racter, and relation of the person render fit and proper. Had we then no other information to assist our application of this rule, the instances of Moses* and Paul would limit our conclusions with respect to Christ, to the idea of his being the Founder, under God, of the new and gracious dispensation of the gospel. But the case is attended with other and peculiar circumstances. It refers to Him to whom the Father "hath given a name above every name.' This term, as we have before adduced evidence to shew, expresses his Divine Nature and perfections, as they are especially manifested in the amazing work of redemption. That the relation of baptism to the name of Christ was thus peculiar and important, seems to be intimated by the manner in which the connexion of Christian instruction with that rite is represented. It is said of the Samaritan converts, that," when they believed Philip, who preached the things of the gospel concerning the kingdom of God and the NAME of Jesus Christ, they were baptized." It is also to be observed, that the celebration of religious rites, divinely instituted under the Mosaic dispensation, was described by this very phraseology, to mark its reference to Deity as the authority recognized and the object to be honoured: "Jehovah thy God hath chosen him out of all

* Compare the form of expression with Rom. vi. 3. and Gal. iii. 27.

+ See page 143–149, of this Volume.

Chap. viii. 12.

448

thy tribes, that he may stand to serve in the name of Jehovah."*

Here the great command of our Lord demands our consideration: "Go, then, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them unto the NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."+

The obvious purport of this passage is to describe the intention and design of baptism, to be a devotional consecration to God, who is manifested by his great and holy NAME, the display of his perfections and glories. It is likewise obvious that this name is attributed equally to the Son and the Holy Spirit, as to the Father; and that the inference is next to inevitable, which has been drawn by the majority of Christians in all ages. To invalidate this inference Unitarians have adduced the following objections.‡

Obj. 1. That we have no evidence that these words were intended as a formulary of the rite : for we find no traces of it in the subsequent history and writings of the apostles; and the instances of Christian baptism upon record are all "into the name of Christ" only.

Reply (1.) It is not necessary to our argument that the word should have been designed to be used as a formulary in the administration of the baptismal rite. In our Lord's discourse they are evidently a description of Christian baptism

*See Deut. xviii. 5, 7.

Matt. xxviii. 19.

Briefly recited in the Calm Inquiry, page 364.

deduced from its reference, intention, and use. The doctrinal inference from the terms is not at all affected by the question, whether these words were intended to be recited, or not. It should be recollected that no traces occur in the Acts or Epistles, of the use of the prayer usually called the Lord's prayer, or of any prescribed form whatsoever for any act of religious worship.

(2) The current expressions in the Acts, of baptizing in, unto, or with regard to the name of the Lord Jesus, may also be considered as descriptive of the character and design of the ceremony. There is not the smallest evidence that any of those expressions contain, or intimate, the formulary which was used on such occasions. But there is evidence, with respect to some of them, that the phrase was adopted as discriminative of Christian baptism from that of John, and from any of the Jewish baptisms: and this might be its sole intention.*

In the absence of all scriptural information, whether any, and what, particular form of expression was used in the administration of baptism, it becomes a mere question of probability and of ecclesiastical testimony. The probability of the case can hardly be disputed to be, that, if the apostles and their associates employed any regulated form of expression when they admi

* See Ger. Joh. Vossii Disput. de Baptismo, pag. 48, 55. Amst. 1648. Wits. Econ. Fod. lib. iv. cap. xvi, sect. 16. Limborchi Theol. Christ, pag. 610.

nistered baptism, they would naturally, and we might almost say, upon every principle of mental association, reason, feeling, and piety, they would necessarily, use words which should, at least, allude to and recognize our Lord's own precept. It is scarcely needful to remark, that the information which has reached us from the early Christian writers, is entirely in favour of this conjecture. If it be allowable, in any theological question, to draw an argument from prescription and universal use, in no case could that argument be more justly applied than in the present: in no case, (excepting, however, the innovation of a few Unitarians of our own day,) could the rule of quod semper et ubique et ab omnibus be more triumphantly pleaded.

Justin, (who was born in Palestine, soon after the death of the apostle John, became a Christian at the age of thirty, and suffered martyrdom when about sixty;) in his First Apology, addressed to Antoninus Pius, describes with professed exactness the modes of worship and the religious practices of the Christians. He says that persons who were admitted to baptism, "performed the washing in the water in the name of God the Father and Sovereign of the universe, and of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and of the Holy Spirit."* Tertullian also says, "The law of

* Επ' ὀνόματος γὰρ τοῦ Πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων καὶ Δεσπότου Θεοῦ, καὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, και Πνεύματος Αγίου, τὸ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι τότε AOUTρÒY TOLODYTAI. Sect. 79.

baptism is enjoined and the form prescribed; Go, teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."*

Obj. 2. A positive institution, which contains no direct address to an invisible being, cannot be regarded as an act of worship.

Reply. Baptism is an act expressive of religious dedication, for the attainment of a special benefit. Both the moral end, and the Object contemplated as the Author of that end, are referred to in the New Testament by the preposition is, to or into. Of the one kind we find the expressions, to be baptized unto repentance, unto the forgiveness of sins, and unto the death of Christ of the other, to be baptized unto Christ, This dedication implies, in the Being who is, in the highest and most proper sense, the object of it, such properties as these; capacity to receive the thing or person dedicated, ability to protect, and a right and power to confer all the good that is contemplated in the act of dedication. Now the acknowledgment of these properties, and reliance upon them, which are manifestly included in the idea of religious dedication, are affections belonging to the act, or the habit, of mental adoration. The moral use of baptism is also intimated by its being "the stipulation of a good conscience

* "Lex enim tinguendi imposita est, et forma præscripta. Ite (inquit) docete nationes, tinguentes eas in nomen Patris et Filfi et Spiritus Sancti." De Baptismo, cap. xiii. ed. Semleri, vol. iv. p. 201.