manner doth God assist the unbelief of those whom he favours, and as if this were yet too little, he adds to his word and oath also this pledge and seal, that their souls may be confirmed. Abraham and his seed "received indeed the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith," agreeably to the words of Paul, Rom. iv. 11, but that righteousness was not yet actually procured by the Surety, "Christ behooved yet to suffer, and enter into his glory" for that purpose. Circumcision sealed to them indeed that he would surely. procure this righteousness, and that they were already justified by its reflex virtue; but what a bloody and painful seal was it to them! but baptism seals now with great ease to the baptized believer. that the everlasting righteousness is procured, and that he is dead, buried, and risen with Christ' according to the text. And therefore baptized believers enjoy now a much better condition than the believing fathers of the Old Testament enjoyed.

"Paul asked the twelve disciples at Ephesus, who had been baptized with the baptism of John, whether they had received the Holy Ghost?" Acts xix. 2. He spake of the Holy Ghost, who was com municated in those times to believers in a great and extraordinary measure. Without doubt all of you have been baptized; but may we not ask you also, have ye received the Holy Ghost to wash away your sins by the blood of Christ? Surely all those who have been outwardly baptized with water, have not been baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Simon the sorcerer was also baptized, but "he had neither part nor lot in this matter; for his heart was not right in the sight of God; but he was in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," as Peter upbraided him, Acts viii. 21, 23. Are there not also many among you, who have never partaken of the benefit signified by baptism? what dost thou and thou think? if thou hadst truly entered into covenant with God, and if thy sins were washen away by the blood and Spirit of Christ, wouldest thou then wallow so in sin, and in excess of riot? wouldest thou wholly forget that thou wast cleansed from thy old sins, and wouldst thou not keep thy garments clean? Suppose that thou art not one of the vilest sinners, but civil, and eminently devout, and that thou hast a zeal for God, but hast not yet the Spirit of regeneration, nor the hid den man of the heart, is thy baptism then indeed aught more than "a putting away of the filthiness of the flesh, which doth not save," as Peter saith, 1 Peter iii. 21. "Is not he a Jew, who is only one outwardly and in the flesh, but he who is one inwardly," as Paul speaks, Rom. ii. 28, 29. Is he then truly a Christian, who hath been VOL. II.

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only outwardly baptized? I deem not: it will also appear more fully on the following Lord's day.

Do ye ask, who those are then, who have partaken of the true baptism, and of the thing signified? we say,

1. That they are concerned and distressed about the uncleanness of their sins. God the Lord, when he brings them into his covenant, gives them his Spirit, who discovers their guilt, and loathsome filthiness to them, whereby they obtain not only a general apprehension, that they are sinners, as well as others; but they also see their sins, this and that sin in particular, and the great multitude of their sins and their guilt, and unsightly filthiness, with shame, detestation and a loathing of themselves. No leper can be so affected with his contagious uncleanness, as the true subjects of baptism are with their sinfulness. This is not a fiction of our own brain, but the Lord himself teacheth it us in his word, as a promise of his covenant, and as the thing signified by baptism, when he saith, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 31. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations." Those whom John baptized "confessed their sins," Matt. iii. 6. And they are affected thus, not only when they are first convinced, but seeing a great deficiency of sanctification in themselves, they are also afterwards often seized with shame and an abhorrence of themselves. See 2 Chron. xxx. 15. Job xlii. 6. Psalm xxxviii and li. Isaiah vi. 5. Rom. vii.

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2. If there were nothing more than this, it would not be a perfect evidence of that baptism which saveth; but since by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better, there ariseth therefore presently a wonderful desire to be cleansed: sin and the filth of it is irksome to them in the extreme, and therefore they have an exceedingly vehement desire to be cleansed from it; the soul finds no rest, until she hath been purified in the fountain of Christ's blood by his Spirit: therefore she betakes herself to him, unites herself to him, applies his blood and sufferings to her, and cries unto him with David, Psalm li. 2, 7. «Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." To this purpose also is the saying of the wise man, Prov. xxii. 11. "He that loveth pureness of heart, the king shall be his friend."

3. He who hath truly partaken of baptism, as a seal of the washing away of his sins, hath also actually and really entered into cove

nant with God upon his call and invitation. It doth not suffice him, that his parents and witnesses have dedicated him to God, but he abides also by what they transacted, he confirms the promise, which they made for him to the Lord, he consents cheerfully to that precious covenant, the lustre of which beams on him, and he surrenders himself in it to the Lord, not only that he may have him for his God, and may obtain of him the benefits of the covenant, but also in order to serve him, and to do his will in all things heartily and without exception. He doth this with a willing heart, and he repeats this action often, because he can never do it with as much heartiness and zeal as he wishes. That those who are sealed by God do this appears from the religious custom of God's people, who renewed again and again their covenant with the God of their fathers. See this Exod. xix. 24. Deut. xxvi. 29. 2 Chron. xv. Neh. ix and x. David "swore therefore, and would perform it, that he would keep God's righteous judgments," Psalm cxix. 106. "John preached the baptism of repentance," according to Mark i. 4, but baptism is unto repentance, because by entering into covenant with God we turn from sin to God, in order to oblige ourselves to serve him, and to devote ourselves to his service.

4. The person who partakes of the grace of baptism, is also exceedingly desirous of an assurance, that he is truly a favourite of God. We know that all true believers do not alway possess an assurance of their good condition; but they are nevertheless habitually desirous of possessing assurance on indisputable grounds: therefore -they search the word of God, that they may learn what are the infailible evidences, that a person is in a state of grace it is also their daily work to observe their mind and conversation, that they may perceive whether they truly correspond with that word; they look to the sacrament, that it may confirm them. All this affords them at times indeed a certain measure of light and enlargement, but no perfect assurance, until the Holy Spirit connects his working and sealing with it, that he may enable them to "know the things that are freely given them of God, and may bear witness with their spirits, that they are the children of God," as Paul speaks, 1 Cor. 11, 12. Rom. viii. 15. Their souls are set upon this, they pray to him for it, and cry anxiously with David, "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation," Psalm xxxv. 3. "Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit," Psalm li. 8, 12. Others concern themselves little about assurance, they

only suppose that their condition is good, and they depend entirely on an ungrounded hope,

Hearers, examine your hearts by these tokens, and see whether they can be found in you? Are ye utter strangers to them? do ye not know them, and do ye not concern yourselves about them? know then that your baptism is nothing but "a putting away of the filthiness of the flesh, which will not save you." And ✪ that this might once awaken you, so that ye might see your sad plight, that ye might bewail it, and cry out with the leper, "Unclean, unclean," 1.ev. xiii. 45, that, as Peter admonished Simon after his baptism, ye might repent of your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thoughts of your hearts might be forgiven you."

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isut, friends of God, with whom these things are found in truth, who neither dare nor may deny them, conduct worthily of the grace which hath been shown to you. And therefore,

1. Believe now that all this great grace hath been sealed to you, that ye are God's covenant people, partakers of all that salvation, which the Father, Son and Holy Ghost bestows on believers, and that ye are cleansed from your sins in the blood of the Lamb. Ye have certain evidences of it, your haptism hath assured you of it, and sealed it to you, the Holy Ghost hath instamped his mark on it; ye ought not then so often to reject your good hope upon every conceit, and indulge unbelief. Or do ye imagine that the baptism which was administered to you in your childhood is of too long a standing, and that it is too far spent, so that ye cannot improve it to your comfort, or that it hath been rendered ineffectual, and that ye are become as it were unbaptized through your sinful backslidings, and that ye obtained grace too long after your baptism, to derive any support from it now? Have ye not then actually, and indeed cleaved to that word and covenant, in which your parents and others dedicated you? hath not the Lord, in virtue of that covenant and of that baptism, kept his eye on you, and, in consequence of it, influenced your souls, and brought you indeed under the bond of the covenant? How beautifully do the words of the form of baptism in the third part apply here! "And if we sometimes through weakness fall inte sin, we must not therefore despair of God's mercy, nor continue in sin, since baptism is a seal, and undoubted testimony, that we have an eternal covenant of grace with Ged." Let the soul therefore sup port herself by looking upon herself as certified and sealed, in consequence of her baptism. This Paul required; for when he had said that we are baptized into the death of Christ, buried and risen with him, he adds, " Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed

unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ," Rom. vi. 11. 2. Thank and praise the Triune God for favouring you thus. It is a great grace that hath been bestowed on you, as we have shown before. Ought not then all that is within you to praise and magnify his name to the utmost """Unto him," saith John, Rev. i. 5, 6, "that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever" It is your duty to devote yourselves wholly to his praise and to his service, that ye may conduct yourselves worthily of his great kindness: ye were obliged to this in your baptism, and ye have surrendered yourselves for this purpose in his Covenant. We must exhibit this once more to you from our form of baptism, which saith to you, "Whereas in all covenants there are conta:ned two parts; therefore are we by God through baptism, admonished of, and obliged unto new obedience, namely, that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; that we trust in him, and love him with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind, and with all our strength, that we forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and holy life." Will ye not hold to this obligation, under which ye were brought long since? Surely ye will let it then appear in all your conversation. "The woman, who was a great sinner, loved much, because her sins, which were many, were forgiven," Luke vii. 47. It behooves you then also to show the power of a great love to the Lord by doing all things, in order to serve him: beware especially of defiling yourselves again with that filth, from which ye have been washen. Would ye bathe and plunge yourselves in that sink, which overflowed the Son of God to his bitter sorrow? It was necessary that Jesus should be "baptized" with blood, that he might baptize you with water and with his Spirit," and "how was he straitened, till it was accomplished?” Luke xii. 50. Would ye then seek your pleasure therein, and afflict him with new sorrows? or "shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus, were baptized into his death?" &c. See Rom. vi, 1-6. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God," according to 2 Cor. vii. 1.

3. Make now a profitable use of baptism, in order to obtain, according to that seal of the covenant, all sealed grace of the Lord, the God of the covenant. Have ye defiled and polluted yourselves with sin, there is "a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness," Zech. xiii.