Page images
PDF
EPUB

in every article belonging to it. One Greek Testament that I have, represents those words in another manner than our translators have written them, viz. having our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful who has promised. Heb. x. 22. The person he speaks of is Christ Jesus, the High Priest over the house of God, who in another part of that epistle, is called the High-Priest of our profession. The profession that we make, is of an equal devotion to him, with the Father and Spirit. This we are to hold fast without wavering. Many would take it from us, or weaken it in us; but we must hold it axx, without any leaning to the one side or the other; without any inclining to the enemy, or declining from the truth; and to this we are obliged, by having our bodies washed with pure water. A baptized coward is a scandal to his character: an antitrinitarian baptist is a fugitive from his principles. Such as these have damnation, because they cast off their first faith. That water, had better have been spilt upon the ground. It is of no service to have it sprinkled on the forehead, if the name of Christ is not always to be read there; and of as little value is a greater quantity, if it is only washing away the filth of the flesh, and not attended with the answer of a good conscience towards God.

(4.) To Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we shall give eternal praises in heaven; as appears by all the accounts, we have of what they do

in that world.

Lamb is in it,

The throne of God and of the and his servants shall serve him.

Rev. xxii. 4. There is but one throne for both persons; and the honors of salvation and power, glory and strength, are equally ascribed to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever. It is from thence, that the Spirit speaks unto the Churches; it is there he will be adored, when he has fetched us all up. I shall therefore now conclude, as I hope to begin the work of heaven, with glory to Father, Son, and holy Ghost, as three distinct persons, and one living and true God for ever and ever, Amen and Amen.

SERMON VII.

Baptism is the peculiarity and beginning of a Christian profession, and is therefore public. By this we declare who our God is; which should be done intelligibly, in a certain form of words, and these taken in their natural sense. Baptism obliges to a profession. Faith sometimes the same with hope; both taken objectively, and both the matter of our profession. Washing with pure water no argument for dipping; but is an emblem of spiritual benefits. An account of spirit, soul, and body.

HEB. X. 22.

Having our bodies washed with pure water. As the blessing of God, upon my own family, led me to inquire what baptism was, so I took it, just as the Lord himself has left it. Thus it was once delivered to the saints, baptize them into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are seven things, to be regarded in that ordinance, whether you surrender yourselves or your children to the Lord.

1. It is peculiar to Christianity. It begun indeed to be administered by John the baptist, who was ordained a prophet of the highest, Luke i. 76, and in all his actions, only prepared the way of the Lord. Matt. iii. 2, 3. The kingdom of heaven was then at hand; and the in

stitution was completed, appointed, and established by Christ himself, as the result of his having all power, both in heaven and

earth.

To fetch it from the Jews, and especially from those traditional services, that obtained in their Church, is a wild imagination, and no better than seeking the living among the dead. They had divers washings and carnal ordinances, but our baptism was not one of them; for these were only imposed on the people till the time of the reformation. Heb. ix. 10. And therefore, as they were all to be abolished, we cannot suppose, that any of those worldly elements should be transplanted into our religion, to leave any remains of bondage upon the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Pe ter speaks to those, that knew nothing of that ordinance, as if it was a thing entirely new among them, "repent, and be baptized every one of you;" Acts ii. 38, and it is said we are baptized into Christ.* Rom. vi. 3.

* Baptism as a seal of the Covenant is peculiar to the New Testament, as well as the other sacrament. Bread and wine nevertheless had long been used, as appendages to the Paschal supper by the Jews, before the institution of the sacrament of the Lord's supper. It does not however derogate from the solemnity of this ordinance, that the Redeemer took a familiar custom and sanctified it to the Church, as a commemoration of his death. Neither is it disrespectful to the sacrament of baptism, to view it in the same light. The baptism of Jewish proselytes, is not indeed the ordinance of Christian worship; neither is the baptism of John, for the New Testament Church had not in his day been organized. But the Redeemer appears to have selected, the

2. It is the beginning of a profession, either active or passive; either in ourselves or our children; for thus runs the promise, they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. Is. lxv. 23. It is the first thing that a believer does, in a way of public declaration, to tell what religion he is of. They who, in this manner, bring their infants to Jesus, take an opportunity of sounding their faith abroad, and telling mankind what they believe themselves, and by what rule of doctrine, they will bring up their children, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Any who think, that baptism supposes a personal profession, must needs make it the great solemnity of that profession. By that, they give out themselves to be Christians, as distinguished from the Heathen, who know not the true God; and from the Jews who do not receive the true Messiah. When the Eunuch, who had been for some time a proselyte to the Jewish religion, became a Christian, he wanted to be baptized. Saith Philip to him, if thou believest with all thine heart thou maywhole order of the visible Church, which he erected by the ministry of his apostles, from those practices which were well known already among religious men. From the Synagogue, he took the model of the Church; from the baptism of proselytes and the passover supper, he adopted the two sacraments. We observe these ordinances, however, not because they were Jewish customs, but because they are Christian institutions; and the manner in which we observe them, is not determined by the Jewish precedents, but by their Christian character and use, as signs and seals of spiritual blessings enjoyed in the Covenant of grace.

« EelmineJätka »