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and without a standing in the church of Christ on earth? It cannot be.

But enough has been said to convince every unprejudiced mind, that immersion is not essentially necessary to baptism; but that it is rightly performed by sprinkling, pouring, or washing. If immersion were necessary to the validity of such an important ordinance, we might certainly expect a thus saith the Lord', for it; but none can be produced. The original word signifies any kind of washing. No example can be produced in Scripture, from which it certainly appears, that immersion was used, while there are examples in which the probability is that it was not used. The things signified by baptism are more frequently represented by sprinkling and pouring than in any other way. God has eminently blessed those who use pouring and sprinkling. And these are modes which are best adapted to all circumstances. Hence we conclude, that while baptism is rightly performed by immersion, it is alsó rightly performed by pouring or sprinkling; and that the latter are the more expedient modes.

SERMON XCVIII.

INFANT BAPTISM.

MATTHEW Xxvi. 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."

On the last Sabbath we attended to the general nature of baptism, and the mode in which it is rightly administered. We come now to treat of the proper subjects of this ordinance. Should baptism be administered only to adults? Or ought it to be administered also to infants? The former is held by some. But we, with far the greater

part of the christian church, affirm the latter, and accordingly practice.

The object at present is to prove that infants ought to be baptized.

And here it may be proper to remark, that the object is only to establish the right of infants in general, without intending to intimate, that all infants indiscriminately, whatever be the qualifications of parents, have this right. The right of infants to baptism we argue,

From infant circumcision. Circumcision was a seal of the covenant which God made with Abraham. This was the covenant of grace. Infants of eight days old, were admitted to circumcision, and thus were introduced to a visible standing in the covenant of grace. Baptism has come in the room of circumcision; and therefore should be applied to the same subjects, unless a command to the contrary can be produced. This cannot be done. And therefore infants are to be baptized. The correctness of this reasoning, and of the conclusion drawn from it, I will now proceed to show.

The first point to be settled and one of great importance on this subject is, was the covenant which God made with Abraham, the covenant of grace? What relates to this covenant we have contained in the 12th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 22nd chapters of Genesis. The passages are too long to quote in this place. In this covenant God made several promises to Abraham and his seed. These promises on examining the chapters just mentioned, we find may be reduced to the following particulars, viz. that Abraham's name should be great; that he should be a great blessing; that God would bless them that blessed him, and curse them that cursed him; that he should have a numerous seed; that when in bondage in Egypt they should be delivered therefrom: that they should inherit the land of Canaan, and be powerful possessing the gates of their enemies; that he would be Abraham's shield and exceeding great reward, his God and the God of his seed; and that in him and his seed all the families and nations of the earth should be blessed. Such were the promises of the covenant made with Abraham.

In this covenant we assert was contained the covenant of grace. It is true, some of these promises related to

temporal blessings. Of this nature were the promises of a numerous seed, their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, their inheriting the land of Canaan, and their possessing the gates of their enemies. But even these promises had a connexion with the covenant of grace. And although some say, we find nothing of the covenant of grace in the whole of the Abrahamic covenant; yet, perhaps, there was not a promise in that covenant, which had not a reference to the covenant of grace. Even those promises, in this covenant, which we allow to have been of a temporal nature, were promises of the covenant of grace, in like manner, as under the New Testament, godliness has the promise of the life that now is. Besides, the promise of a numerous progeny, as will be shown presently, looked further than the natural seed of Abraham; embracing also the spiritual seed of Christ, who was according to the flesh, the Seed of Abraham. Also the land of Canaan, though a temporal blessing, was given to be the dwelling place of the church, that it might be separated from the world; and to be to the spiritual seed a type, and an earnest of the heavenly inheritance. The deliverance from Egyptian bondage was not merely the deliverance of Israel considered as a nation; but also and more especially as the church of God. And the seed possessing the gates of their enemies, may refer to the victories of the church, as well as of Israel considered as a nation. And in fact, it does appear, that instead of there being nothing spiritual in the covenant made with Abraham, the principal and ultimate meaning of every word in that covenant was spiritual; and every word was connected with the carrying on of the great plan of redemption through a Saviour to come.

But let us attend more particularly to the proof of the proposition, that the covenant made with Abraham, was not a mere national, and temporal covenant, containing only temporal promises of national or individual blessings; but that it contained promises of spiritual and eternal blessings, and was really the covenant of grace.

1. One of the promises of the covenant made with Abraham was, that he should have a numerous seed. This promise we have contained in the following passages. Gen. xii. 2; "I will make of thee a great nation." Gen, xiii. 16; "I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so

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that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." Gen. xv. 5; "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him so shall thy seed be." Gen. xvii. 2, 4, 5, 6; "I will multiply thee exceedingly-thou shalt be a father of many nations. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee." And Gen. xxii. 17; "In multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore." These were the promises of the covenant, respecting the numerous seed of Abraham. These promises were literally fulfilled; for the natural posterity of Abraham were very numerous. Not only the Israelites; but also the Ishmaelites, and Midianites, and Sabeans, and Shuhites, and Ashurites, and Edomites all sprang from him. But the promise of a numerous seed had also a spiritual meaning; and related to a numerous seed of believers in Christ, not only of the natural posterity of Abraham; but of every nation under heaven, who have come, or shall yet come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. It was in this sense, especially and emphatically that God promised to Abraham, that his seed should be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore. For this assertion we have the unquestionable authority of the New Testament. Rom. iv. 11, 16, 17; "That he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised. Therefore it (that is the promise) is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law (that is the Israelites) but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written (quoting the very promise of the covenant which we are considering) I have made thee a father of many nations. Also, Gal. iii. 9. 28, 29; They which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, There is neither Jew nor Greek-ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if And if ye be Christ's, then are ye also Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." From these texts it clearly appears, that believers of every nation. as well as the natural posterity of Abraham, were intended by the promise of a numerous seed. And therefore the

covenant made with Abraham was not merely a national covenant but the covenant of grace.

2. A second remarkable promise in this covenant was, that in Abraham and his seed should all the families and nations of the earth be blessed. This promise we have in the two following passages: Gen. xii. 3; "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxii. 18; "In thy Seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed." It could not be true in any other than a spiritual sense, that in Abraham and his Seed should all the families and nations of the earth be blessed; for the temporal blessings promised to Abraham never have, and never will come upon all the families and nations of the earth. This promise must be understood in a spiritual sense, as having a particular reference to the Messiah, who according to the flesh was to spring from Abraham, and to the blessings of grace which through him were to be offered and extended to all nations. For the earth is yet to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord and of his grace through Christ; and then will all the families and nations of the earth be blessed in Abraham, and his Seed Christ. The New Testament has placed this matter in a clear light, and unequivocally favours this interpretation of the promise in the Abrahamic covenant, which we are considering. Peter preaching to the Jews, Acts iii. 25; made use of this promise as a reason why they should accept Christ and his gospel; because they were the natural descendants of Abraham, to whom more especially this promise was made; and thus evidently applied it to Christ and his gospel. "Ye are (said he) the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy Seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." And on this account it was that the gospel was first preached unto the Jews, as Peter added in the next verse, "Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Again that the promise we are considering, was a promise of a Saviour, and of spiritual blessings through him is unquestionably proved from Gal. iii. 8. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Heathen, through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed." Observe, it is here expressly

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