CHAP. tion is laid upon the whole Community, and all VI. are obliged to Obedience, that End can't be propofed. Therefore, as I obferved before from Puffend. (a Book cited by our Author, and his Profeffion obliged him to be well verfed in it) though a pofitive Law flows from the fole Pleafure of the Lawgiver, yet thefe Laws ought likewife to have their Reafon, and their Uses; in Reference to that particular Society for which they were enacted. WOULD it not therefore, better have become our Author, and every other Deift, to have enquired into the Reason, and Ufes of fuch plain peremptory Commands, than to have flighted, traduced, and condemn'd them in the grofs, and in fuch abufive Characters as they endeavour to expose them under? Is there not the greatest Reafon, are there not the best of Ufes in thefe two external Ordinances? If it is plain that the Chriftian Religion, with all its Comforts, is best begun and entered upon by perfonal Covenant, or Stipulation for that Covenant afterwards; nothing can be plainer, than that it must be carry'd on by the fame Methods by which it began, i. e. a folemn Recollection and Remembrance of that Covenant, and the Mediator of it, in the Lord's Supper, a's Occafion requires. What Ground is there for Exception? If, as they are fet forth in Scripture, our Lord purpofely inftituted them, as being pofitively ferviceable for attaching us the more firmly to himself, as Mediator of that Covenant, and fo become the most potent Means for promoting Christian Holiness, or moral Righteoufnefs: The learned Dr. Waterland has observed very rightly, "That many of the Scripture ་་ Duties, which we have otherwise no Know VI. "ledge of, are yet juftly referr'd to the Law of CHAP "Nature; fince Scripture hath discover'd what "Foundation they have in the Nature and Truth "of Things*." Though thefe pofitive Inftitions of our Lord have the Superfcription of his Authority, who commanded them; yet they were not commanded for commanding fake, but for the Use and Benefit of folemnly undertaking and improving in the natural Religion of the End, and of the Means, through the due Ufe of thofe divine Ordinances. THEY were not ordain'd merely for their own fake; but in order to an End, to make us more effectually religious, by applying to new and more powerful Methods for invigorating, and perfecting the natural Means, for carrying on the Ends of natural Religion, by a moral Operation of our own perceiving; provided we are not wanting, in applying our moral Powers, which, in that Cafe, by Virtue of our own wife chufing fuch an Engagement, and with that, all the appertaining Affiftances, makes that Yoke easy, that would otherwise be a Burthen under a previous Obligation of another's impofing. Though the Duties we engage in, don't arife merely from the Vows and Promises of keeping Covenant; but were obligatory before: Still to make them more fo, we wifely and voluntarily become a Party in them, bind them with a two-fold Cord of Confcience, double their Force with Difcretion, and with the Applaufe of our own Reason, fuperadd new Reasons for the better Performance of that, whereon our everlasting Happiness is Nature, Obligation and Efficacy of the Chriftian Sacrament, page 9. VOL. I. N® dependant. VI. CHAP. dependant. Was the Performance before Engagement unlawful, the fuperadded Engagement could not make it valid, or denominate it Duty'; but being previoufly obligatory, it becomes afterwards double Duty, attended in its Confequence with unspeakably more than double Happinefs hereafter. WHOEVER therefore is truly devoted to the End, will of Course be fo to the best Means for obtaining it. How particularly expedient are they for furthering Repentance and Prayer, the two natural Means, which, as I fhewed before under thofe Heads, were decay'd and dormant, languifh'd and difpirited, for carrying on the Ends of the Religion of Nature? Remiffion of Sins, and Affurance of the Acceptableness of our Addreffes to God in the Method laid before us in the Revelation of his Son Jefus Christ, which bring Comfort and Confolation to Repentance, and Wings to our Prayers; are reprefented not only in Words, but in fenfible Signs and Symbols more fignificative and ftronger than Words; that the whole Man might be captivated and taken in more effectually and entirely, for acquitting himfelf towards the Things fignified, his own greatest Advantage. The Objection of our Author * against Symbols in Religion, viz. because they are apt to affect the generality more powerfully than Words, is the very Reafon of the Divine Appointment in this important Cafe, efpecially fince they are very few and fimple, and fo effectually guarded from Superftition, and Mistake. Ix Baptifin, the fprinkling or cleanfing the Flefh by Water (and Water is a Symbol of Pu• Page 152. rification VI. rification among all Nations, with Chriftians, CHAP that they are to receive and put on Christ pure) is a Tally, to which the cleaning of the Spirit or Confcience from Sin by the Blood of Chrift, and renewal of the Holy Ghoft, anfwers; as dying to Sin, and rifing to newness of Life, to our Burial and Refurrection with him, in Baptifm ; which enters us with a joyful Prospect into the meliorating cleansing State of Repentance; and, in the Adoption of Sons, introduces our afterPrayers to the Throne of Grace of our Almighty, and most merciful Father: Being exhorted to draw near to him in our Devotions with a true Heart, in full Affurance of Faith, having our Hearts fprinkled from an evil Confcience, and our Bodies wafbed with pure Water. In the primitive Church, none were suffered to ufe the Prayer OUR FATHER, &c. before they were baptized, i. e. adopted by the new Covenant: So that Baptifm might be called the Sacrament of Prayer, as it often was the Sacrament of Repentance, and the Sacrament of Faith. The faving Part of Baptifm, according to the Apoftle, is the Anfwer or Stipulation of a good Confcience towards God, performing its fuperinduc'd Covenant and Engagement contracted in Chrift the Mediator of that new and better Covenant, by keeping that Bap tifm pure and undefiled, the remaining Part of Life; in Token of which new, covenanted, pure State, the Ancients invefted the baptized with white Garments, for fome Time after it. Socrates *argues a ftrict Obedience to the Laws, from a tacit Promife, Treaty, and Covenant, every Subject is supposed to have entered into in Virtue of the Protection and Benefit he receives from the Laws. See Plato's Crito, or, what we ought to do. N 2 How CHAP. How much stronger is fuch an Argument, when VI. it is corroborated upon all Chriftians towards their heavenly Governor, by exprefs Vow and Promife, open Covenant and Engagement? » EVERY one who puts on Christ, or takes Christianity upon them; efpecially at Confirmation, has a new Character, or, what the Civil Law calls a Perfon, confer'd upon them: Hence the Expreffion of being born again. Now it is moft certain, that the Reflection of being in a new Station or Office has a very great Influence upon the Mind of Man to act and behave as becomes that Station and Vocation, more especially when it carries any particular dignity of Carriage with it. For which Reafon, being now placed in a new Point of Sight, and beholding himself in the Light of a new Expectation of the World from him, though he behaved but indifferently before, he will now take care to acquit himself well, in Virtue of the Shame and Dishonour in derogating from the Poft and Calling we have accepted and chofen, to take upon ourselves. And this alfo ferves in the Nature of fuch a new Thing, to convince him that in the Race of Virtue, he can do a great deal more than he thought he could: Poffunt, quia poffe videntur. Virg. And giving due heed afterwards to refresh and Which Polybius upon another Occafion elegantly ftyles, folemnly |