1. As to Baptifm, the Reasons and Designs in the Institution of Sacraments are all visible in it. It is a very fignificant and apt Representation of the cleansing and purifying the Soul from Sin, and in this Men of all Nations and of all Religions seem to have been agreed. For nothing was more frequent among the Heathens than their Washings and Purifications; and though they attributed a great deal too much to them, yet the fuperftitious Opinion which they had of thefe outward Cleansings, could never have so universally prevail'd, if there had not been some Foundation for the use of them in the Nature of Things, and that is the great Fitness which is in these outward Washings to excite us to Purity of Mind, and to represent the great Duty which lies upon us, to keep our Confciences undefiled, which only can render us accepted with God. And as these Washings and Purifications were common in other Religions, so the Jewish Church was wont to receive Proselytes or Converts by Baptifm; for which Custom they alledge the Command of God to Mofes, Exod. xix. 10. but Dr. Lightfoot sets it higher, and thinks it was begun by Jacob, Gen.xxxv.2. And our Saviour, who both in his Words and Actions throughout the whole Gofpel, condescended to a Compliance with the Customs in use among the Jews so far as they might be serviceable to the ends of the Gospel, was pleas'd to make choice of Baptifm for the Admission of Persons to the Profession of his Religion, as the Jews used it for the Admission of their Profelytes. Baptifm is very agreeable to the Nature of the Christian Religion, being a plain and easy Rite, and having a natural Significancy of that Purity of Heart, which it is the Design of the Gofpel to promote and establish in the World; and it is fitted to represent to • Hebr. and Talmud Exercit, on Matt. iii, 6. us us the cleansing of our Souls by the Blood of Christ, and the Grace of Purity and Holiness, which is convey'd in this Sacrament, and the Spirit of Regeneration which is conferr'd by it, John iii. 5. Tit. iii. 5. And it being in use both amongst Jews and Gentiles, it was so much the more proper, because both had already an Opinion of the Expediency of it. Christ came to abolish the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law, and the vain and idolatrous Superstitions of the Heathen Worship, and yet some outward Rite of Worship was necessary to be made use of, to dedicate the Body as well as the Soul to God's Honour and Service, to be a Pledge of the Refurrection of the Body, as well as of the Immortality of the Soul, to put Men in mind of that Integrity and Purity of Life which the Gospel requires, and to be a means of conveying it, and to admit them as visible Members into the Church. And as Baptifm was very expedient to be instituted upon all these accounts; so it had this peculiar Advantage beyond any other Rite, that it was already in great use and esteem, and could feem strange neither to Jews nor Gentiles; but it had been a very strange thing to both, and very unsuitable to the Nature of Man, if the most Spiritual and Heavenly Religion, that can be, on this fide Heaven, had been instituted without any external Rite for the Admission into it; this had been to suppose the Church to confift of Angels and not of Men, who have need of Afsistance from outward Objects in their highest Acts of Religion, it had been to make Men to suspect that the Body (as some Hereticks imagin'd) was little regarded of God, if no Notice had been taken of it, at our Reception into Covenant with him; and it besides had been to contradict the Notion which Mankind have ever had of Religion, and to give the highest Scandal both to Jews and Gentiles. 2. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is so often the Subject of Sermons, and of every good Chriftian's Meditation, that very little needs to be here faid of it. For it is evident that the Elements of Bread and Wine have a peculiar Suitableness to bring to our Remembrance the Body and Blood of Christ offer'd upon the Cross for us, to make us Partakers of them, and to be Pledges of all the Benefits which we receive thereby. And as the Eucharift was appointed by Christ in the room of the Paschal Supper, so Bread and Wine were in use among all Nations in their Religious Worship, and nothing can more fitly express our Communion with God and with one another, than to be enter. tain'd together at God's Table. So that fince there must be Sacraments or External Rites and Ordinances, they could neither be fewer, nor more suitable to the Simplicity of the Gospel, and to the Wants of Christians, than the Sacraments of Baptifm, and of the Lord's Supper are. I CHAP. XXVI. Of the Bleffed TRINITY. Am not here to prove the Doctrine of the Trinity from the Scriptures, but to suppose this to be the Doctrine which the Scriptures teach, and to shew that no reasonable Objection can be brought against the Christian Religion upon that account. And indeed this was suppos'd to be the Doctrine of the Scriptures, and objected against by Heathens long before the Council of Nice. Which is a strong Proof for the Truth and Antiquity of this Doctrine, when it was so well known even to the Heathens, that they upbraided the Christians with it in the second Century, and in all probability from the very beginning; for we Lucian. Philopatr, find it then mention'd as a known and common Reproach. Supposing then this to be the Doctrine of the Scriptures, that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft are but one God, I will shew, I. That there is no Contradiction in this Mystery of our Religion. II. That other things are and must be believed by us, which we as little understand. III. That the Belief of this Doctrine doth mightily tend to the Advancement of Vertue and Holiness, and hath a great Influence upon the Lives and Conversations of Men. I. There is no Contradiction in this Doctrine. We are ignorant of the Essences of Created Beings, which are known to us only by their Causes and Effects, and by their Operations and Qualities; and our Reason and Senses and Paffions being continually conversant about these, our Notions are form'd upon the Ideas which we frame to our selves concerning the Creatures, and this makes us the less capable of understanding the Divine Essence, besides the infinite Disproportion between the Nature of God, and Humane Fad culties. When we say, that God is an Infinite and Incomprehensible Being, we speak the general Sense of Mankind, and no Man cavils at it; but because the Scriptures represent this Incomprehenfible Being to us under the Notion of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that is Matter of Cavil and Dispute. Whereas God being essentially Holy and True, we must believe him to be what he declares himself to be in the Scriptures, and he being Incomprehensible, we may not be able to comprehend it. If God be infallibly True, why do we not believe what he delivers concerning himself? And if he be Incomprehensible, what Reason can be given why the Divine Essence may not subsist in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? These are styled Three Persons, because we find distinct Personal Acts and Properties attributed to them in the Scriptures, and we we may suppose Three Persons in the Unity of the Divine Nature without any Appearance of Contradition. This will be evident, if we confider, 1. The Distinction of the Three Persons in the Deity. 2. The Unity of the Divine Nature. 3. The Difference between the Divine Persons, and Humane Persons. 1. The Distinction of the Three Persons in the Deity. The Divine Nature is in Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; in the Father Originally, without either Generation or Proceffion; in the Son, as communicated to him by the Father, not in any such way as Sons amongst Men have their Nature derived to them from their Fathers, but yet in some such manner as is best express'd to our Apprehenfions, by styling him the Son of God, thơ' the Manner of his Generation is altogether incomprehenfible to us. The Holy Ghost has the Divine Nature communicated to him from the Father and the Son, not in the fame way whereby the Son has it communicated to him from the Father, but in some other different incomprehenfible manner, whereby he is not begotten, but proceeds both from the Father and the Son. The Divine Nature is communicated by the Father to the Son by Eternal Generation, and by the Father and the Son to the Holy Ghost by Eternal Proceffion: We have nothing farther reveal'd to us of the Generation of the Son, but that he is begotten, or receiv'd the Divine Nature from the Father in fome fuch way, as, for want of a fitter Word, we can best un-derstand by the Term of Generation; and the Scripture teacheth us no more of the Proceffion of the Holy Ghost, but that he is not begotten of the Father, as the Son is, but proceeds from the Father and the Son fome other way, and not by Generation. But as he that would discourse to a Man born blind concerning Light, must use many very improper Expressions |