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SERM.
II.

Phil. i.

20.

9. We are baptized into the Name of our God, upon a full Satisfaction that he is able to do all this that we are waiting for. Our Privileges in him and by him, are Pardon, Acceptance, Conformity to him, and Felicity with him: And as these are our Defire, fo they are our Earnest Expectation and Confidence, that in nothing we shall be ashamed. To depend for Pardon upon one that cannot give it, or for Holiness upon him who cannot work it, or for Heaven upon a Hand that cannot bring us to it, would make us afhamed of our Hope. How dreadful would it be for thefe Expectations to raise us up to Heaven, and then upon a Difappointment, to go down, both sneaking and howling into Hell.

But, as we are baptized upon his Command who has all Power both in Heaven and Earth, his Power upon Earth can preferve us from falling, and his Power in Heaven will present us Jude 22. Faultless with exceeding Joy. We durft not have taken his Name upon us, if he was not our Sovereign: We durft not have done it with Confidence if he was not omnipotent: But he Pf. lxxxix. has a mighty Arm, ftrong is his Hand, and 6. 7. high is his right Hand, who is a strong Lord like unto him, or to bis Faithfulness round about him? His Faithfulness will declare his Strength, his Strength will fecure his Faithfulness, he fhows a greater Majefty in a Covenant than he does in a Creation.

What do you mean by being baptized? It is declaring plainly to the World, that you seek a City, which is an heavenly, whofe Builder and Heb. xi. Maker is God. For in this Ordinance God is 16. not ashamed to be called your God, and from thence you may conclude that he has provided for you a City. Behold what manner of Love he has bestowed upon you, that you should be called

the

II.

the Children of God! He has called you fo by SERM. appointing Baptifm, you call yourselves fo by obferving it. By this it appears what you are, the Sons of God, and though it does not fully appear what you fhall be, yet here is a happy Conclufion in the General, that we fhall be like him, by feeing him as he is.

I

John iii.

1, 2.

10. Being baptized into the Name of God expreffes the common Intereft that all Believers have in him. It was never defigned to be the Badge of a Party, but of a Chriftianity that is now diffused among all Nations; and it belongs to all that in every Place call upon the Name of the Lord Jefus, both theirs and ours. The Diftinction of Kingdoms, Languages, and Sexes, (and I fhould think it of particular Opinions too) ought to be swallowed up in it. As many of you Gal. iii. as have been baptized into Chrift have put on 27, 28. Chrift. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither Bond nor Free, there is neither Male nor Female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. You fee the Apostle makes the Name of Baptift to be of the fame Extent with that of Believer ; not that Believers fhould think themselves divided by it, but united in it. As the Body is one, and 1 Cor. xii. bas many Members, and all the Members of that 12, 13. one Body, being many, are one Body: So alfo is Chrift. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be Bond or Free, and have been made all to drink into one Spirit.

Hence it appears, that what is only external is a very little Matter; we are faid to drink into one Spirit, to let us fee that spiritual Baptifm is fomething within us. He has faid that we have but one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptifm; and therefore, let us not charge fome Perfons with having no Baptifm, and others with having two.

II.

SERM. I'm fure a Variety of Opinions, upon this Head, never was to me fo much as a Biafs of Friendship, and I hope it never will be in my Practice a Term of Communion. Chrift has made it an Ordinance fo wide as to comprehend us all ; and I fhall not inclofe what he has left open.

Eph. i. 21, 22.

By being baptized you declare yourselves Chriftians, and in this are diftinguished from none but those who do not own Chrift Jefus to be head over all Things to his Church; or, which comes to the fame Thing, do not believe him to have the Fulness of him that fills all in all.

And thus have I confidered this Expreffion in a more general Way, what it imports to be baptized into a Name. What that Name in particular is, you fee by the perpetual Form of the Ordinance, it is that of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft, which brings the firft Article of our Religion into the first Act of our Profeffion.

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SER

SERMON III.

Baptifm compleated by Chrift, and an Argument of his Omnipotence; he gave the Form of it, which expreffes the first Article of Religion, a Trinity of Persons in an Unity of Godhead. We are baptized in no other Name than that of God. The firft Command unrepealed. None but God can give the Bleffings of the Ordinance, Pardon, and Purity, which are afcribed to the Son and Spirit. Baptifm is into the Name of one God. This was very little known among the Heathen. The Charge of Tritheism falfe and impudent.

T is very evident, that to be bap- SERM. tized into the Name of any one is the III. greatest Homage we can pay to fuch

a Being; it fhows that all our Devo- Pfalm tion is to him, and all our Springs are in him. lxxxvii. 7. And therefore,

II. Let us enquire what that Name is, that, by our Lord's Appointment, we are baptized into, who is three in Heaven or in Earth, that is equal to a Surrender of all that we have, and can anfwer our Dependance in all that we hope for?

SERM. Certainly it is a Tribute given only to God, and III. the Bleffing of it is derived from him alone. And therefore the Name by which we are called in this Solemnity must be above every Name, if you do but confider thefe four Things.

Acts ii.

38.

xxvi. 7.

Pf. xxiv.

Luke iii.

15.

29, 30.

1. Baptism is what you may call the Frontif" piece of the Chriftian Religion. It is the first publick Declaration that we make of our Adherence to the Meffiah. And therefore Peter preffes the converted Jews to it immediately, repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jefus Chrift. The Baptifm of John was to prepare the way of the Lord, to let them know they fhould now fee the great Salvation that had been promised and expected, which God had spoke of in Types, and Believers in Prayers. To this hope of Ifrael the twelve Tribes instantly serving God Day and Night did hope to come. And therefore they that understood his Baptifm looked upon it as the opening of the everlasting Gates: The Kingdom of Heaven was now at hand, and the King of Glory, the Lord of Hofts, was entering in. The People were mufing in their Hearts concerning John, whether he was the Christ or no; from the Day of his fhowing to Ifrael, he was to give them the Knowledge of Salvation in the Remiffion of their Sins, through the tender Mercy of their God; whereby the Day-fpring, the bright and Morning Star had vifited them. Therefore,

2. It is an Ordinance more explained and enJohn iii. larged by Chrift himself. John was to decrease, being only the Friend of the Bridegroom, and rejoiced to hear his Voice. For as John's Baptifm was a Declaration that he that should come was come, neither look we for another; fo Chrift's Baptism is a Testimony not only to his Arrival,

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