cause that belongs to him only as he is a Christian, and so the child of God. And they give him this name in his Baptism, or at the same time that he is baptized, because it is then that he is brought into this relation to God; so as to be made His child, according to the tenor of the new covenant, which God hath made with mankind in Jesus Christ, promising pardon, and peace, and grace, and His own fatherly care of, and provision for, all those who repent and believe in Him, Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. Heb. viii. 10, 11, 12.

And that this is the most proper time for it, appears also in that Abram had his name Abraham given him by God Himself, at the same time that He entered into covenant with him, and ordained circumcision to be the outward sign, or way whereby he and his posterity should be admitted into it, Gen. xvii. 4, 5, 23. So that he had this new name given him the same day that he was circumcised, and that too by God's own appointFrom whence His Church could not but conclude, that it was His divine will, that when any were circumcised, and so admitted into His covenant, they should at the same time have the name given them by which they should ever after be called, to put them always in mind of the conditions of that covenant, which they were then admitted into.

ment.

And accordingly this was the constant practice of the Jewish Church all along to our Saviour's time. And therefore we read, that John the Baptist had his name given him when he was circumcised, Luke i.

59-63. and so had Jesus Himself, chap. ii. 21. Which same Jesus having laid aside that troublesome and painful yoke of circumcision, and instead thereof instituted the most easy Sacrament of Baptism, to be the means or rite of admitting persons into His Church, and so into the foresaid covenant which God in Him hath made with mankind, therefore His Church hath ever since used to give every person that is baptized his name, at the same time that he is baptized, and so admitted into the great privileges of the new covenant, to be a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven.

He is in Baptism made a member of Christ, because he is made a member of His Church. For Christ and His Church, or the congregation of all Christian people, are one body, of which Christ is the Head, and all Christians are the members, every one in his place and station, 1 Cor. vi. 15. xii. 12, 13—27. Col. i. 18. Therefore we are said to be baptized into Christ, Gal. iii. 27. Rom. vi. 3. and by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, 1 Cor. xii. 13. even into the body of Christ, and by that means are made the members of Christ; so as to be moved, influenced, and actuated by that holy Spirit which proceeds from Him, as the members of our natural bodies are by the spirits which flow originally from the head.

He is therein also made the child of God, because at the same time that he is baptized or born again of water, he is born also of God the Spirit, John iii. 5. and therefore is His child, as having received the Spirit

of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, that is, call God our Father, Rom. viii. 15. Gal. iv. 6. And besides, he that is the member of Christ, is therefore also the child of God: for Christ being the Son of God, all His members must needs stand in the same relation to God that He doth, though in a lower degree, according to their capacities. Hence it is, that as it is He that gives them power to become the sons of God, John i. 12. so He is not ashamed to call them brethren, Heb. ii. 11. as He doth, Matt. xxv. 40. xxviii. 10. because His Father is their Father also, John xx. 17. and therefore theirs, because His.

And as every member of Christ is a child of God, so every child of God is an inheritor, that is, an heir, of the Kingdom of Heaven. So as to have a just title to it, as an heir at law has to an estate upon earth: for if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ, Rom. viii. 17. Gal. iv. 7. They are joint-heirs, or, as we may say, co-heirs, not with one another, as if the inheritance was to be divided among them; for here every child is an heir to the whole, having the same right and title to all the in heritance, as if he was the sole heir. But they are all and every one joint-heirs with Christ, who is Heir of all things, Heb. i. 2. And therefore in Him they shall also every one inherit all things, Rev. xxi. 7.

This is that which is here called the Kingdom of Heaven, of which every child of God is the inheritor ; which therefore consisteth not in the enjoyment of any one or more particular things, but of all things

that God hath made, and of Him too that made them. And yet, to our unspeakable comfort, all that are duly baptized according to Christ's institution, are thereby made heirs or inheritors of this Kingdom. It is settled upon them in their Baptism: and they shall hereafter have the full possession and enjoyment of it, unless while they are in this world, they provoke their heavenly Father to disinherit and cast them off, by not doing what they promised when they were baptized. What that is, we shall see in the answer to the next question; and thereby know how to prevent our being disinherited.

QUESTIONS.

Who are they whom ye call Godfathers and Godmothers? Why are they so called?

Why did they give you your name?

Why did they give it in your Baptism?

How do you prove that to be a proper time for it?

What do you mean by your being a member of Christ?

How doth it appear, that you was made so in Baptism?
How do you prove, that you was then also made the child of

God?

In what sense was you in Baptism made an inheritor of the kingdom of God?

In what doth the kingdom of God consist?

May you not be disinherited ?

What must you do to prevent it?

Question. What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you?

Answer. They did promise and vow three things in my name. First, that I should renounce the Devil and all his works, the pomps

and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh. Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian faith. And, thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.

All that naturally proceed from the first man being born in sin, are by nature the children of wrath, obnoxious to the displeasure of the Almighty God, with all the dismal effects and consequences of it, Eph. ii. 3. But when any of them are baptized, they are taken off from the old stock, the first Adam, and are grafted into, and so made members of, Christ, the last Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 45. And in Him they are received into the favour of God, made His children, and entitled to all the great blessings that He hath promised both in this world and the next. Which promise He for His part will be sure to perform to them, if they do but continue to live as becometh His children, and according to the laws of that new state into which they are admitted.

Which that they may, although they are bound to do it by the very nature of the state itself, and are admitted into it only upon that condition, yet to tie them more strictly to it, they must solemnly vow and promise it, before they can (except in some extraordinary cases) be baptized. If they be of riper years, they must make this promise every one for himself in his own person. But if they be children, not yet