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 I THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | 
 Princeton, N. J. 9z 
 
 «^ 
 
 J Bequeathed by the Hon. E. BOUDINOT, LL.D. 
 
 I cusi', Divicio.. ...; ,j; 
 
 Soc. 
 
? 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THJS 
 NATURE, THE PROPER SUBJECTS, AND THE BENEFITS 
 
 OF BAPTISM, 
 
 BRIEF APPENDIX, 
 
 MODE OF ADMINISTERING THE ORDINANCE. 
 
 By the Rev. SAMUEL STANHOPe'^SMITH, D. D. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF TME COLLEGE OF NEW-JERSEY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 •UBLISHED BY B. B. HOPKINS, AND CO. NO. 170, MARKET STREET. 
 FRY AND KAMMERER, PRINTERS. 
 
 1808. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 Perhaps there is no institution of the gospel, on 
 which more vague and indefinite ideas are entertained 
 by a large portion of christians, than that of baptism. 
 I have undertaken to state a few principles on this- 
 subject, which I hope will be found clear and satisfac 
 tory. They will probably be thought to place the na- 
 ture and benefits of this ordinance in a light some- 
 what different from that in which they have been com- 
 monly contemplated, and I trust more obvious and 
 plain to the apprehension of common christians. In 
 the short compass of a sermon, the illustration of 
 each principle could not be dilated to a great ex- 
 tent. If they are perspicuously expressed, and sup- 
 ported by reason and scripture, every necessary and 
 useful consequence will easily suggest itself to the 
 judicious reader. And I can, with pleasure, refer him 
 to a discourse of the Rev. Robert Finley* on the same 
 subject, for a more ample elucidation of several 
 points, from the analogy which subsists between the 
 Mosaic and the Christian dispensations. Every per- 
 son, I trust, will easily believe that I could not have 
 been induced to give this discourse to the public 
 
 * Just published by B. B. Hopkins, & Co. 
 
through any ambition of reputation as a writer. If this 
 had been my motive, I should have chosen a very 
 different subject. I aim simply to be useful, and to 
 gratify the desire of some worthy persons, who heard 
 it delivered. Happy if I shall be able to assist any se- 
 rious mind in forming juster conceptions of this im- 
 portant institution. 
 
 SAMUEL S. SMITH. 
 
DISCOURSE, &c. 
 
 " What profit is there of circumcision ? Much every way ; chiefly, 
 because that to them were committed the oracles of God." 
 Romans, iii. 1,2. 
 
 THE rites and symbols instituted by Christ in his 
 church, are, on account of their simplicity, apt to 
 appear to the men of the world unworthy the majesty 
 of God. But, to a true believer, occupied with the 
 sublime and spiritual ideas which they represent, they 
 carry to the heart the most affecting impressions of liis 
 condescension and grace. This is especially true of 
 that simple baptismal washing which our blessed Sa- 
 viour has been pleased to introduce as the seal of the 
 new dispensation of his grace, instead of the blood}" 
 and painful rite, by which his ancient covenant with 
 Abraham, and with Israel was confirmed. What can 
 be more simple? Yet, when God condescends to em- 
 ploy it as a symbol of his mercy, and a vehicle to us 
 of the most important truths, it acquires, in the esteem 
 of the believer, an unspeakable grandeur and impor- 
 tance. And if we can enter rightly into the spirit and 
 design of this institution, we shall perceive it to be 
 fraught with manifold blessings to the church- 
 
The particular objection to the usefuhiess and ne- 
 cessity of circumcision, the type of baptism, which 
 the apostle answers in the text, arose out of the strain 
 of his previous reasoning, in which he had proved, that, 
 to the gentile who did not enjoy the light and the bles- 
 sings of that revelation made to Israel by Moses and 
 the prophets, the law of nature, written on the hearts 
 of all men, was not only the rule of his duty, but the 
 law by which he should, at last, be judged by God. * Of 
 the Jew a more perfect obedience would be required, 
 in proportion to the clearer light which he enjoyed ; and 
 on his transgressions a more rigorous judgment would 
 be passed. If this consequence results from the apos- 
 tle's argument, an objector is supposed naturally to 
 inquire; what then is the benefit of circumcision? and 
 what advantage does the Jew, notwithstanding his 
 boasted relation to God, enjoy above the uninstructed 
 gentile? To which inquiries the text gives this satis- 
 factory answer: Much everyway; chiefly, because that 
 to this circumcised nation were committed the oracles 
 of God. By it the Jew is initiated into a church which 
 enjoys a clearer and more certain law of duty; more 
 powerful motives to holiness, and more abundant 
 means of salvation ; in which are deposited the oracles 
 of God, with all their precious hopes and promises. It, 
 is the seal of those promises, the confirmation of those 
 hopes. 
 
 * Romans, chap. xi. 14, 15, 26, 27. May not the gentile who 
 fulfils the righteousness of the law as far as his light and under- 
 standing reaches, be saved, like many of the ancient saints, by a 
 Saviour whom he has not known. 
 
My design in this discourse is to assume the same 
 ground taken by the apostle, and thence to ilhistrate 
 the use and benefits of baptism, which is our chris- 
 tian circumcision, the seal of the righteousness which is 
 by faith ^ under the new dispensation of the covenant 
 of grace. But, for this purpose, it is necessary, in the 
 first place, to examine into the true nature and design 
 of the ordinance, and to point out its proper subjects, 
 that, from a just consideration of both, we may finally 
 deduce its benefits and blessings. 
 
 That w^e may have a clearer view of the nature of 
 baptism and the importance of the ordinance, we must 
 go back to the origin of its type in the ancient church. 
 
 When religious truth was likely to perish from the 
 world, which, in a few ages after the deluge, was over- 
 whelmed in idolatry, and sunk in extreme dissolution 
 of manners, it pleased God, out of the midst of the ge- 
 neral darkness and corruption, to select a church in 
 which he might preserve the knowledge of his name^ 
 and might deposit his holy oracles, and the future 
 hopes of the universe. This church consisted, in the 
 beginning, of the single family of Abraham, with whom 
 he entered into a gracious covenant, accepting, as his 
 title to eternal life, the righteousness of faith* in the 
 future Saviour of the world, who was to spring from 
 his own loins; engaging that he would be a God to 
 him and to his seed after him; and promising that, 
 
 * This is fairly inferred from the expression of the apostle, 
 who styles the seal of the Abrahaniic covenant, the seal of the 
 righteousness ivhich is bu faith. 
 
8 
 
 finally, in him all the families of the earth should be 
 blessed, by the advent of the Messiah. That this grace 
 might be rendered the more sure, and that the faith of 
 this chosen friend of heaven might have the firmer 
 ground on which to rest, he added to his promise, his 
 sacramental seal or oath, that by two immutable things 
 in which it zvas impossible for God to lie, Abraham, and 
 all who follow the faith of Abraham, might have strong 
 consolation who have fed for refuge to lay hold of the 
 hope set before them. For, saith the Apostle, Abraham 
 received circumcision a seal of the righteousness, that 
 is, of the justification and acceptance with God, W«c/z 
 is by faith. This covenant, with all its appendages of 
 rites and forms, of types and symbols, of prophets and 
 priests, of altars and victims, with all its doctrines, its 
 precepts, and promises, was placed in the keeping of 
 the church for its consolation, for its instruction in 
 righteousness, and for the quickening and direction in 
 the divine life of all true believers. 
 
 What profit was there, then, of circumcision? It 
 was the seal which God was pleased to annex to the 
 covenant of his mercy, by which he confirmed to the 
 church the great charter of her spiritual privileges, and 
 which, being impressed on every Israelite, continually 
 reminded him of his obligations, continually recalled 
 him to his duty, continually assured him of the gra- 
 cious protection of God, continually placed before him 
 his immortal hopes, and designated him as a member 
 of that chosen community to whose pious custody were 
 committed the oracles of God, those precious trea- 
 sxures of divine truth. While other nations were left to 
 
the obscure teachings of nature, and the errors of a de- 
 praved reason, this sealed nation were made the depo- 
 sitaries of clearer lights, and the heirs of sublimer 
 hopes. The emblems which were engitiven, if I may 
 speak so, on th?^t seal by which these inestimable bles- 
 sings were confirmed to the ancient church, I mean 
 the blood of circumcision, corresponding to the water 
 of baptism, pointed to that purity of heart which is the 
 end of all true religion, and to that precious blood 
 which is at once the purchase of our salvation, and the 
 fountain in which all our sins are cleansed. Such was 
 the benefit of the ancient rite to the church founded in 
 Abraham, and afterwards embracing all the posterity 
 of Israel ; to them were committed the oracles of God 
 with all their lights, their hopes, their graces, their 
 means of holiness, and of eternal life. 
 
 These brief expositions will afford some principles, 
 by which to explain the nature and the benefits of that 
 baptismal rite , which Christ has substituted in the room 
 of the Abrahamicand Mosaic symbol of the covenant. 
 Baptism is our christian circumcision; the seal of a 
 more pure and luminous dispensation of the covenant 
 than that either of Moses or of Abraham. And it is 
 with the view of proposing, as fai^ as I am able, some 
 precise an^. definite ideas on the initiating institution 
 of the christian church that I have chosen the present 
 subject, and made these prefatory observations on the 
 corresponding rite of the ancient dispensation. 
 
 A subject it is in which all christians have a deep 
 interest, inasmuch as it lies at the foundation both of 
 B 
 
10 
 
 the spiritual privileg-es of the church, and of its exter- 
 nal fabric of rites and ordinances. It is of importance 
 to give clearness and precision, if possible, to those 
 vague notions, and to correct those erroneous preju- 
 dices, on the subject of baptism, entertained by so 
 many of the professors of the gospel, which degrade 
 the ordinance, and impair its spiritual benefits. Many 
 unhappily regard it merely as a pious custom rendered 
 venerable by time, and public opinion, which it would 
 be reproachful to neglect, but which it would be, 
 otherwise, of little consequence to observe. Others 
 conceive of it chiefly as a religious charm, to which is 
 attached some mysterious influence, they know not 
 what, on the happiness of the infant : neither the one 
 nor the other comprehending its true nature, nor feel- 
 ing the proper force of its obligations. 
 
 To baptism, therefore, let me apply the inquiry of 
 the apostle; TFhat profit is there in this holy rite? And 
 answer with him; Much every way; chiejiy^ because 
 that to us are committed the oracles of God; the lights 
 of his blessed word, the consolations, the promises, 
 the blessings of tlie new covenant, under the sacred 
 confirmation of his sacramental seal.* 
 
 * This does not imply that every person who is baptized, and 
 is externally a member of the visible church, which*^ias the cus- 
 tody of the oracles of God, is spiritually a partaker of the bles- 
 sings and consolations of the new covenant; but he is thereby- 
 made a member of that body in which is deposited the covenant 
 with its precious promises, comforts, and supports, that they may 
 be freely proposed to all within its pale, to invite and encourage 
 their faith, to instruct and establish them in righteousness, and pre- 
 pare them for eternal life. 
 
11 
 
 But that we may give as much perspicuity as possi- 
 ble to these ideas, it will be necessary to go into some 
 derails with respect to the nature, and the proper sub- 
 jects of this holy ordinance; because, with these its 
 benefits are intimately connected; and from them, its 
 duties and obligations necessarily result. 
 
 1. The nature and design of baptism may be ren- 
 dered obvious to the capacity of CAcry hearer, from 
 two sources of illustration , one is the use and appli- 
 cation of a similar rite, which was frequent in the an- 
 cient Jewish nation, whence probably it was transfer- 
 red into the christian church; the other is the deno- 
 mination, borrowed from the Abrahamic dispensation 
 of the covenant, which, from the ver}^ first ages, it has 
 received among christians, of a seal of the covenant 
 of grace. 
 
 Many of the great and distinguished teachers and 
 founders of sects among the Jews, applied baptism as 
 a rite of initiation mto their respective schools. It was 
 a symbol of discipleship, and regarded as an emblem 
 of that purity of mind, and that virtuous simplicity of 
 manners, Avhich result from the love of truth, and are 
 expected in all those who are engaged in the pursuit of 
 wdsdom.* Such was, probably, the meaningof the bap- 
 tism of'John, the illustrious forerunner of the Messiah. 
 
 * The same rite of initiation into theii' schools, and with the 
 same meaning, was frequently used by the philosophers of Greece, 
 as well as by the Magians, Bramins, and Gymnosophists of the 
 eastern nations, from whom the Greeks borrowed it. 
 
12 
 
 He taiigiit a new and more rigorous discipline of re- 
 pentance than was known to the Jews of that age ; and 
 the disciples who followed him, admiring the sanctity 
 of his doctrine, and the abstemious purity of his man- 
 ners, he initiated by baptism,* preparing them in this 
 manner, for that still more pure and self-denying, and 
 perfect discipline which was shortly to be introduced 
 by the Saviour of the world. 
 
 It was, besides, required by the customs of that na- 
 tion that all proselytes from among the gentiles should 
 be initiated into the church of Israel, and make their 
 profession of the doctrines of Moses, and the prophets 
 by baptism. t 
 
 * This fact serves to explain a passage in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, \t'hich has created no small difficulty to many interpre- 
 ters. Paul, meeting with certain disciples in Asia, who were very 
 imperfectly instructed in the principles of the gospel, demanded 
 of them, zinto what they had been bajitized? that is, to what sys- 
 tem of doctrines. They answered, unto John's bafitism. They were 
 disciples of John, and had embraced only the doctrines of repen- 
 tance which he had taught. But when the apostle unfolded to 
 them more clearly the true evangelical doctrine, the elements 
 only of which had been preached by John, they were then bap- 
 tized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 This custom serves also to explain the meaning of St. Paul, 
 >vhen he thanks God, 1 Cor. i. 14, that he had baptized none of 
 them but Cris}ius and Gaius, &c. lest any- should say he had bapti- 
 zed in his own name, and Avas thereby setting himself at the head 
 of a new sect. 
 
 t Maimonidcs says, " In all ages, whensoever any gentile was 
 willing to enter into covenant, and to be gathered under the wings 
 of the Shechinah, and to undertake the yoke of the law, he was 
 bound to have circumcision and baptism, and a peace-offering, or 
 
 / 
 
13 
 
 The ordinance of baptism, therefore, considered 
 simply in the view which has been just presented to 
 you, contains a pledge of our discipleship, a public 
 avowal of Christ as our great master and teacher, an 
 explicit profession of our faith in the doctrines taught 
 by his Spirit in those holy oracles committed to the 
 custody of his church for its illumination and sanc- 
 tification. 
 
 Although a man, at the age of reason, may justly 
 make this profession for himself, you ask, perhaps, if 
 a parent can rightfully make it in the name of his in- 
 fant, so that, when that infant shall have arrived at 
 maturity, it shall be considered in law as his act? 
 Whatever diflerences of opinion may exist with re- 
 gard to this question, according to the various lights 
 in which the subject of it may be viewed,* all will 
 
 as the Gemara calls it, the sprinkling of blood: and if it were a 
 woman, baptism and sacrifice." 
 
 Many great ci-itics and antiquarians have maintained that there 
 were two grades of proselytes from among the gentiles, firoselytes 
 ofrighteousjiess^ whom Maimonides characterizes by " being wil- 
 ling to be gathered under the wings of the Shechinah^ and to un- 
 dertake the yoke of the law ; who were, therefore, incorporated 
 into the nation of Israel by the rites which he mentions; and 
 proselytes of the gate, who did not submit to all the onerous ritual 
 of Moses, but believing the divinity and excellence of his scrip- 
 tures with those of the prophets, were received only to certain 
 privileges of the chosen people by baptism and sacrifice. 
 
 * Upon this subject, one would think that there could not rea- 
 sonably exist any diversity of opinion. It seems to be a manifest/ 
 principle that a parent has a right to enter into contract, or to make 
 any engagement in the name of his cbild,/or his bencft, which il 
 
14 
 
 agree in the following principle, that it is both the 
 right and the duty of a parent to place his beloved off- 
 spring under the best means to enlighten and culti- 
 vate their minds, to form their hearts, to regulate 
 their lives, and to prepare them, if possible, for the 
 highest happiness both in this world, and the world to 
 come : in one word, to initiate them in the school of 
 Christ. This school is the church: these means of 
 education are the ordinances, the instructions, the dis- 
 cipline, the watchful care, the prayers of the church. 
 And it is one, and not the least of the spiritual bles- 
 sings resulting from baptism in infancy, that, thereby, 
 parents, in addition to the tender constraints of natu- 
 ral duty, impose upon themseh'cs the most solemn 
 voluntary obligations to train up their children in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord; and that children 
 enjoy still further advantages by being placed under 
 the immediate and special care of that holy commu- 
 nity to whom are committed the oracles of God. 
 
 But there is another and more interesting light in 
 which this ordinance is to be viewed; it is the seal by 
 which God has condescended visibly to confirm to the 
 church the blessings of that new covenant which he 
 has graciously established in Christ for the redemp- 
 tion of the world. This was the import of the corre- 
 spondent rite of the church of Israel. God gave to 
 
 is the privilege of the child, when he arrives at mature age to ac- 
 cept, although he is at liberty also, to his own detriment, to reject 
 it, and which, if it involves his duty, as well as his interest, as in 
 the present case, he is under sacred obligations to fulfil. Such en- 
 gagement is not imposing on our posterity a burden, but gaining 
 for ihcm a benefit. 
 
15 
 
 Abraham cit'cimicisiofi, a seal of the righteousness which 
 is by faith.* And this is one of the principal denomi- 
 nations by which baptism has been designated in the 
 christian church from the earliest ag-es. But here it is 
 necessary to remark, and correct an error upon this 
 subject, which has unhappily disturbed the ideas of 
 many good and excellent men. Baptism has been re- 
 garded by them as the seal exclusively of the believing 
 parent given both in his own name, and in that of his 
 child, as its natural proxy, testifying, on his part, his 
 entire acquiescence in the conditions of the covenant, 
 and, by the same act, laying the child under an obli- 
 gation of acquiescing in them, and fulfilling them, as 
 soon as it shall attain the age of reason. And, un- 
 doubtedly, the act of the parent in offering his child 
 to receive the seal of baptism, is, on his part, a formal 
 acknowledgment of the covenant and profession of 
 faith in its gracious promises. It is likewise admitted, 
 and has been before asserted, that a parent possesses 
 from nature, and from religion, a right to enter into 
 
 * A seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had^ being un- 
 circumcised. This expression cannot reasonably be supposed to 
 mean, as has been asserted by some writers, merely a declaration 
 of the sincerity of Abi-aham's faith. For this seal was administered 
 to the offspring of Abraham at an age at which no such declaration 
 could be expected from them. Besides, the apostle, in the place,, 
 is speaking of circumcision, not merely as a sign given to Abra- 
 ham in particular, but as an ordinance of the church. In this ge- 
 neral view it was designed as a seal of the righteousness of faith ; 
 that is, of that gracious covenant which has substituted the righ- 
 teousness which comes dij faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, as the 
 condition of our acceptance with God, in the room ol perfect obe- 
 dience required by the first covenant, and which has now become 
 impracticable to the frailty and corruption of human nature. 
 
16 
 
 any covenant in the name of his child, when the ob 
 jects of that covenant are only blessings and privileges; 
 and especially when its conditions or terms are ante- 
 cedent duties. 
 
 But, notwithstanding these palpable truths, baptism, 
 in the just and scriptural view of it, is to be consider- 
 ed principally as that outward and visible seal which 
 God has been pleased to annex to his own promise; 
 a promise M'hich he has graciously given to the church 
 under the form of a covenant-engagement^ by this seal, 
 ratifying and confirming to her, and to all who are 
 taken into her care, and protection, the propositions 
 of his mercy and grace through Jesus Christ. Abra- 
 ham did not give to God the seal of circumcision as a 
 pledge of his duty and obedience, but the scripture 
 declares, he received it from God, in order to confirm 
 that gracious covenant or promise^ which he had just 
 made to the father of the faithful ; / will he a God to 
 you and to your seed after you.^ 
 
 * If we refer to the whole stram of the history in the 17th 
 chapter of Genesis which records this transaction of God with 
 Abraham, this interpretation will be confirmed. It was a covenant 
 entirely of the gratuitous kind on the part of God, engaging by an 
 expression of the most comprehensive meaning, " I will be a God 
 to you," See. to bestow the most ample spiritual blessings on his 
 chosen servant, and on his posterity. In every covenant of this 
 nature, the forms of ratification are used only by him, and are in- 
 tended to oblige only him who bestows the favour. The benefi- 
 ciary simply leceives the promise or charter, which, when con- 
 firmed by the requisite legal fornis, and ratified by the seal of the 
 benefactor, becomes his title of iriherhance or possession, on the 
 performance of whatever condition it contains. 
 
 It was not an nufrequent thing for God thus to confirm his 
 promises and covenants to patriarchs and holy men in the scrip- 
 
17 
 
 Do you ask if it is not doing dishonour to the 
 faithfulness of Jehovah, to suppose that his promise 
 requires to be confirmed by symbols and sacraments, 
 by oaths and seals ? Is not his word alone the firm and 
 immutable foundation of every believer's trust and 
 hope ? It is true, the veracity of God needs no sup- 
 port from outward forms ; and it is not for his sake, 
 but for ours, that he is sometimes pleased to employ 
 them, in order to give the deeper impression to divine 
 truth upon the heart. Frail as we are, and receiving 
 all our impressions through the medium of the senses, 
 ideas^ merely intellectual, neither are so clearly con- 
 ceived, nor take such firm possession of the soul, as 
 when they are embodied, if I may speak so, and con- 
 veyed to us under sensible images. It is not therefore 
 unworthy of the glory and the wisdom of God: on 
 the other hand, it is a proof of his infinite benignity 
 and condescension, to confirm to us the everlasting 
 truth of his word by such impressive and external 
 symbols, as will unite the influence of sense with that of 
 intellect and faith, in giving the doctrines of his grace 
 their full effect upon the mind. Hence God has been 
 pleased to exhibit the promises of his mercy to man- 
 
 tures, by some external sign, or token. His promise to Noah he 
 confirmed by his bow in the clouds. To Gideon he gave a sign or 
 seal of his commission to be the leader and deliverer of Israel, by 
 consuming his sacrifice upon the rock. To Abraham he gave the 
 sign of circumcision ; and on another occasion, he sent a burning 
 lamp to pass between the parts of his sacrifice. To Hezekiah the 
 sign of the shadow returning back upon the dial was added to 
 the promise of his recovery. And to the house of David, and of 
 Israel, he gave, by the prophet Isaiah, this mysterious sign, a 
 xdr^in shall conceive and bear a s07i. 
 
18 
 
 kind through Jesus Christ, under the gracious title of 
 a covenant; and, after the manner of such conventions 
 among men, and in order more perfectly to adapt 
 himself to that susceptibility of sensible impressions 
 which belongs to our nature, he has condescended to 
 confirm his truth in that covenant by publicly and 
 visibly annexing to it his own seal. Let me illustrate 
 this idea by an analogy borroAved from civil transac- 
 tions. As charters, conveying special privileges to 
 corporations, or to individuals, are sealed and authen- 
 ticated by public officers duly appointed and com- 
 missioned for that purpose by the sovereign power; 
 in like manner is this precious charter of our spiritual 
 and immortal privileges confirmed to us by the seal 
 of the Great Head of the church, affixed to it in the 
 name of God, by ministers solemnly set apart for 
 this end, according to the order which he has estab- 
 lished in his spiritual kingdom, so that whatever is 
 rightfully performed by them may be justly said to 
 be done by him. Baptism, tlien, is the seal of God 
 applied to his own covenant, thereby confirming to 
 those to whom it is administered the propositions of 
 his mercy through Jesus Christ; thereby visibly tes- 
 tifying, that they are taken from under the curse of 
 the original and broken covenant, which admitted 
 only of perfect obedience, and condemned the trans- 
 gressor to eternal death, and placed under a new dis- 
 pensation of grace, which confers forgiveness on re- 
 pentance, and salvation on the obedience of faith. 
 
 And, as every public seal contains emblems ex- 
 pressive of the nature, and security of the blessings 
 it confers, we see, in like manner, this christian seal 
 
19 
 
 distinguished by emblems, die most simple indeed, 
 but the most expressive and august. We see in it the 
 symbol of that precious blood wliich \vas shed for our 
 redemption; we see in it the symbol of the Holy 
 Spirit, by whose gracious influences the principles of 
 a divine life are infused into the soul, and cherished 
 to perfection ; and finally, we see in it the symbol of 
 that heavenly purity, which should adorn and distin- 
 guish the disciples of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Thus have I presented to you this ordinance in its 
 double signification: as the rite, by which we are 
 initiated into the school of Christ; and as the seal, by 
 which God continually repeats, and confirms the gra- 
 cious propositions and promises of his covenant to 
 the seed of the church. 
 
 2. What profit is there, then, in being baptised? 
 What are the benefits of baptism? This question I 
 might proceed immediately to resolve, but that it is 
 necessary, in the first place, to ascertain the proper 
 subjects of this holy ordinance. For, on the right of 
 our children to receive the seal of the covenant 
 depends, in my view, its principal advantages. This 
 right, then, is demonstrated from analogy; from scrip- 
 ture example ; and from the whole stream of the his- 
 tory of the primitive church. 
 
 In the first place, from analogy. If the father of the 
 faithful received from God the seal of the righteous- 
 ness -which is by faith; that is, of the covenant of grace, 
 in which that faith, which unites us to Christ, and is 
 the principle of a holy life, is accepted instead of the 
 
20 
 
 perfect righteousness of the law; and if he was per- 
 mitted, as a precious privilege, to impress it on all 
 his offspring; does not this right hold, with still 
 stronger reason, to believing parents, under the dis- 
 pensation of the gospel? Is it not confessed, that the 
 coming of the Messiah, far from having abridged, has 
 greatly extended the privileges of the faithful. 
 
 Let us hear the clear and strong language of St. 
 Paul. The promise^^ saith the apostle, was not to 
 Abraham, or his seed through the law, but through the 
 righteousness of faith. And it is of faith that it might 
 be by grace, (that is, of free favour without any meri- 
 torious works) to the end that the promise might be sure 
 to all the seed, not to that only which is of the laWy (or 
 his natural posterity, composing the Jewish church,) 
 but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, \ the 
 believing gentiles who should be called to a partici- 
 pation of his privileges. What, then, is that promise 
 made sure by the seal of the covenant to all the seed, 
 both under the law and under the gospel? Let us 
 look back to the institution of this covenant with 
 Abraham, and of the holy seal by which it was con- 
 firmed, and there we find the promise, / will be a God 
 to thee, and to thy seed after thee.\ This is what was 
 
 * That he should be heir of the ivorld, meaning, perhaps, that 
 his blessing, which consisted in obtaining salvation through the 
 righteousness of faith, according to the tenor of the covenant of 
 grace, and not by the works of the law, and the blessing of 
 having God for his God, and the God of his seed after him, should 
 hereafter be extended to the whole gentile world. 
 
 t Rom. ch. iv. V. 13,16. 
 
 \ Gen. xvii. 7. This promise evidently comprehends the 
 blessings of the covenant of grace. For although some writers 
 
21 
 
 emphatically called the promise by the ancient Jewish 
 writers; and is frequently referred to, likewise, under 
 the same title, in the writings of the apostles. And, 
 when thus referred to, the sacred writers manifestly 
 intend the peculiar promise of the gospel, which is the 
 promise of salvation by Christ through the righteous- 
 ness of faith, and comprehends all that is implied in 
 the covenant of grace. Of this no other proof need 
 be adduced than its being so often put by them in con- 
 trast with the law.* The seal of this promise therefore, 
 was the precious privilege of the seed of Abraliam; 
 
 have pretended to limit it to the possession of the land of Canaan, 
 and the particular and gracious providence exercised over the 
 nation of Israel, it surely cannot have that meaning vi^hen applied 
 to his spiritual seed among the gentiles, or that ivhich is of the 
 faith of Abraham^ of which the apostle was just speaking. 
 
 * See pai'ticularly epistle to the Galatians, ch. iii. 16, 17, 18, 
 21, 29. — 18, If the inheritance be by works of the law^ it is n^ 
 more of promise. 2 1 , /s the law, then^ against the promise of God? 
 24, 29, The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. But, if 
 we be Christ's, then are we Abraham's seed and heirs, according 
 to THE promise; that is, according to the fwomises or cove?iant con- 
 firmed in Christ, which accepts the righteousness of faith in tlie 
 room of the works of the law. 16, 17, JVow to Abraha7n and his seed 
 were the firomises ?nade. And this I say, that the covenant (plainly 
 implying the covenant contained in the promises), which was con- 
 firmed before of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred 
 and thirty years after cannot disannul, that it should make the 
 PROMISE of none effect. The /iromise is here equivalent to the 
 covenant made with Abraham : and what covenant could that be, 
 which was confrmed of God in Christ, but the covenant of grace ? 
 
 It deserves here to be remarked, that the very language which is 
 used, the covenant confrmcd of God, corroborates, and places almost 
 beyond doubt, the opinion formerly advanced, that circumcision 
 under the ancient dispensation, and baptism under the new, is the 
 
22 
 
 it was the privilege of his children's children to the 
 remotest generations. And, on the same ground, pur- 
 suing the apostle's reasoning, it is the privilege of the 
 children of his faith : for they who are of foith are the 
 children of Abraham. If ye be Chris fs, then are ye 
 Abraham"* s seed, and heirs acco?^di?ig to the promise; 
 the promise given to Abraham at the institution of the 
 covenant, / will be a God to thee and to thy seed after 
 thee. But further to confirm this conclusion, can any 
 language be stronger, or more unequivocal, than that 
 of the apostle Peter to the vast assembly at Jerusalem 
 touched by his powerful discourse? Repent, and be 
 baptised, every one of yon in the name of Jesus Christ, 
 for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and 
 to your children, and to all who are afar off, even as 
 many as the Lord our God shall call. As soon as he 
 commands them to be baptised, he reminds them of 
 an ulterior duty, to ba])tise their children, and their 
 household, after the example of Abraham; quoting 
 to them that covenanted promise with which every 
 Israelite was so well acquainted, and to which every 
 believer, as well as Abraham, is entitled; the promise 
 of forgiveness, and acceptance with God, through the 
 righteousness of faith. And not to you only, and to your 
 children, who are naturally descendants of Abraham, 
 but to the gentiles also, if they, be obedient to the 
 faith, although by nature they are afar off^ from 
 
 seal of God affixed to his own covenant to confirm it to our faith, 
 and give it impression on the heart of the believer. 
 
 * This is a phrase by which the gcniile nations are often de- 
 signated in scripture language. 
 
23 
 
 God. Called by Christ into the church, which was so 
 long confined to the posterity of Israel, they are now 
 equally entitled to all its blessings, and its privileges, 
 and, among others, to this precious seal of the cove- 
 nant for themselves and their offspring. 
 
 It is in vain to allege, as has been done by certain 
 writers, that the promise here refers to the prediction 
 of the prophet Joel, who foretold, that, in the last days,. 
 God would pour out his spirit upon all flesh. For, what 
 connexion has this prophecy with the command to be 
 baptised. The apostle is answering the anxious inquiry 
 of his hearers who were pricked in their hearts; men 
 and brethren, what shall we do? And, in his answer, 
 he directs them to the proper source of peace and 
 consolation; repent and be baptised, and you shall re- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost in his sanctifying power, and 
 his comforting influence; for the promise through 
 Christ whom I preach, is, according to the tenor of the 
 covenant with your father Abraham,* to ijou and to 
 your children; and not to you only, but to the gentiles 
 also, to those who are afar off, who shall become the 
 children, and heirs of Abraham.'s faith. 
 
 Such is the clear and obvious conclusion resulting 
 from the apostle's words. The same consequence ap- 
 pears to me to arise, with no less certainty and force, 
 from the advice addressed by St. Paul to a believing 
 husband, or wife; not to separate from the unbelieving 
 wife, or husband, with whom they may be respectively 
 
 * Those whom the apostle was addressing were chiefly Jews 
 assembled at Jerusalem from various nations. 
 
24 
 
 connected. For, saith he, the unbehever is sanctified 
 by the behever; else rvere your children unclean, but 
 now are they holy. But now are they holy. What is 
 the proper import of this term? Throughout the 
 sacred scriptures it is applied solely to such persons 
 and things as are peculiarly set apart, and consecrated 
 to God. In the connexion in which it stands in this 
 passage, it can imply nothing less than that children 
 are qualified, by the piety and faith of one of their 
 parents, to be solemnly set apart from the -world and 
 devoted to God. And in what manner shall that conse- 
 cration be made in the christian church, but by the 
 ordinance of baptism?* 
 
 If the right of infants to the ordinance of baptism 
 evidently results, as by the preceding illustrations it 
 appears to do, from the analogy of the christian with 
 the abrahamic seal of the covenant, it is still farther 
 confirmed by the practice of the apostles, and the 
 
 * It is a prostitution of language to confound, as has been done 
 by the writers of one sect of christians, holiness with legitimacy of 
 birth. Has legitimacy of marriage, or of birth, ever depended, in 
 any nation, on the piety of the parties, or the absence of it, or on 
 any other cause but the laws of the state ? Besides, the whole train 
 of the apostle's observations and reasoning, translated according 
 to this meaning of the term, would be absurd, or ridiculous. For 
 the unbelieving wife is sanctijied, or made a legitimate subject of 
 marriage, bij the believing husband, and the unbelieving husband is 
 sanctified, or made a legitimate subject of marriage, by the believ- 
 ing wife; therefore their marriage was lawful; else were your 
 children illegitiinate, but now are they legitimate. Besides other 
 absurdities, this would be proving the lawfulness of the marriage 
 by the legitimacy of the children, and again, the legitimacy of the 
 children by the lawfulness of the marriage. 
 
25 
 
 uniform history of the primitive church. The passage, 
 to which reference has just been made, affords no 
 shght attestation to the practice of St. Paul. In addi- 
 tion to this, when L} dia declared her faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the same apostle, along with her, 
 baptised her household. And with Jairus also, he 
 baptised all who -were in his house. It has been objected, 
 to the evidence which \A'e would derive from these 
 facts, that those, who are referred to by''the sacred 
 historian, in the house of Jairus, and the household of 
 Lydia, were only the adults of the respective families, 
 who vv^ere themselves believers. What will not the 
 prepossessions of party, or the pride of theory, main- 
 tain and defend? For this pretence certainly, the his- 
 tory affords no ground. It assigns no other reason for 
 baptising these families than simply the faith of Lydia 
 and of Jairus.* 
 
 I add, that, if any apostolic usage can derive con- 
 firmdiion from the uniform practice, and tradition 
 
 * This was perfectly conformable to the example of the 
 Jewish church in receiving proselytes, either by circumcision, 
 or by baptism, from the gentile nations. The pagan convert, 
 who professed his faith in the great Legislator of Israel, and the 
 promises made to the fathers, at once incorporated his whole 
 family along with himself into the body of that chosen people. 
 
 It is said, indeed, that in the history of the New Testament, 
 baptism is never administered except to a personal profession 
 of faith. But, let it be remembered, that this history records 
 chiefly examples of proselytes from unbelieving nations. In a 
 similar case, a personal profession of faith would be required by 
 the warmest friends of infant baptism. But, in the few instances 
 in which families have been mentioned, we see that they alway 
 follow the faith of the head. 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 of the church, from the first ages down to modern and 
 very recent times, it is that of infant baptism.' It is 
 confirmed by Justin Martyr, who lived only forty 
 years after the age of the apostles; and the evidences 
 of it are conveyed down in a continued and unsus- 
 pected stream of history to the time of St. Augustine 
 and Pelagius, who, though antagonists in the contro- 
 versies which were raised in that age on some of the 
 most important doctrines of religion, and both of them 
 among the greatest scholars, and most eloquent wri- 
 ters of the period in which they lived, declare, that 
 they " had never heard, they had never read of any, 
 even in the most heretical churches, who denied the 
 baptism of infants."* 
 
 * But few of the writers of the earliest age of the christian 
 church have escaped the ravages of time, and come down to us 
 entire. And no controversy existuig, at that period, on the sub- 
 ject of baptism, few occasions occur of directly introducing any 
 precise opinions concerning it; or of explicitly stating the prac- 
 tice of the apostles, and their immediate successors. But,Avhere- 
 ever this ordinance is mentioned, either more or less directly, 
 the testimony of the primitive writers is uniformly in favour of 
 the baptism of infants. In the second, and especially in the third, 
 and following centuries, circumstances having more frequently 
 called for express and definite opinions on questions .relative to 
 this subject, the practice of the primitive church becomes, from 
 this time, more and more evident. Justin Maityr, and Irenaeus, 
 who lived from forty to sixty-seven years after the apostles, both 
 speak of those " who were made disciples., and regenerated to 
 God in infancy ;" a figurative mode of expression, familiar in 
 that age, to signify baptism the symbol of discipleshifi and rege- 
 neration. Just. Mar. Apol. II. Iren. adv; haeres. lib. 3. cap. 39. 
 
 Tertullian, who lived about a hundi'ed years later than the 
 apostles, and who was remarkable for the austerity of his cha- 
 racter, and the singularity of many of his opinions, advises, con- 
 
27 
 
 Having established the right of christian parents to 
 have their beloved oifspring placed under the guar- 
 
 trary to the general sentiment and practice of the church, " not 
 to hasten the baptism of children, except in cases of necessity, 
 or in danger of death." This very advice of TertuUian, hovi^- 
 ever^ demonstrates the practice of the church to have been in 
 favour of the baptism of infants ; and the cases which he excepts 
 show his own opinion of the necessity of the ordinance. The 
 reason on which he grounded an advice so extraordinary in the 
 age in which he lived, was the danger to which sponsors ex- 
 posed themselves by the too early baptism of children, and 
 persons under age, "especially" as he adds, "yoimg women" 
 placed in situations of peculiar tem.ptation and danger, and who 
 were, therefoi'e, exposed to great hazards of being seduced, 
 before marriage, from the path of virtue. It is the remark of a 
 judicious writer, that the reason here assigned by this father for 
 his advice renders it probable, that it refers entirely to those 
 young persons of both sexes, who were bought as servants, and 
 were always baptised in christian families ; or, to those destitute 
 children and youth who were, very frequently in that age, 
 adopted, or taken to be educated by pious and wealthy persons, 
 who of course became sponsors for them in baptism. Tert. de 
 bap. cap. 18. 
 
 In the second century, some doubts having arisen in the 
 church concerning original sin, and the nature and degree of 
 the guilt which adheres to infants, we find, in the discussions 
 which arose out of these subjects, more freqvient mention made 
 of the baptism of infants than in the former period. The illus- 
 trious Origen, who flourished in the very beginning ofthe second 
 century after the apostles, maintaining the original corruption 
 of human nature, derives one of his principal arguments from 
 the universal practice of the church, of administering baptism 
 to the youngest children. " If infants, says he, are not liable to 
 original sin, why are they then baptised? If there were nothing 
 in them which needed forgiveness and mercy, the baptismal 
 grace would be unnecessary to them." Homil. 8. in Levit. cap. 
 12. In another treatise he savs; "For this reason it was that 
 
28- 
 
 dianship and care of the church, in the ordinance of 
 baptism, let us examine, in the next place, what are 
 the privileges and blessings conferred by it. 
 
 the church received from the apostles a tradition, or order, to 
 administer baptism to infants. For they, to whom the divine 
 mysteries were committed, knew that there is in all persons 
 the natural pollution of sin, which must be removed by water, 
 and the Spirit." Comment in ep. ad Rom. 1.5. 
 
 St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who wrote about one hun- 
 dred and fifty years after the apostolic age, establishes the gene- 
 ral usage of infant baptism by a most convincing fact. He in- 
 forms us, that " a council of sixty-six bishops being assembled 
 at Carthage, a doubt was proposed by one of them, whose name 
 was Fidus, whether baptism ought to be administered to infants 
 before the eighth day after their birth ; doubting whether or not 
 the custom of the Jews in this respect ought to be followed. 
 The council unanimously decreed, t/iat baptism is not to he Jiost- 
 jioned till the eighth day. After stating the grounds of their de- 
 cree, they conclude in these words. Wherefore, dearly beloved, 
 it is our ofiinion, that from baptism, and the grace of God, ivho is 
 benignant to all, none ought to be prohibited by 7is; and, as this is 
 to be observed with respect to all, so especially is it to be observed 
 with respect to infants ivho are just born, and deserve our help and 
 the divine mercy." Cyp. ep. ad Fidum^ cap. 63. 
 
 The last two articles I follow with the very pertinent remark 
 of the author of a pamphlet entitled, The Baptism of Infants a 
 reasonable Service. " Origen was born about eighty -five years 
 after the apostolic age. His father and grandfather were both 
 christians. And, as there can be no doubt of his being baptised 
 in infancy from the manner in which he speaks of infant bap- 
 tism, this fact verifies the practice of the apostles upon this 
 subject, and carries up the universal usage of the church to 
 within a very few years of these blessed companions of our 
 I^ord. A similar observation may be made concerning the bishops 
 who composed the council of Carthage. Many of them were 
 probably very old men ; and if they jvere baptised in infancy, as 
 the language of the decree leaves us no room to doubt, we see 
 
29 
 
 Whether we consider baptism as the rite by which 
 our children are initiated into the church as the school 
 of Christ, or, as the seal which God has been pleased 
 to annex to his covenant in order to ratify, and more 
 effectually to confirm to our faith the promises of his 
 grace, its privileges and blessings, rightly understood, 
 are manifold and great; for, to Abraham and his 
 seed, to the church and the seed of the church, are 
 committed the oracles of God, with all their lights, 
 their comforts, their aids, their precious promises, 
 their immortal hopes. In order to give at once force, 
 and illustration to this refiection, imagine your chil- 
 dren not to have been born under a dispensation of 
 grace; imagine them to have received existence in the 
 darkness of paganism; and to have been left to the 
 feeble glimmerings of nature to lead them to a know- 
 ledge of their Creator, their Redeemer, and their duty; 
 imagine them, under all the calamities of life, to have 
 been forsaken of the comforts of religious hope; and, 
 after their most anxious endeavours to look into 
 futurity, and to appease the forbodings of conscience, 
 or of fear, unable to penetrate beyond this dark sphere, 
 or to discern any certain means of access to the holy 
 and righteous Judge of the universe, and, at length, 
 abandoned to the cruel despair, which, without the 
 light of revelation, rests upon the shadows of the 
 grave; imagine all this, and then judge of the inesti- 
 mable value of that blessed sacrament which, agree- 
 ably to the command and authority of Christ, places 
 us, from the beginning of life, in the bosom of the 
 
 again, the practice of infant baptism clearly prevailing at a 
 period immediately bordering on the age of the apostles." 
 
30 
 
 church, where a divine ilkiminatioii continually shines ; 
 where life and immortality are brought to light ; where 
 the veil which covers the eternal world is drawn 
 aside; where the way of peace is clearly revealed to 
 sinful and perishing men ; where the care of parents, 
 and the fidelity of the ministers of religion are engaged 
 under the most solemn obligations for the discipline 
 and instruction of the infant mind; where the influences 
 of the Holy Spirit are promised to assist the effect of 
 these instructions; and where all the means and aids 
 are enjoyed which it has seemed good to the infinite 
 wisdom of God to afford to mankind for the attain- 
 ment of their everlasting salvation. 
 
 Such are the blessings connected with baptism 
 considered merely as an initiating symbol, introdu- 
 cing us into the church of Christ. We are placed by 
 it under the happiest and most effectual cultivation 
 for heaven. 
 
 Let us now contemplate this symbol in another 
 light, as the seal which God has annexed to his cove- 
 nant for the solemn confirmation of his promises, and 
 we shall discover, in this view of it, a new treasure 
 of spiritual blessings. 
 
 Every child of Adam, by his error and fall, and by 
 the rigorous tenor of the violated covenant, had be- 
 come an heir of death. But God, in his infinite mercy, 
 at the very moment of transgression, placed the 
 
31 
 
 frailty of man under a dispensation of grace in Jesus 
 Christ.* 
 
 Of this most benignant and merciful dispensation, 
 which obviates, or remedies the evils of the broken 
 law, circumcision anciently, and now baptism, is the 
 gracious assurance and seal. In the symbol of baptism, 
 therefore, you behold the visible pledge, and annun- 
 ciation, on the part of God, that the baptised infant 
 is taken from under the rigorous and impracticable 
 conditions, and the curse of the first covenant, and 
 placed under the grace of the second. f You behold 
 that precious infant, on its first entrance into existence, 
 met with the covenant of peace, and the promises of 
 eternal life sealed in the blood of the Redeemer, and 
 offered to its acceptance. You behold its original 
 guilt covered by the merit of the atonement. | 
 
 * If man had not been placed under the government and pro- 
 vidence of a Saviour, immediately after the fall, would Adam, 
 have survived his transgression ? Is not the existence of his pos- 
 terity a demonstration that the world, from the beginning, 
 has been under an economy of grace ? But its lights clearly 
 shine, as yet, only in that church which he has selected, and 
 sealsd to himself out of the world. Do not these inquiries de- 
 serve at least a serious consideration ? 
 
 t It is not by this intended to say, that the act of baptism 
 transfers us from one covenant to the other. That was done by 
 the promise of the Saviour, after the fall. But that it is the so- 
 lemn authentication of this truth on the part of God, and the 
 declaratory seal of this grace. 
 
 I " The apostles," says Origen, (see note, p. 42.) " to whom the 
 divine mysteries Avere committed, knew that there is in all per- 
 sons the natural pollution of sin, Avhich must be removed by water 
 and the Spirit." Though I would by no means go so far as to 
 
Christians! how rich the grace, how precious the 
 promises sealed in baptism to us, and to our beloved 
 offspring! What strong and persuasive motives to 
 repentance, love and new obedience, does this inesti- 
 mable mercy set before us ! What powerful obliga- 
 tions does it impose on parents, and on the whole 
 church, to train up in the love and obedience of the 
 Redeemer, every infant committed by him to their 
 fidelity, their instruction, and discipline ! 
 
 What then, does the washing with water in this 
 ordinance actually regenerate the soul originally cor- 
 rupted and impure ? Is the cleansing of the body 
 necessarily accompanied with the purification' of the 
 spirit ? No ; the waters of regeneration, and other 
 similar expressions used by the fathers to indicate 
 baptism, some of which have been already quoted, 
 do not, when fairly interpreted, convey this meaning. 
 They are only strong figures, in their highly rhetori- 
 cal stile, expressive of that inward purity of heart of 
 which baptism is the symbol, and" which our initiation 
 into the church and school of Christ, and introduction 
 to the privileges, the. blessings, and grace of the new 
 covenant, are intended, and fitted to produce. 
 
 Is baptism then, a certain title to eternal life? It is 
 a solemn and authentic proposition of the covenant of 
 
 say, Avith Origen, and others of tne fathers, that the original 
 fiollutio7i of our nature is removed by ba}itism; yet I scruple not 
 to say, that original guilt is so covered by the blood of the atone- 
 ment, symbolised in this ordinance, that its condemning power, at 
 least with regard to baptised infants dying in infancy, is destroyed 
 by the grace of the new covenant. 
 
33 
 
 grace with all its privileges, blessings, and conditions, 
 under the seal of God. It is, therefore, a visible and 
 sacramental confirmation of our provisional title to 
 life and immortality on the terms of the gospel ; that 
 is, of a sincere repentance for our sins, and a true 
 faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me illustrate it 
 by a familiar example. By charter from the govern- 
 ment of your country, or bequest from a dying parent, 
 you become entitled to ample privileges, and rich 
 possessions, on the performance of certain conditions. 
 The seal annexed to that charter, or that testament, 
 by the proper authority, is the declaration of the will 
 of your parent, or your country, and, consequently, 
 the formal authentication and security of your title, 
 the moment the condition is fulfilled. This condition 
 is, to all who have grown to such mature age as to be 
 capable of actual sin, not perfect obedience according 
 to the tenor of the first and violated covenant, but 
 repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, which however leads to perfection, and 
 plants in the heart the seeds of holiness and eternal 
 life. But to every infant, dying in infancy, it is an 
 unconditional assurance of a glorious inheritance in 
 the kingdom of heaven. The infant being placed un- 
 der the gi'ace of the second covenant, is delivered 
 from the curse of the first; being united by a new 
 and blessed relation to the second Adam, its original 
 taint and impurity, derived from its relation to the 
 first, is covered, as I have said before, by the blood 
 of the atonement; and it is, therefore, through the 
 mercy of God in Christ, made an heir of everlasting 
 E 
 
34 
 
 life.* Of these precious truths baptism is the sacra- 
 mental pledge, the seal of assurance and confirmation 
 given by God. What a consolation, christian parents ! 
 does this present to you who weep over the dear re- 
 mains of the mfant snatched untimely from your em- 
 brace ! What a comfortable and extended view does 
 it exhibit of the grace of the gospel ! 
 
 Having offered to your consideration, in a few 
 plain and obvious principles, the right of infants, 
 born within the church, to the seal of the covenant, 
 and the blessings of which they become partakers by 
 it; it may not be unuseful more particularly to desig- 
 nate tlie limits of the visible church., and to point out 
 the nature and extent of that profession of the name 
 of Christ which entitles a parent to offer, and the 
 church to receive his infant offspring in this hoi}- 
 
 * Very far would I be from insinuating that those Avho die 
 without baptism do, therefore, fail of salvation. But between the 
 baptised and unbaptised infant, dying m infancy, there is this 
 difference, that, to the one, the inheritance of eternal life is con- 
 veyed by covenant from God, under his appointed seal; the other 
 is left to his free, indeed, but uncovenanted mercy. And, as the 
 scriptures give us ample grounds to believe that there are various 
 degrees in the blessedness of heaven, it is reasonable to conclude, 
 that those, who are received into the general assembly of the 
 church of the first born., from the church on earth, obtain a richer 
 inheritance than others, and are admitted to a higher state of hap- 
 piness. With regard to such as survive the imbecility of infancy, 
 and arrive at the age of reason, imdoubtedly, those who are nursed 
 in the bosom of the church enjoy greater advantages than the 
 pagan world, for the attainment of salvation, under the culture of 
 Christ, and under the gracious influences, and superior aids of 
 the Holy Spirit, which accompany the institutions of the gospel 
 
35 
 
 ordinance. And happy shall I be, if, by the following 
 brief reflections, I shall be able to remove the doubts, 
 or compose the solicitudes of any serious and well 
 disposed mind upon this subject. 
 
 The principal doubt turns on this single point, 
 whether the church on earth consists only of those 
 W'ho are truly regenerated, and have added sincere, 
 and 7iew obedience to their open profession of the 
 name of their Redeemer ; or embraces all those who, 
 having been baptised, and continuing to profess the 
 name and doctrines of the Saviour, submit themselves 
 to the counsels, admonitions, reproofs, and to the 
 whole discipline of that spiritual body whose head is 
 Christ. 
 
 The constitution of the Jewish church, the counter- 
 part and type of the christian, will assist us to deter- 
 mine this question. All who believed in Moses, the 
 great prophet of God, and submitted to his law, were 
 embraced in the external bonds, and received the dis- 
 tinguishing seal of the covenant. But they were not 
 all Israel who were of Israel. A distinction existed 
 among them, which must always exist upon earth 
 among the professing disciples of Christ, between the 
 visible, and the invisible church. The latter is com- 
 posed of those only who, by sincere piety, and an 
 entire renovation of heart, bear the inward image of 
 their Lord and Master. The former embraces all \w\\o 
 are united together under the profession of the same 
 system of doctrines, who enjoy the same ordinances, 
 and who submit to the same discipline for regulat- 
 
36 
 
 ing the exterior order and manners of its members. 
 To the church of Israel, comprehending the entire 
 nation, were the oracles of God committed. And 
 the seal of that gracious covenant, which was con- 
 tained and explained in these oracles, and exhibit- 
 ed to the ancient church under a thousand typical 
 rites, was impressed on all their offspring, and on all 
 who were born in their houses and trained up in the 
 knowledge of divine truth under their care. Analogy, 
 then, will lead us to extend the application of the 
 christian seal to the households, and especially to the 
 children of all who are members of the visible church ; 
 that is, who have been themselves baptised, who ac- 
 knowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and 
 Saviour, who profess to embrace the holy scriptures 
 of truth as containing the only certain rule of duty, 
 and the only foundation of their immortal hopes; who 
 submit themselves and their households to the disci- 
 pline and instructions of the church, and who promise 
 to concur with her in the pious education and govern- 
 ment of all those whom nature hath given to their 
 affection, or providence hath subjected to their autho- 
 rity. 
 
 To the invisible church baptism cannot be confined, 
 because men have no certain rule by which to discri- 
 minate it from the mass of visible professors. Let me 
 speak freely to those of my brethren who believe that 
 somewhat more is necessary in the recipient to the 
 validity of this ordinance than regular morals, an 
 open profession of the faith, and submission to the 
 discipline of the church. Is it because they esteem 
 the actual sanctification of the parent essential to the 
 
57 
 
 rightfu. administration of baptism to the child? Who 
 then can know with certainty that he is baptised? Do 
 they say, that it is at least necessary that, in the judg- 
 ment of charity, a parent should be a sincere believer? 
 Where is the scripture rule which rests the benefit of 
 baptism on our judgment of the internal state of a 
 man's heart; or makes it the standard by which we 
 are to admit his infant to the external privileges of 
 the covenant of grace? Will not those judgments of 
 charity vary in different churches? Will they not 
 vary, perhaps, in difterent ministers in the same 
 church? Too earnestly he cannot be admonished, 
 indeed, that vital and universal holiness of heart and 
 life is essential to salvation, and is essential to the 
 faithful and acceptable discharge of this, and of every 
 duty in the sight of God ; yet is it not essential to the 
 validity of this ordinance, and its spiritual benefit to 
 his infant offspring. 
 
 Let us recur again to the proper meaning and de- 
 sign of the ordinance, and this conclusion will not fail 
 to strike us with additional force. It is, in the first 
 place, the rite of our initiation into the school of 
 Christ in which we receive those lessons of divine 
 wisdom, which cannot be taught to man by the wis- 
 dom of the world; and in which we enjoy the happiest 
 means of promoting our virtue and holiness, and the 
 most effectual aids for the attainment of our salvation. 
 
 It is, in the next place, the seal which God hath 
 been pleased to annex to the external dispensation of 
 his covenant, in order that he might, by a rite so 
 
38 
 
 solemn, though so simple, confirm the propositions of 
 his mercy to fallen man, through the atonement and 
 mediation of the ever blessed Redeemer. The church 
 openly annexes this seal to the covenant, in the name 
 and by the authority of God himself. The church 
 takes the infant under her protection and instruction. 
 Most desirable it is to have the cooperation and 
 assistance of the parents in this sacred and important 
 duty; and they are bound by every obligation of 
 nature and religion to afford it. But, it is still more 
 the duty of the church to enlighten and direct the 
 infant's opening reason, to imbue it with holy and 
 heavenly principles, to illustrate, to inculcate, to press 
 upon it the precious privileges, the gracious promises, 
 the glorious hopes, of which she has given it the seal. 
 The church, when she is faithful to her trust, adopts 
 every infant whom she receives by baptism within 
 the pale of her privileges. It is her faith, her fidelity, 
 which is to be regarded in this ordinance even more 
 than that of the parent. 
 
 It is with the view chiefly to the pious education of 
 the seed of the church that this ordinance is adminis- 
 tered to infants. I knoiv him^ saith God, of the father 
 of the faithful, at the institution of the external seal of 
 the covenant, that he will train up his children and his 
 household after him, to keep the way of the Lord. In 
 the primiti\'e ages, when many parents were incapable 
 themselves of fulfilling these holy duties, benevolent 
 and pious sponsors offered themselves to discharge 
 them in their room. But the church herself was con- 
 sidered as sponsor, and she is the best and most 
 
39 
 
 faithful sponsor for every infant which she receives to 
 her protection and care by this ordinance. On this 
 ground it was, that she required exposed children, 
 and children of whatever parents, with tlie care of 
 whose pious education she charged herself, to be 
 admitted to the holy rite of baptism. 
 
 But you ask if the church does now truly fulfil this 
 duty? Alas! we cannot but acknowledge and deplore 
 the relaxation of her discipline. But, let me boldly 
 and openly pronounce, that it is incumbent on her^ 
 animated with' the spirit of her Lord, her teacher, her 
 example, and her head, to extend her holy inspection 
 and her guardian care over every baptised person, 
 who, in consequence of his baptism, forms a part of 
 her spiritual community.* 
 
 After the view which has already been presented to 
 you of the nature and the subjects of this holy ordi- 
 nance, little more can be necessary. 
 
 * Does this principle imply an obligation on the parent to 
 bring his baptised infant to the Lord's supper, a practice which 
 we learn from several passages of the Fathers, obtained in many 
 of the primitive churches ? I answer, by no means. The infant, 
 in baptism, is the passive subject of the divine mercy, proposing 
 to it the gracious terms of everlasting life ; as a testamentary and 
 provisional devise may be made to a child antecedently to thr 
 development of its understanding. The believing communicant, 
 on the other hand, gives a believing and voluntary pledge of his 
 fidelity to God, .which requires, in order to perform it rightly, a 
 certain maturity of the powers of reason. The infant receives the 
 seal of God confirming the propositions of his mercy ; the com- 
 municant having embraced these propositions for himself, affixes 
 
40 
 
 3. In the last place, to answer the great inquiry, 
 What profit is there in this our christian circumcision? 
 What are the privileges it confers? What are the 
 obligations it imposes? 
 
 In baptism the great charter of our salvation, with 
 all its gracious promises, its merciful conditions, and 
 immortal hopes, is confirmed by the seal of God. 
 That transfer which, under the spiritual dominion of 
 the Redeemer, has been made of our infant offspring 
 from the curse and condemnation of the first covenant 
 to the grace of the second, is, in this ordinance, pal- 
 pably exhibited to our senses. Inestimable benignity 
 and condescension ! thus to be met by God, if I may 
 speak so, at our first entrance into being, with the 
 gracious propositions of eternal life through Jesus 
 Christ, confirmed to sense, as well as to faith, by a 
 rite so solemn ! The testament of our dying Saviour, 
 sealed with his most precious blood, is visibly offered 
 anew to believers and their offspring, at every repeti- 
 tion of this baptismal symbol. Christians! what sub- 
 jects of gratitude and praise, what animating encou- 
 ragements to early piety do we find in this merciful 
 condescension of God; in this gracious care of the 
 Redeemer, extended over all the infant seed of the 
 church! 
 
 In order to render this grace more effectual, these 
 infants are introduced into the school of Christ, and 
 
 his own seal to the covenant, thereby dcchuing his acceptance of 
 the terms. 
 
41 
 
 placed under all the advantages of the culture and 
 discipline of the church, which is bound to instruct, 
 to admonish, to reprove, to correct; whose duty it is 
 to open to them the blessings, to inculcate, upon them 
 the duties, to press upon them the obligations, arising 
 out of this early mercy and care manifested by Heaven 
 for their salvation. And, still further to secure their 
 immortal interests, do we not see them, when devoted 
 to God by their parents, returned again by the church 
 to the arms, and to the natural guardianship of these 
 affectionate parents, under new and most sacred obli- 
 gations to assist her in cultivating and training them 
 up for eternal life. The powerful bonds of nature, 
 which lie on every parent to consult the spiritual and 
 everlasting welfare of his beloved children, are here 
 strengthened by all the sacredness of religion, and by 
 his own most solemn vows given in the presence of 
 God, and in the name of the Redeemer. • 
 
 Christians! who have been baptised in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, look back with thankfulness to 
 that mercy, which has met you in the first moments 
 of existence, though heirs of death through the fault 
 of your original parent, with the propositions of eternal 
 life through Jesus Christ; which has surrounded you 
 with so many guards against evil, with so many lights 
 and aids to duty, and placed you under such an excel- 
 lent culture for heaven. Whenever you witness the 
 administration of this holy ordinance, let it carry back 
 your thoughts to your own early and inestimable pri- 
 vileges ; to the moment when you were consecrated 
 to God; to the sacred obligations which his mercy 
 F 
 
42 
 
 has imposed upon you. Have you been sprinkled and 
 washed with the waters of baptism? Remember the 
 necessity of htm^ sprinkled from an evil co?iscie?2ce ; 
 of being cleansed by the precious blood of sprinkling ; 
 of being purified in the fountains of repentance. Do 
 you enter the church where the faithful continually 
 assemble to worship God? Let it recal to mind that 
 sacred action by which you were made a member of 
 that holy community, which is the body of Christ. Has 
 the seal of God been impressed upon you ? Was it not 
 that he might designate you for himself; that you 
 might be separated from the world, and devoted to 
 him; that you might walk worthy of that grace to 
 which you are called? Have you, in that precious 
 seal, received the symbol of regeneration? Remember 
 what purity of heart, what sanctity of life, becomes a 
 disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Such are the obligations, and the privileges of those 
 who, from their birth, have been consecrated to God 
 in this holy institution ; who have been received by 
 Christ, the great Teacher of mankind, into his school ; 
 who have been, as it were, incorporated, by the great 
 Head of the church, into his body. 
 
 What then, Christian parents! are the obligations 
 which this holy covenant imposes upon you? Are they 
 not, that, like Abraham, you should train up your 
 children^ and your household after you^ to fear the 
 Lord? A virtuous and pious education, indeed, in- 
 volves duties to which nature will prompt a faithful 
 parent; being connected with the highest interests, 
 
43 
 
 the eternal happiness of his offspring. And the God 
 of nature has imposed them upon you by inviolable 
 obligations. But, I entreat you, christians, most se- 
 riously to consider, what additional force these holy 
 obligations acquire by your own solemn vows, by the 
 awful majesty of religion, by the name of Jesus which 
 is named upon your infant seed, and by the precious 
 blood of the covenant, signified by the baptismal waters 
 in which they are washed. Most assiduously and faith- 
 fully, therefore, train up these dear pledges of your 
 love, this precious seed of the future church, in the nur- 
 ture and admonition of the Lord. Teach them justly to 
 value the unspeakable grace by which they have been 
 engrafted into Christ, and incorporated into his visible 
 body the church. Unfold, and press upon them, the 
 wide compass of their duties. By your instructions, 
 by your prayers, by your example, by your prudent 
 discipline, study to form them to habits of virtue and 
 piety. Make your houses temples of the living God, 
 in which you will daily bring them with you before 
 the throne of the heavenly grace, to commit them 
 anew to the mercy and protection of the Saviour. Be 
 patriai'chs, and priests in your own families. Ah ! re- 
 member, that the souls of those who are dearest to 
 you by nature, are still more sacredly committed to 
 your charge by the authority of religion. Heirs of 
 eternity in common with your children ! carry forward 
 your view to that everlasting state of being on which 
 )'ou will shortly enter with them, and to that dread 
 tribunal at which you and they shall appear, to account 
 for your mutual fidelity to your respective vows and 
 duties. Hear them, there, mingling, along with the 
 
triumphs of heaven, and the h)aiins of praise, which 
 they raise to the grace of the Redeemer, their bene- 
 dictions on yoii for that pious care which has con- 
 ducted them to glory and immortahty ; or, amidst the 
 cries of despair, Oh ! horrible idea ! pouring forth the 
 curses of perhaps a perishing son on the head of a 
 guilty ftither, who, by a cruel and impious neglect, 
 has caused his ruin! Can I say more to urge these 
 holy and parental cares upon a liiithful and feeling 
 heart? 
 
 O God, our Saviour! put life into thine own ordi- 
 nance ! Dispose and enable every parent before thee 
 to fulfil, with fidelity, duties of such high concern to 
 his own soul, and to those whom he should love as 
 his own soul ! And, when we baptise with water in 
 thy name, baptise thou. Oh ! most merciful Redeemer! 
 with the Holy Ghost ! Amen ! 
 
A BRIEF APPENDIX, 
 
 ON THE MODE OF ADMINISTERING BAPTISM. 
 
 If the mode of administering baptism had been 
 essential to the validity of the ordinance, we should 
 have justly expected to see it prescribed with as 
 Inuch particularity as any of the levitical ceremonies. 
 On the other hand, there is no definite prescription 
 on this subject, farther than, that water is to be 
 applied as a symbol of that regeneration and puri- 
 fication of our nature, which all men need, and 
 which a sincere faith in the gospel is intended and 
 fitted to produce. Any application, therefore, of this 
 cleansing element, which is a natural emblem of 
 spiritual purity, especially if it be justified by the 
 usage of the church and the import of the terms em- 
 ployed by the sacred writers, is its proper and legiti- 
 mate form. In the warmer climates, where daily 
 bathing is the customary mode of cleansing the per- 
 son, immersion may be used with the highest pro- 
 priety : in other regions, where it is commonly effected 
 by washing only a particular part of the body, a par- 
 tial application of water may be made with equal 
 reason. An action of our blessed Saviour, recorded 
 in the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of John, is full 
 of instruction on this subject. It was usual with the 
 Jews before eating, to wash their feet; a practice 
 which had become necessarv, both from the fashion 
 
46 
 
 of their dress, and their manner of recHning on 
 couches at their meals. Christ, in order to give his 
 disciples a lesson, at once of humility and of purity, 
 condescended himself to wash their feet. When Peter 
 imderstood the meaning of this rite, that it was a 
 symbol of his purification, and acceptance with his 
 Lord, he exclaimed, in the fervor of his zeal, Lord! 
 not my feet only^ but also my hands and my head. But, 
 as what the Saviour was doing was only a symbolical 
 action, cleansing that part of the body which it was 
 customary to wash at that time, was sufficient to 
 answer the intention; therefore he reolies to Peter, 
 he that is washed needeth not save to xvash his feet^ but 
 is clean every xvhit. 
 
 Having made these preliminary remarks, I observe 
 that the term baptism in the sacred writings is applied, 
 indifferently, to signify oSih^r partial or entire wash- 
 ings; either sprinklijig or im?nersion. It is unnecessary 
 to recite all the passages in which this is demonstrated. 
 To one or two only I shall refer. When Jesus went to 
 eat with a certain pharisee, the pharisee ivondered that 
 he had not first washed;^ referring to the Jewish cus- 
 tom of washing iheir hands before meat. But in the 
 original it is, "he v/ondered that he had not first 
 baptised.'''' " Man}^ other things there be," says the 
 evangelist Mark, t " which they have received to hold, 
 asthewfl^Am^, [in the original, the baptism,'] of cups, 
 of pots, of brazen vessels, and of tables." As the 
 sacred writer, probably, refers to the instruments of 
 
 * Luke, xi. 38, t Mark, vii. 4. 
 
47 
 
 the temple service, or to those domestic utensils 
 which were religiously purified according to the same 
 forms, the whole levitical ritual proves that these 
 purifications were effected by various sprinklings, or 
 aspersions.* As the term baptism, and all those de- 
 rived from the same root, are employed to signify 
 sprinkling and partial washing no less than immer- 
 sion, so it is well known that the primitive church 
 used indifferently, and according to present conve- 
 nience, the one or the other of these forms in adminis- 
 tering the baptismal rite, particularly in the case of 
 clinici, and those of great delicacy of constitution, or 
 of health. And, in forming our judgment of the vali- 
 dity of the mode by aspersion, it deserves to be par- 
 ticularly remarked, that sprmkl'mg is, throughout the 
 sacred writings, used as one of the most common and 
 significant emblems of purity, of cleansing, of repen- 
 tance, of every thing* that is implied in the waters of 
 baptism. Not to speak of the inmmierable aspersions 
 used for this purpose under the Levitical law, the 
 blood of the atonement is expressly called the blood 
 of sprinklmg.-\ Isaiah, in announcing the office and 
 the grace of the future Messiah declares, he shall 
 sprinkle many nations. \ The prophet Ezekiel in pro- 
 claiming the sanctifying influence of the gospel, does 
 it by this figure. Then will I sprinkle clean -water upon 
 you, and you shall be clean.^ And, when the apostle 
 would express, in the strongest terms, that purity of 
 
 * SeeLevit. xiv. ch. Num. viii. andxix. ch. Heb. ix. 19, 21. 
 t n:b. xii. 24. I Is. lii. 15. § Ez. xxxvi. 25. 
 
48 
 
 mind which, in our approaches to God, we ought to 
 bring with us to the throne of grace, he says; Let us 
 come to him, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil 
 conscience.'^ 
 
 But I forbear to multiply proofs. These are suffi- 
 cient to demonstrate that either mode, by immersion, 
 or by sprinkling, will answer the whole intention of 
 the ordinance as an emblem of that purity of life 
 which becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The evidence on which the exclusive advocates for 
 immersion as essential to the rightful administration 
 of this ordinance chiefly rely, is an expression used 
 by the apostle in his epistle to the Romans, and in 
 that to the Colossians,t buried with him by baptism. 
 Whether this allusion be made or not, to the practice 
 of immersion borrowed from the custom of bathing 
 in that warm climate, it establishes no exclusive and 
 indispensable mode of baptism. It is an expression 
 highly figurative; and no argument can be safely 
 rested on a figure of speech. It affords, at best, but a 
 collateral and indirect support to other arguments, by 
 its supposed reference to an existing custom. But 
 admitting that reference to be real, in the present case; 
 and the inference establishing the existence of the 
 custom to be ever so justly drawn, still it could not 
 impose immersion on the church as the indispensable 
 and exclusive form of baptism. For, if the custom 
 were to form a rule which could not be departed 
 from, that custom should be entirely and completely 
 
 * ileb. X. 22. t Rom. vi. 4. Col. ii. 12. 
 
49 
 
 followed. But I presume baptism with the person en- 
 tirely naked, which was the practice where plunging 
 was used, in those warm countries, in imitation of 
 bathing, would not now be pleaded for by any sect. 
 The habits, modes, and customary ideas of that age 
 took away that sense of impropriety which would 
 very justly shock the delicacy of modern sentiments. 
 Even on the ground, then, of this figure containing a 
 reference to an existing custom, that custom would 
 not infallibly bind every age and climate. 
 
 But let us carry on this argument from figure into 
 the following verses, and see how it will operate ; For^ 
 saith the apostle, if roe have been planted in the 
 likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness 
 of his resurrection: knowing this that our old man 
 is crucified with him.* Here are three figurative 
 terms, in three succeeding verses, all referring to the 
 ordinance of baptism and its symbolic signification of 
 a death to sin; viz. " buried with him into death;" 
 ^^ planted in the likeness of his death;" " our old man 
 crucified with him." According to this reasoning, 
 therefore, baptism should contain something in the 
 mode of its administration corresponding to all these 
 figures : and, if the first figure is supposed necessarily 
 to contain the justification of the mode of baptising 
 by immersion; the last will, on the same ground, 
 contain the justification of the church of Rome in the 
 use of the sign of the cross. But, as the friends of 
 immersion do not admit the latter consequence, those 
 who conform to the practice of baptising by sprink- 
 
 * Rom. vi. 5, 6. 
 
50 
 
 ling, with equal reason, do not esteem themselves 
 bound by the former. 
 
 Upon the whole view of the subject, I conclude, 
 and I think from the fairest reasoning, that the mode 
 of administering baptism, whether by sprinkling or 
 immersion, is not essential to the validity of the or- 
 dinance, which requires only that the emblem of its 
 cleansing and purifying virtue be significantly pre- 
 served. 
 
 END. 
 
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