Keach - Houston-Packer Collection BS537 .K4 1779

6q. BAPTISM A BURIAL. Book IV. From this proper Signification arife fame metaphorical Notations: As, r. From the Signification of Drowning, (they are the Words of* VoJ/iiiS, in 'Thef. 'Theol.) it is put for AffliCtion, becaufe they that are affliCted are as it were drowned in the Gulph of Calamities, Matt. xx. 22. Mark x. 38: Luke xii. so. Baptifmus nonfig– nificat Aif11Ct1onem quambbet, fed vehementem, & forznfecus trrumtem, ut funt in Scrip– Juris und,e Perfecutionum & 'Tribulationum, quibus qui m~rguntur & obruuntur, baptizari videantur, Efl:ius ad I Cor. xv. 29. ' That is, Baptifm denotes not every light AffliCtion, but that <vhich is vehement and overwhelming: As there are Waves of Perfecutions and 'rribulations mentioned in Scripture ; fo }itch as are drowned and overwhelmed by them, may feem to be baptized, Matt. xx. 22, 23. Mark x. 38, 39· Luke. xii. so. The Reafon of the Metaphor is taken from many and deep Waters, to which Calamities are com– pared, , Pjal. xviii. I6. He drew me out of great Waters, Pfal. xxxii. 6. and lxix, I, 2, &c. 2. lt is put tor the miraculous Effufion of the Holy Spirit upon the Apoflles, and other Believers, in the primitive Church, becaufe of the analogical Immerlion or Dipping, (for fo, as we have proved, {3a"?'~"' figmfies): For the Houfe where the Holy Spirit came upon the Apoftles was fo filled, that 1 hey were, as 1t were, drowmd in it: Or the Reafon of the Metaphor may be from the great Plenty and Abundance ofthofe Gifts, in which they were wholly as it were immerged, as the Baptized are dipped under Water, ACts ii. 3· Matt. iii. I 1. Mark i. 8. Luke iii. 16. John i. 33· ACts i. 5· and xi. r6. When Fire is added, it is a Symbol of external Manifeftation. 3· It is put for the miraculous Pa.!Jage of the Ifraelites through the Red Sea, r Cor. x. 2. which was a Type of Gofpel-Baptilin. Thefe Reafons of rhe Metaphor are evident and convincing Demonftrations, that the Signification of Baptifm is to dip or plunge; for Sprinkling can bear no Analogy With them. The Word is expre!fed in the Old Teftament by the Hebrew 'Jt!l 'Tabal, which the Septuagint (or the Seventy learned Interpreters) render by (3-..,.-/•?w, Baptifo, to dip; as thefe Texts fhew, Gm. xxxvii. 3r. Exod. xii. 22. Le·v. iv. 6. xvii. '4· vi. 5r. and ix. 9· Deut. xxxiii. 24. Numb. xvi. I8. 2 Kings v. I4, &c. Hence alfo the Baptifed are fa id to be dead and bttried, in allufion to the putrino- of dead Men into the Earth, and covering them therewith; to which we proceed. 0 What Burial in a natural Senfe is., every Man knows: and in our Text it is a l'Yle– taphor, theJjmbolical Analogy of which with llaptifm follows in the Parallel. METAPHOR. I. WHEN one is buried, it imports him to be dead, for none but fuch ought to be bi1ried. PARALLEL. I. vV HEN one is baptized, he ought to be dead to Sin, that is, converted by the Power of God's Word to Gofpel Truth, which always makes the Soul loath and deteft Sin; and then that Soul may be faid indeed to be dead to Sin. This may be evidenced by this Conf1deration, That Baptifm is a!l illuflrious Sym– bol of the Death of Chrift our Savior, who died for us. I am he that was dead, and am aHve; behold, I live for evermore. The true Adminiftration of this Sdcrament vifi– bly figures it to us; and ro that end it was infl:ituted, viz. to c?nfirm that great and olorious Truth of his beino- really a Man, and fo capable of fulfenng or pafiing through ~he Death of the Crofs, Ro~n. vi. 3• 4, 5· into which Death we are baptized; and then being dead to Sin, and tO this World, we are to live in Newnefs of Life amonglt the S.ints in the Kingdom of God. I!. When one is buried, heought to be covered all over with Earth, elfe it is no Burial. IL When one is baptized, he .ought to be co– vered all over with Water, or elfe it is no Be.ptifin. Which fully appears, I. From the Nature of Bu– rial. 2. From the proper and metaphorical Sig– nifications of the Word, as is largely opened. 3· From Scripture PraCl:ice, which al– ways was by Dipping, as all the Learned that are imparti:~ acknowledge: 4- From the conftant PraCtice of Antlqmty, who retatned the nght l·orm Until Cltmcaf Baptijiit, viz. fuch who deferred their Baptifm till thei-r lick Bed came to be uf<d about Cyprian's Time, in the third Century. Thefe Cliuici, [q called, bccaufe " T" "' "" f3·xr./J~O{-'-!!m • A 11otiane tjlid! mergerejig~tijiall, projluxit ta fjUIC pro affiigerc ufurpatrtr, quia rpti a.ffligtmlur, ralamita~ tztm gurgiu 9uaji mtrtuntur.

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