For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
— 1 Corinthians 12:13
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
— Romans 6:4-5
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
— Ephesians 4:3-6
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
— 1 Corinthians 10:16
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
— Acts 2:42
Of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, by William Ames. The following contains Chapter 40 of his work, “The Marrow of Sacred Divinity or, Marrow of Theology, Drawn Our of the Holy Scriptures and the Interpreters of it, and brought into Method.” 1639.
1. After the nature of the New Testament, follow its Sacraments; for they are few in number, and they are to be obtained and observed easily, and be most perspicuous in their meaning.
2. They were sanctified and instituted by Christ himself. For although the one Sacrament was first used by John the Baptist, yet in that very thing he was the forerunner of Christ, so that he might show what Christ himself would allow and institute afterward; nor did it have the respect of an ordinary institution by the Ministry of John, but by the institution of Christ himself.
3. These Sacraments are Baptism and the Supper of the Lord; for there were no other Sacraments or sacramental signs delivered to the Church either by Christ or his Apostles; nor can there be others appointed by men in the Church.
4. In respect to God’s Institution, there lies the greatest necessity upon the faithful to use these Sacraments diligently and religiously; yet they are not so absolutely necessary to salvation that the absence or privation of them brings a privation of this institution; nor should they in that respect be celebrated by those who are not lawful Ministers, or outside a Church assembly.
5. Baptism is the Sacrament of Initiation or Regeneration.
6. For although it seals the whole covenant of grace together to the faithful, yet by a special approbation, it represents and confirms our very ingrafting into Christ. Rom6.3, We are baptised into Christ Jesus, and verse 4, Being planted together with him; 1Cor 12.13, We are baptised into one body.
7. Upon our first ingrafting into Christ by Faith, a relation of our justification and adoption immediately follows. Therefore Baptism, as the Sacrament of the Ingrafting itself, is for remission of sins, Mar 1.4. It is also a representation of Adoption, in that by baptism we are consecrated to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and their names are pronounced upon the baptised.
8. Also, because Holiness is always derived from Christ (into whom we are ingrafted) to all the faithful, Baptism is also the seal of our Santification. Tit3.5, He has saved us by the laver of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Also, Rom 6.3-5.
9. And because Glorification cannot be separated from true holiness, Baptism is also, along with these, the seal of eternal glory. Tit 3.7, That we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Rom 6.8, If we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live together with him.
10. Those benefits are sealed according to the measure of Initiation in Baptism. Hence, First, Baptism is to be administered only once, because there is only one beginning of spiritual life by regeneration, just as there is only one beginning of natural life by generation.
11. Hence, Secondly, Baptism ought to be administered to all those to whom the Covenant of Grace pertains, because it is the first sealing of the Covenant, now first begun.
12. But it appears the infants of the faithful are not to be forbidden this Sacrament, 1. Because if they are partakers of any grace, it is by virtue of the Covenant of Grace; and so both the covenant and the first seal of that covenant also pertain to them. 2. In that the covenant in which the faithful are now contained, is the same as that covenant which was made with Abraham, Rom 4.11; Gal 3.7-8; and that expressly extended to Infants. 3. This covenant which is now administered to the faithful, brings larger and fuller consolation to them than it could of old, before the coming of Christ. But if it were to pertain only to them, and not to their infants, then the grace of God and their consolation would be narrower and more contracted after Christ is exhibited, than before. 4. Because Baptism succeeded circumcision, Col 2.11-12, it pertains as well to the children of believers, just as circumcision did. 5. Because in the very beginning of regeneration, of which baptism is a seal, man is merely passive. This is also why there is no outward action required of a man, either to be circumcised or baptised, as there is in other Sacraments, but only a passive receiving. Therefore, infants are as capable of this Sacrament in respect to its chief use, as those who are of age are.
13. Faith and Repentance no more make the covenant of God now than in the time of Abraham (who was the Father of the faithful); therefore the lack of those acts should no more keep baptism from Infants now, than it forbade circumcision then.
14. The sign in this Sacrament is water — not simply, but as it purges the unclean — either by dipping or sprinkling.
15. Water was chosen, because nothing in use more fitly represents the spiritual washing that is performed by the blood or death of Christ; nor is sprinkling or the application of the blood of Christ so fitly expressed by anything else, seeing that now, since the death of Christ, there should be no use of natural blood in holy things.
16. The Supper of the Lamb is the Sacrament of the nourishing and growth of the faithful in Christ.
17. Hence it should be often administered to the same person.
18. Hence also, the Supper is only to be administered to those who are visibly capable of nourishment and growth in the Church; and so it is not to be administered to Infants, but only to those who are of age.
19. But because the fullest and most perfect nourishment is sealed in Christ, some single and simple sign of nourishing is not used here, but a double kind, as the nourishment of the body requires: namely, Bread and Wine.
20. Therefore those who take away one of these signs from the faithful in the administration of the Supper, detract from the wisdom of God; they make lame the institution of Christ; and they grievously lessen or take away the consolation of the faithful.
21. Bread and wine are therefore used because, except for eating flesh (which has no place in holy things now that the sacrifice of Christ is finished), and drinking blood (which not only religion but man’s nature abhors), there is nothing that more conveniently expresses that nearest union which we enjoy by degrees with Christ, which is founded in the sacrificing of his body, and the shedding of his blood.
22. To pretend there is any transubstantiation or consubstantiation in this Sacrament, more than in baptism, is a certain blind and stupid superstition.
23. For spiritual nourishment in this Sacrament does not require that the bread and wine be changed into the blood of Christ, nor that Christ be corporally present with them; but only that they be changed relatively in respect to their application and use, and that Christ be spiritually present with those who receive them in Faith.
24. Transubstantiation and consubstantiation are against the nature of a Sacrament in general; against the analogy of our other Sacrament, baptism; against most usual phrases in the Old Testament; against the human nature of Christ; against his state of Glorification; and against the revealed will of God which says that Christ shall remain in Heaven until the Day of Judgment.
25. As touching the words of Institution, “This is my body,” they are necessarily to be understood as other sacramental phrases that we find everywhere in the Holy Scriptures, and of which we have God himself as a clear interpreter. Gen 17.10-11. This is my Covenant… That it may be a sign of the Covenant between me and you.
26. As touching the manner of explaining the words of this phrase according to art, learned men differ among themselves. Most of our interpreters would have a trope in the words, that is, a metaphor or a metonymy.
27. The Lutherans contend there is no trope to be found here, only an unusual predication.
28. There are not a few Interpreters, and those are new, who deny that there is either any proper trope or any unusual predication; they make it an improper and mystical predication.
29. But no sufficient reason is given why we may deny that there is a trope in the words, which may thus be demonstrated: If it is an improper or “unusual predication”, as they would have it, then this unusual or improper way ought to be shown in some word. If this is done, then of necessity, that word is in some way translated from its natural meaning and use; and if that is so, then the word takes the nature and definition of a trope.
30. But the trope is neither in the Article going before it, nor in the proper Copula, as in the word “is”. Rather, it is in that word which follows: that is, in the word “body”; for body is put for a sign of the body — not that a true and proper body is excluded from that sentence — but rather it is included by the relation which the sign has to the thing signified.
31. And there is not only one trope, but a threefold trope in this word. The first is a Metaphor, where one like thing is put for another to which a metonymy of the adjunct adheres and is mingled. For the bread is not only like the body of Christ, but by God’s institution, it is also made an adjunct of it. The second is a Synecdoche of the part for the whole, where the body of Christ is put for the whole Christ. The third is a Metonymy of the subject for the adjuncts, in that Christ is put for all those benefits which are also derived from Christ to us. In the other part, the Wine, there are other tropes sufficiently manifested.
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