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ster of the subject, and of the arguments which have been, or indeed can be, produced; for there is but little fresh matter at this time to be started. What progress might he make, within the compass of a year, at the rate of a couple of hours only in each day!

By such an employment of his hours, he will be prepared, whenever summoned, to render a good account of them. Conscious that he must render an account, and cannot render a good one, it is impossible for him, if he reflect at all, to continue long at ease. The grand question concerning our conduct is, how it will appear at the great scrutiny : and he alone is truly wise, who spends his time as, at the last hour, he will wish to have spent it. Happy the man, who may be able with all humility to say, when that hour shall come-" The time which "thou hast given me has been passed in thy service. "I have not suffered myself, through indolence or "dissipation, to live in ignorance of thy truth, or "to withhold it from others. I have laboured dili"gently and faithfully to find it; and when found, "to publish and defend it. It is not my fault, if the "people perish for lack of knowledge. I have done

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my best: I have fought a good fight: I have kept "the faith; and endeavoured that others should do "the same." This is a state of satisfaction and comfort for a minister of Christ, weighed against which, "the world, with all its wealth, all its pleasures, and all its honours, is dust upon the balance, "without weight and without regard."

But, besides the testimony borne him by his con

science within, other witnesses will appear in his favour from without. He will have the approbation and thanks of all those who wish well to the church and to their country; who do not apprehend, that. the latter will be benefited by the destruction of the former, or a nation saved by apostasy from its Saviour. He will have the attestation of multitudes, that by his ministry, by his discourses, by his writings, they were preserved or reclaimed from error and from death, and conducted in the way of truth and life. "Behold him, and the children which "God hath given him, like the arrows in the hand of "the mighty happy is the man that hath his quiver "full of them; he shall not be ashamed when he "speaketh with his enemies, at the seat of judgement *."

On that seat he will view the blessed Person for whose faith he has contended; whose cause he has maintained; the honour of whose name he has asserted and vindicated; who has been a spectator of the conflict, and will award the crown.

* Isaiah, viii. 18.; Heb. ii. 31; Psal. cxxvii. 4, 5.

81

DISCOURSE VI.

THE TRINITY IN UNITY.

MATTHEW, XXVIII. 19.

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

SUCH is the solemn form of baptism, prescribed by our blessed Lord himself, as a perpetual standing law to his church. Having redeemed mankind, and thereby acquired a new and special claim to their homage and service, he entered upon, and took possession of, his purchased inheritance. And for what end? Plainly, that he might bring all nations, thus made his own by right of redemption, to the knowledge and worship of the true God. And how is this done? Why, by making them acquainted, in the very first instance, with the obligations conferred upon them by three ever blessed Persons, called by the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. These three Persons, therefore, thus related and thus named, constitute that one true God, into whose name, faith, and profession, people of all the nations of the earth, and, among them, we who are here assembled, have

been baptized. In this consisted the sum of Christianity on this foundation were the apostles to erect a church throughout all the world. Here, if any where, a right understanding, upon so important a point as the nature of God and the manner of his existence, would be highly necessary; nor could any one mistake more dangerously and fundamentally, than in such an article as this.-Let us then consider, if you please, how much is implied in the form of baptism thus prescribed by our Lord to the universal church, and by that church retained and observed from its first foundation to the present hour; how this is confirmed by the declarations of Scripture at large; and the interest we have in the doctrine that shall be thus established.

I. Now by the being baptized in the name of God, can be meant no less than entering into covenant with a person, as God; professing faith in him. as such; enlisting oneself into his service; and vowing all obedience and submission to him. Such is the natural, the obvious import of this rite, by which we are admitted into the church of Christ, this solemn form of baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; that is, into the faith, service, and worship, of the Holy Trinity.

For let us reflect a little

The nations were to be baptized in the name of three persons, in the same manner, and therefore, surely, in the same sense, as in the name of one. Whatever honour, reverence, or regard is paid to the Father in this solemn rite, the same we cannot

but suppose paid to all three. Is he acknowledged as the object of worship? So are the other two persons likewise. Is he God and Lord over us? So are they. Are we his subjects, servants, and soldiers, enrolled under him? So are we equally under all. Are we hereby regenerated and made the temple of the Father? So are we likewise of the Son and Holy Ghost. "We will come," says our Lord, "and "make our abode with him." The outward act respects all the three; the inward meaning and signification must do the same.

We may consider likewise, that in the very names of Father and Son, a near relation, alliance, and unity, between two of the persons, is intimated; and in reason, we must infer something of a similar kind for the third, so closely joined with them. It is not said, in the name of God and his two faithful ser"vants;" nor "of God, and Christ, and the Holy "Ghost;" which might have suggested a thought, that one only of the three was God; but, "in the "name of the Father and of the Son," a style perfectly equal and familiar, without any note of distinction more than that of a personal relation, carrying with it the idea of a sameness of nature; as, among men, every father and son are of the same human nature with each other. From the very wording of the form of baptism, therefore, most reasonably might it be presumed, that the first two Persons named were equally divine: and the inference from thence would fairly, and, indeed unavoidably, reach

a John, xiv. 23.

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