THE

DOCTRINE OF THE TWO SACRAMENTS.

EPH. v. 26.

THAT HE MIGHT SANCTIFY AND CLEANSE IT, WITH THE WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD.

THE holy sacrament of Baptism, as it is our solemn entrance

and admission into the Visible Church of Jesus Christ; so is the doctrine of it, with very good reason, set as an introduction to that farther account of Christian Faith comprised in our Public Catechism.

And, indeed, it seems but reason, that we should begin our Christian Profession, where we began our Christian Race; and that the Doctrine of Christianity should commence at the same Holy Institution, where we first took upon us the name and title of Christians.

I shall, therefore, through the assistance of Jesus Christ, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, endeavour to explain the principles of our religion contained in that brief summary, the Catechism; beginning with that of Baptism: wherein, as it is there expressed, we are made Members of Christ, Children of God, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

These are high encomiums of this ordinance, and inestimable privileges conferred by it; and, to some, may possibly seem too lavish: yet I doubt not but to make it appear, that all these privileges do appertain unto us, according to the phrase of Scripture, by our being baptized into the Church and Faith of Christ.

I have chosen this portion of Scripture, to shew the great influence that Baptism hath upon our sanctification, by which it is, that we are made members of Christ, vitally joined by a holy band to a holy head. The words are brought in as a demonstration of the love of Christ to his Church, which the Apostle gives as a pattern for conjugal love and amity: He loved the Church, so as to give himself for it, as it is in the precedent verse.

And the end of this unspeakable gift we find contained in this verse: He gave himself for his Church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

Not to speak any thing of the context, nor to make any laborious and critical explication of the words, here be two things worthy of our observation:

That one End, why Christ was given to the Church, is,

that he might sanctify it.

That the Means to sanctify the Church, are Baptism and the Word.

As to the former of these, being alien from our present purpose, let it suffice to note briefly, that Christ hath purchased for us not only eternal glory, but present grace. He, who hath called himself both the Way and the Life, gave himself for us; not only to purchase life, but to lead us in the way tending to it. He died to procure heaven for all, if they would believe: but he died to procure grace for some, even his chosen ones, that they might believe and attain unto heaven and happiness. For their sakes, as he tells us, John xvii. 19. he sanctified himself: that is, he devoted and separated himself to undergo the cruel and accursed death of the cross: and, for his sake, God sanctifies us from our filth and pollution; thereby preparing us to enter into those mansions, which he is gone before to prepare for us.

But that, which more concerns us at this time to observe, is, the Means for effecting this sanctification: and they are two; the washing of water, and the word. By the former, I suppose none will doubt but that Baptism is meant: or, if they should, yet so many other parallel places might be produced, where remission of sins, justification, and regeneration, are ascribed to this holy ordinance, as the effects of it, that it may be sufficient conviction that Baptism is likewise in this place understood by the washing of water. So, Acts xxii. 16. Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, saith Ananias to Paul; which is no other than being sanctified and cleansed with the washing of water. So likewise, Acts ii. 38. Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. And Baptism is called, Tit. iii. 5. A8rpov waλYYEVEσias: we render it, the washing of regeneration: according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration; but the word signifies, the Bath of Regeneration, which is that baptismal water wherein we are buried with Christ.

I. But, before I can come particularly to shew you what Sanctification it is, that we receive by Baptism; and how we are in it made the Members of Christ, the Children of God, and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, it is necessary, and I hope will be useful, to VINDICATE THE PRACTICE OF BAPTIZING INFANTS, which some of late have eagerly disputed against.

For, if the Church mistake in the persons to whom this ordinance belongs, certainly they can claim no privilege by virtue of their having been baptized. And, therefore, since Baptism is usually administered to infants, let us briefly examine whether their admission to this holy and mystical institution be according to the precept of the Gospel: for, if not, how can they say, as the Catechism directs, that in their Baptism they were made Members of Christ, Children of God, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven?

Herein I shall,

Prove to you the Lawfulness of Infant Baptism.

Answer some Objections, that are plausibly urged against

it.

Shew you what are the Uses of Baptism, and the Ends for which it was ordained.

i. I shall begin with the ARGUMENTS, TO PROVE THE LAWFUL

NESS OF INFANT BAPTISM.

1. The first is this: Infants are Members of the Church of Christ; and, therefore, to be baptized.

Two things are here to be proved, that Church-Members are to be baptized; and, then, that Infants are Church-Members.

(1) I suppose the Former may be evidently demonstrated, because there is no other way of solemn admission into the Visible Church but by Baptism; and, therefore, if the Members of the Church ought to be solemnly admitted into the visible flock of Christ, they ought to be baptized. But, clear enough it is, that those, who are Church-Members, ought to be solemnly admitted into the Visible Church of Christ. They are members of the Church, as a king is a sovereign, before his coronation; or as a soldier is such, before his military oath. So, Baptism is our public and solemn inauguration into the kingdom of Christ: it is our military oath and sacrament, to be Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto our lives' end.

(2) It only remains now to prove, that Infants are ChurchMembers.

And that appears, because once they were so, and that privilege is not repealed: for, in the Church of the Jews, infants were a part of them, who entered into covenant with God. See Deut. xxix. 10, 11, 12. Ye stand....all of you before the Lord..... your little ones, and your wives, and the stranger.....that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God. It is not, nor indeed can it be, denied, that the Jews' children were members of their Church: consequently, then, the children of Christians must likewise be members of the Christian Church; unless it can be manifested, that Christ hath repealed and recalled this privilege. No such repeal, I am confident, can be produced. Nor, indeed, can the repeal of such a privilege, as the being members of the Church, consist with the greater mercy and goodness of God, revealed since Christ's coming, in comparison of what it was before. The children of the Jews were members of the Jewish Church, before Christ's coming into the world; but, if a Jew be converted to the faith, shall not his children be now members of the Church of God? if not, they are in a far worse condition since Christ, than they were before; which is little less than blasphemy.

Again, that the infants of believing parents are members of the Church of Christ, appears from this, that they, who deny them to be members of the Visible Church of Christ, must of necessity make them to be members of the visible kingdom of the Devil: for there is no third estate on earth; but the kingdom of Christ, which is the Church, and the kingdom of the Devil, divide all mankind between them. Those, who are not of the Church, are of the World: since our Saviour affirms, that he hath called and taken his out of the world, and that they are not of the world; and the Devil is called the God and the Prince of this World. Therefore all, that are not of Christ's flock and of his Church, are of the World, and they belong to the kingdom of the Devil: and so, by a very uncharitable, but yet an unavoidable consequence, if we deny infants to be members of Christ's Church, we must hold, that they are all members of Satan, subjects of the kingdom of darkness, and in a desperate state of condemnation.

From all this it follows clearly, that the children of Christian Parents are Church-Members; and, being Church-Members,