are not justified by works but by the aboundings of grace freely imputing the righteousness of Christ to us 1. He aversateth this and rejects such a notion with utmost abhorrence and detestation God forbid saith he far be it from us to assert any such thing or to lay down any position from whence any such thing can be reasonably concluded Then he proceeds to prove that there can be no such conclusion drawn from his premises For saith he how shall they who are dead to sin live any longer therein The strength of the Argument lyeth in this Hypothesis That God at the same time that he dischargeth the soul from the guilt of sin and the obligation to death under which sin layeth it doth also renew and sanctifie the heart and destroyeth the Souls appetite and love to sin so that sin hath no longer a power and dominion over the Soul and look as for a dead man to live is a contradiction so it is no lesser contradiction for a justified soul to live in sin every justified soul hath an heart dead to sin and so cannot any longer live therein he may be overtaken with faults he doth sin seven times in a day and who knoweth how often he offendeth But he sinneth not as other men he cannot live in sin much less take an encouragement to sin from the grace of God abounding towards his soul for the justification of it 2. In the Text which I have read to you he proveth it from our Baptism Know you not saith he that so many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death In the words you have 1. A Preface Know you not Which confirms the following Proposition as a Proposition of undoubted truth and great Evidence such as all good Christians must be supposed to know and it were strange if any understanding Christian should be ignorant of so evident a truth 2. A Proposition in those words So many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his Death 3. Here is the proof of this Proposition or if you had rather call it so an Inference upon this Proposition We are therefore buried with him by Baptism into death What is necessary for the Explication of the words you shall have in the Explication of the Proposition which for the advantage of your memories I shall deliver you in the words of the Text. Prop. So many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death and buried with him by baptism into death The Proposition will only require Explication and Application In the first I have these Questions which all of them have their difficulty to open to you Quest 1. What this is to be baptized into Christ Quest 2. What it is to be baptized into the death of Christ and in what sense those who are baptized are baptized into the death of Christ Quest 3. How we are buried with Christ by Baptism into death Quest 1. What is this to be baptized into Christ I do not think that this is to be expounded by being baptized according to the true form of Baptism In the name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost I can easily allow that to be comprehended in this phrase but I can by no means allow it to exhaust the full sense of it for I cannot understand how in that sense a person baptized can be said to be more baptized into Christ than into the Father or the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must certainly be more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambrose is I think a little critical when to justifie this restriction of sense against the aforementioned obvious objection he tells us That in the name Christ is not only to be understood that person whom the name denotes viz. the second person in the Trinity but the other two persons qui mittit he who sends who is the Father and qui ungit he who annointeth who saith he is the Spirit the third person in the blessed Trinity 2. We often meet with phrases much a-kin to this in holy Writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the name of Jesus Christ Acts 2. 38. In the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lord Jesus in the name of Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 16. 1 Cor. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into Moses 1 Cor. 10. 3. We are baptized into one body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 12 13. Into Christ Gal. 3. 27. the only text in Scripture fully parallel to this Into the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. We translate it in in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The phrase as it lyes before us may signifie several things 1. The term of the Action So we may be said to be baptized Actus terminum into Christ 1. As we are baptized into the Gospel of Christ thus Origen We are not baptized into the Law but into Christ not into the Doctrine of Justification by works but by faith in Christ Christ is so much the substance of the Gospel that his name is sometimes put for the Gospel so we preach Christ i. e. the Gospel of Christ The Jews were baptized into Moses into the Cloud and the Sea 1 Cor. 10. 3. We are baptized into Christ they signified a Christ to come you are baptized into a Christ already come who hath died for your sins into a Doctrine that so teacheth you 2. Or secondly Into the profession of the Gospel Paul tells the believers at Ephesus that John baptized with the baptism of Repentance that they should believe on him who should come after him Acts 19. 3. that is on Christ Jesus but now we are baptized into Christ and into the Baptism of Christ That we should believe on him who is come who hath died for our sins and risen again for our justification We are baptized into the profession of this faith 3. Or thirdly Into Christ that is into the mystical body of Christ thus Pareus and Estius into the number of visible Saints visible In populum Dei adoptamur Pareus Professors c. And thus it excellently agreeth with that of our Apostle 1 Cor. 12. 13. By the Spirit we are baptized into one body 2. The phrase secondly may denote the nature of the Act of Baptism and so two things are spoken in it 1. That in Baptism we are dedicated and given up to the Lord Jesus Christ By Baptism saith Estius we give up our Names to Regno grae illius assignari Musculus Christ We are assigned over to the Grace and Kingdom of Christ This is the very nature of Baptism to give up and assign the baptized person to the service of Christ 2. Nay there is not only in Baptism a dedication of the Soul to Christ to his Kingdom and Grace but there is an initiation of the soul and
baptized into Christ have put on Christ Now what it is to put on Christ the Apostle telleth you Rom. 13. 14. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Eph. 4. 24. You read of putting on the new man so Col. 3. 10. Now all that are baptized cannot be said to have put on Christ Many of them make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts there of Many of them have not put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness For these reasons I do think that to be baptized into Christ signifieth more than to be baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I conclude then my discourse in answer to this Question thus 1. There is an external imperfect Baptism whereby and wherein persons are washed with water as a Religious rite in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost with invocation on the name of Christ Those who are thus baptized are baptized into the Gospel-Doctrine and the profession of it into that one body of which Christ is the Head they are dedicated to Christ and make a covenant with him They receive their Baptism as a sign that Christ the Saviour of the World is come hath died and risen again and that their only hope for salvation is in and through him they are baptized for this very end and purpose that they might bear a testimony to the Messias his being come having died c. and that they might accept of him as their Saviour hope and rest in and upon him and him alone and growing up in him c. and their Baptism is not fruitless in case they do repent and believe in Christ but is a sign to them that doing so he will be their Saviour 2. But there is also a more perfect Baptism when persons are not only washed with water but with the blood of Christ regenerated and sanctified baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire Now saith the Apostle so many as are thus baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death And that brings me to the second Question Q. 2. What is this to be baptized into the death of Christ This I shall answer in three things 1. Into the image and similitude of his death Thus Justinian and In similitudinem imaginem mortis Gorran expound the phrase And this is two ways 1. The first more particularly respected the manner of Baptism in those hot Countreys which was by dipping the whole body of the baptized person in water thus John baptized in Jordan Ezek. 36. 25. Isa 44. 3. This is doubtless lawful but we say not necessary nor amongst us expedient Not necessary for the grace of justification and remission is as well in Scripture expressed by sprinkling and pouring water And you read of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ V. Aquinat Esti Piscat Deodati ad loc 1 Pet. 2. 2. and we are said to be come to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 24. signified by the blood of sprinkling under the law Heb. 11. 28. Not expedient or convenient dipping a new-born Infant in water in a probable way would endanger its life But I say that custom had a fairer similitude of the burial of Christ persons buried are covered with Earth so those baptized persons were covered with water but it is as true Earth is sprinkled and poured too upon persons buried as water is upon the Child baptized 2. But there is another similitude of far more value expressed v. 6. of this Chapter Our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed This must be understood when the Lord with his internal grace is pleased to concur with the Sacrament Even as from that day wherein Christ cursed the figtree it withered so from that day that a person is baptized where Gods inward grace concurreth with the outward sign the tree of lust and corruption decayeth and withereth 2. Into his death that may be into the faith owning and profession of his death those who are baptized into Christ do profess to believe that Jesus Christ died for sinners the water poured and sprinkled on them signifieth the blood of Jesus Christ so that Christ hath died and their submission to that rite to receive Baptism is a taking upon them the faith and profession of the death of Jesus Christ 3. Lastly They are baptized into the fruit of his death And this may be taken in a double sense 1. If they be only externally baptized and receive no more than the outward sign yet it is and shall be a sign unto them that if at any time they shall heartily repent and believe the fruit and benefit yea all the fruit and benefit of the death of Christ shall be really and truly theirs 2. If the Lord doth with the external sign confer the inward grace and give the thing signified then they are really and absolutely baptized into the death of Christ and made partakers of the benefits of his redemption being washed with the blood of the lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world And thus much may serve to have spoken to the second Question the third followeth Quest 3. What it is to be buried with Christ by baptism into death and how the baptized person may be said to be buried with Christ by Baptism into death I Answer A baptized person may be said to be buried with Christ by Baptism into death 1. Analogically there being as I said before a great Analogy betwixt burying of a dead body and baptizing a person the dead person was covered with the Earth the baptized person with Water This was according to their manner of baptizing by dipping to which also the Apostle alludeth Col. 2. 12. And of old they used a trina immersio a dipping the baptized person three times to signifie Christs lying three days in the grave but this usage was doubtless not so old as the Apostles times nor was there any rule for it Others say they dipped the person baptized thrice to signifie his being baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Thus Aquinas Justinian Chrysostome Damascene Theophilact and Gregory interpret this text but I do not think that this takes up the whole of the sense 2. We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death Symbollically or Sacramentally Baptism signifieth thus much to all That if they live up to that dedication of them unto God unto that Covenant which they enter into in Baptism when they come up to years of discretion if they be baptized in their Infancy repenting and believing their sins shall come no more in Gods sight but be as much buried and out of sight as a person who is baptized by dipping in water is out of our sight during that instant Thus the Apostle Col. 2. 12. saith We are buried with him in baptism
these but so necessary that by it Original sin is certainly washed away and without it a child cannot be saved which is that which I call a groundless fancy if not a Relique of Popery It is true we have no certain time limited for Baptism To give you my opinion in the case The best argument we have for Infant-Baptism is the Analogy betwixt Circumcision and Baptism they being both seals of one and the same Covenant of grace which is not straitned under the Gospel-dispensation God prescribed the Eighth day as a certain time for Circumcision yet were not the Jews tyed to the eighth day under undue circumstances All the while the people were travelling in the Wilderness which was forty years there were no Children circumcised as you may read Josh 5. 5 7. I would fain know how Baptism is more necessary to the salvation of Christians than Circumcision was to the salvation of the Jewish Children I am sure they were both seals of the same Covenant the contempt of an Ordinance of God that is damnable but the omission of it under undue circumstances as suppose the sickness of the child c. is far from being so it may be our duty that the Ordinance of God may be more gravely and thoughtfully administred But from that Popish opinion of the absolute necessity of Baptism to salvation and the efficacy of it as a work done have risen many abuses and prophanations of this holy Ordinance of God Hence came up the practice of Midwives baptizing which held amongst us till King James his time hence the slighty and perfunctory administration of this Ordinance by too many at this day For my own part supposing other due circumstances to concur I should not omit the baptizing my child beyond the Eighth day Nor on the other side sear that if due circumstances did not concur the delaying of it longer But this is but a digression Let me beg of you that are Parents with all seriousness and gravity and due forethinking what you do to bring your Children to this most facred Institution Remember that in it you present your Children before the Lord you dedicate your Children unto the Lord. What a great action this is What gravity reverence seriousness deliberation is sufficient for such an action With what fear ought the Lord to be served in such an action 2. The second thing which I would call to you for shall be a faithfulness to your children whom you have so dedicated to God Your child knoweth not what is done unto it it knoweth not that it is baptized that it is so dedicated to Christ that such an Oath of the Lord is upon it it knoweth of no vow that it hath made no Covenant with God in which it is engaged you have brought it under this engagement If now you shall not tell the child its state what you have done as to it under what a Vow and Oath of God you have brought it but it shall give up it self to the service of the Devil and live contrary to its most solemn ingagements your child shall perish but shall not its blood be required at your hands When God fell upon Moses and had like to have killed him in the Inn for not circumcising his child it is said his wife Zipporah in a passion cut off the childs foreskin and threw it at Moses saying A bloody husband hast thou been to me because of the circumcision How many thousand children hereafter will throw the very coles of Hell at their Parents and say Ah! Bloody Fathers bloody Mothers have you been to us because of our Baptism you dedicated us to God when we were Children we lived with you ten twenty years and you never told us of it but let us run into those sins which have brought us into these flames you brought us under a solemn Vow and Covenant to God in our Baptism and never told us what you vowed or ingaged for us we never heard a word from you of our Baptismal vows if we had we should probably not have violated them as we have done Bloody damning Parents have you been to us Thus much shall serve for what I have to say to Parents Br. 2. I speak to you that are Children That which I have to say to you is Remember you have been baptized into Christ That you have been by your Parents dedicated to Christ and are under a vow to be his servants Remember that you have vowed the profession and defence of his truth the acceptance of him as your Lord and Saviour an adherence to him a living up to his law being baptized into his death and buried with him by baptism into death It may be some of your Parents never minded you of this I now tell you of it and indeed I have sometimes thought that one end of Gods instituting us Ministers hath been to supply the defects of Parents and Masters of families in this debaucht and declining age of the world Let all therefore hearken to me this day I suppose I speak to none but have been baptized into Christ in the larger sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And if so If your Parents have forgot to tell it you or neglected their duty I tell it you you are all dedicated unto Christ yea and God hath accepted you for he hath bidden us Go and baptize in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost We have baptized you in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost What follows hence You are sacred persons not sanctified in a spiritual sense but sacred in a ceremonial sense in which sense all the Jews were called an holy people and the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 7. 14. our children are not unclean but holy sanctified ceremonially externally ritually that is set a part for God sanctified as the Tabernacle the Temple the Vessels of the Temple under the law were sanctified I tell you again that you are under a Vow and Covenant to own the profession of Christ and to defend it to accept of Christ as the Saviour of the World as your Saviour in particular to commit all your spiritual concerns unto him to live to Christ not to lusts not to the world as to these things you were buried with Christ by baptism into death Do not think to evade this by saying it was none of your own act your parents did it you did it not It is in the power of parents to ingage you in a debt by the laws of men to which all the estate you inherit by them shall be lyable for payment though there be no antecedaneous obligation upon you from the law of God to pay such debts It is in your parents power to dispose of you in Marriage in your Nonage and before God you will be bound when of age so to dispose of your selves unless you can give a sufficient reason to the contrary As to God it is in your parents power to render you obnoxious to his wrath and justice so as for their sins you shall answer as far as your lives and estates go though indeed they cannot withour a guilt of your own subject you to the eternal wrath of God your prrents have as to this dedicated you to God to be his servants they have brought you under the Vow and Oath of God to be his servants to own profess and defend his Gospel and the truths of it to accept of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the World as your Saviour and spiritual husband to live unto him in disclaiming the service of lusts and of the world Take heed now of Sacriledge Perjury and Apostacy A loose leud life contrary to the Gospel brings you under all this guilt and subjecteth you by the righteous God to be dealt withall as sacrilegious persons who being holy have stollen away your selves from the service of God and robbed God of his right as false and perjured persons who have sworn your selves unto God and have violated the Oath of God upon you As Apostatized persons who have put your hands to the Lords plow and have drawn it back again There is yet a time for you to repent and to remember the kindness of your youth and the love of your Espousals O neglect it not To day while it is called to day harden not your hearts through Impenitency nourish not unbelief in your Souls Return you Shulamites return Remember from whence you are fallen and how the Oath of God presseth you Let no baptized person go down to the pit that will but add oyl to the fire that shall never go out It will be more tolerable for an unbaptized Turk or Indian than for a baptized Christian in the day of judgment if he stands at the Judges left hand in that day Br. 3. Lastly I speak to you all Men Brethren and Fathers 1. Labour to see your selves baptized into Christ you are all baptized in the name of Christ but rest not here Give your Souls no rest until you find that you are baptized into Christ that you have put on Christ how you may know that I have shewed you that you are concerned in it will appear from the insignificancy as to your eternal state of Water-Baptism O think not that the pouring or spirinkling of a little water upon your face can wash away the sin of the soul Beg of God that you may be born again of water and of the spirit without which our Lord hath told you you can never enter into the Kingdom of God that you may be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire burning up the dregs and dross of lusts and corruptions which Water-Baptism leaveth in every soul Nay remember your Water-Baptism without this will be but as the Water of jealousie to the guilty woman as Gods water of Witness the more to confound your souls to all eternity 2. Let all persons reflect on their Baptism Let the unconverted reflect upon it and study it to ingage them to faith and repentance because of their Oath and ingagement in Baptism to do it Let the converted reflect upon it and fetch strength from it more to dye unto sin and to live unto righteousness remembring they were baptized into Christ baptized into his death and buried with him by baptism into death But this is enough to have spoken on this argument God give his blessing FINIS
a solemn adstriction and binding over of the soul to the service and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ There is a vow and a Covenant in Baptism as Circumcision of old was the Lords Covenant the sign and symbol of his Covenant with the Jewish Children so Baptism is the Lords Covenant with Children under the Gospel The soul of the Baptized person is not only given up unto the Lord but it is bound over to Christ and entereth a Covenant with him and as the Married woman upon her Marriage covenants with her husband and loseth her own name and taketh that of her husband so the baptized person covenanteth with Christ and there takes upon it the name of a Christian Or as Soldiers upon taking their Sacramentum for that word properly signifies the Military-Oath taken by Soldiers to their Commander in chief are bound and obliged by it to the Obedience of their General so the baptized person upon receiving this Sacrament becomes obliged and engaged unto Jesus Christ and is sworn in nomen imperationi coeti Thus Bucer Dickson and Peter Martyr do expound the phrase 3. The phrase may signifie the Exterior form of Baptism as to Baptismi formam the Administration of it it must be in the name of Christ so we are baptized into Christ 1. According to the institution of Christ he hath commanded his Ministers saying Mat. 28. 19. Go preach and baptize all Nations This is mentioned by Ambrose Aquinas Pareus Justinian Chrysostome Beza and P. Martyr 2. By a solemn invocation of the name of Christ This Beza insisteth upon expounding Mat. 28. 19. Then the sense is no more than so many of us as were baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost solemnly invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Aquinas thinks this the whole sense of this text but that I cannot agree I shall give you my reason for it anon 4. The phrase may import something of the significancy of this Ordinance Every Sacrament is significative a Sacrament is an outward and sensible sign Now what doth Baptism signifie saith the Apostle We are baptized into Christ 1. It is signum rei a sign of the redemption of our Souls by the blood of Christ of that clean water with which he hath promised to sprinkle the Souls of his people and which he hath poured out for their sprinkling even the blood of that lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world 2. It is signum spei A sign that our hope alone is in Christ Jesus there being no other name under heaven but his by which we can be Acts 4. 12. saved nor any salvation in any other Thus Deodate seemeth to interpret it 5. The phrase may signifie the End of our Baptism If any ask To what purpose are we and our Children baptized the answer is We are baptized into Christ to this end 1. That we should bear a testimony to the death of Christ and hold forth the great truth of the Gospel to the world that Jesus Christ is come into the world to save sinners That he was incarnate hath died and is risen again from the dead that in and through him we might have remission and forgiveness of sins through his blood 2. That we might bear witness that he is the alone object of our hopes that we rest upon him and him alone for eternal life and salvation This is the very end why we are baptized 3. That we might grow up in him so Beza and Hemingius We are by baptism as it were implanted and ingrafted into Christ and as the end of the implantation and ingrafting of a cien into a stock or of a plant in any soil is that it might grow up in that soil or in that stock So the end for which we are baptized into Christ is that we might grow up in Christ 6. The phrase may be understood to signifie the fruit of Baptism lest any should say What good is there of this Sacrament or what availeth Baptism saith the Apostle We are baptized into Christ This is the fruit of Baptism the Baptized person hath an interest and relation given him to Christ and is become a member of Christ Sacramentally so Really so All baptized persons have a real relation to the Church whose head is Christ 7. But lastly This phrase may be understood to denote the Perfection of Baptism As the Apostle distinguisheth of Circumcision Rom. 2. 26 27 29. telling us there is a Circumcision in the letter and of the flesh and there is a circumcision of the heart in the spirit So we must distinguish of Baptism there is a baptism of Water and there is a baptism with the Holy Ghost There is a baptism of the letter and upon the flesh and there is a baptism in the heart and the spirit Now this latter is the Baptism into Christ the other is in the name of Christ but this most properly into Christ it signifieth that we pass into Christ saith P. Martyr So as I think there is some difference and that a great one betwixt the phrase used here and Gal. 3. 27. Baptizing into Christ and that used in many other Scriptures of being baptized in the name of Christ I will shortly offer you my reason for my opinion as to this phrase signifying thus much 1. In the first place the Apostles phrase seems to me to restrain the subject of the Proposition He doth not say All of us were baptized into Christ and so into his death but as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death As much as to say Many are baptized in the name of Christ but some of us have not only been baptized in the name of Christ according to the sorm he hath prescribed with solemn invocation of his name but we have upon our baptism truly believing been ingrafted into Christ and united to him Now so many of us as have been thus not only been formally but really baptized into Christ having with the sign received the thing signified are baptized into his death 2. Again Observe the Praedicate As many of us saith the Apostle as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death I am aware that that phrase may be interpreted and is by some as I shall shew you more by and by into the sign and symbol of his death but I do not take that interpretation to be comprehensive of the full of what that phrase importeth I think it is interpreted v. 6. Knowing that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin may be destroyed which cannot be understood of all baptized persons but such only as are baptized with the Holy Ghost or according to the phrase of this text Baptized into Christ 3. This phrase is but once more found in Scripture Gal. 3. 27. where you have another predicate affixed to the subject of this Proposition There it is As many of you as have been
it and rests much upon the establishment or not establishment of the Doctrine of the Gospel by the Laws of this or that place But there is another way of defending the Truths of the Gospel by our blood and that is in a way of Martyrdom patiently and chearfully suffering even death it self rather than to deny the truths of the Gospel This is every Christians duty by vertue of his Baptism The very term Sacrament originally signified an Oath that Soldiers took to their Prince or Captain General to fight or spend their blood under his Command and Conduct and the giving of this name to these two great Ritual Institutions signifies the duty of a Christian that is baptized to fight under Christs colours and to resist unto blood fighting against sin 4. Finally There is a duty incumbent upon all baptized persons to be continually mortifying of sin and keeping under their body and making no provision for the flesh to obey it in the lusts thereof For saith the Text as many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death and we are buried with Christ by baptism into death The import of both which phrases I have at large before opened to you shewing you that they signifie this ingagement laid upon us Instruct 3. We may from hence infer What dreadful perjured Apostate wretches the most baptized persons are plain Renegado's from those colours under which they were listed in the day wherein they were baptized Shall I reckon them up to you that you may see the difference betwixt Christians in name and Christians in deed 1. What do you think of those who deny the Lord that bought them that blow a Trumpet and say What portion have we in David or in the son of Jesse What will you say to them who deny that Christ is the Eternal Son of God equal with the Father that have made shipwrack of their faith in Christ as God or the only Saviour and Redeemer of the World Was this the faith into which they were baptized 2. But how many more are there who are not in this black bill of Hereticks and Apostates but yet refuse to come to Christ that they might have life to lay hold on him and make application of his redemption By their baptism they were ingaged when they should come to years of discretion to say unto Christ Thou art our Lord our Saviour and the guide of our youth and we as the Embassadors of the Lord Jesus have besought them in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God and have not ceased from day to day with all the arguments we could use and even with tears to intreat them to be reconciled unto God yet they live at enmity and in open rebellion and disobedience to the great Precept of the Gospel They in their Baptism ingaged that they would take the Lord Jesus Christ to be their spiritual husband they are now grown up to years of discretion One is married to his Lusts another is married to the World many live in a total ignorance of the Gospel many more in a desperate unbelief of it in a neglect if not a contempt of Gods way of salvation The Lord makes a wedding-feast he sends to invite men to it One hath married a wife and cannot come another hath bought five yoke of oxen and hath not tryed them c. Every impenitent sinner is maimed unto one lust or another 3. How many are there who by their Baptism are obliged to defend and maintain the interest of Christ and his Gospel whose work it is to persecute the Image of Christ wherever they see it and set themselves in a direct opposition to those Truths Institutions and persons who have any thing of the image and superscription of Christ upon them 4. Finally What shall we say to those who live in the constant practice and indulgence of those lusts which by their baptism they were ingaged to mortifie and dye unto In short not only every person that is erroneous in Doctrine and a stiff maintainer of any Propositions contrary to the fundamental Doctrine of the Gospel not only persecutors and open enemies to the Cross and Gospel of Christ but every one that abideth and goeth on in his unbelief or who indulgeth himself in any unmortified lust is before God by reason of his Baptismal Dedication and Vow a sacrilegious perjured and Apostatized person Instruct 4. And from hence in the next place will the righteousness of God appear in throwing multitudes of baptized persons into that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone The Jews of old were wont much to glory in two things 1. That they had Abraham to their Father 2. That they were of the Circumcision and looked upon others that were not circumcised as accursed Our Saviour John the Baptist the Apostle Paul Matth. 3. John 8. Rom. 2. as you will find were put to take a great deal of pains to beat them out of these vain and empty confidences I am afraid that we have too many that are apt to flatter themselves with the name of Christ and that they are called Christians and are baptized into the name of Christ Luther complained that there were many that did but crepare Christum make a vain boast of Christ Jactant fumos nomina vana Catonum What said John Baptist to the Jews Think not to say within your selves We have Abraham to our Father Mat. 39. What doth Christ say John 8. 39. If you were Abrahams seed you would do the works of Abraham But now you seek to kill me This did not Abraham What saith St. Paul to their boasting of Circumcision Rom. 2. 25. For circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law but if thou be a breaker of the law thy circumcision is made uncircumcision v. 28 29. For he is not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit whose praise is not of men but of God and Phil. 3. 2 3. Beware saith he of the concision he means the Jews the circumcision he calls them the concision because of the russle and rent they made in the Church of God For saith he we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit Alas poor creatures here will be your judgment your condemnation will be aggravated from this That you were baptized and so under a solemn dedication to Christ under a solemn vow to be his disciples and this vow of God you have broken this Oath you have satisfied you were bound to God and you are run away and brake your bonds and cast the cords behind you Shall the Master be justified that sends his Covenant-servant that runs from him or neglect his business to Bridewell Shall the General be justified which hangs up the Soldier who runneth from his colours and shall not God be justified in condemning thousands
will call that Justification but not as to remission of sins or the actual Justification and Acceptation of his Soul by and before God in this life he makes his boast of Christ and rejoyceth in him and hath no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3 3. Thus much as to the putting on Christ as to Justification As for the putting on Christ with reference to Sanctification let me add a few notes by which we may judg of that 3. He that hath thus put on Christ hath put him on not only for his upper but for his inward garment He is not sanctified in body only but throughout in mind and in spirit he doth not only offer up his body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God but he is transformed through the renewing of his mind he hath not only a demure countenance an holy look or tougue but his thoughts are in a great measure holy his will his affections are holy with allowance to such infirmities as attend even the best of Saints he saith the Apostle is a Jew that is one inwardly so he is a Christian that is one inwardly St. Paul delighteth in the Law of God after the inward man Rom. 7. 22. Many put on a face and outward appearance of Religion The Pharisees Luke 11. 39. made clean the outside of the cup and platter but our Saviour tells them that their inward part was full of ravening and wickedness So many are outwardly very fair and religious but inwardly they are vain and filthy had you a window into their hearts there you would see vain and idle and sinful thoughts and those not rare and crouded in but frequent constant and feasting their Souls A blind understanding a will stubborn and rebellious against the will of God especially if cross to their natural bias and inclinations and humours or interest sensual and carnal affections not set on heaven and heavenly things but meerly feeding on earth and earthly things 4. If you have put on Christ you have put off what is contrary unto him Rom. 13. 12. Let us therefore saith the Apostle cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light Eph. 4. 22. And be you renewed in your mind that you put off concerning your former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts v. 25. Wherefore pntting away lying speak every man the truth to his neighbour v. 26. Be you angry and sin not v. 28. Let him that hath stollen steal no more c. v. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers v. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit c. v. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be you kind one to another tender hearted c. Col. 3. 8. But now you also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth v. 9. Lye not one to another seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is created in knowledge after the image of him that created him This is to be baptized into the death of Christ This is the picture of him who hath put on Christ 5. Who so hath put on Christ hath put on both his robes and his sackcloth and crown of thorns As there is a dying to sin so there is a living to righteousness in every soul that hath put on Christ As he puts off what I mentioned before so he also puts on as one of the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering he for bears others and forgives others if he hath a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave him so also doth he he puts on Charity which is the bond of perfectness the word of Christ dwelleth in him richly in all wisdom he doth all he doth in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ whether in word or deed giving thanks to God and the Father by him Col. 3. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. He puts on habits of universal righteousness and holiness which the Apostle calleth the Image of God he puts on meekness and patience in suffering Being reviled he revileth not again he is led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers he openeth not his mouth c. 6. He who hath put on Christ hath put on the whole armour of God It all goes along with Christ to a soul such a soul stands with its loins girt about with truth having on the breast-plate of righteousness and its feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace He takes the shield of faith whereby he is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked he takes the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God c. 7. Finally If the soul hath put on Christ its face its garments will shine That soul will look like Moses when he came from the Mount Its light will shine before men that they shall see its good works How beautiful must that soul be that is cloathed with light as with a garment It s faith its holiness its humility its meekness will be every where reported of If now you find these things in you in sincerity and in some measure though not in the perfection of degrees you may conclude you are baptized into Christ because you have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Vse 3. I shall stand once more on this foundation and give you a few words of Exhortation with which I will conclude I shall speak 1. to you that are Parents 2. To you that are Children or who have been baptized while you were Children 3. To all in general whether Parents or Children First I speak unto you Parents I have two words to speak to you upon occasion of this discourse 1. That you would be very grave and serious when you bring your Children to this great Ordinance of God It was indeed one of the ends I proposed to my self in undertaking this discourse to correct that woful levity which I generally observe in this most grave and weighty action And here were I in a Congregation proper for such a discourse I would beseech my brethren in the Ministry to restrain that slightness and desultory levity that is so ordinary in this Administration by their more grave and thoughtful performance of this part of their Ministry I perswade my self much of this hath been occasioned by that groundless fancy That Baptism is necessary to salvation not only by a necessity of precept as the fulfilling of every command of God is necessary and by a necessity of the mean as it is a divine mean which in its season and under due circumstances we ought not to neglect we freely grant both
Baptism wherein the baptized person is buried with water signifieth the burial of the sins of that soul with Christ who shall truly repent and believe and dye unto sin 3. When the Lord together with the external sign conferreth his grace signified by that sign The sins of that soul are in that moment buried with Christ so as they shall appear no more either to their Souls eternal condemnation or in their former power and dominion as our Apostle afterward speaks in this Chapter Sin shall not have dominion over your mortal bodies because you are not under the law but under grace I have now done with the Doctrinal part of my discourse and the Proposition thus explained amounts to these two things 1. That every person who hath come under the Sacrament of Baptism by vertue thereof is dedicated to God and stands obliged to believe the Doctrine of the Gospel and to make a profession of that faith and is from that day made a member of the mystical body of Christ so far forth as it is visible and hath received that holy sign upon this trust That he or she shall not be ashamed of Christ and his Gospel but shall accept of Christ and the way of salvation through him revealed to the world and commit all its spiritual concerns unto him and rest upon him and him alone for life and salvation and grow up in him avoiding the pollutions of the world through lusts And this Baptism is both a sign to the soul commemorative of what Christ hath done in dying for sinners and declarative of what he further will do in the application of his redemption to them and that every one baptized walking up to his Baptismal dedication and Covenant shall certainly enjoy the benefits of Christs death And all such as come not only under the Ordinance but who are fully and perfectly baptized with the Holy Ghost are forthwith ingrafted into Christ and entituled to a present enjoyment of all the benefits of his death 2. That all such as have come under the holy Ordinance of Baptism ought to look back upon their Baptism as the Image of Christs death and upon themselves obliged by vertue of it to dye to sin like as he dyed for sin and all such as are perfectly baptized into Christ have their sins buried with Christ and their sins can no more rise up in judgment against them than one that is buried can rise up to do his former actions in the world and the power of sin is also dead in them so as it is impossible they should any longer serve sin and therefore the plea of those against Justification of grace for the righteousness of Christ imputed to the soul must be vain for that holy Doctrine cannot possibly open a door to a licentious conversation because all such persons are baptized into Christ and buried with Christ by Baptism into death This I take to be the full sense of the text and the Proposition which I have delivered in the words of the text Let me now come to the Application of this discourse Instruct 1. This in the first place may by way of Instruction let us know That Baptism considered as to the action is a most solemn serious action and ought to be so looked upon both by the Administrator and by those who offer themselves or their children unto it and considered as an Ordinance of the Gospel is a most useful Institution I will dwell a little upon both these branches it being indeed my great design in this discourse to recover to this Ordinance the gravity and reverence that is due to it and to make my hearers a little better to understand the meaning and usefulness of it than the most of our people seem to do The truth is we are degenerated into such a careless slighty administration of this sacred Institution as if the Baptizing of a child were an action of no graver import than washing its face and an opportunity amongst the richer to call friends together for a banquet or amongst those of meaner rank to call the richer together to make them or their Midwives or Nurses some small presents Let me therefore evince to you 1. That it is a most serious Action 2. That it is a most useful Institution 1. That it is a most serious Action Two things in my former discourse will evince this 1. That in Baptism there is a solemn dedication of the person baptized unto Christ 2. That there is in it a solemn adstriction or stipulation or engagement of the party baptized unto Christ 1. I say first There is in it a solemn dedication of the person There is in Baptism a solemn dedication of the person baptized to God unto Christ If the person baptized be adult and grown up he or she dedicate themselves If they be baptized in their Infancy their Parents whose they are dedicate them unto Christ The grown person that offereth him or her self to Baptism doth in effect say Lord I am thy creature the work of thy hands I have degenerated and forgotten thee my maker other Lords have ruled over me I have been servant to Idols a servant to the Devil to the world to my own lusts But Lord I am weary of that service and from my heart renounce it I have heard that thou hast sent Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners I desire to look upon it as a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation Lord I do here accept it and of that thy way of salvation and do from my heart this day set my self apart unto thee and solemnly offer up my self unto thee I am Christs servant O Lord I am Christs servant believing that is he who hath loosed my bands Admitting a child to be baptized in its infancy then the parents dedicate it Give me leave to allude to that of Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 27 28. The good woman had been praying for a child v. 15. having obtained a child of the Lord v. 22. She names the child Samuel asked of God v. 22. She resolves when he was weaned to carry him that he might appear before the Lord and there abide for ever v. 26. she brings the child to the High-Priest Eli and saith Oh my Lord as thy soul liveth my Lord I am the woman that stood by thee praying unto the Lord For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition I asked of him therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord. She meant it in a particular sense that she had dedicated him to the Priestly office But there is no parent that brings a child to Baptism but says in proportion thus unto God O Lord I am the person to whom thou hast given this child for it I prayed and thou hast given me the petition I asked of thee Therefore also I here dedicate him to thee O thou eternal Father To thee O
most dear and blessed Saviour To thee O most holy Spirit To the only living and true God! I here dedicate my child and my desire is that thou wouldst accept him that as long as he lives he may be the Lords Is not here now a most grave and solemn action requiring all our thoughtfulness seriousness gravity and attention imaginable Was the dedication of an house to God so serious an action that Solomon at it offered a sacrifice of 22000 Oxen and an 120000 Sheep and kept a feast seven days and then a solemn assembly Was the dedication of an Altar so solemn an action that it took seven days time 2 Chron. 7. 8 9. And can the dedication of a child a piece of our selves flesh of our flesh unto God be judged a slighty action so as that there needs no more than for parents without any praevious thoughts on the sudden to send for a Minister and he in great haste to read over two or three prayers and sprinkle water on it saying I baptize thee c. I wish this slighty kind of Administration of this sacred Ordinance flow not from that novel conceit of the necessity of Baptism to salvation or the certain effect of it upon all that shall not afterwards run on the score with God for the washing away of the guilt of Original sin Whatsoever it be which hath incouraged such hasty and perfunctory Administrations I am sure they no way sute the grave nature of this solemn Administration Dedications if they were of no more than wood and stone and other inanimate things were wont to be more serious actions and done in a more grave and serious manner 2. But there is in Baptism not only a solemn dedication of the A solemn ingagement of the Soul to God party baptized unto God but also a solemn adstriction or obligation of the person to God Circumcision of old was called Gods covenant in their flesh Gal. 17. 13. Baptism under the Gospel succeeds into its place It is Gods Covenant in our flesh We read in Scripture of three ways of making Covenants betwixt parties 1. By words only Thus God made a Covenant with Abraham saying I will be thy God and of thy seed 2. By words and a ceremony or sign Such a Covenant you read made of betwixt Jacob and Laban Gen. 31. 46. 3. By a Ceremony alone Thus the Masters boring through the ear of his servant with an Awl the servant submitting to it was a covenant though at the time the servant said nothing yet he was by that submission obliged to be his Masters servant for ever Thus with us the Soldiers taking Press-money or the Kings Colours is an actual obligation upon him to keep to the Kings service and subjects him to death if he deserts it Baptism is such a ceremony The person brought under it is by such submission actually engaged in the service of Christ no longer to live unto himself nor to dye unto himself but unto him who hath dyed for him the sign of whose blood he hath received in the sprinkling or pouring of water upon him The man or woman that is baptized doth in effect say Let the blood of Christ signified by this water be a witness against me let is be upon me for ever to confound me if I ever apostatize from the profession of the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Faith of Christ or wilfully and presumptuously live contrary to his law Is not this a most serious action think we Marriage is but a Covenant betwixt man and wife wherein God is no party but only called in as a witness in it the husband and wife mutually bind themselves each to other for the term of one of their natural lives yet it is a most grave and serious action I have always thought that the most of men and women trifle a great deal too much with that and should be much more grave and serious than they are and take many more serious thoughts before they give away themselves each to other and put themselves out of a power over their own bodies and that the cursed Atheistical lives of very many husbands and wives their discontents and breaches and the perverse spirit mixed betwixt them is but the effect and just punishment of men and womens hasty slighty and inconsiderate engagements in that Covenant this is a Covenant of another nature a Covenant betwixt the great God and the baptized person where God is not a witness only but a party Ought we not to be serious in such an action O let this mind you that hear me to bring your Children to Baptism and to attend the administration of it with much more gravity and seriousness of thoughts than is usual Believe me it is no light action to Dedicate a child to God not to covenant with God that your child shall be his servant for ever If afterward you direct it otherwise or shew it an example to the contrary or omit to instruct it and mind it of its duty and to call upon it for the performance of it or as much as in you lyeth to hinder it from the contrary the child shall perish for its Apostacy because the Oath of God was upon it but its blood shall also be required at your hands 2. But I told you that as the action is serious so the Institution The usefulness of Baptism is useful There are too many who slight this great Institution because they cannot understand the usefulness of it There are others that will make an usefulness of it beyond what I can find in holy Writ making it upon the work done to wash away the guilt of Original sin and to set the soul rectum in curia right in the Court of Heaven I cannot allow this but doubt not to evince to you That leaving this effect only to the blood of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience Baptism is a very useful thing and that upon a fourfold account 1. To repel temptations to sin and this as it is a pre-ingagement To repel temptations upon the soul It is an excuse you often put men off with in your converses with the world when you have no mind to meet or treat or converse with them you tell them you are pre-engaged you cannot meet with them or deal with them or be for them indeed you tell them you are pre-engaged thus you look often upon pre-engagements as very useful to you You have this from your Baptism to answer all tempters all temptations to sin be they from what tempters they will if Satan if your own lusts if the world sollicit you to Apostacy either from the profession of faith which you have made or from your practice of holiness When the Devil makes any such impressions upon your souls you can say to him Satan I am ingaged When the men of the world the sinful companions in it tempt you to cast in your lot with them you can say to