him, in order to receive thefe benefits from him, our Catechifm, in conformity with the language of holy writ, compares with that of the members of the body to the head. And how proper the comparison is, will eafily appear by carrying it through the feveral particulars, in which the fimilitude holds. As, in every living creature, perception and motion proceed from the head; fo, to every Chriftian, knowledge of God's will, and power to obey it, flow from Chrift. As the head governs and directs each limb, fo Chrift is the Sovereign and Law-giver of each believer. As being joined to the head makes the whole body one animal frame; fo being joined to Chrift makes the whole number of Chriftians one fpiritual fociety. As communication with the head preferves our natural life; fo communion with Chrift fupports our religious life. He therefore is to the Church what the head is to the body and each perfon who belongs to the Church, is a member of that body, or, in the language of the catechifm, a member of Chrif. For he, as St Paul expreffes it, is the Head: from which all the body, having nourishment ministered, and knit together by joints and bands, increafeth with the increase of God*. : And this manner of speaking is frequently repeated in fcripture, as it well deferves; being not only, as you have seen, admirably fitted to reprefent the happy relations, in which we ftand to our Redeemer, but alfo to remind us of the duties, which are derived from thera: of the honour and obedience due to him, who is Head over all things to his body, the Church†; of our continual dependence on him, fince he is our life ‡; and of the tendernefs and kindnefs, which we owe to our fellowChristians, and they to us, being all united, through him, fo intimately to each other. For fince, as the apoftle argues, by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body: as in the natural body, the eye cannot fay unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor any one member to the rest, I have no need of you; but even the more feeble and lefs hancurable members are neceffary§: so in the fpiritual body, they, who in any refpect may feem to excel others, ought by no means to defpife them; fince every good Chriftian is, in his proper degree and place, both a vaVOL. IV. Hh luable Col. ii 19. + Eph. i. 22, 23. ‡ Col. iii. 4. luable and an useful member of Christ. And again, as in the natural body, there is a connection and fympathy of the feveral parts; by which the good ftate of one preferves the other's in health and eafe, or its bad ftate gives them pain and diforder; fo fhould there be in the fpiritual body, and there is in all true members of it, a mutual caution not to do harm to each other, and a mutual defire of each others benefit. If one member fuffer, all the other members should by a compaffionate temper fuffer with it; and if one member be honoured, all the reft fhould fincerely rejoice with it*. Think then, do you feel in your hearts this good difpofition, as a mark of being members of Chrift? If not, ftudy to form yourfelves to it without delay. 2. The fecond privilege of baptifm is, that by it we are made the children of God, in a fenfe and manner, in which by nature we are not fo. Our bleffed Saviour indeed is called in scripture the only begotten Son of God. Nor can the highest of creatures claim God for his Father by the fame right that he doth. But in a lower fenfe, God is the Father of angels and men; whom he hath created in their feveral degrees of likeness to his own image. Adam, our firft parent, was the fon of God by a strong refemblance to his heavenly Father in original uprightness. But as this fimilitude was greatly obfcured both in him and in his defcendants by the fall, though preserved by the covenant of the promised Seed from being utterly effaced; fo in time it was almoft entirely loft among men, by the prevalence of fin; and they became in general enemies of God, and chil den of the devil ‡. But our gracious Maker, pitying us notwithstanding, and treating us like children, even when thus degenerated, hath mercifully appointed a method for adopting us into his family again, after we have caft ourselves out of it; and for reftoring and raifing us gradually to the fame and greater likenefs to him and favour with him, than even our first parents ever enjoyed. Now this ineftimable bleffing was procured for mankind through the means of Jefus Chrift; and we become intitled to it by taking him for our head, and becoming his members, in fuch manner, as you have heard briefly explain * I Cor. xii. 26. † Rom. v. 10. Col. i. 21. ‡ 1 John iii. 10. ed.. ed. For to as many as receives him, to them gives he power to become the fons of God, to them that believe in his name *. Be*, રven ing therefore thus united to him, who is in the highest sense the Son of God; and claiming not in our own name, but under him; we are admitted again into fuch a degree of fonship as we are capable of; and made the children of God, by faith in Jefus Chrift + Indeed not only Chriftians, but the Jews, are called in scripture the children of God; and fuch they really were; being first, as Christians were afterwards, the children of his oovenant §. But ftill, as theirs was a state of lefs knowledge, more burthenfome precepts, and stricter government; the apostle speaks of them, compared with us, only as fervants in his family. Now fay, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a fervant, though he be Lord of all. Even fo we, fpeaking of the Jewish nation, when we were children, unqualified for any great degrees of liberty, were in bandage under the elements of the world. But when the fulness of time was come, God fent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the law. Wherefore we are no more fervants but fons | Behold, then, as ||St John expreffes it, what manner of love the Father hath beflowed upon us, that we should be called, in this diftinguished fenfe, the fons of God: especially confidering the confequence drawn by St Paul, If children, then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Chrift: which is the Third and laft privilege of baptifm, and completes the value of it, that by entering into the Christian covenant we are made inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; that is, intitled to perfect and endless happiness in body and foul. Had we continued in the primitive uprightnefs of our first parents, and never finned at all, we could have had no claim, but from God's free promife, to any thing more, than that our being should not be worse to us than not being. But as we are originally depraved, and have actually finned, far from having any claim to happiness, we are liable to juft punishment for ever. And leaft of all could we have any claim to fuch happiness, as eternal life and glory. But bleffed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift: who of his abundant mercy hath begotten us a gain unto a lively hope to an inheritance incorruptible and undeftled, and that fadeth not away, referved in beaven for us*. Thefe then are the privileges of the. Chriftian covenant. As for thofe, who have no knowledge of that covenant; the Apostle hath told us indeed, that as many as kave finned without law, fhall perith without law: but he hath told us alfo, that when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, they are a law unto themselves ‡. And whether none of them fhall attain to any degree of a better life, is no concern of ours; who may well be contented with the affurance, that our own lot will be a happy one beyond all comparison, if we pleafe. He, who hath fhown the abundance of his love to us, will undoubtedly fhow, not only his justice, but his mercy, to all the works of his hands, as far, and in fuch manner as is fit. There is indeed none other name under "heaven, given among men, whereby we must be faved, but that of Jefus Chrifl§. But whether they, who have not had in this life the means of calling upon it, fhall receive any benefit from him; or if any, what and how; as neither fcriptnre hath told us, nor reafon can tell us, it is prefumptuous to determine, and ufelefs to inquire. The points to which we must attend, are those which relate to ourselves: that we give due thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the faints in light; and be duly careful to walk worthy of God, who bath called us into his kingdom and glory. For we have a right to the privileges of the covenant, only on the fuppofition and prefumption of cur performing the obligations of it. Children indeed of believers, who are taken cut of the world before they become capable of faith and obedience, we doubt not, are happy. For the general declarations of holy writ plainly comprehend their cafe: and our Saviour hath particularly declared, that of fuch is the kingdom of God *. But all who live to maturer years; as, on the one hand, they may intitle themfelves, through God's bountiful promife, though not their own merit, to higher degrees of future felicity, in proportion as their fervice bath been confiderable; fo on the other, they are intitled to no degree at all, any longer than they practise that holiness, Rom. ii. 12. Ibid. viii. 14. § Acts iv. 10, 12. f Eolings, in which they have engaged to live, and without which no man ball fee the Lord*: We shall be acknowledged as children, only whilft we obey our heavenly Father: and the baptifm which faveth us, is not the outward putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the inward anfacer of a good confcience towards Godt. Which therefore that we may all of us be able always to make, may he of his infinite mercy grant, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. AFTER the privileges, to which Baptifm gives us a claim, our catechifm proceeds to set forth the duties, to which it binds us thofe things, which our godfathers and godmothers promifed and vorved in our names. For without the performance of thefe conditions, neither hath God engaged, nor is it confiftent with the holiness of his nature and the honour of his government, to beftow fuch benefits upon us: nor indeed shall we be capable of receiving them. For a virtuous and religi ous temper and behaviour here, is abfolutely requifite, not only to intitle, but to qualify and prepare us for a virtuous and religious bleffedness hereafter, fuch as that of heaven is. Now thefe conditions, or obligations on our part, are three: that we renounce what God forbids; that we believe what he teaches, and do what he commands: or, in other words, repentance, faith, and obedience. These things are plainly neceffary; and they are plainly all that is neceffary: for as, through the grace of God, we have them in our power; fo we have nothing more. And therefore they have been conftantly, |