Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World did by Baptism enter into that Covenant wherein God assured the promise of Eternal Life to all those who should believe and repent And this is what the Apostle intends by our having our Citizen-ship in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. and by our being Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together with him Rom. 8. 17. 5. Another Privilege which was represented and conferred by Baptism was the Influence and Assistance of Gods Holy Spirit All Persons that were baptized as their Bodies were washed and purified with Water so their Minds were sanctified by the Spirit of God But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. At their Baptism they received the Holy Ghost as a Gift constantly annexed to that Ordinance and unless they quenched and grieved it by their sins committed afterwards it always continued with them from thenceforward assisting and enabling them to perform their Duty strengthning and comforting them under Temptations and Afflictions and bearing witness with their Spirit that they were the Children of God At the first Preaching of the Gospel this influence of the Holy Spirit frequently discovered it self in those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles c. as appears in the History of the Acts of the Apostles But these by degrees ceasing it afterward continued to evidence it self in the strange and almost miraculous change which it made in the Minds of Men from the most corrupt and vicious to the most virtuous and heavenly Disposition almost in an instant upon their being baptized And when this effect also grew less frequent as the Zeal and Purity of the Christians declined it yet continued always by its secret Power to renew and transform Mens Minds to instruct Men in their Duty and to inable them to perform it Hence Baptism is called the Renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. and a being born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. and by the Antients frequently Illumination And Persons baptized are said to have been enlightned to have tasted of the heavenly Gift and to have been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost Heb. 6. 4. 6. The last Privilege which Persons Baptized were intitled to by virtue of that Ordinance was an Assurance of a Resurrection to Eternal Life They received as hath been said the Holy Spirit of God and that Spirit so long as it dwelt with them was a Seal and Earnest of their future Resurrection For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8. 11. And this was most significantly represented by their descending into the Water and rising out of it again For as Christ descended into the Earth and was raised again from the dead by the Glory of the Father So Persons baptized were buried with him by Baptism into Death and rose again after the similitude of his Resurrection They were planted together in the likeness of his Death and they were by this Sign assured that they should be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Thus the Apostle St. Paul Colos. 2. 12. Ye are buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God who hath raised him from the dead To which St. Peter seems likewise to allude 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto viz. to the saving of the Ark by the Water of the Flood even Baptism doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Christ. 7. These are the Spiritual Graces or Privileges which were represented by the Outward and Visible Signs in Baptism and conferr'd by their means And These are what God on his part engageth and assures to us in that Great and Holy Covenant There are other things which the Persons Baptized obliged themselves to on their part in that Covenant and These are the Duties which by their Baptism they vow and take upon themselves to perform represented also by the same Outward and Visible Signs The first of these Duties which the Persons baptized promised and obliged themselves to perform was a Constant Confession of the Faith of Christ and Profession of his Religion They were admitted by Baptism into the Church and Family of Christ and they were bound at all times to own themselves his Disciples They were solemnly baptized into his Death and they were oblig'd not to be asham'd of the Cross of Christ and to confess the Faith of him crucified They owned publickly at their Baptism their Belief in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and they were bound at all times to make Profession of this Faith They had with the heart believed unto Righteousness and they thought that with the Mouth Confession was necessary to be made unto Salvation They were assured that if they confessed Christ before Men he would also confess them before his Father which is in Heaven and before the Angels of God but if they were ashamed of him and denyed him before Men he would also be ashamed of them when he came in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels And so mighty an effect had this consideration upon the primitive Christians that in the times of Persecution when they were tempted to deny their Saviour and renounce the Faith which they had once Embraced they chose rather to endure the most exquisite Torments that the wit of Man could invent than either to renounce or dissemble their Christianity and those who out of Fear denyed or were ashamed to confess their Faith they looked upon to have forfeited and renounced their Baptism as having crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame 8. The Second Thing to which Persons baptized solemnly obliged themselves by their Baptism was a Death unto Sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness i. e. they engaged utterly and for ever to forsake all manner of Sin and Wickedness all Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship of false Gods all Injustice Wrong Fraud and Uncharitableness towards Men all the Pride and Vanity the Pomp and Luxury of this present World all the Lusts of the Flesh Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Gluttony Drunkenness Revellings and such like And for the future they promised to make it the business of their lives to fulfil all Righteousness according to the strictest Rules of the Christian Doctrine and Discipline to Worship the only true God with all Devotion Reverence and Humility to be exactly just in their Dealings with Men and generously charitable upon all occasions in fine to be Temperate and Sober Chast and Pure as the Worshippers of
God and the Temples of the Holy Ghost This was indeed a Dying unto Sin and Living unto Righteousness This was properly a being Regenerated or Born again This was truly a being Washed Sanctified and Justified in the Name of Christ and by the Spirit of God And indeed this was the principal thing which was signified in Baptism and the principal end for which the whole Ordinance was designed This was what the Person to be baptized was to profess with his own Mouth when he renounced the Devil and all his Works and this was what was principally represented by that main part of the Ceremony the descending into the Water and rising out of it again For so the Apostle St. Paul most fully explains it Rom. 6. 3. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life Knowing this that our old Man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin that is the design of our descending into the Water to be baptized and rising again out of it was to mind us that as we then received remission of our past sins by Vertue of Christ's having died for sin so we our selves were in like manner to die and be buried to sin and rise again to walk for the future with Christ in newness and holiness of Life This therefore was the principal thing respected in Baptism and without this answer of a good Conscience towards God the washing or putting away of the filth of the Flesh could nothing avail in the sight of God Baptism is not the Washing and Cleansing of the Body but the Purifying of the Mind from every evil Work to serve the living God without which Baptism is so far from being available to the remission of sin that on the contrary it makes it far the more grievous and inexcusable But of this more in the next Chapter 9. The third and last thing to which Men were solemnly engaged at their Baptism was Self-denyal and Contempt of the World Our Saviour had told his Disciples That whosoever would come after him must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow him that whosoever was not willing to forsake all that he had Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he could not be his Disciple And therefore when any Man came to be baptized he was accordingly obliged to renounce the World and all its Glory the Pomps and Vanities the Splendor and Pleasures of it He professed himself a Candidate for the Glory that should be revealed hereafter and that therefore he would never be ambitious for that Honour which Men so earnestly contend for here He declared that he expected his Portion in those spiritual Joys which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive them and therefore he would never set his heart and affections upon any gross and sensual Pleasure He professed that from thenceforward his Treasure should be in Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves do not break through and steal and that therefore he would never be covetous of any Riches or Possessions on Earth In a word he engaged to make it the main business of his Life to prepare and fit himself to be partaker of those things which God had for them that love him laid up in the next World and that therefore he would never be extreamly solicitous after any thing in this This was what the Primitive Christians understood by their Renouncing the World They thought themselves obliged not only to forsake all gross and palpably sinful Lusts but also to be very sparing in their Enjoyments of what was Lawful They looked upon this World and the next as Enemies to each other and that they were to fight as Soldiers under the Banner of Christ against the Pleasures and Temptations of this VVorld for the Glories of the other And for an Emblem of this it was that in some Churches they anointed the baptized Person with Oil He was compared to a Combatant to a Runner just preparing to start in the Christian Race and they minded him that if those who strive for the Mastery only to obtain a corruptible Crown are temperate in all things much more ought he to confirm and strengthen himself to prepare and harden himself to be ready and expedite to be temperate and abstemious and to get perfectly above all those earthly desires which would hinder and clog him in that great race which he was to run for the Crown of Immortality 'T is true the forsaking all worldly Possessions for the Name of Christ was a condition more particularly required in those Primitive times of Persecution But how far it still obliges us as it most certainly does in some Sense shall be considered in its proper place CHAP IV. What was required of Persons after Baptism 1. WHEN the whole Ceremony was finished the Person baptized was cloathed as has been already observed with a white Garment and then he was admitted to the Communion of the Faithful And that which was afterward required of him was this One Great and Necessary thing To keep his Baptism Pure and Undefiled the remaining part of his Life 2 To the keeping a Man's Baptism pure and undefiled through the remaining part of his Life that which was thought absolutely necessary in the Primitive Church was this First That he from that time forward preserved himself from falling not only into the Habit but even so much as into the single Act of any of these gross and palpable Wickednesses Idolatry Perjury Blasphemy Murder Sedition Theft manifest Injustice Cheating Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Drunkenness Revelling and such like of which St. Paul expresly and peremptorily declares and repeats it with great earnestness over and over again that they who do such things shall have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God One that was born of God might be surprized into an unheeded sin but into the gross Act of any of these manifest and notorious Impieties they thought he was never to be seduced and if he were that he ceased to be the Servant of God For whosoever abideth in him sinneth not and whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God From the Acts therefore of any of these great and plain Wickednesses which stare Men in the Face and at the first view terrifie Mens Consciences they thought it indispensably necessary that a Man abstained wholly and that these things were not so much as to be once named among Christians
publick profession of at their Baptism They were fully instructed in the excellent Moral Precepts of that Divine Religion which they were to practise the remaining part of their lives And then they were thought prepared for the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost CHAP. III. In what manner persons converted to Christianity were baptized to what Privileges they were admitted and to what Duties they were ingaged by their Baptism 1. WHen the person to be baptized was thus prepared and the time appointed come which was usually at Easter or Whitsontide the Commemorations of our Saviour's Passion and Resurrection and of the great Effusion of the Holy Spirit things principally respected in this Sacrament though it might also upon occasion be celebrated at any other time When the Person I say was thus prepared he was brought by the Priest to a convenient place where there was plenty of Water and being stript of all his cloaths he in the first place with stretched out Arms in a most solemn manner renounced the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all not only the absolutely sinful but also the lawful desires of the flesh so far as to keep them within the most strict bounds and most exact obedience to the Laws of Reason and Religion Then he made Profession of his Faith in One God the Father Almighty c. in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord c. and in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church c. After which he was baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost being immersed in the Water three times once at the Name of each Person in the ever Blessed Trinity Which being done he came up out of the Water and then according to the Custom of some Churches he was anointed with Oil with the addition of some other Ceremonies which as they were in their own nature indifferent so they were used only in some places and that diversly according to the different usage of particular Churches After all which he was clothed with a white Robe and so admitted among the Faithful to the Communion of the Church which last Ceremony the Greeks as a Learned Writer of our own observes keep up to this day putting upon the Child immediately after Baptism a white Garment with this Form Receive this white and immaculate Cloathing and bring it with thee unspotted before the Tribunal of Christ and thou shalt inherit eternal life 2. This was the Form and Manner in which Persons converted to Christianity were Baptized in the Primitive Church And by all these outward and visible Ceremonies were significantly represented certain inward and invisible things which were either the Privileges to the injoyment of which the Person Baptized was intitled or the Duties to the performance of which he was engaged by his Baptism 3. The first Grace or Privilege which God annexed to the right use of this Ordinance of Baptism and to which the Person Baptised was consequently intitled was Remission of all past sins The design of our Savior's coming into the World was by the Merit of his Death and Suffering to purchase Pardon and Remission for all those who should believe in his Name and obey his Gospel Rom. 3. 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Now the Means by which this Pardon is applied and the Seal by which it is secured to all those who Believe and by Repentance begin to Obey the Gospel is Baptism Whosoever therefore was converted to Christianity and was baptized was baptised into the death of Christ i. e. was by Baptism intitled to the benefit of the Pardon purchased by his Death and Passion As his Body was washed with pure Water so his Sins were absolutely done away by the Blood of Christ and his Heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10. 22. Hence Baptism is called the Washing of Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. and they who by the Apostles Preaching or by any other more extraordinary means were convinced of the Truth of the Gospel were exhorted immediately to be baptized and wash away their sins Acts 22. 16. And now why tarriest thou Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the Name of the Lord And Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins To which those Places also seem manifestly to allude Rev. 1. 5. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and Rev. 7. 14. These are they which have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. The plain meaning of all which passages is this That as a new-born Infant is without Spot Innocent and Sinless so every one that is born of Water i. e. regenerated by Baptism is in the account of God as if he had never sinned cloathed with the white and spotless Garment of Innocence which if he never defile by gross and wilful sins he shall walk in white with Christ for he shall be worthy 4. The next Privilege which Baptism principally and most significantly represented was the Admission of the Convert into the Church or Family of God All that received Baptism were thereby actually admitted into the Society of Christians and to the participation of all the benefits which God bestows upon his Church They were admitted to the Communion of the Saints of God and to the Fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 1. 9. They were made Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Eph. 2. 19. being come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant c. Heb. 12. 22. More particularly they were made first Members of Christ i. e. they were incorporated into that Body whereof Christ is the Head Secondly They were made Children of God i. e. they were enroll'd in the number of those whom God had chosen to be his Peculiar and Elect People and whom he designed to govern with the same tenderness as an affectionate and merciful Father does his most beloved Children which is what the Apostles express by our being called the Sons of God 1 John 3. 1. by our having received the Adoption of Sons Gal. 4. 5. and by our having power given us to become the Sons of God John 1. 12. Lastly They were made Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. they who before were Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and
But then secondly To the keeping a man's Baptism pure and undefiled that which was thought further necessary was that from falling into an habitual practice of any of those smaller and less scandalous sins which carelesness and culpable ignorance would be very apt to betray a man into the Acts of he ought to indeavour to secure himself by great cautiousness and sincere enquiry after the knowledge of his Duty that from sins of omission from growing cool in Religion and remitting of his first Love he ought to indeavour to preserve himself by constant Meditation and hearty Prayer to God for the assistance of his holy Spirit that in order to grow in Grace he ought to be always humble and teachable penitent and devout meek in spirit and pure in mind and that to attain Perfection he ought to be always pressing forward towards the mark of the prize of the high calling with a perfect contempt of the World an entire Love of God and a boundless Charity to all Mankind 3. This was what the Primitive Christians understood by keeping their Baptism pure and undefiled viz. A regular and constant practice of all Holiness and Virtue from the time of their Baptism to their Death And to this they thought themselves most strongly obliged by the very Form of their Baptism They were immersed into the Water and they rise out of it again and this great Solemnity was never after to be repeated in token that as Christ once died for Sin and Rose again never to come under the power of Death any more so they were this once to have their Sins perfectly washt away by his Blood and were bound never to return under the Power of them any more Thus St. Paul himself most expresly and excellently argues Rom. p. 6. v. 9. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he died he died unto Sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof The force of which Argument is plainly this When we descended into the Water and rise out of it again we made publick profession that as we hoped for pardon of our past sins through the Merits of the Death of Christ so we our selves would thenceforth die unto sin that is utterly cast it off and forsake it and for the future rise again to walk with Christ in newness and holiness of Life So that unless from the time of our thus putting off sin we continue constantly to live in all holiness and righteousness we have no just reason to expect Remission by virtue of the Death of Christ into which we were baptized For it being the express Condition of the Remission of sin that we continue no longer in it but live from thencefotth unto God the Blood of Christ it self which was shed to be a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World can avail nothing for one that continues in Sin whom our Saviour himself has particularly excepted from the benefit of the Pardon purchased by his Death and Passion 4. Accordingly Persons after their Baptism were instructed That they must now utterly and for ever renounce all the sinful pleasures and desires of the World They were told that they now received remission of their past sins by vertue of the Death of Christ and therefore they must take great heed that they sinned no more They were told that they now washed their Garments in the Blood of the Lamb for a signal whereof they were accordingly cloathed in white and that they must take care to bring this unspotted Innocence with them before the Tribunal of Christ To which Custom our Saviour himself seems to allude Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few Names even in Sardis which have not defiled their Garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy They were told that they were now baptized for the remission of all their past sins and if they kept not this Baptism pure and undefiled they could not be sure they should ever be able to obtain the like full and perfect Remission again They were told that they now started in that great Race which they were to run for the Crown of Immortality and if those who were found tardy in an earthly Race were beaten and disgraced of how much sorer punishment should they be thought worthy who negligently faultred in the race of Immortality They were told that they now entred into that Covenant of God the Seal whereof was Let every one that Names the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity and if they kept not this Seal their punishment would be among Apostates whose Worm shall not die and whose Fire shall not be quenched They were told that they had now escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and if after this they should be again intangled therein and be overcome and turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them their Punishment should be double to that of those who had never known the way of Righteousness Finally They were told that they were now enlightned and had tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and were sealed thereby unto the day of Redemption and if after this they should fall away it would be exceeding difficult to renew them to Repentance That they had now received the perfect knowledge of the Truth and if after this they sinned wilfully there would remain no more Sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which should devour the Adversary In a word That they now received a certain Promise and Assurance of Eternal Life but if they would sell this blessing for the momentary gratifications of sense they might perhaps afterwards be rejected when they should desire to inherit it and find no place for Repentance though they might seek it carefully with Tears 5. These were the severe cautions with which the Primitive Church obliged baptized Persons upon their utmost Peril to keep themselves stedfast from the time of their Baptism in all holy and blameless Conversation Those who did continue to walk suitably to this Profession were said to be washed to be sanctified to be justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God And because in those purest times there were hardly any among Christians who did not walk suitably to their Profession it being the same thing then to be a Christian and to be a good Man therefore those Terms Elect Regenerate Sanctified born of God and the like which we now appropriate only to the best and most holy Men are not in Scripture
so appropriated but applied promiscuously to all Christians as appears from the Titles of the Apostles Letters in which whole Churches in general are called Elect Sanctified and the like and most evidently from St. John who in his first Epistle chap. 5. ver 1. Whosoever saith he believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ i. e. every Christian there being hardly any one in those times who was not indeed what he professed and pretended to be a Regenerate Sanctified and Elect Person And as Christians who then lived thus suitably to their Profession were stiled Regenerate Sanctified and the like so they who continued to live thus suitably to the end were said to Persevere and of such only was it said that they Persevered in opposition to those who after their Baptism lapsed into any notorious Transgression For one that had thus lapsed they did not think it sufficient that he should repeat his Crime no more which was the condition of Baptismal Remission but he was obliged by a long course of Mortification Prayers Tears and good Works to endeavour to wash out the Stain and Guilt Nay and even this course also they allowed of but Once not that true Repentance would at any time be in vain and unacceptable to God but as an Ancient Writer expresses it that that which was the only remaining remedy might not by being made too easie grow contemptible and ineflectual 6. And now let Us think upon this let Us consider this with shame and confusion of Faces who I do not say after Baptism and the solemn taking upon our selves the Profession of Christianity but after frequent Purposes and Promises of Reformation after repeated Vows and Resolutions of Amendment nay perhaps after confirming all these by the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ do yet continue in sin and defer our Repentance The Primitive Christians thought themselves absolutely obliged to live in the constant Practice of all Holiness and Vertue from the time of their Baptism to their Death and can we hope to be accepted if notwithstanding all our Pretences to Repentance and Reformation we still continue under the weak excuses of Infirmity and Inadvertency to live in any known sin Doth our Baptismal Vow lay no obligation upon us or hath God established a Covenant with us upon slighter Terms and entail'd his Promises to us upon easier Conditions than he did to the first and purest Christians Let no Man deceive you saith St. John He that doth righteousness is righteous 1 John 3. 7. 'T is true the case is not altogether the same with us as it was with them We live in Christian Nations and under Christian Governments where there are no Pagans to be converted to Christianity and to be baptized after their Repentance and with a full conviction of Mind And of those who are born of Christian Parents there are very few so happy as not to be entangled in the Habit of any sin before they come to a perfect understanding and compleat conviction of all the Truths of Religion And in this case it must indeed be confessed that it cannot but require some time perfectly to overcome a vitious disposition and to obtain the Habit of the contrary Vertue But may we therefore spend our whole Lives in little and weak struglings against sin without ever arriving at that pitch of Vertue which was antiently thought necessary to prepare a Man for Baptism May we therefore be excused from ever becoming perfect Christians because we were all along brought up in the Christian Religion and were never converted by any sudden Conviction When a Man is in that state described by St. Paul in the 7th Chap. to the Romans that he is convinced of the evil of great and known sins and sets his Mind to resist and strive against them yet not so but that through the viciousness of his inclination or the force of evil Habits he frequently relapses and is intangled in them again 't is a Sign indeed that such a one is not yet hardened through the deceitfulness of sin there is hopes that through the Grace of God he may at length prevail and overcome his Temptations but he has not yet overcome he has not yet attained to be a good Christian nor can he be said to have done so till he has brought himself into such a state as that he be perfectly gotten above all the Temptations to know sin and assured by the Grace of God that he shall not fall into it any more To such a state as this he must resolve to arrive and he must resolve to arrive at it timely that he may have a certain Title to the reward of Obedience There is hardly any Man so wicked who does not design to repent at one time or other before he dies and our Saviour has indeed in his Gospel made the same Promises to Repentance that he has to innocence and continued Obedience But let no Man deceive himself by a fatal Errour The Repentance to which our Saviour has made such large Promises is not the late Repentance of a Christian but the timely Repentance of a Jew or a Heathen at his Conversion to Christianity and is therefore the very same and no other than Baptism it self Indeed if a Christian by an unhappy Education be brought up in sin and habituated to Wickedness whenever he comes by the Power of God's Word and the Influence of his Holy Spirit to be convinced of the evil of his Ways and of the necessity of Religion he is then in the same state that a Heathen Convert is supposed to be at his Baptism and the same Promises are made to them both But when a Christian who has a clear Knowledge of his Duty does notwitstanding that continue wilfully all his Life in sin our Saviour is so far from assuring him that God and Angels will rejoyce at his Conversion if when he grows old he leaves off sinning because he can sin no more that he has no where promised that such a Repentance shall be accepted at all We must therefore so break off our sins by Repentance as to attain the Habits of the contrary Vertues and to live in them Such a Repentance as this our Saviour will accept and he that after such a Repentance lives constantly Virtuous shall certainly be esteemed in the sight of God as if he had always been innocent but without the evidence of such a Life of Virtue and renewed Obedience how far soever the Mercy of God may possibly extend it self We can never have any assurance that our Repentance will be accepted CHAP. V. Of the Baptism of Infants 1. AS those who by the Preaching of the Apostles and their Successors had been converted from Judaism or Gentilism to Christianity were baptized at riper Years upon their publickly professing their Faith and their Repentance so those who were born of Christian Parents
and designed to be educated in the Christian Religion have by the general Practice of the Christian Church been baptized in their Infancy upon Promise made by Sureties that they should be instructed in the Faith and in the Obedience of the Gospel 2. And that Infants are rightly so admitted to this Ordinance besides the almost general consent and practice of the Christian Church I shall use but this One Argument to demonstrate Those who are fit to be admitted into the Kingdom of Christ in Heaven as our Saviour himself pronounces Infants to be Mar. 10. 14 and 15. are certainly qualified to be received as Members of his Church on Earth The Qualifications which fit Men for both are Repentance and Faith Now though Infants have not Repentance yet they have Innocence which is better than Repentance and which makes them that they need it not For if those who have been the most enormous sinners are yet by their Repentance qualified for Baptism how much more are Infants who have never sinned fitted for it by their Innocence And though Infants have not and cannot have actual Faith yet they are Sanctified by being born of Believing Parents they are already in some sense within the Limits of the Church and of the Covenant of Promise and are ready without Prejudice to be instructed in the Truth of the Gospel and in the Obedience thereof 3. Infants therefore are rightly admitted to Baptism and thereby to the Privileges appropriated by Christ to the Members of his Church But because Baptism is a Covenant wherein there is as well a Promise made on the part of the Person baptized of certain Duties to be performed as one on God's part of certain Graces and Privileges to be conferred and because Infants are not capable of making any Promise immediately by themselves it has therefore been the wisdom of the Church to appoint certain Sureties who should promise in the Name of the Child what it self should afterwards be obliged to perform i. e. who should undertake to see it instructed in the Nature and Obligation of those Duties which upon account of its being a Member of the Church of Christ it would at years of Discretion be bound to perform CHAP. VI. Of the Duty of God-Fathers and God-Mothers 1 THAT therefore which the Sureties undertake for a Child at its Baptism is briefly this That it shall be taught all the Articles of the Christian Faith with the reasonableness of their Belief that it shall be instructed in all the Duties of the Christian Life with the necessity of their Practice and that it shall be minded in convenient time to make a publick Declaration of its being hearty in this Belief and to enter into a renewed Engagement to continue constant in this Practice They promise that it shall be taught to Believe in one God the Father Almighty c. and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord c. and in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church c. They promise that it shall be instructed to renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh i. e. that it shall be taught to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World And they promise that it shall in fit season be brought to declare solemnly in the presence of God and of the whole Congregation its firmness in the Faith of these Articles of Religion and its Resolution to continue in the Obedience of these Commands 2. This is what the God-Fathers or God-Mothers promise for a Child at its Baptism This they promise solemnly in the presence of God and in the face of the Congregation And is it a small thing to undertake for the Soul of a Person to be admitted into the Church of Christ Is it a light thing to enter into such a Promise solemnly before God and his Church I doubt not but whoever considers the matter seriously will hardly find any Duty of greater Importance or any Promise of more solemn Obligation yet is there no Duty more generally and more shamefully neglected nor any Promise more lightly regarded 3. If a Man be made Guardian to the Son of a deceased Friend and be intrusted with the Care of his Education how justly do we expect that he should be careful to have him instructed in all that necessary Knowledge on which depends the management of his Life and Conversation that he should be zealous to have him further indued with all those useful Accomplishments which may become his Quality and recommend him in the World but above all that he should spare no pains to secure to him his Estate and to improve his Fortunes And do we not look upon that Man as the vilest and most unfaithful of Men who having such a charge committed unto him should wholly neglect all or any of these things Yet how much a greater Trust does he betray who having the Soul of a Child committed to his care by God and the Church neglects wholly to have it taught those necessary Truths in the Knowledge and Practice of which consists its everlasting Happiness who takes no care at all to secure to it that Portion which God hath designed and prepared for it in Heaven and who seeing the Soul of an Innocent Babe perhaps meerly for want of good Advice and Instruction beginning to be over-run with the Seeds of those Vices which in time must drown it in destruction and perdition does yet show no Care or Concern for it What greater Uncharitableness can a Man possibly be guilty of towards the Soul of his Brother or what greater Mockery of God 'T is True the Education of a Child is not wholly committed to the Care of those who are its Sureties in Baptism but first and principally to the Parents themselves But undoubtedly they are bound to be Assistants and if the Parents either thro' Wickedness neglect to instruct it or by Death are taken away from it the Sureties must look upon this Care as chiefly devolved upon Them and of which they must give a strict Account 4. In what Station soever God appoints any Man over the Soul of his Brother either to warn the wicked or to instruct the ignorant if he neglects his Duty and his Brother perish through his default the Blood of him that perisheth will be required at his hands Ezek 3â— 8. When I say unto the Wicked O Wicked Man thou shalt surely die if thou dost not speak to warn the Wicked from his ways that wicked Man shall die in his Iniquity but his Blood will I require at thine hand How much more when the Soul of an innocent Child is committed particularly to the care of any Person if thro' his neglect it be corrupted and perish shall its Blood be required at his hand With what Confusion and Amazement shall we at the day of Judgment hear those who have been committed to our Charge accuse us for having
indure to hear or read of them If all this I say be true 't is evident that if notwithstanding this we still continue in Wickedness all these specious Pretences will by no means excuse us but we shall be found to have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace and to have neglected our great Salvation 4. Think not therefore that the Corruption of your Nature is greater than that Grace and Assistance which God now affords you For so you may sit still under the Dominion of sin in a vain expectation of being converted by some sudden and All-powerful Grace of God till you be surprized by the Revelation of his righteous Judgment But know that to all those who are Baptized in his Name and who Profess and Endeavour to obey his Commandments God doth give both to will and to do of his good Pleasure and therefore you are from henceforward indispensably bound to work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling Think not that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are more powerful than that strength wherewith God now indues you For so you will be sure to be overcome by them But know that our Saviour has Overcome the World and the Devil so that they have no more power over the Servants of God and therefore we are bound to overcome them also and to be more than Conquerours through him that loved us Rom. 8. 37. Think not that the Commandments of God are hard and impossible to be kept For so you will certainly not be able to keep them But know that thro' Christ who now strengthens you you may make them easie and light and pleasant and therefore you are from henceforward indispensably obliged to keep them 5. These are the Qualifications with which a Person ought to come to Confirmation that he may receive it with Advantage and Profit I shall now give some brief Directions how one that has thus solemnly entred into the Profession of Religion may continue to live worthy of that Holy Profession CHAP. VIII What is to be done after Confirmation Of Perseverance and of the danger of Apostacy 1. AND First Persuade your self of the necessity of Persevering in the constant Practice of Religion and Virtue from this Period The Primitive Christians thought themselves absolutely obliged to live in the constant Practice of all Holiness and Virtue from the time of their Baptism to their Death And if we have taken upon our selves the same Baptismal Vow if We have entred into the same Profession of Religion We ought also from that time forward to have the same Apprehensions Think not that the making a Publick and Solemn Profession of Religion will be of any advantage to you unless the following part of your Life be suitable to and worthy of that Profession Think not that your present Zeal and warmth of Devotion will stand you in any stead unless it work in you such a lasting Disposition of Mind as will afterwards when Temptation and Trial shall succeed preserve you stedfast and unmoveable in the performance of your Duty 2. The Christian Life is a Spiritual Warfare wherein we must fight against the Temptations of this World for the Glories of the other and the Reward is promised not to him that shall fight but to him that shall overcome We are told that many should embrace the Doctrine of Christ and receive his Word even with joy but because in time of Temptation they would fall away it should profit them nothing to have once been Believers This whole Life is a state of Trial and Probation and however painfully we have laboured yet if we leave off before our Work be done we must lose our Reward They that run in a race saith the Apostle run all but 't is not they that rûn but they that continue to run without fainting to the end that shall obtain the Crown Men are exceeding apt to deceive themselves with an imagination that some warm fits of Devotion the doing now and then a work of Charity and the abstaining from Sin for some time when perhaps the Temptation is less violent than ordinary will be look'd upon as the running the Christian Race But let no Man deceive himself with vain Imaginations This is indeed running but not so as to obtain this is indeed fighting but not so as to conquer but to be overcome 'T is not the struggling with Sin or the interrupting a wicked Life by some short lived Repentance that will intitle us to a Crown of Righteousness but we must overcome and we must evidence our Victory by a steady course of Piety or our Labour will prove to be in vain 3. Many there are who upon some affecting Discourse or some remarkable Providence or some occasional warmth of Devotion do please themselves with good Resolutions do admire the Pleasures of Virtue and with a transporting glimpse of the Joys of Holiness do imagine themselves almost at the Gates of Heaven and yet when the Fit is over the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts of other Things returning upon them choke the Word and it becometh unfruitful and all their Pious Intervals serve to no other purpose but to make their Misery so much the more lamentable and deplorable by how much they have come nearer to the Kingdom of God and have been almost upon the point of making themselves Happy What pity is it that they who have had a taste of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come should for want of being able to withstand the Allurements of some trifling Pleasure or for want of Resolution to incounter some short and temporal Hardship forfeit all their glorious Hopes of Happiness and lose the Crown of Immortality Yet that they must do so if their Love wax cold and they be offended at the appearance of any Temptation the Scripture every where most expresly assures us 4. He that endureth to the end saith our blessed Saviour the same shall be saved Matth. 24. 13. But if any one draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10. 38. For no Man having put his hand to the Plough and looking back is meet for the Kingdom God Luke 9. 62. Not every one that saith unto him Lord Lord not every one that embraces his Religion and makes Profession of it nay not every one that receiveth his Word with gladness and obeys it for a time even with Sincerity but he that with an unwearied constancy maintains his Resolutions and in the midst of all Temptations preserves his Integrity to the end he only has a certain Title to our Saviour's Promise 5. And to the same purpose the Apostle St. Paul Rom. 2. 7. assures the Promise of Eternal Life not to those who shall begin to do well or to those who shall by fits and at certain times do some works of Righteousness but to those only who shall persevere in a
particularly and endeavours to amend them will be able to avoid and overcome many of those things which are by others looked upon as the unavoidable Frailties and Infirmities of Nature 7. And in proportion as a Man arrives nearer to this perfect State of Virtue so will that Peace of Conscience which is the peculiar Reward of Religion in this World grow up by degrees to a settled Joy and Assurance of Mind One whose Life is void of great and scandalous Crimes but otherwise not strict and diligent will be free indeed from the Terrour and Amazement of the Wicked but because he has taken no great Pains nor done any thing considerable for the Love of God and for the sake of Religion his Mind will yet be disturbed with many scrupulous Doubts and uncertain Fears But when a Man has been truly diligent to improve himself to the utmost and has with Zeal and Earnestness pressed forward towards Perfection then is it that he attains to that Tranquillity and Assurance which wise Men have compared to a continual Feast The Peace and Satisfaction of Mind which some have found upon the careful and strict examination of one past Days Actions has been very great But that compleat Assurance which arises from the Conscience of a considerable part of a Man's Life having been spent in the Strictness and in the Purity of the Gospel is a Pleasure infinitely surpassing all the Enjoyments of Sense being indeed a fore-taste of the Happiness of Heaven and a Rejoycing before-hand in Christ with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Such a one as has arrived to this pitch lives in Peace and dies with Assurance and at the appearance of our Lord shall be presented fault less before the Presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy THE END Essay the Third Of Repentance CHAP. I. Of Repentance in General 1. THE plain and express Condition upon which the Gospel promises Salvation to all Men is Obedience or a Holy Life The Time from which this Holy Life is to begin is either Baptism or Confirmation that is the Time when those who are either at riper Years converted to the Christian Religion or have from their Infancy been brought up in the Profession of it come to a clear and distinct knowledge of their Duty That from this Period every Man is obliged to persevere in a constant Course of Holiness that is in a continual and sincere though weak and imperfect Obedience to all the Commands of God the Gospel plainly declares to us And that the glorious Rewards of Heaven should be at all promised to so small a Service as the imperfect Obedience which weak sinful degenerate Man should be able to perform is the Purchase of the Price of the Blood of the Son of God and the Effect of the infinite Riches of the Divine Mercy made known to us by Christ. Had God therefore to those who had once been received to the Mercy of the Gospel and had once been made partakers of the heavenly Gift and had tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come allowed no more Remission for wilful and presumptuous Sins but accepted those only who having once washed their Garments in the Blood of the Lamb should from thenceforward keep themselves in a Gospel Sense pure and undefiled yet had his Mercy been infinitely greater than sinful Man could have deserved or expected But such is the earnestness of God's Desire to make his Creatures Happy and such the Abundance of the Grace made known by the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that even to those who having been already admitted to the Mercy and Favour of the Gospel and having received the Promise of a great and glorious Reward upon the Condition of an easie and most reasonable Obedience and having been endued with the Earnest of his Holy Spirit shall notwithstanding relapse after all this into wilful and deliberate Sins even to these I say he has yet further granted that if by a solemn Repentance they shall again unfeignedly renew their Obedience and from that Period persevere in well-doing to the end they shall yet attain to the Reward of the Faithful and shall be saved as Fire-brands plucked out of the Fire or as Men escaping upon a Plank after Shipwreck 2. By Repentance therefore I would all along in this Essay be understood to mean not that Repentance which is the constant Duty of all Christians who are indeed continually bound to repent in general of all those Slips and Infirmities those Defects and Surprizes which by the Condition of the Gospel-Covenant are most readily pardoned For this Repentance is not properly a new Period or Beginning of a Holy Life but a necessary and continued part of that imperfect Obedience which Man in this degenerate State is capable of performing and which God has in his Gospel declared that he will always accept instead of perfect Innocence But by Repentance I here understand that Repentance which is an entire change of Heart and Mind a turning from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God whereby those who by wilful and deadly Sins have left their first Estate and forfeited their Title to the Crown of Righteousness are to begin anew their Obedience in order to recover the Mercy and Favour of God And that no one may be perplexed with vain Scruples and unreasonable Fears this Repentance is such as plainly no Man is obliged to but those who are guilty of great and deliberate Sins of Blasphemy Perjury open Profaneness or contempt of Religion of Murder Sedition Theft manifest and designed Injustice Hatred Fraud Wrong or Oppression of Adulteries Fornications Uncleannesses or habitual Drunkenness and Intemperance or of some other Sins either maliciously wilful or notoriously habitual CHAP. II. That God allows Repentance even to the greatest of Sinners 1. IN the Primitive Church there was a Sect of Men who upon a mistaken Interpretation of some Passages of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews contended that there was no more place of Repentance allowed to those who after Baptism should fall into any of these wilful and deliberate Sins They taught that in Baptism indeed all manner of Sin and Blasphemy whatsoever was forgiven Men absolutely and wash'd away by the Blood of Christ but that if after that great Remission they sinned again wilfully and presumptuously they could no more obtain any further Pardon than the Death of Christ that great Sacrifice for Sin could be repeated and that therefore however they should sincerely repent yet there now remained nothing more for them but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which should devour the Adversary But that this was a great mistake and that God does admit even the greatest of Sinners upon their true Repentance to Forgiveness and Pardon is evident both from the Nature of God and the Design of Christianity from the Practice