(as here he calls it) a Child of God? read Acts ix. and there we shall find it was by Baptifm. How did he make others Chriftians, or Difciples of Christ? read Acts xix. and you will find it was by Baptifm: As Baptifm then was the Means instituted by our Saviour, for making Disciples or Chriftians (see Matt. xxviii. fo was it by the Apostles practised according to that Appointment, and for the very fame Purpofe; and fuch Perfons only, as are thus made Chriftians, are capable of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

IF it be asked, How comes Baptifm to have this Effect? the way to understand this must be a right Notion of the Fall of Man and Original Sin, and of the Doctrine of the Spiritual Life. These are very copious, and too much disputed Points, for which there is not Room here, except in as few Words as poffible.---The Perfection and Happiness of Man, before his Fall, confifted in his having this very holy Spirit of God, as a Principle of Divine Life within him; this Life by Sin he loft, and in that Respect is properly faid to Die, and to Fall, as a dead Thing naturally doth. To raise Man again from this Spiritual Death, and fo, to reunite him to God, could no way be accomplished, but by reftoring to him again the Bleffed Spirit of God, which he had Loft.— But the "Holy Spirit of Wisdom will not dwell in a "Body that is fubject unto Sin."-To remove this Impediment, Jefus Chrift, the Second Perfon in

[ c 3]

the

the Holy Trinity, undertook to make Atonement for the Sin of Man; and afterwards made good his Promife by the actual Sacrifice of himfelf upon the Crofs.When by thus dying for us, he had expiated our Guilt, and fatisfied the Divine Juftice, fo making Peace; and had compleated the whole Work of our Redemption, and taken away the Sin of the World, he then afcended with Triumph into Heaven, and from thence fent down, as the Purchase of his meritorious Sufferings, the Gift of the Holy Ghost; this being the Gift, which, on his leading Captivity Captive, he received for Men. But altho' his Sacred Blood was fhed for the Sins of the Whole World, yet his bleffed Spirit was not to be given to all, but to fuch only as first believed, and wete then baptized. Faith and Baptifm were the regular and appointed Means for receiving him. and this will appear very plain to any Docile and Ingenuous Reader of the Scriptures, especially the Acts and the Epiftles of the Apoftles.

IN Baptifm then the Spiritual Life, which had ben loft by the Fall, is now regained: By Baptifm it is, we are born again of Water and the Holy Ghoft; the Water reprefenting the mystical wafhing away of our Sins, to prepare us for the Reception of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit fanctifying our Perfons, and becoming, as we faid before, a Principle of new Life within us.

BUT

BUT as Life itfelf is not fufficient, without Action and Strength, to perform the Functions proper to fuch a Life, nor that Strength fufficient, without Light, to fee both our Duty and Defects; there is still a farther Means appointed, whereby we are to receive the Holy Ghoft for both those Ends, in a fuller and more extraordinary Manner; and that is CONFIRMATION Then it is, that this Bleffed Spirit fo unites himfelf to our Spirit, fo takes Poffeffion of our Bodies, which before were confecrated to God in Baptism, as to make them from thence-forward to become his Temples; then it is, he enables us both to know and to do, that is, gives both Light and Strength to perform that folemn Vow we first made in Baptifm, and afterwards renew in Confirmation: fo that no Perfon whatsoever, nor even any Chriftians, but fuch as have faithfully used thefe Means, and made this Progrefs (who are therefore called in Scripture Texen, or Perfect, Phil. iii. 15. whence among the Primitive Chriftians, fuch as had been Baptized and Confrmed, were called Τελειώμενοι, or Perfected) can properly, or with Truth fay,— The Spirit itself beareth Witness with OUR Spirit that WE are the Children of God; and this, because the Holy Spirit is become intimately united to their Spirit. Again, fuch Chriftians, and none elfe, can truly fayHereby We know that WE

dwell

dwell in Him, and He in Us, because He hath given Us of His Spirit, with a great many like Expreffions which occur in St. John, &c. Such a Chriftian knows and feels this to be true, and therefore can boldly say, and most affuredly apply fuch Expreffions to Himself.

THERE are two Things more should be touched upon, which for Want of Attention on either Side the Queftion, ferve to keep up and puzzle the Dispute; and that is,

First, The Manner and Kind of Light, which the Scripture attributes to CHRIST, and that which is ascribed to the HOLY GHOST.

NOW CHRIST is faid to be, the true Light, that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World. Which undoubtedly is true in the utmost Extent of the Sense; and fo univerfal, as to take in, not only Chriftians, but all Mankind, of what Sort or Denomination foever. But this cannot properly be faid of the Spirit. CHRIST indeed lighteth every Man, as he is THE Light: or, as he elsewhere adds, THE Truth; it being the proper Office of the SON, as he is the Logos, or WORD of GOD, to dispense all Light whatsoever, whether Rational or Spiritual, where' y natural as well as divine Truths are discerned by, or

commu

communicated to the Mind of Man. And this Light fo fhines upon all Sorts of Men, that there are none, whether Chriftians or Gentiles, but by the Rays thereof have Light fufficient to see and know the Invifible Things of God from the Creation of the World, being understood by the Things that are made, even his Eternal Power and Godhead (as the Apostle speaks, Rom. i. 2.) fo that they are without Excufe, who fee it Not by this Common Light, which the Son of God, who is Right Reafon itself, has imparted to All. But the Office of the Holy Spirit, is to Enlighten, which is fomething more than it is to Light, or barely give Light; that is, the Holy Ghoft applies to the Mind, that Light, which CHRIST gives; it being the peculiar Office of the Spirit of CHRIST to apply thefe Benefits and Graces, which Chrift is the Author and Difpenfer of. But this he does

*

*According to the Distinction we find in St. Auguft. contr. Parmen. I. 2. Lumen illuminans, and Lumen illuminatum. Chrift in Himself being Lumen, or the Light; his Holy Spirit, the Illuminans, or Enlightner, by whom that Light is infufed and applied. In the other Branch of the Distinction, Lumen may ftand for the Light of Reason, the natural Power of our Understanding to apprehend and difcern Truth and by illuminatum, we may conceive the fame forementi on'd illuminative Act of the Holy Ghoft, by which the Rational Faculties of Man receive a further Degree of Light,even the Spiritual and Divine. And this Distinction is confirmed by that Remark of our Saviour, Matt. vi.

22.