LECTURE XXXV. Of Baptifm. HAVING already explained to you the Nature of a Sacrament; and fhewn you, that five of the feven Things, which the Church of Rome calls by that Name, are not entitled to it; there remain only two, that are truly fuch: and thefe two are plainly fufficient: one for our Entrance into the Chriftian Covenant; the other, during our whole Continuance in it; Baptifm and the Supper of the Lord. However, as the Word Sacrament is not a Scripture one, and hath at different Times been differently underflood: our Catechifm doth not require it to be faid abfolutely, that the Sacraments are two only; but two only, as necessary to Salvation : leaving Perfons at Liberty to comprehend more Things under the Name, if they pleafe, provided they infift not on the Neceffity of them, and of dignifying them with this Title. And even these two, our Church very charitably teaches us not to look upon as indifpenfably, but as generally neceffary. Out of which general Neceffity, we are to except thofe particular Cafes, where Believers in Chrift, either have not the Means of performing their Duty in Refpect to the Sacraments, or are innocently ignorant of it, or even excufeably miflaken about it. In explaining the Sacrament of Baptifm, I fhall speak, firft of the outward and visible Sign, then of the inward and Spiritual Grace. As to the former: Baptifm being intended for the Sign and Means of our Purification from Sin; Water, the proper Element for purifying and cleanfing, is appointed to be ufed in it. There is indeed a Sect, fprung up amongst us within a little more than a hundred Years, that deny this Appointment: and make the Chriftian Chriftian Baptifm fignify only the pouring out of the Gift of the Holy Ghost upon a Perfon. But our Saviour expressly requires that we be born of Water, as well as of the Spirit, to enter into the Kingdom of God. And not only John, his Forerunner, baptized with Water, but his Difciples alfo, by his Direction, baptized in the fame Manner, even more than John. When therefore He bade them afterwards teach all Nations, baptizing them'; what Baptifin could they underftand, but that, in which He had employed them before? And accordingly, we find they did understand that. Philip, we read, baptized the Samaritans; not with the Holy Ghoft, for the Apoftles went down fome Time after to do that themselves but with Water undoubtedly, as we find, in the fame Chapter, he did the Eunuch; where the Words are, Here is Water: what doth hinder me to be baptized? And they went down to the Water: and he baptized him. Again, after Cornelius, and his Friends, had received the Holy Ghoft, and fo were already baptized in that Senfe, Peter afks, Can any Man forbid Water that thefe fhould not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghoft, as well as we? When therefore John fays, that He baptized with Water, but Chrift should bap-· tize with the Holy Ghost; he means, not that Chriftians fhould not be baptized with Water, but that they fhould have the Holy Ghoft poured out upon them alfo, in a Degree that John's Difciples had not. When St. Peter fays, The Baptifm, which faveth us, is not the washing away the Filth of the Flejb; he means, it is not the mere outward A&t, unaccompanied by a fuitable Inward Difpofition. When St. Paul fays, that Chrift fent him not to baptize, but to preach the Gospels; he means, that Preaching was the principal Thing he was to do in Perfon: to baptize, he might appoint others under him: and it feems, commonly did: as St. Peter did not baptize Cornelius and his Friends himself, but commanded them to be baptized and we read in St. John, that Jefus baptized not, but his Difciples. Water-Baptifm therefore is appointed. And why the Church of Rome should not think Water fufficient in Baptifm, but aiming at mending what our Saviour hath directed, by mixing Oil and Balfam with it, and dipping a lighted Torch into it, I leave them to explain. The precife Manner, in which Water fhall be applied in Baptifm, Scripture hath not determined. For the Word, baptize, means only to wash; whether that be done by plunging a Thing under Water, or pouring the Water upon it. The former of thefe; burying as it were, the Perfon baptized, in the Water, and raifing him out of it again, without Question was anciently the more usual Method: on account of which, St. Paul fpeaks of Baptifm, as reprefenting both the Death, and Burial, and Refurrection of Chrift, and what is grounded on them, our being dead and buried to Sin; renouncing it, and being acquitted of it; and our rifing again, to walk in Newness of Life; being both obliged and enabled to practife for the future, every Duty of Piety and Virtue. But ftill the other Manner of washing, by pouring or sprinkling of Water, fufficiently expreffes the fame two Things: our being by this Ordinance purified from the Guilt of Sin, and bound and qualified to keep ourselves pure from the Defilement of it. Befides, it very naturally reprefents that Sprinkling the Blood of Jefus Chrift, to which our Salvation is owing. And the Use of it seems not only to be foretold by the Prophet Ifaiah, fpeaking of our Saviour, He shall sprinkle many Nations, that is, many fhall receive his Baptism; and by the Prophet Ezekiel, Then will I fprinkle clean Water upon you, and ye fhall be clean: but to be had in View alfo by the Apoftle, where he speaks of having our Hearts Sprinkled from an evil Confcience, and our Bodies • Acts x. 48. ⚫s Pet. i. 2. 7 John iv. 2. 8: Rom. vi. 4, II. Col. ii. 1: washed washed with pure Water. And though it was lefs frequently used in the firft Ages, it must almoft of Neceffity have been fometimes used: for Inftance, when Baptifm was administered, as we read in the Acts, it was, to several Thousands at once4; when it was administered on a fudden in private Houfes, as we find it, in the fame Book, to the Gaoler and all his Family the very Night in which they were converted: or when fick Perfons received it; in which last Cafe, the prefent Method was always taken, becaufe the other, of dipping them, might have been dangerous. And from the fame Apprehenfion of Danger in these colder Countries, pouring the Water is allowed, even when the Perfon baptized is in Health. And the particular Manner being left at Liberty, that is now univerfally chofen, which is looked on as fafer: becaufe were there more to be faid for the other, than there is; God will have Mercy, and not Sacrifice. But walhing with Water is not the whole outward Part of this Sacrament. For our Saviour commanded his Apofties, not only to baptize all Nations, but to baptize them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft'. Sometimes indeed the Scripture fpeaks of Baptifm, as if it were adminiftered only in the Name of the Lord Jefus. But it fully appears, that the Name of the Holy Ghost was used at the fame Time; and therefore that of the Father, we may be fure. Now being baptized in the Name of thefe Three, may fignify, being baptized by Virtue of their Authority. But the exacter Tranflation is, into the Name: and the fuller Import of the Expreflion is, by this folemn Action taking upon us their Name; (for Servants are known by the Name of their Mafter) and profeffing ourselves devoted to the Faith, and Worship, and Obedience of these Three; our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier. 3 Heb. x. 22. 4 Acts ii. 41. 5 Acts xvi. 33: 6 Hof. vi. 6. Matth. ix. 13. xii. 7. xix. 5. 7 Matth. xxviii. 19. 9 Acts xix. 2, 3. 8 Acts ii. 38. x. 48. In this Profeffion the Whole of Chriftianity is briefly comprehended, and on this Foundation therefore the ancient Creeds are all built. The fecond and principal Thing in Baptifm, the inward and fpiritual Grace, is faid in the Catechiim to be, Death unto Sin, and a new Birth unto Righteousness : for that being by Nature born in Sin, and the Children of Wrath, we are hereby made the Children of Grace. The former Part of thefe Words refers to the old Custom of baptizing by dipping, juft now mentioned: and the Meaning of the Whole is this: Our first Parents having by Difobedience in eating the forbidden Fruit, corrupted their own Nature; ours, being derived from them, received of Neceffity an original Taint of the fame Dif. order and therefore coming into the World under the ill Effects of their Sin; and being from the Time of our entering into it, prone to Sin ourfelves; we are said to be born in Sin. And they having alfo, by the fame Difobedience, forfeited their Immortality: we, as defcended from them, became mortal of Course inheriting by Way of natural Confequence, what they fuffered as a Mark of God's Wrath; we, their Children, are faid to be Children of Wrath. Not that God, with whatever Disapprobation He muft view our Native Depravity, is, or, properly speaking, can be, angry with us perfonally, for what was not our perfonal Fault. and He might undoubtedly both refufe us that Immortality, which our firft Parents had forfeited, and to which we have no Right; and leave us without Help, to the poor Degree of Strength, that remained to us in our fallen Condition; the Effect of which must have been that had we done our beft, as we were intitled to no Reward from his Juftice, fo it had been fuch a Nothing, that we could have hoped for little, if any, from his Bounty; and had we not done our beft, as no Man hath, we had no Affurance, that even Repentance would fecure us from Punishment. But what in ftrict Juftice He might have done, in his infinite Goodness He hath not done. For the first Covenant being broken by Adam, He |