pretexts they may be introduced or recommended. To the law and to the teftimony let us bring them; and receive and practife nothing in the worihip and fervice of God but what is enforced with a Thus faith the Lord. And let us ever remember the extreme danger of all ufages and innovations not contained in or authorised by the written word; and therefore let us from the heart abhor them.

In the fecond text we have the inftitution of bap. tifm. And herein confider,

1. The ordinance itself; baptizing in the name of the holy bleffed Trinity.. This is exprefsly inftituted by Jefus Chrift; Go ye therefore, and baptize, &c,

2. The adminiftrators of baptifin; ye apoftles and your fucceffors in teaching them to obferve all things whatsoever I have commanded. And lo I am with you alway even to the end of the world.

3. The fubjects of baptifm; all nations which are taught, Gr. difcipled, made difciples of Chrift. First they are to be difcipled, and then baptized.

The doctrine of the text is,

DOCT. The facrament of baptifm is instituted by our Lord Jefus Chrift.

To open the nature of this facrament, let us confider,

I. The fignifying thing in it,

II The fignifying action,

III. The particular ufes and ends of baptifm.

IV. The fubjects of baptifm, or thofe to whom it

is to be adminiftered.

V. The efficacy of it.

VI. The neceflity of it.

VII. Deduce a few inferences.

I. Let us confider the fignifying thing in this facrament. There is a fourfold baptifm fpoke of in fcrip

Zz2.

1

ture. (1.) The baptifm of light, which is taken for the doctrine, Acts xviii. 25. (2.) The baptifm of blood, which is martyrdom, Matth. xx. 22. 23. (3) The baptifm of the Spirit, which is the pouring out of the Spirit, Matth. iii. II. (4) The baptifm of water, which is baptifm properly fo called. So

The fignifying thing in baptifm is water, Acts viii, 38. 39. Eph. v. 26. And there is no matter, as to the water, whether it be fountain-water or river-water, providing only it be pure clean water, Heb. x. 22. And it is an abominable practice of the Papifts to add oil, falt, and fpittle to the water in baptifm. Here I shall fhew, 1. What is fignified by the water in baptism.

2. What is the refemblance betwixt water and the thing fignified by it.

First, What is fignified by the water in baptism? 1. The blood of Jefus Chrift, Rev. i. 5.

2. The Spirit of Jefus Chrift, Tit. iii. 5. If. xliv. 3. Secondly, What is the refemblance betwixt thefe? There is a fweet resemblance betwixt water, and the blood and Spirit of Jefus Chrift; the due confideration whereof fhews the excellency of the grace exhibited in baptifm.

1. Water is a common thing, to be had freely by all those who will take it: it is what the poor as well as the rich have access to. So the blood and Spirit of Chrift are free to all who will receive the fame offered in the gospel, If. lv. 1. Chrift is not a fealed and clo fed, but an opened fountain, for fouls to wafh in, Zech. xiii. 1. Cant. ii. 1. And however unclean one be, he is welcome to this water, 1 Cor. vi. 9. 10. II,

2. Water is a cleanfing thing, taking out fpots, ftains, and defilement. The blood of Chrift cleanfes the defiled conscience, Heb. ix. 14. The Spirit of Chrift purifies the foul, removing filthy lufts that defile the foul, and fo renewing and fanctifying it, Tit. iii. 5. And unlefs we be thus washed, we have no part in Chrift.

4. Water is a refreshing thing, when one is thirfty,

or fcorched with heat. So is the blood of Chrift and the outpouring of his Spirit to the thirfty foul, fcorched under the flames of wrath, John vi. 35.

4. Water is of a fructifying virtue. So is Chrift's blood and Spirit, making the barren foul fruitful in the fruits of holiness, If. xliv. 3. 4. The foul lies naturally under the curfe, and fo can bring forth nothing but the briers and thorns of wickednefs. But the blood of Chrift fprinkled on the foul, changes the nature of the foil. The foul is naturally dead, and therefore must wither: The Spirit of Chrift brings life, and makes the wilderness to bloffom as the rofe.

5. Water is moft neceffary, fo neceffary that we cannot live without it: fo the blood and Spirit of Chrift are abfolutely neceffary for our falvation, Heb. ix. 23. John xiii. 8.

6. Lastly, Water muft be applied ere it can have its effect: fo we muft partake of Chrift's blood and Spirit, ere our fouls can be changed thereby, 1 Cor. i. 30.

II. Let us confider the fignifying action in baptifm. It is washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. Here I fhall fhew,

ed.

1. How this washing with water is to be perform

2. By whom it is to be performed, according to Chrift's inftitution.

3. What is the meaning of the form of words ufed in baptifm.

First, I am to fhew how this washing with water is to be performed. The dipping of the perfon into the water is not neceffary: but baptifm is rightly adminiftered by pouring or fprinkling water upon the perfon. The unlawfulneis of dipping is not to be pretended, fince it is not improbable that it was ufed by John, Matth. ii. 6. and Philip, Acts viii. 38.; but feems to have been ufed in the ancient church, and in fome places is used to this day. But baptifin is rightly ad

ministered by pouring or fprinkling water, as we do. (1.) Because the apostles, at leaft fometimes, feem to have baptized that way; as when three thousand were baptized in one day, Acts ii. 41. which can hardly be imagined to be done in fo fhort a space of time by dipping; and when fome were baptized in the night, as in the cafe of the Philippian jailor and his family, Acts xvi. 33. (2.) Because baptizing in fcripture is ufed for wathing by infufion or sprinkling, as well as immerfion, Mark vii. 4. Luke xi. 38. (3.) Because the thing fignified by baptifm is called Sprinkling, and is reprefented thereby fufficiently, Heb. xii. 24. 1 Pet. i. 2. It is true, we are faid to be buried in baptifm, Rom. vi. 4. ; but even the fprinkling of the water, as well as dipping, reprefents that, according to the ancient way of burying, wherein they were not funk into the earth, but laid on the ground, and the mold. caft over them.. Befides. that in fome cafes dipping might endanger the life of the baptized, especially in our cold countries.

Secondly, I fhall fhew by whom baptifm is to be performed, according to Chrift's inftitution. By a minifter of the gofpel lawfully called thereto. For to them only belongs the adminiftration of baptism, to whom it belongs to preach the word, our Lord Jefus having knit thefe together in the inftitution, Matth. xxviii. 19. They are the fewards of the myfteries of God, 1 Cor. iv. i. into which office none can thrust himfelf with a good confcience, who is not called thereto. And it is the perverfe opinion of the abfolute neceffity of baptifm, that makes the Papifts and others admit others, even women, to baptize in cafe of neceffity.

Thirdly, I fhall next fhew what is the meaning of the form of words ufed in baptifm. It denotes baptifm to be adminiftered by virtue of the authority of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but efpecially that one is baptized into the profeffion, faith, and obedience of the holy Trinity, for the Greek & fignifies into the name. And it is name, not

names, to fhew the unity of the Godhead in the Trinity of perfons.

III. I proceed to fhew what are the particular ufes and ends of baptifin. Befides the general ufes and ends of the facraments, which are common to baptifin and the Lord's fupper, the particular ufes and ends of baptifm are these.

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1. To be a rite of folemn admiffion into the vifible church, Matth. xxviii. 19. 1 Cor. xii. 13. and fo to the vifible church privileges, Rom.. xi. 17. It fuppofes the party to have a right to these privileges before, and does not make them members of the visible church, but adnits them folemnly thereto. And therefore it is neither to be called nor accounted chriftening, i. e. making them Chriftians for the infants of believing parents are born within the covenant, and fo are Chriftians and vifible church-members; and by baptifm this right of theirs is acknowledged, and they are folemnly admitted to the privileges of church-membership.

2. To fignify and feal to the party faving privileges. and benefits for his eternal falvation, which it actually doth in all thofe to whom it is effectual, though it is not effectual to all. Thefe benefits are,

(1.) Ingrafting into chrift, or union with him, Gal. ill, 27. We are naturally branches of the old Adım, from whom we can derive nothing but fin and the curfe. Chrift the fecond Adam is the true vine into which we are ingrafted, or to whom we are united, John xv. 5. The Spirit is the ingrafter, who, by the knife of the law, cuts us off from the old ftock, Gal. ii. 19. and puts us into Chrift, winding us up with the band of the covenant of grace, and caufing us to knit with him by faith, Eph. iii. 17. This is fignifi ed and fealed by baptifin, while fo Chrift does folemn. ly take poffeffion of us, being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(2.) Partaking of the benefits of the covenant of