Promise to remind him what Obligations his Baptifm lays upon him; a Promise to call upon him, when at years of discretion, to take upon himself publickly those Obligations.

ONE of the principal Objections against the Baptizing of Infants, is; that One perfon cannot enter into any Obligation for Another, without his Own Confent. Which is very true. But the Anfwer to this Objection, is plain: That the Obligation upon the Infant, in This case, does not at all arife from the Promise of the Sureties, but was an original antecedent Obligation; equally fuch, whether the Sureties had ever made any Promife or no. And the Promise made by the Godfathers and Godmothers is nothing more, than that they will hereafter (as opportunity shall offer or neceffity fhall require) put the baptized person in mind of That which, without any such Promise, would however equally have been his Duty. As fhall more particularly be explained under the Answer to That Queftion, "Doft thou not think that

"thou

"thou art bound to believe and to do, as

they have promised for thee?" and alfo in the latter part of the Catechism, under the Doctrine of the Sacraments.

ALL young perfons therefore, as often as they repeat the first Principles of their Religion in the Rehearsal of their Catechifm, ought thereby to be put in remembrance, that as the Name of a Chriftian is a perpetual obligation upon a perfon, to be in reality what he is called in words; fo the confideration that This Name was given him by his Sureties at Baptifm, fhould conftantly remind him What those persons were Sureties for; and what Solemn Obligations he takes upon himself, if he professes himself to be a Chriftian; fince, by That Profeffion, he acknowledges that the things which They promised for him, he is indispensably bound to perform for himself. For, not to regard thofe Obligations, is to renounce his Baptifm; and to renounce Baptism, is to renounce all the Privileges of being a Chriftian, both with regard to the Fa

vour of God in This life, and the Hopes of Salvation in That which is to come.

THIS being premifed concerning the Giving of the Name by the Godfathers and Godmothers; there follows in the next place an Account of the Privileges or Benefits, to which the person is admitted by Baptifm. "Wherein I was made,

1. "A Member of Chrift:

2.

3.

"The Child of God: And

"An Inheritor of the Kingdom of

"Heaven.

1. To be a Member of Chrift, is a figurative expreffion taken from a Human Body, the Members of which are effentially united to the Head and to each Other; fo that the Life and Vigour, the Warmth and Motion, the Beauty and Comeliness of all the Members, depend neceffarily on the communication and connexion of them All with the Head. The Signification therefore of this Expreffion, is; that as any Member cut off from the

Natural

Natural Body, has no Life or Motion; so a person alienated from Chrift, has no Spiritual Life, no Title to That Life which is purchased for us by Him. Life and Immortality are the Gift of God; not due to Mankind by Nature, not a Claim of Right; no, not to Innocent and Sinless Creatures, much less to Sinners. For God, by whose mere good pleasure it is that things exist at all, is under no obligation of Juftice to continue Any Creature in Being, longer than he himself thinks fit. Life therefore itSelf, and much more Eternal Life, is the Gift, the Free Gift of God: And This Gift he is pleased to beftow upon men, in and through Christ. 'Tis of mere Grace and Favour, that God has at all given to Frail Men the Promise of Immortality; that he has vouchfafed to admit them to the Covenant of Repentance, for the remiffion of Sins: Of which Covenant, Christ is the Mediatour and the Minifter. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and by Him only, have we Access to the Father. Hence the Church of Chrift, is in Scripture compared to a Vine; whofe Branches,

20, 21.

while they are united to the Root, live and bring forth Fruit; but being separated from it, they are fit only to be burned. Pet.iii. Hence alfo 'tis compared to the Ark, wherein eight perfons were faved by Water: The like figure whereunto, even Baptifm doth alfo now fave US; not the putting away of the filth of the Flesh, but the Anfwer of a good confcience towards God. Eph.v.30. Hence Chrift, is the Head of the Church;

and the Church, the mystical Body of Chrift. For we are Members of his Body, Col. ii. 19. of his Flesh, and of his Bones. He is the Head, from which all the Body, by joints and bands having nourishment miniftred, and knit together, increaseth with the inEph.iv.16. creafe of God. From him the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint fupplieth, according to the effectuall Working in the measure of every part, maketh encreafe of the Body, unto the edifying of itself in Love.

Now this great Privilege of being Members of Chrift, is also very fignificant of our Duty. That we are to honour