Jesus Christ, which is not to be administered to any out of the Christian church, until they profess repentance, faith in Christ, and sincere obedience to him: and to persuade them to repent and be baptized, Peter tells them, 'the promise is to you, and to your children,' to you Jews of the seed of Abraham, and to your seed; and to as many of the Gentiles and their seed as shall be called by the preaching of the gospel to profess faith in Christ. By promise is meant the gracious covenant of God, whereby he offers pardon and peace to such as will accept them. This acceptance is twofold-cordial; which entitles a person to all the benefits of the covenant, temporal, spiritual, and eternal: professional only; which entitles a person and his seed to church privileges only. Hence, when God takes believing parents into covenant with himself, he takes also their children or seed into covenant with himself likewise; and if so, then the seal of the covenant, which is baptism, ought to be applied to them. It is evident, that under the Old Testament children were in covenant with God, as well as their parents. And do we any where find that ever they were cast out under the gospel?

"As I before said, the second branch of the apostles' power was to baptize in the name of the whole Trinity; 'baptizing in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:' where note, that all adult and grown persons are to be first taught and instructed before they be baptized. But it follows not from hence that the children of such parents may not be baptized before they are taught; for the apostles were to baptize all nations, of which children are a chief, if not the chiefest part. Besides, those that were proselyted to the Jewish religion, though before they were circumcised themselves they were instructed in the law of God, yet when they were circumcised themselves, their children were not denied circumcision at eight days old. In like manner, we have no reason to deny the children of baptized parents, who are in covenant themselves, the sign and seal of the covenant, which is baptism, God having assured his people that he will be the God of them and of their seed. If this privilege be denied, the children of

Christian parents are in a worse condition than the children of the Jews, and consequently infants are in a worse condition since Christ's coming than they were before, and the privileges of those that live under the gospel are straiter and narrower than of those that lived under the law. The third branch of the power which Christ delegated to his apostles, was by their ministry to press upon all their converts an universal observance of, and obedience to, all his commands; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you: where note, that preaching is the ordinary and instituted means to convert nations to God. That preaching must not only go before baptism, but follow after it. Obedience must be pressed upon, and practised by, all those that enter into covenant with God; otherwise they lie under a great condemnation.

66 Some say, Christ did neither baptize infants nor command them to be baptized. That is not to be wondered at, if we consider that they had already entered into covenant with God by circumcision; and Christian baptism was not instituted; John's baptism was the baptism of repentance, of which infants were incapable.

"Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ' then all believers are the children of God, because they are baptized into Christ, and have put on Christ; that is, they are admitted into the Christian church by baptism, they profess Christ's holy religion; and if they live as they profess, they put on Christ. Now, since the coming of Christ, there is no difference or discrimination between one nation and another, no regard to any national privileges, either of Jew or Gentile, no distinctions of conditions, either bond or free; or of sexes, either male or female; but, circumcised or uncircumcised, we are all one as good as another in respect of outward privileges, but being sincere believers we are all equally accepted of God in Christ. So that no external privilege nor prerogative whatever, without faith in Christ, is any whit available to salvation; none are debarred from Christ, nor more nor better accepted with him for any

of these things: both the circumcised and uncircumcised are his, if believing in Christ.

"The jailor was brought to see and acknowledge that the doctrine taught by Paul and Silas was the truth of the Eternal God; who by the miraculous earthquake testified unto him that they were his true and faithful servants, which led him to ask what he must do to attain salvation. They answered him, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house; that is, if you and your family receive the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and regulate your lives according to it, you shall be saved. Trembling sinners are always inquisitive; an awakened conscience will put a man upon enquiry, what he should do. And the chief thing which the trembling soul enquires after, is the business of salvation; they must be directed to Jesus Christ, and to faith in him, as the only way to obtain salvation by him. Now the jailor believing, he and his whole house were baptized. The apostle denied not baptism to the jailor's household, upon the jailor's sincere profession of the Christian faith; yet no doubt he promised to use his utmost endeavour to bring them to the knowledge and obedience of Jesus Christ. It is very improbable that the jailor and his household were baptized by dipping: we do not deny the lawfulness of baptizing by immersion, but we cannot assert the absolute and indispensable necessity of it. Paul, who was newly washed, and his sores dressed, occasioned by stripes, cannot be supposed either to go out himself, or to carry the jailor and all his family, in the dead of the night, to the river or a pond, to baptize them; neither is it in the least probable, that St. Paul himself was baptized by dipping: see Acts ix. 18, 19; 'he arose and was baptized; and when he had received meat he was strengthened.' The context may convince us that he was baptized in his lodging, being sick and weak, having fasted three days, and being in a very low condition; it was no ways probable that Ananias should carry him out. to a river in that state, to plunge him in cold water. Dipping, then, surely cannot be so essential unto baptism, as for want of it to pronounce the baptism of all the reformed

churches throughout the world to be null and void, as some amongst us do.

"Although Christ converted Paul himself, yet Ananias, as his minister, must instruct him; by Christ is grace infused, but by his ministers increased.

"The work of the ministers of the gospel is now to witness for, hereafter to witness against; now they witness for God and his truth, and persuade sinners to believe it; hereafter they will witness against sinners, for not believing and obeying the truth of God. What a sad consideration is this, and with what a heart must a poor minister study, when he considereth that every sermon that he preaches must be brought in for a witness against many, if not most, of his hearers? The advice which Ananias gave to this new convert, to take upon him the badge of Christianity, to wit, baptism, was, 'Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy

sins.'

Although baptizing was God's ordinance, and St. Paul, as Christ's minister, had a commission and sufficient authority to baptize; yet the providence of God so ordered, that he baptized very few, lest any should say he baptized in his own name. Among those few he baptized, here is a whole household mentioned, 'the household of Stephanas.' St. Paul makes honourable mention of Stephanas and his house; they were the first fruits of Achaia, i. e. the first there converted to Christianity. Lydia, by reason of her faith in Christ, having a right to baptism, all her family, upon her undertaking to bring them up in the knowledge of Christ, were admitted to the ordinance with her. The jailor and his house, Lydia and her house, are all baptized. The opening of the heart to receive Jesus Christ is the peculiar effect of the sovereign power and omnipotent grace of God. Where learn, as Abraham, and others under the Old Testament, were to bring their housoholds into covenant with God by circumcision, so did those that had households under the New Testament endeavour to bring their whole families into God's covenant by baptism. Paul is here making a comparison between baptizing and preaching (1 Cor. i. 14-17),

and the preference given to the one before the other: 'Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach;' that is, rather to preach than to baptize; this was his great business, his principal work; though baptizing was within his commission, yet it was not that, but preaching the gospel, to convert souls to Christ, that he was called after such a wonderful manner, and endued with such extraordinary gifts for the performance of it.

To be baptized into Christ, is by baptism to take the name of Christ upon us, to be incorporated, ingrafted, and implanted into the church of Christ, being made visible members of his mystical body by baptism: to be baptized into Christ's death, imports our being conformed to him in the likeness of his death; our being engaged to die unto sin, as Christ died for sin. Learn by this, that the death of Christ was a lively representation of the death of sin; and believers are to imitate his death, in their dying daily to sin. The argument to move us to die unto sin, is drawn from our baptism; we are buried with him by baptism into death. The apostle alludes, no doubt, to the ancient manner and way of baptizing persons in those hot countries, which was by immersion, or putting them under water for a time, and then raising them up again out of the water; which rite had also a mystical signification, representing the burial of our old man sin in us, and our resurrection to newness of life. The metaphors of burying and rising again do imply and intimate thus much; burial implies a continuing under death; thus is mortification a continued act, a daily dying unto sin; rising again supposes a person never more to be under the power of death.

"We are told, Acts ii. 41, 'Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized: and the same day there was added unto them three thousand souls.' We need not enquire, whether the apostles did it by dipping or sprinkling, both being lawful: but this may be said, it is hard to guess how such a quantity of water could be brought to the place as might serve for the decent dipping of three thousand persons in so short a time. And, upon supposition that the water

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