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
deservedly Eminent seems to be that great rigour with which they insisted upon Mens living in a constant course of Piety from the time of their entring into this solemn Covenant In those who have been educated from their Infancy in the Christian Religion the Period from whence their Religious Life ought to be dated is Confirmation the time from their Baptism being only their Preparation or time of Instruction But then for those who have neglected this great and solemn Opportunity or have since fallen into any great and wliful sins the only remaining time from whence their Religious Life can be reckoned is Repentance i. e. the Time since which they have so perfectly had the Conquest over all their Temptations as not to have been seduced by them any more into any gross or wilful sin Of Baptism I have already spoken in the former Essay of Confirmation I shall treat in this of Repentance in the next 3. In the Primitive Church those who upon Profession of their Faith and Repentance were by Baptism admitted into the Church of Christ had this their Admission compleated or perfected afterwards by the Imposition of Hands When the Samaritans had received the Word of God and many of them were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus only the Holy Ghost was as yet fallen upon none of them we find that two of the Apostles were sent to lay their hands on them and then they received the Holy Ghost Acts 8. 17. This was the constant practise of the Apostles stles to perfect or compleat Baptism by the Imposition of Hands which two things are therefore laid down together among the Principles or Foundations of the Doctrine of Christ Heb. 6. 2. and were accordingly practised jointly by the Church in succeeding Ages This Custom saith St. Cyprian is also descended to us that they who are baptized be brought by the Rulers of the Church and by our Prayer and the Imposition of Hands may obtain the Holy Ghost and be consummated with the Seal of the Lord. And Tertullian After Baptism the hand is imposed by Blessing calling down and inviting the Holy Spirit Then that most Holy Spirit willingly descends from the Father upon the Bodies that are cleansed and blessed 4. But of this Confirmation of Persons baptized at riper years which was anciently administred immediately after Baptism and is therefore by many not without reason look'd upon as a Part of the Ceremony of Baptism it self it is not my purpose to speak now more largely That which I am at this time more especially to consider is that Confirmation as it is now in use in the Church whereby those who have been baptized in their Infancy are at Years of Discretion perfected or made compleat Members of the Church And the Design and Use of Confirming such Persons is plainly this Baptism being a Covenant wherein there are as well certain Conditions promised to be performed on the part of the Person Baptized as certain Privileges assured to be conferred on God's part and Infants though they be capable of being admitted to the Privileges of Members of the Church yet not being capable of promising or performing any Conditions any otherwise than by means of certain Sureties who ingage to instruct them in the Nature and Obligation of the Promises made in their Name at their Baptism 't is manifest that these baptized Infants when they come to Years of Discretion if they desire to continue to be Partakers of the Privileges which God has appropriated to the Members of his Church they must be willing also to perform the Conditions which God has indispensably required of all those Members That they may enter therefore into these Obligations with the advantage of greater Solemnity and Choice it has most wisely been instituted that as soon as they be of Age to understand the Nature and the Obligation of that Promise which was made in their Name at their Baptism they should be brought to make a publick Declaration in the presence of God and his Church of their taking freely upon themselves that Vow and of their Resolution to live from thenceforward conformably to the Conditions of that great and solemn Covenant and that upon this publick Profession of their Faith and most solemn Purposes of Obedience they should by Imposition of Hands have the great Privileges of Baptism sealed anew and secured to them 5. And that this might be done the more solemnly and effectually so as to have a lasting effect upon the Minds and Lives of Men as the solemn Administration of Baptism had antiently among the Primitive Christians it were very much to be wished that as in those Primitive Times Persons converted to Christianity were not before Baptism admitted as compleat Members to the Communion of the Church but were esteemed only as Candidates desirous to be instructed in the Christian Religion so those who have now been only baptized in their Infancy should before Confirmation be looked upon by others and by themselves too as no other than Catechumens It were to be wished that no one might be admitted to the Communion before he were confirmed and that no one might be admitted to Confirmation before he had attained a perfect Knowledge of the extent and obligation of all the Duties of Religion and given sufficient evidence of his Resolution to live suitably to that Knowledge It were to be wished that as in the Primitive Church there were certain solemn Times appointed for Baptism as Easter and Whitsontide at which those who were before prepared by a regular course of Catechizing were admitted with great solemnity into the compleat Communion of the Church so there were now such solemn seasons appointed against which Ministers of particular Parishes should for some time before-hand diligently instruct and prepare those who were of Age to be presented to the Bishop to be confirmed And above all it were to be wished that the whole Process might be performed with so much Reverence and Solemnity that all the Persons confirmed might understand and be convinced that they came now to have all the Privileges which God hath promised to the Members of his Church sealed and assured to them that they now received the Assistance of the Holy Spirit to enable them effectually to perform their Duty and that they now solemnly undertook for themselves before God and the Church what their Sureties promised for them before at Baptism to Live from henceforward in all Holiness and Purity and in constant Obedience to all the Commands of God the remaining part of their Lives 6. Were this excellent Institution thus solemnly and religiously observed exceeding great would be the Effects which we might justly hope to see produced by the use of it The Effect that the Imposition of the Apostles hands had upon the first Converts to Christianity was no less than the induing them with those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles and the like And though these mighty
almost wholly Moral and Spiritual respecting the inward disposition of the Heart and Mind whereas on the contrary the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law were for the most part external and as the Apostle to the Hebrews calls them Carnal Ordinances respecting chiefly the outward purification of the Body therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Religion Spirit and the Jewish Religion Flesh. Thus in the Epistle to the Romans ch 8. ver 3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is whereas the Jewish Religion because of its outward and carnal Ordinances was weak and insufficient to make Men truly Righteous God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Man to offer up himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Mankind established the Christian Religion which purifying throughly the whole Heart and Mind and purging the Conscience from dead Works might through the Grace and Mercy of God avail to justifie Men from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law Thus also in the Epistle to the Galatians ch 3. ver 3. Are ye so foolish Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the Flesh that is Are ye so foolish as to think that after ye have embraced the Truth of the Christian Religion you can become yet more perfect by observing the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law 8. These are the Terms which the Apostle expresses the Christian and Jewish Religion by in these Epistles And according to this Interpretation the substance of both these Epistles may clearly be resolved into certain Arguments by which the Apostle plainly and strongly proves against the Judaizing Believers that Obedience to the Christian Religion is sufficient to Salvation without observing the Ceremonies of the Jewish 9. His first Argument is this The Jewish Religion having proved insufficient to make Men truly good as the Natural Religion had before done there was a necessity of setting up another Institution of Religion which might be more available and effectual to that End now the setting up a new Institution of Religion necessarily implying the abolishing of the old it follows that Christianity was not to be added to Judaism but that Judaism was to be changed into Christianity that is that the Jewish Religion was from thenceforward to cease and the Christian Religion to succeed in its room This Argument the Apostle insists upon in the 1st 2d 5th 6th and 7th Chapters to the Romans and in the 1st and 4th Chapters to the Galatians In the 1st and 2d Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans he shows that the Jewish Religion had proved insufficient to make Men truly Holy as Natural Religion had also done In the 5th and 6th Chapters of that Epistle to the Romans and in the 1st to the Galatians he gives an account of the Institution of the Christian Religion as more available to that End in the 7th Chapter to the Romans he shews that this new Institution of Religion necessarily implies the abolishing of the old one and this he does from the similitude of a Womans being bound by the Law to her Husband so long as he lives but if her Husband be dead she is free from the Law of her Husband which Similitude he applies ver 4. Wherefore my Brethren ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God In the 4th Chapter to the Galatians he proves the same thing from the Similitude of a young Heirs being under Governors or Tutors ver 1. I say that the Heir as long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant tho' he be Lord of all but is under Tutors and Governors until the time appointed of the Father even so we when we were Children were in bondage under the elements of the World But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem those that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons that is The Jewish Law was an Institution of Religion adapted by God in great Condescention to the weak Apprehensions of that People but when the fulness of time was come God sent his Son Jesus Christ to institute a more perfect Form of Religion after the settlement of which in the World the former Dispensation was to be disannulled for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof 10. The second Argument by which the Apostle proves that the Christian Religion is sufficient to justifie a Man without mixing therewith the Rites of the Jewish is this The Summ and Essence of all Religion is Obedience to the moral and eternal Law of God since therefore the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law were instituted only for that very reason that they might promote this great End and prepare Mens Hearts for the reception of that more perfect Institution of Religion wherein God was to be worshipped and obeyed in Spirit and in Truth 't is manifest that when this more perfect Institution of Religion was settled the former which was designed for no other reason but to be a preparatory to this must be abolished This Argument the Apostle insists on in the 2d Chapter to the Romans and in the 3d to the Galatians In the 2d to the Romans he shows that every Institution of Religion and particularly the Jewish was no otherwise of any esteem in the sight of God than as it promoted that great end of Obedience to his Moral and Eternal Law For Circumcision saith he verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Uncircumcision Therefore if the Uncircumcision keep the Righteousness of the Law shall not his Uncircumcision be counted for Circumcision And shall not Uncircumcision which is by nature if it keep the Law judge thee who by the Letter and Circumcision dost transgress the Law For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of Men but of God v. 25. to the end In the 3d to the Galatians he argues that the Jewish Religion having been thus instituted only to prepare Men for that Obedience to the Eternal Law of God which was to be the sum and essence of the Christian Religion it follows that when this latter and more perfect Institution took place there was no need of continuing the former The Law saith he was added because of transgressions till the Seed should