Serm.LXX. The Authority of efilc ChiVI. Holy Ghof, it plainly refers to that fhort Creed, or Profeflion of. Faith, which was required of thofe that were to be baptized, anfwerable to the'reciting of the Precepts of the Law, at the baptizing of Profelytes among the Yews ; now theArticles of this Creed were reduced to thefe three Heads, of the Father, Son, andHoly GhoJt, and contains what was neceffary tobe believed concerning eachof thefe. And this probably isthat which the Apoftlecalls theDo&rine of Baptifm, .bleb. 6. Z. viz. a thort Summaryof the Chriftian Faith, the Profeffion whereof was to be made at Baptifm ; ofwhich the molt ancient Fathers make fo frequent mention, calling it the rule ofFaith. It was a great while indeed before Chrifti- ans tied themfelves ftriEtly to that very form of Words, which we now call the ílpoftles Creed, but the Senfe was the fame, tho' everyone expreft it in his own Words ; nay the fame Father reciting it upon feveral Occafions, does not confine himfelf-to the very fameExpreffions Aplain indication that they were not then ffriâly bound up to any form of Words, but retaining the fenfe and fubfiance of the Articles, every one exprefs'd themashe pleafed. So that to baptize in the name of theFather, and of theSon, andof the Holy Ghofi, is to perform this Rite or Sa- crament by the Authority of, and with fpecial Relation to the three Perföns of the bleffed Trinity, Father, Son, and HolyGhof, as the chief Objects of the Chri- ftian Faith; whereof folemn Profeffion was then made. So that upon this fórm in Baptifm appointed by our Saviour, compared with what is elfewhere laid in Scripture, concerning the Divinity .of the Son, and the Holy Ghoft, is princi- pally founded the Do&rineof the bleffed Trinity, I meats in that fimplicity in which the Scripture hath delivered it, andnot as it hath been fince confounded and entangled in the Cobwebs and Nicetiesof the Schools. The Scripture in- deed no where calls themPerfons,but fpeaks of them as we do of feveral Perlons and therefore that word is riot unfitly ufed to exprefs the difference between them, or at leaft we do not know a fitter word for that purpofe. By baptizing them in the nameof theFather, Son, andHoly Ghoft, is meant, the initiating of Men by this folemn Rite or Ceremony into the Chriftian Religion, upon their profeffion of the necefl'arÿ Do&rines of it; concerning the Father, Son, andHoly Ghoi, and a folemn Stipulation and Engagement to live according to thofe Do&rines : Which promife of a fuitableLife and Praétice was likewife made at the fame time, as inffin Martyr and other of the ancient Fathers dó teftify. But before I leave this Head, it is very it to take particular notice *hat ufe the Anabaptifts make of thisText, foas in effe& to lay the whole ftfëfs of their Caùfe upon it; as if by virtue of this Commandof our Saviour's, and the man- ner wherein it is expreft, all Infants, even thole of Chriftian Parents, who are themfelves already admitted into the newCovenant ofthe Gofpel, were excluded from Baptifm ; becaufe it is here Paid by Our Saviout, Goje, and d'ifiplé all Na- tions, baptizing them; . from whence they infer, (and very clearly_ and ftrongly as they think) that none are to bebaptized, but fuch as are firft throughly inftru&ed in the Chriftian Religion, and made Difciples, which Infantsare not but only thofe who are grown to fome Maturity of Years and Underftanding: Bit the Opinion and Pra&ice of the ancient Church in this matter, is a fufñcient Bar to this Inference, at leaft to the clearnefs ofit. And indeedit cannot reafonably be imagined, that the Apoftles, whó had all of them been bred up in theyewiJh Religion, which corftantly, and by virtue of a divine Precept andInftitution, admitted Infants into that Church, and to the benefits of that Covenant, by the Rite of Circumcifion, and likewife the Infants of Profelytes by Baptifm, (as I_ obferved before) I fay no Man can reafonably imagine, that the Apoftles could bnderftand ourSaviour, as intending by any confequence from this Text, to ex; elude the Childrenof Chriftians out of the Chriftian Church, and tó debar them of the benefits of the New Covenant of the Gofpel: TheChildren Of Chriftians being every whit as capable of being taken into this New Covenant; and óf par-' taking of the Benefits of it, as Children of the yelps were of being admitted into' Uüú fhë 513
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