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F*! 
 
I 
 
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 ES. 
 

 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 A 
 
 ON 
 
 BAPTISM. 
 
 i 
 
 BT 
 
 KEv. EDWAKD WILLIAMS, D.D. 
 
 EXTRACTED FROM HIS LARGER WORK ON BAPTISM, 
 
 CHARLOTTETOWN, P. E. ISLAND : 
 
 PEIHTED AT THE *< PEOTESTANT " OFFIGB, QUEEN SQUARl. 
 
 1863. 
 
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PUBLISIIEE'S PEEFACE. 
 
 The following nclmirablo Reflections on Baptism are 
 republished by a Presbyterian Minister. The object in 
 view is to place in the hands of young people, baptized 
 in infancy, a guide to understand the use they ought 
 to make of this ordinance of the Lord. It has been 
 felt that such a work is a desideratum. Whilst the 
 number of works written on the mode and subjects 
 of Baptism may be set down as infinite, few, compar- 
 atively, address themselves to the end contemplated in 
 the following reflections. The work is sent forth with 
 the earnest prayer that it may prove a blessing to 
 those who read its pages. 
 
 Prince Edward Island, October, 1863. 
 
 d (. (p^i^i^ 
 
PnACTIGAL MFLEGTIONS: 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 CONTAINING A RATIONAL AND DEVOUT IMPROVEMENT OF 
 
 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, AND PARTICULARLY 
 
 INFANT BAPTISM. 
 
 2 1. Introduction. § 2. Practical Reflections: — (First,) Trom the 
 consideration of our being baptized persons ; as to — § 3. First, 
 Faith. § 4. Second, Gratitude. § 6. Th'rd, Repentance. % 6. 
 Fourth, Self-dedication. ?. 7. Fifth, Universal holiness. | 8. 
 Sixth, Exemplary diligeii § 8 (Jecond) From the considera- 
 tion of our being bapiiztiC: infancy ; as to — § 10. First, Faith. 
 g 11. Second, Gratitude. 'i>, I'L Third, Repentance, g 13. Fourth, 
 Self-dedication. § 14. Fifth, Universrl holiness. ^ 16. Sixth, 
 Exemplary diligence. ? 16-23. [Third,) As parents. § 24-29. 
 (Fourth,) As ministers, i 80-36. (Fifth,) As spectators, 
 
 § 1. The gospel contains good tidings of grf^.r joy, 
 which shall be unto all people ; and tha leg?»;y, the in- 
 estimable treasure, bequeathed to us by the last will 
 and testament of our Divine Saviour, He seals not only 
 ^7ith His blood to satisfy justice, but also by His instiiu- 
 tinns for our instruction and comfort. He condescends to 
 teach us, in a sense, after the manner of men • while, at 
 the same time. His method of teaching bears the stamp of 
 infinite wisdom and transcendent love. In these institu- 
 tions w^discover the loving-kindness of the Lord adapting 
 itself to human weakness and human wants ; hereby 
 every faculty is addressed, every affection solicited, every 
 sin discountenanced, and every Christian grace, pious 
 disposition, and Divine virtue encouraged. And as this 
 is the character of gospel institutions in general, so it is 
 particularly of baptism in an eminent degree. Whether 
 we consider ourselves as baptised persons, — as baptized 
 in infancy, — a.s parents, — as ministers, — and as spectators 
 of this ordinance, the practical and devout consideration 
 of it will be attended with peculiar advantages. 
 
 § 2. (^First,) From the general consideration of our 
 being baptized persons, without any reference to the time 
 when, we may gather many profitable reflections for the 
 
h 
 
 PHACTICAL REFLECTIOXS 
 
 our rfi7j«.ence. ^_ "' /io/i«m, and of exciting 
 
 ^vM l!Z^'^^ 7^'^ I "»-e not only God's 
 faith in nriospe bu .,°''";r°''''^' '° encourage my 
 which was apt,] id t'o mo for th^^ ''""'^'"^ '"^"'""°n 
 puts au end \o all slll7^t.u"r'i ^' ^» °^* 
 instrument. And en I »n i "^^ ^Sal sealino- of an 
 «iise,is for «y use ' St reT7t, 1°^' ''''"'^/ 'h^' •»>« P™" 
 truth, ,,vho cannot' lie werVenc^fo? T'^ °^ *^ «°d of 
 rismg doubt respecting tire [mt^°?'f/"PP''"'' «^«^y 
 confirms the teltimonV vi h an ol./ h"^ ' ''"' ^'^''" "« 
 more abundantly/ to enc^ourage mv f^lh InT' '^"""1 
 this were not suflicient Ho ^,„ .i ^""^ ^^'i as if 
 
 doubt as to poinf me ",'ut l^'uTl, '" '^'J''' "^ 
 natne upon me • inrl H „ i ' "^ "** Put His own 
 
 thy God, thy pXr^hv Pv^T='' "' '^'''' '^~^ ^^"1 be 
 wtlttho,; be^faltht '/'"LT^f.f "f P°«ion:.how long 
 require any more ! Lord v/^l' '^ ""?'' ''='"°°^' ^ith; 
 impious crime of disbdLvini ZT'"' ^ f"*"^ °^ '^-e 
 Thy willingness to save me I *,? ^fr' °^ ^''^ S'^^^' 
 with guilt, and defiled w Sf rSi?n'' T'"'''' °PP''''i''^ 
 trust myself too much- but is if n.,, ''^ never dis- 
 trust in the Lord t^nuon\S/'''^ '"'?"'*•'<> much 
 
 the testimony of Go'^f Thai r" f ''^""2^- ^"' '-/'«' *« 
 me eternal life, and this mlsT^uffi' ''^y^Sives, unto 
 dition of future amendmenf,.^!i ' ^°"- ^^ " "n «»- 
 IVo; the encourages irl/ I '^ ^ ,^'^'"P"^ conduct? 
 whatever. UyfoslefsZ '( 'i^'P''"^'^^ on no condition 
 baptism is to b^=^e~by A' ^^Zl, ''f^M my 
 operation of God purifies th/hp^w' f *''' ^'*'* °f 'he 
 works by love, dyi^:;X'-;i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
revoking 
 
 ging our 
 
 exciting 
 
 objective 
 
 fy God's 
 rage my 
 stitution 
 an oath 
 ^of an 
 the pro- 
 God of 
 s every 
 hen He 
 willing 
 !t, as if 
 out of 
 lis own 
 will be 
 V long 
 I faith, 
 of the 
 grace, 
 ressed 
 3r dis- 
 much 
 ti my 
 Has 
 loubt, 
 
 hat is 
 unto 
 I con,' 
 luct ? 
 Ktion 
 ■ my 
 ^the 
 !nce, 
 duc- 
 
 ON BAPTISM. if^ 
 
 n^^ ''l^^^ ^'^"^^ P^ righteousness to the glory of God 
 Does diffidence object : - Why believe thar the promise 
 IS to you, though baptized?" Nay, rather, why not to 
 me / Am I not a sinner, under the sound of tb? gosDel 
 and set apart to its privileges? And is not this one of 
 them that Jesus Christ is willing to save me from sin and 
 hell ana from the hand of all that hate me ? that I may 
 by faith enter into rest, by faith be justified from all 
 tmngs, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, receive reconciliation and atonement, have mv 
 iniquities subdued, and my soul everlastingly saved ^ 
 If X may not isceive these blessings hy faith, without the 
 previous condition of my performing works of righteous- 
 ness, what would become of me as a dyins sinner ? How 
 otherwise could the gospel be good tidin|s, to sinners on 
 tfic verge of eternity, as well as to those who may live to 
 manifest their faith by t?ieir works ? y ^^vt. lo 
 
 r Y'^^ discouragement again urge, " Faith is the gift of 
 Orod, and therefore is not in my own power? " if it be 
 the gift of God, as it certainly is, let me make the greater 
 speed in making my application to Him for it. And even 
 /to is a privilege to which I am admitted. Nor does 
 faith being the gift of God hinder believing to be my 
 duty. Nor yet does my attempting to discharge a duty 
 any way prevent the duty itself discharged being a 
 supernatural effect Is it net my duty to attempt to love 
 
 ™n 7w-^7 ^"'i^' '?^' ^^ ^'' i"fi»it^ worthiness, 
 as well as His stupendous love to a perishing world, in 
 the gift of His Son? And yet if I am a tme lovei of 
 <^od, 1 dare not ascribe the attainment to anything short 
 
 t r,^'^!]' ^l''\'^^^'''^^^ grace. Is the Divine nature, 
 as possessed of a I possible perfections and excellences, of 
 
 proper object and rational ground of Divine love '^ So is 
 
 nron^r'T' ?^ ^>^' Confirmed by His oath and s'eal, the 
 proper object and rational ground of Divine faith The 
 
 do.^' fr'nm'f ^ ^^ "^^ ^"P^^'^^' "^ ^ gulden chain let 
 down from heaven, is my only ground of hope as a ner- 
 ishmg sinner And as a sinner does the promise regard 
 me; under thai rhararUr* it ^d'^^^pc,.,^- ^ ^^^ icgaiu 
 
8 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 news! O glorious discovery ! Here is a remedy Dre- 
 sented to me placed full before my eyes, equally/4 and 
 eficacious. Is it presumption to receive it, when I am 
 assured by the messenger who brings it, that not to receive 
 the bounteous donation, under the pretence that it belonss 
 fj?prir!f<-f f"«^'>,'« '".effect to charge the Promiser, 
 the God of truth, with msincerity and falsehood i What 
 greater evidence can scrupulosity itself wish for, that the 
 grant of mercy is designed for me 1 What in the whole 
 compass of the nature of things can be imagined as a 
 
 F/?5 A T^ ^ ""'^''' e-^eat^e. 'hat the Divine »romue 
 IS intended for my use, than that it should be directed to 
 
 ?iL7J'7^'"f,VM?'"""P^"'^'^ ^'* the oath and seal of 
 Jehovah ? Wil not the blood and the water, will no 
 
 tern ptllfs'' "^ ^"'" "''"^^^^= =^^--" ™« -f -be- 
 
 nrlt?* "°' '■'1"'''«t"' '''"'=^« ^hat is either unreasmiable 
 ZCT if"""- ^^^^ '^r'" ^<^'o^ble than to belij^e 
 what the all-wise almighty, and gracious God testifies, 
 and testifies in such a manner ? And it would be impious 
 to suppose that He requires me to believe anythingThich 
 ysn<Astnctlytrue. His tesiimony is not concernmTmy 
 f^f^'^'^y .''W'^nmenu, my ax^tual possession o^ grace! 
 of faith, of holiness, &c.; but concerning His own exceed- 
 ing great and precious promises, that n^ these i may 
 BECOME a partaker of a holy nature, with every new! 
 covenant blessing through time and'eternity Lt my 
 
 tifh Ti^ "Jr ""' ""'J' ^'"!'"'^' "^"f ^'^° '^'^re me, that 
 with God there is mercy held forth for me; that even I 
 
 however undeserving and condemnable iA myself mav 
 
 and finr^^r? '? 1 '^"■°"' °^ f '^'^^' '"^y obtain mercy^ 
 ana Jind grace to help m time of need. 
 
 inls^' %IZ\I^°'^ '?/'!"" '^'"'''' important bless- 
 mf ^raS/ '° '^ "'' consideration of it provoke 
 
 Am I a baptized person? Then to me is held forth 
 the remission of all my sins. The very institution itself 
 
 ieadv o nardT''n^°f '^^ ^°'^°^, S'''''' «*'^' ^e stands 
 ready to pardon. O glorious privilege, to have to do with 
 
 the King of kings and Lord of lords.^^ho, though I have 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 ^ 
 
 iy pre- 
 ^ree and 
 in I am 
 ' receive 
 belongs 
 omiser, 
 What 
 hat the 
 J whole 
 3d as a 
 promise 
 cted to 
 seal of 
 nil not 
 f unbe- 
 
 sonable 
 believe 
 JstifieSj 
 npious 
 which 
 ngmy 
 grace, 
 xceed- 
 
 I MAY 
 
 new- 
 et my 
 3, that 
 iren I, 
 ', may 
 aercy, 
 
 bless- 
 ovoke 
 
 forth 
 
 itself 
 
 tands / 
 
 ' with 
 
 have 
 
 highly offended Him with my sins, holds in his gracious^ 
 hand a free, full, and everlasting pardon ! Am I placcill 
 in His Church by baptism 1 With additional evideneCp 
 therefore, may I consider the following wonderful worda-- 
 addressed to me;— "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful 
 and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodne.5jt> 
 and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
 and transgression and sin," (^Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.) ArtdS 
 as these words were proclaimed for the use of the guilty 
 and alarmed Israelites, after the two Jlrsi tables of stons- 
 were broken, occasioned by their idolatry and folly • sc» 
 are they directed to me now, after all my past follies ani^ 
 provocations. Even to me are the following words di- 
 rected : — "Thou hast made me to ser\3 with thy sin«j, 
 thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I, [0 woi>- 
 derful retaliation !] even I, am he who blotteth out thy 
 transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember* 
 thy sins. Put me in remembrance ; let us plead together :: 
 declare thou, that thou mayest be justified," (Isa. xlfii 
 24-26.) Lord, this is not tho manner of men : Thc«y 
 givest liberally without upbraiding. In grateful wonder^ 
 I would reply, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pa-T- 
 doneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of tlie* 
 remnant of his heritage"? He retaineth not his ang«!f 
 for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will tuim* 
 again, ne will have compassion upon us ; he will subdue^ 
 our iniquities : and thou wilt cast all mi/ sins into tht^ 
 depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the iriiih to Jacobs, 
 and the 7nerci/ to Abraham, which thou hast sworn urilo 
 our fathers from the days of old," (Micah vii. 18-20.) 
 
 Am I a baptized person 7 Then still greater blessings 
 are yet granted and sealed to me. For hereby I am ajp- 
 sured that salvation from the malady of sin, the dominion 
 of lusts, the malice of Satan, and the pains of hell, as^ 
 exhibited and presented to ?/ze. And as this invaluabk* 
 blessmg is directed to me by name, ever since I hairr 
 borne the name of my ». aviour, received at my baptism, 
 so it comes as a free gift, and without charge. "iStaadi 
 still," therefore, "and see," in faith and affectiona4r 
 gratitude, " the scdvation of the Lord." J am invited W 
 
■laa^fifa 
 
 10 
 
 PRACTICAL EEFLECTIOXS 
 
 I 
 
 the wells of salvation, without mouey and without crice 
 il.ve?eig„\rS„ . 'Cok 'Sit/"".' ,°' r^ 
 
 of Is wace ^? ?i''"l"' °"' °f "'^ unsearchable riches 
 M rlll-^ fu'"'^ "y '''''^" iso;w,erf!!ke that of Lvdia 
 p receive these inestimable benefits, I may fotl er add^ 
 
 fu a mf Go'/ 'PTi" '^ ^'°''^' '"y sotTl sha be foj: 
 tul in, my God ; for he hath clothed me with the oarmiJt^ 
 of saivation, he hath covered me with the robp ffw!h 
 
 ing?atitud^^'T?^"' 1 'P^"'""' dulness,impite„cy, and 
 ingratitude ? Let me further consider the ample contents 
 of the promises, and see whether ingratitude itseJfwi 1 
 not be confounded at the rehearsal S them Fo do s 
 T N? I?" ^^y '° '»^' a'' ^^ell as to Abraham "I am 
 
 ■ Hinot'ln' effect '—, '^"'""'''^ ^"^'^^ '« ""^T'' D^es 
 Me not, in effect, mvite me to take a view of a smriiuZ 
 
 did olbrlhaml^P"'''^' ''""i'''''' ^^'"^ ""^nf as He 
 had nofhinf r.f "'"§ *' terrestrial Canaan, who 
 naa nothmg to trust m, more than myself or anv ofW 
 
 wmcn was signified and sealed to him as it is tn mi h^r 
 
 fromTe ScT whe7",P" "^ "°^^ tL" "y^s.^-Sl ^ 
 «om the place where thou art, northward, and south- 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 11 
 
 Lit price. 
 
 to save 
 
 of my 
 be thou 
 atitude, 
 
 " Bless 
 'less his 
 'get not 
 s; who 
 fe from 
 ess and 
 viour I 
 Dnsiim- 
 ind the 
 5 riches 
 Lydia, 
 r add: 
 be joy- 
 rments 
 
 right- 
 men ts, 
 i^or as 
 garden 
 th; so 
 spring 
 
 'h and 
 n tents 
 f will 
 
 • does 
 
 • I am 
 Does 
 
 ritual 
 is He 
 
 who 
 other 
 faith 
 e, by 
 
 look 
 )uth- 
 
 f 
 
 ■* 
 
 ward, and eastward, and westward. For all the heaven- 
 ly land which thou seest, to thee will I give it. Arise, 
 walk through the promised land, in the length of it, and 
 in the breadth of u ; for / will give it unto thee.'' May I 
 not appropriate the words of Moses to Israel, with a little 
 variation:— "He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that 
 hath done for thee these great and marvellously gracious 
 things which thine eyes have seen ? " And how reason- 
 able the following inference :—" Therefore thou shalt 
 hve the Lord thy God, and," as the best expression of 
 thy gratitude, " keep his charge, and his statutes, and 
 his judgments, and his commandments, alway ! " May 
 I not, without presumption, appropriate the words of 
 Amasai to David, "Peace,peace be unto thee, and peace 
 be to thine helpers ; for thy God helpeth thee ? " But 
 am I afraid to admit this language, because only 
 allusive? Then let me attend to declarations more 
 directly designed for the use of the Church in all 
 ages, and therefore for mine, as a member of it: — 
 " Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not .dis- 
 mayed, for 1 am thy God: I will strengthen thee; 
 yea, I will help thee : yea, I will uphold thee with the 
 
 right hand of my righteousness For I the Lord 
 
 thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee. Fear 
 
 not; I will help thee I will help thee, saith the 
 
 Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel 
 
 Thou shalt fan thy spiritual enemies, and the wind shall 
 carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them : 
 and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the 
 Holy One of Israel." And lest a discouraging surmise 
 should have room to intervene, he adds:— "When the 
 poor and needy seek water " to refresh their souls, " and 
 there is none " in the whole compass of mere nature 
 suited to their case, " and their tongue faileth for thirst, 
 I the Lord will hear them, I the G.od of Israel will not 
 forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and 
 fountains in the midst of the valleys," (Isa. xli. 10-18.) 
 
 Am I a baptised person 7 Then I have the enlighten- 
 ing, instructing, and comforting influences of the Spirit 
 of promise, exhibited for my use. with simprnddfd evi- 
 
12 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 dence and certainty. If earthly parents, who are evil, 
 know how to give good gifts unto their children, how 
 much more shall my Father who is in heaven give good 
 thmgs even the greatest of blessings, His Holy Spirit, to 
 them that ask Him? And why not lo me ? Have I any 
 scriptural or any rational ground of suspicion ? Yes • 
 the same Lord who instituted water-baptism is ready to 
 baptize me with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He will 
 take of the things of Christ and shew them unto me. He 
 is ready to guide me into all necessary truth,~-to comfort 
 mem every trouble,-to shed abroad the love of the Father 
 m my soul,— to reprove me of every r-in,— to help my 
 mhrmities,--to give me wisdom, and that liberally, with- 
 out upbraidmg,-to teach me the way of peace, holiness, 
 
 t. u "f ?i ^'T^ *° ^^^ §^°^y ^f ^^d- ^ my soul, whai 
 wouldest thou have more ? Dost thou complain of hard- 
 ness of heart, so that these and the like precious promises 
 do not affect thee ? Then remember that He will take 
 away the stony heart, and will bestow a heart of flesh. 
 Flead this promise, and that which follows •— " This is 
 the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel" 
 —ot which house thou art, as a believer in Jesus— "after 
 those days, saith the Lord : I will put my laws into their 
 mmd, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to 
 them a God, and they shall be to me a people : and they 
 shallnot teach every man his neighbor, and every man 
 his brother, saying. Know the Lord : for all shall know 
 me from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful 
 to heir unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities 
 will I remember no more," (Heb. viii. 10-12.) When I 
 consider, therefore that these promises, grace and glory, 
 sxid every good thing, are exhibited and sealed bl my 
 baptism how should the consideration of it operate as a 
 mg r And-''^'''^ '" '""'"''^^^'^ gratitude and thanksgiv- 
 
 § 5 Third, What a call to repentance does the devout 
 consideration of baptism afford ! 
 
 Am I a baptised person? Then under what solemn, 
 
 h}l\^!''TT'^^l^ ^^'°"^ ^^^^^^^^ons have the above 
 benefits laid me/ For the greater the benefits, the 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 13 
 
 ire evil, 
 en, how 
 ve good 
 ipirit, to 
 e I any 
 • Yes J 
 sady to 
 He will 
 le. He 
 comfort 
 Father 
 elp my 
 ^, with- 
 oliness, 
 il, what 
 )f hard- 
 romises 
 ill take 
 f flesh. 
 This is 
 [srael " 
 -"after 
 to their 
 II be to 
 id they 
 y man 
 1 know 
 lerciful 
 quities 
 VhenI 
 glory, 
 by my 
 e as a 
 ksgiv- 
 
 3evout 
 
 3lemn, 
 above 
 s, the 
 
 greater the obligations. Are the blessings sealed by 
 baptism great, glorious, infinite, eternal realities 7 The 
 love of the Father, the atonement and grace of the Son, 
 the influences and fellowship of the Spirit? present peace 
 and future glory 7 present pardon and everlasting life 1 
 Then, have I given these blessings held forth in the pro- 
 mise, and sealed to 7ne by baptism, a suitable reception ? 
 Though directed and sent to me by name, confirmed by 
 the oath and seal of God, how often have they been dis- 
 regarded! How has the most insignificant object, 
 the most trifling circumstance, the most uninteresting 
 occurrence, or the most insipid tale, engrossed my atten- 
 tion, while the faithful and merciful record of Jehovah 
 has found no welcome! The gracious message from 
 heaven, though worthy of all acceptation, has long found 
 me careless, perhaps wilfully ignorant, hard-hearted, in 
 love with folly, in league with sin and hell. What shall I 
 say 7 A prodigal son, bent on my own ruin, and lifting 
 up the heel of rebellion against a gracious God ! Oh that 
 my head were waters, and mine eyes a four.tain of tears, 
 that I might weep at the remembrance of these things ! 
 How do I deserve to be fed with the bread of tears, and 
 to have tears to drink in great measure, for breaking 
 these bands asunder, and casting away these cords of 
 obligation far from me ! Nay, if I speak of demerit, 
 how do I deserve to be cast into the hottest hell, to suffer 
 everlastingly, for the misimprovement of such astonish- 
 ing love and mercy ! Would not my damnation he just ? 
 If the means of grace are enjoyed, and the grace of the 
 means exhibited, what have I to say against the unfavor- 
 able sentence of my righteous Governor and Judge ? Am 
 I not an unprofitable servant 7 Have I noi buried my 
 talent in the earth 7 May not the Lord appeal to heaven 
 and earth against my ingratitude, as he once did against 
 Israel 7—" Hear, O heavens ; and give ear, O earth ; for 
 the Lord hath spoken : I have nourished and brought up 
 a child, and he has rebelled against me." 
 
 But am I so sinful, laden with iniquity, evil and 
 corrupt ; have I so forsaken the Lord, provoked the Holy 
 One of Israel unto anger, and gone away backward, that 
 
»'■» »""— w wm^isg Mi 
 
 14 
 
 PKAC^TCAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 there is no hope 7 No ; for His mercy endiireth for ever 
 Even now am I told, that though my sins be as scarlet 
 they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like 
 crimson, they shall be as wool. ''Behold, now is the 
 accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." Oh 
 the riches of Divine grace, the unsearchable riches of 
 '^hrist ! Though my sins be great, Thy pardoning love 
 IS greater. Though my crimes rise high. Thy mercy is 
 higher. Oh the wonderful efficacy of the Redeemer's 
 ^^^}}^ L'- '^^^ ^^°^^ of Jpsus Christ cleanseth from all 
 ^•?i' 1. "^y baptism sealed unto me. And is it pos- 
 sible that my hard heart should still remain unmelted 
 under the hot beams of Divine, unchanging love ^ Does 
 not every weapon drop from by rebellious hand ] Does 
 not evangelical sorrow pierce my very soul 7 Behold a 
 debt of ten thousand talents freely forgiven ! Though 
 with my sins I have pierced the Lord of glory, yet look- 
 mg to Him, by faith in His blood. He removes my guilt 
 takes a\vay all iniquity, loves freely, pours into my soul 
 peace with God, and leads me to rest and refreshing ioy^ 
 for Kxs name's sake. These blessings, sealed by baptism 
 must needs either aggravate my guilt and misery, or else 
 promote genuine repentance. Oh that they may answer 
 the purposes of grace, and not of avenging justice I O mv 
 soul, despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and for- 
 bearance, and long-suffering ; not knowing that the good- 
 ness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? 
 
 Mr Mauhew Henry well observes :■—'' Our baptism 
 engageth us, not only to the first repentance from dead 
 works, but to an after repentance, as there is occasion. 
 Our first washing in the laver of baptism obligeth us 
 every day to ' wash our feet ' (John xiii. 10) from the 
 pollutions we contract."* And as there is on every one 
 baptized an obligation to repent, so he has the most ^bwn- 
 a^nt encouragements for it. For what is more desirable 
 to the guilty than pardon, free, full, and everlasting? 
 lUis was the encouragement Peter gave to the guilty 
 Jews : Acts iii. 19, '' Repent ye therefore,"— though ve 
 delivered up Jesus, and denied Him in the presence of 
 
 * TmtieeonBaptiBm.p. 195; Sb J. B. Williams's Edition, p. I-ISL. 
 
 ■ 
 
I 
 
 )r ever, 
 scarlet, 
 ed like 
 is the 
 " Oh 
 ;hes of 
 ig love 
 ercy is 
 emer's 
 om all 
 it pos- 
 melted 
 Does 
 Does 
 lold a 
 hough 
 \ look- 
 guilt, 
 f soul 
 
 gjoys^ 
 ptism, 
 )r else 
 
 ON BAPTISM. 15 
 
 Pilate ; though ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and 
 desired a murderer to be granted unto you ; and killed 
 the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from ihe dead 
 —repent, " and be converted, that your sins may be 
 blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from 
 the presence of the Lord." " While the hue and cry is 
 out against the malefactor, he flies ; but the proclamation 
 oi pardon brmgs him in. This kingdom of God (Matt. 
 IV. 17) is come nigh nnto us; it was in baptism applied 
 to us in particular, that the eticouragement mishi be past 
 dispute."* ° ^ 
 
 § 6. Fourth, The devout consideration of baptism is a 
 powerful inducement to self-dedication. 
 
 If I am a baptised Christian, I have been deatcated to 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by His minister; for this is 
 necessarily implied in baptism. Was this right, or was- 
 It not ? Nay, was it not a high privile.^e? If so, it must 
 be right to approve of it, and to be thankful for it. Now 
 in what way can this be done so proper as by self-dedi- 
 cation 1 Rather, can a thankful approbation of the- 
 baptismal favor exist at all without it ? Is not the with- 
 holding of this tribute a virtual denial of its being a., 
 privilege ? But if the gospel be a privilege to fallen man 
 Its direction to me in particidar, signed, sealed, and de- 
 hvered,^ust be a most singular blessing. I bless Thy 
 glorious name, O Lord, that a covenant of mercy was . 
 ever announcd to any of mankind— to Adam, to Abel, to^ 
 Enoch, to Noah, to Abraham, (Src; but what shall I ren- 
 der unto Thee that this covenant has been, by a gracious- 
 providence, directed unto me,— has terminated upon me 
 so undeserving and sinful ! Was there anything in me 
 that called for such discrimination ? What am I or my 
 lather's house, that I should be thus privileged? It is., 
 owing to a sovereign providence that my lot is not cast; 
 among American Indians, or the savages of Africa- and 
 It IS owing to sovereign grace that England is illuminated 
 with the Sun of righteousness. When I think on theses 
 tnmgs, and the numberless blessings therewith con-- 
 nected,— when I consider that I have been ministerially : 
 * Treatise on Baptism, p. i:'5; or, p. 1187, as above. 
 
IC 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 Icxiicated to the only living and true God and Saviour of 
 «nen, according to His will,— I say again, what shall I 
 cender unto the Lord ? What have I which I have not 
 ia»eeived? What tribute can my grateful heart bring 
 «mto the Lord which is not His own already ? Yet He 
 will not despise what I bring Him of His own. By the 
 jaiercies of God, I will and do present, not only my body, 
 Siut my soul also, a living sacrifice unto God, which is 
 eiiy reasonable service. Am I not His in all respects 1 
 .J^at to give up myself to Him, then, is to commit robbery 
 smd sacrilege. I am not only the work of His hand, and 
 €fjce sheep of His pasture, but also am redeemed, not with 
 «»rruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the pre- 
 «ct»us blood of Christ. How reasonable and just, there- 
 fee, a voluntary and affectionate surrender of myself to 
 fluy God and Saviour ! And what exercise can equal it, 
 itbliQx in pleasure or profit 7 Is it a pleasure to the honest 
 iffiuiMd to pay a just debt, or to the generous mind to make 
 ©estitution? Unspeakably more is the pleasure and 
 :«a;tisfaction I have in giving up myself, without feai or 
 sreserve, to the God of love and grace. How delightful 
 sllie thought that I am not my own ? I am bought with 
 ;a,.|)rice; I have been delivered up to my proper Owner; 
 .•md now, with inexpressible complacency, I acknowledge 
 miy being the rightful property of my Redeemer. Oh 
 t&at I may be found, while I have breath or being, glori- 
 Ciriag God in my body and in my spirit, which are God's! 
 And surely as it is delightful, so it '\& profitable. While I 
 ffijesign all I obtain all ; but while 1 kept myself to myself, 
 1' iiad neither pleasure nor profit. I was then a stranger 
 ft<j iny best interest. Now appears, with peculiar force 
 aLKid beauty, the wise man's paradox : — " There is that 
 !ssc3,ttereth, and yet increaseth ; and there is that with- 
 fimldeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." 
 iind again :— " There is that maketh himself rich, yet 
 gmth nothing; there is that muketh himself poor, yet 
 fcath great riches," (Prov. xi. 2^; xiii. 7.) 
 
 Do I still find reservedness or sloth spreading their 
 baneful influence over my soul ? Am I still waiting for 
 
 ssuurt.^ jt^^^TrviiUi. iiiuuuciucaio ; xjuuuiUj ailuiuui liiuuCS" 
 
 51; 
 
ON BAJPTISM. 
 
 17 
 
 viour of 
 shall I 
 ave not 
 t bring 
 Yet He 
 By the 
 ly body, 
 ihich is 
 spects "? 
 robbery 
 nd, and 
 ot with 
 the pre- 
 ;, there- 
 yself to 
 qual it, 
 J honest 
 o make 
 re and 
 feai or 
 hghtful 
 ht with 
 )wner ; 
 wledge 
 ir. Oh 
 !, glori- 
 God's! 
 Vhile I 
 myself, 
 tranger 
 r force 
 is that 
 t with- 
 ^rerty." 
 ih, yet 
 or, yet 
 
 ; tneir 
 ing for 
 iiuuce' 
 
 A 
 
 ment presents itself— one that may well fill me with ever- 
 lasting wonder ! The all-sufficient God, (how shall I 
 express myself?) Jehovah gives Himself to me. Aston- 
 ishing conveyance ! " I will be thy God,'' says He. He 
 confirms it with His oath, and ratifies it with His seal 
 Does the Lord, by a covenant grant, make over His glo- 
 rious self to me as my portion ? This is surely an irre- 
 sistible motive. What sort of a grant is it? JNot an 
 imaginary or a feigned, but a real and sincere grant. I 
 may venture, I would venture, ten thousand souls, were 
 they mine, on the sincerity and truth of it. If it be not 
 a truth that I, as a baptized person, am privileged with 
 this covenant grant, ''I will be thy God,'' then I may 
 question whether the sun ever shone upon Britain on a 
 summer's day ! Lord, in return, take sole possession of 
 me! Make me Thy living temple; let my favored 
 heart be the thjrone of Thy reignin,^ grace ; let it be my 
 sweet employ, through time and eternity, to behold with 
 open face as in a glass — the gospel mirror— the glory oi 
 the Lord, as my covenant portion, that I may be changed 
 into His lovely image, from glory to glory, as by the 
 Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 § 7. Fifth, The devout consideration of baptism is a 
 suitable and strong motive to universal holiness. 
 
 To be baptized, is to be devoted to a conformity with 
 Christ : which consists in the destruction of the body of 
 sin, and a life of purity, heavenly-mindedness, and 
 spiritual liberty. By this ordinance' of initiation, me- 
 thinks the Lord says, with peculiar emphasis, " Be ye 
 holy, for I am holy." To the Christian Church, set 
 apart to Himself by the initiating rite, He in effect says, 
 "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy 
 nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should shew forth the 
 praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into 
 his marvellous light : which in time past were not a peo- 
 pie, but are now the people of God : which had not ob- 
 iained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly 
 beloved, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly 
 lusts, which war against the soul; . . . that all aroun I 
 ym may, by your good works which thev shall behoiu, 
 
18 
 
 PRACTICAL RIFLBCTIONS 
 
 h. 
 
 glorify God in the day of visitation," (1 Pet. ii. 9-12.) 
 What is the end of our holy religion, of which baptism is 
 the badge ? Is it not " that we should be holy and with- 
 out blame before our heavenly Father in love 7 " that 
 
 we may be presented '' holy, and unblamable, and unre- 
 provable in his sight ?"— that we should be " saved from 
 our sins," and " redeemed from all iniquity?" Let me 
 therefore, " gird up the loins of my mind, be sober, and 
 hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto 
 me at the revelation of Jesus Christ : as an obedient child, 
 not fashioning myself according to the former lusts in 
 my ignorance : but as he who hath called me is holy, so 
 may 1 be holy in all manner of conversation ; because it 
 is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy," (1 Pet. i. 13-16.) 
 " We are by our baptismal covenant," says Mr Henry, 
 " oblige . to mortify sin, and in baptism receive the pro* 
 mise of the Holy Ghost for that purpose. ' We are buried 
 by baptism,'— i.c., we are, in profession and obligation, 
 quite separated and cut off from sin ; as those who are 
 not oniv dead, buf buried, are quite parted from the 
 living and have no more any intercourse, correspondence, 
 or fellowship with them. We are likewise ' risen again ' 
 to another sort of life. Not as the widow's son and Laz- 
 arus were raised, to live jusi such a life as they lived 
 before, but as Christ was raised ; who, though He con- 
 tinued on earth forty days after Hip resurrection, did not 
 shew Himself openly, nor converse 'viith this world as 
 He had done ; but His life was altogether heavenly, and 
 no niore in the world. Thr - our baptism, obliging us 
 to die to sin, and Ii ; ■> to righteousnessj we may be said 
 therein to be buried j>,rl risen v/ith Jesus Christ. A 
 Christian, therefoie, who is by baptism buried with 
 Christ, and yet lives in sin, is like a walking ghost, or 
 the frightful motion of a dead body. We should often 
 remember that we are buried,— i.e., cut off from a life of 
 sin ; and riscur-i.e., entered upon a life of holiness. We 
 should, therefore, see to it, (saith the excellent Dave- 
 nant,) that what is done once sacramentally, in baptism, 
 should be always done really, in the life.-"* Lord, grant 
 ^ * TreatiBe on Baptisni, pp. X74, m ; or, p. 1188. si above. 
 
 <j 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Id 
 
 9-12.) 
 itism is 
 d with- 
 '— that 
 cl iin re- 
 id from 
 Let me 
 er, and 
 iit unto 
 t child, 
 usts in 
 loly, so 
 ?».use it 
 L3-t6.) 
 Henry, 
 he pro- 
 buried 
 gation^ 
 10 are 
 >m the 
 idence, 
 again ' 
 d Laz- 
 ^ lived 
 [e con- 
 lid not 
 irld as 
 y , and 
 Ing us 
 »e said 
 St. A 
 
 with 
 ost^ or 
 
 often 
 
 life of 
 
 We 
 
 Dave- 
 
 « 
 
 me the prevailing aids of Thy Holy Spirit, that I may 
 reckon myself to be dead indeed unto lin, but alive unto 
 God through Jesus Christ ' ar Lord ; that sin may never 
 reign in my mortal body, that I should obey it in the 
 lusts thereof. May I never yield my members as instru- 
 ments of unrighteousness unto sin ; but may I yield 
 myself unto God, as one ali^^^e from the dead, and my 
 members as instruments of righteousness unto God — ser- 
 vants to righteousness, unto holiness ; that now being 
 made free from sin, and become a servant of God, I may 
 have my fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life, 
 (Rom. vi.) 
 
 § 8. Sixth, Baptism may be impr^. 7ed as a proper in- 
 citement to exemplary diligence. 
 
 Am I a baptized person? Then let me answer the 
 great ends of my baptism — to fight the good fight of faith, 
 not uncertainly as one beating the air, but \, ith zeal ac- 
 cording to knowiu{^<>e ; run the race set before me; press 
 toward the mark oi my high calling of God in Christ ; 
 redeem the time; work while it is day, for the night 
 Cometh when no man can work ; be diligent in business, 
 fervent in spirit, ser. ing the Lord. May Ho into whose 
 service I am enlisted, into whose vineyard I am sent, 
 and to \.hom I am accountable, cause me to "abound in 
 faith and all diligence !^^ Oh that I may "shew grow- 
 ing diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end ; 
 that I be not slothful, but a follower of them who through 
 faith and patience inherit the promises!" (Heb. vi. 11, 
 12.) " Baptism is a talent," says Mr Henry, " which 
 must be traded with, and accounted for. It is a price 
 put into the hand to get wisdom : and with this, as with 
 other talents, the charge is, 'Occupy till I come.' By 
 working upon our souls a sense of the obligations we are 
 laid under by our baptism, we put this ^alent into the 
 hank^ and, if we were not wanting to ourselves, might 
 receive from it the blessed usury of a g»cat deal of com- 
 fort and holiness."* To further my holy diligence in 
 those works and ways to which my baptism was designed 
 to lead .ie, let me often recollect, and be deeply impressed 
 
 * Trdaiide on Bnptiam, p. 161 ; or p. 1180, as Above. 
 
20 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 by these truly wise maxims :— " He becometh poor that 
 dealeth with a slack hand ; but the hand of the dilio-ent 
 maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise 
 son ; but he that sleepeth in harvest''— Me harvest of his 
 Christian profession—'-' is a son that causeth shame " 
 (Prov, X. 4, 5.) ' 
 
 Alas ! how many ignorant and slothful professors must 
 one day take up this bitter lamentation, "The harvest is 
 past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved," (Jer. 
 viii. 20.) Often have we been exhorted to give all dili- 
 gence to make our calling and election sure ; but we stood 
 agamst every call, careless and unmoved. We flattered 
 ourselves that we possessed a talent, while yet it lay un- 
 improved. " How many baptised persons are there " as 
 Mr Henry justly observes, " who are altogether strangers 
 to the covenants of promise ! who look upon baptism only 
 as a thing of course— nothing more than the custom of 
 the country ! No wonder they do not improve that whicn 
 they do not understand. Baptism being the badge of our 
 profession, to understand that is to understand our holy 
 rehnion—the nature, duties, privileges, and designs of it • 
 to all of which our baptism doth some way or other refer! 
 It is sad to consider what ignorance of these reigns even 
 in the Christain world ; and how many are little better 
 than baptizud heathens."=^ Nevertheless, '' the Lord hath 
 done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Tarn 
 agam our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south " 
 (Ps. cxxvi. 3, 4.) Some who are called by Thy nariie 
 understand, and gratefully acknowledge, the great things 
 Thou hast done for them, and the inestimable privileges 
 conferred upon them; but others continue the deluded 
 captives of sin and Satan. Oh that Thy Spirit may be 
 poured upon aU flesh ! Then shall " t'-e wilderness be 
 turned into standing water, and dry ground into water- 
 springs," (Ps. cvii. 35.) " Then the eyes of the blind 
 shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be un- 
 stopped : then shall the iame man leap as an hart and 
 the tongue of the dumb sing : for in the wilderness shall 
 waters break nut, and streams in the desert," (Isa. xxxv. 
 
 * Ibid., pp. 167, 168 ; or p. 1181, as above. 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 21 
 
 )oor that 
 J diligent 
 s a wise 
 est of his 
 shame," 
 
 ors must 
 arvest is 
 i," (Jer. 
 J all dili- 
 we stood 
 flattered 
 ; lay un- 
 ere," as 
 itrangers 
 ism only 
 iistom of 
 It whicii 
 ^e of our 
 our holy 
 ns of it ; 
 ler refer. 
 ;ns even 
 le better 
 3rd hath 
 Tarn 
 south," 
 Y name 
 t things 
 ivileges 
 iehided 
 may be 
 tiess be 
 
 water- 
 e blind 
 
 be un- 
 rt, and 
 ;s shall 
 
 . XXXV. 
 
 •5, 6.) Then shall our fruit be holiness to the Lord ; and 
 it diall be found, " some an hundred-fold, some sixty- 
 fold, some thirty-fold," to the praise and glory of God; 
 and the end everlasting life. 
 
 § 9. {Second,) Let us now proceed to a devout and 
 rational improvement of baptism as received in infancy. 
 One very justly observes, " When an ordinance eomes t& 
 be disputed, it is commonly neglected, or slightly altetided^ 
 by the generality of people ; and lies between them like a 
 controverted estate, concerning which something is ddMtf 
 to mam tain the suit, but little to manure and improve the 
 land. Men think it a sufficient plea for their sinful neg- 
 lects in such cases, that it is a disputable thing ; and till 
 all be agreed upon the point, they hope they may be al- 
 lowed to sit still and look on, and then engage when they 
 see what side will prevail. Thus disputes about the 
 ministry have made the ways of Zion to mourn, for the 
 fewness of those that come to the solemn assemblies. 
 This is, generally, the case of the ordinance of baptism. 
 People have had it commonly buzzed in their ears that 
 seeing the infant subjects of that administration are in- 
 capable of understanding it, and making present actual 
 improvement, there is little reason to retain the practice 
 of that which seems so barren and unprofitable. But 
 holy men, who have made it their study to dive into the 
 nature and use of all ordinances, and to work upon their 
 own hearts by them, have, for many ages, no doubt, 
 drawn abundance of sanctifying influence from it, and 
 the principles and grounds upon which it hath been ad- 
 ministe ed ; and those of this age who have had the holy 
 wisdom to turn matters of dispute into practice, have been 
 able to say by their experience, in a manner, as the man 
 born blind, in the dispute between him and the Pharisees 
 concerning Christ, ' Herein is a marvellous thing, that ye 
 know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened 
 mine eyes,' (John ix. 30.) So they wonder it should 
 ever enter into a dispute whether infant baptism be of 
 God, or no, seeing it hath been, by the sanctifying influ- 
 ence of the Spirit of God, a conduit of abundance of gra- 
 cious supplies to them, for which they have had cause to 
 
 
 
22 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 ««t 
 
 iii; 
 
 bless God the longe?tday of their lives. And the very 
 experience of this is no small encouragement to them to 
 own and value it, seeing it cannot easily enter into their 
 hearts, that God should covey sanctifying influences,, for 
 so many vears, by a mistaken and misapplied ordinance ; 
 especially when the main efficacy of that ordinance, in 
 order to the mentioned effects, depends upon that very 
 circumstance of age wherein it is charged to be misapplied. 
 For Uiough it may in some cases be granted, that an 
 ordinance administered with some considerable circum- 
 stantial irregularities may sanctify ; yet that those irregu- 
 larities themselves should be the channels of sanctifying 
 grace is not easily imaginable. Now this is the case of 
 infant baptism. Many holy men, of many ages, have 
 found their hearts warmed and quickened, in the exercise 
 of faith, repentance, love, thankfulness, by the considera- 
 tion, not only of baptism and the personal covenant 
 therein sealed, but also baptism unde'* the circumstance 
 of infant administration. And, indt«d, that the Spirit of 
 truth should dictate, and the God of truth answer those 
 prayers, which are offered up on so grossly mistaken 
 grounds as those of will-worship, (the crime generally 
 charged on infant baptism,) seems most absurd.*'* 
 
 But is net this gentleman singular in his opinion ? Is 
 not the supposed advantage inore in speculation than 
 reality? Let the following language, uttered from the 
 deliberate judgment of one whosa abilities as a divine 
 and whose rational and sincere devotion as a Christian, 
 few will question, determine: — "There would not be so 
 much quarrelling about infant baptism, if there were but 
 more care to make that practical improvement of it which 
 is required. It is owing to a carnal heart that the benefit 
 of it is not obtained, and then the thing itself is disputed. 
 
 In this circle many a poor soul hath been made giddy : 
 infant baptism is questioned, because it is not improved ; 
 and then it is not improved because it is questioned. If 
 any man set himself seriously to 'do His will' in this 
 matter, by a diligent and conscientious improvement of 
 
 * Ford's Dialogue concerning the Practical Use of Infant Baptism; 
 Jihi. Deuigat. 
 
 an 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 « 
 
 23 
 
 he very 
 them to 
 ito their 
 nceSj for 
 inance ; 
 ance, in 
 iai very 
 applied, 
 that an 
 circum- 
 irregu- 
 ctifying 
 case of 
 s, have 
 3xercise 
 fisidera- 
 3venant 
 nstance 
 Spirit of 
 3r those 
 listaken 
 inerally 
 
 3n? Is 
 n than 
 om the 
 I divine 
 iristian, 
 )t be so 
 '■ere but 
 t which 
 3 benefit 
 isputed. 
 
 giddy : 
 oroved ; 
 led. If 
 
 in this 
 ment of 
 
 Baptism; 
 
 his baptism, ^he shall know of the r^octrine, whether it 
 be of God, or whether we speak of ourselves,' (John vii. 
 17.)" "There are many humble, serious Christians, 
 who can experimentally speak of the benefits of it. For 
 my own part, I cannot but take this occasion to express 
 my gratitude to God for my infant baptism, not only as 
 it was an early admission into the visible body of Christ, 
 but as it furnished my pious parents with a good argu- 
 ment (and I trust, through grace, a prevailing argument) 
 for an early dedication of my own self to God in ray 
 childhood. If God has wrought any good work upon 
 MY soul, I desire with humble thankfulness to acknow- 
 ledge THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF MY INFANT BAPTISM."* 
 
 § 10. First, Was I baptized in infancy 1 Then I have 
 an additional encouragement to exercise faith upon the 
 promise. Were I baptized but this day, there would be 
 an encouraging ground of faith, that the promise is unto 
 me, signed, sealed, and delivered ; but when I consider 
 that this foundation of faith, the exhibited promise, ha§ 
 been laid and appropriated for my use, in infancy, — that 
 the charter of conveyance has been incontestably sealed, 
 almost as soon as it came into existence, — it is a super- 
 added encouragement. " Baptism seals the promise of 
 God's being to we a God," says Mr Henry, " and that is 
 greatly encouraging; but infant baptism increasgth the 
 encouragement, as it assures me of God's being the God 
 of my fathers, and the God of my infancy.'' "Shall I 
 question the kindness of one who is my own friend, and 
 my Father's friend ? the faithfulness of one who was in 
 covenant with my fathers, and always true to them 1 It 
 is a great support to faith to consider, not only that God 
 is my God, but that He was so betimes. He who took 
 me when I was brought, surely will not cast me off when 
 I come myself, though weak and trembling and unworthy. 
 He who began in ways of love and mercy to me so early, 
 will not now be wanting to me, or backward to do me 
 good. Loving-kindnesses, which have been ' ever of old,» 
 
 * Henry's Treatise on Baptism, pp. 165, 156, 118, or pp. 1170, 1171, 
 as above 
 
24 
 
 PBACTlCAIi BXFLEOTIONS 
 
 
 must needs be very favorable to faith and hope."* The 
 nature of the gospel grant is such, that the longer it 
 stands as a matter of record in favour of the party baptized^ 
 the stronger and more indubitable becomes his title to the 
 things granted; wherefore, the consideration of my being 
 baptized in my infancy is a circumstance of encourage- 
 ment to faith. It is " usual to insert in the king's grants, 
 that they are made, not at the suit of the grantee, but ex 
 speciali gratia, certa scientia, et mero motu regis; and 
 then they have a more liberal construction?"" But on 
 the contrary, is it equity, and legal prudence, that " a 
 grant made by the king, at the suit of the grantee, shall 
 be taken most beneficially for the king, and against the 
 party ? "f Let this illustrate the superior advantages of 
 the grant being made in my infancy, and sealed by 
 baptism, compared with what was obtained at the suit of 
 the grantee. It is true, the encouragement to faith is 
 abundant every moment to a returning sinner, from the 
 gracious testimony, the faithful record of Jehovah ; but it 
 is more abundant in proportion to the early date when 
 the title was signed and sealed. 
 
 Lord, did.^ Thou find me out, in the course of Thy 
 gracious pro dence, and cause Thine exceeding great 
 and precious promise of mercy, forgiveness, add right- 
 eousness, Thy good Spirit and eternal life, to terminate 
 on my infancy 7 Didst Thou thus fine", me out without 
 my seeking or deserving 7 How free a ad sovereign Thy 
 mercy ! Didst Thou confer a legal right to these 
 spiritual and everlasting blessings, by a deed of gift, 
 directed, signed, sealed, and delivered to me, for my use 
 and service, when I deserved no pity? Nay, when I 
 deserved to be cast out into the open field to the loathing 
 of my person, to be passed by and left polluted in my 
 o^^n >iInod, even then, in my tender infancy, in my help- 
 less and wretched state, Thou hast had compassion upon 
 me. Oh, the covenant r---, the unparalleled kindness, 
 of my heavenly Father ! i^et me take the account from 
 
 * Ibid, pp. 201, 303 ; or, pp. 1188, 1889, as above. 
 
 t Blaokstone'i Commentariei, vol. ii,, book ii., chap, xxi., \ 2. 
 
 V} 
 
 
OS^ BAPTISM. 
 
 25 
 
 * The 
 mger it 
 iptizedf 
 \e to the 
 y being 
 ourage- 
 I grants, 
 , but ex 
 Is ; and 
 E»ut on 
 hat "a 
 le, shall 
 nst the 
 Lages of 
 lied by 
 I suit of 
 faith is 
 :om the 
 ; but it 
 e when 
 
 3f Thy 
 g great 
 L right- 
 minate 
 vithout 
 5nThy 
 ) these 
 
 / giA 
 
 ny use 
 
 ivhen I 
 bathing 
 I in my 
 y help- 
 n upoiA 
 tidness, 
 lit from 
 
 ,§2. 
 
 I 
 
 His own lips : — " When T passed by thee, and saw thee 
 polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou 
 wast in thy blood, Live ; yea, I said unto thee, when 
 
 thou wast in thy blood. Live Now, when I passed 
 
 by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the 
 
 ! e of love; and 1 spread my skirt over thee, and 
 Cos ^red thy nakedness: yea, 1 sware unto thee, and 
 entered into a covenant, saith the Lord God, and thou 
 becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water," 
 (Ezek. xvi. 6, 8, 9.) Astonishing favour ! And though 
 I have not come up to my privileges, and "have not 
 remembered the days of my youth, but have fretted the 
 Lord in all these things, and despised the oath in break- 
 ing the covenant," He still adds *' Nevertheless, I will 
 remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy 
 youth, and 1 will establish unto thee an everlasting cove- 
 nant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be 
 
 ashamed And I will establish my covenant with 
 
 thee ; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord : that thou 
 mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open 
 thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am 
 pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the 
 Lord God," (Ezek. xvi. 60-63.) 
 
 One well observes : — " The saints are many times fain 
 to appeal from conditional promises and comforts to abso- 
 lute — viz., the freeness of justifying and renewing grace 
 in the respective declarations and offers of them ; upon 
 the same reason may they have recourse to infant baptism 
 — the most lively representation and obsignation of both 
 these. This, therefore, being their refuge, if God's seal 
 add, as it doth undoubtedly to us, any certainty to His 
 word; then, surely, for such persons to reflect upon the 
 s^l of baptism administered to them in infancy must 
 needs fortify them in th^t refuge. I now treat, not of 
 considerations prevailing with God, but considerations 
 working upon us; not such as further Him in point of 
 faithfulness, but such as further us in pomt of faith. 
 Now such things may be of precious use to us, as are not 
 of a like influence upon God. All the arguments we 
 
 « k %*tf^ M 
 
 .1^ 
 
 L^*- _ t. 
 
 _II 
 
 ui^c lu |/iayci uu uud ill uii iuuvu uuu, uui oriiy ioruiy 
 
 I 
 
26 
 
 PBACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 M. 
 
 M 
 
 our faith to depend upon Him. So here, though God 
 have a ike reason in Himself to move Him to take care 
 of a soul that became one of His family but yesterday, as 
 of one that hath been in His hmi]Y fort/years otud- 
 wards, yet it must needs be a more rational encourarre. 
 ment to us to depend upon Him, now that we have been 
 related 50 hng to Him, than it would be to have begun 
 , a relation but yesterday."* This early relation wis a 
 peculiar encouragement to David's faith, when he said, 
 1 hou art he that took me out of the womb ; thou didst 
 make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. 
 1 was cast upon thee from the womb : thou art my God 
 from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble 
 is near; for there is none to help," (Ps. xxii. 9-11.) 
 Though every one that is a child of a believer had for- 
 merly, and still hath, a covenant right to God before 
 circumcision and baptism ; and so ev2ry such person 
 circumcised or uncircumcised, baptized or unbaptized, at 
 least as long as the neglect is not his own fault, hath the 
 same plea which we have b-.en speaking of, yet he hath 
 It not to urge with the same evidence and ground of as- 
 surance as he that can plead the covenant with the seal 
 hath: otherwise it must needs follow, that the sacra- 
 ments add nothing at all to the covenant in point of cer- 
 
 will affirm.''! ' ""'^''^ ^ ^^^^ ""^ ^^"'^^^'' 
 
 § 11. Second, Was I baptized in infancy 1 Then I 
 have an aa«ij/207ia^ incentive to gratitude. How hiehlv 
 have I been honored, how greatly benefited ! For from 
 that early period has the pardon ot sin, free salvation 
 eternal life, with every new-covenant blessing, been 
 sealed to me. Had every circumcised Israelite, when 
 grown up, special cause of gratitude for the particular 
 circumstance of infant circumcision 7 So have^^^r mv 
 '.nfant baptism. What a visible relation was then on^ 
 tuted between me and God in Christ! Was I then 
 incapable of understanding the nature and force of the 
 obligations under which I was laid ? So was a circum- 
 cised infant; but the obligation was firm notwithstanding 
 * Ford'8 Dialogue, ut supra, pp. 89, 40, 43. f ibid., p. 49. * 
 
 I. i 
 
 th« 
 
ugh God 
 take care 
 'erday^ as 
 rs or up- 
 icourage- 
 ave been 
 ve begun 
 )n was a 
 : he said, 
 lou didst 
 { breasts. 
 my God 
 r trouble 
 i. 9-11.) 
 had for- 
 •d before 
 person, 
 •tized, at 
 hath the 
 he hath 
 d of as- 
 the seal 
 3 sacra- 
 t of cer- 
 'hristian 
 
 Then I 
 ' highly 
 'or from 
 Ivation, 
 g, been 
 !, when 
 irticular 
 '■ for my 
 I consti- 
 I then 
 3 of the 
 :ircum- 
 anding. 
 
 p. 49. ' ' 
 
 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 27 
 
 He became from that time forth additionally bounds in 
 duty and in gratitude, to the Lord. O my soul, art thou 
 ever disposed to undervalue this privilege ? Blush at thy 
 ingratitude. If to be dedicated to God in baptism when 
 an infant was not a privilege, what was 7 I may safely 
 ehallcnge ingratitude itself to shew that any benefit 
 greater than this was or could be ever conferred upon me 
 by my parents. When my ungrateful heart is ready to 
 say, What profit is there in infant baptism? let it again 
 reflect, What profit is there in adult baptism which is not 
 more than counterbalanced by the former? I say it 
 again — to be baptized when an infant is the greatest 
 external privilege of which infanqjr is capable. And if 
 at any time this is questioned, let me inquire what is a 
 greater ? If a greater there is, let it be produced, and it 
 shall suffice. If not, let deserved gratitude glow in ihy 
 breast for the distinguishing favour. I was then added 
 to the Church that I might be saved. I was then consti- 
 tuted a visible member of Christ, that / might be con- 
 formed to Him. I was then put in the way I should go, 
 that, when grown up, I might not depart from it. I was 
 then visibly engrafted into Christ, that I might bring 
 forth much fruity and thus be found His approved disciple. 
 Are not these high privileges ? And especially when I 
 consider that there was in me nothing meritorious to 
 demand, nothing amiable to solicit these privileges. This 
 time of my espousals was, indeed, a time of unmerited, 
 unsolicited love. From a state of distance I was brought 
 near. From a stranger I was made a "fellow-citizen 
 with the saints, and of the household of God ;" not less so 
 than any circumcised Israelite. All these privileges — let 
 me not forget that — are of the nature of means. May I 
 therefore not only cultivate a grateful spirit at the re- 
 membrance of all Thy benefits, O Lord my God, lut also 
 be careful to express my gratitude by a proper use of 
 these beneficial means, that I may apprehend that for 
 which I was apprehended cf Christ Jesus ! 
 
 § 12. Third, Was 1 baptized in infancy? Surely, 
 
 trip.n, vt\\T mispnminora francorpicsmnc vtnA Kanlrcli^inoro 
 
 are levelled at a circumstance of Divine goodness that 
 
PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 makes the call to repentance much louder. " The good- 
 ness of God leadeth to repentance." Every cord of 
 obligation that is broken enhances guilt. The sins of a 
 person greatly privileged are crying sins. Every time, 
 and in every instance, that I have acted unworthy of my 
 baptism, I have been guilty of breaking a cord of Divine 
 kmdness ; so far have I shaken off the yoke, the easy 
 yoke of Christ, from my neck. 
 
 Now, that infant baptism has the advantage over adult 
 baptism in promoting repertance. or godly sorrow for sin, 
 1 thmk appears from the following extracts on the sub- 
 i^^^'w^^^^" ^^^ aggravates the sir of His people 
 Israel (Ezek. xvi.) under the similitude of a child taken 
 into His special care from the very womb, He lays a 
 ^ifficient ground for the deducing of this conclusion : 
 1 hat for any person or people, so related to God from 
 infancy, as He there expresseth, to depart from God by 
 sinning against Him, is a very great aggravation of sin. 
 Suppose God, therefore, pleading against any sinner of 
 the Jews nation in the strain of that chapter, and you 
 v/i.l see it yield as great aggravations of personal sins 
 as national:—' Thou, in the day in which thou wast born 
 wast na!:8d, and in thy blood, utterly naked and desti- 
 tute of original righteousness, and defiled with the stain 
 and guilt of original sin, an object of loathing and ab- 
 horrence to a pure and holy God as I am ; yet when I 
 passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood 
 I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live- 
 yea, T said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood. Live! 
 When I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold 
 (and wonder at my goodness therein,) thy time (even 
 that time) was a time of love, and I spread my skirt ever 
 thee, and covered thy nakedness ; yea, I sware to thee 
 m circumcision, and entered into covenant with theej 
 saith the Lord, and thou becamest mine, and I washed 
 thee with waier, &c., and bred thee at my cost, und^ 
 my ordinances, from that day ; yet hast thou forgotten all 
 this kindness, and rebelled against me.' Alter the word 
 circtimcision^ into baptism, and make the application to 
 yourself, and then see w;hether it doth not aiiord a cutting 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 29 
 
 rhe good- 
 j cord of 
 
 sins of a 
 ery time, 
 hy of my 
 jf Divine 
 
 the easy 
 
 >ver adult 
 w for sin, 
 the sub- 
 is people 
 ild taken 
 [e lays a 
 iclusion : 
 jrod from 
 i God by 
 n of sin. 
 sinner of 
 and you 
 onal sins 
 ast born, 
 id desti- 
 he stain 
 and ab- 
 when I 
 m blood, 
 d, Live; 
 )d, Live. 
 , behold, 
 le (even 
 kirt ever 
 to thee, 
 ith theej 
 washed 
 it, under 
 otten all 
 he word 
 ation to 
 cutting 
 
 I 
 
 aggravation of sin. Anabaptism yields no such aggrava- 
 tion of sin, for it allows no man any special relation to 
 God, no covenant, no engaging ordinance, no peculiar 
 covenant mercy, till actual faith, i.e., till years of discre- 
 tion."* 
 
 Another " ground of humiliation frr^n infant baptism 
 is from the consideration of the apostasy that, upon that 
 account, is in the bowels of every such person's sin as 
 was then admitted into covenant with God. And me- 
 thinks I may to very good purpose write bitter things 
 against sins of youth upon this ground. Ah, wretch ! did 
 God enter thee in His school, nay, admit thee into His 
 family from a child ? did He in much mercy make thee a 
 covenanter with Himself? And yet, for all this, thou 
 hast no sooner been able to speak or go, but thou hast 
 spoken lies against Him, and gone astray from Him. 
 Yea, since thou hast been capable of understanding thy 
 way, thou hast, contrary to the duty of thy natural 
 allegiance, entered into a contrary covenant and confed- 
 eracy with the devil and death, and thine own lusts, and 
 maintained a war with this God with abundance of 
 youthful heat and activity. O sinner ! remember from 
 \ "lence thou art fallen, and repent, and renew thy cove- 
 nant with God, before, by more riveted and aggravated 
 apostasies, thou provoke him to deal with thee as thou 
 hast dealt with Him. Luther tells us a story of a virgin 
 that was wont to resist temptation with this answer — 
 Baptizata sum, ' I am baptized, Satan, and being washed, 
 shall I with the sow wallow in the mire again?" I 
 confess this is a prevalent caution from the general con- 
 sideration of baptism; but I am much mistaken if it 
 conclude not more forcibly when strengthened with this 
 special circumstance of the time of the administration 
 which we are now handling. Thus : — ' Shall I sin 
 against an a. 3ient friend, mine and my father's God? 
 Shall I sell the inheritance of my fathers? (1 Kings 
 xxi. 3 4 ;) forsake my father's Friend ? (Prov. xxvii. 
 10.) Shall I now forsake my Master in whose house I 
 was born, and admitted to the privileges of His family as 
 
 * Ford's Dialogue, ut Bupra, pp. 49-51. 
 
30 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 S00.1 as I was born ? Shal! I now be reconciled to sin 
 
 ^nl.l f "'"• 3""'^'''' ("'^'ernal) kindness I was 
 capable of in my nifancy, and what wrong hatli He done 
 nie smce that fme, that I should now entertain a moZ 
 of unfatthfnlness to Him ? ' ' God hath been my Sas er 
 these fonrscore years,' said old Polycarpns, ' and He hath 
 . now "' t-'^do'^e me no hurt, and shall 'l forsake Hm 
 » now7 isureiyallthearrowsintlieqniverofAnabantiZ 
 .Ws wdf/f"" '" '"'^ '""• "- hea'Jt of a tem^tati^L;^ 
 
 " Cat; T do otherwise than melt into tears of eodi v sor 
 row," says . ,o pions Mr Henry, ■' whe.i 1 refllct t^ha7l' 
 was baptized in infancy ? For if so, then, by "in I have 
 111 requited God's early kindness to t^e. I have offended 
 my God, and the God of my fathers, who upon mv 
 fathers' account, dealt so favorably with me T i« .ff ^ 
 mentioned as a., aggravation of sif,, thlt ,? s ajLnsf A« 
 ^odof our fathers: thus 2 Chron. ^ii, 22 ' BecfuLe hp,f 
 have forsaken the God of their fathers ' So 2 Phii/ 
 xxviii. 6 Loved when a child, and yT, revoltfng and 
 dealing treacherously I When we were pXed and 
 exposed, then regarded, pitied, taken up, washed Idorned 
 taken into covenant, adopted into a good famifv ard 
 w.s not that a time of love-love sefled, lov™ insured 
 preventing love, unmerited love? What • and vp^^! ' 
 pise such rich love, spurn at such bow;' i ^Oo I t: 
 'JH'^'oJ'^Lord? Is Ms thy kindness to thy^rie^^l 
 How should we charge this home upon our souls ?nnn; 
 repentance and blush for our ingratitude i Nmtrishld 
 and brought up, and yet rebelling! Born n vZT. ' 
 brought up in His family, bro,|ht beUmes irnd^r wf' 
 
 &"'D^d'G'od'rf "'' ''" ^°'^^' -"bnrstg t^ 
 oonas . uid God take me into covenant with Hirf..Ji^ 
 
 when I was a child, and look upon me eC sinep^ 
 covenanter; .nd yet no sooner haveTb!;n ahip ,n t 
 than I have go. 3 from Him ■ to sneak »h.n?K ,^°' 
 
 to His disholou.-? I'l" ^Vho Le no h " .i '^^f .r"""' 
 of discretion have no snch cZ^r^^^X^J^t^^ 
 
 * Ford's Dialogue, ut supra, pp. 61, 52, 64, 55. 
 
 f 
 
02f,.BAPTiaM» ^ 
 
 31r 
 
 id to sin, 
 s breast? 
 > I was 
 He done 
 I motion 
 ^ Master 
 He hath 
 ke Him 
 baptism 
 ation as 
 
 dly sor- 
 t that I 
 
 I have 
 •ffended 
 )on my 
 is often 
 inst t/ie 
 se they 
 Chron. 
 g, and 
 d and 
 lorned, 
 
 ; and 
 isured, 
 3t des- 
 e thus 
 riend l 
 in our 
 'ished^ 
 tiouse, 
 r His 
 ? the 
 imse'f 
 5 as a 
 to go, 
 )oken 
 
 years 
 them 
 
 for the sinful vanities of childhood and youth as they 
 have who were baptized in their infancy. Let this, 
 therefore, break our heart for the sins of our youth."* 
 
 § 13. Fourth, Was I baptized m infancy) Then I 
 have a superadded inducement to dedicate myself to the 
 Lord. I was dedicated by my parents, and by Thy min- 
 istering servant, Lord, and now 1 would testify my 
 approbation of what they did on my behalf, hy giving" 
 up myself, which is my reasonable service, to Thee as 
 my Lord and my God. So far am I from questioning 
 the natural right of my parents over me, or the propriety 
 of their giving up that right to Thee, as the God of grace, 
 that I bless Thy name for giving them the opportunity 
 and inclination so to do. I would be thankful that a 
 minister was applied to on the occasion, — that he com- 
 plied, — that what was thus done on earth was confirmed 
 in heaveii, — that my lot was cast among Christians, to 
 whom aie committed the oracles of God, — and that ray 
 unprofitable life is thus prolonged. What method shall 
 I adopt to express my grateful feelings? "1 will take 
 the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." 
 I will pay my obligations to the most High, by the aids 
 of His grace, in the best mauiier I am able. O Lord my 
 God, " I bless Thee for my creation, preservation, and 
 all the blessings of thi*^ life; but above all, for Thine 
 inestimable love in the redemption of ow world by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; for the means of grace," and particu- 
 larly my infant baptism, by w' h I was ded'cated to 
 Thy mercy, protection, and service, " and for the hope of 
 glory. And I beseech Thee give me that due senje of all 
 Thy mercies," and especially that holy ordinance where- 
 by I was initiated as a member of Thy Church, '' that 
 my heart may be unfeignedly thankful ; and that I may 
 shew forth Thy praise, not only with my lips, but in my 
 life, hy giving up myself to Thy service, and by walking 
 before Thee in holiness and righteousness all my days, 
 through Jesus Chrirt my Lord." 
 
 § 14. Fifth, Was I baptized in infancy? What an 
 additional obligation and motive to cultivate universal 
 
"W 
 
 32 
 
 PRACTirJAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 holiness ! Shall I embrace and cherish now, what was 
 so long ago and ever since prohibited? Shall I not 
 ''renounce the devil and all his works, the potnps and 
 vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of 
 the flesh," seeing these things are contrary to the order, 
 peace, and harmony of the house in which I was brought 
 up 1 Have I from a child borne the name of Christ 7 Is 
 not this a great ho.iour ? Let me, then, detest every- 
 thing which has the least tenaency to discredit so honor- 
 able a connexion. Ha-'^iug been brought up in the house 
 of God, shall I forget that holiness becometh it for ever ? 
 Ha\ing been brought up in a palace, the Church of the 
 living God, which He hath built for the house of His 
 kingdom, by the might of His unrivalled power, and for 
 the honor of His glorious majesty ; and shall I embrace 
 dunghills 1 Was 1 pointed out by name, while an infant, 
 as an intended servant of the King of glory ; and shall 1 
 now rest satisfied with a state of bondage to sin and Satan ? 
 Was I then, so betimes, called to hohness ; and shall I 
 continue still under this destructive vassalage 7 Was I, 
 when a helpless infant, guilty and polluted, adopted by 
 my heavenly Father, \o the intent that sin might not 
 have dominion over me ; that I might be in the way of 
 holiness and happiness ; and shall not this be a motive 
 for me to perfect holiness in thefe*, of Godl 
 
 " Is Israel a strvant? is he a home-born slave 7 why is 
 he spoiled 7 " Am I a child, Ixought up in God's house ; 
 why then am I so destitute of holiness 7 Where is the 
 robe of righteousness, the garment of salvation, and the 
 beauty of holiness? This is the proper dress of the 
 family. Whence came I, then, to be " wretched, and 
 miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked 7 " This is 
 not the fault of my heavenly Father, and His house is 
 well-furtiished with every needful supply. O my soul, 
 " hast thou not procured this unto thvself, in that thou 
 hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when ne led thee by the 
 way? Thine own wickedness shall corrsct thee, and 
 thy backslidings shall reprove thee : know therefore and 
 see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast for- 
 saken, the Lord thy Uod, and that my fear is nut in ttiee, 
 
ON BAPTibM, 
 
 33 
 
 saith the Lord God of hosts. For of old time I have 
 broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands. I had planted 
 thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed : how then art thou 
 turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto 
 me 7 saith the Lord 1 How canst thou say, I am not 
 polluted 7 . . . . Wilt thou not from this time cry unto 
 me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth ? Turn, 
 O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married 
 unto you." Turn, O my soul, from the forbidden and 
 dangerous paths of sin. to the King's high road of 'holi- 
 ness ; and the rather because there thou hast been placed, 
 and oughtest to have walked, from the beginning. Re- 
 turn, O prodigal, to the holy rules and precious privileges 
 of thy Father's house ; and the rather because it is the 
 house of thy infancy. The holy God is the God of thy 
 infancy ; the Holy Saviour is the Saviour of thy infancy ; 
 the holy Church is the house of thy infancy ; the holy 
 angels are the guards of thy infancy ; and thy holy bap- 
 tism was a solemn and express entrance on all these holy 
 relation!" and connexion^. Wherefore, let holiness to the 
 Lord be my motto, resulting from my baptism ; and let 
 the consideration of my infant baptism give it a peculiar 
 emphasis and powerful influence on my mind. 
 
 § 15. Sixth, Was I privileged with Chrisf ian baptism 
 in mv infancy ? Then let me improve my privilege for 
 more exemplary diligence. "As we are Christians, we 
 have not only temptations to be resisted, and sins to be 
 avoided, but work to be done ; great and necessary work, 
 for God, and our souls, and eternity. Now nothing can 
 more quicken us to that work than a lively sense of our 
 relation to the Lord Jesus Christ as His servants : ' Truly 
 I am thy servant,' (Ps. cxvi. 16.) To maintain that 
 sense, and to excite us to an answerable diligence in our 
 duty, we should frequently consider our baptism.; especially 
 
 our infant baptism Our baptism, as administered 
 
 in infancy, doth very much strengthen the vugagement; 
 and may help to quicken our dulness, and put us forward, 
 
 when we begin to loiter If our engagements to 
 
 Him had been only the result of our own choice, we 
 
 
 
 
 V»P 
 
 e'W 
 
 tpmntprl 
 
 to think that a 
 
 Tftf nntntmn 
 
s»g.;.. 
 
 <^ PEACTIOAL BEFLECTIONS 
 
 would dissolve the obligation ; but we are the Lord's by 
 ^formsr dedication." God is o^^'"* master :-"Kmd 
 i/deed, who would take us into H.s fem.ly, and adm 
 lis to the orotection, provision, and privileges ot tiis 
 fanily when we weie incapable of doing Him any actual 
 se^ce Bein^ nov grown up, this consideration should 
 ■ amoken us to^ double dUigence : that we may redeem 
 JhTttae lost when we wer^e children and ^ake some 
 grateful returns to our generous Master for the early 
 rnkpn«! of His sood-will. ' When Israel was a chM, then 
 Moved hS (Hos. xi. 1 ;) and shall not we then study 
 what we shall render for that love?"* How long have I 
 been in my Divine Master's house and service, and yet 
 how Ittirhave I improved my invaluable Privileges and 
 how imperfectly discharged incunibent duty ! May he 
 nuantity of time lost make me the more careful of the 
 Remainder May the consideration of the length of road 
 wSri have tr/velled in departing from God, make^me 
 the more diligent now I am brought back to the liing s 
 
 ^'fw^( T/wd,) The baptism of infants may aflford 
 us^considered as pasents, many devout and profitable 
 reflections. Am I a parerU ? Then let me improve bap- 
 usm to increase wftkankfulmss to God, lor admitting 
 rLTcMdren to partake of it with " ..elf.-to testify my 
 Zire o/6eneA ^ children,-to influence my pray^. 
 for them,-to assfst me in promoting their sahaiim, their 
 knowledge of that gospel which baptism seals, their fa.th 
 andTepeltance, holiness and happ.ness,-to inculcate on 
 them Christian tempers, relative duties, and a cmversa- 
 tion becoming the gospel of Christ. „i,„„ 
 
 8 17 First, Is my child admitted to baptism 1 Then 
 let me improve the happy occasion to increase mthan^c- 
 fulness to'ood. Is the Lord a covenant God *""f^,^ 
 •kediator, to any of the children of men? Tbps s a sub- 
 ject of pleasing wonder. But is He a covenant God to 
 me ■> This calls for my warmest returns of faith, love, 
 mi thanksgiving. Faith in the covenant promise, love 
 
 V. Henry's TreatiM on B.pliBin. PP. 189. 191. 192 ; or. pp. 1186, 1187. 
 u above. 
 
rim^sm^s^smmM9BiSj:-^x^ ~ 
 
 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Ywtl ta. God 1. % ~J.» Were to y»* "£ 
 
 « i 30 ^ not only to honor us, and to bear up our names, 
 
 b^ to honor Godf and to bear up His name m the world. 
 
 Whit is an estate or office good for, but to glorify God 
 
 . , ,. rr-n-e "1 R""!!"™. on- 133. 234) or, p, 1196, »8 »boTe. 
 
^*^^',; im^ ifs^^,::^^.:c~}i:2VMWJtr-^-^^:7:?^h'i.t^^w .j?^£rj.T^ 
 
 
 36 
 
 PKACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 with it, and that we may have something to lay out and 
 use for His honor? Bless God that He hath not only 
 given you a child, but that He hath invited and encour- 
 aged you to give it to Him again, and is pleased to accept 
 of it. Be thankful that you have a child admitted, from 
 its birth, into the bosom of the Churchy and under the 
 wing of the Divine Majesty. Hannah had been long 
 barren, and it was her great grief; at length God gave 
 her a Samuel ; but it Joth not appear that his birth was 
 so much the matter of her praise, as his dedication to the 
 Lord, When she had brought him, in his infancy, to 
 the tabernacle, then it was that she said, ' My soul re- 
 joiceth in the Lord,' (1 Sam. i. 28, ii. 1.) You have 
 more reason to be thankful that you have a child born to 
 inherit the privileges of the covenant^ than if you had a 
 child born to inherr the largest estate." "Bless God 
 that He hath erected His tabernacle and sanctuary in the 
 midst of us ; and hath not left Himself without witness, 
 nor us without the means of grace and salvation. He 
 hath not dealt so with many other nations, (they and 
 theirs are afar off;) and should not this make us very 
 thankful '? " " Rightly understand the nature and inten- 
 tion of :he ordinance, and you will say with wonder and 
 praise, ' This is no other than the house of God, and the 
 gate of heaven : this gate of the Lord into which the right- 
 eous shall enter.' Enter into it therefore with ihanks- 
 givi?ig, and into His courts with praised " Your children 
 are polluted, but bless God that there is di fountain opened^ 
 not only for the House of David, but for the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem, (Zech. xiii. L) Diaw water, therefore, 
 with joy out of these wells of salvation. i.lejoice that 
 there is such a covenant, whicli you can, through grace, 
 lay any claim to. The expressions of joy and rejoicing 
 at the baptism of a child, should be turned into this 
 channel ; and should terminate in God, and in the new 
 covenant."* 
 
 Is my c/it7tZ baptized ? Oh, what shall 1 render to the 
 Lord for the seal of His covenant to me and mine I To 
 us are given, to us are sealed, exceeding great and^recious 
 * T d! '■ s on Baptism, pp. 235, 236, 238; or, pp. 1195, 1190, as above. 
 
 'M 
 
ON BAPTISM, 
 
 37 
 
 promises. " The hearts of parents, in that action^ should 
 be affected," one observes, " with abundance of joy and 
 comfort ; looking upon that day as a day of their child- 
 ren's espousals to Jesus Christ ; and, by consequence, a 
 day that should be more joyful to a godly parent than 
 the day of their marriage to the best earthly matches that 
 can possibly be desired. If a parent should live to see all 
 his children well married, he would say, and well he 
 might, (as to the outward condition of his posterity,) 
 ' What a happy man am I that have lived long enough 
 to see all my children so well disposed of!' But I tell 
 all parents that fear God, that the days in which their 
 children are baptized are far joyfuller days than the days 
 of their marriage (if it might so come to pass) to so many 
 of the most potent and mighty princes in the world. 
 And thou that hast seen all thy children baptized, hast lived 
 long enough to see them ten thousand times better be- 
 stowed. Thou hast espoused them to Christ, and He 
 hath made them a jointure beyond the abilities of all the 
 monarchs in the world ; and therefore write down the 
 day 5 of your children's baptism as their wedding-days ; 
 and as often as you have occasion to remember them, 
 remember it is your duty to rejoice in the Lord, and bless 
 Him on that account."* 
 
 § 18. Second, As a parent, let me use and improve 
 the Christian ordinance of baptism, to testify my desire 
 of benefiting my infant child. I would consider baptism 
 in the light of a benefit conferred, rather than that of a 
 duty performed. To think otherwise would lead me to 
 a radical mistake. Nor should I consider the baptism of 
 an adult in rny other light. The baptism even of such, 
 properly considered, is sl privilege received, not a debt 
 discharged. It is our duty to receive a gift, only in an 
 indirect sense ; but it is directly our privilege. It would 
 be the duty of my child, were he adult, to receive any 
 advantageous offer remotely, but his privilege, in the most 
 direct sense : consequently, baptism, which in its proper 
 nature is, demonstrably, a blessing or benefit, has 
 nothing to do with the duty of the subject of it directly^ 
 
 * Ford's Dialogue, ut supra, part ii., p. 92. 
 
—tAaaB*! 
 
 a^lfc 
 
 riH^MHli 
 
 ._i_ . rijirAfxin .■.-..■2.. 
 
 ' jfi.^»>ilJM[ 
 
 AlkT.l.dmi.-.aaiB&^'V -driMiCU.-.tHIM 
 
 ^ ^>?t^^tir'i^'^-^""^-^^ -y-^^ ffias^ . ^ateaaseaifeg.^ 
 
 38 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 but rmmtely. For, as he may be hmefiiedhY an estate 
 or legacy, without aiiy supposition of dutiful complmnce, 
 becp.use such an act of benefiting has no immediate ^ovi- 
 ceni with duty ; in hke manner, he may be benefited by 
 baptism, as a Divine grant. And yet the very same 
 thinff which in its own nature is a beneficial grant, be it 
 what it may, does not require of an infant any dutiful 
 compliance, but of an adult does require it. Which 
 shews that compliance or submission, in reference to a 
 beneficial grant, is but a mere accident of the subject, but 
 not an essential qualification ; but still, when any, who 
 have a liberty and right of choosing, embrace what is m 
 itself beneficial, they act dutifully, and vice versa. 1 hus 
 it was, for instance, with respect to circumcision. 
 
 If the direct notion of baptism be that of a benefit 
 granted by Jehovah to me and mine, like the precious 
 promise it seals, it clearly follows, that their want of 
 understanding and voluntary acceptance is no just bar to 
 its application. Wherefore, how can I discharge the auty 
 of a parent, who impartially consults the weliare of his 
 child, if I withhold from it what is divinely bequeathed to 
 it in common wiih myself 7 1 am desired to consult the 
 good of my children, by bringing them up in " the nur- 
 ture and admonition of the Lord ; " this shews that the 
 means of this nurture and admonition, the rules of Chris- 
 tian discipline and instruction, the sacred oracles, are 
 intended for their use. How, then, can I, in justice to 
 my trust, appropriate to them the contents of the instru- 
 ment sealed, but withhold from them, without any 
 forfeiture on their part, the seal, of which they are as 
 capable as myself 7 Does God ever .:ay. Baptism is not 
 to your infant children though the promise is to them? 
 If He does not tear off the seal from His will concerning 
 them, nor requires me to do it, why should 1 do it '? In- 
 stead of putting my fancy to the rack for some excepting 
 clause, whereby they may be deprived of the baptismal 
 benefit, let me thankfully acknowledge the loving-kind- 
 ness of the Lord in putting such a painful discovery out 
 of my DOwer. and even out of the power of all those who 
 most'zealonsiy attempt it. Let me not be ashamed to do 
 

 ' ^i^-'0^. 
 
 
 1 *■ -vlak ■»'iV 
 
 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 39 
 
 estate 
 
 te con- 
 ted by 
 
 same 
 ?, be it 
 dutiful 
 Which 
 5e to a 
 ictj but 
 y, who 
 at is in 
 
 Thus 
 
 benefit 
 trecious 
 vant of 
 L bar to 
 le duty 
 1 of his 
 ,thed to 
 ;ult the 
 he nur- 
 ihat the 
 f Chris- 
 iles, are 
 istice to 
 i instru- 
 »at any 
 ' are as 
 n is not 
 3 them ? 
 icerning 
 it l In- 
 iccepting 
 iptismal 
 [ig-kind- 
 very out 
 ose who 
 led to do 
 
 this act of kindness to my child, even in the great con- 
 gregation, if thought most convenient. God is not 
 ashamed to be called its God; Christ is not ashaned to 
 say, " Suffer it to come, or to be brought to me, and forbid 
 it not ; " and shall I be ashamed or backward to own 
 that honorable relation, that advantageous approach ? Is 
 Christ willing to take it as a lamb to His fold, a member 
 to His Church ; and shall I, to whom it is a second-self, 
 of whom it is, as it were, a part, — shall I alone negative 
 the gracious motion? I cannot, and, without an au- 
 thority which I have not discovered, I will not : but will 
 say, encouraged by so many rational, scriptural, irresis- 
 tible motives, before the world, before the Church, and 
 in the presence of professed opposers — " B hold. Lord, 
 here 1 am, and the child, or children. Thou hast gra- 
 ciously given me. What Thou grantest to my offspring, 
 I desire as a faithful steward not to deprive them of, but 
 faithfully and cheerfully to appropriate for the intended 
 use." 
 
 § 19. Third, Am I the parent of a baptized child, or 
 children'? How should their visible relation to Christ 
 and His Church influence my prayers for them ! Though 
 morally polluted, yet relatively they are not unclean, but 
 holi/. According to the will of Christ, I have given up 
 my natural right in them, and over them, to the God of 
 grace. They are dedicated to Father, Son, and Spirit, 
 that they may be in every respect what Christianity 
 requires them to be. They are such as the Lord my 
 God hath called; and their calling is a high and holy 
 calling. May I command nothing, require nothing, en- 
 dure nothing, and do nothing, unworthy of such a relation 
 and holy calling ! Lord, teach and assist me to bring 
 them up as Christians ^ in Thy nurture and admonition. 
 They having been discipled and baptized, may i be found 
 diligent and successful in " teaching them to observe all 
 things whatsoever Thou hast commanded us ! " Oh, 
 what precious promises are sealed to them ! May they 
 have an early and saving acquaintance with these pro- 
 mises ! Oh that they may speedily know the things 
 frftPlv lyivfln them of our covenant God ! May no back- 
 
 i 
 
40 
 
 PRACTICAL BEFLECTIONS 
 
 wardness or neglect on my part keep them in ignorance 
 of the things sealed to them, or foster a criminal indiffer- 
 ence ' Various and important are the blessings and 
 obligations exhibited in baptism, as we have seen, (Chap. 
 II., § 15-21.) Oh that every one of these blessings were 
 actually possessed, and every obligation, according to 
 their capacities, were discharged, by my dear children ! 
 
 Mighty Saviour ! I would make my supplication unto 
 Thee, in behalf of every child Thou hast graciously given 
 me, with the faith and importunity of the woman of 
 Canaan (Matt, xv.) in behalf of her daughter, saying, 
 Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David ; my child 
 (this child and the other^ labors under the guilt, pollution, 
 disease, and tyranny of sin, without Thy help. Lord, 
 help me. I cannot doubt of Thy power, nor while Thy 
 word. Thy oath, Thy sacred seal stand uncancelled, can 
 I doubt of Thy willingness to save to the uttermost all 
 that come to Thee. 1 do not ground my supplications 
 on the worthiness of myself or mine, but on Thy free 
 grant of covenant favours. This my faith would rest 
 upon. Were I to admit and plead this free grant actually 
 made to my children, and yet not baptize them, I should 
 be guilty of a criminal solecism in my Christian profes- 
 sion. I should then mutilate the gift of God, and with- 
 hold more than is meet, which would tend to impoverish 
 the legatees, the Church of Christ, and probably my 
 own soul. I have therefore admitted Thy covenant gift 
 in its full extent; and received both the instrument and 
 the seal in faith. Now, Lord, help me to make them 
 acquainted with their privileges and obligations. By 
 Thy Holy Spirit bless my endeavours, and command 
 success. Are we the objects of the promise, the rich 
 blessings of the new covenant, and yet neither free, holy, 
 nor happy, but the reverse? Surely, then, we are not 
 straitened in Christ, nor in His gospel, but we are 
 straitened in our own bowels. Oh that, for a recompence 
 in the same, we, as the children of the covenant, may be 
 also enlarged ! (2 Cor. vi. 11-13.) 
 Compassionate Saviour ! I bring my children unto 
 
 lilQtf, WiiU UaiSi »3aiU, WUi&wi WiW «£.»»av t-a-ii^i-as -- •^—^^- 
 
m^^m^i^^f^i^^W'^^^^^^w^i^-:"^^^- 
 
 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 41 
 
 unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom 
 of God." Take them up in Thy arms of mercy, and 
 bless them. Thme they were, I'hou gavest them me 
 and hast made them partakers of the covenant means of 
 grace ; oh, receive them under Thy special protection and 
 guidance, make ihem the subjects of the grace of these 
 means, which it is Thy will they should enjoy ! 
 
 ''The sealing of the covenant in general, as a token of 
 God s good-will to our seed, is a sufficient handle for 
 faith to take hold on, in praying for our children. I see 
 not how those parents can with equal confidence pray for 
 their children, who deny them to be in covenant, and so 
 set them upon even ground with the children of infi- 
 dels."* No prayer for a blessing is acceptable but the 
 prayer of faith; no blessing can be prayed for in faith 
 but what is promised; to have a promise is to have a 
 covenant grant ; wherefore, I can consistently pray for my 
 children in faith, no further than I allow them an interest 
 in the gospel covenant,— that is to say, that the adminis- 
 tration and economical privileges of mercy appertain to 
 them, and consequently baptism; nor should anythin*^ be 
 deemed a bar to the enjoyment of them, but incapability 
 or a criminal rejection. But they neither criminally 
 reject, nor are incapable; consequently, the covenant and 
 its seal terminate and rest upon them and in warding off 
 any part of what was thus intended for their use, I must 
 be blame-worthy. How can I plead in faith promised 
 mercy, while I deny to them the token of mercy 7 If 
 baptism, the token, be not theirs, neither is promised 
 mercy theirs; and if the latter be not theirs, faith has no 
 foundation in reference ;o their happiness. Hidden coun- 
 sels do not testify or assert any" particular truth to me 
 concerning my child. Through grace, I can think, with 
 adoring complacency, of myself and mine being in the 
 hand of a sovereign God; but the sovereigfity of God, 
 predestination, eternal covenant interest, particular re- 
 demption, and the distinguishing application of grace 
 are not the objects of gospel faith, properly and directly! 
 As far indeed as they are testified of in revelation as 
 * Henry's Treatise on Baptism, p. 242. 
 
 5 
 
42 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 facts^ which are only ^eneral^ so far, and iio further, 
 faith regards ihem. While unexplained, and there .bre 
 in the class oi secret things, they belong to God ; whereas 
 the things which are revealed^ and these ow/y, belong to 
 me and my children. The arcana oi the Divine govern- 
 ment neither are, nor in the nature of things can be, 
 either the objects of my faith, or the rides of my diity. 
 In short, they are not, they cannot be, the foundation of 
 the PRAYER OF FAITH. Take away the plea of covenant 
 interest, and faith is struck dumb. Take away covenant 
 promises, and faith is struck blind. Take away cove?iani 
 faithfulness, and faith has no standing. But, blessed be 
 Thy name, O Lord my God, my children's covenant i?i- 
 terest is founded on Thy testimony, and remains indisput- 
 able, therefore 1 can plead in faith; Thy precious 
 promises are directed to each by name, as a covenantee, 
 and therefore I may view in faith Thy merciful designs 
 towards them; Thy faithfulness was never known to 
 fail, it cannot fail, and therefore the heirs of promise may 
 have strong consolation, faith iiaving two immutable 
 tilings to stand upon — the promise and the oath of that 
 God who cannot lie. Lord increase my faith ; and bless 
 my children with the saving knowledge of Thy covenant ! 
 Amen. 
 
 § 20. Fourth, Am I the parent of baptized children ? 
 Let me improve their baptism for their conversion and 
 salvation. That baptism may be considered as a moral 
 means of conversion, faith, and repentance, is evident 
 hence: if the gospel be so, baptism is — except we main- 
 tain a self-evident absurdity, that the heavenly charter 
 has one use an4 tendency, and the seal of that charter 
 another. And with respect to infants, it is as much so, 
 at least, as any other part of the gospel dispensation can 
 be. If salvation being come to a house lays all the 
 members of the family under obligations of receiving that 
 salvation, as they are or become capable, that exhibited 
 salvation may be justly termed a means of ccnversion. 
 In like manner the seal which authenticates that salva- 
 tion in the most unequivocal form must be equally 
 entitled to the same if nut a superior rank. Not to say. 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 4S 
 
 that It IS matter of fact that infant baptism has been 
 frequently so owned. Ancl, indeed, it appears to me that 
 It would be unaccountably strange if otherwise. Jf the 
 rnstniment sealed be deserving of credit, or a means of 
 faith must not the ,eal itself the broad 'seal of heaven 
 be considered in the same ligh* i Here observe- 
 
 (1.) Our children, as the children of the covenant, and 
 baptized have a ^^culiar right to the means of con verln 
 To il ustrate and confirm this point, let the following 
 remarks be considered :-- The oracles of God we"! 
 committed to the Jews, and this upon the account of cir- 
 cumcision They were a people that were solemnly and 
 sacramentally the Lord's, and God commits His oracles 
 to them. Unpermitted them to others providentially; 
 bu He committed them to the Jews federally, as the law 
 of the kingdom He would govern them by. They owed 
 their Bible to circumcision. God's covenant was in their 
 flesh and therefore God instructed them with the instru- 
 ment in which it was drawn up. It is clear that the 
 oracles of God (that pure law which, as David saith 
 converts the soul, Ps. xix. 7) are the portion of a people 
 m covenant with God. Our infants, therefore, being 
 according to our principles, in covenant with God, are 
 entitled to the Bible, and all the contents thereof. Add 
 to this, the ministers, me dispensers of this Word are 
 upon the account of church-me^nhership, theirs, with all 
 their gifts, graces, and labours. Pastors and teachers are 
 set up m the Church, (I Cor. xii. 28,) and given to them 
 as a peculiar fruit of Christ's ascension, (Eph. iv. 12) 
 G^od s hijsbandmen are set over His own enclosure. His 
 shepherds over His own flock, and His builders over His 
 own building. If any persons, therefore, be ' aliens from 
 the commonwealth of Israel,' no members of the Church 
 he common with the rest of the world, shut oui of this 
 enclosure, be not sheep of this fold, no stones in this 
 huilding,—however God may providentially extend the 
 benefits of His ministers' labours to such persons, yet 
 they can clajm no covenant right or title to any spiritual 
 auvantuge from them. But our children, even Irom 
 infancy, by our principles, are entitled by a covenant 
 
44 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 right to all those precious emoluments which accrue 
 therefrom. To which I may add, private means of con- 
 version, to which there are promises made. That 
 nouthesia Kurioti, the 'nurture of the Lord,' of which 
 the apostle speaks, instruction and correction, as ordin- 
 ances of God, and all the promises made unto them, are 
 not to be extended beyond the Church, as to the benefit 
 that may be expected from them. 
 
 "But may not a godly parent of an Aanabaptistical 
 judgment obtain that blessing upon his labours in the 
 education of his child, whether his child be [deemed] in 
 covenant with him or no, baptized or unbaptized? I 
 deny not but he may. For the mercy of God to His 
 people is many times larger than their faith or prayers. 
 So that God may look upon those children as in covenant 
 with Him, and deal with them as such, whom their 
 parents deny Him a [visible] title to. God may, and I 
 doubt not doth many times remember the covenant which 
 they sinfully forget ; and does them good upon the ac- 
 count thereof, when they never plead it. 
 
 "But, can it be supposed that ordinances should be so 
 visibly ineffectual upon such numbers of those to whom 
 they and the blessings of them do peculiarly belong? 
 No wonder at all that it should be so. The apostle 
 answers this very objection, in my judgn.ent, in the case 
 of the Jews, and their ordinances, Kom. iii. 3. When he 
 had spoken concerning the peculiar right of the Jews to 
 the oracles of God, (ver. 2,) he saw the objection that^ 
 might thence be started: But how came it to pass that so* 
 many of them were never the better for them? The 
 apostle answers this objection thus : ' What if some did 
 not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God 
 of none effect?' The privilege of the Jews, in the en- 
 joyment of ordinances, was continued to the Church by 
 God's faithfulness. So that though divers of them perished 
 under them through unbelief, yet God's covenant in the 
 vouchsafement of them was entire and unbroken not- 
 withstanding. In like manner, I may say concerning 
 the children of Pcedobaptists, their privilege in the peculiar 
 right they have to converting ordinances is not at all 
 
 P 
 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 45 
 
 k 
 
 
 impaired by the ineflicacy of those ordinances upon any, 
 or any number of them. It is their privilege to enjoy 
 them, and it will be the aggravation of their guilt that 
 they do not improve them. And although they have a 
 peculiar right to the blessing of ordinances, as well as the 
 ordinances themselves, yet because this right is, as the 
 covenant is that derives it, external, it becomes ineffectual 
 to many, through their own neglect of seeking to God in 
 His own way for the obtaining thereof. Besides, to the 
 shame of many of us it may be spoken, divers parents 
 among us do not understand, and others, out of dissatis- 
 faction as to their covenant interest, dare not, or through 
 sinful neglect do not, plead with God for their children 
 [and with their children for GodJ as they have sufficient 
 warrant to do. 
 
 "And here I shall ask you a question concerning 
 promises of conversion : To whom, think you, do such 
 promises belong ? To those within the Church, or those 
 thsit are without it? An alien from the commonwealth 
 of Israel is also a stranger to the coven^jits of promise, 
 (Eph. ii. 12,) and so no promise of the covenant belongs 
 to any one that is not a church-member. Be, then, your- 
 self judge whether the principles that exclude infants of 
 believing [i.e.. Christian] parents out of covenant with 
 God, and out of all church-relation, or those that admit 
 them to both, give the more comfortable hopes of conver- 
 sion to them. We say that they are not only under a 
 providential capacitij of conversion, as mere heathens are, 
 but they are under a covenaid capacity, because within 
 that number to whom the promise oC renewing grace 
 belong. 
 
 " But, are there not promises of converting grace mside 
 to the heathen world? blow, then, can it be true that 
 promises of converting grace belong only to churcL .nem- 
 bers? Very well; except you can make it appear that 
 those scriptures come under the proper notion of promises 
 made to them who are the persons mentioned in them. 
 For my part, I look on them rather as prophecies of the 
 conversion of the Gentiles than promises ; or, if promises 
 
 
'Xy r^ 
 
 46 
 
 PRAOTIOAIi REFLECTIONS 
 
 I ■ 
 
 If 
 
 \4 
 
 11 
 
 i 
 
 at all, yet promises directed to the Jews concerning th« 
 Gentiles. 
 
 "I have somethina more to say concerning {\\q prayers 
 of the Church. Are the prayers of the Church any fneans 
 tending to the furtherance of cnnversmi, or no? Yes, 
 undouhtedly ; (or if the effectual p.ayer of one righteous 
 man avail nuich, if it be fervent, as James saith, surely 
 the prayers oimany ris;hteous men, assembled in Christ'' s 
 name., must needs be far inore prevalent. Although the 
 Church pray for all men according to the command, (I 
 Tim. ii. 1,) yet those that are most npon their hearts in 
 their prayers are those of the same flock and fold with 
 themselves. Accordingly, I make no question, but that 
 in the inmost desires of all true Christians the conversion 
 of those that vcxq nearest related, whether in natural or 
 Christian bonds, is most passionately wished for ; and, 
 by consequence, the little ones born in the Church, the 
 hope of the derivation of Christ's kingdom to succeeding 
 generations. So that those principles that will not allow 
 such persons a standing in the Church, do what they can 
 to disinterest them in the very cream and marrow of the 
 whole Church's prayers."* 
 
 On the whole, I would observe concerning the external 
 means of conversion ^ that there is a certain order oi means, 
 divinely instituted, whereby our desires and our en- 
 deavors ought to be 7'egulated. By a presumptuous 
 disregard of this order ^ we are in danger of tempting 
 God. For instance, if the conversion of the heathen be 
 the subject, order requires that \.\\g first steji in our prayers 
 and attempts should be that God, by His providence, 
 would open an entrance, an effectual door, for His gospel 
 to be sent to them in purity and power ; that the Lord 
 would convert them by sending them first the means of 
 conversion. A second step in order is, that a dispensation 
 of mercy may be established among tliem ; that they may 
 be brought into a church-state, and have the ministration 
 of the word and ordinances as a people. A third grada- 
 tion which divinely-instituted order requires is, that we 
 
 * Ford's Dialogue, part ii. pp. ^8-49. 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 47 
 
 desire the grace of the means may be communicated, 
 and that souls may be converted to God, made to receive 
 Christ, justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. This order is beau- 
 tifully described by St. Paul • '' Whosoever shall call upon 
 the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall 
 they call on him in whom they have not believed? and 
 how shall they believe in him of whom they have rot 
 hear- and how shall they hear without a. preacher 1 and 
 how shall they preach except they be se7i(?^' (Rom. x. 
 • ''uM ^o^s^^o^'i apprehend, argue the absolute 
 
 impossibility ol salvation to any but in Uiis exact mode, 
 but he shews whi--:. ^ the appointed plan of means which 
 we are to regard. In like manner, if the. conversion of 
 our children be the subject, order requires that we should 
 first desire and use our influence in bringing them into a 
 church-state. They are born under a dispensation of 
 grace ; in that respect they are not unclean, but holy ' 
 nothmg but our avowed rejection of Christianity can 
 deprive them of C at privilege. But none can be deemed 
 ot the vmble Church regularly without initiation by bap- 
 tism. This IS the instituted porch to the temple of means, 
 lo desire and make use of subsequent means, while that 
 which ismUiatory is not used, is irregular and presump- 
 tuous. A second step in the Divine plan is, that I should 
 Seek Irom the God of means a blessing in their use : the 
 conversion of my children as partakers of the means, and 
 not without them. For me to desire grace for my child 
 tor conversion, and yet deny him any of the means of 
 grace o which he is a capable subject, is unscriptural, 
 disorderly, and preposterous. As, therefore, 1 desire his 
 converswti, let me observe the order of means leading 
 thereto; and oh that I may never be found remiss, while 
 using the means, in seeking their end! And that the 
 important end of conversion may be regularly sought 
 and IS peculiarly favored by infant baptism, will further 
 appear, if we observe — 
 
 § 2L (2.) That the practice of baptizing infants (cce^ 
 par.) may furnish a parent with many convinci?iff consi- 
 -,^„K ^,^a v-,4^«»«c«ia, ui puttuiiig wiin nis ciiua with 
 
 
48 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 t-i t 
 
 I- 
 
 a view to his conversion, 
 so well urge. 
 
 My dear child," may 
 
 which otherwise he could not 
 
 (( 
 
 he say, " thou art a sinner 
 
 from thy birth, guilty and polluted. This thy baptism 
 teaches. In baptism, God shews and testifies that He 
 will forgive sins ; and this is one reason why thou hast 
 been baptized, because thou art a sinner, standing in 
 need of spiritual washing. Thou art not to tl ink that 
 the water of baptism takes away sin, that is, pa ions and 
 makes thee pure in soul ; no, no, it only shews th je plainly 
 that thou wantest this pardon and purity ; and it also 
 shews, that God is merciful and willing to give thee every 
 good thing in this life and in the world to come, on thy 
 coming to Him. He says in His word, that He will give 
 grace and glory,— that those who seek Him early, that 
 is, when young as thou art, shall find Him ; and Christ 
 says He will in no wise cast out any poor sinner that 
 cometh to Him. But thy baptism shews stillmore plainly 
 that thou art guilty, and that God is merciful; that thou 
 art impure, that is, unfit to go to heaven, but that God 
 is willing, on thy con ig to Him, to cleanse thee and to 
 make thee meet for heaven. My dear child, learn this, 
 and strive to understand it without delay. If thou diest 
 without repentance— how shall I speak it 7— thou must 
 perish for ever. No one goes to heaven without pardon, 
 and thou must not expect to go there without repentance. 
 And, oh, remember that not only the Bible, the Sabbaths, 
 the sermons, the prayers, and the advices thou hast from 
 me and others, will rise up against thee, if thou con- 
 tinuest impenitent, but also thy baptism^ in the day of 
 
 judgment. 
 
 "Observe again, my dear child; though you go with 
 me to worship the great and good God, to His house of 
 prayer on the Lord's day,— and though you are always 
 present at our family devotion,— though you never take 
 the holy name of God in vain, as many naughty children 
 do, nor do of a Sabbath-day as they do ; yet this is not 
 enough to give you a title to heaven. This is very good 
 in its place; as also to honour your parents, to behave 
 nronerly to your superiors, schooi-mates, and all people. 
 
i:7^TSfr'j^i:?:ii4S.&:.'.jj! 
 
 .; J£:^ggg!3l^f:g!l^€ :-l^£'¥gg« 
 
 
 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 49 
 
 * To order yourself lowly and reverently to all your 
 betters ; to hurt nobody in word or deed ; to be trne and 
 just in all your dealings; to bear no malice nor hatred in 
 your heart; to keep your hands from picking and steal- 
 ing; and your tongue from evil-speaking, lying, and 
 slandermg.' These things, I say, are very right. But 
 the best of men do them very imperfectly; and except 
 we have a belter title to heaven than this, we can by no 
 means be saved. Now, observe, because we could not 
 keep God's holy law perfectly. He sent His Son, Jesus 
 Christ, into the world to keep it perfectly in our stead, 
 that by our believing in Him we should not perish, but 
 have everlasting life. This your baptism teaches; for 
 St. Paul says, that to be baptized into Christ, signifies to 
 put on Christ,— that is, that He is our worthiness, our 
 perfection, our righteousness. This is one of those very 
 important truths that your baptism testifies and seals. 
 Oh, then, my dear child, bring thy poor perishing self to 
 Jesus Christ! He wih not put thee off, for He has 
 declared He won't. He went through every stale, from 
 infancy to manhood; and having been a child Himself 
 when in the world, He receives children. Oh the happi- 
 ness he has to give ! He will not only keep thee from 
 hell, but at death take thee to heaven. He alone can 
 make thee truly good ; I cannot. Nobody on earth can. 
 But Jesus Christ, being Himself divinely good and gra- 
 cious, can make us good ; yes. He can ana will make 
 thee so, on coming to Irfim with all thy heart. This 
 thou mayest be as sure of as that thou art baptized. For 
 baptism according to the will of Christ is a seal for con- 
 firmation. You know, my dear, that what an hoiiest 
 man confirms by sealing it, he will stand by. Much 
 more so will our gracious Lord and Saviour. Sensible 
 of thy sinful and helpless condition, with the assistance 
 of Divine grace, and with a contrite heart, pray unto this 
 merciful Redeemer in some such words as these : — ' O 
 Lord God, who alone canst save me from sin and the 
 wrath io come, accept the prayerr and the cries of a 
 helpless child. No one on earth or in heaven but Thy- 
 self, O Lord most merciful, can help me. I am destroyed 
 6 
 

 50 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 by sin, the sin of my heart especially, but my help is from 
 Thee. Accept me in Christ, whose nature and hfe were 
 perfectly holy, and who is made wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification, and redemption, to all Thy children. Oh 
 that as I have been baptized with water, I may also be 
 baptized with the Holy Ghost ! And as this was signi- 
 fied and sealed by my baptism, grant it me, O Lord God, 
 for Christ's sake. Amen.' " 
 
 § 22. F'ifth, Am I the parent of baptized children? 
 Then let me improve their baptism, for the purpose of 
 inculcating upon them Christian tempers. Let me re- 
 mind them, that to answer the great ends of our baptism 
 is the same as to be true Christians ; to have that mind 
 which was in Christ Jesus, a disinterested, humble, lov- 
 ing, and liberal disposition; to live and walk as He 
 would have them, by faith and not by sense. Baptism, 
 like Christianity itself, points them to a penitent frame of 
 mind ; to a resolute opposition, by grace, to youthful lusts 
 and the whole body of sin ; to heavenly-mindedness and 
 firm attachment to Christ, (See Chap. IL, §§ 18— •2L) 
 
 § 23. Sixth, As a parent let me improve the baptism 
 of my children for the purpose of promoting in them a 
 due regard to relative duties. As their baptism intro- 
 duces them into a state of yiew relationship^ it requires 
 answerable duties. As baptized ones, as Christians in 
 name and calling, let me often remmd them of the apos- 
 tolic exhortations, which are often founded on the same 
 consideration. Let them be exhorted to be meek and 
 peaceable, and even to follow peace with all men, as well 
 as holiness ; to do good to all as they have opportunity, 
 and especially the most serious and deserving. And oh, 
 with the bowels of a parent, with the integrity, watch- 
 fulness, concern, and impartiaUty of a Christian, let 
 me look diligently, as far as in me lies, "lest any of 
 them fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness, 
 springing up, breed trouble and defile others ; " lest there 
 be any revengeful Cain, immodest Ham, profane Esau, 
 or proud Absalom. And let me enforce all duties, and 
 especially relative ones, from the apostle Paul's grand 
 consideration. (Heb. xii. 28-25 :)— That, in visibility and 
 
ON BAPTISM. 51 
 
 covenani-relation, " they are come unto mount Sion, and 
 unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
 and to an innumerable company of angels, to the ireneral 
 asssmbly and church of the first-born, which are written 
 in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to [the same 
 Seneral relation with] the spirits of just men made pcr- 
 ec and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and 
 
 Ln th^ h"! 'l^?'iu^^l"^^^^^^ s^^2.keih better things 
 han the blood of Abel." In a word, may I improle 
 their baptism to promote a conversation becoming the 
 gospel of Christ. ^ 
 
 § 24- {Fourth,) Am I a minister of the gospel ? How 
 should Idread the thought of withholding water from 
 those whom Christ owns as the subjects of His .kingdom • 
 how ready to benefit those who are so capable and suit' 
 able subjects of such a benefit ; with what solemnity 
 discharge this branch of ministerial commission ; with 
 what closeness, plainness, and fidelity, address, on this 
 occasion, the parents of the baptized child; how, in im- 
 proving infant baptism, concur with parents, for the 
 ^toremennoned purposes, in private and public ! 
 
 § 25. First, How should 1 dread the thought of with- 
 holdmg water from those whom Christ owns as the 
 subjects of His kingdom ! Let me remember, that Christ 
 severely rebuked His disciples for their keeping of little 
 children from being brought to Him. Are they not as 
 capable o{ the main end of baptism as the Jewish infants 
 were ot the principal design of circumcision? Do they 
 not answer the scriptural requisition of necessary qualifi- 
 cations, such as are perfectly suitable to the nature and 
 design of Christian baptism? U so, I am not guiltless 
 while I keep out of Christ's fold, as far as in me lies 
 those whom He is wilUng to receive as the lambs of His 
 visible flock.* 
 
 * " Some pious persons professedly declare that they dare not ban- 
 h.^L?./'' .f .T". "" ^.g "atical faith in the parents, and I cannot 
 
 n? r!?n!- ' ^^^^' ?'?^ ^^\'^^ "-""'^ ''' ''' ^ '^'''^^^ ^'•««*^'« «< <*« t^Ht 
 
 Ot retusing It. I should as soon be brought to strip them of their 
 houses or inheritances, devolved upon them from such parents, to take 
 tne bread out of their mouths, as to debar them of this their Atr/A. 
 
 pnvueg'!.* — Mr Thnm.i, JUnli, .« « D..-r.^- <- r»- t:, .. ^. . 
 
 concerning the Practical Use of Infavt Baptism. 
 
 |l 
 
B»J!SS,-it 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 52 
 
 PRACTICAL REPLECTIONl 
 
 ■I' 
 
 § 26. Second, How readp should I be to benefit those 
 who are thus quahfied, by cheerfully obeying the call to 
 b^iptize them! When I receive a child into the visible 
 Church, 1 am not only executing the will and pleasure 
 of Christ, but imitating His tender compassion towards 
 children, whom He ever treated as church-members. 
 What readiness should I discover in gathering the Iambs 
 with my arms, in bringing them to the arms of my 
 Saviour, and their Saviour, who has promised to carry 
 them m His bosom ! Delightful task ! not only " to rear 
 the tender mind, and teach the young idea how to shoot," 
 but also to enter the infant mind into the school of Him 
 who can qualify the youngest child that breathes for 
 heavenly and sublime enjoyments! Pleasing thought! 
 that every time I baptize a child, T am adding to the 
 number of Christ's visible subjects, many of whom, no 
 doubt, are taken to His heavenly kingdom, where alone 
 they can have an opportunity of acknowledging the 
 mercy and faithfulness of their covenant God, and the 
 compassionate care of their Divine Shepherd. And if 
 many of them, growing up, will probably despise their 
 birthright, like profane Esau ; or betray (in a sense) their 
 Lord and Master, like ungrateful Judas; or at least 
 wound Him in the house of His friends by their diso- 
 bedience; yet some, I may cheerfully hope, will be spared, 
 and graciously disposed to speak of the goodness of their 
 heavenly Friend and Lord in the land of the living. 
 
 § 27. Third, Am I as a gospel minister called to bap- 
 tize infants? With what concern and solemnity ought I 
 to discharge this branch of my ministerial commission ! 
 They are no less the purchase of my Saviour's blood than 
 adults. His behaviour, in taking up infants in His arms 
 to bless them, was marked with solemnity and holy 
 reverence, no less than in preaching the gospel, or even 
 raising the dead. They are no less the objects of the 
 Father's everlasting love, or the subjects of His merciful 
 dispensations than adults. The lite and liberty, the 
 misery and happiness, the loss or gain, the privileges 
 and the reverse, of the infant part of mankind, are not 
 
 of 
 
 
 #na la ii?e 
 
 I law ItA VM a 
 
^* 
 
 OV 6APnglI« 
 
 53 
 
 heaven and earth. Why should not the Christian divine, 
 as well as the civil magistrate, the lawyer or the judge, 
 espouse the cause and transact the interesting business of 
 infants with equal concern and solemnity as those of 
 adults ] Where the temporal welfare of a child is con- 
 cerned, men do not say, "It is but the life or death, the 
 property o- privilege of an infani, therefore it is no 
 matter how me business is done." Wherefore let me 
 regard the covenant privileges of infants as truly impor- 
 taut, and their baptismal dedication to God, who conde- 
 scends to be present, sealing to them, His deed of gift a 
 solemn service, ' 
 
 § 2S. Fourth, Am I called to officiate, on such an 
 occasion, as a minister? With what closeness, plainness, 
 and fidelity, should I address the spectators of the ordin- 
 ance in general, old and young, and the parents of the 
 baptized child in particular ! What an opportunity is 
 here afforded me of making a practical use of the scriptural 
 and interesting doctrines of original sin,-— covenant mercy 
 through Christ,--justifying, regenerating, and cleansing 
 grace,— our absolute need of Christ, and the Holy Spirit's 
 mfluence,— the privilege of adoption into the family of 
 the great and gracious God,— every covenant-blessing 
 therein exhibited, and every obligation thence resulting ! 
 What a favorable opportunity of exhorting the parents 
 to bring them up for God, in the nurture and admonition 
 of the Lord,— to pray for them, and devote them to Him 
 constantly, —to provide for thf welfare, not only their 
 temporal but also their eternal welfare, as God, even their 
 God, evidently has provided, by His providence and 
 covenant,— to improve, in behalf of their children, as 
 well as for themselves, those means of grace to which 
 baptism is an instituted and explicit introduction,— to 
 stand prepared to resign them, if soon called for by death, 
 without repining,— to consider themselves as under- 
 leachers in the school of Christ, whose pupils are their 
 own children,— to watch over them and study their pro- 
 ficiency, that they may be qualified betimes for the higher 
 class ot congregational fellowship. 
 
 3f r,^. ^ imtj -cio a KJuikniiixiL mmisier, ret me embrace 
 
54 
 
 PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 
 
 favorable opportunities to concur with the parents of 
 baptized children in improving their baf ♦ jnn, in public 
 and private, And is there not a pressing call to this on 
 account of the great ignorance of many Christian parents 
 respecting the very nature and design, blessings and 
 obligations of this Christian rite '\ I cannot help thinking 
 that were it rightly understood^ few or none would part 
 with it from a conscientious scruple ; or make so little use 
 of it as a moral means of promoting real Christianity. 
 Are not Christian families and societies in as great dan- 
 ger 0^ losing sight of the true end of baptism, as Jewish 
 ones were in regard of circumcision and other external 
 rites? Let me therefore endeavor to inform the judg- 
 ments, and direct the pious efforts of all as I have oppor- 
 tunity, and especially those heads of families with whom 
 I am connected that require most assistance, 
 
 § 30. {Fifth,) As a spectator of infant baptism, let 
 me not mock, lest my bands be made strong, but rather 
 admire the Divine goodtiess towards infants, — cordially 
 assent to the solemn obligations my own (if the subject 
 of it) has laid me under,^ — regard the occasion as a solemn 
 and seasonable memento, — wonder at the conduct of such 
 as tear off the seal fi^m the Divine charter, — consider 
 how blessed those are who partake of the things signified. 
 
 § 31. First, Let me beware of all appearance of irrev- 
 erence, indecency, and much more of mockery. " Now 
 therefore, be ye not mockers," saith the Lord God of 
 hosts, " lest your bands be made strong," ([sa. xxviii. 22.) 
 None but /00/5 can be guilty of such things. Nor is the 
 caution useless, seeing it is foretold that the professors of 
 the last times should be mocLers. (Jude 18.) Such need 
 no other evidence of their being the children of the bond- 
 woman. (See Gen. xxi. 9, 10.) -'Whispering, and 
 laughing, and other irreverences of behaviour, at this 
 ordinance, are a provocation to God, an affront to the 
 institution, a disturbance to others, and a bad sign of a 
 vain and carnal mind."* 
 
 § 32. Second, Let me admire the Divine goodness 
 towards infants. How illustriously do the sovereignty ot 
 
 * Henry's Treatise on Baptism, p. 203. 
 
 
 ! 
 
ON BAPTISM. 
 
 55 
 
 s 
 
 His love, the freeness of His grace thf^ /»// o../r;.: t 
 
 the Redeemer's ri^hteorsness ,y;//l ./ ^^^".^^^'^^^ of 
 
 sis £#5111 
 
 requisitions are more b ntos than aM 2. J. "T 
 world beside. """""ig tnan all the vows m the 
 
 nV^shlnTb ^"^ ^u^ 'P'"*'""'- °f this ordinance 1 
 ^nrhlt ^''^'"^ ^""^h occasion be a solemn and sea 
 
 rte-r srxirx snsi'S 
 
 TL death "C? ^T' '[","," ''"' '"'^' °f =in «P™ng 
 than the sumptuous palace ! " Who is like nnfo ♦? 
 
 ^noSid^tt"^"^ ,"" ^^^' -^° ^^^^ 
 
 the earth f He raiseth nn"?i' "'^^ ^'"^ '" ^'^^*"' ^"^ '» 
 i=.„wv«, «\;5„ luy prmces oi iiis people. He 
 
 '1 )'%>-., 
 
66 
 
 FBACTICAL BXFLECTI0N8 
 
 maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a 
 joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord," (Ps. 
 
 cxiii. 5-9.) 
 
 In beholding that infant, let me be reminded how the 
 kingdom of heaven is to be received. As a free gift 
 bestowed on the undeserving. If ever I be admitted into 
 the kingdom of glory, I must enter first into the kingdom 
 of grace. And as the subject of grace I am passive in 
 the hand of mercy. How just and holy the requisiiions 
 of the Supreme Governor; and yet how beholden to the 
 sovereignty of grace if received to celestial bliss ! Let 
 me not be ignorant or forgetful of this mystery, " lest I 
 be wise in my own conceit." " O the depth of the riches 
 both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How un- 
 searchable are his judgments, and his ways" of mercy 
 " past finding out ! Who hath first given to him, and it 
 shall be recompensed to him again 7 For of him. through * 
 him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for 
 ever. Amen," (Rom. xi. 33-36.) 
 
 § 35. Fifth, How do they mutilate the design of Chris- 
 tianity who tear off the seal from the Divine charter! 
 What! do any begrudge to their children and posterity 
 the external evidences with which Christianity is recom- 
 mended? God condescends to confirm His charter with 
 His seal, as an additional evidence to every subject of His 
 kingdom, that He is and will be true and faithful to His 
 word of promise ; as a perpetual motive and encourage- 
 ment to turn to God and live. Let me, therefore, never, 
 without a Divine injunction, imitate a conduct which 
 mutilates the motives to faith, to repentance, to happiness 
 in a covenant God; as that which denies baptism to 
 children does. Are the following- words, in reference to 
 this conduct, too strong?— "If any should set upon a 
 design to undo all that by commission from Christ in 
 many nations of the world is happily done, there could 
 not, I believe, a more ready way than this be found to 
 eff'ect it, though those that take it in hand are far from 
 any such design in it."* On the contrary, I cannot help 
 
 * Blake's Prefaoe to Pr Ford'i Dialogao. 
 
 
OH BAPTISlt. 
 
 «7 
 
 thinking that the following words of Dr Owen /.nn,.o«, 
 
 r^^^^ . ""''^ard means of conrevins to tha 
 CTr^*"T^" '***' '«"g*°" ^hich was at &ft auchl 
 
 fhl ^r^ ""'° •"*" ^y J^^-^ Christ and His mIs 
 Were hath been none more effpptnnl i»..„ .t,'" "•"?"??> 
 
 uninterrupted observatioTof sufh a .?n**" """ '='^*'""= 
 
 .h? i- • ' ^°7 *^«*<^ a»« 'hose who particioatP nf 
 
 the thmgs signified by this ordinance! They arrborn 
 
 Ch Ut ^tf''' ^5" «'*•="' ^""J purified by the blL of 
 
 ^en^ing'^ftt^'^Shrr %1ie°' '^^^^^^^^ 
 
 no. only^in its extS S'm!nistrT«:n"rrn1ts1„C, 
 
 th^ §^^ i ^ H *«*^««''»e love of the Father grace of 
 the Son and fellowship of the Spirit. To have thp ?,„k, 
 of gospel day, and glorious truths exhibited to view mu« 
 
 1 needs be inest mable privileses • hiu VrT^l /' ™^^' 
 
 S7e n ^^^ =p/ >r h" 
 mindfuTof him ° and tie son' .'?"" ""^S "'°" "" '*«* 
 
 visitesthimJ'^'HowlVrrble Tn" Ih"' n''°" '^"" 
 THE Holy Ghost i Oh .hAr' "f "' '^e Baptism op 
 
 happy subjet°o7u, a^cco'rt^ t^e'^.S '-fe"^! 
 
 brreKKesX' ifth: ^r(- — «" 
 
 answered in me (Eph !ii Ifii/g ^ ^P°^'°''« Player bi 
 grant me," and all His ch Hrpn <■ .'2 J^^' "^e would 
 of his glory, to b^'s^fngth td VirSK t ^^^ 
 
 -2n:r;:[/rteAe^S^^:^ 
 
 * ExeroitationB on the Sabbath • PrafAoa rpj:«T ,- u «i3 
 0' »«P. Of £p. to the H.h •: Qfl? 'Z''*^*''' [Bdwr irgh Ed., vol iL 
 
 -if 
 
 . .1 
 
68 
 
 IDDSNDA* 
 
 lli 
 
 iiria— "may it kWe tb comprehend with all saints what 
 is the breadth, and length, and depth and height ; and to 
 know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that 
 I might be FILLED with all the fulness of God." Amen, 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 B»ptism obliges parents to frequently renew the dedication of their 
 child to God. To begin early to pray with the child. To early teach 
 it the nature and meaning of baptism, and its obligations to God. To 
 always bear in mind its consecration and their covenant vows when 
 diciding questions of duty in governing or advising the child. And 
 what is implied on the part of a covenant-keeping God m this ordin- 
 ance cannot, perhaps, be better expressed than in the words of the 
 celebrated Shepherd of Cambridge to his son: God gave thee the 
 ordinance of baptism, whereby God is become thy God, and is before 
 hand with thee, so that if thou wilt return to God, he will undoubtedly 
 receive thee.—Dimmick on Baptism^ p. 266. 
 
 Matthew Henry says his father drew up a short form of the baptis- 
 mal covenant for the use of his children. It was this : 
 
 « I take God the Father to be my chiefest good and highest end. 
 
 * I take God the Son to be my Prince and Saviour. 
 
 • I take God the Holy Ghost to be my Sanctifier, Teacher, Guide, 
 
 and Comforter. i. i„ „«i* 
 
 « I do likewise devote and dedicate unto the Lord, my whole self, 
 
 all I am, all I have, all I can do. , ^ ^ 
 
 ' And this I do deliberately, sincerely, freely, and for ever. 
 
 This he taught his children; and they each of them solemnly 
 repeated it every Lord's day in the evening after they were catechised, 
 he putting his Ar..en to it ; and sometimes adding, ' So say, and so do, 
 And you are made for ever.' . . jj. j 
 
 He also took great pains with them to lead them into «he under- 
 Btandineof it, and to persuade them to a/rcc and cheerful consent to it. 
 
 He was careful to bring his children betimes, (when they were 
 about sixteen years of age,) to the ordinance of the Lord s Supper to 
 take the covenant of God upon themselves, and to make their dedica- 
 tion to God their own act and deed ; and a great deal of pams he tooK 
 with them to prepare them for that great ordinance, and so to trans- 
 late them into the state of arfM« church membership. , , , , 
 
 In dealing with his children about their spiritual state, he took 
 hold of them very much by the handle of their in/anf baptism, ana rre- 
 quendy inculcated upon them that they were ^^^^ }"/^°f.^^^°^f*' 
 ilnd were betimes dedicated and given up to Him, and therefore were 
 
 .vi:_^j *., K« i.;a »orvftnt« Psalm oxvi: 16. I am thy servant, 
 
 becauVe the aon oif thine handmaid."— Li/e of Philip Henry. 
 
ADDBTDA. 
 
 » 
 
 naft^rralfwitHbS^^^^^^ »>»<l«e of the cove- 
 
 bolliiily wpressinJ^ the '^ ""f' peculiarly fitted for sym- 
 
 to do with higher poweri and ohi!If«^r T^^*" received it, as having 
 •8 the eondition of Tne brouirhMnf. k?"" ^'i"'" °*' ^^'''"P^ "^^u", 
 
 •nd therefore called to wairbe&HLl^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ 
 
 be no difficulty in perTdyinTthi«^« ^e perfect. There would 
 opinion unon the subjSTftSni^'' nor any ^at^^i^l difference of 
 f^oe, and in the L„TBp^iu^'.°?i: :^"i,^'^Sl<>°k beneath the sur- 
 plate the outward as an imac nf^hf • ""^^^I^"' ^^'"^^ contem- 
 of the corenant wasf that from 111^1^^'^- ^^' «'^«^*^ P^^P^^t 
 seed of blessing, in which aTi^ll^!-^*'* ™ ^^ ^« generated a 
 which it was tc flow to the ends of *hi''?^^ ''I' *° "«^*^«' ^«d from 
 WM to be reached, not as the resu^^^^^^^^ .^° '.^'^ that this end 
 
 ness, but of naturi purged or ««.zlL **"''® ' "^^^^'^^^^ productive- 
 
 ;>re« or Hi, charJurand^rk\nfi^^^^ 7!' t' distinctive iml 
 BymboHcal rite. It said to ^I^!^' ■ ?®^®^ ^^ *^e covenant this 
 for his bridegriom to whom he 1^"^''^ "^"^' '^"' ^^ ^^^ J^^^-'^h 
 blood, and that he mu^t n^ W^ J^^,^^"^^ espoused, as it were, by 
 impulse of nature, bu^live in ^!!n f^""^ *^l unregulated will and 
 
 circutcLTon^,\?rse7;^ ^^^i ^^ Abraham received 
 
 -Rom. iv., 11 , Tdivine tokli^fn r'""''' '^*^^ ^*^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ had, 
 through faiJh to'such fXwship with Vn7 "'f '^t'l^^ ^"^ ^^^^^^^^ 
 -and a token for everrcMld^fw\ ^'/'l? righteousness in him 
 indeed that he actuaHrposae sef ^L w'^^^^l^ "^«^^^« ^^' ^^^ 
 
 possess it, and had a rieht !o tL^!- -r*' ^'''l^** ^« ^»« ''^lled to 
 enable hii to attain th^pogsess^n^Mf/ ''^^ ^^'^ ^^^'^ ^'8^^ 
 say in another placVRorfi T^o %"' ^-^"^^ ,^^«^/°«« ^^^ '^Postle 
 outwardly, (i.e.. not a Jew in ^ifr"- L ^® '^ ''^^ * ^«^ ^"^0^^ is one 
 would recVni^e :n1 o^n"^ LV^^^Tlf^ll^^^^^^^ -« -, «od 
 
 impression in the flesh wa«--^M'^'' covenant, the outward 
 
 the^xpressioVometorrerpo^S n^^^^^^^^^^ (- -j^ -" 
 
 t^s^^^t^^eTy^^^^^^^^^^^ ofTod" E 
 
 proc' oing tro, euS. "^^f -J * »«ture should meet together in 
 
 represout!ti„™l.he^*°'e „„ * f"" ', "' ^'''"''«- ''"' "» ""'""l 
 symbolized Md »oii.h?lr?ifT ^*'}"' P"'""' embodiment of all it 
 .nd the huranTefftorthe «™. /r'^''"''' '" '"om the divine 
 
 irnVrr trktheHhT r-v'"-'^.'.''''™''"'' '""*««'«'»• 'ie egress 
 
 '—""6 vAaiwifceu in ine covenant, and was 
 
 . 
 
60 
 
 ADDSKDA. 
 
 qualified to be in the largest itense, the leed corn of a haryeii of bleu- 
 ing for the whole field of humanity. 
 
 The relation between circumcision and baptism is not properly that 
 of type and antitype ; the one is a symbolical ordinance as well m the 
 other, and both alike have an outward form and an inward reality. 
 It is preci$ely in such ordinancei that the Old and the Mw di$p§n4u-- 
 tions approach nearest to each other ^ and, we might almost say, ttand 
 formally upon the tame level. The difference docs not so much lie in 
 the ordinances themselves, as in the comparative amount of grace and 
 truth exhibited in them — necessarily less in the earlier, and more in 
 the later. Looking to substance, there is an essential agreement- 
 such as is, indeed, marked by the apostle, when with reference to the 
 spiritual import of baptism, he calls it *<the circumcision of Christ," 
 Gol. ii., 11. So far from being less indicative of a change of nature 
 in the proper subjects of it, circumcision was even more so ; in a mor* 
 obviout and palpable manner it bespoke the necessity of a deliveranoe 
 from the native corruption of the soul in those'who should become the 
 true possessors of blessing. Hence the apostle makes use of the 
 earlier rite to explain the later, and describes the spiritual change 
 indicated and required by it, (the later or baptism) as **a put- 
 ting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of 
 Christ," and '* having the uncircumcision of the fiesh quickened 
 together with Christ." It would have been travelling entirely in the 
 wrong direction, to use such language for purposes of explanation in 
 christian times — if the ordinance of circumcision had not shadowed 
 forth this spiritual quickening and purification even more palpably 
 and impressively than baptism itself — and shadowed it forth, not 
 prospectively merely for future times, but immediately and personally 
 for the members of the Old Covenant. For, by the terms of the cove- 
 nant, these were ordained to be, not types of blessing only, but also 
 partakers of blessingy The good contemplated in the covenant was 
 to have its present commencement in their experience. And the out- 
 ward putting away of the filth of the flesh in circumcision could never 
 have symbolized a corresponding inward purification for the members 
 of the New Covenant, if it had not first done this for the members of 
 the Old. The shadow must have a substance in the '>ne case as well 
 as in the other, — Topology by Dr. Fairbairv^ Free Church Colleget 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Erratum. — On page 23, and in the 9th line of ^ 10, for — «' as soon 
 as it oame into existence," read — as soon as I oame into existenot. 
 
 THE £NP. 
 
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