We do, and I think with a great deal of Ju- SERM. ftice, refuse to adminifter the Lord's Supper to I. a Perfon on a Death-bed, and I cannot fee but the Argument is as conclufive against this Abuse of Baptifm. He that believes makes not hafte. If God has given me a Child, I fhall refign it to him very often, before I do it in a folemn Ordinance, and if he denies me an Opportunity of expreffing this in the Manner I think it ought to be done, it will be no Part of my Uneafiness, if it dies unbaptized: It is better I think to leave fuch a Duty undone, than not to have it well done. God never expects it either from you or me, when he has thrown a Bar in our way, that we break it, or leap over it. There is no more Harm in your not doing it, than there was in David's not building the Temple: You had made Provifion for it, and you did well in that it was in your Heart. And though you should not haften the Work with fuch an Opinion as this, yet take Care that your Good be not evil spoken of, that you do not harden others in it, and fo become a stumbling Block to them that are weak. As the Apostle, in a parallel Cafe, fays, If any 1 Cor. Man fee thee who haft knowledge fit at Meat in the viii. 10. Idols Temple; fhall not the Confcience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat thofe Things which are offered in Sacrifice to Idols? And through thy Knowledge fhall thy weak Brother perish for whom Chrift died; but when you fo fin against the Brethren, and wound their weak Confcience, you fin against Chrift. The Argument holds good here, perhaps you are not fo much in hafte for the Baptifm of your Child, from a Suppofition that there is no Salvation without it; but what if an uninftructed Neighbour puts this Sense on the Zeal you fhew to have it done, and conclude it is for the fame Reason that would have moved

I.

SERM. him to do fo; you may in this, lay the Foundation of a great Uneafinefs to him if the Providence of God fhould do, what we have ten thoufand Examples of, fnatch away his Child on a fudden; the Error of his Judgment is enough to throw him into melancholy, and thus through thy Knowledge fhall thy weak Brother offend."

3. It is of all others an Opinion the most foolish and impudent, that the Salvation which comes by Baptifm is owing to the Regularity of the Minister that performs it, and that not a Regularity in a Moral Senfe but an Ecclefiaftical one. By his being a fit Minifter to baptize, they do not mean, that he shall be sober, of good Behaviour, apt to teach, holding faft the faithful Word; all this avails him nothing without a Lineal Virtue, which if it did not come from Anti-Chrift, it certainly came through him. Nay, to foolish have fome been in this unmannerly Doctrine, as to tell us "the very Immortality "of our Souls is owing to the Baptifmal Spirit; "which, fince the Apoftle's Days, is only con"veyed by Bishops: "As if it was not enough to confound the Works of Grace, unless they deftroy thofe of the God of Nature. If you proceed to the Ordinance with any fuch Delufons in your Head, its no wonder that you fall fhort of the Benefit. The Foolishness of Fools is deceit. You ought to be established in the Truth, and the Truth fhall make you free. Be not carried about with every Wind of Doctrine, or fuffered to be toffed to and fro, by the Slight of Men, and the cunning Craftiness of thofe that lie in wait to deceive. If you offer the Blind for Sacrifice is it not evil? A wife Man's Eyes are in bis Head, but a Fool walks in Darkness.

SER

SERMON II.

Secondly,

Aм to give you fome Directions that relate to the Work itself, and are to be obferved at the Time of the Administration; and under this Head I will not croud you with a Multitude of Particulars, but only leave with you these three Things.

1. Be fatisfied that it is performed according to the Rule given you in the Word of God.

2. If it be poffible, let it be done in the Publick Affembly of his People.

3. There fhould be a great deal of Serioufnefs in your Temper, whether you bring yourfelves or Infants to God in this Ordinance.

1. It is of the utmoft Importance to the Benefit and Comfort of this Duty, that it be administered according to the Word, otherwife, though there may be a washing away the Filth of the Flesh, there will never be the Anfwer of a good Confcience towards God. As if our Saviour forefaw how much this Ordinance was to fuffer by human Intrufions, he fets a Bar quite round the Inftitution.

1. By telling the Apoftles that this Order to baptize into the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft, was the Refult of his having All Power given to him both in Heaven and

SER M.

II.

SERM. in Earth: From which I would conclude, that the Solemnity is complete as he left it, and that it wants no more to make it effectual. And then

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2. HE places a Caution on the other Side, teaching them to obferve all Things that I have commanded you. And you are to limit the Promife with which he clofes, by the Rules that he had given them; lo, I am with you always unto the End of the World. This Divine Presence will attend nothing but a Divine Ministration: When People leave Chrift, and the Method of his Worship, he will leave them. He has not published his Laws, as Men do theirs, with those Imperfections, that they must be explained and mended; no, he is the Rock, and his Work is perfect, and all his Commandments are fure.

The Inftitution itfelf is a Divine Ceremony: It would be of no Value if we had not his Command for it. We never could be of Opinion that either dipping or fprinkling would be of any avail, if we did not find it among the Orders given by an exalted Saviour. Therefore, to throw our Ceremonies among his, is mingling two Authorities together: If he had thought that washing with Water was not fufficient without the Sign of the Cross, he would have told us, and made that fupernumerary Addition more ancient than it is: For from the Beginning it was not fo. We may call it a Token of Peoples fighting manfully; but its no Token for Good, nor did Mankind ever find any more Courage in those that have it, than in thofe that want it.

Nor does it scatter among thofe that have received this Mark in their Foreheads, any Zeal for the Doctrine of the Crofs. They do not understand better than their Neighbours the great Article of Juftification, from that Righteoufnefs that was brought in by the Death of the

Crofs

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Crofs; nor did we fee that it promotes the In- SERM. fluence of the Crofs upon our Hearts and Lives, that it makes People more felf-denying, and mortified to the World: In a Word, it rather tends to crucify our Lord afresh in the Honour of his Authority, and the Liberties of his People. It has made Men Schifmaticks who walk in all the Statutes and Commandments of the Lord blameless; and is a Token of nothing fo much as this, that other Lords have bad Dominion over us.

And as to that other Piece of human Lumber that's come into this Ordinance of appointing Godfathers: 'Tis fuch an undoing of what God has eftablished in the Laws of Nature, fuch an over-ruling and transferring a parental Authority, that it's no Wonder that fo little Good comes of it. That it has fpread a Perjury through the Land, and brought People into a Habit of Promifing and Vowing what they never defigned to perform, is not fo much as denied: And what Benefit may be expected to a poor Child who is offered up to God, with a Solemnity of fo much Falfhood I cannot imagine. Solomon has given fuch a Name to these Practices that should not make us very fond of them: If thou vowest a Vow unto the Lord, defer not to pay it, for he bas no Pleafure in Fools:

If any fhould object that the Sprinkling of Infants is a Breach of this Direction, that it's not according to the Word of God, and therefore must be as bad as those Abominations that I have now mentioned; I am satisfied any Brother who loves the meekness of Wisdom will not defpife this Anfwer, because there's a great Difference between mistaking the divine Rule, and totally laying it afide: The Reason why we do not act as fome other Chriftians do, is, because we think

thefe