SECT. L. Of the Necessity of Baptism.

Quest. IS Baptism so necessary to Salvation, that without it we cannot be saved?

A. Baptism is necessary to Salvation when it may be had, and this holy Sacrament ought not to be neglected: but to exclude from Salvation a person who could neither have the time nor the opportunity to be ba∣ptised, or a Child whose sudden death hath prevented Baptism, is a cruel Doctrine, and contrary to the goodness of God, who tieth not his Grace to exterior Elements, and ma∣keth not the Salvation of Children to depend upon the negligence of their Parents.

Q. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ says to Nicode∣mus, John 3.5. Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter in∣to the Kingdom of God.

A. Jesus Christ doth not mean the material Water of Baptism, but the Grace of the Holy Ghost, which is often, both in the Old & New Testament, called water, Is. 44.3. I will pour water Page  126 upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed: And Jesus Christ promised to give them that be∣lieve on him, a well of water springing up into Everlasting Life. John 4.14. By those words Jesus Christ doth not shew Nicodemus the Necessity of being Baptised, since he was already Circumcised, but the Necessity of being Regenerated, that he might enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.