An Apology for the True Christian Divinity / Being an explanation and vindication of the principles and doctrines of the people called Quakers

by Robert Barclay

§. VI.

Obj. 1.If it be said, That God confers inward Grace upon some that are now baptized;

Answ.So no Doubt he did also upon some that used those Baptisms among the Jews.

Obj. 2.Or if it be said, Because it is commanded by Christ now, under the New Covenant;

Answ.I answer, First, That is to beg the Question; of which hereafter.

But Secondly, We find that where the Matter of Ordinances is the same, and the End the same, they are never accounted more or less spiritual, because of their different Times. Now was not God the Author of the Purifications and Baptisms under the Law? Was not Water the Matter of them, which is so now? Was not the End of them to signify an inward Purifying by an outward Washing? And is not that alleged to be the End still? Men are no more now than before by Water-baptism inwardly cleansed.And are the necessary Effects or Consequences of it any better now than before, since Men are now by the Virtue of Water-baptism, as a necessary Consequence of it, no more than before made inwardly clean? And if some by God’s Grace that are baptized with Water are inwardly purified, so were some also under the Law; so that this is not any necessary Consequence or Effect, neither of this nor that Baptism. It is then plainly repugnant to right Reason, as well as to the Scripture Testimony, to affirm that to be a spiritual Ordinance now, which was a carnal Ordinance before, if it be still the same, both as to its Author, Matter, and End, however made to vary in some small Circumstances. The Spirituality of the New Covenant and of its Worship established by Christ, consisted not in such superficial Alterations of Circumstances, but after another Manner. Therefore let our Adversaries shew us, if they can, without begging the Question, and building upon some one or other of their own Principles denied by us, wherever Christ appointed or ordained any Institution or Observation under the New Covenant, as belonging to the Nature of it, or such a necessary Part of its Worship as is perpetually to continue; which being one in Substance and Effects (I speak of necessary, not accidental Effects) yet, because of some small Difference in Form or Circumstance, was before carnal, notwithstanding it was commanded by God under the Law, but now is become spiritual, because commanded by Christ under the Gospel? And if they cannot do this, then if Water-baptism was once a carnal Ordinance, as the Apostle positively affirms it to have been, it remains a carnal Ordinance still; and if a carnal Ordinance, then no necessary Part of the Gospel or New Covenant Dispensation; and if no necessary Part of it, then not needful to continue, nor to be practised by such as live and walk under this Dispensation. But in this, as in most other Things, according as we have often observed, our Adversaries judaize, and renouncing the glorious and spiritual Privileges of the New Covenant, are sticking in and cleaving to the Rudiments of the Old, both in Doctrine and Worship, as being more suited and agreeable to their carnal Apprehensions and natural Senses. The Law distinguished from the Gospel.But we, on the contrary, travail above all to lay hold upon and cleave unto the Light of the glorious Gospel revealed unto us. And the Harmony of the Truth we profess in this may appear, by briefly observing how in all Things we follow the spiritual Gospel of Christ, as contra-distinguished from the Carnality of the legal Dispensation; while our Adversaries, through rejecting this Gospel, are still labouring under the Burden of the Law, which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear.

The outward Baptism, Worship, Law, distinguished from the inward.For the Law and Rule of the Old Covenant and Jews was outward, written in Tables of Stone and Parchment; so also is that of our Adversaries. But the Law of the New Covenant is inward and perpetual, written in the Heart; so is ours.

The Worship of the Jews was outward and carnal, limited to set Times, Places, and Persons, and performed according to set prescribed Forms and Observations; so is that of our Adversaries. But the Worship of the New Covenant is neither limited to Time, Place, nor Person, but is performed in the Spirit and in Truth; and it is not acted according to set Forms and Prescriptions, but as the Spirit of God immediately actuates, moves, and leads, whether it be to preach, pray, or sing; and such is also our Worship.

So likewise the Baptism among the Jews under the Law was an outward Washing with outward Water, only to typify an inward Purification of the Soul, which did not necessarily follow upon those that were thus baptized; but the Baptism of Christ under the Gospel is the Baptism of the Spirit and of Fire; not the putting away of the Filth of the Flesh, but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God; and such is the Baptism that we labour to be baptized withal, and contend for.