5 I2 The Authority of fefiuChriff with the Commiffou Vol, I. to them, and when they had gone over Judea and Samaria, then topats to otherNa. (ions, as St. Luke loth moft exprefly declare; Ai, r. 8. 2'e (hall receive power; after that the holyGhofi is come upon you, and yepall be witneffes unto me, both in eru falera, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the eettermofl parts of the earth, But fee the orange power of Prejudice, to blind the Eyes even of good Men; in the plaineft matters. The Difciples of bur Saviour, for all they had entertained á newReligion, yet they retained the old Prideand Prejudice oftheir Nation, againft the reft of the World; as if nine but themfelves had any (hare in the favouròf God, or were to have any part in the Salvation of theMeffras. Our Saviour did fo far confider this Prejudice of theirs, that he never in his life timeacquainted them with this matter, fo as tomake them fully to underftand it, be_ caufe they were not able to bear it. And it is very probable, that this is one of thofe things which ourSaviourmeant, john 16. r 2, t3.1haveyetmany things to fayunto ; but ye cannot bear their now. Howbeit when theSpirit oftruth is come, he willguideyou into all truth. That is; he fhould lead them into theknowledge ofthofeTruths, of which theywerenot thencapable. And tho'ourSavióur, after hisRefurre&ion, feems to have declar'd this futïiciently to them; yetby their pra&iceafterhis Afcenfión, it appears that they underfood all this only of thepews, namely that they were topreach the Gofpel firft to the7ews that wereatlerufalem, and inYudea, and then tothofe that weredifpers'd inotherNations ; for'tis clear from the Hiftory oftheirfirft Preaching, recorded in the Nis, that theypreach'd to none but to the Jews, and the Profelytesof the JewifhReli- gion. So (!tongwas, their Prejudice, that they hadnot the leaftfufpicion that this Blef fingof the Gofpel was intended for theHeathenWorld; nor were they convinced to the contrary 'till St. Peter had a fpecial Vifion and Revelation to this purpofe, and the Holy Gho(t cameupon theGentiles in miraculousgifts, ashe had donebefore upon the yews that were converted to Chriftianity. And thus the Spiritof God led them into this Truth, and then they underftoodthis CommandofourSaviour's in a largerSenfe. And to this St. Peter plainly refers, Aels io. 42. where he tellsus, how that Chrift after his Refurre&ion appeared to them, and commanded them to preach unto the People. So likewifedo Paul and Barnabas, Nis t3.46. where they fpeak thus to the Jews, It was neceffarythat the word fhouldfsrfi bepreached to you, but feeing youpet it fromyou, to we turn to the Gentiles, for fo hath theLord commanded us. Now he no where com- manded this, but in this Commiflion, which he gave them before his Afcenfion. Secondly, you have here a particular declaration how they were to manage this work of making Difciples to the Chriftian Religion. r. By baptizing them into the Chriftian Faith. 2. By inftru&ing them in the Precepts and Pra&ices of aChriftian Life. e. By baptizing them into the Chriftian Faith, which is here call'd baptizing them into the Name of the Father, and ofthe Son, and oftheholy Ghofl. Baptifm is a folemn Rite appointed byour Saviour for the initiating Perlons into the Chriftian Religion : But it was a Ceremony in ufe before, both among the Jews andGentiles. The Heathen obferved it at the initiating Perlonsinto their Religious Myfteries; and the Jews, when they admitted Profelytes to their Religion; at which time theMales (asMaimonide, tells us) were bothcircumcifed and baptized, the Women wereonly baptized. One Ciicumftance of the Baptifmofgrown Perlons was, that ftanding in the Water up to the Neck, they received feverai Precepts of the Law. And as the Jewifli Writers fur- ther tell us, this Ceremony did not only belong to them that were of grown Years, but to the Children of Profelytes, if it were defired, upon condition, that when they came to Years they fbquld continue in that Religion. Now tho' this was a religious Ceremony ufed'both byYews and Gentiles, andwith- out any Divine inftitution, that we know of, ourbleffed Saviour (who in none of his lnfl:itutions teems to have favoured unneceffary Innovations) was fo far from the fuperftition of declining it upon this account, that it had been in religious ufe both among Jews and Gentiles,, that he feems the rather to have chofen it for that very reafon. For Peeing it was a common Rite of all Religions, and in it felf very fignificant of that Purity which is the great defign of all Religion, it was the more likely to find the eafier Acceptance, and to be molt fuitable to that, which he in- tended to be the univerfal Religion of the World. As for the form of Baptifm, into the name of the Father, of the Sots, and, of the Holy
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