MOREOVER, THE CONDITIONS REQUIRED IN, AT, AND ABOUT BAPTISM, INDICATE SUFFICIENTLY THAT IT WAS NOT ADMINISTERED TO CHILDREN, BUT TO PERSONS OF UNDERSTANDINGIn order to receive baptism in a worthy and true manner, there are required sorrow and repentance of sins, accompanied with a confession of the same. Matt. 3:6, we read, "And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins."; Besides this, it is required that we should bear good fruits."Bring forth therefore," says John, to those who desired to be baptized,"fruits meet for repentance" (Matt. 3:8); or, according to Biestken's translation, "Do genuine fruits of repentance."; Mark 16:16, it is also required, that we believe, yea, that we believe with the hearts. Acts 8:37. In short, repentance or conversion, and baptism are joined together, Matt. 3:6, 11; as also, teaching, believing, and baptizing, Mark 16:15, 16. Confession and baptism went hand in hand with the Ethiopian, Acts 8:37. Baptism is a burying of the old man, and a sign of resurrection into a new * He that is to have his sin buried through baptism, must first have died unto it through repentance: and he that is to rise into, or walk in the new life must first have been or walked in an old life; this is incontrovertible, but whether it applies to infants, let the reader judge. * It appears, therefore, that none were baptized in Galatia, but those who had put on Christ. Concerning this putting on of Christ, see Rom. 13:14. ** In the ark, which was preserved through, or, properly speaking, in the water, there were none but believing and obedient persons, eight in number, namely, Noah and his wife, with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their three wives, eight persons in all: likewise, none but believng and obedient persons belong in the church of Christ, which is compared to the ark, and which must be preserved through or in baptism.
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