Page images
PDF
EPUB

his belief of to the church. Acts, viii. 37. And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest (be baptized). And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Mark, xvi. 16. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved. Heb. x. 22, 23. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith; having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised).

4. Q. If such a repentance, and such a faith be required of all who are baptized, why then are infants baptized, who by reason of their tender age cannot perform either of them ?

A. Because they promise them both by their sureties; which promise when they come to age themselves are bound to perform.

5. Q. Are not actual faith and repentance required of those who are to be baptized?

A. Yes, if they be persons capable of it: otherwise it is sufficient that they be obliged to believe and repent as soon as they shall be capable of so doing.

6. Q. How can any one promise this for another? A. Upon a supposition of charity: that as children are born of Christian parents, and under a security of being bred up to a sense and knowledge of their duty in this particular, and of the infinite obligations that lie upon them to fulfil it; so they will take care (by God's help) so to order both their faith and manners, as their interest as well as duty requires them to do

PROOF SUBJOINED.-Deut. xxix. 11, 12. 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; that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God. 7. Q. But what if they should not fulfil what has been promised in their names?

A. In that case the covenant made on their behalf will be void: and so by not fulfilling what was promised for them, they will lose all those blessings which God would otherwise have been obliged to bestow upon them.

8. Q. Would it not be more reasonable to tarry till persons are grown up, and so in a condition to make the covenant themselves, before they were permitted to be baptized?

A. We are not to consider what we think best; but what God has directed us to do. Now God expressly ordered the children of the Jews to be admitted into covenant with him, at eight days old. Into the place of circumcision, baptism has succeeded; as the Gospel has into the place of the law. There is therefore the same reason why our children should from the beginning be admitted into the Christian, as why the Jews' children should have been entered into the legal covenant. God has made no exception in this particular; our infants are as capable of covenanting as theirs were: and if God thought fit to receive them into the legal covenant, and did not account the incapacity which their age put them under, any bar to hinder them from circumcision; neither

ought we to think the same defect any sufficient obstacle to keep our infants from being baptized, and admitted thereby in that of the Gospel.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Gen. xvii. 12, 13. 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. Deut. xxix. 10, 11. 12. As above. Col. ii. 11, 12. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

1 Cor. vii. 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children: but now are they holy.

SECT. XLVI.

Of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and how it differs from the Popish Mass.

1. Q. What is the other sacrament of the New Testament?

A. The sacrament of the Lord's supper?

2. Q. Why do you call it the Lord's supper? A. Because it was both instituted by our Lord at supper, and was designed to succeed into the place of the Paschal supper among the Jews.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Matt. xxvi. 26, &c. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it: for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. Mark, xiv. 22. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 1 Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

3. Q. Ought this sacrament to be administered only at the time of supper?

A. That is not necessary, any more than that we should be obliged to eat our own supper before it; that we should celebrate it only once a year, in an upper room, in an eating posture, and the like. Our Saviour took that occasion, and that season, for the institution of it; but he did not intend thereby to oblige us to celebrate it in all the exact circumstances of time, place, posture, &c, that occurred in his own administration of it.

4. Q: Why was the sacrament of the Lord's supper ordained ?

A. For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice

of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.

5. Q. What do you mean by a continual remembrance?

A. A remembrance that is not to determine after a certain time, as that of the Paschal supper did; but to continue to be kept up by this holy sacrament to the very end of the world.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-1 Cor. xi. 26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. Comp. Acts, i. 11. Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner, as ye have seen him go into heaven. John, xiv. 3. And, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

6. Q. Is there any thing more intimated by that expression?

A. Yes, there is; namely, that this sacrament ought not to be celebrated only once in the year, as the passover was; but to be administered from time to time; so as to keep up a constant, lively remem brance, in our minds, of the sacrifice of the death of Christ.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Acts, ii. 46. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. xx. 7. And the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow. 1 Cor. xi. 26. For

upon

« PreviousContinue »