and Ordinances of Chrift, in the Place of Circumcifion and the Paffover, as 'tis commonly alleg'd; can it be thought Chrift would have been more deficient in the Inftitution of them, than Mofes was of Circumcifion and the Paffover? Now 'tis well known, that Mofes left plain and pofitive Directions When, and in what Manner, Circumcifion fhould be perform'd, and thereby took away all Occafion of Difpute and Difference about it. And in the Inftitution of the Passover he was very careful, and told the Jews the very Day When, and the Manner How, they fhould perform it, and we have not heard that any confiderable Dif ference fends down his peculiar Spiritual Benediction, by which it becomes a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling Savour, as being therefore fully confecrated into the fpiritual Body and Blood of Chrift, and therefore fit wherewith to propitiate the divine Mercy. A ftrange Opinion this laft, if not more abfurd than the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mafs! What, is a Piece of Confecrated Bread as 'tis call'd, whofe Substance it not chang'd into the Body of Chrift, fit to propitiate the divine Mercy? Reader, which of thefe Opinions must w follow, each of them being equally contended for as the Only true One, by the feve ral Denominatis? May not the Words of Chrift be understood Spiritually, when at the Celebration of the Paffiver, he took Bread and lefs'd it, and faid to bis Difciples, Take eat, This is my Body? Efpecially fince at another Time, when he spake of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood, and the Difciples thought it a hard Saying, He himself explain'd it to them saying, It is the Spirit that quickneth, the Flesh profiteth nothing; the Words that I fpeak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are Life. He also promis'd his Difciples, that be wou'd fend them the Spirit, the Comforter, in his Name, which fhould abide with them always, and bring all Things to Joh. 14.26. their Remembrance, whatsoever he had told them: What Need then have fuch as witness in themselves that Promife of Chrift to be fulfilled, to use an external Rite or Ceremony to bring him or his Death to their Remembrance? Can there be a better or more bleffed Remembrancer, than his own Spirit in the Hearts of the Faithful? And is not a daily Imitation of his Life. the best Way of commemorating his Death? ference has ever rifen amongst that People about performing either Circumcifion or the Paffover, and yet they have practis'd and obferv'd these two Rites or Ceremonies, much longer than Christians have Water-Baptism and what they call the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. Now we appeal to the Judgment of every fincere, judicious and unbyafs'd Perfon, whether it does not derogate from, and leffen very much the Wisdom of Chrift Jefus, to affert and lay it down as Doctrine neceffarily to be believed, that he inftituted Water-Baptifm in the Place of Circumcifion, and the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, in the Room of the Paffover, tho' he left no pofitive or particular Directions about them: If therefore the Quakers not finding in Scripture any Directions given When or in What Manner to perform thofe Rites or Ceremonies, and yet believing thatChrift's Wifdom was not inferior, but infinitely fuperior to Mofes's, from thence infer and conclude that he never did inftitute Water-Baptifm in the Place of Circumcifion; nor what is now call'd the Eucharift or Lord's Supper in the Place of the Paffover Supper: We fay, fince this has been and is the real and ftedfaft Belief of the Quakers, wherein have they, in not using those outward Ceremonies, disobey'd any Command or Ordinance of Chrift ?* AND M 4 *The Quakers are so far from difobeying any Command or Ordinance of Christ, that they have always paid the greatest Regard and Obedience to every Command which they believ'd to be bis. The Imprisonments and long Confinements in Holes and Dungeons, which many of them patiently Juffer'd rather than Swear or take an Oath when requir'd, becaufe Chrift had faid to bis Difciples, fwear not at all, are a fufficient Testimony of the Regard and Obedience they pay the Commands of Chrift: And a great many Instances might be given of their deep Sufferings Gal. 4. 9. eth AND if, in Chrift Jefus neither Circumcifion availany Thing, nor Uncircumcifion, but a NewCreach. 6. 16. ture, as the Apoftle declar'd to the Galatians, who had begun in the Spirit, and were turning a ch. 3.3. gain to the weak and beggarly Elements: If all ch. 5. 14. the Law is fulfill'd in one Word, even in this, Thou fhalt love thy Neighbour as thy felf: And, if as the Author to the Hebrews fays, outward Rites and Ceremonies could do nothing as pertaining to the Heb. 9. 9. Confcience, have the Quakers done amifs in laying afide Water-Baptifm and the Supper with Bread and Wine, which are outward Rites and Ceremonies; and moreover, have long been, and still continue to be, the Caufe and Occafion of great Difference and Divifions among those who bear the Chriftian Name? And there is too much Ground to believe, both from Scripture and Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, that the early Disputes and Diffenfions about outward Rites and Ceremonies, were great Lets and Hindrances to the Propagation and spreading the Gofpel, and leffen'd very much the Efteem of Chriftianity in the Eyes of Jews and Gentiles. BUT, the Quakers, inftead of Water-Baptifm, and a Supper with Bread and Wine, which are Rites Sufferings in this and other Countries, for obferving some other Things which they believ'd Chrift had enjoyn'd and commanded them. And we believe they would be behind none in the strict Obfervance of Water-Baptifm and that call'd the Eucharift or Lord's Supper, if they thought them to be the Ordinances of Chrift. But blefed be the Lord wbp has been pleas'd by his Spirit, to let them fee with the Apostle, that the Kingdom of God, is not om 14.17. Meat and Drink, but Righteoufnels and Joy and Peace in the Holy Ghoft. And aljo that Water-Baptifm can do nothing towards the washing away of Sin, and purging the Confcience from dead Works, nor can Bread and Wine, after a Priest, or Minifter fo call'd, has blessed and prayed over it, afford any Nourishment to be Soul. Rites more fuitable to the Law than the Gofpel, rit. I Pet. i.22. Rev.3.20 AND, by the Communion or Spiritual Supper of the Lord, they understand a Communion or Supping with Chrift in Spirit, which only his obedient Followers, or fuch as hearken to his Voice are Partakers of, as 'tis faid, Behold I stand at the Door and knock, if any Man hear my Voice and open the Door, I will come in to him, and will fup with him and he with me. Hence 'tis the Belief of the Quakers, that none are fit Partakers of the Lord's Supper, but fuch as have known and witneffed the Baptifm of the Spirit: Nor can any eat and drink fpiritually with Chrift in his Kingdom, till they have been born again, not of corruptible Seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and Joh. 3. 3. abideth for ever. * i Pet. 1. 23. THEY alfo believe that none are true and living Members of Chrift's Body or Church, till they have in fome Measure witneffed the Baptism of his Spirit For 'tis by one Spirit we are all baptiz'd in-1 Cor.12. to one Body. The Baptifm therefore of the Spirit 13. is the only effential Baptifm, 'tis that by which we are fav'd, for according to the Apostle Peter, The Baptifm which now faveth, is not the putting away the Filth of the Flesh, but the Answer of a good Confcience towards God. THIS * In the Original it is avadev, that is, from above, which is the true and proper Reiding, and is fo put in the Margin of fome Bibles. THIS was the Opinion of Justin Martyr, who liv'd about seventy Years after the Apostles. What fignifies, fays he, in his Difcourfe with Trypho the Jew, that which only washes the Flesh and the Body? Let your Souls be baptized from Anger, from Covetousness, from Envy, from Hatred, and then the Body will ⚫ be clean. We do not receive that unprofitable Baptifm in Pools and Cisterns, for fuch a Washing is not the Baptifm of Life. And in • another Place he fays to Trypho, • What fignifies Circumcifion to me who have the Teftimo6 ny of God? Or what Occafion has he for that Water-Baptism who is baptized with the Holy Spirit?* 6 * Τί ἔφελΘ εκείνο το βαπίσματος ὃ τὴν σάρκα καὶ μόνον τὸ σῶμα φαιδρύνει; βαπίθητε τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ ὀργῆς καὶ ἀπὸ πλεονεξίας, ἀπὸ φθόνε, ἀπὸ μίσος. καὶ ἰδὲ τὸ σῶμα καθαρόν ἐσιν. Juftin. Dial. pag. 178. Οὐ το βάπτισμα ἐκεῖνο τὸ ανωφελὲς τὸ τῶν λάκκων προσλαμβάνομεν ἰδὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸ βάπ ToμA TOTOTÒ & Cans est. Idem Dial. p. 182. Thele two Paffages of Juft in are cited by Dr. Mills among the References in hisGreek Teftament, at the Words of Peter, The like Figure whereunto even Baptifm doth alfo now fave us, not the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh, but the Answer of a good Confcience towards God, &c. 1 Pet. 3. 20. Grotius alfo has cited Fuftin in his Annotations on thefe Words. Again fuftin says, τις ἔν ἔτι μοι πριζομῆς λόγΘ ὑπὸ το Θεῖ μαρτυρηθέντι, τις ἐκείνο το βαπτίσματΘ χρεία ἁγίῳ πνεύματι βεβαπλισμένω. ४ We should have concluded from thefe Paffages of Fuftin Martyr, That Water-Baptifm had been wholly rejected by Chriftians in his Time, as a ufelefs Jewish Ceremony, but that we find, in his Apology he (peaks of a Practice then us'd, as many as did believe the Things taught by them, Heb. 6. 2. were brought to a Place of Water, and there regenerated. *This Washing, fays he, is call'd Illumination, as enlightning the Understanding of those who learn thefe Things. However 'tis plain * καλείται δὲ τῦτο τὸ λατρὸν φωτισμὸς, ὡς φωτιζόμενον τήν διάνοιαν τῶν ταῦτα μανθανόντων. |