ESSAY XXIV.

On Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

AMONG the ordinances, which the Lord hath appointed in his church, as means of grace antl acts of solemn worship, some have, from the earliest times, been distinguished by the name of Sacraments. The word Sacrament originally signified the military oath which the commanders of the Roman armies required from their soldiers; and these institutions were considered as solemn engagements to be faithful and obedient to Christ, under whose banner all Christians have enlisted. In process of time sacraments were multiplied, which gave rise to immense superstition and absurdity: and as human nature continually verges to extremes, so it may be doubted, whether numbers have not lately been induced too much to disregard all distinctions of this kind. The word, however, is not scriptural; and the nature of the two solemn ordinances, which Protestants consider the only Sacraments under the Christian dispensation, seems in general, to be this: In them divine truths are exhibited to our senses, and illustrated to our minds, by outward em

'blems, and the reception of spiritual blessings is represented by significant actions. Thus observances ' in themselves indifferent, by divine appointment become a part of religious worship, honourable to God, ' and profitable to us; and positive duties arise, where 'none before subsisted by moral obligation.'

* Baptism is the initiatory ordinance of Christiani ty; as circumcision under the old dispensation, from Abraham to the ascension of Christ, was the door of admission into the visible church. It consists in the application of water to the baptized person," in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy "Ghost." Water is the universal purifier of our persons, garments, houses, streets, and cities; it is essential to the beauty and fertility of the earth; and it is the original element from which every liquor, that quenches our thirst or exhilarates our spirits, is de

The design of this compendious publication renders it wholly improper to treat of this subject in a controversial manner. After a long and patient investigation, and mature reflection, the writer is a Podo-Baptist; and his discussions will consequently be most applicable to those, who coincide with him in sentiment and practice. But he considers all as brethren who "love the Lord Jesus in sincerity:" and would not willingly offend any man, who conscientiously differs from him in such matters: he therefore reasonably hopes for similar candour from his readers. The disputes about the mode and subjects of Baptism seem to have too long occupied a disproportionate degree of attention; whilst numbers remain ignorant of the nature and obligations of the ordinance itself. Mr. Henry's observation seems well grounded; 'If infant-baptism were 'more conscientiously improved, it would be less disputed."

rived. It is therefore, the constant and most expressive scriptural emblem of the pure and satisfying blessings, conveyed to us by the gospel: especially of the purifying, enlivening, fructifying, and consolatory influences of the Holy Ghost: and many ceremonies of the law, as well as the introductory baptism of John, exhibited these benefits by the use of it. The whole of that happy change, which the Apostle describes, may be denoted by the baptismal water; "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are

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justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the "Spirit of our God."* This accords with the Lord's promises by his prophet-" Then will I sprinkle clean "water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse "you;" and with various other passages in the sacred oracles. † Yet Baptism seems more immediately to represent the purifying of the judgment and affections from the pollution of sin, by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. The beginning of this work is therefore described with reference to the outward emblem, as being "born of water and of the Spirit;" it is called "the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the "Holy Ghost, which God our Saviour pours upon "us abundantly;" and it is especially, though not exclusively, meant by "the baptism of the Holy "Ghost."‡

* 1 Cor. vi. 9—11.

† Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27. Ps. li. 2. 7. Zech. xii. 1. John xiii, 8. xix. 24. Eph. v. 26, 27. 1 John v. 6. Rev. i. 5. vii. 14. #John i. 31-33. iii. 3—8. Tit. iii. 5, 6.

The appointment of this emblem, in the initiatory ordinance of Christianity, emphatically testifies the doctrine of original sin, and the necessity of regenera. tion: for it declares every man, as "born of the "flesh," to be so polluted, that unless he be washed with purifying water, he cannot be received into the outward church of God: and unless he be inwardly cleansed by the Holy Spirit, he cannot be a member of the true church. In this, it coincides with circumcision, which implied, that without the mortification of the corrupt nature derived by generation from fallen Adam, and the removal of that obstacle to the love and service of God, no man could be admitted into covenant with him.* And like that ordinance, it is "the seal of the righteousness of faith;" for he, and he alone, who possesses the inward and spiritual grace, which both circumcision and baptism outwardly denoted, has a divine attestation to the sincerity of his faith, and to the reality of his justification in the righteousness of the Redeemer. The form of baptism, in," or into," the name of the Father, and "of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," contains an unanswerable argument for the doctrine of the Trinity, and constitutes a perpetual profession of it: it implies also that the baptized person is the avowed worshipper and servant of God" the Father, the Son, and "the Holy Ghost," who is become the Salvation and Portion of his people.

When the Apostles went forth "to teach," or disciple, "all nations," to baptize them in this name,

* Deut. xxx. 6. Jer. iv. 4. Rom. ii. 28, 29.

and afterwards to teach them more fully all things that Christ had commanded, that they might observe them, the converts, whether made from among the Jews or Gentiles, were baptized on an intelligent profession of repentance and faith. When the Jews made proselytes to their religion, they circumcised the adult males on such a profession, according to the nature of their dispensation; and Pado-baptists, in similar circumstances, would adopt the same conduct. But we maintain, (for reasons that have been repeatedly assigned,) that as the Jews circumcised likewise all the males in the families of the proselytes, who were incapable of personally rejecting the Jewish religion; so the Apostles baptized the households of their converts; including the females, and only excluding such, as, being able to answer for themselves, gave evidence, by word or deed, that they did not obey the truth. Nay, we are of opinion that those children, who had one believing parent, though the other continued an unbeliever, were thus admitted, as relatively holy, into the visible church of Christ.*

The adult convert, by receiving baptism, acknowledged, according to the obvious meaning of the ordinance, that he was a sinner by nature and practice; that he repented of his sins, and believed in Christ for the forgiveness of them; that he renounced idolatry, and all other objects or forms of worship,

"serve the one living and true God," in whose name he was baptized; that he cordially believed the truths

Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.

Acts xvi. 3. 15. 33. Rom. xi. 16, 17. 1 Cor. i. 16. vii. 14