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SERMON CLVIII.

THE EXTRAORDINARY MEANS OF GRACE.-DIRECT ARGUMENTS FOR INFANT BAPTISM.

MATTHEW XXVIIi. 19.-Go ye, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

IN the preceding discourse, I considered the principal Objections of the Antipadobaptists to the Doctrine under consideration, so far as I recollected them. I shall now proceed to offer some direct arguments, to prove that Infants are proper Subjects of Baptism.

1. Infants were circumcised in the Church, under the Abrahamic Dispensation: Circumcision was the same ordinance with Baptism: therefore Infants are to be baptized.

The Covenant, made with Abraham, was that, which is made with the Church, under the Christian Dispensation. To Abraham God said, Genesis xvii. 7, I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant; to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. In Lev. xxvi, 3, 12, it is said, If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them, then will I walk among you, and be your God, and ye shall be my people. In conformity to this language, Moses declares to the Israelites, Deut. xxvi. 17, after they had entered into a solemn, public, national covenant with God, Thou hast avouched the Lord, this day, to be thy God; and the Lord hath avouched thee, this day, to be his people.

In conformity to this covenant, God styled himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and afterwards the God of Israel; JEHOVAH, God of Israel; and THE HOLY ONE of Israel. Moses, and the Prophets, addressing the Israelites, call him perpetually your God; and, when addressing the nation as one, thy God. But nothing is more evident, than that God could not be the God of Israel, or of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in any sense, in which he is not the God of all nations, and of all individuals, except by his own sovereign and gracious determination, expressed in his covenant. Equally evident is it, that no inspired man would style him the God of this nation, or of these individuals, but by his appointment. It deserves to be remarked, that he is never styled the God of Ephraim, nor the God of Judah. The Covenant was not made with either of these divisions of Israel, separately considered, but with the whole nation. Nor is he ever styled the God of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Solomon, Hezekiah, or Jo

siah; the Covenant having never been made, in form, with either of these persons. But he is styled the God of David, with whom he renewed this covenant in a peculiar form. See 1 Kings vii. and 1 Chron. xvii.

God is also called, as you well know, the God of Zion, or of his Church, for the same reason; to wit, that his covenant is made with her.

Now this is the very Covenant, which is made with the Church under the Christian Dispensation. Of this the evidence is unanswerable. St. Paul, quoting in the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, from the thirty-first of Jeremiah, verses 31-34, says, For if that first covenant had been faultless, to wit, the Covenant made at Sinai, of which Moses was the mediator, then should no place have been found for the second: to wit, that of which the Apostle here declares Christ to be the Mediator. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah: not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the Land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant, that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more. It will be observed, that the words of this covenant are the same with the words of that, which was made with Abraham; as, from time to time, publicly and solemnly repeated by the nation of Israel; and the same in substance with those, which God himself used in his original promulgation of the covenant to that Patriarch: all, that is involved in this covenant, being expressed in this single, comprehensive declaration, I WILL BE YOUR GOD, AND YE SHALL

BE MY PEOPLE.

As the Prophet Jeremiah has informed us; as St. Paul, quoting his declarations and commenting upon them, has informed us; that this is the covenant, made with the Church under the Christian dispensation; we cannot, without doing violence to the plainest language of the Scriptures, hesitate concerning this truth. As God made this very covenant with Abraham; as Moses, and all the inspired men who followed him in the nation of Israel, have declared those to be the very words of that covenant; it cannot, as I think, even with decency, be denied to be the same covenant.

But in this covenant, God expressly promised to be a God to Abraham, and to his seed. The proper import of these words is explained by God himself, when promulging the covenant to Abra

ham, Gen. xvi. 10-14, in a manner, which seems to admit of but one construction. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee; Every man-child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he, that is eight days old, shall be circumcised among you; every man-child in your generations; he, that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He, that is born in thy house, and he, that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and my covenant shall be in your flesh, for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He hath broken my covenant. He hath broken my covenant. The Covenant is here extended to Infants, directly descended from the loins of Abraham; to Servants, born in the house; and to Servants bought with money of any stranger. It is also declared to be a covenant, extending to all succeeding generations of the descendants of Abraham. This, it is to be remembered, is the explanation, which God himself has given us, of the extent of this covenant.

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The manner, in which the covenant was, in this respect, understood by Moses, he has taught us in Deut. xxix. 9-15. Ye stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God; your Captains of your tribes, your Elders, and your Officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day; That he may establish thee to-day for a people unto himself, and that He may be unto thee a God; as He hath said unto thee, and as He hath sworn unto thy Fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and this oath; but with him that standeth here with us, this day, before the Lord our God; and also with him that is not here with us this day.

In this passage Moses informs us, in the first place, that all Israel, not only the men, but their little ones also, their wives, and the stran ger who was in their camp, from the hewer of wood to the drawer of water, were included in the covenant, made, or, in better terms, solemnly renewed, with God on that day.

Secondly; That this covenant, also, was made between God and the succeeding generations of this people, Neither with you only, (that is, with Israel then present) do I make this covenant; but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God;

AND ALSO WITH HIM, THAT IS NOT HERE WITH US THIS DAY.

Thirdly; That it was the same covenant, formerly made by God with Abraham, and afterwards renewed with Isaac and Jacob. It was the same in substance,-that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH THEE, THIS DAY, FOR A PEOPLE UNTO HIMSELF, AND THAT HE MAY BE UNTO

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THEE A GOD. It was the same in fact, as he hath said unto thee, AND AS HE HATH SWORN UNTO THY FATHERS, TO ABRAHAM, to ISAAC, AND TO JACOB.

From these passages it is evident, as I apprehend, beyond all reasonable debate, that the covenant, made with Abraham, was made, first, with himself; secondly, with his household generally; thirdly, with his servants by name, whether born in his house, or bought with money; fourthly, with his infant children, afterwards limited particularly to the descendants of Isaac, and afterwards, again, to the descendants of Jacob; fifthly, to these descendants as a people; sixthly, to their little ones, or infants, in every generation; seventhly, to their servants universally; and eighthly, to the strangers, who dwelt in their nation.

To all these, God covenanted, that He would be their God, and that they should be his people.

I say this is evident beyond debate, because it is expressed in so many words, and those as unambiguous, as are found in any language. He who attempts to reason away the plain import of such explicit declarations, may amuse, and deceive, himself, and those who listen to him; but he must be a very unhappy commentator on the word of God.

This covenant being, then, the only covenant of grace, which God has ever made with mankind; the terms, and therefore the extent, of it must ever continue the same, unless repealed, or otherwise altered by its Author. But this covenant was as really, and as expressly, made with Infants, as with Adults. If, then, God has not declared in some manner or other, that He will no longer comprise Infants within this covenant; it still comprises them. But he has made no such declaration in any manner whatever. Infants are, therefore, still comprised in this covenant.

As the fact, that infants were universally circumcised in the Church, during the continuance of the Dispensation made to Abraham, will not be contested; I shall proceed to show, that Circumcision was the same sacrament with Baptism. Concerning this subject, I observe,

In the first place, that Circumcision was appointed to be a Token of the Covenant, above explained, between God and his Church.

A Token is a sign, or proof, of any thing, of which it is constituted a Token. Here Circumcision is made a token of the covenant of God upon the circumcised. Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, said God to Abraham; and it shall be a token of my covenant betwixt me and you. "It is," says Poole, commenting on this passage, "a sign, evidence, and assurance, both of the blessing promised by that God, who appointed this ordinance, and of man's obligation to the duties required."

In a different form of expression, but ultimately with the same reference, and substantially with the same meaning, it is called a seal of the righteousness of faith. And he received the sign of cir

cumcision, a seat of the righteousness of the faith, which he had, being yet uncircumcised. A seal, as you well know, is an instrument, used to make an impression upon wax, annexed to some writing, containing the pleasure, determination, or engagement, of him, whose seal it is. The intention of annexing a seal to such a writing is, solemnly to make known, that the writing is his writing, or the act, his act; and that it contains and communicates, his pleasure. Thus, Bonds, Deeds of gift, Indentures, Commissions, and other Instruments, are sealed, to authenticate the instrument itself, and to furnish an obligatory proof of the engagements of the Sealer.

In the present case, it will be necessary, in order to understand the import of the seal in question, to examine the nature of the transaction, to which it is annexed. This transaction is the Covenant, which has been so often mentioned in these discourses concerning Baptism. A Covenant between men consists universally of two promises, or engagements: one, made by each of the parties. The fulfilment of each of these promises is the condition, alternately, on which the performance of the other is engaged. Both promises are voluntarily made; and neither party, originally, was under any obligation to the promise, actually made.

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These observations, however, are only in a partial sense applicable to a covenant, made between God and man; particularly to the covenant now under discussion. This covenant is a Law, published by God, directing, in an absolute manner, the conduct of men with respect to the subjects of the covenant; and annexing penalties to their transgressions, and rewards to their obedience. Thus the man-child, which was not circumcised on the eighth day, God says, shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. Thus also, in Lev. xxvi., He says, I will walk among you and be your God, and ye shall be my people; but if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments, but that ye break my covenant, I will also do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the and cause sorrow of heart. In Deut. xxvi. Moses says to Israel, Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes and commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice; and the Lord hath avouched thee this day, to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments. In the 89th Psalm, which contains a full and remarkable promulgation of the Covenant of Grace, or more properly, perhaps, of the Covenant of Redemption, speaking of Christ, God says, If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, then will I visit their transgression with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness I will not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail: my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. In Jer. xxxi. quoted Heb. viii.

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