Christians Solemnly Reminded of Their Obligations

Joshua xxiv. 22. — And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the LORD to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses.

SHOULD we view the conduct of mankind towards God, we should be tempted to think they are under no obligations to him, but entirely at their own disposal, and at liberty to act as they please. Who would imagine that he is their God, when they are so careless about his worship; their master, when they are so negligent in his service; their father, when they are so regardless of their duty to him; or their ruler, when they follow their own wills without consulting his pleasure? And much less should we imagine they have voluntarily taken upon them the most sacred and solemn obligations to him.

But is this really the case 1 Are they indeed quite lawless and unobliged? Have they a right to use the proud language of Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord, that we should obey his voice?” No; let them act as they will, let them think what they please, they are under the strongest possible obligations to the great God: nay, they have generally assumed voluntary obligations upon themselves. This is our case in particular; especially since the solemn transaction of the last Lord’s day: a transaction which I would now help you to review, that you may the better improve it in future life. In this view, I may accommodate to you the words of my text, “Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him.” And you cannot but confess with the Israelites, that you are witnesses.

Joshua, the brave general of the people of Israel, had not only settled them in the promised land, but had used all his influence, during his life, to engage them to the Lord. And when by the course of nature, he must take his farewell of them, and could use his personal influence with them no longer, he is solicitous to leave them so fast bound to the Lord, that he might die with the pleasing hope, that they would continue in his service from generation to generation. For this end he calls them together, and makes his last speech to them, which I think, is a pattern of persuasive oratory, not equalled by any of the ancient Greeks and Romans. After drawing them on to choose the Lord for their God, and bind themselves to his service, over and over, by their own personal act, and of their own free choice, he takes them at their word, and holds them fast. And to render the obligation more solemn, and strike them with greater horror at the violation of it, he addresses them as witnesses against themselves, that they had chosen the Lord to serve him.

Accommodating the words to our circumstances, I
intend,

I. To show, that we are under obligations to serve the Lord from our own choice, or voluntary engagements.

II. To inquire, how and when, or in what respects, and at what periods of time, we are witnesses against ourselves, that we have thus chosen the Lord to serve him.

I. I am to show, that we are under obligations to serve the Lord from our own choice, or voluntary engagements.

Here I would premise, that though voluntary obligations, taken upon ourselves by our own act, have something of a peculiar force in them, yet they are not the only obligations we are under to serve the Lord. We are bound to be his servants, whether we will or not. His character as our Creator, our preserver, and benefactor, and as a being of supreme excellency, give him the most firm and indisputable right to our obedience. And our relations to him as his creatures, his beneficiaries, and dependents, lay a foundation for obligations, which are not suspended upon our consent. Our consent is not a matter of favour, but of indispensable obligation. We are born his servants, and must continue so, as long as we exist. We can no more dissolve our obligations to him, than we can destroy that being which we received from him. If children do naturally owe duty to their parents, who begat them and who provide for them; if subjects owe obedience to their sovereign, in return for his protection; certainly we are by nature under the strongest ties of duty to our heavenly Father and supreme King. The case is not here as among equals, who are under no obligations to one another, till they enter into them by voluntary contract. But here, the obligation is founded in nature, and therefore prior to, and independent upon, all acts of our own. It is naturally our duty to serve the Lord, whether we consent or not: and our not consenting is so far from keeping us free from obligations to him, that our not consenting is itself an act of rebellion, and a breach of obligations.

Consider this, ye licentious sinners, who think, that if you have not been baptized, or though you may have been baptized in infancy, yet if you do not personally renew your obligations at the Lord’s table, you are not bound to serve God, and make religion your business. Do your obligations, then, depend upon so precarious a foundation, as your own consent? Is there any merit in your enmity to God and his service, which makes you unwilling to choose it? Will this excuse your conduct, when it is its principal aggravation? Will your strong love to sin, which is the reason that you will not renounce it, excuse your continuance in it? Will you argue thus, and yet pretend to be a man, that is, a reasonable creature? — must your creation, your preservation, and all the mercies God has bestowed upon you, pass for nothing? Is it nothing at all, that he formed you by his power, when you had no being? that he has followed you with blessings, every moment, for a length of years? nay, that he has bought you with the blood of his Son? Do these things lay no obligation upon you? Are you at liberty to treat such a Being just as you please1? Be it known to you, that you are, that you always have been, that you always will be, bound to be his servants; and you can never get free from the obligation in heaven, earth, or hell, or any part of the universe. You may refuse to comply with it, you may rebel, may incur his displeasure, and ruin yourselves by your obstinacy; but you can never break the tie, while you have a spark of being. Let this fasten conviction on such of you, as refuse your consent to the covenant of grace, and will not assume voluntary engagements to the service of God. It is not a proposal left to your discretion; but it is enjoined upon you by the highest authoaity, under the severest penalties: and if you refuse, you must perish for ever for your inexcusable rebellion. Are you blessing yourselves, that last Sunday, while others entered into such solemn engagements, you kept yourselves free 1 Alas! your freedom is but slavery to sin and Satan. You do but struggle to keep out of those hands that would save you. Your refusal is so far from setting you at liberty to neglect God with impunity, that it is itself an aggravated wickedness, and will bring upon you the heaviest vengeance from his hands. And (which perhaps you do not think of) you are not free after all. You are bound, firmly bound by an eternal obligation, though you should always exclude yourselves from baptism, and the sacred table. You may refuse to comply with it, but you cannot throw it off, do what you will.

But though we are all under obligations to God, independent upon, and prior to our own consent; yet there are a class of obligations, which we have personally, and by our own act, taken upon ourselves: and in the breach of these we are guilty of more direct and aggravated perjury. These are of different kinds, and assumed upon different occasions. There is probably none of us, but what has voluntarily entered into them at one time or other: particularly in sickness, under apprehensions of danger, under a fresh sense of some remarkable mercy, under horror of conscience, and especially in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In these two ordinances, we do in a more solemn and public manner, engage ourselves to the service of God. And as the one is frequently dispensed among us, and it is high time for us to know its design; and as we attended upon the other so very lately, I intend at present to consider particularly the engagements we have entered into on these occasions. And I shall first begin with the sacrament of

BAPTISM. We have generally been baptized, either in infancy, upon the dedication of our parents, or in adult years, upon our making a profession of the Christian faith, and dedicating ourselves to God by our own personal act. And in what time or manner soever we were baptized, we do actually and personally, or virtually and by our representatives, choose the Lord to serve him.

Baptism may be considered in various views; and in whatever view we consider it, we shall find it lays us under solemn obligations to this.

We may consider it as a badge of Christianity, and a mark of our being the disciples, the followers, and servants of Jesus Christ. Hence it was, that in the apostolic times, as soon as persons embraced Christianity, and professed faith in Christ, they were baptized in his name. They hereupon were considered as the professed servants of Christ, and solemnly bound by their own voluntary promise, to serve him and live according to his religion. Baptism, in this respect, may be illustrated by a soldier, taking upon him the livery of his commander, whereby he may be distinguished from others; or by the ancient practice of putting a mark upon servants, in token of their belonging-to such a master.

Baptism may also be considered, in a view something like this, as an initiation into the church of Christ, or as the door of entrance into that sacred society, which enjoys the means and the hopes of salvation. Hence also in the apostolic age, those who professed a desire to commence members of the Christian church, were baptized; and upon this, they were entitled to all the privileges of the church, while they behaved in character; and obliged themselves to live as becomes the members of so holy a society. Now they were looked upon as called and gathered out of the wide world, the usurped kingdom of Satan, and introduced into the Church of Christ, as his children and servants; and they were solemnly obliged to live in character. The view of the ordinance may be illustrated by a soldier enlisting himself under his general, and so making himself one of his army, whereby he engages to submit to military discipline, and to fight faithfully under his commander. Or, it is like a person’s becoming a member of the court or corporation by taking the oaths, and other tests necessary to his admission.

Now, my brethren, if you consider baptism in these views, you cannot but see that such of you as have been the subjects of it, have chosen the Lord to serve him. The case is the same, in this respect, whether you have been baptized in infancy or in adult years: for if you were baptized in infancy, your parents had a right to devote you to God, and transact for you, and you are obliged to stand to their engagements in your behalf. This you acknowledge in civil affairs. The land you receive as an inheritance from them you claim a right to; and you own yourselves bound by contracts made in your name, during your minority. Or if you have been baptized in adult age, as sundry of your negroes have been, when you were capable of acting for yourselves, you have in your own persons, and by your own act, taken these obligations upon you. Here then see the ties you are under. You have taken upon you the mark and badge of the followers, the disciples and servants of Christ: you wear his livery. And are you not bound to behave according to these relations? Are you at liberty to behave as others, who make no profession of his name? If you, after all, turn rebels, and act as his enemies, or if you are friends only in show, are you not guilty of perjury — perjury in the highest degree?

You have also been admitted into that select society, which Christ has called out of the world, and owns as his peculiar people. You professedly belong to a holy nation. You have enrolled your names in the sacred register of the citizens of Zion. And does not this oblige you to be

VOL. III. — 76 holy, in all manner of conversation? Are you at liberty to violate the laws of God, which are the constitution of this society? Is it no criminal defect in you to be destitute of that holiness of heart and life, which is essential to a true member of this holy community? Does not conviction unavoidably flash upon some of your minds from this topic? Have you always conducted yourselves, as persons that have been thus early consecrated to God, and separated from the world that lieth in wickedness? Do you, my young friends, carry these daily obligations into practice? or are not sundry of you breaking them, and practically renouncing your baptism every day? And you, poor negroes, who have been baptized at full age, how do you live? Do you live, since you became the professed followers of Christ, as you did before, or as those do who will not take him for their Lord? May one know that you are Christians, and have been baptized, by your holy conversation? or are not some of you found in the ways of sin, with Christ’s mark upon you? Have you not broken the solemn promises before God, and this assembly? If so, when you are baptized, you did not do what was pleasing to God, but were guilty of lying to him; and your case is now a great deal worse than when you were professed heathens. Alas! my brethren, if we take a view of the lives of the generality of our countrymen, who would conclude that Virginia is a baptized country? Are these drunken, swearing, cheating, lying, careless, prayerless creatures, are these baptized disciples of the holy Jesus? They are bound, indeed, to be so; and to live accordingly: but oh, what a load of perjury burdens our land on this account! Truly, sirs, it may strike us with horror to think, how this holy ordinance of Jesus Christ is abused among us. It is become a mere ceremony to give a name to the child, or bring it into the fashion. There is no divine ordinance but what is grossly profaned among us; but none, methinks, so much as this. And when the matter will be brought to an account, how terrible will it be to multitudes!

Again; baptism is a sign of regeneration, or of our dying to sin, and entering into a new state of existence, with new principles and views, to walk in newness of life. I say it is a sign, an outward sign of this; though not the thing itself. The papists have made the sign and the thing signified, to be one and the same in the Lord’s Supper, supposing that the outward elements of bread and wine are transubstantiated into the real body and blood of Christ. And some of us have fallen into the like error with respect to the sacrament of baptism; supposing that to be baptized, and to be really born again, are one and the same thing. However, it must be granted, it is an outward sensible sign, of inward invisible grace. So the apostle repeatedly represents it. Rom. vi. 4. “We are buried with him by baptism into death;” that is, it is a sign of our dying to sin, which bears a kind of resemblance to Christ’s dying a natural death — “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life,” that is, live a life of holiness, entirely new, and different from our former course. Baptism is also called the circumcision of Christ made without hands, in which we put off the body of the sins of the flesh, (Col. ii. 11,) and “are purged from our old sins.” 2 Peter i. 9. Here then, ye that have been baptized, and had the sign, inquire whether you have had the thing signified? whether you have been so thoroughly renewed, in the spirit of your mind, and so have entered upon a new course of life that you may be justly said to be born again, to be quickened with a new life, and to be new creatures? Have you any evidence of such a change? If not, your baptism was a solemn lie, in the presence of an omniscient God. Happy we, had we as many among us born of the Spirit, as have been born of water: as many new hearts and new lives, as baptized persons! then our country would indeed bear the appearance of a Christian country. But alas! how different is the case in fact! How many that have been washed with baptismal water, wallow in the pollutions of sin? how many cherish the old man with his affections and lusts, instead of walking in newness of life? However, you see what manner of persons you are bound to be by your baptismal obligations: and if you are not such, you are most grossly perjured. Nay, such of you as have been baptized upon your own account, have expressly professed, before you were admitted, and virtually in the act of baptism, that upon the best inquiries you could make, you had reason to hope, that you were really born again, and heartily determined to lead a new life of holiness and virtue. And if you had no reason for this hope, you are again convicted of a solemn lie to an omniscient God, who knows your hearts, and cannot be cheated by your vain pretensions.

Another view of baptism, somewhat like this, the apostle gives us, (1 Pet. iii. 21.) “Baptism,” says he, “doth save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God.” That external baptism with water, which may wash away the filth of the flesh, is so insufficient to salvation, and so vain a thing, that it hardly deserves the name: and inward purity of heart and a good life are of so much importance to that complete baptism, which is saving, that that deserves to be called baptism by way of eminence. The word here rendered the answer of a good conscience [InewTijfjLa] properly signifies a restipulation, or an answer made to terms proposed for acceptance; and seems to refer to the proposal of the articles of the Christian covenant, which was made to those that offered themselves to baptism. And hence we learn, that they particularly engaged to be holy, or to maintain a good conscience towards God. To this you have also engaged yourselves in this ordinance: and have you endeavoured to live accordingly? Do you honestly labour to keep a clear conscience, and to purge yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit? If not, you are again convicted of a perfidious breach of vows.

But that view, in which I would particularly consider baptism at present, is, as it is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, and of our dedication to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

By the covenant of grace, I mean the gospel scheme of salvation for sinners through the mediation of Jesus Christ. The blessings proposed on God’s part are pardon of sin, sanctifying grace, and eternal salvation; or, in the short and comprehensive form often used in the sacred writings, that he will be our God; that is, that the Father will be our Father, the Son our Saviour, and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier. On our part, we are required to renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh, — the trinity of the wicked, to devote ourselves to God, and to take the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be our God. This implies repentance, faith, love, and a determinate efficacious purpose to walk in universal obedience for the time to come.

Now baptism is a token of this: we are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as a sign and seal of our consent to this contract; or, that we are devoted to the sacred Trinity, and take each person in the Godhead, under that relation which they respectively sustain in the economy of man’s redemption. This is a primary and principal design of baptism; and all of us, who have been baptized, have thus professedly entered into the bonds of God’s covenant.

Hence it follows, with regard to you, negroes, that have been baptized in adult years, that you have publicly professed, that you did truly repent of all your sins, that you did believe in Jesus Christ with all your hearts, with the Ethiopian eunuch; and that you did devote yourselves entirely and for ever to God, and engage in a course of universal and persevering obedience. And were you sincere in this transaction? You have publicly declared it both in words and by a significant action; and if you were not really what you professed to be, you solemnly and publicly declared a lie both to Godfc and man; and does not such a load of guilt lie heavy upon you? Oh! must you not shudder to reflect how treacherously, how villainously, how hypocritically you have acted under the cloak of religion? Alas! will such a baptism as this save you? No; you will sink into hell with the livery of Christ upon you, and it would be more tolerable for you in the day of judgment, if you had still continued wild heathens in the deserts of Africa.

Again; since you have thus, of your own choice, entered into such engagements, are you not bound to live according to them? If, after all, you live unholy, and refuse to walk according to the gospel, you break covenant with God, you undo your baptism; and, as it were, renew your covenant with the devil. And have not some of you been guilty of this very thing? Alas! do you not tremble at the thought? You have cut yourselves off from all the blessings of the covenant of grace, and brought upon you all the opposite curses. You have renounced the Father, Son, and Spirit; and chosen the devil, the world, and the flesh, in their stead. The water of baptism has been, as it were, a deadly poison to you. It has been like the bitter water of jealousy that caused the curse, under the law, which made the belly to swell, and the thigh to rot. Numb. v. 21. It has been a pollution rather than a purification; you have “been washed to fouler stains.” And is it not time now for you to begin that repentance in reality, which you should have had, and which you professed, when you were baptized’?

Let this be a warning to such of you as have no reason to think you truly believe and repent, not to rush to baptism in that condition. Sundry of you are very eager to apply to a minister to be baptized, while you hardly know why you desire it, or are only desirous to be in the fashion; or, at best, have only a confused notion, that it may do you good, as is necessary though you know not for what. An I am afraid some of you do not scruple to lie to God and man, in order to be admitted; professing faith and repentance, and a desire to be the servant of God, when in reality you know nothing about it. Well; remember, that though man cannot know your hearts, yet God does, and will call you to an account for this deceitful dealing. Alas! poor things, why should you heap more sin upon your sinking souls, by pretending to become Christians, when you are not? First, labour to be Christians indeed; let that be your principal concern; and then come and be baptized, and welcome. You will say, perhaps, “other negroes are baptized; and why not I?” But, consider, some other negroes have been in great trouble about their souls; their hearts have been broken for sin; they have accepted of Christ as their only Saviour; and are Christians indeed: and when you are such, it will be time enough for you to be baptized. Others of them, I fear, are but hypocrites, and have been admitted upon a false profession; and are you desirous to become such? Will you follow so dangerous an example, and add the guilt of hypocrisy to your other sins?

Finally; is it not proper, that you should often renew this covenant which you entered into, in baptism? For this purpose, among others, the Lord’s Supper was instituted; and you are bound to partake of it for that end. I must confess, I do not understand that Christianity which is so common among us, that persons who think themselves qualified for. baptism, should absent themselves from the Lord’s Supper — that they should be so forward to enter into covenant with God in the one, and so backward to renew it in the other. The qualifications for both ordinances, in adults, are substantially the same. Faith, repentance, and a willingness to be devoted to God, are necessary to baptism: and these things only are necessary and sufficient for the Lord’s Supper. Our obligations to the latter are as strong and endearing as to the former, if there be any force in the last dying injunctions of Jesus Christ. This was the practice in the apostolic church, that persons were first baptized upon their profession of faith in Christ, and then, upon the same ground, they were immediately, and of course, entitled to the Lord’s Supper, and partook of it. But how different is the practice in modern times? Persons who justly think themselves unqualified for the Lord’s table, and either through carelessness, or some little tenderness of conscience, absent themselves from it, do, notwithstanding, make no scruple to claim a right to baptism for themselves and their children. But this is a gross absurdity: for if they are prepared for the one, they are for the other also. By baptism we are introduced into the Christian society; and the Lord’s Supper is a privilege of that society, to be enjoyed when we are initiated into it. Now, whoever is fit to be admitted into a society, is also fit to enjoy the privileges of that body into which he is admitted; for his fitness for admission is nothing else but his fitness to enjoy the privileges of that body. How unaccountable and inconsistent, therefore, is the conduct of multitudes among us! They think they would be no Christians if they should continue unbaptized; but as for the Lord’s Supper, it is a kind of a work of supererogation, or a superfluity in their religion; and they flatter themselves they may be very good Christians without that. And thus they live, half-excommunicated by their own act. I would not have you, negroes, or others, who have been baptized in riper years, to come to that ordinance while unprepared; nor would I have you baptized while unprepared: the case is substantially the same. But this you must know, that if after you have been baptized, you do not communicate at the Lord’s table, you are but almost Christians in the sight of the church; you act a very inconsistent part; and you live in a constant course of sin, neglecting a known duty, enjoined upon all the followers of Christ.

As for such of you as have been baptized in your infancy, I have a few things to say to you, founded upon the view I have given you of baptism as a solemn entrance into covenant with God.

The first thing is, that you are obliged by your baptismal engagements, to live devoted to God, from your first capacity of action. You were given up by those who had the disposal of you to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the obligation is binding upon you, as soon as you are capable of acting for yourselves. And if you refuse to perform it, you are guilty of perjury, and renounce your baptism. You do virtually say, “I retract and disavow the covenant made in my name with the Father, Son, and Spirit; and I will not stand to it.” By your baptismal obligations, you were bound to walk every day as in covenant with God; that is, to believe, to repent, and yield universal obedience, every day of your life; and consequently every day that you spend in unbelief, in impenitence, or in any instance of wilful disobedience, is filled up with perjury. And what a shocking scene does this open! not only one, ten, or a hundred instances of perjury, but a whole life, which is nothing else but one continued series of perjury! Every day, every year since you have been capable of acting for yourselves, filled up with the grossest perjury!

I would recommend this particularly to the consideration of the young people that hear me. Some of you, I hope, feel this early obligation; and make it your great business to perform it. But, alas! how many thoughtless, gay, vain, and profligate young creatures are to be found among us? Is this not the general character of the youth of our country; and have these been baptized? have these been so early devoted to God? Alas! who would imagine it from their conduct? Can such claim the blessings of the covenant of grace, when they are renouncing it every day? Can such a load of perjury lie easy upon their consciences? My young friends, be it known unto you, that you are the Lord’s: you are devoted things — consecrated vessels; you have enlisted under Jesus Christ; you have bound yourselves servants to God. Therefore with the authority of a minister of God, I am sent in quest of you this day. I apprehend you as his property; I arrest you as deserters, and require your immediate return to your duty. He is willing to receive you again upon your repentance; but if you still continue renegades from his service, he will at length outlaw you. The season of grace will be over, and he will commission his judgments to destroy you. Therefore, my dear youth, let me persuade you to think of your conduct. The guilt of perjury in some slight, civil affair, has struck some with such horror, that it has cast them into melancholy and despair. And can you without uneasiness, reflect upon your life as a series of the most direct, audacious perjury against God? Believe me, you are not your own; therefore, return to your rightful owner; and bitterly repent of your base, ungrateful desertion of his good service. This point would not require persuasion, were you not extremely degenerate. Do you indeed need to be persuaded to choose so good a master, the Lord of heaven and earth 1 so complete a portion as the supreme and all-sufficient Good 1 so agreeable and advantageous a service, as that of religion, which is rewarded with an eternity of the most perfect happiness? Is the sordid drudgery of sin and Satan so pleasant, or so advantageous in its consequences, that it should be hard to dissuade you from it? And (which is still more strange and discouraging) shall I fail in carrying such a point with any of you? Alas! are you so surprisingly and obstinately wicked? My children and youth, “for whom I travail in birth again till Christ be formed in you,” Gal. iv. 19; do not put me off with a refusal this day. Remember how early you have been given up to God; remember, that when you are sinning with the greatest gayety, when you are dissolving in pleasure, when you are carousing in mirth and extravagant diversions, every act is a breach of the vows of God, which are upon you; for still you are under obligations to God, and you can never get free from them, unless you can annihilate your very beings.

Here let me hint, by the by, at the duty of parents. The early dedication of your children to God, furnishes you with a very proper motive to make them sensible of their duty. And were it duly improved for this purpose, the good effects of baptism, and its subserviency to early piety, would be more frequent and visible. Take your little creatures up in your arms, and with all the powerful oratory which the fond heart of a father and the warm, heart of a Christian can make you master of, put them in mind of their early baptism; explain to them the nature of that ordinance; and labour to make them sensible of the obligations that lie upon them in consequence of it. Warn them of the danger of breaking covenant with God, and living a life of perjury. That good man, Mr. Philip Henry, drew up for his children, the following short form of the baptismal covenant, which excellently represents its nature and obligations.

“I take God the Father to be my choicest good and highest end; I take God the Son to be my Prince and Saviour; I take God the Holy Ghost to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter; I take the word of God to be my rule in all my actions: and the people of God to be my people in all conditions: I do likewise devote and dedicate to the Lord, my whole self, all I am, and all I can do; and this I do deliberately, sincerely, freely, and for ever.”

This he taught his children, and they repeated it every Sunday evening: the good old gentleman adding, “So say, and so do, and you are made for ever.” He laboured to bring them to understand, and consent to, this covenant. And when they grew up, he made them all write it over severally with their own hands, and very solemnly set their names to it; and he kept it by him, telling them, that it should be produced as a witness against them, in case they should afterwards depart from God.

Thus, my brethren, do you endeavour to make your children sensible of their early obligations, and bring them to consent to this covenant, and you have reason to hope, that abused and profaned ordinance will be of great service to them.

This naturally leads me to the other thing, I would recommend to such of you, as have been baptized in infancy; and that is, when you are come to years of discretion, you should in your own persons solemnly and explicitly renew your covenant with God. You stand no more upon the footing of your parents’ representativeship; but it is expected, that you either confirm or renounce the contract they made for you. It is expected, you should now make a choice for yourselves: God expects it, and his church expects it. Therefore, choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Had the case been difficult, you have had time enough to deliberate; but it is as plain as whether you shall choose life or death. Can you bear to live longer in a state of atheism, without any God at all: I mean without any freely chosen by your own act? Come then, this day choose that God, to whom you were devoted. From a determinate purpose, that you will be his for the future. Acknowledge freely the obligations that were so early laid upon you. Enter into an explicit covenant with God, and frequently renew it, in your hours of secret prayer; and solemnly set your seal to it at the Lord’s table.

As baptism is appointed for your first entrance into covenant with God, the Lord’s Supper is appointed for renewing it in your own persons. It is expected, that all who are willing to stand to the covenant made for them in their infancy, do express it in this way, and voluntarily take the obligation upon themselves. And therefore, such of you as are arrived to years, and yet live in the neglect of the Lord’s Supper, do virtually renounce your baptismal covenant, by refusing to renew and confirm it by your own act. Now, we see how you choose to act when left to choose for yourselves; we see, that you want to be off the bargain; you are not willing to be devoted to the sacred Trinity; but would alienate yourselves from the service. It is really astonishing how inconsistently persons act in this respect: they will retain the Christian name, and yet will not renew the Christian covenant in the ordinance instituted for that purpose. They claim the privilege of baptism for their children; and yet refuse to seal the covenant of grace themselves at the Lord’s table. How common a practice is this, all over our country? But what authority have they thus to pick and choose what divine ordinances to observe, and what to neglect? or what right have they to the privileges of the covenant of grace for themselves or their children, who refuse to renew their personal consent to that covenant? It is the grossest absurdity.

This I would apply particularly to children and youth. I would not have you by any means to rush unprepared to the Lord’s Supper: but this I must tell you, that so long as you are unprepared for it, so long you are guilty of violating your covenant with God. So long as you wilfully neglect opportunities of renewing your obligations, so long you refuse to be the Lord’s and retract your baptismal covenant. You practically disavow the Christian religion, by refusing one instituted sign and seal of the Christian profession; and you so far declare yourselves heathens and infidels. Therefore, my young friends, prepare, prepare to renew your covenant at the Lord’s table: and lament, that you have omitted it so long. I would remind you again, that I would not have you unprepared communicants: alas! we have too many already. But I would have you repent, believe, and heartily consent to the gospel, and then come and seal your contract.

From the view I have given you of the nature and design of baptism, you cannot but see the justice of the remark I have Already made, that this ordinance is most grossly profaned in our land. It is prostituted to those sinners, who openly violate the fundamental laws of the Christian society; and therefore have no right to any of its special privileges. It is profaned by the irreverence of parents and sureties, who rush to it, as though it were but an old custom. It is profaned by them in that they do not endeavour to make their children sensible of their obligations in consequence of it, and to educate them in the fear of God. It is profaned, insulted, and grossly abused by thousands, who forget the guide of their youth, and forsake the covenant of their God; who break through all its obligations and live impenitent in sin. It is profaned by those inconsistent half Christians among us, who refuse to renew their baptismal covenant at the Lord’s table. In short, it is the occasion of national guilt: our country is overrun with this worst kind of perjury: and in this sense I may say, “Because of swearing the land mourneth.” Jer. xxiii. 10. And oh! shall not the reflection produce a public, national repentance? Shall we not grieve, that we have sworn falsely to God himself, and dealt treacherously with him?

I now proceed to those obligations which are peculiar to the Lord’s Supper; arid my address shall be more immediately directed to you that partook in that ordinance the last Lord’s day. But my time is so far elapsed, and what I have to say on this head, will so naturally coincide with the former, that I shall be but short upon it.

You have, my fellow-communicants, made a good confession before many witnesses. You have openly, before heaven and earth, avouched the Lord to be your God, and devoted yourselves to him as his people. You may use the language of the Psalmist with peculiar propriety, “Thy vows are upon me, O God!” Psalm lvi. 12. And now what remains, but that you endeavour to carry your engagements into execution, if you would avoid the dreadful guilt of perjury; if you would inherit the blessings of the covenant into which you have entered; if you would enjoy peace of conscience, and the joyful hopes of heaven; if you would stop the mouths of the enemies of religion, and bring it into reputation; if those are the objects of your desire, then remember and perform your vows. Alas! can you bear the thought of returning again to folly, and undoing all that you have done? How melancholy is the prospect, that probably before the next sacrament some of you will expose yourselves to the rod of church-discipline by your misconduct? To avoid this, take the following directions; “Be not high-minded, but fear.” Rom. xi. 20. “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” 1 Cor. x. 12. Always be upon your watch, and retain a deep sense of your weakness, and exposedness to temptation; be sensible of your dependence upon God; look and pray to him for strength; and trust not in yourselves, or you are gone. Endeavour to maintain a lively sense of religion upon your spirits; and for this purpose, make it a matter of conscience to attend upon all the means of grace, and let no opportunity, whether public or private, pass by without improvement. Alas! the negligence and laziness of Christians in hearing the word, in reading, prayer, and meditation, is the occasion of their cooling in religion; and then they are perpetually liable to stumble and fall. Take a proper care of. your temporal affairs; and make not religion an excuse for idleness. But oh! mind the one thing needful above all; and let not this insinuating world get uppermost in your hearts.

My brethren, I should call this a happy spot, if all of you, who were communicants last Lord’s day, should behave as Christians for the future, and at last all meet at a table of nobler entertainment in heaven. But alas! if there was a Judas in the select society of the twelve apostles, how many Judases must we suppose are to be found among the sixteen times twelve communicants in this congregation 1 May not the thought awaken our suspicion, and set us upon inquiring, “Lord, is it I?” Matt, xxvi. 22. However, I would make your engagements as binding as possible; and therefore I must tell you, that, however you behave, “you are witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen the Lord to serve him:” — Which leads me,

Secondly, To inquire how and when, or in what respects, and at what periods of time, we are witnesses against ourselves that we have chosen the Lord to serve him.

Joshua, in appealing to the Israelites as witnesses against themselves, in this case, might mean, that as every one was conscious of his own transaction, he himself was a witness against himself, if he should prove treacherous in his engagements; or, that as they had observed the transactions of each other, they would each of them be witnesses against one another; and that both in the present and future world. In both of these senses, I intend to consider the subject.

First, You yourselves are witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen the Lord to be your God. You know and confess that you have been dedicated to God in baptism; and some of you know, it was your own act and deed, when capable of choosing for yourselves. You also know in your own consciences, you were last Sunday, and at other times, at the table of the Lord; and there you renewed your covenant with God afresh; and with

VOL. III. — 77 the memorials of a crucified Saviour in your hands, made the most solemn vows, that you would serve the Lord for -the future. Are not your consciences witness to these transactions 1 You may try to suppress the evidence by violence or bribery; but I am apt to think, you will find it difficult, with all your art, to keep them entirely silent. When they catch you in an act of sin, or in the neglect of duty, they will whisper within, “Remember, man, thou wast baptized; remember, thou hast been at the ‘table of the Lord. Thou hast had such transactions with God, as promised better things. And is this the result? Is it thus thou performest thy obligations? Is this the baptized Christian? Is this the communicant?” And hereupon, your consciences will bring you in guilty of perjury, and forebode the judgments of God coming upon you. Thus you are not likely to enjoy even the sordid pleasure of sin, without molestation. You have a witness within that remonstrates against your conduct. You will be self-condemned, condemned by yourselves, when you are both judge and party; and who can then acquit you? Methinks, whenever you see a child presented to baptism, it may strike you with a sense of guilt; “Thus,” you may say, “in this manner was I devoted to God; but how treacherously have I revolted from him!” Methinks, the remembrance of the table of the Lord may perpetually haunt you while you are walking in the ways of sin. But though you may be able to manage your consciences, so that they may not afford you much uneasiness, while in this world, yet they will speak — they will speak plain and bold — they will speak home to your hearts, in that dread, eternal world, to which you are hastening. There, these suppressed evidences will have fair play. Then no charge will be brought against you by your Judge, but your consciences will re-echo, “Guilty! guilty!” And thus, you will consume away an eternity in accusing and condemning yourselves. Oh! impenitent sinners, how will you long for a lethe — a river of oblivion, when shut up in the belly of hell, that you might drink, and forget that ever you had a drop of baptismal water upon you, or that ever you sat in the posture of a communicant at the sacred table? But, alas! conscience will keep the painful remembrance fresh in your mind for ever. Conscience will then upbraid, “you that are now the prey of devils, and the fuel of infernal flames, were once devoted to God. You that are now the companions of damned ghosts, were once among the saints, and wore the badge of the disciples of Christ. But you were insincere and treacherous in all this; and now your privileges are become your curses. You sunk into hell, as it were, with the water of baptism upon your flesh, with the sacred bread and wine, the emblems of a crucified Saviour, in your hands, and with the mark of Christians upon you.” Oh! what scope for tormenting self-reflections is here! Oh! how cutting will these reviews be! reviews of transactions passed millions of millions of ages ago. This, sirs, will be the consequence, if you fall from your sacramental engagements; you will be your own accusers, and your own tormentors. Therefore, now beware of so dreadful a doom.

Secondly, You are witnesses against one another, that you have chosen the Lord to serve him. You have seen the transactions that have passed between God and you in this house; you have seen some baptized themselves; some presenting their children to baptism, and so renewing their own covenant with God; some sealing their religious engagements at the Lord’s table. These things we can witness against one another, neighbour against neighbour, parents against children, children against parents, brothers against brothers, friend against friend, husband against wife, and wife against husband. If we see or hear of any of you falling into immoralities, or neglecting the duties of religion and virtue, we can witness, that you promised better things. If any of you who have enjoyed the privilege of baptism among us for your children, still live in the neglect of family religion, here is a numerous crowd of witnesses, to testify that you are perjured; for we heard you solemnly promise it. One would think, the very sight of one another, should make you ashamed, and afraid to offend. You would not willingly be known and marked for a perfidious, dishonest villain in civil affairs; and will you be guilty of perfidy towards God and his church, without shame or remorse? My brethren, you are too far and too publicly engaged to be religious, to be capable now of deserting with honour and integrity. Therefore, let those who were witnesses of your vows, be also the witnesses of your performance of them. Now “Pay your vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.” Ps. xxii. 25. Whenever you see this place, methinks you may cry out with Jacob, “O how dreadful is this place! this is no other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Gen. xxviii. 17. Let the sight of your minister, and every one that has been witness to your transactions with God strike you with the remembrance of your duty, and excite you to perform it: and thus be silent, but powerful monitors to each other, and derive advantage even from the sight of one another.

But our intercourse with one another in this world will soon be over, and we must be parted, and pass solitary through the valley of the shadow of death, friendless and companionless. And can we then be witnessess against each other beyond the present state? Yes, my brethren, we must all meet in the region of spirits: we must all stand at the judgment-seat of Christ: and there especially we shall be witnesses against each other. To realize this awful interview, let us suppose (what I am afraid will be the case in fact,) that some of you who have been baptized in infancy, will then be found on the left hand of the Judge, and be accused of violating the covenant of your God: suppose the witnesses are called to prove the charge, (for, as the process will be intended, not for the information of the omniscient Judge, but to convince the world, who can judge only by apparent evidence of the justice of the doom, this supposition may be matter of fact,) your father, mother, or sureties, (as many of my hearers were baptized in the church of England, I mention sureties on purpose for their conviction,) will stand forth, and witness, “Lord, though this be our child, yet we must bear testimony against him, that we did devote him to thee in baptism; and he who now stands among the trembling criminals on thy left hand, was once introduced into thy church, and had thy holy name called upon him.” Then those that were spectators of the transaction, will stand forth and declare, “Lord, all this is true; we ourselves saw him solemnly devoted to thy service.” Then the minister will declare, “Lord, with this hand I baptized him in thy name; and I once had some hopes he would have made an useful member of thy church; but now I see he is a condemned, lost outcast.”

Or suppose some of you negroes, who have been baptized upon your profession of faith for yourselves, accused of having once engaged yourselves to the service of God, and afterwards forsaking it; and witnesses are called to prove the fact; this whole congregation may rise up and declare with one mouth, “Lord, we heard him with our own ears profess, that he renounced all his sins, and gave up himself to thee to be thy servant for ever.” And your minister must also witness, “Lord, he declared to me in private, that he did really repent of all his sins, that he did believe in thee with all his heart, and that he was heartily willing and desirous to be thy servant for ever. This, Lord, I had from his own mouth. Had he not made this profession, I would not have admitted him to thine ordinance. But as I could not judge of the sincerity of his heart, but by his declaration, I was obliged to admit him: and he renewed the same declaration publicly in the presence of thy people: and we, who could only judge by outward profession, hoped he was sincere. But how sadly are we disappointed.”

Or, suppose some of you who entered into a covenant with God last Lord’s day, should then be found workers of iniquity, what a crowd of witnesses will rise up against you to prove that you have voluntarily promised better things 1 One can witness, “Lord, I saw him at thy table!” Another, “Lord, he sat next to me on the same seat!” And your poor minister, “Lord, he received the elements from my hands: Lord, I conversed with him privately; and he told me, that as far as he knew his own heart, he was sincerely penitent for his sins, heartily willing to be thy servant for ever, and resolved to live a life of holiness for the time to come. This he professed to me, and as I could only judge of outward profession, I was obliged to receive him among the number of thy people.” In short, sinners, you cannot possibly escape: judgment will pass against you, and that with the clearest evidence. God the Father will condemn you; Jesus, the only advocate for sinners, will condemn you: your nearest relations and friends will condemn you; the whole universe will condemn you; you will condemn one another: nay, you will condemn yourselves; your own consciences will cry out, “O Lord, thou hast judged righteously; for all these charges are true: I can neither deny nor excuse them!” Evidences will then crowd in against you from every quarter. The three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, will witness against you. The elect angels, that are performing their ministry invisibly in the assemblies of the saints, will witness to the transactions that they saw you engaged in. And may not the sundry ministers that have laboured among you, shake off the dust of their feet, as a witness against you. Matt. x. 14. May they not shake their garments and say, “Your blood be upon your own heads; we are clean?” Acts xviii. 6. Nay, the heavens shall reveal your iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against you. Job. xx. 27. The rust of your “gold and silver, for which you exchanged your souls, shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. James v. 3. The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Hab. ii. 11. And (if I may use the bold figure of Joshua, in the conclusion of his last address) behold these pews, these pillars, and this pulpit, shall be a witness against you: for they have heard all the words of the Lord; therefore these shall be a witness against you, if you forsake the Lord your God. My brethren, I hope I can say, I discharge those duties of my office, which belong to the present state, with some degree of cheerfulness among you. But there is an office, which some of you, I am afraid, will oblige me to perform at the tribunal of the supreme Judge, the very prospect of which may make me shudder: and that is, to be a swift witness against you. All this praying, and hearing, and baptizing, and communicating, will not be forgotten, as soon as performed: no, the matter will have a re-hearing in the other world. And oh! endeavour, my dear people, endeavour so to improve my labours among you, that I may give in my testimony with joy. Let me read the apostle’s advice in this case, Heb. xiii. 17: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account: that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you.”