2. Our baptism is to be improved by us in the time of temptation, in order to our resisting it, and preventing our being entangled and overcome thereby.
(1.) If the temptation takes its rise from the world, or we are thereby induced to lay aside, or be remiss in our duty to God, from the prosperous circumstances in which we are therein, we should consider, that in having been devoted to God in our infancy, or given up ourselves professedly to him, when adult, it has been intimated and acknowledged, that he is our portion, better to us than all we can enjoy in the world; and therefore we ought to acquiesce in him as such, and say, Whom have I in heaven but thee; and there is none, or nothing, upon the earth that I desire besides thee, Psal. lxxiii. 25.
Moreover, if we are tempted to be uneasy, and repine at the providence of God, by reason of the many evils that befal us in the world, we ought to consider, that when we were given up to God, this implied in it an obligation to be content to be at his disposal, and to be satisfied with whatever he allots for us, as not questioning the care and justice of his providence, in which we were under an indispensable obligation to acquiesce. Therefore when God tries us, by bringing us under various afflictions, our baptismal engagement obliges us to say, It is the Lord, let him do with us what seemeth good in his sight.
(2.) If we are exposed to the temptations of Satan, or those inward suggestions, whereby sinful objects are presented to our thoughts, and a false gloss put upon them, to induce us to a compliance therewith, we are to improve our baptismal engagement, by considering that it contains a solemn acknowledgment of God’s right to us, exclusive of all others: therefore, we cannot but dread the thoughts of submitting to be vassals to Satan, which is, in effect, to disown that allegiance which we owe to God, and to say, that other lords shall have dominion over us. This will have a tendency to induce us to adhere stedfastly to God, as the result of our having been devoted to him in this ordinance.
And if we are afraid of being ensnared by those wiles and methods of deceit, which Satan often makes use of, that are not always discerned by us, we are to consider ourselves as having been devoted to Christ; and, pursuant thereunto, if we have, in any instance, improved this solemn transaction, we have given up ourselves to him, in hope of being under his protection, and interested in his intercession, so that though we are sifted as wheat, our faith may not fail, Luke xxii. 31, 32.
Moreover, when we are assaulted, and, as it were, wounded with Satan’s fiery darts, whereby great discouragements are thrown in our way, the guilt of sin magnified, as though it were unpardonable, and the stain and pollution thereof such, as can never be washed away: And when we are ready to conclude from hence, that our state is hopeless, and the comforts we once enjoyed, irrecoverably lost; this is, indeed, an afflictive case. Nevertheless, our baptism is to be improved by us, as considering that remission of sins was the blessing desired and hoped for, inasmuch as it was signified thereby; so that we are to be sensible that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin; and that, as we were given up to him, in hope of obtaining this privilege, and have been enabled since then, to give up ourselves to him by faith, and therein to improve our baptismal engagement; we therefore trust, that he will appear for us, rebuke the adversary, establish our comforts, and enable us to walk as those, who desire to recommend his grace to others, that they may be encouraged to adhere to him, by the comfortable sense which we have of his love shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost.
3. Our baptismal engagement is to be improved by us, before and after we are brought into a converted state.
(1.) Unregenerate persons are to improve it, as it should afford them matter of deep humiliation, that though they have been devoted to God, and thereby were called by his name, and made partakers of the external blessings of his covenant; yet they have been alienated from the life of God, and strangers to the internal saving blessings thereof. There was a profession made, in baptism, that they stood in need of Christ’s mediation, to deliver them from the guilt of sin, and of being cleansed from the pollution thereof, which is of a spreading nature; but they have, notwithstanding, given way to it; and, how pure soever they have been in their own eyes, are not yet washed from their filthiness, Prov. xxx. 12. Now such may take occasion from hence to plead earnestly with God for converting grace; which is the only means whereby they may know that he has accepted of their solemn dedication to him; or that they are not only born of water, but of the Spirit; and are made partakers of the thing signified in baptism, without which, the external sign will not afford any saving advantage. We may also plead with God, that as we are professedly his, he would assert his own right to us, overcome us to himself, and make us willing in the day of his power, Psal. cx. 3.
(2.) Our baptismal engagement is constantly to be improved by us, if we are brought into a state of grace, in order to the growth and increase thereof; especially if we are sensible of great declension therein, or that it is not, in all respects with us, as it once was; if we are sensible of deadness and stupidity, in holy duties, and stand in need of being quickened, excited, and brought into a lively frame of spirit, or to be restored after great back-slidings; if we would have sin mortified, and the secret workings thereof in our heart subdued, we ought to consider, that having been baptized into Jesus Christ, we were baptized into his death; and that we are obliged hereby to walk in newness of life; therefore sin should not reign in our mortal bodies, Rom. vi. 3, 4, 12. And as we hope and trust, that we are made partakers of the saving blessings signified in this ordinance, we desire to improve the relation we stand in to Christ, as his people, as a matter of encouragement, that when we are oppressed, he will undertake for us.
If we are destitute of assurance of his love, and our interest in him, we are to improve the consideration of our being his, not only by professed dedication, but by a fiducial adherence to him; this will encourage us to hope that he will enable us to walk holily and comfortably before him, and lift up the light of his countenance upon us, as our reconciled God and Father.