SERM.

II.

3dly, A good Man, whatever his Opinion is about this Ordinance, will, and does make a folemn Dedication of his Children to the Lord that gave them; he is prompted to it by a Love to them and a Zeal for God.

4thly, In this Work he will plead the Covenant, that is, be earneft for the Bleflings contained in it; he will beg the Lord may be a God both to him and his Seed, that his Children may be pardoned by the Blood of Sprinkling, and may have the washing of Regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghoft; nay,

5thly, He confeffes his Obligation to bring them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord: And though he cannot join with fome of his Brethren in the Ordinance of Baptifm, yet he heartily begs that they may join with him, in their Prayers for his Children, and their Advice to them. These two Chriftians can bow the Knee together to the fame Lord Jefus, he is both their Lord and ours: Only here's the Difference, the one thinks his Motions and working of his Soul about his Pofterity may be expreffed in Baptifm, and the other thinks not. So that upon the whole you may conclude,

ift, That neither of them want a Love to their Children, and inward serious Thoughts for their eternal Welfare.

2dly, Neither of them despise the Covenant of God, or any Bleffing contained in it: Nay,

3dly, There's no Contempt on the Ordinance on either Side: He that omits it does not live in the Neglect of a known Duty; but carries the fame Sense of a Relation to his Infant without Baptifm, that another does with it. He that obferves it, ought by no Means to be charged with a Profanation. He that is fo careful about

every other Solemnity, and fo ferious in this, SERM. may be in a Miftake, but he has given all the II. Evidence that Charity can defire that his Heart is right in the Sight of God.

And upon the whole I cannot fee any Sin at being present at an Ordinance, when my Judgment does not approve the Adminiftration: Confiders the Apoftle's Argument, Why am I evil Spoken of for that, for which I give God Thanks? That which is an Offence, or Matter of Scruple to my Brother, may be an inward Satisfaction to me, as he pleads, one Man efteems Rom. xiv. One Day above another; another Man efteems every 5. Day alike; be that regards the Day, regards it unto the Lord, and he that regards not the Day, to the Lord, be regards it not; that is, he thinks it to God's Glory to neglect it. He that eats, eats to the Lord, and gives God Thanks; be that eats not, to the Lord be eats not; he makes it a religious Omiffion, and he gives God Thanks. The former praises him for the Sense he has of his Chriftian Liberty, and the latter for the Conviction he supposes to have of his Duty; now if God be thanked, why fhould they be worried?

Such a Temper as this would be more Credit to Religion, than a Capacity of gaining Profelytes. I had rather let my Light fhine before Men in Meeknefs of Wisdom than in a furious. Course of Argument. The Wife, the Scribe, the Difputer of this World, is not the most fignificant Perfon in the Church of Chrift: And I am fo far from being offended at the Strength of reafoning on the other Side, that I can fincerely blefs God, that though his People differ from one another, yet the common Adverfary cannot reproach either Opinion with Folly.

SERM.

II.

Col. ii.

12.

There's many an Argument that has not convinced me, that yet has delighted me, I have not thought a Perfon either the worfe or the weaker for his having other Notions, no more than for having another Complexion.

If any fay this destroys Chriftian Unity, I must confefs, my Thoughts are quite the reverfe to that Infinuation. It gives a greater Evidence to the World of that Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness, by managing our Differences with Temper than by clofing it with Uniformity; and therefore, for People to charge Conclufions upon one another, which they will not own, is unfair. -On the one Hand, to say that the baptizing of a Child, is no more than the fprinkling of a Dog, or that a Child of a Believer, unbaptized, is in the fame State with that of an Infidel, is but foaming out our own Shame. Such Language is the Froth of unmortified Nature, the Stench of a carnal Mind, that's Enmity againft God: And the Serious on both Sides would hate thofe Tongues as an unruly Evil, they favour not the Things that be of God.

The fame Difpofition of Soul you may carry through the other Branch of the Dispute, that is, about the Mode of Baptifm. Certainly the Benefits of the Ordinance may be conveyed either way. We are faid to be buried with Chrift in Baptifm. Would it not be cruel for any of our Brethren to fay, that because we mifs the Symbol of his Burial, that therefore we have not the thing. I believe the Design of thefe Words is neither to exprefs one Form, nor another: But as we are faid to be circumcifed in Chrift, in the Verse before, by the Circumcifion made without Hands, which is but the putting away the Sins of the Flesh; fo we are buried with him, and this must be understood of fomething done without Hands too. And though I may think that the Words allude

to

to the Manner bow the Work is to be performed, SERM. yet the Senfe of the Expreffion carries my II. Thoughts to fomething that is more than twenty fuch Allufions, for it fignifies no lefs than my Intereft in Jefus Chrift. Whatever phrases the Apostle uses he is defcribing the State of the Soul, and no Forms of Adminiftration. Know ye not that fo many of us as were baptized into Chrift, Rom. vi. were baptized into his Death, therefore we are bu- 4. ried with him by Baptifm' into Death. What! Is it to be convinced that ours is the right Way? No, but like as Chrift was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father, so we should walk before him in newness of Life, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death, we shall alfo be in the likeness of bis Refurrection. Is this Similitude to tell us the Way how the Duty fhould be performed: Alas! that's a little Matter indeed: No, it is to put us in Mind of that which is not resembled at all, knowing this, that our old Man is crucified with him, that the Body of Sin may be destroyed, that henceforth we should no longer ferve Sin.

As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Chrift: And I may invert the Propofition, that as many as have put on Christ, who are clothed with his Righteoufnefs, and conformed to his Image, these are baptized into Chrift, whether it is by Dipping or Sprinkling. Obferve the Latitude of the Expreffion; ye are baptized into Chrift, not into this or that Denomination of his People. It's pity that we are known among Men by meer Circumftances: The Name fhould not be taken from the Quantity of Water that is used; for God never did by the Church, as he has done by the Earth, founded it upon the Pfal. Seas and established it upon the Floods.

3dly, Follow what you have done by earneft Prayer. When you have owned the Covenant of

D 4

God,

2.

Exod.

XV. 2.

SERM. God, it's undoing all again, if you lay afide FaII. mily Religion. All the good of this Ordinance either for yourfelves or your Children, comes from the Fountain of Life. If he is your God, prepare him an Habitation; if you confider him as your Father's God, be fure that you exalt him. If the Solemnity of Baptifm was adminiftered to yourselves fince you were capable of thinking or choofing, then you have profeffed before the World your relation to the Father of Mercies : That you hope to live in his Houfe, and will you not be often knocking at his Door?

I Cor.

X. I.

Your Baptifm is alfo in the fecond Place, a Symbol of the Relation you ftand into God's People; it may be faid of you now, as it was of thofe of Old, ALL our Fathers were under the Cloud, and ALL passed through the Sea, and were ALL baptized unto Mofes in the Cloud, and in the Sea. And they did ALL eat the fame Spiritual Meat, and did ALL drink the fame fpiritual Drink. So that you may look upon your Brethren as Fellow-Heirs of the fame Body, and Partakers of the Promife in Chrift by the Gofpel.

Learn then to pray for them and with them, if you are Heirs together of the Grace of Life, that your Prayers may not be hindered; this is the most endearing Work that you can be employed in It fhews the best of your own Love, and engages the warmeft of theirs: This is the Fellowship of the Spirit.

Let me in the fame Exhortation put those People in mind of their Duty who have given up their Children to the Lord. You have feveral Occafions to feel the Parent: In their Sicknefs, their Cries, their Dangers: At thefe Times. practife the Chriftian. You are afraid of their ftarving, and therefore provide for your own; if you did not fo, it would be denying the Faith.

But