THE

DOCTRINE

O F

Baptilms, &c.

TH

HE Lord, fore fecing 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 beginning of the Gospel, command and bind all the Faithful to hear Chrift alone; faying from Heaven (that we might give abfolute Credit to his Voice) This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed, hear him: And the more the Faithful have kept to the Word of Chrift, the mere they have been free from Error; and the more they have left this, and turned afide after the Doctrines of Men (though Men in fome measure

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Faithful

Faithful and Holy) the more have they been Perverted and Seduced; infomuch that the True Church of God, and the very Faithful themselves, have received, held and maintained divers Errors, and Falfe Doctrines, and Opinions, even for many Ages and Generations; yea, and have not been altogether free from fome, from the very Apoftles time: And because many, or moft, Godly Men in former Ages held fuch and fuch Opinions; therefore the following Ages have taken them upon trust from them, and have entertained them as Sure and Certain, tho' not at all Confulting in those Points, with the Great Doctor and Apoftle of the New Teftament, Jefus Chrift. And thus have the very Elect themselves been drawn into much Error, tho' they have ftill had Chrift for their Founda tion, and were Built on him fo firmly by Faith, that the Gates of Hell could not prevail against him.

Now, to free the Faithful from the former Miftake (and confequently from all Error) there is no other way than this, Wholly to forfake the Doctrines of Men, and to lay bye all those Opinions

that

that we have fucked. in from our very Cradles, and which are now become even a Natural Religion to us; I fay, utterly to lay bye, and wholly to forget all these things, and to come immediately to the Pure Unerring Word of God, and to the Voice of Jefus Chrift himself, by his Spirit, wherein all things are True, Sincere and Perfect; and not bring Hearts to the Word, that are pre-poffeft with Doctrines and Opinions Learned of Men, but to come thither with Hearts and Confciences free and un-ingaged, and in all Meekness, Uprightness and Simplicity of Heart, to hear what Jefus Chrift, the Faithful and True Witness, will fay to his Spirit, which alfo is the Spirit of Truth; and to receive and believe that alone, tho' never fo differing from the Opinions and Doctrines of this prefent Age, as well as of the former, and tho' perhaps the whole Nation would be Offended with it.

And this is the Courfe that I have obferved, to come to fome clear and certain Knowledge in the Doctrine of Baptifm: For, having Read much, and Difcourfed with many touching this Point, and

having

having feriously confidered what they fay, as one that fearched after the Truth, for it felf only, and for the Satisfaction of my own Soul; I do profefs, I could not find any thing almoft fpoken, for my Spirit boldly and fafely to lean on, as perceiving most of what they said, to be but the Apprehenfions and Thoughts of Men, and that they fpake very much by Conjecture and at Uncertainty in this Matter: And thereupon I refolv'd,wholly to withdraw from fuch Difcourfe, and to lay down what-ever Opinions I had before entertained, touching this Point, and to come to the plain and manifeft Scriptures, and from thence (after much feeking God) to Learn what-ever the Lord fhould please to Teach me; chufing rather to Build on the clear Word, though alone, than on any uncertain Inferences and blind Conjectures of Men, tho' imbraced and magnified by all the World.

Now, in this Inquiry from the Word, I met with that place, Heb. 6.2. where the Apostle fpeaking of fome of the first and initial Points of Chriftian Religion, names Barliouay Aidwan, the Doctrine of Baptifms; whence I perceived that in

the

;

the Primitive Church they had the Doctrine of Baptifms in the Plural Number and therefore did apply my self to search from the Word what thefe Baptifms might be, and fo met with the Baptift's own Doctrine, touching Baptifms, mentioned Mat. 3. Mark. 1. Luke 3. and John 1. (for all the Evangelifts make mention of this, it being a matter of fo great Concernment) and Luke makes mention of the Ground of this Doctrine of the Baptift, Chap. 3. 15. As the People were in Expectation (faith he) and all Men mufed in their Hearts of John, whether he were the Chrift or not, John an fwered, faying, &c. The People, it feems, 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 ftricken in Age, and paft Children, by the Course of Nature; and then the manner of his Life was ftrange, for he lived in the Wilderness, out of the ordinary Converse of the World: And his Apparel and Diet were unufual, being Raiment of Camels Hair, and a Leathern Girdle about his Loyns, and his Meat Locust and

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