hath never used it: that could do us no harm; provided, under any name, we believe but the things, which Christ hath taught; and do but the things, which he hath commanded: for on this, and this alone, depends our acceptance, and eternal sal vation. : LECTURE XXXV. OF BAPTISM. HAVING already explained to you the nature of a sacrament; and shewn you, that five of the seven things, which the church of Rome calls by that name, are not entitled to it; there remain only two, that are truly such: and these two are plainly sufficient: one, for our entrance into the Christian covenant; the other, during our whole continuance in it: Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. However, as the word Sacrament is not a Scripture one, and hath at different times been differently understood: our catechism doth not require it to be said absolutely, that the sacraments are two only; but two only, as necessary to salvation: leaving persons at liberty to comprehend more things under the name, if they please, provided they insist not on the necessity of them, and of dignifying them with this title. And even these two, our church very charitably teaches us not to look upon as indispensably, but as generally, necessary. Out of which general necessity, we are to except those particular cases, where believers in Christ, either have not the means of performing their duty in respect to the sacraments, or are innocently ignorant of it, or even excusably mistaken about it. In explaining the sacrament of Baptism, I shall speak, first of the outward visible sign, then of the inward and spiritual grace. As to the former: baptism being intended for the sign and means of our purification from sin; water, the proper element for purifying and cleansing is appointed to be used in it. There is indeed a sect, sprung up amongst us within a little more than a hundred years, that deny this appointment; and make the Christian baptism signify only the pouring out of the gift of the Holy Ghost upon a person. But our Saviour expressly requires that we be born of water, as well as of the Spirit, to enter into the kingdom of God. And not only John, his fore-runner, baptized with water †, but his disciples also, by his direction, baptized in the same manner, even more than John . When therefore he bade them afterwards teach all nations, baptizing them §; what baptism could they understand, but that, in which he had employed them before? And accordingly, we find, they did understand that. Philip, we read, baptized the Samaritans : not with the Holy Ghost, for the Apostles went down some time after to do that themselves ¶ but with water undoubtedly, as we find, in the same chapter, he did the eunuch: where the words are, Here is water: what doth hinder me to be baptized? And they went down to the water: and he baptized him **. Again, after Cornelius, and his friends, had received the Holy Ghost, and so were already baptized in that sense, Peter asks, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we ††? * John iii. 5. Acts viii. 36. 38. VOL. VI. + Matth. iii. 11. 2. ↑ John iv. 1, When therefore John says, that he baptized with water, but Christ should baptize with the Holy Ghost *; he means, not that Christians should not be baptized with water, but that they should have the Holy Ghost poured out upon them also, in a degree that John's disciples had not. When St. Peter says, The baptism, which saveth us, is not the washing away the filth of the flesh; he means, it is not the mere outward act, unaccompanied by a suitable inward disposition. When St. Paul says, that Christ sent him not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel‡; he means, that preaching was the principal thing he was to do in person to baptize, he might appoint others under him and it seems, commonly did as St. Peter did not baptize Cornelius and his friends himself, but commanded them to be baptized §: and we read in St. John, that Jesus baptized not, but his disciples || Water-baptism therefore is appointed. And why the church of Rome should not think water sufficient in baptism, but aim at mending what our Saviour hath directed, by mixing oil and balsam with it, and dipping a lighted torch into it, I leave them to explain. The precise manner, in which water shall be applied in baptism, Scripture hath not determined. For the word, baptize, means only to wash; whether that be done by plunging a thing under water, or pouring the water upon it. The former of these, burying as it were, the person baptized, in the water, and raising him out of it again, without question was anciently the more usual method: on account of which, St. Paul speaks of baptism, as representing both the death, and burial, and resurrection of Christ, † 1 Pet. iii. 21. 1 Cor. i. 17. | John iv. 12. *Matth. iii. 11. Acts x. 48. and what is grounded on them, our being dead and buried to sin; renouncing it, and being acquitted of it; and our rising again, to walk in newness of life*; being both obliged and enabled to practise, for the future, every duty of piety and virtue. But still the other manner of washing, by pouring or sprinkling of water, sufficiently expresses the same two things; our being by this ordinance purified from the guilt of sin, and bound and qualified to keep ourselves pure from the defilement of it. Besides, it very naturally represents that sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ †, to which our salvation is owing. And the use of it seems not only to be foretold by the prophet Isaiah, speaking of our Saviour, He shall sprinkle many nations, that is, many shall receive his baptism; and by the prophet Ezekiel, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean§ : but to be had in view also by the Apostle, where he speaks of having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water || And though it was less frequently used in the first ages, it must almost of necessity have been sometimes used for instance, when baptism was administered, as we read in the Acts it was, to several thousands at once ¶; when it was administered on a sudden in private houses, as we find it, in the same book, to the gaolor and his family, the very night in which they were converted **: or when sick persons received it; in which last case, the present method was always taken, because the other, of dipping them, might have been dangerous. And from the same apprehension of danger in these colder coun *Rom. vi. 4. 11. Col. ii. 1. § Ezek. xxxvi. 25. ** Acts xvi. 33. + 1 Pet. i. 2. || Heb. x. 22. Isa. lii. 15. ¶ Acts ii. 41. |