any thing be more con sistent with a silent dependent waiting, than a * Eccles. V. 1. - 1 John iv. 23. t Isa. xxvi. 3. 168 mind stayed upon God,, in a sincere confidence and firm expectation of Divine Help ; and if it be hoves a Christian to have his mind thus frequent ly stayedupon the Divine Power, how much more in solemn worship, Jand near approaches to the Saci:ed Presence, who cannotpossibly be deceiv ed, or amused by the arts of composition, or the powers of human eloquence-; andwho has pas sed a sentence of condemnation on the too cora mon. practice of drawing near to him with the rnouth, and honoring hira .with the lips, whilst the heart is far from him ?* Hovv can the soul any wayke more uninterruptedly stayed upon him, than in a silent waiting for Divine Help, and the renewings of spiritual power, under a solid attention to near what he shall reveal unto.it as its present duty ? •: ¦Christ saith, "My sheep hear my voice ;" and he -further declares, " they know his voice, and a stranger wilt th^y riot follow. "f Now what par takes more of the stranger's voice than self-will andself-suffieiency in Divine service ? " Without me, saith the Lord to his disciples, ye can do noth ing. '"t -That is, nothing really and substantially good, or acceptable to, G,od ;. because himself is the Lord from heaven, the second Adara, the quickening spirit, without whose influence all we offer is void of spirit or life^ He is that inex haustible fountain of power and wisdora, of vital holiness, and saving healthto the soul, which like the sap that ariseth frpm the root of the vine, is the life and nourishment of every branch. Such isthe sensible Qonnejction of Christ, thp true head * Isa. xxix, 13. t John x. 27. iv. 5. t John. xv. 5. 169 of the church, with the several members of his spiritual body : they are dependant upon him as the branch is on the vine, both for life, and the daily supply of spiritual nourishment of that life which is hid with Christ in God ; how therefore can they pray as they ought, in a spirit and man ner suitable to their present wants, till he open their heaits, and teach thera, by the wisdom of his spirit, what to pray for? If left to themselves, may they npt ask amiss, and consequently not re ceive ? How can the ministers of the everlasting gospel coraraunicate the will of God, till they re ceive illumination and ability from his spirit, to speak profitably to the present states of the peo ple ? How can any come to the throne of Divine Grace without his iraraediate help and influence ? What can raise the fallen spul up to God-Ward, and hurable it in due prostration before hira, give it a deep sense of its wants, and ofthe riches ofhis love and mercy but the Holy Spirit itself ? How necessary then, and reasonable it is,thatwe should patiently wait in submissive silence, for the en- lightenings and quickenings of its heavenly pow er, to guide both heart and tongue in addressing the Holy One of Israel? David saith, "The sac rifices of God are a broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, O God"! thou wilt not despise."* What but his heart humbling spirit can prepare this sacrifice in the soul ? If no power but his can do this, raust we not consequently watch and wait in silence to receive its assistance, and have the irapresslons of the spirit before we can pray with the spirit, and with a right understanding * Psal. li. 17. 15 170 also 1 And seeing the Lord is a God of knowl- edgCi, and that by him our actions are weighed, how careful should we be to know what spirit governs and influenceth our souls in his solemn worship ! Solomon, under an awful sense ofthe Divine Greatness and Majesty, affords us this neces sary caution wlien we present ourselves before kim : " Be not rash with thy mouth."* This every one certainly is, who presuraes to speak to the Most High before he hath duly considered in whose presence he is. He addte, "Let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God ; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few." Thi-s plainly inculcates, how rauch it behoves us to have a reverent sense of the raajesty and purity of the suprerae searcher of hearts, and to be deeply kurabled into a feeling ofour inability and noth ingness, before we address kim with our lips._ Ifit is not in man's power duly to prepare his own heart, and yet it is his indispensable duty deeply and reverently.to worship the author of his being in spirit and in truth, how necessary must an awful silence, be, that he may know his soul prepared by the immediate hand of God to approach him acceptably ! On the contrary, how inconsiderate, hasty, or presumptuous is the practice pf uttering words to him, which the heart doth not. understand, or of confessing a state it never sensibly experienced ! Certainly, if we believe the Lord is of purer eyes than to * Eccles. v. 2. 171 behold iniquity with approbation, we must con clude, he is more jealous of his honor than to accept of such dissimulation. Is not an humble, conscientious, silent waiting in submission, to be influenced and led by him, abundantly pre ferable in his sight ? Then how much raore the sighs and expressions that-proceed frora a real heart-affecting sense of his greatness and omni presence, and of the lowness and unworthiness of the creature that considers itself as dust and ashes before him ! Doth not such a weighty sense of our meanness and inability'of ourselves to offer any thing pleasing to him, who is an in finite spirit superlatively glorious, unless he first condescend graciously to help our infirmities, and teack us to pray as we ought, discover more true regard, and real concern of heart, to offer up a spiritual" sacrifice that raay be acceptable, through Jesus Christ the great Mediator, who never can intercede with the Fattier to accept an insincere hypocritical offering, a barely draw ing near to him with the tongue, and honouring bim with the lips, whilst the heart is insens^ible ofhis fear, and amused with other objects? Is it not more safe and rational to wait in silence upon the Lord, than thus to deceive our souls with sparks of our own kindling, warming vain and foolish self with a fire of its own lighting, instead of placing our expectation upon hira, who alone can teach his people rightly to profit, and enable them to pray with the' spirit, and with a right understanding also ? There is an essential difference betwixt pray ing in reality as the Spirit shall teach us, and 172 praying in form as men and books advise us. Those who pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, pray with additional fervency, knowing their attention fixed on God alone, their under standings are opened into a true descerning of their spiritual wants, and their souls quickened to a lively humble, sincere worship ; wherein their spirits are refreshed, and gain strength in the Lord, and in the power of his might. On the other hand, men and books may furnish with fair seemings and plausible expressions, but they cannot effect that brokenness of spirit, that contrition of heart, and sensiblity of soul which the Spirit of Gpd gives. They may teach to say, Lord !, Lord ! whilst Satan rules in the will and affections, and carries the imaginations after divers vanities; for nothing less than the power of the spirit can subdue and chain down the carnal mind. How necessary then is an humble waiting in silence, truly to know what spirit we aire of, before we offer any thing to the living God? .Without this knowledge we must be Uable.to offer strange fire, which the Lord never comraanded, like the sons of Aaron, who, through negligence having suffered the holy fire, divinely kindled, to go out, presented a strange fire of man's kindling, for which they suffered death. Ought not this expressive in stance of divine displeasure against the presurap- tuous substitutions of raen after their own wills, and in the place of God's appointment, to deter mankind from ofifering their own carnal concep tions and contrivances, instead of his inward and spiritual requirings ? Ought not tbis considera- 173 tion to strike every one with a deep and awful sense, that soraething more is due to the great Jehovah, than those common, careless, unfelt modes of vvorship whidi too raany are apt to satisfy themselves with ; and mora especially as he hath declared, " I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me."* How can he be sanctified in us, but as his own pure Spirit, awfully pre vails in the spul, puts it forth in humility, and influenceth the will and affections by its holy quickening energy? If Christ is indeed our Lord, why are not we more seriously concerned to honour him in our hearts ? If he is our master, why do we not so fear his displeasure, as to endeavour, with all diligence, to walk circumspectly, not as fools, inattentive to his leadings ; but as wise, seeking to redeem the time, because the, days are evil ? The Spirit, by the mouth of Zechariah, saith, "Be silent, O all flesh ! before the Lord ; for he is raised up out of his holy habitation"t Is not a modest humble silence properly due to the presence of the King of kings, and Lord of lords T Doth it not bespeak more real and awful regard to his perfect holiness, wisdora and power, to wait for his Spirit to open our hearts and lips, before we attempt vocally to speak forth his praise, than to be hasty in uttering words without true knowledge before our all-seeing Judge ? Then how approveable is thepractice of solemn silent waiting, till we receive illumination and ability properly to worship the Almighty ! Would • Lev. X. 3. - t Zech, ii. 13, 15* 174 the potentates of the earth think themselves treated with becoming reverence, should their subjects and servants iraraediately approach thera with a multitude of words, and continue thera the whole, time they stand in their pre sence, instead of waiting silently to hear their pleasure, and receive their commands? How much less ought we to expect such behaviour is pleasing, or acceptable from us, to hjm who searches all hearts, and knows us better than we know ourselves ; to whom we.must be indebted for the. true knowledge of every spiritual want, before we can. have wisdom to ask aright ac cording to his will ! When the prophet Isaiah was admitted, in a vision, to behold the glorious Majesty of Gpd,,he could only cry, " Woe is me !"* till a Uve coal from the holy altar had. touched, his lips, and purged away his sin. What a deep reverance of his Maker, and just abkorrence of self filled his kurabled mind, vvhen he was favoured with this awful, sight of the supreme glory ?' How self- abasing were his sensations, and emphatical hi» expressions, when he cried, " Wo is me ! for I am undone, because I ara a man of unclean lips ! and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King,- the Lord of Hosts !" How different^ is this heart-felt acknowledgment, proceeding from the. powerful convictions of the. Holy Spirit, to those dry, for^ mal, unfelt words that cohae from the lips of bare nominal Christians ! Notwithstanding every * Isa. vi. 175 disciple hath not so large a portion of the Holy Spirit, as this great prophet had, yet every one is graciously favoured with a measure sufficient to render his offering spiritual and living. We read, that after the ascension of 'Christ, his disciples "were all with one accord in one place, when they were filled with the Holy Ghost."* Though the text doth not expressly say, they were waiting in silence for the promise of the Father, yet it appears as probable they were, as that they were not; for there isno mention of any vocal exercise amongst them at that tirae, before they were influenced thereunto by that peculiar coraraunication and irapulse of the Holy Ghost, whence " they began to speak with other, tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." The attention is certainly more likely to be fixed upon, and stayed in true watchfulness towards the Lord, and themind more fitly prepared to receive the influence of his divine - light and- power, in sUent waiting, than if agitated in a continual practice of run ning over a raultitude of unfelt expressions. David, by inspiration, personating the Most High, saith, "Be still, and know that I am God !"t The prophet Habakkuk also, saith, " The Lord is in his holy teraple : let all the earth keep si- lerice before hira \"X Is not the carnal mind of man included in this prohibition ? What is more likely tb scatter and divert his attention from the right object, than thoughts, iraaginations, and propensities of an earthly or sensual na- ? .Acts ii. I, 4. t Psal. xlvi: 10, t Hab. ii. 20. 176 ture? What more dishonorable to the Lord - of perfection and purity, than the busy forward act ings of an unprepared and corrupt heart in spiritual things ? What is more necessary, to be silenced than that which is at enmity with God ? What more becoming an humble dependent creature, sensible of the depravity of its nature, of its inability to do any goody and of- the honor due to the presence of its Creator, than a deeply expressive solemn silence before him ? Our Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples to ' avoid the practice pf hypocrites, " who love to pray standing in the synagogues; and inthe cor ners of the streets, that they may be seen of men."* He also directed, " Whenye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the Heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking-;" and indeed, what now makes a great er show or figure in religion amongst , many, than to use long and frequent prayers, and much formal devotion, as if their eye was more towards the praise of raen than acceptance with God, and as if they gloried in empty appearances ? But what is the preceptof Christ ? " When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou. kast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and- thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."! Doth not this teach us, that before we approach the Fountain of all wisdom, to shut out. every thing that would amuse or divert the attention from the reverence due to the great object of our adoration, the * Mat. vi. 5, 6, 7. t Mat. vi. 6. 177 giver of every good and perfect gift ? Can we be too solid, or feel our hearts, affections, and de sires, too much gathered out of transitory things, into a humbling sense of the Divine Presence, when we apply ourselves to the solemn act of worshipping the Majesty on^^high ? Since waiting upon God in silence for renewed strength and spiritual wisdom, to lead our hearts and direct our tongues in vocal prayer or preach ing, makes no ostentations shew, but rather ap pears contemptible to the busy disposition and wisdom pf vain man, it is not reasonable to sup pose, that this self-denying practice should gain the approbation or praise of men ; yet it must evidently tend to prevent that great arid offensive hypocrisy, of drawing near to the Lord with the tongue, arid worshipping him with the lips whilst the heart is far from him. Can there be any frame more fit or proper for the poor soul, where in to hear the still small voice ofthe true internal Shepherd, than that of an attentive and submis sive silent waiting ? Waiting upon God is abundantly recomraended in holy writ, and waiting in silence necessarily implied in order to hear his voice. " My sheep, saith the great Shepherd, hear my voice."* When is the soul so capable of hed,ring the quickening language of his spirit, as in a state" of silent watching for, and waiting to hear what he shall give it an understanding of, .find engage it in, as its requisite and reasonable duty, by the illuminating virtue and enlivening power of his hply influence ? ? John X. 2T. 178 Our Lord forbids us to use vain repetitions; and what efficacy can those prayers have, which are made in the will, and by the cpntrivance of man, or that are uttered either from books, in vention, or memory, whilst the heart neither feels the thing the mouth speaks, nor ever ex- perienced what the tongue declares ? What are .these but vain repetitions and erapty sounds? Whilst people reraain insensible ofthe real con dition of their souls, and bf the true self-abasing fear of God, do they not seera to think they shall be heard for their rauch speaking, if they con tent themselves with the frequent repetition of long lifeless prayers, which they have not so much as weightily considered before they ut tered them? Is this to worship the Father in spirit and in truth ; tiie' only worship instituted by Christ in this gospel-day, and therefore the only worship acceptable to God, who is a Spirit? Can this spiritual worship be performed tiU the soul feels- its operation awfully to humble, en gage, and impower the mind to this solemn act? What but the Spirit of the Redeemer is able to awakeri and stir up the immortal soul, and en due it with wisdom and utterance-, suitably to express itself, according to and under a due sense of its wants ? Christ in Spirit is the way, or leading power, to the Father: no man can cbme to the Father but by him. What is the reason why so many, who profess to be followers of Christ, complain of vvand ering thoughts, inattention, rauch cold ness, deadness, and insensibility in prayer, and other duties and devotions ? Is it not because 179 they are top little dependent on the dictates of the Spirit, and believe not its sensible influence nece.ssary to every religious act, nor wait for it to cleanse the thoughts of their hearts, and abili tate them to approach the Most High and Holy God in truth and righteousness? Is it not be cause such lean too much to their own unsub- jected wisdora and understanding, to place their dependence on the Spirit, and to w^ait for its re straining heart-affecting power to lead them into all truth,, and therefore are sent erapty away, and no raore truly refreshed, or benefited by their lifeless devotions, than he who dreams he eateth, but when he awakes perceives he is yet empty ? Thus they ask and receive not, because they ask amiss ; not in a right frame, but in a lukewarm and unconcerned state of mind. The enemy is too strong for such worshippers, and carries their thoughts and imaginations after strange objects, wliile their lips only approach the Alraighty. One secret prayer, or deep sigh from the wrestling soul, produced by the Eter nal Spirit, is of more real service to it, issues from it with more fervor, prevails more effectu ally with the Father, and procures it more re freshment than ten thousand vain repetitions; because the virtue of the Spirit of the great In tercessor being in these prayers and sighs, they cannot but find acceptance. Doth not the common complaint of wander ings in time of prayer, frora those who oppose silent waiting for the divine assistance of the Spirit, to speak or pray according to the will of God, prove the necessity of such a practice, in 180 order to worship the Father in spirit and in truth ? Our blessed Redeemer saith, " Your Fa ther kno ys^etk what things ye have need of before ye ask him."* How requisite therefore is it, that he open our understandings, show us our true 'Conditions, discover to ^ us our .spiritual wants, and enable us to present our petitions according to his will, before we can sensibly ask for the necessary supplies, or cry Abba, Father; and for this end, how incumbent it is Upon us silently to wait for his iraraediate help and di rection! David saith, " Restore , unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me witk thy free Spirit : then (not before) will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee."t This, shows, he placed his .dependence upon, the renewed influence of the Hoi/ Spirit, and that he held no former experiences, however good in themselves, srifficient qualifications for divine service in the time present. • He knew, that no thing short of a fresh supply from the Fountain of living virtue could properly enable him to preach to others : and therefore prayed, " Open thou ray lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy. praise,"! . The' apostle Paul saith, " The Spirit also help- eth our infirraities ; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit -itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."^ By this just acknowledge ment it appears, the exercise of a mind deeply affected is more than words can express, there- * JMat. vi: 8. t Psal. li. 12, 13. * Psal. li. 15. § Rom. viii. 26. , 181 fore it speaks to God in unutterable groans : a thing much despised and scoffed at by many professors in this age. We see however, the apostle was not ashamed to own it to be what himself and his brethren experienced f o be true ; which shows the sense they had pf their own natural inability and blindness, and also their firm dependance upon the Holy Spirit, without which they knew not what to pray for as they ought ; and therefore found a necessity to wait for its renewals upon them, before they could either pray for themselves, or preach Jto others profitably, and with divine acceptance. How can we at this day presume to know what to pray for as we ought without the sensible help of the Holy Spirit, if this great apostle and his brethren did not ? Yet, is there not ground for suspicion, from the common practice of profess ing Christians now, that they do not think them selves at a loss what to pray for acceptably ; and therefore presumptuously offer their invent ed supplications, without due fear and caution, to hira who looketh at the heart, and reraain in sensible of the necessity of feeling the Holy Spirit to disengage them from roving thoughts, and concerns of a temporal nature, and to com municate of that discerning wisdom and living power which, is requisite to direct their hearts and tongues aright. But notwithstanding a previous waiting upon God is so much despised, the apostle intiraates, that the groanings of the Spirit are effectual without vocal sounds ; which proves there is an inward address deeper than the expression of 16 182 Words, which is heard and accepted of God/ Let me add, that Jesus himself applied to .the Father in this manner, when " he groaned in the Spirit twice,"* and afterwards lift up his eyes, and before he called Lazarus out of the grave, said; " Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." This shows his fervent groans were ac cepted; and his request granted, without audible expressions '; and doth not the compassionate Father still regard the groans begotten by the Spirit of his Son in the hearts ofhis followers? Indeecl there is much efficacy in groans that arise from this living- principle. The apostle Paul saith, " If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. — If the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus frora the dead dwell in. you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by_,his Spirit that dwelleth in you."t When do Christians more need these quickenings than in their assemblies for divine vvorship, and how must they distinguish them, except they wait in silence ? Is it an unwarrantable presumption,. humbly to wait in expectation of the promised assistance, to enable us sensibly to worship free ly, livingly, and powerfully, which cannot be, unless the Spirit of Christ is our helper ? If these internal quickenings be the continued prvilege of Christ's disciples, and if it is to the virtue thereof that all our services owe their efficacy and acceptance, can it be right or safe to run before, and without that which isthe very life of ? John xi. 33. 38. 41. t Rom. viii. 9. 11. 183 true prayer and preaching ? If not, there is an absolute necessity for, and certainly great propriety in waiting patiently for it, in sub missive silence, that the sacrifice may be of the Lord's preparing, and that it may be offered ac cording to his will, under the immediate conduct of his own pure Spirit. Thus qualified, we pray with the Spirit and with understanding also ; which prayer must consequently profit and refresh the thirsty souk; and if a silent attention had neither any express command, nor example in scripture, it is necessarily implied in many parts of it, as well as in the nature of true spiritual worship. Is notthe Almighty a most pure and perfect ly glorious being, dwelling in the light, whom no rrian can approach unto, but by the Spirit of the Mediator ? And is not man absolutely depen dent on the merciful goodness and power of his Creator ? And is it not reasonable that such a creature should be made deeply sensible to whom he raust be indebted for all spiritual ability as well as teraporal favors, before he can ap proach the Sacred Presence with becoming re verence ? And in what state is he so likely to be made sensible of this, as under an abstrac tion of mind from earthly cogitations arid con cerns, into a silerit attention upon the omniprOT sent Spirit ? These things duly considered, is it just and reasonable to censure and despise any people for conscientiously waiting upon God in silence, and frequently falling into such an heart-engag ing exercise of spirit in his fear, as cannot often 184 be uttered in words, and consequently must be experienced in silence ? Who can seriou sly think, that he whp saith^ " To this man wiU I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth atray word,"* will not kear and regard, when many hearts are collectively bowed before him under an unfeigned concern and travail of spirit ; when the soul worships before .hira more deeply than can be expressed by lip or tongue ? What are the finest words and fairest forms to him who respecteth not the outward shew, but the inward frame pf theheart, if they do not convey the sincere feeUng lan guage thereof? The apostle utterly disclaims all self-sufficieh- cy : " Not saith he that we are sufficient of our selves, to think any thing as of ourselves-, but our suffioiencyis of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testaraent, not of the letter, but of the Spirit ; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."t The virtue and ex cellence of the Christian religion is justly ascri bed to the Holy Spirit, The same apostle declares, "We have tkis treasure in earthern vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us."t Therefore Christ kath instituted no other worship under the new covenant, but that which is performed in spirit aad in truth ; and how can we perform this till we have a sense of the Spirit, and feel the vir tue of its influence engaging our souls in truth to this spiritual worship? And how can we ?lBa.lxvi.2. t2Cor. ui.5.6. tlbid. iv.7. " 185 attain this feeling, without patiently waiting in silence for iis powerful assistance ? If the primitive Christians were of them selves so insufficient to think any thing, or to point out to themselves their own line of duty ac cording to the divine will, they certainly could not of theraselves pray or preach to others con sistent therewith, and therefore were obliged to wait for the renewals of light and ability from the Holy Spirit wherein their sufficiency was. If the case was such with theni, is it less so with us ? It certainly is not ; for we are under the same dispensation, and altogether as insuffi cient of ourselves as they could be. It is there fore now as requisite for us, as it could then be for them, to wait for divine direction and help, to give us a true sense both of our state and duty, and to enable us to the perforraance of it ; and how can we reasonably expect to receive the assistance of the Spirit, but by humbly watch ing, and waiting in silence for its appearance and operation in our souls ? The heavenly influence of the Holy Spirit is the very life and glory of the gospel-dispensa tion, and is now as surely tobe distinguished by experienced minds, as it was in the primitive age ; else why was it promised to abide as the guide and leader of true believers; and why doth the apostle exhort " to pray always with all supplicatiorit in the spirit, and to watch there unto with all perseverance ?"* We read, that after the opening of the se~ ? Eph.vi. 18i. 16* 186 venth seal, " there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour."* If silent worship is such an absurdity; as to be made the subject of ridicule, how cameit to be found and allow ed of in heaven 1 Was not the great God then obeyed, and adored there as profoundly as when they sang hallelujahs ? If so, why should an awful, silent waiting upon hira be treated, by any, as unprofitable and inconsistent with divine worship ? Why should any prefer the modes, and forms their own hearts have de vised, or ignorantly espoused, to a solemn sub missive waiting in silence, to know the true state of the soul, and to receive the blessed counsel cf the spirit, before they proceed vocally to ad dress the Dread of natipns, or presume to preach as in his narae, and declare any thing as his will, whose all-seeing eye is continually upon them ? EUhu plainly expresseth, " There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."t When is the most likely time to be made sensible of this in spiration ? That in which the mind is attentively waiting upon him in a profound and passive silence ; or that wherein it is amused and busi ed with a multitude of words and ideas, on vari ous subjects ? What avails praying or preach ing without this communicated understanding ? Gan it be any better than sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal ? When people presume to pray without a sense of their real wants, and ? Rev. viii. 1. t Job. xxxii. 8. 187 confess a state to the oraniscient Being they never truly felt, and also petition for those spirit ual favors and divine sensations they seek not to feel, do they not act as if they concluded, he will accept of an insincere devotion, and that he is not so jealous of his honor as the sacred wri tings declare he is ? Besides the many scriptures in favor of a pa tient dependance upon and silent waiting for the quickening power of the Spirit, to give us a true sense of our wants, and bring to our re merabrance the great obUgations we are under to the mercy and goodness of God, there is also a cloud of -witnesses, who have experimentally profited, and edified much more in- silence than they ever did before they were in the practice of it, who, I believe, can say in truth and righte ousness, that when the just judgraents of an offended God were heavy upon them for trans gression, and their tribulations were inexpressi ble, through strong heart-breaking convictions ofthe exceeding sinfulness of .sin, and they lay groaning under it daily in great wreftchedness, without finding any help or deliverance frora all their own workings, their many and long prayers, and self-righteousness ; then it pleased the mer ciful Redeemer to open a way for them gradual ly into humble stillness, and to reveal his Son in them, as the precious Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. This bless ed discovery raised them out of their -distresses, and enabled them to say, " My soul doth magni fy the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour ; for he hath regarded the low estate o f 188 his servant." This incUned thera to sit wilUngly at his feet in silence, and gladly to receive -hia pouring forth of the wine and oil into their bleeding wounds, till he healed their backsUd- ings, and forgave their transgressions. For, " if we confess our sins (from a real abhorrence of sin) he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'" Who can declare the sweet consolation such have felt, who believe in 'his name as sufficient to purge the conscience from dead works, and enable them to serve him in newness of life ? Truly, they have experienced that testiraony of David fulfilled in their own. hearts, " I waited patiently, saith he; for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard tny cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock."t Thus they were brought out of darkness into light, and came to know, that whereas they had been spirit- - ually blind, now, by the grace of God, they had received their sight, and by this power of discerning, learn not to trust to themselves, or their own works, but attentively to, watch and silently to wait, both to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, and what it requires of them in their own particulars, that by its heaven ly power every thought might be brought .into the obedience of Christ. • Thus- they have been taught, and do certainly knov/, that no man can come to the Father^ but by him ; nor that any can sufficiently, see their own sinS) truly repent, *1. Johni; 9. t Psal. xl. 1. a. . 189 effectually cry for deliverance, or rejoice in his salvation, but as his saving power is exercised in them, arid their minds becorae subjected there unto. This is the power they have learned to wait for, and depend upon ; in which dependent state they meet with the Lord as a quickening Spirit, hear hirii instruct them with convincing clearness, and feel his presence to impart fresh life and strength fo their souls ; for he still speaks in his spiritual manifestation, as he did in his bodily appearance, with divine authority, and as never man spoke' and is the author of eternal salvation to all that obey him. These can experimentally say, that he is come to teach kis people himself, and that he is raade unto them wisdom, to direct their steps in the- way to the kingdora ; righteousness to clothe their spirits ; their sanctification ahd coiriplete redemption ; as they are cbncerried not only to receive him in the beginning as their Lord and. Saviour, but also to grow up and persevere in the power of the Spirit, earnestly desiring to be rooted and built up in its divine nature, and established inthe true faith. The Lord alone can profitably apply the precious proraises to the poor soul, as he leads it through the various progressive states to which the proraises belong; by whose guidance his faithful followers are brought to escape the corruptions that are in the world, and raeasura- bly to becorae partakers of the divine nature. Christ dwells in the hearts of these by faith, as the holy, powerful, appointed minister of the sanctuary and true tabernacle, which Gpd hath pitched, and not man. He not only teacketk in- 190 faUibly and convincingly, but also raiseth a hun ger and thirst after a closer union with himself, and a fuller possession and enjoyment, of his everlasting righteousness. Those who have at tained this experience, . cannot but esteem the tirae well spent in silently waiting for his in struction whatto pray for, and that he may open their understandings to discern their present du ty, and how to apply the sacred writings to real profit, and also to commemorate what great things he has' mercifully done for their needy souls, both without and within them. This fre quently melts them into tears of unaffected con trition, and humble- gratitude ; in which state they can adore his goodness, and ,put up their petitions without a prayerrbook, and often with out any vocal sound ; for he is then known to be in his temple, 1ind the earthly part is in perfect silence before him. What spber person, who considers how awful a thinglit is to worship the great Jehovah in spirit and truth, can lightly censure or disapprove of such a silent depen dence on bis power, to help the poor creature under its manifold , infirmities ? "Rest in the Lord," saith David, or as in the margin, " Be si lent to the Lord, and wait patiently for hira ; wait on the- Lord ; be of good courage, and he ghall strengthen thine heart. Wait,^I say, on the Lord."* * Psal. xxxvii. 7.'at>d xxvii, 14, 191 Robert Barclay, in his Apology for the true Christian Divinity, as held forth by the people called Quakers, has wrote so clearly on the sub ject in his eleventh proposition, tbat a few quo tations from this author may serve to illustrate the foregoing reasons, and confirra the testirao nies of many experimental witnesses on the sub ject, and profitableness of solemn silence. In his proposition on worship, in sect. 6, he has these remarks : " We judge it the duty of all to be diligent in the assembling of themselves together, and when assembled, the great work of one and all ought to be to wait upon God; arid returning out of their own thoughts and imaginations, to feel the Lord's presence, and know a gathering into his name indeed, where he is in the midst, according to his proraise. And as every one is thus gathered, and so raet to gether inwardly m their spirits, as welt as out wardly in their persons, there the secret power and virtue of life is known to refresh the soul, and the pure motions and breathings of God's spirit are felt tp arise; from whick as words of declaration, prayers or praises arise, the accept able worship is known, which edifies the church, and is well-pleasing, to God. And no man here liraits the spirit of "God, nor bringeth forth his own conned and gathered, stuff; but every one puts that forth which the Lord puts into their hearts : and it is uttered forth not in man's will 192 and wisdom, but in the evidence and demonstra tion of the spirit and of power. Yea, though there be not a word spoken, yet is the true spirit ual worship performed, and the body of Christ edified ; yea, it may, and hath often fallen out araong us, that divers meetings have passed without one vvord ; and yet orir souls have been greatly edified and refreshed, and our hearts wonderfully overcome with the secret sense of God's power and spirit, which, without words, hath been ministered from one vessel to another. This is indeed strange and incredible to the mere natural and carnally-minded man, who will be apt to judge all time lost where there is not soraething spoken that is obvious to the out ward senses ; and therefore I shall insist a little upon this subject, as one that can speak from a certain experience, and not by mere hearsay, of, this wonderful and -glorious dispensation; whieh hath so much the more of the wisdom and glory of God in. it, as it is contrary to the nature of man's spirit, will, and wisdom." He also, in sect. 7, ori silent waiting on God; expresses hiraself .thus: "Por many thus prin cipled, meeting together in the pure fear of the Lord, did not apply themselves presently to speak, pray, br sing, &c., being afraid to be found acting fbrwardly in their own wills, hut each made it their work to retire inwardly to the measure of grace in themselves, not being only silent as to words, but even abstaining from all their own thoughts, iraaginations, and desires ; so watching in a holy dependence upon the Lord, and meeting together not only out- 193 wardly in one place, but thus inwardly in one Spirit, and in one name of Jesus, which is his power and virtue, they come thereby to enjoy and feel the arisings of this life, which, as it pre vails in each particular, becomes as a flood of -refreshment, and overspreads the whole meet ing: for man, arid raan's part and wisdom, be ing denied and chained down in every individual, and God exalted, and his grace in dominion in the heart ; thus his name comes to be one in all, and his glory breaks forth, and covers all ; and there is- such a holy awe and reverence upon every soul, that if the natural part should arise in any, or the- wise part, or what is not one with the life,, it would presently be chained down and judged out. And when any are, through the breaking forth pf this power, constrained to ut ter a sentence of exhortation or praise, or to breathe to the Lord in prayer, then , all are sen sible bf it; for the life in them answers to it, as in water face answereth to face.* This is that divine and spiritual worship, which the world neither knoweth nor understandeth, which the vulture's eye seeth not into: Yet many arid great are the advantages which my soul, with many others,, hath tasted of hereby, and which would be found of all snch as would seriously apply themselves hereunto ; for, when people are gathered thustogether, not merely to hear men, nor depend upon thera, but all are inward ly taught to stay their minds upon the Lord, and wait for his appearance in their hearts ; thereby *.Pr,ov. x*vii. 19. 17 194 the forward working of the spirit of man is stay ed and hindered from mixing itself with the worship of God."* In sect. 1 5. after having described- the true worship in spirit established by Christ, and clear ly proved the necessity and advantage of it, he proceeds thus : " He hath also instituted an inward and spiritual worship ; so that God now tieth not his people to thfe temple of Jerusalem, nor yet unto outward ceremonies and observ ances ; but taketh the heart of every Christian for a temple to dwell in : and there irnmedicitely appeareth, and giveth- him directions how to serve him in any outward acts. , Since^ as Christ argueth, Gocl is a Spirit, he will now be worshipped in the Spirit, where he reveals him self, and dwelleth with the contrite in heart- Now, since it is the heart of man that now is becorae the temple of God, in vs'hieh he will be worshipped, and no more in particular outward temjiles, since, as blessed Stephen said out of the prophet, to the professing Jews of old. The Most High dwelleth not in teraples made with hands. As before the glory ofthe Lord descend ed to fill the outward temple, it behpved to be purified and cleansed, and all polluted stuff re moved out of it ; yea, and the place for the taber^ nacle was overlaid with, gold, the most precious and cleanest of metals ; so also before God be worshipped in the inward temple of. the heart, it must also be purged of its own filth, and all its own thoughts and imaginations, that so it * Isai. X, 20. and xicvi. 3, : 195 may be fit to receive the Spirit of God, and to be actuated by it. And doth not this directly lead us to that inward sUence, of which we have spoken, and exactly pointed out ? And further, this worsnip must be in truth ; intiraating, that this spiritual worship, thus actuated, is only and properly a true worship." - " Pranciscus Lambertus," as quoted by Robert Barclay, in sect. 18. "speaketh well, tract 5. of prophecy, chap. 3. saying, Where are they now that glory in their inventions, who say, A fine invention ! A fine invention ! This they call invention, which themselves have made up ; but what have the faithful to do with such kind of inventions ? It is not figments, nor yet in ventions, that we will have, but things that are solid, invincible, eternal and heavenly ; not which men have invented, but which God hath revealed : for if we believe the scriptures, our invention profiteth nothing.but to provoke God to our ruin. And afterwards, *Beware (saith he) that thou determine not precisely to speak what before thou hast meditated, whatsoever it be ; for though it be lawful to determine the text which thou art to expound, yet not at all the in terpretation ; lest if thou so dost, thou take from the Holy Spirit that which is his, to wit, to direct thy speech, that thou mayest prophesy in the name of tbe Lord, void of all learning, meditation and experience, and as if thou hadst * It is not intended by us to adopt the sentiment of a liberty to deter* mine or choose the text; tbat, as weiras the exposition, ought tobe left to the dictates of the Holy Spirit. Stee tbe whole section in R. B's Apology. 196 studied nothing at all, committing thy heart, thy tongue, and thyself wholly unto liis Spirit^ and trusting nothing to thy former studying or, medi tation ; but saying with thyself, in -great confi dence ofthe divine promise; the Lord wiUgive a word with much power urito those that preach the gospel. But, above all things; be careful thou follow notthemanner of hypocrites, who have. written almost word for word what they are to say, as if they were to repeat sorae verses upon a theatre, having learned all their preaching as they do that act tragedies. And. afterwards, when they are in the place of prophesying, pray the Lord to direct their tongue ; but in the mean time, shutting up the way: of the Holy Spirit, they deterraine to say nothing but what they have written. O unhappy kind of prophets, yea, and truly cursed, which depend- not upon God's Spirit, but upon their own writings or medita tion ! Why prayest thou to the Lord thou false prophet, to give thee his Holy Spirit, by which thou mayest speak things profitable, , and yet thou repellest the Spirit ? Why preferrest thou tby meditation or study to the Spirit of God ? otherwise, why commiltest thou not thyself to the Spirit." "Sec. 22. That there is a necessity of this inward retirement of the mind as previous to prayer, that the Spirit may be felt to draw thereunto, appears, for that in mpst of those places where prayer is commanded, watching is perfixed thereunto, as necessary to go before, as Mat. xxiv. 42. Mafk xiii. 33. and xiv. 38.- Luke xxi, 36. from which it is evident, that this 197 watching was to go before prayer. Now to what end is this watching, or what is it, but a waiting to feel God's Spirit to draw unto prayer, that so it may be done acceptably ? For since we are to pray always in the spirit, *and cannot pray of ourselves without it acceptably, this watching must be for this end recommended to us, as preceding prayer, that we may watch and wait for the seasonable time to pray, which is when the Spirit moves thereunto." * Eph. vi. 18. THE END. £980 t'l^SSO 2006 £