ART. to this, the outward action of Baptifm, when regularly gone about, is fufficient. We cannot fee into the finceri ty of men's hearts; outward profeffions and regular actions are all that fall under men's obfervation and judgment. But a fecond end of Baptifm is internal and fpiritual. Of this St. Paul fpeaks in very high terms, when Tit. iii. 5. he fays, that God has faved us according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Gloft. It were a ftrange perverting the defign of thefe words, to fay, that fomewhat fpiritual is to be underfood by this washing of regeneration, and not Baptifm; when as to the word fave, that is here afcribed to it, St. Peter gives that undeniably to Baptifm; and St. Paul elsewhere, in two different places, makes our Baptifm to reprefent our being dead to fin, and buried with Chrift; and our being rifen and quickened with him, and made alive unto God; which are words that do very plainly import regeneration. So that St. Paul muft be understood to speak of Baptifm in thefe words. Here then is the inward effect of Baptifm; it is a death to fin, and a new life in Chrift, in imitation of him, and in conformity to his Gospel. So that here is very exprefsly delivered to us fomewhat that rifes far above the badge of a profeffion, or a mark of difference. Rom. vi. That does indeed belong to Baptifin; it makes us the visible members of that one body, into which we are baptized, or admitted by Baptifm; but that which faves us in it, which both deadens and quickens us, muft be a thing of another nature. If Baptifm were only the receiving us into the fociety of Chriftians, there were no need of faying, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It were more proper to fay, I baptize thee in the name or by the authority of the Church. Therefore thefe auguft words, that were dictated by our Lord himself, fhew us that there is fomewhat in it that is internal, which comes from God; that it is an admitting men into fomewhat that depends only on God, and for the giving of which the authority can only be derived by him. But after all, this is not to be believed to be of the nature of a charm, as if the very act of Baptifm carried always with it an inward regeneration. Here we muft confefs, that very early fome doctrines arofe upon Baptifm, that we cannot be determined by. The words of our Saviour to Nicodemus were expounded fo as to import the abfolute neceflity of Baptifm in order to falvation; for it not being obferved that the difpenfation of the Meffias was meant by the kingdom of God, God, but it being taken to fignify eternal glory, that ex- ART. preffion of our Saviour's was understood to import this, XXVII. that no man could be faved unless he were baptized; fo it was believed to be fimply neceffary to falvation. A natural confequence that followed upon that, was to allow all perfons leave to baptize, clergy and laity, men and women, fince it feemed neceffary to fuffer every person to do that without which falvation could not be had. Upon this, thefe hafty Baptifms were ufed, without any fpecial fponfion on the part of thofe who defired it; of which it may be reasonably doubted whether fuch a Baptifm be true, in which no fponfion is made; and this cannot be well answered, but by faying, that a general and an implied fponfion is to be confidered to be made by their parents while they defire them to be baptized. Another opinion that arofe out of the former, was the mixing of the outward and the inward effects of Baptifin; it being believed that every perfon that was born of the water, was alfo born of the Spirit; and that the renewing of the Holy Ghost did always accompany the washing of regeneration. And this obliged St. Auftin (as was formerly told) to make that difference between the Regenerate and the Predeftinated; for he thought that all who were baptized were allo regenerated. St. Peter has stated this fo fully, that if his words are well confidered, they will clear the whole matter. He, after he had fet forth the miferable ftate in which mankind was, under the figure of the deluge, in which an ark was prepared for Noah and his family, fays upon that, the like figure where- 1 Pet. iii. unto even Baptifm doth alfo now fave us. Upon which he 21. makes a fhort digreflion to explain the nature of Baptifm, not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer (or the demand and interrogation) of a good confcience towards God; by the refurrection of Jefus Chrifl, who is gone into beaven. The meaning of all which is, that Chrift having rifen again, and having then had all power in beaven and in earth given to him, he had put that virtue in Baptifm, that by it we are faved, as in an ark, from that miferable ftate in which the world lies, and in which it muft perish. But then he explains the way how it faves us; that it is not as a phyfical action, as it washes away the filthiness of the flesh, or of the body, like the notion that the Gentiles might have of their februations; or, which is more natural, confidering to whom he writes, like the opinions that the Jews had of their cleanfings after their legal impurities, from which their wafhings and bathings did abfolutely free them. The falvation that we ART. we Chriftians have by Baptifm, is effected by that fedeXXVII. ration into which we enter, when upon the demands that are made of our renouncing the Devil, the world, and the flesh, and of our believing in Chrift, and our repentance towards God, we make fuch anfwers from a good confcience, as agree with the end and defign of Baptifm; then by our thus coming into covenant with God, we are faved in Baptifm. So that the falvation by Baptism is given by reason of the federal compact that is made in it. Now this being made outwardly, according to the rules that are prefcribed, that muft make the Baptifm good among men, as to all the outward and vifible effects of it but fince it is the answer of a good confcience only that faves, then an anfwer from a bad confcience, from a hypocritical perfon, who does not inwardly think, or purpofe, according to what he profeffes outwardly, cannot fave, but does on the contrary aggravate his damnation. Therefore our Article puts the efficacy of Baptifm, in order to the forgivenefs of our fins, and to our adoption and falvation, upon the virtue of prayer to God; that is, upon thofe vows and other acts of devotion that accompany them: fo that when the ferioufnefs of the mind accompanies the regularity of the action, then both the outward and inward effects of Baptifm are attained by it; and we are not only baptized into one body, but are also faved by Baptifm. So that upon the whole matter, Baptifin is a federal admiffion into Chriftianity, in which, on God's part, all the bleffings of the Gospel are made over to the baptized; and, on the other hand, the perfon baptized takes on him, by a folemn profeffion and vow, to obferve and adhere to the whole Chriftian religion. So it is a very natural diftinction to fay, that the outward effects of Baptifm follow it as outwardly performed; but that the inward effects of it follow upon the inward acts: but this difference is ftill to be obferved between inward acts and outward actions, that when the outward action is rightly performed, the Church muft reckon the Baptifm good, and never renew it: but if one has been wanting in the inward acts, those may be afterwards renewed, and that want may be made up by repentance. Thus all that the Scriptures have told us concerning Baptifm, feems to be fufficiently explained. There remains only one place that may feem fomewhat ftrange. 1 Cor. i. 17. St. Paul fays, that Chrift fent bim not to baptize, but to preach; which fome have carried fo far as to infer from thence, that preaching is of more value than Baptism. But it is to be confidered, that the preaching of the Apo Acts viii. 26. Acts xvi. 31, 32, 33. files was of the nature of a promulgation made by he- ART. ralds; it was an act of a fpecial authority, by which he XXVII. in particular was to convert the world from Idolatry and Judaifm, to acknowledge Jefus to be the true Meffias. Now when men, by the preaching of the Apoftles, and to the end. by the miracles that accompanied it, were fo wrought on, as to believe that Jefus was the Chrift; then, according to the practice of Philip towards the Eunuch of Ethiopia, and of St. Paul to his Jailor at Philippi, they might immediately baptize them; yet moft commonly there was a fpecial inftruction to be ufed, before perfons were baptized, who might in general have fome conviction, and yet not be fo fully fatisfied, but that a great deal of more pains was to be taken to carry them on to that full affurance of faith which was neceffary. This was a work of much time, and was to be managed by the Paftors or Teachers of the feveral Churches; fo that the meaning of what St. Paul fays was this, that he was to publish the Gofpel from city to city, but could not defcend to the particular labour of preparing and inftructing of the perfons to be baptized, and to the baptizing them when fo prepared. If he had entered upon this work, he could not have made that progrefs, nor have founded thofe Churches that he did. All this is therefore mifunderftood, when it is applied to fuch preaching as is ftill continued in the Church; which does not fucceed the apoftolical preaching, that was infpired and infallible, but comes in the room of that inftruction and teaching which was then performed by the Paftors of the Church. The laft head in this Article relates to the Baptism of Infants, which is fpoken of with that moderation, which appears very eminently through the whole Articles of our Church. On this head, it is only faid to be most agreeable with the inftitution of Chrift, and that therefore it is to be in any ways retained in the Church. Now to open this, it is to be confidered, that though Baptifm and Circumcifion do not in every particular come to a parallel, yet they do agree in two things: the one is, that both were the rites of admiffion into their respective covenants, and to the rights and privileges that did arife out of them; and the other is, that in them both there was an obligation laid on the perfons to the obfervance of that whole law to which they were fo initiated. St. Paul, arguing against circumcifion, lays this down as an uncontefted maxim, that if a man was circumcifed, he became Galat. v. 3. thereby a debtor to the whole law. Parents had, by the Jewish conftitution, an authority ART. given them to conclude their children under that obligaXXVII. tion; fo that the foul and will of the child was fo far put in the power of the parents, that they could bring them under federal obligations, and thereby procure to them a fhare in federal bleflings. And it is probable, that from. hence it was, that when the Jews made profelytes, they confidered them as having fuch authority over their children, that they baptized them firft, and then circumcifed them, though infants. Now fince Chrift took Baptifm from them, and appointed it to be the federal admiffion to his religion, as Circumcifion had been in the Mofaical difpenfation, it is reasonable to believe, that except where he declared a change that he made in it, in all other refpects it was to go on and to continue as before; efpecially when the Apoftles in their first preaching told the Jews, that the Acts ii. 39. promifes were made to them and to their children; which the Jews must have underftood according to what they were already in poffeffion of, that they could initiate their children into their religion, bring them under the obligations of it, and procure to them a fhare in those bleflings that belonged to it. The law of nature and nations puts children in the power of their parents; they are naturally their guardians; and if they are entitled to any thing, their parents have a right to tranfact about it, becaufe of the weakness of the child; and what contracts foever they make, by which the child does not lofe, but is a gainer, thefe do certainly bind the child. It is then fuitable both to the conftitution of mankind, and to the difpenfation of the Mofaical covenant, that parents may dedicate their children to God, and bring them under the obligations of the Gofpel; and if they may do that, then they certainly procure to them with it, or in lieu of it, a fhare in the bleffings and promifes of the Gofpel. So that they may offer their children either themfelves, or by fuch others of their friends, to whom for that occafion they transfer that right which they have, to tranfact for and to bind their children. All this receives a great confirmation from the decifion which St. Paul makes upon a cafe that must have happened commonly at that time; which was, when one of the parties in a married ftate, bufband or wife, was converted, while the other continued ftill in the former ftate of idolatry, or infidelity: here then a fcruple naturally arofe, whether a Believer or Chriftian might fill live in a married ftate with an Infidel. Befides the ill ufage to which that diverfity of religion might give occafion; an other |