BAPTISM
by Thomas Watson,
an excerpt (with minor editing) from The Ten Commandments [BOT, 1965], 217–223
“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 commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
(Matthew 28:19–20)
The first of two sacraments, which the Lord Jesus Christ instituted for the use
of His Church, is baptism. “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,” &c. “Go, teach all nations”; the Greek word is “Make disciples of
all nations.” If it be asked, how should we make them disciples? It follows,
“Baptising them and teaching them.” In a heathen nation, first teach, and then
baptise them; but in a Christian church, first baptise, and then teach them.
Q&A on Baptism
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Q.
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What is baptism?
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A.
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In
general, it is a matriculation, or visible admission of children into the
congregation of Christ’s flock. More particularly, “Baptism is a sacrament,
wherein the washing or sprinkling with water, in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, does signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking
of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the
Lord’s.”
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Q.
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What is meant by the parent when he presents his child to be baptised?
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A.
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The
parent, in presenting the child to be baptised, (1) Makes a public
acknowledgement of original sin; that the soul of his child is polluted,
therefore needs washing from sin by Christ’s blood and Spirit; both which
washings are signified by the sprinkling of water in baptism. (2) The parent,
by bringing his child to be baptised, solemnly devotes it to the Lord, and
enrols it in God’s family; and truly it is a great satisfaction to a
religious parent to have given up his child to the Lord in baptism. How can a
parent look with comfort on that child who was never dedicated to God?
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Q.
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What is the benefit of baptism?
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A.
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The
party baptised has, (1) An entrance into the visible body of the church. (2)
He has a right sealed to the ordinances, which is a privilege full of glory
(Rom 9:4). (3) The child baptised is under a more special providential care
of Christ, who appoints the tutelage angels to be the infant’s life-guard (Mt
18:10).
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Q.
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Is this all the benefit?
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A.
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No!
To such as belong to the election, baptism is a “seal of the righteousness of
faith,” a laver of regeneration, and a badge of adoption (Rom 4:11).
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Q.
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How does it appear that children have a right to baptism?
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A.
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Children
are parties in the covenant of grace. The covenant was made with them. “I
will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee…, for
an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee”
(Gen 17:7). “The promise is unto you, and to your children” (Acts 2:39). The
covenant of grace may be considered either, (1) More strictly, as an absolute
promise to give saving grace; and so none but the elect are in covenant with
God. Or, (2) More largely, as a covenant containing in it many outward
glorious privileges, in which respects the children of believers do belong to
the covenant of grace. The promise is to you and to your seed. The infant
seed of believers may as well lay a claim to the covenant of grace as their
parents; and having a right to the covenant, they cannot justly be denied
baptism, which is its seal. It is certain the children of believers were once
visibly in covenant with God, and received the seal of their admission into
the church; where now do we find this covenant interest, or church membership
of infants, repealed or made void? Certainly Jesus Christ did not come to put
believers and their children into a worse condition than they were in before.
If the children of believers should not be baptised, they are in worse
condition now than they were in before Christ’s coming.
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Objections Against Infant Baptism
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Q.
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But the Scripture is silent herein and does not mention infant baptism.
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A.
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Though
the word “infant baptism” is not in Scripture, yet the thing is. Mention is
not made in Scripture of woman’s receiving the sacrament; but who doubts but
the command, “Take, eat, this is my body,” concerns them? Does not their
faith need strengthening as well as others? So the word “Trinity” is not to
be found in Scripture, but there is that which is equivalent to it. “There
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost: and these three are one” (1 Jn 5:7). So, though the word “infant
baptism” is not mentioned in Scripture, the practice of baptising infants may
be drawn from Scripture by undeniable consequence.
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Q.
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How is that proved?
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A.
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The
Scripture mentions whole families baptised; as the household of Lydia,
Crispus, and the jailer. “He… was baptised, he and all his” (Acts 16:33).
Wherein we must rationally imagine there were some little children. If it be
said, there is no mention here made of children; I answer, neither are
servants named; and yet it cannot be supposed but that, in so great a family,
there were some servants.
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Q.
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But infants are not capable of the end of baptism; for baptism signifies the
washing away of sin by the blood of Christ. Infants cannot understand this;
therefore what benefit can baptism be to them?
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A.
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Neither
could the child that was to be circumcised understand circumcision; yet the
ordinance of circumcision was not to be omitted or deferred. Though an infant
understands not the meaning of baptism, it may partake of the blessing of
baptism. The little children that Christ took in His arms, understood not
Christ’s meaning, but they had Christ’s blessing. “He… put his hands upon
them, and blessed them” (Mk 10:16).
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Q.
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But what benefit can the child have of baptism if it understands not the
nature of baptism?
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A.
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It
may have a right to the promise sealed up, which it shall have an actual
interest in when it comes to have faith. A legacy may be of use to the child
in the cradle; though it now understands not the legacy, yet when it is grown
up to years, it is fully possessed of it.
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But it may be further objected:—
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Q.
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The party to be baptised is to be engaged to God; but how can the child enter
into such an engagement?
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A.
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The
parents can engage for it, which God is pleased to accept as equivalent to
the child’s personal engagement.
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Q.
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If baptism comes in the room of circumcision, and the males only were
circumcised, what warrant is there for baptising females? (Gen 17:10).
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A.
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Females
were included, and were virtually circumcised in the males. What is done to
the head is done to the body; the man being the head of the woman (1 Cor
11:3). What was done to the male sex was interpretatively done to the female.
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Proofs by Argument of Infant Baptism
(1) If children during their infancy are capable of grace, they are capable of
baptism; but children in their infancy are capable of grace, therefore they are
capable of baptism. I prove the minor, that they are capable of grace, thus: if
children in their infancy may be saved, then they are capable of grace; but
children in their infancy may be saved; which is thus proved: that if the
kingdom of heaven belongs to them, they may be saved; but the kingdom of heaven
may belong to them, as it is clear from, “Of such is the kingdom of God” (Mk
10:14); who then can forbid that the seal of baptism should be applied to them?
(2) If infants may be among the number of God’s servants, there is no reason
why they should be shut out of God’s family; but infants may be in the number
of God’s servants, because God calls them His servants. “He shall depart from
thee,… and his children with him,… for they are my servants” (Lev 25:41).
Therefore children in their infancy, being God’s servants, why should they not
have baptism, which is the tessera, the mark or seal which God sets
upon His servants?
(3) “But now are they [your children] holy” (1 Cor 7:14). Children are not
called holy, as if they were free from original sin; but in the judgement of
charity they are to be esteemed holy, and true members of the Church of God,
because their parents are believers. Hence that excellent divine, Mr.
Hildersam, says, “that the children of the faithful as soon as they are born,
have a covenant holiness, and so a right and title to baptism, which is the
token of the covenant.”
(4) From the opinion of the fathers and the practice of the church. The ancient
fathers were strong asserters of infant baptism, as Irenaeus, Basil,
Lactantius, Cyprian, and Augustine. It was the practice of the Greek church to
baptise her infants. Erasmus says that infant baptism has been used in the
church of God for above fourteen hundred years. And Augustine, in his book
against Pelagius, affirms that it has been the custom of the church in all ages
to baptise infants. Yea, it was an apostolic practice. Paul affirms that he
baptised the whole house of Stephanus (1 Cor 1:16).
(5) Having seen Scripture arguments for infant baptism, let us consider whether
the practice of those who delay the baptising of children till riper years, be
warrantable. For my part, I cannot gather it from Scripture. Though we read of
adult persons, and grown up to years of discretion, in the Apostles’ times,
being baptised, yet they were such as were converted from heathenish idolatry
to the true orthodox faith; but that in a Christian church the children of
believers should be kept unbaptised for several years, I know neither precept
nor example for it in Scripture, but it is wholly apocryphal. The baptising of
persons, grown up to maturity, we may argue against ab effectu,
from the ill consequence of it. For, how far God has given up many persons, who
are for deferring baptism, to other vile opinions and vicious practices, is
evident, if we consult history; especially if we read the doings of the Anabaptists
in Germany.
Uses of the Doctrine and Practice
Use one. See the riches of God’s
goodness, who will not only be the God of believers, but takes their seed into
covenant with them. “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy
seed after thee…, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed” (Gen 17:7). A father
counts it a great privilege, not only to have his own name, but his child’s
name put in a will.
Use two. Those parents are to be
blamed who forbid little children to be brought to Christ; and withhold from
them this ordinance. By denying their infants baptism, they exclude them from
membership in the visible church, so that their infants are sucking pagans.
Such as deny their children baptism, make God’s institutions under the law more
full of kindness and grace to children than they are under the gospel; which,
how strange a paradox it is, I leave you to judge.
Use three. For exhortation.
(1) Let us who are baptised, labour to find the blessed fruits of it in our own
souls; not only to have the signs of the covenant, but the grace of the
covenant. Many glory in their baptism. The Jews gloried in their circumcision,
because of their royal privileges; to them belonged the adoption, and the
glory, and the covenants (Rom 9:4). But many of them were a shame and reproach
to their circumcision. “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles
through you” (Rom 2:24). The scandalous Jews, though circumcised, were, in
God’s account, as heathens. “Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians to me?…
saith the Lord” (Amos 9:7). Alas! what is it to have the name of Christ, and
want His image? What is baptism of water without the baptism of the Spirit?
Many baptised Christians are no better than heathens. O let us labour to find
the fruits of baptism, that Christ is formed in us (Gal 4:19); that our nature
is changed; that we are made holy and heavenly. This is to be baptised into
Jesus (Rom 6:3). Such as live unsuitable to their baptism, may go with
baptismal-water on their faces, and sacramental bread in their mouths, to hell.
(2) Let us labour to make a right use of our baptism. Let us use it as a shield
against temptations. Satan, I have given up myself to God by a sacred vow in
baptism; I am not my own, I am Christ’s; therefore I cannot yield to thy
temptations, for I should break my oath of allegiance which I made to God in
baptism. Luther tells us of a pious woman, who, when the devil tempted her to
sin, answered, Satan, Baptizata sum, “I am baptised”; and so beat
back the tempter.
(3) Let us use it as a spur to holiness. By remembering our baptism, let us be
stirred up to make good our baptismal engagements; renouncing the world, flesh,
and devil, let us devote ourselves to God and His service. To be baptised into
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, implies a solemn dedication of
ourselves to the service of all the Three Persons in the Trinity. It is not
enough that our parents dedicate us to God in baptism, but we must dedicate
ourselves to Him; this is called living to the Lord (Rom 14:8). Our life should
be spent in worshipping God, in loving God, in exalting God; we should walk as
becomes the gospel (Phil 1:27). We should shine as stars in the world, and live
as earthly angels.
(4) Let us use it as an argument to courage. We should be ready to confess that
Holy Trinity, into whose name we were baptised. With the conversion of the
heart must go the confession of the tongue. “Whosoever shall confess me before
men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God” (Lk 12:8).
Peter openly confessed Christ crucified (Acts 4:10). Cyprian, a man of a brave
spirit, was like a rock, whom no waves could shake; like an adamant, whom no
sword could cut. He confessed Christ before the pro-consul, and suffered
himself to be proscribed; yea, chose death rather than betray the truths of
Christ. He that dare not confess the Holy Trinity, shames his baptism, and God
will be ashamed to own him at the day of judgement.
Use four. See the fearfulness of
the sin of apostasy! It is renouncing our baptism. It is damnable perjury to go
away from God after a solemn vow. “Demas hath forsaken me” (2 Tim 4:10). He
turned renegade, and afterwards became a priest in an idol-temple, says
Dorotheus. Julia the apostate, Gregory Nazianzen observes, bathed himself in
the blood of beasts offered in sacrifice to heathen gods; and so, as much as in
him lay, washed off his former baptism. The case of such as fall away after
baptism is dreadful. “If any man draw back” (Heb 10:38). The Greek word to draw
back, alludes to a soldier that steals away from his colours; so, if any man
steal away from Christ, and run over to the devil’s side, “my soul shall have
no pleasure in him”; that is, I will be severely avenged on him; I will make my
arrows drunk with his blood. If all the plagues in the Bible can make that man
miserable, he shall be so.
—19 May 2002
