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THE 
 
 REASONABLENESS OF RELIGION 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 3Boctn'n£S anb Institutions, 
 
 WITH A PARTICULAR CONSIDERATION 
 OF 
 
 BELIEVERS' BAPTISM: 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES; 
 
 AND 
 
 AN APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 THE OPINIONS OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON, MR. WHISTON, 
 DR. JAiAIES FOSTER, 
 
 AND 
 
 A DEFENCE OF BELIEVERS' BAPTISi^I, 
 
 BY JOHN iMILTON, 
 
 EXTRACTED FROM HIS TREATISE ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 
 
 BY BENJAxMIN^ARDON, M; A. 
 
 Minister of TForship" Street Chapel, near Finsbury Square. 
 
 " Through baptism we are initiated into the gospel, whicii is a reason- 
 able, manly, and, in the highest sense, a free service."— Milton. 
 
 •' Fiant Christiani cum Christum nosse potuerint." — Tebtullian. 
 
 'O Tin^-zva-aq Kai ^ocjtrKxOsiq a-aOria-ercci' — The Gospbl. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 ROWLAND HUNTER, 7'2, ST. PAUL's CHURCHYARD. 
 1830. 
 
G. SMALLFIELD^ PRINTER, HACKNEY. 
 

 c.. 
 
 
 If any apology be needed for the work 
 which is now introduced to public notice, it 
 is contained in the Author^s belief, that the 
 topics to which it relates are most intimately 
 connected with Christian truth, and condu- 
 cive to its genuine practical influences. He 
 is not so presumptuous as to imagine that 
 no others have discovered that which he 
 firmly believes to be the " good old path^^ 
 in which the Saviour and his primitive dis- 
 ciples walked ; on the contrary, he rejoices 
 to have been able to bring together the 
 willing testimonies of some of the most illus- 
 trious men of modern times, the cultivation 
 of whose minds enabled them to penetrate 
 the mist arising from the prejudices of edu- 
 cation ; and the simplicity and honesty of 
 whose hearts were evinced in nothing more 
 than in the readiness with which, in spite of 
 popular odium, they bore testimony to " the 
 truth as it is in Jesus/^ While error on va- 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 rious subjects of Christian theology most 
 extensively abounds, it is the Author's con- 
 viction, that Christian duty requires that all 
 should use their best endeavours to restore 
 the purity of the Christian faith, and the in- 
 tegrity of the Christian discipline. Nor can 
 he persuade himself that a sincere love for 
 the gospel, in its primitive purity, can be in- 
 compatible with the most rigid attention to 
 the moral duties, and the most earnest attach- 
 ment to the sacred principles of Evangelical 
 Righteousness. By the Holy Scriptures, in- 
 terpreted under the influence of sound judg- 
 ment and a cheerful piety, he desires that 
 the principles which he has advocated may 
 be freely examined. 
 
 Peyitonville, March \st, 1830. 
 
.^^^""""^^u. 
 
 t- 
 
 REASONABLENESS OF REMGI 
 
 
 
 THE ^^H$^^ V 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 DOCTRINES AND INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 CHAP. r. 
 
 " I BESEECH you, therefore, Brethren, by the 
 mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a 
 living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is 
 your reasonable service." This portion of Holy 
 Writ immediately succeeds what is called the doc- 
 trinal part of the Epistle to the Romans, the main 
 scope and object of which were admirably shewn 
 to the English reader by that acute reasoner and 
 excellent scripturalist, Mr. Locke, whose Para- 
 phrase on this Epistle was published more than 
 a century ago. But many of the popular divines 
 of the present day set no value on this rational 
 system of interpretation, and under the pretence 
 of magnifying the Gospel of God, hy separating 
 faith from reason, appear to remove the only solid 
 basis upon which a superstructure of divine truth 
 can possibly be reared. The consequence of this 
 is too evident in the wild and mystical doctrines 
 which our apostle is made to inculcate upon our 
 submissive belief, who writing to a society of 
 
recent converts in language suggested by their 
 previous associations, describes the universal 
 need of a divine interference, and the grace which 
 was manifested in the mission of Jesus. The 
 Epistles of Paul, however much they may be oc- 
 cupied in the former parts with discussions arising 
 from the union of Gentile and Jew in the Chris- 
 tian Church, contain towards the close a variety 
 of practical exhortations at once perspicuous, 
 valuable, and most influential. These portions of 
 his Epistles are, from the very nature of the case, 
 more capable than others of general application, 
 and much error in doctrine would have been pre- 
 vented if men had been less curious about that 
 which must to us be comparatively obscure, and 
 had more carefully imbibed the catholic and truly 
 Christian spirit which so beautifully pervades the 
 practical portions. 
 
 The offering of animals in sacrifice to Almighty 
 God, formed a prominent part of the Mosaic 
 ritual. The design of sacrifices, which were in 
 use before the institution of the Jewish law, ap- 
 pears to have been, to express the religious sen- 
 timents of the worshippers, in the spirit of Orien- 
 talism, by actions instead of tvords. They were 
 symbols of the devout homage of the mind in 
 acknowledgement of the Divine beneficence, or 
 expressions of penitence intended to conciliate 
 the favour of an offended Deity. No such ritual 
 forms a part of the Christian religion, the history 
 of which represents to us one great and final 
 sacrifice, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is 
 
said by a Scriptural writer* "to have once at 
 the end of the world appeared, to put away sin 
 by the sacrifice of himself," and for his obedience 
 to death he was honoured and rewarded by his 
 heavenly Father. 
 
 The figure which the apostle employs is a 
 highly expressive and appropriate one. The 
 Psalmist had said,t '^The sacrifice of God is a 
 broken spirit : a broken and a contrite heart, O 
 Lord, thou wilt not despise." Under the Chris- 
 tian dispensation, to which Judaism tended as its 
 grand completion, these are the only sacrifices. 
 The gaudy and magnificent ritual of the Temple 
 at Jerusalem, as well as the rival and imitative 
 devotion of Mount Gerizim, our Lord predicted 
 would soon terminate,^ and a worship more sim- 
 ple, and to the world less attractive, would be 
 established wherever the gospel should be pro- 
 fessed — the worship of the Father, the Eternal and 
 Immortal Spirit, in spirit and in truth. 
 
 The animal sacrifices were first slain^ and then 
 presented on the altar of devotion. The sacrifice 
 which the Christian was to offer was that of him- 
 self, his mind in its most vigorous state, pos- 
 sessed of all the powers bestowed upon it by its 
 Divine Author. It was to be holy, i. e. purified 
 from every blemish, (which rendered an animal 
 an unfit victim,) and separated for this purpose 
 from the engrossing and vitiating pleasures of the 
 world — an acceptable ofifering to God — and, as the 
 
 * Heb. ix. 26. f Psalm li. 17. X John iv. 21—24. 
 
4 
 
 last requisite, which is your reasonable service ; 
 or, omitting the expletive tvhich is — in this case 
 probably weakening the energetic style of the 
 apostle — your rational service. The expression 
 strictly means a service in which the reason of 
 man forms an essential part. Now that the ser- 
 vice which as Christians we are here required to 
 pay to Almighty God, is a rational service, fol- 
 lows, 
 
 1. From the fact that our apostle is drawing 
 an oblique contrast between the ceremonial ritual 
 of Judaism and the spiritual oblations of the 
 Gospel. The former was better suited to a people 
 whose minds were uncultivated, and therefore 
 in need of external aids to excite devotion and 
 keep alive the feelings of piety; the latter we 
 should expect to form the essence of a religion 
 so universal in its character as to be suited to 
 the wants and conducive to the edification of 
 " every creature under heaven."' The apostle, it 
 is well known to all who are acquainted with his 
 history, had greatly surmounted the prejudices of 
 his Jewish education ; and wedded as his early 
 feelings were to the institutions of his fathers, 
 (for an apparent irreverence to which he had once 
 thought it right to shed the blood of the holy 
 Stephen,) yet when enlightened by Divine Revela- 
 tion, he could in the spirit of true Catholicism 
 exclaim, '' There is neither Jew nor Greek, Bar- 
 barian, Scythian, bond nor free — but Christ is all 
 and in all." A frequent expression in St. Paul's 
 writings for the Christian Religion is spmt as 
 
opposed io flesh, by which he frequently denotes 
 the law of Moses. This single example may 
 serve to shew the distinction which existed in 
 the Apostle's mind, between the character of the 
 Old and that of the New Covenant, a distinction 
 which manifestly subsists, and was designed by 
 their common Author to subsist between them. 
 Let it not be supposed that into the worship re- 
 quired of the Israelites of old, the religion of the 
 heart did not actually enter. The reverse of this, 
 we are assured in scripture, was the case. A 
 comparison only has been made between the two, 
 and in this case it is beyond a question that the 
 gospel is the more spiritual, the more intellectual 
 religion ; the one is the religion of uncultivated 
 children, the other of enlightened men. 
 
 2. No otlier than a rational service can produce 
 a permanently beneficial impression upon the hu- 
 man heart. By a rational service is meant a ser- 
 vice in which reason forms a prominent part. 
 And yet there are some who tell us that we must 
 discard and lay aside our reason in the contem- 
 plation of divine things : an office which, if it were 
 practicable, would be in the highest degree un- 
 grateful and pernicious. For what is it which so 
 broadly distinguishes man from the inferior ani- 
 mals, but the possession of superior intellect and 
 higher wisdom ? And in what manner, therefore, 
 can we more suitably express our gratitude to 
 the Father of our spirits, than by bringing to the 
 investigation and employments of religion, those 
 exalted faculties with which he has been pleased 
 b2 
 
6 
 
 to endow us ? It has been said^ that this reason- 
 able service can alone produce in the heart a 
 permanently beneficial impression ; an apparent 
 objection to which doctrine arises from the strik- 
 ing reformation which fanaticism has often 
 wrought upon the character of extensive com- 
 munities as well as numerous individuals. 
 
 Difficult, indeed, would be the problem of mo- 
 ral evil, were there no appearance of a beneficial 
 result issuing from the errors and criminalities of 
 mankind. There can be no reasonable doubt that 
 the occasional, nay frequent, aberrations of the 
 human intellect, have, under the direction of a 
 wise, almighty Governor, been made subservient 
 to the moral education of the human mind ; and 
 upon this principle we may regard the benefit 
 which individuals, and even whole communities, 
 have sometimes received from fanatical and erro- 
 neous systems. The influence which these have 
 exerted may sometimes be traced to the force of 
 contrast with the preceding state of the commu- 
 nity. The early progress of Methodism has been 
 ascribed to the comparative indifference in which 
 the Established clergy were at that time sunk, 
 and a beneficial amelioration was unquestionably 
 produced by the Wesleyan preaching upon some 
 classes of the people, (upon the miners in Corn- 
 wall, for instance,) which would in vain have been 
 expected in the ordinary train of religious in- 
 struction. Yet it is not necessary to admit that 
 all the articles of that creed which Wesley and 
 his coadjutors inculcated, are verily and indeed 
 
conformable to reason and scripture. The effect 
 may otherwise be accounted for, partly by the 
 cause which has been described, and partly by 
 the plainness, sincerity, and earnestness, with 
 which those preachers of Christian morals en- 
 forced the lessons which they taught. Besides, 
 there is so much that is truly excellent in all the 
 systems of Christianity, when you include every 
 thing which these systems teach in relation to 
 man, his Maker, his duty, and his expectations, 
 that this of itself will produce such decidedly be- 
 neficial results, as to counteract much of the evil 
 which false notions, either in morals or religion, 
 are, in their own nature and considered separately, 
 calculated to generate. 
 
 But let us not be afraid to face the difficulty in 
 all its importance, a difficulty which would be 
 quite overwhelming to a rational system of Chris- 
 tianity, were we to trust the coloured representa- 
 tions, the positive assertions, and the hasty in- 
 ferences, of many that have written and spoken 
 on this subject. An eloquent and orthodox wri- 
 ter,* in treating on this subject, has referred very 
 explicitly to the beneficial impressions which the 
 Established systems of religion may be supposed 
 to have produced upon the minds of the vulgar in 
 heathen communities ; and this too in a section 
 of his work in which it is his object to set forth 
 the peculiar advantages of the Calvinistic faith. 
 " The ancients/' says he, " were wiser than 
 
 * Mr. Wilberforce, in his Practical View. 
 
8 
 
 ourselves, and never thought of governing the 
 community in general by their lessons of philo- 
 phy. These lessons vrere confined to the schools 
 of the learned, while for the million a system of 
 religion, such as it was, was kept up, as alone 
 adapted to their grosser natures/' The true 
 principle upon which fanaticism has often pro- 
 duced such striking effects, is involved in this 
 statement. 
 
 The author just now quoted would be as far 
 as any one from contending for the truth of those 
 opinions and of that mythology to which he has 
 attributed so salutary an operation. And yet it 
 is the truth, and only the truth, of those opinions 
 which the uninformed have often to their benefit 
 embraced, that is the question at issue. No one 
 can venture to deny that powerful, and in some 
 instances useful, impressions may thus be pro- 
 duced, and even be designed by Providence to be 
 produced. The notorious imposture of Mahomet- 
 anism, and the mystical reveries of Hindooism, 
 may each in their respective countries, and upon 
 the minds of their devoted adherents, originate 
 many powerful emotions, and (if we may trust to 
 their advocates) impressions favourable to virtue 
 and human welfare. But what has this to do 
 with the abstract truth, or the native reasonable- 
 ness and propriety, of those opinions themselves ? 
 The writer before quoted contends in favour 
 of Calvinism, that " it is the only form of Chris- 
 tianity which is at all adapted to make impres- 
 sions upon the lower orders, by strongly interest- 
 
9 
 
 ing the passions of the human mind." It is fully 
 acknowledged, that if the first and legitimate de- 
 sign of religion were strongly to " interest" the 
 passions of the human heart, then Calvinism is a 
 better religion than Unitarianism ; but upon this 
 principle we ought not to rest here ; for, unde- 
 niably, the superstition of the Roman Church has 
 to recommend it a pomp and a splendour better 
 calculated still to produce the designed result : 
 and the wild chimeras and fabulous representa- 
 tions of Heathen idolatry would, according to 
 this standard, become the best and most useful 
 of all religions. But this standard. Christians, is 
 an erroneous, a pernicious one. The proper de- 
 sign of religion is by no means to excite, or 
 " greatly interest," the passions of the lower, or 
 of any class of mankind. To subdue passion, to 
 regulate our propensities, to moderate the vio- 
 lence of appetite, to bring all our thoughts, our 
 wishes, and pursuits, under the controul of rea- 
 son, of the better and nobler powers of our nature, 
 this, this is the legitimate intent of all true phi- 
 losophy, and of that sublimest and most exalted 
 philosophy which was taught by Christ and his 
 apostles. The same doctrines were designed by 
 the heavenly Teacher for the rich and the poor, 
 for the learned and the unlearned, since all are 
 liable to be influenced by the same motives, and 
 all are passing through a state of pilgrimage on 
 earth, which, if they be wise and obedient, will 
 conduct to a more noble and enduring inheritance 
 in heaven. Call up to your memories, Chris- 
 
10 
 
 tians, the concise and simple definitions of true 
 religion and vital godliness which are scattered 
 up and down in the history of your Saviour, and 
 in the preaching of his religion by the apostles ; 
 and then satisfy yourselves whether it be essen- 
 tial to the character of a true faith that it should 
 either dazzle us by the splendour of its imagery, 
 or confound us by the mysticism of its doctrines. 
 The love of God, and the love of our neighbour, 
 in the estimation of him who " knew what was 
 in man," was alone necessary to peace and ac- 
 ceptance. The knowledge of the Father, in his 
 character, perfections, and providence, and the 
 knowledge of the Son, as " the way, the truth, 
 and the life," was all the knowledge which was 
 required by Jesus to conduct men to everlasting 
 happiness. There is nothing of mysticism or of 
 fanaticism here ; there is nothing to engage us to 
 prostrate our understandings, or to yield a blind 
 and implicit belief. And the preaching of the 
 apostles who went forth under the special super- 
 intendence of God to establish the kingdom of 
 Christ, disseminated the principles of a religion 
 equall}'^ plain and concise, and alike devoid of 
 mystery with that of their venerated Master. 
 " Righteousness and temperance, and a judgment 
 to come," were the topics selected by St. Paul, 
 when his object was to describe before Felix the 
 character of faith in Christ. And the same much- 
 abused and perverted instructor, in his charge to 
 a primitive bishop, reckons up the teachings of 
 the gospel morality in the three words, sobriety. 
 
n 
 
 righteousness, and godliness. Where, in the 
 Christian Scriptures, are we to look for the full 
 disclosure of that system on which they who are 
 called Orthodox delight to discourse ? — or where 
 is this represented as necessary to be believed 
 and essential to the salvation of the believer ? So 
 far from there being a full disclosure of this sys- 
 tem in the Bible, when the gospel is preached in 
 its simple and primitive state, without the varnish 
 of modern orthodoxy, or the cumbrous additions 
 of Trinitarian mystery, it is denounced by some 
 as legal preaching ; its advocates are reckoned 
 unsound, and its teachers the advocates of a mea- 
 gre Christianity. A meagre Christianity, for- 
 sooth 1 Why that is precisely the Christianity 
 of the primitive believers ! Their very name of 
 Ebionites was as appropriate to the scantiness of 
 their creed as to the meanness of their condition. 
 If you seek for a long string of dogmatical propo- 
 sitions, you may have recourse to the Thirty- 
 nine Articles of the Church of England ; or if a 
 curiously arranged and extensive scheme of the- 
 ology be the subject of your inquir}', you will find 
 it in the Westminster Confession of Faith ; but 
 if you are satisfied with a simple, easy, and influ- 
 ential creed, open the pages of the New Testa- 
 ment, and embrace with your hearts the gospel 
 of Christ. It was this simple, unobtrusive, and 
 rational scheme of religion, which, accompanied 
 by apostolic energy, and enforced by divine attes- 
 tation, produced such striking and beneficial ef- 
 fects in the primitive age. Believers then were 
 
ii 
 
 uniformly brought over from a lengthy creed to a 
 simple faith, and from a pompous to a spiritual 
 worship. The miraculous power was afterwards 
 withdrawn, when it had answered the purposes of 
 Heaven ; and when it pleased the wise Director 
 of the world to suffer a temporary eclipse of the 
 Sun of Righteousness, the simplicity of the Chris- 
 tian creed was well nigh destroyed, by the nume- 
 rous additions which it received, till that auspi- 
 cious era dawned, when the moral luminary was 
 to clear himself from the moral opacity which 
 intercepted his ray, and when believers in Jesus, 
 by the exercise of their rational faculties and 
 comparison between the Christianity of the po- 
 pular creed and the Christianity of the Scriptures, 
 dared to discard all superfluous and pernicious 
 articles, even at the risk of being accused by men 
 of robbing the gospel of its essential glory ; be- 
 cause that sacred book does itself forbid obedience 
 to the traditions of men for the commandments 
 of God. The invariable process of corruption in 
 doctrine has been from less to more — a process 
 completely the reverse of that which the de- 
 fenders of prevalent opinions are obliged to main- 
 tain. 
 
 What hinders, then, that we should, from the 
 various considerations on which we have entered, 
 draw this plain and intelligible inference, that do 
 service but a rational service can produce a per- 
 manently beneficial impression upon the human 
 heart ? For an impression on the mind to be 
 fitly denominated good, it must not aim, as by a 
 
13 
 
 sudden impulse to transport us heavenwards ; 
 but its influence should rather resemble the mild 
 and increasing light of day, which discovers to 
 the traveller the path to his destined home, or 
 the genial rays of the vernal sun, which kindly 
 co-operate with the other gracious arrangements 
 of nature, to nourish, to foster, and ultimately to 
 ripen, the various products of the soil. 
 
 3rdl5% No religion but a rational religion can 
 keep pace with the progress of information and 
 the spread of knowledge. What is it which 
 serves to diffuse so wide an alarm, and to excite 
 apprehension for the safety of our holy religion, 
 but an internal consciousness that some of the 
 articles of the popular faith cannot endure a rigid 
 and severe examination ; and that an increase of 
 information, and an expansion of intellect, will 
 diminish the extent of human credulity, and lead 
 men to simplify the tenets of their religious be- 
 lief ? Let not the sincere follower of him who de- 
 clared, '* My gospel is founded on a rock, and the 
 gates of hell shall not prevail against it," — be 
 alarmed by the occasional appearance of scepti- 
 cism among the ignorant, or by an open avowal of 
 unbelief among those whose passions often induce 
 a wish, that the gospel may prove a fable. Com- 
 pute the number of honest unbelievers who have 
 become such by the preaching of a corrupted gos- 
 pel, and then you will ascertain the stability of 
 the genuine religion of Jesus, when it shall be 
 stripped of all meretricious ornaments. When 
 c 
 
14 
 
 you have learned the proportion which the num- 
 ber of those who have patiently examined the 
 evidences for the divine origin of the gospel, as it 
 is found in the Bible, and yet have remained in 
 unbelief, bears to the number of those who have 
 never studied these evidences at all, but have 
 been led away by prejudice, caprice, or some 
 untoward passion, and when you find this pro- 
 portion to be considerable, theUf and not till then, 
 will it be time for the sincere Christian to ex- 
 press any anxiety for the interests of that Reli- 
 gion which lies so near his heart. Rejoicing in 
 the progress of information and the spread of 
 knowledge, he can discern nothing in either that 
 is hostile to true religion ; he knows that the fun- 
 damental doctrines of the gospel are few, and 
 though not clearly discernible by human reason 
 before they were taught or confirmed by Jesus, 
 are now perfectly consistent with the most en- 
 lightened judgment, harmonize with the sacred 
 truths which reason herself can furnish, and 
 clearly tend to advance the cultivation, the present 
 peace, and the final happiness of man. Welcome, 
 then, light ! he will say ; the religion of Jesus can 
 bear, nay invites, the closest inspection; it is light 
 which displays its beauty, it is light which illus- 
 trates its truth, it is light which can alone preserve 
 its enemies from again corrupting and defacing it. 
 It may be shewn, lastly, that the very spirit and 
 texture of the Bible Theology is opposed to the 
 notion, that Christianity and Reason are at vari- 
 
15 
 
 ance, that Christian worship is any thing distinct 
 from the devout exercise of the best powers and 
 most kindly affections of our rational nature. 
 That two very opposite systems are called by the 
 name of Christianity, must be readily admitted . 
 the one simple and intelligible, the other mysteri- 
 ous and inexplicable. At the announcement of the 
 one, reason assents, and piety rejoices in her na- 
 tural ally; at the mention of the other, " reason 
 stands aghast, and faith herself is half confound- 
 ed.*' Either one of these systems must be grossly 
 defective, or the other must be excessively absurd. 
 If reason be the test of truth, and that it is, all 
 nature cries aloud, we cannot long hesitate which 
 to choose. If implicit faith, not reason, be our 
 guide, why were our faculties bestowed upon us, 
 or how can we defend our Maker from the charge 
 of having bestowed them in vain ? But the reli- 
 gion of the Bible is as much opposed to mystery 
 and fanaticism, as reason herself can be. It is 
 no less true that there are two systems, than it is 
 incumbent upon us to adopt the more rational of 
 these ; and instead of delighting to set faith and 
 reason at variance, we cannot more suitably ex- 
 press our gratitude to the Giver of reason, than by 
 using it to remove all obscurity and dispel all 
 doubt which may lie in the way of faith, assur- 
 edly believing that that religion which is to enter 
 the heart, and leave a deep and salutary impres- 
 sion there, must be a religion that cultivates, 
 while it accords with, the human understanding. 
 
16 
 
 Let us then, Christians, constantly bear in mind 
 that in order to be truly rational, we must pursue 
 religion to its legitimate and avowed design, the 
 amelioration of the dispositions, the controul of 
 the passions, the suppression of impure and un- 
 friendly feelings, and the discharge of all the 
 active duties of social life. To rest satisfied with 
 merely professing our belief in a pure system of 
 religious opinions, and our admiration for its 
 beautiful pilecepts of morality, while our hearts 
 remain the seat of pride, of hatred, of all uncha- 
 ritableness, and our lives are disgraced by the 
 habitual neglect of duty, or the indulgence of 
 crime, would be the most unreasonable course 
 which we could possibly pursue. However diffi- 
 cult the task, you owe it to the blessings which 
 you enjoy to perform your duty sedulously and 
 with delight, to shew the world that a simple re- 
 ligion, a meagre Christianity, as it has been 
 called, is abundantly sufficient for the proper di- 
 rection of life, and every way conducive to the 
 practice of Christian virtue. Refute the perni- 
 cious but prevalent error, that religious frenzy 
 is necessary to the cultivation of religious prin- 
 ciple. Cherish, by the institutions of divine ap- 
 pointment, and by rational meditation upon the 
 works and ways of God, those holy feelings and 
 benevolent dispositions which enter so materially 
 into genuine godliness, which spread a serene 
 enjoyment over the human countenance, which 
 animate to the work which God has given you to 
 
17 
 
 do, whether in the church or m the world, which 
 will preserve your piety from degenerating into 
 formality, and your benevolence from stagnating 
 in your breasts ; but beware yourselves, and en- 
 deavour by precept and example to guard others, 
 from esteeming certain wild and fanatical emo- 
 tions as partaking of the nature of true religion, 
 or conducive to Divine acceptance. The God of 
 grace and mercy will, of his abundant goodness, 
 pardon the errors into which his mistaken wor- 
 shippers have fallen, under pretence of doing him 
 service ; but there is no excuse for those before 
 whom the truth has been unfolded, and whose 
 understandings clearly perceive the requisitions 
 of the gospel, if they neglect to present them- 
 selves a living sacrifice, on the altar of Christian 
 devotion, holy and acceptable to God. 
 
 The rational service, then, which we must ren- 
 der to God, denotes that we should faithfully 
 perform our religious exercises in the closet, in 
 our families, and in the congregation, and readily 
 comply with the positive institutions of religion. 
 This is one branch, and an important branch, of 
 the duty which we owe to Almighty God, and 
 which, if we perform with sincerity and godly 
 fear, will lead us to discharge the rest of our du- 
 ties with ease, improvement, and satisfaction. 
 For if our reason be engaged in this service, if it 
 be not a mere formal thing, but, as it was in- 
 tended, call into exercise the noblest faculties 
 and the purest affections of our nature, then our 
 c2 
 
18 
 
 religion will not be confined to the House of 
 Prayer. Our whole lives will become one scene 
 of devotion, the world in which we act will be to 
 us a temple of piety, and the daily duties which 
 our stations call upon us to perform, so many 
 parts of that rational service which we are bound 
 to render to the God of nature and the God of 
 love. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 '*Then Cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan 
 unto John, to be baptized of him. But John for- 
 bad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of 
 thee, and comest thou to me ? And Jesus an- 
 swering said unto him. Suffer it to be so now, for 
 thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteous7iessn*'^ . 
 
 This is a general sentiment, capable of applica- 
 tion to a variety of duties ; and, as a principle laid 
 down by the great Founder of Christianity, it de- 
 serves the serious attention of all who profess to 
 be his disciples. 
 
 Let us endeavour to gain a clear conception of 
 the meaning of this sentiment of our Lord. This 
 must be done in this, as in all other cases, by first 
 ascertaining the meaning of the words employed. 
 As the term righteousness is somewhat peculiar, 
 it will be proper to devote our attention for a 
 little, to the consideration of its Scriptural usage. 
 The word righteousiiess in the original, as well 
 as in English, denotes in the first place, the virtue 
 of justice, or the paying a due regard to the rights 
 of our fellow-men. It also sometimes denotes 
 virtue in general, but specially those duties which 
 we owe to God, arising from the adoption by the 
 
 * Matt. iii. 13. 
 
20 
 
 Scriptural writers of that best of all moral prin- 
 ciples, that a regard to the will of God, as it is the 
 highest incentive, so it is the true criterion of virtu- 
 ous excellence. Righteousness in this way comes to 
 be used as synonymous with religious duties in 
 general, and the relative word righteous is appli- 
 cable to a person who punctually performs these 
 duties. Thus the Psalmist declares, " I have 
 been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen 
 the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging 
 bread."* "The righteous shall inherit the land,"t 
 i. e. not merely the morally good, but they who are 
 actuated by a regard to God's will. And again, 
 ''The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord/'| 
 
 In the address originally delivered to Solomon, 
 and applied by the writer to the Hebrews to 
 Jesus of Nazareth, the word righteousness occurs 
 iji the correspondhig sense. " Thou hast loved 
 righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, 
 thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of glad- 
 ness above thy fellows." § Righteousness must 
 here denote the whole religious discipline, all the 
 duties which the Lord our God requireth of us. 
 
 " Take heed," said the Saviour, " that you do 
 not your alms to be seen of men,"|| or, according 
 to the reading of the best edition of the Christian 
 Scriptures, "Take heed that you do not your 
 righteousness, your acts of righteousness, to be 
 seen of men," using a general word, which in- 
 
 * Ps. xxxvii. 25. f Ps. xxxvii. 29. % Ps. xxxvii. 39. 
 § Chap. i. 9. II Matt. vi. 1. 
 
eludes almsgiving, and prayer, and all other duties. 
 And in this sense the word must be understood 
 in the above-mentioned passage. Thus it be- 
 cometh us to fulfil all right eousnesSy to comply 
 luith all the divine commands, to fill up the whole 
 measure of human duty, to attend to and obey 
 every ordinance of divine appointment. 
 
 Such is the view which, in the exercise of fair 
 and genuine criticism, we must take of our great 
 Master's declaration. And understanding it in 
 this sense. Dr. Priestley remarks upon it,* "So 
 different were our Lord's sentiments and conduct 
 from theirs who neglect the positive institutions 
 of religion.*' Dr. Priestley says, " the positive 
 institutions," for though Christ does not mean 
 to give the sanction of his authority to these duties 
 alone (since the tenor of his preaching was the 
 entire reverse of this), yet, using as he does a uni- 
 versal mode of expression, it is obvious that the 
 positive duties of religion must be included, and 
 are intended to be enforced by our Saviour as 
 well as those which are in their essence of a 
 strictly moral nature. Nothing can be more 
 decisive than this, because it was to a positive 
 institution, the ordinance of baptism, upon repen- 
 tance, that the words were expressly applied by 
 our Saviour. 
 
 By a moral duty is meant, any obligation 
 arising from the very nature of things in refer- 
 ence to our conduct towards our fellow creatures, 
 and the government of ourselves. Thus, to tell 
 
 * See Note (A). 
 
22 
 
 the truth every man to his neighbour, is a moral 
 duty directly binding upon us as members of 
 civil societj', the utility of which the meanest 
 person must perceive, and the importance of 
 which arises from its necessity to the happiness 
 and very continuance of society. Thus also, a 
 strict regard to the rights of property, supposing 
 those rights previously defined, is a moral dutj'^, 
 without obeying which we cannot be good mem- 
 bers of society, or entitled to the appellation of 
 just and honest persons. Again, there are other 
 duties, such as those of temperance^ which relate 
 more immediately to ourselves than to others, 
 which, however they may be neglected by head- 
 strong and foolish persons, are nevertheless 
 directly conducive to our happiness, and may be 
 shewn to have no slight connexion v/ith our duty 
 even to other men 5 inasmuch as a neglect of the 
 laws of temperance will consume that time and 
 weaken those powers of usefulness which we 
 might and ought to have employed for the benefit 
 of our fellow-creatures. They cannot truly say, 
 " ive have defrauded no man^' who, although 
 they may not be conscious of having made any 
 direct inroad upon the property of others, have yet 
 deprived mankind of those active and useful exer- 
 tions, which, but for self-indulgence, they might 
 have made for the instruction of the ignorant and 
 the relief of the wretched ; and from the obliga- 
 tion of which no son or daughter of Adam, on 
 whom the talent has been bestowed, is in the 
 eye of God exempted. 
 
 There are duties also which consist rather in 
 
23 
 
 the cultivation of dispositions than in the per- 
 formance of external actions. It is our duty to 
 cherish a benevolent disposition towards mankind, 
 even when we are placed in circumstances which 
 prevent our stretching out the hand for the relief 
 of the sick and needy. It is our duty to cherish 
 a forgiving and candid temper even when by the 
 malicious violence of persecution this is the only 
 offering which we can present at the shrine of 
 piety. And, indeed, the moral duties which we 
 owe to God, must either consist wholly in the 
 cultivation of right affections towards him, or 
 resolve themselves into those positive, or as they 
 are also called, instrumental duties, the nature of 
 which we are employed in describing. To the 
 Almighty it is obvious that we can render no 
 benefit. All the intercourse which is kept up 
 between the Creator and the creature must be 
 for the benefit of the latter. The light of nature 
 itself countenances the performance of such duties, 
 which is shewn by the universal compliance with 
 them, to a certain extent. Now the Religion of 
 the Bible expressly enforces these duties with its 
 authority. The law which was given to the 
 Jews, while it by no means neglected the weigh- 
 tier matters of justice, mercy, and temperance, 
 laid great stress upon a varitey of positive injunc- 
 tions of a ritual nature. Yet these injunctions, 
 proceeding from the almighty Founder of their 
 nation, who had distinguished their forefathers 
 by such peculiar mercies, were rightly deemed as 
 possessing an authority not much inferior to that 
 
24 
 
 which pertained to the ordinary duties of life, 
 arising from the nature of man and his station in 
 society. These instrumental duties we know that 
 they rigidly performed, sometimes to the neglect 
 of the dictates of benevolence and purity ; but 
 this was a perversion of their religion, by no 
 means justly arising from a regard to the injunc- 
 tions of their law, and which called down upon 
 them the severe and oft-repeated expostulations 
 of God's chosen Messengers. "The solemn fasts" 
 unsanctified by real devotion, and the vain oblations 
 consisting in the mere ceremonial, are expressly 
 rejected by the word of the Lord. And God 
 plainly declares that he would have "mercy, 
 and not sacrifice,*' which words denote, not that 
 sacrifice properly performed would be rejected by 
 him, but that benevolence was held by him in 
 higher estimation than rites and ceremonies, and 
 ought to be so regarded by his worshippers. And 
 Christ, who came from the Father to explain and 
 enforce human duty, inculcated the same doctrine 
 in reference to the sabbath- day. The very per- 
 sons who complained because the disciples had 
 departed from the Pharisaic strictness with which 
 that day was observed, suffered the base feelings 
 of anger and malevolence towards our divine In- 
 structor to rise unchecked in their bosoms, 
 which led our Lord to lay down the valuable 
 maxim, that the instrumental duties are means to 
 accomplish an end, and that their object is altoge- 
 ther defeated if they received the whole attention, 
 and the end itself be neglected. For what signifies 
 
25 
 
 the most punctual attendance at church, and even 
 a regular participation in the solemn ordinances 
 of our religion, if the life belie these professions 
 of piety, and the heart be far removed from the 
 feelings of sincere devotion ? This is a consider- 
 ation which believers should often impress upon 
 their minds. We cannot otherwise establish our 
 claim to be truly rational worshippers. We do 
 not fully comply with the spirit of that holy reli- 
 gion which hath been given us. 
 
 It affords but a melancholy view of the prone- 
 ness of mankind to superstition, and of the faci- 
 lity with which the most solemn truths may be 
 corrupted, and the best institutions may be per- 
 verted, to take a survey of the world, not in past 
 generations only, but even in the present day. 
 We read with disgust bordering upon horror, of 
 the vain and mischievous attempts of men in 
 former ages to propitiate the Deity by acts es- 
 sentially inconsistent with the dictates of reason 
 and virtue. Our hearts are wrung with anguish 
 when we think of the sufferings which mistaken 
 man has been eager to inflict on his brother, from 
 the pernicious conviction that he in this way ren- 
 dered the most acceptable service to the com- 
 mon Father of the human race. 
 
 In some countries that are denominated Chris- 
 tian, even in the present day, we have too much 
 reason to fear that the prevailing principles sa- 
 vour rather of superstitious attachment to forms 
 and ceremonies, than of the genuine spirit of pure 
 and undcfiled religion. The splendid exterior of 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 piety shall be gazed at by the awe- struck wor- 
 shippers, while profound ignorance shall reign in 
 their minds as to the true nature and proper evi- 
 dence of the Christian faith. That shall be deemed 
 by many nominal believers a dangerous and in- 
 novating spirit, which can alone conduct to ra- 
 tional and consistent sentiments ; and the very 
 persons who are most distinguished for the ser- 
 vices which they are rendering to the reasonable 
 religion of Christ and the apostles, shall be looked 
 on with mingled feelings of dislike and horror, and 
 regarded as the peculiar objects of Heaven's in- 
 dignation. 
 
 Such a state of things, unhappily too prevalent, 
 must be regarded as a plain perversion of true 
 religion, as the natural effect of ignorance and ill- 
 governed feeling, and by no means reflecting the 
 least disgrace upon that blessed cause which was 
 cemented by the blood of our Saviour, and at- 
 tested by the unwavering constancy of his first 
 disciples. 
 
 Nothing, however, is more common among 
 men than the disposition to run into extremes ; 
 and hence, because superstition has laid an undue 
 stress upon institutions of a positive nature, and 
 thereby produced mischievous effects — some per- 
 sons, from an excessive apprehension of these 
 consequences, have discovered no slight inclination 
 to discard ritual institutions altogether, and to 
 attempt the hopeless task of making men moral 
 and religious without the use of those means 
 which Heaveo in mercy has provided. 
 
27 
 
 The Christian institutions which are strictly 
 positive, I apprehend to be the following : the 
 public and private worship of Almighty God, in- 
 cluding the establishment of regular Christian 
 Societies ; the ordinance of baptism, or immer- 
 sion of the body in water, upon the declaration 
 of repentance and faith in Christ ; and the parti- 
 cipation of a social meal, instituted by our Sa- 
 viour on the evening before his crucifixion, con- 
 nected by him with the remembrance of his suf- 
 ferings on our behalf, and designed to inculcate 
 a universal spirit of brotherly kindness and cha- 
 rity. 
 
 Now, it may be without hesitation admitted, 
 that all these institutions have been greatly 
 abused, and much perverted from their original 
 design. The simple worship of Almighty God, 
 as enjoined in the sacred pages, and practised in 
 the first age of the church, has in too many cases 
 degenerated into a pompous and unmeaning ce- 
 remonial, from which the spirit of pure devotion 
 has taken her departure. The heralds of the 
 gospel of peace have too often formed an unholy 
 alliance with the contentious and martial princes 
 of this world ; the ministers of Jesus have con- 
 sented to become the instruments of perpetuating 
 ignorance and inculcating slavish submission, and 
 thereby promoting the purposes of an impious 
 ambition. The rite of baptism has been sup- 
 posed absolutely essential to salvation, and made 
 a substitute for the weightier matters of the law ; 
 and, in the practice of the larger part of Christen- 
 
28 
 
 dom, has been reduced from a manly and rational 
 service in which the understanding should be 
 fully employed, to a childish and unmeaning 
 form, by some regarded with superstitious reve- 
 rence, and by others treated with indifference, 
 unsuited surely to an ordinance of divine appoint- 
 ment, and which clearly indicates a measure of 
 shame with the work of man's invention and de- 
 vice ; while the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, 
 according to its original appointment a simple 
 and beautiful means of cherishing feelings of gra- 
 titude to man's best benefactor, under God the 
 author of his being, has been transformed by the 
 Romish Church into the mysterious and revolting 
 sacrifice of the mass, and connected with the 
 paradoxical and monstrous doctrine of Transub- 
 stantiation. Such considerations as these should 
 be so far, however, from producing indifference 
 to any institute of divine appointment, that it 
 ought to redouble our energies, and inflame our 
 zeal, for the glory of God and the good of man- 
 kind, to restore Christianity to the state in which 
 it proceeded from its heavenly Author, and to 
 vindicate at once the integriti/ as well as purity 
 of our most holy faith. 
 
 Having now considered positive institutions in 
 general, we shall proceed to an examination of 
 the evidence for the particular ordinance of Chris- 
 tian Baptism. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 We have made some inquiry into the meaning 
 of a declaration delivered by our Saviour, (Matt, 
 iii. 15,) and found that his language is general, 
 that the term " righteousness" which he em- 
 ploys, includes the whole of human duty, having 
 respect not merely to those obligations which are 
 called moral, but also to institutions of o, positive 
 nature. The difference between these two branches 
 of duty has been pointed out. It was remarked 
 as a proof that a regard to positive institutions 
 must have been included in our Lord's sentiment, 
 that it was to an ordinance of this nature that it 
 was expressly applied by him. It was the rite 
 of baptism as administered by John, that occa- 
 sioned the delivery of these remarkable words. 
 John appeared in the desert of Judea, proclaim- 
 ing the necessity of repentance and newness of 
 life as a preparation for the Messiah's kingdom. 
 This exhortation was made to persons of all ranks 
 and occupations ; and numbers flocked to him 
 from all parts of the country, in order to comply 
 with the divinely-appointed mode* of making 
 known their resolution of repentance, and their 
 willingness to act in a manner becoming the ex- 
 
 * See note B. 
 d3 
 
30 
 
 pectants of the King of Israel. Nor was the 
 holy Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee inattentive to 
 the call of this preacher of reformation ; but in a 
 way that was characteristic of his modesty, he 
 allowed, it should appear, the great mass of can- 
 didates to have been baptized,* before he left his 
 peaceful and pious retreat to bear testimony to 
 the law of God, and make profession of his love 
 of holiness. As soon as this holy personage had 
 appeared before him, and signified his intention, 
 John, knowing the Nazarene's moral superiority, 
 either by actual information from Jews who had 
 previously come from that quarter, or by means 
 of that family connexion which subsisted between 
 these two excellent persons, agreeably to the ac- 
 count contained in Luke's introductory narrative,t 
 would have prevented his compliance with an in- 
 stitution expressly designed for those who, con- 
 scious of sin, were anxious to experience an en- 
 tire repentance. But Jesus, we know on the 
 express authority of the sacred writers, was 
 " without sin,'' yet yielded obedience to this di- 
 vine command from his governing principle of 
 piety. And it is unquestionably the duty of all 
 mankind, whatever progress they have made in 
 excellence, to aim at perfect and universal righ- 
 teousness, though we have no reason to believe 
 that any one of Christ's followers has ever at- 
 tained to the full measure of his virtue and devo- 
 tion 3 yet many have arrived at very high degrees 
 
 • * Luke iii. 21. f Chap. i. 36. 
 
31 
 
 of Christian worth, and those have been most 
 willing to admit the transcendant excellence of 
 their Saviour, to gain which they have used their 
 utmost efforts, without arriving at it ; like the 
 traveller who, having surpassed mountain after 
 mountain, still perceives above him the cloud- 
 capt summit towering over all his exertions, and 
 rendering it hopeless for him to reach its height. 
 Such was the holy Jesus, such the exalted 
 character of him whom John, that had called to 
 him the inhabitants of Palestine, forbade to come 
 to the baptism of repentance ; but his delight it 
 was to do the will of God ; for that which is 
 written of him in the volume of Scripture, " Lo ! 
 I come to d.o thy will,** is amply verified in the 
 conduct of his life, and in the dispositions which 
 shine so clearly throughout his actions ; he was 
 not thus to be prevented from the discharge of 
 what he believed a duty, even though a prophet 
 of the Most High had expressed his private opi- 
 nion that such an act was in his case unneces- 
 sary. " Suffer it to be so now, for thus it be- 
 cometh us" (it becometh all human beings, and 
 Jesus evidently reckoned himself among the 
 number) " to fulfil all righteousness. '' Then 
 John, overcome by the firmness of the candidate, 
 and incapable of resisting the sound religious 
 maxim which he inculcated, agreed to administer 
 to him also the baptism of repentance, which his 
 commission from heaven authorized him to em- 
 ploy. The splendid scene which presently fol- 
 lowed, while it furnished to John the promised 
 
32 
 
 token of the Messiah's dignitj^, and prepared the 
 mind of Jesus himself for the subsequent com- 
 munications of knowledge and power, may justly 
 be regarded as a most powerful attestation to the 
 uprightness of the Nazarene*s character, and to 
 the perfect rectitude of his intentions and beha- 
 viour on the present occasion. And thus may 
 Christians rest assured, though such a signal dis- 
 play of the divine glory must not be expected in 
 ordinary cases, that when they act rightly, and 
 fearlessly follow the dictates of their best judg- 
 ment, a gleam of joy will pass through their 
 minds, and the sunshine of delight gladden their 
 hearts, more transporting in its effects by far, than 
 the light from heaven which pleases the bodily 
 eye. 
 
 We have thus accompanied our Saviour in what 
 he regarded the performance of a duty, and we 
 have witnessed the Divine approbation most 
 explicitly declaring of this act, as well as of his 
 previous life, " This is my beloved Son, in whom 
 I am well pleased/* The question naturally oc- 
 curs, Was this act of baptism a peculiar action 
 of our Lord's life, proper for him to perform, but 
 unsuitable for others to imitate, like the fasting 
 forty days in the wilderness, the walking on the 
 water, or any of the stupendous miracles pro- 
 posed for the confirmation of our faith, but not 
 as models for our imitation ? This is a very pro- 
 per question, to the determination of which we 
 must of course consult the narratives of our Sa- 
 viour's ministry, and the history of the first pro- 
 
SB 
 
 pagation of his religion. And if we find that 
 none of his disciples, under the sanction of his au- 
 thority, submitted to the same rite, and that his 
 directions to his followers contain no mention of 
 this accompaniment to religious profession, then 
 there may be some probability in the inference 
 that it was designed for himself alone. But what 
 is the actual state of this question ? 
 
 The first allusion to baptism after Christ's own 
 submission to the rite, appears in the remarkable 
 conversation which he held with the Jewish ruler, 
 Nicodemus, who came to him by night. " Un- 
 less a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."'* 
 
 Soon after this feast of the Passover, the Evan- 
 gelist expressly informs us that Jesus and his 
 disciples went into the country of Judea, and 
 there he remained with them and baptized. f And 
 although this assertion that Christ baptized is 
 afterwards qualified by the Evangelist, and ex- 
 plained of the disciples, and not Jesus himself, 
 being the direct instruments in administering 
 this ordinance ;X Y^* does the assertion amount 
 to the same thing, because the authority derived 
 to the institution from the express sanction and 
 presence of the Saviour, cannot be deemed at all 
 inferior to that which would have resulted from 
 his personally taking part in the administration. § 
 We are justified in here maintaining also, that 
 
 * See note C. t Jol»n "i- 22. 
 
 J John iv. 2. § See note D. 
 
34 
 
 the cases of baptism receiving our Lord's sanc- 
 tion at this time were not few and solitary, but 
 surpassed in number even those of the Baptist 
 himself in this season of his ministry ; and led 
 some disciples of the latter, jealous for the ima- 
 gined honour and superiority of their Master, to 
 come to him with the hyperbolic information, 
 " Master, he who was with tliee beyond the Jor- 
 dan, to whom thou didst bear witness, behold he 
 also baptizeth, and all men come to him''^ The 
 expression of the Evangelist when describing a 
 motive of his Master's early removal from Judea 
 into Galilee, " When the Pharisees had heard 
 that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than 
 John," implies this at least, that discipling and 
 baptizing went together ; the one being the sym- 
 bol whereby the person indicated his becoming a 
 believer and a follower. After this, indeed, we 
 find no express mention during the account of 
 our Saviour's ministry, of the performance of the 
 rite of baptism. It is said that the apostles went 
 out preaching repentance. f It is not said that 
 they discontinued the initiatory rite in the per- 
 formance of which we have found them already 
 engaged ; the natural inference, therefore, is, that 
 the same mode was observed of expressing the 
 faith of their converts. It should be recollected 
 that Jesus did only covertly intimate his Mes- 
 siahship, during the earlier part of his ministry -, 
 that the first converts, perhaps, only expressed 
 
 * Johu iii. 26. f Mark vi. 12. 
 
35 
 
 their repentance as preparatory to the coming of 
 the Messiah ; and that it is in the closing scenes 
 of our Lord's ministry, and the conduct of his 
 apostles, imbued with his spirit and acting under 
 his authority, that we can look most reasonably 
 for the enforcement of the rite, if it were designed 
 by the great Head of the church to form a part 
 of his religious discipline in subsequent ages. 
 
 Christ, during his earthly ministry, preached 
 Xh^ future approach of the kingdom of heaven.* 
 The prayer which he prescribed to his disciples 
 implored its future coming.f At the last supper 
 his language intimated that it was not yet ar- 
 rived. :}: But the foundation was laid in the great 
 event of his resurrection from the dead. It was 
 on the rock of the Arimathean that he built his 
 church ; because he was by his resurrection from 
 the dead authoritatively declared to be the Son 
 of God,§ i. e. the Messiah. After his resurrec- 
 tion, therefore, we may expect him to speak more 
 definitively of the constitution of his church, and 
 of the laws of his kingdom. Naturally do we 
 breathe the wish that we could have joined the 
 company of the disciples, during the forty days 
 when our risen Saviour was seen by his chosen 
 witnesses, and spake to them of the things per- 
 taining to the kingdom of God. But our disap- 
 pointment may well be removed, when we con- 
 sider that we possess so rational and authentic a 
 record of what the apostles did and taught at 
 
 * Matt. iv. 17. t Matt. vi. 10. 
 
 + Luke xxii. 18. § Rom. i. 4. 
 
36 
 
 the first planting of Christianity in Asia Minor, 
 Greece, and other countries ; and that there can 
 be no reason to suppose that they departed from 
 the injunctions which they had received from a 
 Master, whose high dignity must have been ren- 
 der*ed so impressive by the events which had oc- 
 curred. 
 
 Let us hear, then, the solemn accents of in- 
 struction which Christ addressed to those who 
 were to be the supporters of his religion, when he 
 should be finally withdrawn from the world. We 
 shall bring together the statements of the evan- 
 gelists. " All power has been conferred on me 
 in heaven and earth. Behold I send the promise 
 of my Father upon you, (the promised gift of the 
 Holy Spirit,) but tarry ye in the city of Jerusa- 
 lem till ye be endued with power from on high ; 
 (then) go forth into all the world, and preach the 
 gospel to every creature, (or, according to Mat- 
 thew, make disciples of all nations,) baptizing 
 them into the name of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Spirit;" (admitting them by baptism to 
 a profession of faith in the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Spirit,)* " teaching them to observe 
 all things, whatsoever I have commanded you ; 
 and io ! I am with you always, even to the end 
 of the world. He that belie veth and is baptized 
 shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be 
 condemned."t 
 
 * See note E. 
 
 t Matt, xxviii. 19, 20; Mark xvi. 15, 16; Luke xxiv. 
 49. See note F. 
 
37 
 
 Ho\7j then, did the apostles act in the affair of 
 baptism, after the ascension of their Master? 
 This question must be answered by an examina- 
 tion of the book of Acts, and the Epistles to the 
 churches, which by Divine Providence have been 
 happily preserved. 
 
 On that memorable day when, in agreement 
 with the prediction that the disciples should be 
 baptized, or copiously imbued, with the Holy Spi- 
 rit, the apostles began to speak in other tongues 
 as the spirit gave them utterance, three thousand 
 persons were convinced, by the discourse of Peter, 
 of the great crime of their nation, and of the true 
 Messiahship of Jesus. And when they eagerly 
 inquired of their ardent instructor, " Brethren, 
 what shall we do?" his answer was, "Repent 
 and be baptized, every one of you, in the name 
 of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye 
 shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then 
 they that gladly received his word were baptized, 
 and the same day were added to the church three 
 thousand souls.'' * 
 
 We next read of the mission of Philip, one of 
 the seven deacons, into Samaria ; and we are in- 
 formed that the consequence of his preaching the 
 things concerning the kingdom of God, and the 
 name of Jesus, was, that they who had been pre- 
 viously seduced by the magical arts of Simon, 
 believed and were baptized, both men and women. 
 And Simon himself believed also ; and when he 
 
 * Acts ii. 37—41. 
 E 
 
38 
 
 was baptized, he continued with Philip, and won- 
 dered, beholding the signs and great miracles 
 which he did. This was prior to their receiving 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit — a privilege which 
 could be conferred by an apostle only, and this 
 Philip was not one of the twelve. As yet they 
 had only been baptized in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus. * Philip shortly after goes, under the 
 direction of the Spirit, on another embassy, and 
 in the road from Jerusalem to Gaza meets a man 
 of rank, an officer in the court of the Ethiopian 
 queen, who was a proselyte to the theology of 
 Judaism, and was piously improving his time as 
 he returned to his own country from Jerusalem, 
 by reading the words of the prophet Isaiah. The 
 Christian preacher cordially embraced this oppor- 
 tunity of making a suitable application of the 
 language of the evangelical prophet, and the his- 
 tory informs us that his address carried convic- 
 tion to the breast of this illustrious foreigner, 
 and that he voluntarily proposed himself as a 
 candidate for the rite of baptism, to which Philip 
 readily assented. " And they ^went down both 
 into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch ; and 
 he baptized him."t 
 
 The narrative of St. Luke, the writer of the 
 Acts of the Apostles, next brings us acquainted 
 with the most eminent of Christ's labourers in 
 the vineyard, who, in the preceding part of the 
 Christian history, had been breathing out threat- 
 enings and slaughter against the disciples of the 
 
 * Acts viii. 5—17. t Acts viii. 26—38. 
 
39 
 
 Lord. But God was pleased to arrest him in his 
 mad career, and to shed the light of gospel truth 
 upon his benighted mind. To the natural inquiry 
 of the astonished Saul, who now first contem- 
 plated the character and cause of Jesus as they 
 ought to be viewed, " What wilt thou have me 
 to do ?" the answer referred him to the judgment 
 and direction of Ananias, one of the leaders of the 
 church at Damascus. From this disciple he re- 
 ceived the restoration of his sight ; and his first 
 action, when he arose, was to submit to baptism,* 
 agreeabl)^, it must appear by this time, to the 
 common practice in the case of acknowledgment 
 of the Christian faith. 
 
 The tenth chapter of this interesting record is 
 occupied with the detail of the conversion of Cor- 
 nelius, the Roman centurion. On him and the 
 members of his house the Holy Spirit fell, unu- 
 sually, prior to their submission to the rite of 
 baptism ; but the event itself is employed by the 
 Apostle Peter to evince the propriety of adminis- 
 tering to them the customary sign of reception 
 into the Christian church. " Can any man forbid 
 water, that these should not be baptized who have 
 received the Holy Spirit as well as we ? And he 
 commanded them to be baptized in the name of 
 the Lord." f 
 
 In the second apostolic journey of St. Paul, we 
 are presented with the conversion of Lydia, a 
 seller of purple from Thyatira, who was herself 
 
 * Acts ix. 18. t Acts X. 48. 
 
40 
 
 baptized, and her household 3 the evidence which 
 had satisfied her having also appeared sufficient 
 to those who were connected with her.* The 
 same city of Philippi, the scene of Lydia's con- 
 version, was the place also where Paul and Silas 
 were imprisoned, and where that event was made 
 the instrument in the hands of Providence of con- 
 verting the jailer and the members of his house. 
 Of them also it is recorded, that when they had 
 washed the stripes which had been cruelly inflict- 
 ed by the magistrates upon the holy missionaries, 
 their first act was to profess faith in Christ by the 
 same significant rite which we find employed in 
 the preceding instances. f Afterwards we find it 
 on record that Crispus, the ruler of the Corinthian 
 synagogue, together with many of the inhabitants 
 of that licentious city, being convinced of the 
 truth, were baptized, several of them by the hands 
 of the Apostle Paul. J As the numbers who be- 
 lieved are mentioned after the historian had in- 
 formed us that Paul had departed from the Jews 
 and gone to the Gentiles, it is reasonable to pre- 
 sume that many of the latter must have been 
 included among the number that were baptized. 
 The apostle, in his First Epistle to that church, 
 composed evidently of Gentiles as well as Jews,§ 
 speaks of them, generally, as baptized : " Were 
 ye baptized in the name of Paul?" This is evi- 
 dence against the strange, novel opinion, that bap- 
 
 * Acts xvi. 14, 15. t Vers. 25—40. 
 
 X Acts xviii. 8,- 1 Cor. i. 14—17. § 1 Cor. xii. 2. 
 
41 
 
 tism was in the first age of the church confined 
 to the Jewish converts. =* 
 
 We next meet with the remarkable instance, in 
 the 19th chapter, of the twelve disciples of John 
 whom Paul found at Ephesus. They had, per- 
 haps, received instruction from ApoUos during 
 his residence in that city.f They had been bap- 
 tized only into John's baptism, and were ignorant 
 of the communications of the Holy Spirit. After 
 hearing the apostle, and embracing the Christian 
 religion, they were again baptized, not into John's 
 baptism, but into the name of the Lord Jesus. | 
 This case is, I think, a clear refutation of that 
 opinion which would resolve baptism altogether 
 into a part of the religious system of John ; for if 
 St. Paul were the accredited teacher of the Chris- 
 tian faith, the rite is to be alike observed by 
 the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 The subsequent part of St. Luke's narrative is 
 occupied with the recital of Paul's journey to 
 Jerusalem, his apprehension there, the several 
 defences which he made, and the account of 
 his voyage to Rome; and though he diligently 
 employed his opportunities in still acting as the 
 herald of the gospel of peace, and removing the 
 spiritual bonds which confined those who visited 
 him in his earthly prison, yet would he be neces- 
 sarily precluded from the power of administering 
 the rite of baptism. And here it may be observed, 
 that Paul evidently laid no superstitious stress on 
 
 * See note G. f Acts xviii. 24. X Acts xix. 1 — 7. 
 £2 
 
42 
 
 this ordinance, and chose what he deemed the 
 better part of instruction and conversion. " For 
 Christ," said he, " sent me not to baptize, but 
 to preach the gospel ;"* not meaning by this to 
 insinuate, as it has, I think, been strangely ar- 
 gued, that baptism was no part of the Christian's 
 duty, or of the apostle's office; for, in that case, 
 why did he submit to it himself, and actually 
 administer it in the several instances which he 
 particularizes, even in one district ?t — but intend- 
 ing to express his opinion that his time might be 
 more usefully devoted to the work of instruction, 
 while the inferior employment of receiving the 
 believers' confession, and assisting them in the 
 ordinary symbolic action by which their faith 
 was manifested, could be well performed by 
 his assistants in the work of the Lord. Of St. 
 Paul, I think from this survey, it may be affirmed, 
 as it has already been remarked of our blessed 
 Lord himself, that he gave the full weight of his 
 influence and authority to believers' baptism. 
 This conclusion is abundantly corroborated by 
 the allusions made to this rite, and the illustra- 
 tions which he derives thence, in his Epistles.J 
 We found in the book of Acts that others be- 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 17. t Acts ix. 18 ^ 1 Cor. i. 14—16, and 
 note H. 
 
 ;|: I have not observed any allusion to the initiatory rite in 
 the Epistle to the Philippians^ but no objector to this ordi- 
 nance ^vill venture to rest any thing on that circumstance, 
 if he be familiar with the contents of the 16th chapter of 
 the Acts. See note I. 
 
43 
 
 side St. Paul employed themselves, as occasion 
 offered, in administering the baptismal ordinance; 
 nor can any reason be adduced to shew that any 
 of the apostles, or first preachers of the Christian 
 religion, ventured to disregard the positive com- 
 mand of Christ, delivered in the interval between 
 his resurrection and ascension. Peter, in his 
 First Epistle, after speaking of Noah as in his 
 days a preacher of righteousness, and of the pre- 
 servation of a certain number from the destruc- 
 tion produced by the deluge, introduces mention 
 of baptism^ which he calls in the original, though 
 this is not discernible in the English version, the 
 antitype to the deluge, " which even now saveth 
 us " from the greater punishments denounced 
 against sin, provided it be submitted to with the 
 right dispositions, and be not confined to the re- 
 moval of external impurity, but be accompanied 
 with " the answer of a good conscience towards 
 God." * And in this doctrine the apostle is but 
 repeating in different terms what his Master had 
 before declared to the timid and half-consistent 
 Nicodemus, " Unless a man be born of water and 
 of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 God." 
 
 Upon this examination of the scriptural evi- 
 dence for baptism, we shall make a few remarks. 
 
 1. It is evident that the persons who submit- 
 ted to baptism were those who felt the force 
 of the proofs exhibited by Christ or the Apos- 
 tles of the truth of his Messiahship ; persons 
 
 * 1 Pet. iii. 21. 
 
44 
 
 who, from conviction, proposed to make the 
 Christian law the rule of their lives. The com- 
 mon formulary is, " they believed, and were bap- 
 tized;" which evidently implies that they must 
 have arrived at years of discretion, when the un- 
 derstanding is in some measure ripened, and the 
 mind is capable of discerning good from evil.^ 
 
 2. With regard to the manner of administering 
 this rite, a circumstance, it is admitted, not of 
 the first importance, but concerning which it is 
 well for us to know what information can be ob- 
 tained, I remark, that all the evidence from the 
 words that are employed, and the description 
 which is given of the mode of proceeding in an- 
 cient times, leaves no doubt whatever upon my 
 mind, that the primitive disciples were invariably 
 baptized by the immersion of the whole body. 
 Hence those figurative expressions of " being 
 buried with Christ in baptism,'' and the compa- 
 rison of baptism to the deluge, than which, ac- 
 cording to the modern mode of administering it, 
 no language could be more unappropriate or in- 
 applicable. Two historical facts, perhaps not suf- 
 ficiently known, are calculated to throw light on 
 this part of the subject. One is, that the general 
 practice of administering the rite, even in the 
 English Church, till about the time of the Protec- 
 torate, though children were the subjects of it, 
 was by immersion, of which numerous proofs are 
 
 * For a consideration of the objections to this proposi- 
 tion, see the extract from Milton's Treatise of Christian 
 Doctrine, in the Appendix. 
 
45 
 
 still existing, in the fonts contained in the cathe- 
 drals, and many other churches, large enough to 
 contain the whole body of the infant, into which 
 in recent times a basin has been placed, that be- 
 ing now discovered to contain water enough. 
 And so it would, if there were any virtue in the 
 water, and a mysterious efficacy, which some 
 fancy, were conveyed to the infant at the time of 
 the administration. This rite, for which some 
 other name than baptism should be used, was 
 derived by Protestants from the Romanists, and 
 should revert to the Catholics whence it came. 
 The other fact to which I refer is this, that the 
 Greek Church, the members of which may be 
 supposed to enter as well as any other into the 
 meaning of the Greek word translated baptize, 
 have invariably adopted the practice of immer- 
 sion.* 
 
 3. And, confining ourselves to the Scriptural 
 evidence, we should have no doubt, I think, that 
 the rite of baptism was to continue in the Chris- 
 tian Church so long as that church exists. No 
 one now is born a Christian, any more than in the 
 days of the Apostles. Christianity is now to be 
 adopted on conviction, as much as it was then. 
 The world now lieth in wickedness, as it did then ; 
 and the desirableness is still apparent to separate 
 those who would put on Christ, from those who 
 care for none of these things. 
 
 It must be evident that baptism was not an 
 
 * Note K. 
 
46 
 
 accidental circumstance belonging to the Chris- 
 tian religion, concerning which it is indifferent 
 whether it formed a part of the religion or not ; 
 but was solemnly and deliberately incorporated 
 with it by our Saviour himself, when he gave di- 
 rections to his apostles respecting the obligations 
 which their relation to him imposed. And we 
 have found a great variety of occasions in which 
 they baptized those who made profession of faith. 
 What sound argument, then, is opposed to the 
 conclusion, that a rite which Jesus sanctioned by 
 his presence and express recommendation, and 
 which he commanded his disciples to practise, was 
 designed for the Christian community in all the 
 periods of its history ? To say that baptism sa- 
 vours of an oriental custom, is only to affirm what 
 no one can question, that Christianity originated 
 in the East. To say that it cannot be safely 
 practised in this country, is to call in question 
 the truth of a fact which is exemplified every 
 year in the different districts of the island. To 
 say (as has been lately said) that the rite of bap- 
 tism was not designed for the descendants of 
 Gentiles, is to make an assertion, not only unac- 
 companied by the least evidence, but which is 
 palpably opposed by several of the cases of bap- 
 tism in the Acts of the Apostles, by many refer- 
 ences to the universality of the practice in the 
 Epistles, and by the express words of the bap- 
 tismal commission, which commands the disciples 
 to carry their religion into all nations, (i. e. not 
 only the Jews, but also the Gentiles,) and to 
 
47 
 
 preach the gospel to the whole creation, to every 
 human being capable of attending to it. 
 
 It is not necessary to maintain that the rite of 
 baptism has in all cases been conducted with the 
 propriety which a sacred rite, an institution of 
 the most reasonable of all religions, demands at 
 our hands ; perhaps even, as it is observed by 
 the Christians denominated Baptists, it is sus- 
 ceptible of some improvement, by which is meant 
 a nearer approach to the primitive mode of observ- 
 ance. But as most of the early buildings for 
 Dissenting worship were, from the necessity of 
 the times, erected in the corners and confined 
 places of our towns, (the conscientious worship- 
 pers, fearing the wonted intolerance of the Go- 
 vernment,) so the Christian practice of immersion 
 (to which the Saviour of the world himself sub- 
 mitted under no other canopy than the clefted 
 heavens) has, from the false delicacy of the times, 
 been administered chiefly in the places of religious 
 worship. 
 
 I have noticed some of the modes of evading 
 the obligation of baptism, which we occasionally 
 encounter among Christians possessed of intel- 
 ligence and love of truth. 
 
 It is too well known to require more than the 
 simple statement, that the ordinary mode in which 
 baptism is administered by Christian ministers, 
 differs essentially from that which, upon the 
 clearest of all possible evidence, was alone preva- 
 lent in the apostolic age. But, what is vastly 
 more important than the manner in which the 
 
48 
 
 ordinance is administered, the age in which, in 
 the great majority of cases, the rite is practised, 
 is of itself sufficient to annihilate the express 
 object of the institution; and to reduce that 
 which is in itself a manly, significant, impressive, 
 and reasonable service, into an unmeaning, child- 
 ish, trifling, unauthorized, irrational form. I be- 
 lieve that the practice of sprinkling babes is often 
 a very harmless practice ; it assumes that cha- 
 racter when practised among the class of English 
 Presbyterians; but it is not, I conceive, harmless 
 when it is associated with the unchristian notion^, 
 that human beings come into the world the ob- 
 jects of their Maker's wrath ; and the perpetua- 
 tion of this notion seems the chief effect of the 
 practice as adopted by the Calvinists and the less 
 informed Church-people of this country. But 
 nothing can be more distinct from such a rite 
 than the " one baptism" which St. Paul mentions 
 in his Epistle to the Ephesians, vv'hich he con- 
 sidered a profession of faith, and which was so 
 regarded by Philip, the Evangelist, when the 
 Ethiopian treasurer applied to him for baptism : 
 " If thou believest with all thy heart, thou may- 
 est." But what claim can the innocent babe make 
 to an acknowledgment of the principles of the 
 Christian faith ? 
 
 Let not the tender parent, let not the fond and 
 anxious mother, for a moment imagine that the 
 idea of baptism which is here advocated, would 
 deprive their children of any religious privilege, 
 or that it is unfavourable to the happiness of 
 
49 
 
 those whom the strongest and most amiable feel- 
 ings of our nature impel them to love. The God 
 of mercy holds those guiltless to whom he has 
 not furnished the time for expanded intellect and 
 unfolded intelligence. The principle of his moral 
 government in thus expressed in the language of 
 inspiration : '*" Where no law is, there is no trans- 
 gression." And this may justly be considered as 
 implying the additional principle, Where no 
 knowledge of the law exists, there can be no pos- 
 sibility of transgression. 
 
 What remains, then, but that I should endea- 
 vour to possess my readers with a sense of the 
 practical effects which, when it is rightly em- 
 ployed, may be expected to follow from this 
 Christian institution ? I have called it a Christian 
 institution. And is any distinct proof necessary 
 to shew that every part of the Christian system 
 is conducive to holiness, to righteousness, and 
 piety ? Its value, then, is obvious. 
 
 From its being a distinct and unequivocal ex- 
 pression of the conviction of important truth 
 resting upon the believer's mind. The prepara- 
 tion which ought in all cases to be made before 
 a person employs this means of grace, and makes 
 this profession of his belief, is of itself of very 
 high importance, and of unquestionable value. 
 The act is an act of duty to Him who is compe- 
 tent to inquire into the evidence in favour of its 
 being a portion of the Christian discipline, and 
 who perceives the force of that evidence. And 
 the performance of an act of duty can never be 
 
 F 
 
50 
 
 unattended with a saving efficacy. The language 
 of the Apostle Peter is as true now as when he 
 dictated the holy sentiment, " Baptism even 
 now saveth us, not, indeed, the putting away the 
 filth of the flesh," nor is to be regarded as a mere 
 ceremonial ; but it derives its value from the in- 
 ward grace, or thing signified, " the answer of a 
 good conscience towards God." 
 
 Baptism is not only an expression of faith in 
 the way pointed out by the great Head of the 
 church, who certainly knew what was best 
 adapted to minister to holiness, and to secure the 
 obedience of his disciples ; but it is also expressive 
 of sincere and heartfelt repentance, consciousness 
 of the sins of our youth, and the neglect of duty 
 by which every year of our lives has been charac- 
 terized, an unfeigned purpose of newness of life, 
 and a desire to come under the complete obliga- 
 tion of the Christian law, which is the law of the 
 purest reason, the holiest and warmest affection, 
 the most expanded and impartial benevolence, 
 the most sublime and elevated piety, the most 
 complete and universal righteousness. 
 
 Say not, then, some other means are more 
 adequate to the production of these great effects ; 
 nor refuse to comply with the appointed means, 
 because so simple, and, in the judgment of man)*, so 
 little calculated to conduce to the full moral effect. 
 Remember the reproof administered in ancient 
 times to Naaman, the proud captain of the Syrian 
 host, when the prophet had required of him the 
 simple duty of bathing himself seven times in the 
 
51 
 
 river Jordan. " Are not Arbana and Pharphar, 
 rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of 
 Israel ? May I not wash m them and be clean ? 
 And his servant came near and spake unto him, 
 and said, ' My father, if the prophet had bid thee 
 do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done 
 it ? How much rather then when he sayeth to 
 thee. Wash and be clean ! Then went he down 
 and dipped himself" (the very word is here used 
 in the Greek version of the Old Testament which 
 is employed by the apostles in the New) " seven 
 times in the Jordan, according to the saying of 
 the man of God ; and his flesh came again like 
 unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."* 
 But is the common feeling of dislike to the or- 
 dinance of baptism, as we find it laid down in the 
 New Testament, a whit more reasonable or better 
 founded than the hesitation and repugnance of 
 the captain of the Syrian host to comply with 
 the authority of the prophet ? They both par- 
 take of the nature of prejudice. And what is 
 prejudice but a prejudging of a question, inde- 
 pendently of, and often in direct opposition to, 
 evidence ? And is this course to be justified in 
 relation to a positive command comuig from a 
 TeacJier whom all Christians profess to regard 
 with feelings of reverence and ardent, grateful 
 attachment ? Christians believe that Jesus knew 
 what was in man ; of course, therefore, he knew 
 what was adapted to promote the moral and reli- 
 
 * 2 Kings V. 14. 
 
52 
 
 gious improvement of mankind ; and yet, from 
 some dislike to the rite which he sanctioned with 
 the utmost possible plainness, some are found to 
 express their indisposition to comply with it ; 
 and others, to give some colour of plausibility to 
 their objections, go about to invent salvos, and 
 scrape together arguments, (if so they can be 
 called,) which their own understandings, when 
 exercised on any other subjects, would perceive 
 to be destitute of all pretension to clearness or 
 force. 
 
 The general conclusion I apprehend to be this, 
 that religion is a personal concern ; that the 
 Christian religion is " a reasonable service ;" 
 that the submission to baptism is a part of that 
 religion ; that the disposition of piet}^, which can 
 alone render any act acceptable, will draw down 
 the Divine blessing upon every such effort to 
 strengthen the Christian principle, and to extend 
 the holy influence of Christ's gospel ; that as 
 " Christ's church is founded upon a rock, and the 
 gates of hell cannot prevail against it ;" so every 
 ordinance of his religion must last as long as his 
 religion itself shall last. The indifference of some, 
 the ignorance of others, the wilful neglect of the 
 rest, will have no effect upon the ultimate success 
 of the truth. The gracious Father of his crea- 
 tures, the God and Father of Jesus, will uphold 
 that religion which he at first introduced by su- 
 pernatural evidence. The word of God records 
 that the Saviour of the world submitted to the 
 baptism of repentance -, the apostles, acting agree- 
 
53 
 
 ably to his express command, received thousands 
 into the church b}^ this rite, and no other. The 
 evidence for these facts lies in the Scriptures, 
 which all have in their possession. The first 
 Christians " believed, and were baptized y' and 
 Christ, by his gospel, is now saying to every be- 
 liever who has not yet complied, " Go and do 
 thou likewise." 
 
 f2 
 
NOTES, 
 
 Note A, p. 21. 
 
 The whole sentence in Dr. Priestley is this, which I re- 
 spectfully submit to those of my readers who (as I do my- 
 self) reverence that name as one of the greatest in the 
 history of enlightened Christians. " Here was an institu- 
 tion designed for general use, without particular exceptions, 
 which did not at all interfere with any moral obligation, and 
 with which, therefore, he [Christ] thought himself bound 
 to comply. So different were our Lord's sentiments and 
 conduct from theirs who neglect the positive institutions of 
 religion." — Priestley's N'otes on Scripture. 
 
 See also many excellent observations on the propriety of 
 Positive Institutions, in Dr. James Foster's Usefulness, 
 Truth, and Excellency, of the Christian Revelation, Ch. iv. 
 and V. I shall select a single paragraph : 
 
 '* Christianity, as it requires only two or three plain and 
 useful positive duties, and strictly obliges its professors not 
 to add to them, by declaring against all impositions,* and 
 asserting more particularly that the religion enjoined in the 
 gospel is pure and spiritual,f not to be incumbered and 
 corrupted by human forms and ceremonies — nay, that we 
 worship God in vain, if we teach for doctrines the com- 
 mandments of men ',\ Christianity, I say, seems by these 
 things to have guarded more effectually against enthusiasm 
 and superstition, than if it had explicitly required only moral 
 duties, and left it to every man's fancy to invent the means 
 of religion for himself. For, by this excellent constitution, 
 
 * Rom. xiv. 2—5 ; Gal. v, 4, 13. 
 
 t John iv. 23, 24. X Matt. xv. 9. 
 
55 
 
 all the means of religion, being of God's appointing, will be 
 wise and rational ; and if men understand and resolve to 
 follow the directions of the revelation, nothing that is weak 
 and enthusiastical can be introduced." 
 
 The same author's rational sentiments respecting the 
 scriptural rite of baptism may be seen in the Appendix. 
 
 Note B, p. 29. 
 
 The proof of divine appointment is derived from John's 
 own words as related by the Evangelist, John i. 35, " And 
 I knew him not : but he that sent me to baptize icith water ^ 
 the same said unto me. Upon whom thou shalt seethe Spirit 
 descending, and remaining on him, the same is he who 
 baptizeth with the Holy Spirit." 
 
 Note C, p. 33. 
 
 Though there may be room for a difference of opinion as 
 to the meaning of the phrase horn of the Spirit, on account 
 of the ambiguity of the v/ord TtytviAa, Spirit, in scriptural 
 usage. Expositors, I believe, are agreed in referring the 
 being horn of water to the rite of baptism; " become one 
 of my disciples by that baptismal regeneration by which 
 your proselytes are said to become as infants new born." 
 Whitby. '* This spiritual birth, of which baptism with wa- 
 ter is but the symbol, Christ again solemnly asserts to be 
 necessary to fit a man for being a proper member of his 
 kingdom in this world. There seems also in these words 
 a reference to the manner in which this member of the San- 
 hedrim had come to him, which was by night. In opposi- 
 tion to this conduct, which discovered much timidity, Christ 
 tells him that it was necessary to make a public profession 
 of his religion by baptism." Kenrich. To v^oip est bap- 
 tisma. Rosenmiiller. '' Be received by baptism to instruc- 
 tion, which, including in it a public profession of the faith 
 of the persons baptized, was opposed to the secret manner 
 of the visit of Nicodemus." Cappe, 
 
56 
 
 Note D, p. 33. 
 
 There are three passages which must here be considered 
 in connexion : John iii. 22, *' After these things came Jesiis 
 and his disciples into the land of Judea ; and there he tar- 
 ried with them, and baptized.'' iii. 26, ** And they came 
 to John, and said unto him. Rabbi, he that was with thee 
 beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold the 
 same baptizeth, and all men come to him." iv. 1, " When 
 therefore the Lord knew the Pharisees had heard that 
 Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though 
 Jesus Z'/;>2*<?^ baptized not, but his disciples." The qualifi- 
 cation in this last verse is not, let it be remembered, a de- 
 nial, but an explanation, of the report which had reached 
 the ears of the Pharisees ; the negation applying not to the 
 word baptized, but to the emphatic word (avro?) himself; 
 and the baptism by the hands of the disciples being such, 
 that the historian himself who introduced the explanation 
 had not hesitated to call it a baptism by Christ. It was vir- 
 tually administered by Christ. The explanation related 
 solely to the agent by whom it was administered. In re- 
 gard, therefore, to the authority of Christ in favour of bap- 
 tism, I can see no difference between the two cases. 
 
 Note E, p. 36. 
 
 The genuineness of Matt, xxviii. 19, latter clause, has 
 been objected to upon such evidence, as, if admitted, would 
 bring any part of Scripture under suspicion. No known 
 manuscript or ancient version omits the words ; and the re- 
 ferences to the passage by ancient writers are remarkably 
 numerous. That the mode of expression in regard to bap- 
 tism in the Acts of the Apostles, is different from that here 
 used by our Lord, appears no good argument against the 
 validity of the former clause, especially as there is no incon- 
 sistency between them — baptizing persons into the name of 
 the Lord Jesus, necessarily including the belief that God 
 anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit ; and he 
 who made profession of that belief, by submission to bap- 
 
57 
 
 tism, would be baptized into the name of the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Spirit. The argument which this clause 
 is thought by some to furnish in favour of the Athanasian 
 hypothesis of the Trinity, I shall not here remark on ; but I 
 cannot but observe the singular fact that in the disputes 
 about trine immersion, in Spain particularly, it was the 
 Antitrinitarian party that were strenuous for the observ- 
 ance of that mode, while the Athanasians objected to it, as 
 implying a more complete difference among the persons of 
 the Trinity, than they seemed to have considered consistent 
 with the doctrine of One God. 
 
 It has been doubted by some whether the phrase itavra, r% 
 iBvri, Matt, xxviii. 19, be correctly translated «// the nations. 
 This is, however, unquestionably the common sense of the 
 words. See Matt. xxiv. 9 ; Luke xxi. 24, xxiv. 47 ; Acts x. 
 35, xiv. 16. Also a decisive usage of it in Dan. iii. 2, ac- 
 cording to the LXX., printed at Rome, A.D.I 772. That 
 the disciples do not at first appear to have understood the 
 extent of our Saviour's commission, is no objection to its 
 natural import, which the revelation to Peter (Acts x.) suffi- 
 ciently disclosed. 
 
 Note F, p .36. 
 
 That our Lord connects baptism with belief, and does 
 not repeat the mention of it in connexion with unbelief, is 
 to be thus explained, that belief must in any case precede 
 baptism. Baptism was, as it were, a supplement to belief; 
 so that where there was no belief, there would of course be 
 no baptism. A man would be reduced to a state of con- 
 demnation, (which I do not think specifically refers to 
 punishment in the future world, but to the enjoyment of 
 privileges and blessings in this,) not for the want of baptism, 
 but for the want of belief. Having therefore declared, " He 
 that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved," it was unne- 
 cessary to add to the clause, **He that believeth not, or is not 
 baptized, shall be condemned." 
 
 Christ was dividing those to whom the Gospel was to be 
 
58 
 
 preached, viz. " all the world — every creature," into two 
 great classes ; those who believe and are baptized, and those 
 who believe not. Now the division was illogical unless it 
 exhausted the subject. It would be incomplete indeed, if 
 there were to be still two other classes ; such as believed 
 without being baptized, and such as were baptized without 
 believing. Although both these anomalies have arisen, and 
 still actually exist, in the Christian world, Jesus is altogether 
 silent upon them, and their salvation or condemnation. In 
 short, in the two grand divisions which Jesus does state, it 
 is evidently implied that he contemplated that all who did not 
 come within the latter would be comprehended within the 
 former of his two classes. 
 
 NoteO, p. 41. 
 
 It has been latterly maintained (see Rev. R. Wright's 
 pamphlet on the Perpetuity of Baptism), that baptism in 
 the first age was confined to the Jewish believers in Christi- 
 anity. But it is incumbent on the supporters of this novel 
 opinion, to establish it by distinct evidence, proving that 
 none among the thousands baptized in the apostolic age 
 were Gentiles. It has been well observed,* the world 
 makes a distinction between Jews and Gentiles ; Christ 
 made no such distinction. — I have looked in vain for a set 
 of arguments on which this distinction can be supposed to 
 rest, and not finding any to refute, I will here bring toge- 
 ther such observations as appear to me to render such a 
 distinction inadmissible. It is opposed, 
 
 1. By the legitimate meaning of our Lord's words. Matt, 
 xxviii. 19, (f/.a^'^T aver are •ncivra. rd 'e^vri, /SaTrr/^ovTf^ avTOs)?,) 
 *' make disciples of (instruct) all the nations, baptizing 
 them." The meaning is defined by Christ's words re- 
 corded by Luke, xxiv. 47, " That repentance and remission 
 of sins should be preached in his name among all the na- 
 tions, beginning at Jerusalem ;" (a*? itdyTa zd I Sryvj,) and by 
 
 * See Pool's Synopsis. 
 
59 
 
 the words recorded by Mark (ch. xvi. 15), *• Go ye into all 
 the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ;^' and 
 see Luke xii. 30. 
 
 2. By the case of Cornelius, (Acts x. 47, 48,) whom Pe- 
 ter instructed in the gospel, and which was afterwards re- 
 presented by that Apostle as the first preaching of the gos- 
 pel to the Gentiles, Acts xv, 7- This argument is so decisive, 
 that the spurious ness of the passage relating to the baptism 
 of Cornelius was lately advocated by one who was acute 
 enough to perceive that if it were admitted to be genuine, 
 (and no passage in the New Testament can have stronger 
 external evidence in its favour,) it would be fatal to the hy- 
 pothesis. 
 
 3. By the fact noticed, p. 40, that *' many of the Corin- 
 thians hearing, believed, and were baptized, after the his- 
 torian had informed us of PauPs purpose to leave the Jews 
 and go to the Gentiles ; taken in connexion especially with 
 the admission of the Apostle, (1 Cor. i. 13,) that the Corin- 
 thians had been baptized. 
 
 4. By the absence of any such distinction in the epistles 
 addressed to churches composed of Jews and Gentiles. The 
 single evidence derived from the words, " As many of you 
 as have been baptized," rests at best on the English version, 
 and if the original required this translation, the inference 
 from it, that the believers who had not been baptized were 
 Gentiles, would be perfectly gratuitous. 
 
 5. By the fact which defies refutation, that all the argu- 
 ments for the expediency and propriety of the rite of bap- 
 tism in the case of Jewish converts, will apply in equal, if 
 not in greater, force to Gentiles. 
 
 Mr. Wright, Essay, p. 45, speaks of '' PauPs general 
 neglect of baptism in his ministry among the Gentiles ;" a 
 statement by no means warranted by the single fact, that of 
 the members of the church at Corinth, 1 Cor. i. 14, he 
 had baptized only a few. The opinion that baptism was 
 confined in its apostolic use to Jews, or Jewish converts, 
 accords very ill with the other opinion for which Mr. 
 
60 
 
 Wright contends, that the Jews used baptism in the case of 
 the conversion of proselytes. Admitting this somewhat 
 doubtful opinion to be true, it would be in the highest de- 
 gree improbable that the first missionaries, guided by the 
 Jewish practice, applied it in the case of believers from 
 their own nation, and also, perhaps, in the case of prose- 
 lytes to Judaism, and yet neglected the use of it in the case 
 of idolatrous Heathens when they were brought to Christ. 
 For these last the rite must have been specially designed, 
 and in their case it may be admitted to have been emble- 
 matical of the vast change which worshippers of dumb 
 idols, 1 Cor. xii. 2, would have to undergo, when they were 
 brought to the knowledge and worship of the true God,, 
 The argument derived from the employment of baptism in 
 the case of proselytes to Judaism, is directly opposed to 
 the opinion that the Christian rite was confined to Jewish 
 converts, with which notion I believe few were acquainted, 
 till A. D. 1827, when it was divulged by Mr. Wright. If 
 the notion ])e contained in a single known exposition of the 
 Acts or Epistles, I stand corrected. 
 
 With more plausibility the practice of the baptism of 
 Jewish proselytes, supposing (contrary to the opinion of 
 Dr. Lardner) that it can be traced up to a period as remote 
 as the ministry of Christ, may be urged as an argument in 
 favour of practising the Christian rite in every instance of a 
 change f of belief from other systems to Christianity; and 
 in this view of tlie subject, without examination, I myself 
 rested for some years. But it now appears to me that an 
 important consideration is far too little kept in view, viz. 
 that we are all converts, that we bring no religion into the 
 world with us, and that there is no inconsiderable space of 
 human life in which the child of a J^w, the child of a 
 Heathen, and the child of a Christian, are on a perfect level, 
 with regard to belief in Christ; and why are the accidental 
 differences of parentage, climate, prospect of education, 
 &c., to produce a difference of practice in regard to a pro- 
 fessedly Christian rite as to the administration of which 
 
61 
 
 they, the authorized legislators, have made no distinction ? 
 But there is a large class of cases which may well illustrate 
 this subject, and shew the importance of the principle now 
 laid down. In what is commonly called the Christian 
 world, there are great numbers who believe nothing of 
 Christianity as a Divine Revelation, and many who even 
 doubt the existence of Almighty God. Are their children 
 " born Christians" ? Can their offspring be considered the 
 offspring of Christian parents ? Yet, do those who object 
 to the baptism of the children of Christians recommend it 
 to be applied in these cases when Christianity is adopted ? 
 It may be said that such are in the way of hearing of Chris- 
 tianity, and this is true, but equally so in the case of thou- 
 sands of Jews who became Christians in the apostolic age, 
 and yet it is admitted that they were baptized, and that bap- 
 tism was rightly applied to them upon their heluf in Christ. 
 This, this is the one simple, intelligible, reasonable princi- 
 ple of scripture, and to this we must return, or we shall 
 lose ourselves in a labyrinth of error. — I will here introduce 
 a few short extracts from a pamphlet on the Perpetuity of 
 Baptism, by a late venerable minister and diligent scriptural 
 student. Dr. Toulmin, which are confirmatory of the view 
 of baptism which in this volume I have been advocating. 
 
 Converts. " Baptism into the name of Christ was 
 meant to signify faith in Christ ; to express an acceptance 
 of him as the promised Messiah, and the Saviour of the 
 world. Is this any way peculiar to the case of converts ? 
 Is it only the duty of converts from another religion to con- 
 fess Christ before men ? Is it not the duty of their off- 
 spring also ? By whatever means, or at whatever period of 
 life, faith in his character is produced, is not the acknow- 
 ledgment of it a personal duty? Doth not this primary 
 idea of baptism comprehend every description of people 
 whatever ? What idea can be more general or comprehen- 
 sive ? It applies to no peculiar circumstances." — Dr. 
 Toulmin's Short Essay on Baptism, p. 6. 
 
 After reckoning up the various cases of baptism recorded 
 in the New Testament, the same writer continues : 
 G 
 
62 
 
 " These diversified cases establish one clear, precise, and 
 general idea of the ordinance ; viz. its being a personal and 
 solemn declaration of believing in Christ, without regard to 
 any former religious profession, or to the time and manner 
 of becoming a believer This is an idea of its design, which 
 shews that it is as properly and justly used by the descend- 
 ants of converts from any other religion, as by those con- 
 verts themselves. Nay, it may be said, that there is a 
 greater propriety and force in it in the former, than in the 
 latter case. The very going over from a long accustomed 
 religion to Christianity, is an open and explicit avowal of 
 faith in Christ, in the latter instance, without borrowing 
 the aids of expression and signification from any ceremo- 
 nial rite. But, in the former instance, it is not so evident 
 that the same faith dwells in the child that dwelt in the pa- 
 rent, till, by a personal and explicit act, he shews that the 
 profession of Christianity is voluntary, and not merely to 
 be presumed in consequence of education ; the result of 
 conviction and judgment, and not mere custom; his own 
 deed, and not involved merely in tliat of his parents. It is 
 a solecism ; it is contrary to the analogies of former dispen- 
 sations, and of human manners, that Christianity should be 
 destitute of a rite to commence, while it is supplied with 
 one to preserve and perpetuate, the profession of faith in 
 its author. The Lord's Supper is allowed to answer the 
 latter; baptism is adapted to the former purpose." — P. 10. 
 Jewish Rite. " Should it be supposed that before tliis 
 (viz. our Lord's removal from the world) the rite of baptism 
 was used only in compliance with the customs and temper 
 of the Jews, among whom there prevailed a multitude of 
 washings from legal impurities ; yet, after the resurrection, 
 it wore a different appearance and importance : when he 
 gave orders that it should be practised among all nations, 
 and extended to all believers, and built these injunctions on 
 a solemn declaration of his own authority in heaven and 
 earth, it must cease to be looked upon as a Jewish rite, 
 taken up in indulgence to the customs of that nation, when 
 it was incorporated with the religion of Christ, and became 
 
63 
 
 a universal and standing order of his religion. There is, 
 indeed, nothing of a ritual nature so often mentioned in the 
 New Testament, of which there are so many precedents 
 and instances, and on which so many practical arguments 
 and exhortations are founded. Christ's adoption of the 
 rite makes it his." — P. 27. 
 
 Time of the observance. *' Should it be urged, that 
 if our Lord intended that this ordinance should extend to 
 the descendants of Christian parents, it might have been 
 expected, that the time or period of life for submitting to 
 it would have been fixed ; the reply is, that no time could 
 be fixed upon by command consistently with the nature and 
 design of the act. It is a voluntary avowal of faith in 
 Christ; it must, therefore, equally with the sentiment 
 which it is designed to express, be left to arise from con- 
 viction, and from the spontaneous emotion of the mind. 
 The time of this will depend upon the different degrees of 
 information persons enjoy, upon the different dispositions 
 of their minds with respect to God and the things of his 
 kingdom, upon the nature of their education, and the va- 
 rious circumstances that have an influence upon the judg- 
 ment and the heart." 
 
 Note H, p. 42. 
 
 When St. Paul (1 Cor. i. 14) says, *' I baptized none of you 
 but Crispus and Gains," it would be perfectly illogical to 
 infer that he had not baptized converts in other parts of his 
 apostolical journeys. There is nothing against the supposi- 
 tion that the twelve persons who embraced Christianity after 
 his special instruction at Ephesus, Actsxix. 5, were baptized 
 by him or under his immediate sanction. 
 
 The declaration which St. Paul makes in this connexion, 
 ** Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel," 
 has occasioned, it appears, extraordinary uneasiness to 
 Mr. Richard Wright, the missionary (see his pamphlet on 
 Baptism) ; but a slight attention to the very common idio- 
 
64 
 
 inatic comparative in the Hebrew language, might have re- 
 moved his whole difficulty. I refer with pleasure in corro- 
 boration of my own view of the passage, to a short, but 
 sensible and decisive, article in the Christian Reformer, 
 Vol. XIV. p. 26, by a first-rate Critic, shortly after the pub- 
 lication of Mr. Wright's pamphlet. 
 
 ** If we consult the Christian Scriptures, we shall find 
 that notices and recognitions of baptism are far more nu- 
 merous than many persons imagine. Even the passages, 
 and they are not a few, where the terms baptism, baptize, 
 baptized, occur in a figurative sense, attest the existence of 
 the literal rite j for who lias ever found such allusive and 
 metaphorical expressions become current, when they were 
 not taken from acknowledged facts and practices? We 
 must further admit that our Lord's assistants were in the 
 habit of administering baptism to their successive converts. 
 Jesus Christ, it is true, did not himself baptize ; that his 
 apostles baptized is clear from the evangelical history,* and 
 from the narrators of their Acts, as well as from their 
 Epistles ; and though Paul declares that he v/as sent not to 
 baptize, but to preach the gospel, we know, however, from 
 his own statement, that in some instances he really did bap- 
 tize; we know that if, in the majority of cases, he forbore 
 to administer the rite, his forbearance arose from a fear, 
 lest he should be said to have baptized into his own name. 
 Can any exception better prove the rule to which it is an 
 exception ? Paul was sent not so much to baptize as to 
 preach the gospel. It is a well-known scriptural idiom : * I 
 will have mercy, and not sacrifice ;' * Labour not for the 
 meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth 
 unto everlasting life.' "f 
 
 * " John iv. 2. 
 
 t "TertulHan on Baptism > c. xiv. Barclay, Apology, &,c., 
 Propos. xii., will not admit that Paul baptized * by virtue of his 
 apostolical commission, but rather in condescension to the weak- 
 ness of the Jewish proselytes/ Paul, however, is silent as to 
 
65 
 
 See also Mr. Belsham's note on this passage, in his Expo- 
 sition of Paul's Epistles. 
 
 "The writers of the Old and New Testament," says Bishop 
 Pearce, " almost every where, agreeably to their Hebrew 
 idiom, express a preference given to one thing before ano- 
 ther, by an affirmation of the thing preferred, and a nega- 
 tion of the contrary." If the strict literal sense be insisted 
 on in all such cases, what is to be made of Ananias not 
 having lied unto men, but unto God ? (Acts v. 4) ; or of 
 Christ's declaration, (John xii. 44,) "He that believeth on 
 me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me" ? 
 
 Note I, p. 42. 
 In St Paul's Epistle to the Romans, vi. 3, 4, the expressions 
 occur, " Know ye not, that so many of us as were bap- 
 tized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? 
 Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death." 
 It is the opinion both of Mr. Locke and Mr. Belsham, that 
 this chapter relates exclusively to the heathen converts, and 
 in that case it yields another proof that in the first age bap- 
 tism was as universal as Christian belief. I can have no 
 doubt that the allusion is here to the immersion of the 
 body in water in token of receiving the Christian faith. 
 And to the same act the apostle probably alludes when he 
 speaks in the sixth verse of the same chapter, of the old man 
 being crucified with Christ. Similar language is found in 
 the Epistle to the Colossians, ii. 12, and iii. 10, 11, com- 
 pared with Eph. iv. 22 — 24. Dr. Ryland, Candid Statement, 
 p. 38, justly remarks, " Probably the custom of putting 
 on white raiment after baptism (from which Whitsunday 
 obtained its name, when baptism was chiefly administered 
 at that period) is less ancient than the times of the apostles ; 
 but a change was always needful : and though some most 
 respectable modern Psedobaptists seem very averse to admit 
 
 any such condescension in the instances of Crispus and Gains, and 
 the household of Stephanas ; and it will be safer for us to con- 
 tent ourselves with Paul's silence, than to acquiesce in Barclay's 
 comment." 
 
 g2 
 
allusions to immersion, and the necessary change of raiment 
 consequent upon it, in the passage just cited as well as in 
 Rom. vi. 6, and Col. iii. 9, 10, yet concessions enough to 
 fill a volume might be produced from their predecessors of 
 every denomination, whom the force of truth constrains to 
 acknowledge their evident reference to the primitive mode of 
 administering this ordinance." I find from Schlichtingius on 
 Eph. iv. 24, that he has no doubt of the reference being 
 here to baptism. 
 
 In the first Epistle to the Corinthians, ch. i. 13 — 17, the 
 allusions to the disciples having been baptized, are too 
 plain to admit of evasion. The argument arising from Paul's 
 words, " Christ sent me not," &c., has been before noticed. 
 Additional instances are ch. xii. 13, "We were all baptized 
 into one body ;" with which compare ch. xii. 2, *' Ye know 
 that ye were Gentiles," which proves that Gentile converts 
 were baptized. 1 Cor. vi. 11, "But ye are washed," &c., is 
 a clear reference to baptism, though a more general term is 
 employed, xii. 13, though there is a difference of opinion 
 among critics, appears to me decisively to prove the em- 
 ployment of baptism in water, and in reference to all 
 classes of believers without distinction. ** For by one" (see 
 vers. 3, 9) " spirit have we all been baptized into one body, 
 whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free : and we 
 have all been made to drink into one spirit." 
 
 In the Epistle to the Galatians (iii. 2/) there is express 
 mention of baptism. In that to the Ephesians (iv. 5) one 
 baptism occupies its place in the enumeration of the 
 Christian privileges, with the one hope, the one Lord, and 
 the one God and Father of all; nor is there any room 
 for the idea, that the one baptism is here the baptism of 
 the spirit, because the spirit is expressly distinguished : 
 see ver. 4. Nor can there remain a doubt, that baptism 
 in water is alluded to elsewhere in this Epistle. Ch. v. 26, 
 ** Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he 
 might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by 
 the word." 
 
 In the Epistle to Titus, ch. iii. 5, baptism is unquestion- 
 
67 
 
 ably spoken of as the wasliiiig of regeneration. In the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, the writer very distinctly mentions 
 this Christian rite. Ch. x. 22, ** Let us draw near with a true 
 heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts purified 
 from an evil conscience, and our bodies icashed with pure 
 watep." See Schleusner on pavT/^w. 
 
 Note K, p. 45. 
 
 •*The primitive mtf«w<?r of baptizing was (usually at least) 
 dipping or plunging the person under water. This is now 
 so universally acknowledged on all hands, that there is no 
 occasion to say much on this head. It will be sufficient to 
 observe, that the Scripture speaks of persons being buried 
 in baptism, (Rom. vi. 4,) of having their bodies washed with 
 pure water, (Heb. x. 22,) and of water baptism as putting 
 away the filth of the flesh, (1 Pet. iii. 21,) which expressions 
 evidently allude to and suppose the dipping of the ichole 
 body, or the burying it under the water. Accordingly, the 
 Christian churches continued the practice of baptizing by 
 immersion (excepting in a case of necessity) through all 
 ages, and in all countries, till of late. Nay, as far as I can 
 find, it is still the practice of all the Christian churches in 
 the world, excepting only the church of Rome, and those 
 Protestant churches that came out of her." — Hallet's 
 Notes on Texts of Scripture, Vol. III. 355. 
 
 This is the opinion of Grotius, in himself a host. 
 
 Dr. Whitby, in his Commentary, admits the same. 
 
 Dr. Wall, in his controversy with Gale, makes the same 
 admission ; these two regret that the practice of the English 
 church has been altered. There is to this day in the church 
 of Cranbrook, in Kent, a baptistery suited to adults. 
 
 " The Greek word (Sccnnl^a, which occurs not unfre- 
 quently in classic authors, universally signifies, as far as my 
 observation has extended, to dip entirely under water. Nor 
 is there any proof or presumption to the contrary, in any 
 part of the New Testament ; nor do I know that any man 
 has ever pretended to affix a different meaning to the word 
 itself, or to its derivatives." Gilbert Wakefield. 
 
68 
 
 Tlie Argument for Immersion from the Practice of the 
 Greek Church. 
 
 ** If any thing" were here wanting to constitute a complete 
 demonstration in favour of our practice and way of think- 
 ing, we could appeal to the judgment and custom of the 
 Greek Christians, who have always adhered to immersion : 
 a plain and demonstrative proof that it must be the real and 
 proper signification of the words expressive of baptism in 
 their language. This ought to settle this controversy, and 
 silence all future objections on this head ; for who can be 
 so likely to know the meaning of Greek words as the Greeks 
 themselves ? Or who so likely to know the true and proper 
 meaning of those Greek words that relate to baptism as the 
 Greek Christians, to whose mother tongue, or native lan- 
 guage, those same words belong ? That they do not, and 
 never did in their opinion, signify sprinkling or pouring, is 
 certain, for they have never adopted such a practice. On 
 the other hand, that they understand, and have always un- 
 derstood, immersion to be naturally and necessarily meant 
 by those words, is equally certain ; for such has been their 
 constant practice from generation to generation. This cir- 
 cumstance we ought never to overlook or forget, while 
 combating the present objection, as it will apply eflfectually 
 and decisively in support of our sentiment and practice, as 
 well as against theirs. It surely must appear, if not provi- 
 dential, yet at least exceedingly remarkable, that the Greek 
 Christians from age to age should adhere to this practice of 
 immersion, without ever once attempting to lay aside or 
 depart from the same, widely as they have departed from 
 primitive Christianity in a multitude of other matters. 
 How otherwise is it possible to account for this but by ad- 
 mitting that the Greek words expressive of this ordinance 
 were so clearly and universally understood among the 
 Greeks to signify immersion, that that practice could not 
 be laid aside there for shame, or without insulting and offer- 
 ing violence to the common sense and common feelings of 
 the people? Inasmuch, then, as the Greeks, who must 
 
69 
 
 have been the best judges in the world, considered immer- 
 sion as the proper, native, legitimate meaning of the original 
 Greek word for baptism, it must be allowed to be really so ; 
 for in the face of such a well-known and undeniable fact, 
 who can avoid admitting it without appearing blind to the 
 clearest evidence and plainest proof, or a slave to the most 
 unreasonable prejudice?" 
 
 Dr. RicHARDs's Address on the Duration or Perpetuity 
 of Christian Baptism, with some introductory Hints upon 
 the Subjects and Mode of that Ordinance. Life by Dr. 
 Evans, p. 203. 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 The proverbially honest Whiston wrote in favour of 
 believers' baptism, and attributed the same opinion to Sir 
 Isaac Newton and others. 
 
 "In the same year, 1712, I published a small pamphlet, 
 intituled. Primitive Infant Baptism Revived : or, an Ac- 
 count of the Doctrine and Practice of the Two First Cen- 
 turies concerning ihe Baptism of Infants, in the Words 
 of the Sacred and Primitive Writers themselves. 8vo. 
 Now, the occasion of my discovery of this ancient error 
 of the baptism of uncatechized infants, was a question put 
 to me by Mr. Shelswell, when I was preparing to baptize 
 him and a sister of his, who were good Christians, except- 
 ing that they had never been baptized before, whether I 
 should not think it were better if baptism were deferred 
 till after instruction, than used before it ? My answer was 
 this, that I must honestly confess I should myself have 
 thought so ; but that I was no legislator, and so submitted 
 to what I then took to be a law of Christ. Constitut. vi. 
 15, * Do you also baptize your infants, and bring them up 
 in the nurture and admonition of God ? For,' says he, 
 * suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
 not.' When Mr. Shelswell was gone, I reflected upon 
 what had been said, and was dissatisfied that I had been 
 forced to allow, that in my opinion this law of Christ was 
 not so right as it should be. Whereupon I immediately 
 set myself to examine what the New Testament and the 
 most early Fathers meant by the words which they used, 
 when they speak of baptism of infants or little children, I 
 
n 
 
 mean v^ttio, and maihix, and which they esteemed not inca- 
 pahje of that holy ordinance. And I soon discovered that 
 they were only those that were capable of catechetic in- 
 struction, but not fit for understanding harder matters ; and 
 that none but such infants and little children were ever in 
 the first and second century made partakers of baptism. 
 This most important discovery I soon communicated to the 
 world in this paper, which both Bishop Hoadley and Dr. 
 Clarke greatly approved, but still went on in the ordinary 
 practice notwithstanding. I sent this paper also, by an 
 intimate friend, Mr. [Hopton] Haines, to Sir Isaac Newton, 
 and desired to know his opinion. The answer returned 
 was this, that they both had discovered the same before. 
 Nay, I afterwards found that Sir Isaac Newton was so 
 hearty for the Baptists, as well as for the Eusebians or 
 Avians,* that he sometimes suspected these were the two 
 witnesses in the revelation." — Memoirs of the Life and 
 Writings of Mr. JK Whiston, Vol. I. p. 206. 
 
 Whitaker, the author of " The Origin of Arianism Dis- 
 closed," page 458, quoting the last sentence, exclaims 
 " Such a wild Arian was he !" I suppose this was the 
 first time that the epithet " wild" was ever applied to the 
 matured judgment of our immortal philosopher. 
 
 II. 
 
 The following extract from Dr. James Foster, on " The 
 Usefulness and Truth of the Christian Revelation," is taken 
 from the fifth chapter of his work, which contains " A 
 Particular Vindication of the Pecuhar Positive Institutions 
 of Christianity." 
 
 * There is evidence to shew that Sir Isaac Newton, if he now 
 believed in the pre-existence of Christ, afterwards rejected that 
 doctrine. See Mr. Lindsey's Sequel, p. 19. 
 
72 
 
 *' By baptism we voluntarily, and in the most solemn 
 manner, make a profession of the Christian religion ; and 
 as it is done freely, and from choice, we necessarily oblige 
 ourselves by this action to imitate the Hfe of Christ, and 
 o-overn our temper and behaviour by the rules he has pre- 
 scribed, i. e. to copy after the most perfect example, and 
 practise the most entire, generous, and useful virtue, that 
 was ever prescribed by any scheme of philosophy, or insti- 
 tution of religion. We oblige ourselves to that rational 
 piety, impartial justice, universal, disinterested, and conde- 
 scending goodness, and strict temperance, which Christi- 
 anity so clearly recommends and powerfully enforces ; ex- 
 pecting, upon these terms only, the favour of Almighty 
 God and a happy immortality. And can any thing be 
 more becoming rational beings, than to bring themselves 
 under the strictest obligations to promote the true dignity 
 and perfection of their nature, and the general good of their 
 fellow-creatures ? 
 
 " If it be said, that our very profession of the Christian 
 religion obliges us to all this, without the use of any parti- 
 cular rite or ceremony, I am sure, that doing it by a solemn 
 rite, and in a public manner, will be an additional motive 
 with all who have a sense of ingenuousness, to perform 
 their voluntary engagements ; that the doing it in a way 
 appointed by God, and in obedience to his command, has 
 a natural tendency to make them more sincere in ther re- 
 solutions, give them a more lively sense of their obligations, 
 and leave a deeper impression upon the mind. And be- 
 sides, by appointing a particular rite, and making it men's 
 duty to submit to it, every man is put at his first setting out 
 in religion, upon examining the evidence of it, and the dif- 
 ferent natures and consequences of virtue and vice, by 
 which means his religion will become a matter of free and 
 deliberate choice. For though the bulk of mankind go on 
 in the beaten track, and because they are never called upon 
 
73 
 
 to make a particular inquiry, take their religion implicitly, 
 just as the chance of education and custom directs ; yet one 
 would imagine that when they are bound, by a ceremony 
 instituted on purpose, to make a solemn profession of it, 
 this should always suggest to them, that now is the proper 
 time to consider seriously upon what foundation it stands, 
 and the reasons by which it is supported ; and whatever 
 the real fact be, I am sure it is the natural tendency of the 
 thing, and therefore it must be calculated in itself to answer 
 the most useful purposes ; because nothing can be of 
 greater importance towards making men fixed and steady 
 in a virtuous course, than their entering upon it after ma- 
 ture deliberation and a full conviction of the judgment. 
 
 " And if these are the uses of some particular rite, it 
 will be a sufficient justification of any single one, that it is 
 as fit as any other, and does not interfere with the main 
 design of the institution. This, I say, is as much as can, 
 in strict reason, be required. But, beyond this, it may be 
 urged in favour of baptism^ the initiatory ceremony of the 
 Christian religion, that it is itself the most natural and sig- 
 nificant that can be, and expressive of those very obli- 
 gations which we bring ourselves under by submitting to 
 it. This is strongly represented by St. Paul, in the fol- 
 lowing passage (if we understand by baptism the rite that 
 was originally appointed, and always practised in the first 
 Christian churches, viz. immersion ; otherwise, indeed, the 
 beauty and force of the comparison is entirely lost) : 
 * Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into 
 Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death ? Therefore are 
 we buried with him by baptism unto 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 hfe. ' 
 Rom. vi. 3, 4. 
 
 " I need not set myself to prove, that this is a rite which 
 may generally be practised without inconvenience, and, 
 H 
 
74 
 
 consequently, is fit to be enjoined in a religion designed 
 for all ages and nations, because the constant experience 
 of those who use it, adhering strictly to the original insti- 
 tution, is a most convincing demonstration of this : amongst 
 whom, notwithstanding some instances of a precipitate and 
 incautious zeal, it scarce ever is, and, if but common pru- 
 dence were exercised, we have the utmost reason to be- 
 lieve never would at all be, attended with ill consequences; 
 and, besides, an attempt of this kind would be trifling with 
 the reader, in an age in which the practice of cold-bathing 
 is so frequently recommended even to the most tender con- 
 stitutions, and acknowledged to have such excellent ef- 
 fects. 
 
 " Upon the whole, there is every circumstance in this 
 positive institution of Christianity that can recommend it, 
 and manifest the great wisdom and goodness of God in 
 appointing it. The general design of it is to oblige Chris- 
 tians, in the most solemn manner, to a conduct that is be- 
 coming rational creatures, conducive to the rectitude of 
 human nature, and the good of society, viz. to abstain from 
 vice and impurity of all kinds, and practise the most uni- 
 versal, constant, and amiable virtue. The fixing a parti- 
 cular rite is of great use to engage their attention, and give 
 them a stronger sense of their obligations, and, as it binds 
 all to a voluntary and deliberate engagement, to lead a 
 sober, righteous, and godly life. As the substance of the 
 duty, or the principal thing intended by it, must always be 
 useful, the external ceremony itself is of that kind, as may 
 generally be practised, not only without inconvenience, 
 but with advantage, and is withal very natural and signifi- 
 cant, and wisely adapted to the main design. To which 
 we may add, that there is the utmost care to prevent super- 
 stitious abuses of it, not only by asserting in general the 
 utter insignificancy of all instituted means without real vir- 
 tue and goodness, and constantly inculcating the moral use 
 
75 
 
 of this particular institution ; but by declaring in express 
 terms, that it is not the external part of baptism, * putting 
 away the filth of the flesh,* for which we are considered as 
 good Christians, and entitled to the reward of eternal life, 
 but * the answer of a good conscience towards God.' 1 
 Pet. iii. 21." Dr. James Foster " On the Usefulness and 
 Truth of the Christian Revelation," chap. v. — And see 
 some excellent remarks in Marsom's Perpetuity of Chris- 
 tian Baptism (1828), pp. 68—74. 
 
 III. 
 
 JOHN MILTON ON BAPTISM. 
 
 (From his Treatise of Christian Doctrine, chap, xxviii.) 
 
 ** Under the gospel, the first of the Sacraments, com- 
 monly so called, is baptism, wherein the bodies of believers 
 who engage themselves to pureness of life, are immersed 
 in running water,* to signify their regeneration by the 
 Holy Spirit, and their union with Christ in his death, bu- 
 rial, and resurrection. 
 
 • " In profluentem aquam. By the admission of this word into 
 the definition, it is evident that Milton attributed some impor- 
 tance to this circumstance, probably considering that the superior 
 purity of running water was peculiarly typical of the thing sig- 
 nified. Hence it appears that the same epithet employed in Pa- 
 radise Lost, in a passage very similar to the present, is not 
 merely a poetical ornament. 
 
 Them who shall believe. 
 
 Baptizing in the profluent stream^ the sign 
 Of washing them from guilt of sin to life. 
 Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befal. 
 For death, like that which the Redeemer died. 
 
 XII. 441."— Note by Dr. Sumner. 
 
76 
 
 " Of believers. Matt, xxviii. 19, * Teach all nations, 
 baptizing them.' Mark xvi. 15, 16, ' Preach the gospel 
 — he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.' Acts 
 viii. 36, 37, ' What doth hinder me to be baptized ? If 
 thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest.' Eph. v. 
 26, * That he might cleanse it [the church] with the 
 ■washing of water by the word.' 1 Pet. iii. 21, ' The 
 like figure whereunto everi baptism doth also now save us 
 (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the an- 
 swer of a good conscience towards God] by the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ.' 
 
 " Hence it follows, that infants are not to be baptized, in- 
 asmuch as they are incompetent to receive instruction, or 
 to believe, or to enter into a covenant, or to promise or 
 answer for themselves, or even to hear the word. For 
 how can infants who understand not the word be purified 
 thereby, any more than adults can receive edification by 
 hearing an unknown language ? For it is not that outward 
 baptism, which purifies only the filth of the flesh, that saves 
 us, but the answer of a good conscience, as Peter testifies, 
 of which infants are incapable.* Besides, baptism is not 
 merely a covenant, containing a certain stipulation on one 
 side, with a corresponding engagement on the other, 
 which in the case of an infant is impossible ; but it is also 
 a vow, and as such can neither be pronounced by infants 
 nor required of them. See Book ii. ch. iv. under the head 
 of Vows.f 
 
 * Dr. Sumner, the English translator of Milton's Work, here 
 refers for an answer to this argument to Wall's Defence of his 
 History of Infant Baptism, p. 243, and Whitby on Matt. iii. 16. 
 Let the reader consult both these references. 1 have, and my 
 judgment remains unshaken that Milton is right. 
 
 t In that passage Milton says, " Neither can a general or 
 special vow be made by one who has not yet arrived at the full 
 use of his judgment. Considering how generally thi^ rule was 
 
n 
 
 " It is remarkable to what futile arguments those divines 
 have recourse, who maintain the contrary opinion. They 
 allege Malt. xix. 14, * Suffer little children, and forbid 
 them not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of 
 heaven.' It appears, however, that they were not brought 
 to him for the purpose of being baptized : ver. 13, ' Then 
 were there brought to him Httle children, that he should 
 put his hands on them and pray ;* neither did Christ bap- 
 tize them, but only put his hands on them, ver. 15. Mark 
 X. 16, ' He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon 
 them, and blessed them.* Seeing, then, that they were 
 neither brought to Christ to be baptized, nor, when re- 
 ceived, were actually baptized by him, it is impossible to 
 admit the sophistical inference, that they were properly 
 qualified for baptism, or, which is still more difficult to 
 conceive, that not little children merely, but infants are so 
 quaUfied. For if competent to be baptized, they are com- 
 petent on the same grounds to be partakers of the Lord's 
 Supper. Let the church, therefore, receive infants which 
 come unto her, after the example of Christ, with imposi- 
 sition of hands and benediction, but not with baptism. 
 Again, they remind us that of such is the kingdom of hea- 
 ven. Is this to be understood of all without distinction, 
 or only of such as shall subsequently believe ? How per- 
 fectly soever God may know them that are his, the church 
 does not know them ; what they are in the sight of God is 
 one thing, and what they are by church privilege is an- 
 other. It must mean, therefore, of sueh in respect of sim- 
 plicity and innocence, whereas neither simplicity nor inno- 
 cence, although they may be predicated of little children, 
 can properly be attributed to infants, who have not as yet 
 
 received among divines, it is strange that they should so far for- 
 get their own doctrine, as to require the special vow of baptism 
 from infants." 
 
 h2 
 
73 
 
 the faculty of reason ; neither does it follow that because 
 any one is an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, he is 
 therefore admissible to every religious sacrament ; or that 
 because he is included in the covenant, he has therefore the 
 right of participating in such signs and seals of that cove- 
 nant as demand the exercise of mature faith and reason. 
 For the thing signified in the Supper of the Lord, apper- 
 tains no less to infants than the thing signitied in baptism ; 
 and yet infants are not admitted to the former rite, although 
 they were admitted to the passover, which held the same 
 place in the former dispensation as the Lord's Supper 
 in the present. Hence, by the way, we may perceive 
 how weak it is to reason as follows : baptism has suc- 
 ceeded to circumcision ; but infants were circumcised, 
 therefore infants are to be baptized : seeing that it is 
 equally certain that the Lord's Supper has succeeded to the 
 passover, notwithstanding which infants, who were admitted 
 to the latter rite, are not admitted to the former. 
 
 ** They argue again, that as it is said we were all baptized 
 unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 1 Cor. x. 2, in- 
 fants must be included in the general expression. I an- 
 swer, that all did eat the same spiritual meat, and did all 
 drink the same spiritual drink, iii. 4, yet that infants are 
 not on this ground admitted to partake of the Lord's 
 >Supper. 
 
 " They lay much stress likewise on Gen. xvii. 7, * I will 
 establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed 
 after thee in their generations.* No one, however, will 
 seriously affirm, that this is to be understood of infants, 
 and not of the adult posterity of Abraham in their genera- 
 tions, that is, successively. Otherwise we must suppose 
 that God intended to give the land also to infants, ver. 18, 
 and that infants are commanded to keep the covenant, 
 ver. 9. Again, Acts ii. 39, ' The promise is to you, and 
 to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many 
 
79 
 
 as the Lord our God shall call.* Your children, that is, as 
 they understand it, your infants : in other words, God calls 
 those who cannot understand, and addresses those who 
 cannot hear ; an interpretation which can only have pro- 
 ceeded from the infancy of reasoning. Had these cora- 
 mentators but read two verses farther, they would have 
 found it expressly stated, they that gladly received his word 
 were baptized ; whence it appears that understanding and 
 will were necessary qualifications for baptism, neither of 
 which is possessed by infants. So also Acts viii. 37, ' If 
 thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest be baptized ;* 
 whereas infants, so far from believing with all their heart, 
 are incapable of even the slightest degree of faith. With 
 regard, however, to the text on which they insist so much, 
 * The promise is to you, and to your children,' if they had 
 attended sufficiently to Paul's interpretation of this passage, 
 Rom. ix. 7, 8, they would have understood that the pro- 
 mise was not to all seed indiscriminately, seeing that it was 
 not even to the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, 
 but only to the children of God, that is, to believers, who 
 alone under the gospel are the children of the promise, 
 and are counted for the seed. But none can be consi- 
 dered by the church as believers, till they have professed 
 their belief. To those, therefore, to whom it does not ap- 
 pear that the promise was ever made, the church cannot 
 with propriety give the seal of the promise in baptism. 
 
 " Again, they allege the analogy between baptism and 
 circumcision, which latter was performed on infants. Col. 
 ii. 11, * In whom also ye are circumcised with the cir- 
 cumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of 
 the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ ; buried 
 with him in baptism.' In the first place, there is no other 
 analogy between being circumcised and being buried with 
 him in baptism, than that which exists among all sacra- 
 ments, by which the same thing is signified, the mode of 
 
80 
 
 signification being different. But, secondly, why is it 
 necessary that things which are analogous should coincide 
 in all points ? Of circumcision, for instance, woraen were 
 not partakers ; in baptism they are equally included with 
 men, whether as being a more perfect sign, or a symbol of 
 more perfect things. For circumcision, although a seal of 
 the righteousness of faith, Rom. iv. 11, 12, was such only 
 to Abraham, who being uncircumcised had already be- 
 lieved, and to others who should believe in like manner ; 
 not to his posterity, who in after times were circumcised 
 before they were of an age to exercise faith, and who con- 
 sequently could not believe in the uncircumcision. To 
 them it was a seal in the flesh, indistinctly and obscurely 
 given, of that grace which was at some distant period to 
 be revealed ; whereas baptism is a seal of grace already 
 revealed, of the remission of sins, of sanctification ; finally, 
 a sign of our death and resurrection with Christ. Circum- 
 cision was given under the law and the sacrifices, and 
 bound the individual to the observance of the whole law, 
 (Gal. V. 3,) which was a service of bondage, and a school- 
 master to bring its followers to Christ ; through baptism, 
 on the other hand, we are initiated into the gospel, which 
 is a reasonable, manly, and, in the highest sense, free ser- 
 vice. For under the law men were not merely born, but 
 grew up infants in a spiritual sense ; under the gospel, in 
 baptism, we are born men. Hence baptism requires, as 
 from adults, the previous conditions of knowledge and 
 faith ; whereas in circumcision all conditions are omitted, 
 as unnecessary in the case of servants, and impracticable in 
 that of infants. Lastly, circumcision was performed, not 
 by the priests and Levites, but by the master of a family. 
 Gen. xvii., by the mother. Ex, iv. 26, or by any other 
 person, a surgical operation for instance; whereas baptism, 
 according to our opponents themselves, can only be ad- 
 ministered by a teacher of the gospel ; and even those who 
 
81 
 
 hold a wider opinion upon the subject, allow that it can 
 only be performed by a believer, and by one who is neither 
 a new convert, nor unlearned in the faith. To what pur- 
 pose is this, unless that the person to be baptized may be 
 previously instructed in the doctrines of the gospel ? which 
 in the case of an infant is impossible. There is, therefore, 
 no necessary analogy between circumcision and bapiism ; 
 and it is our duty not to build our behef on vague parallels, 
 but to attend exclusively to the institution of the sacrament 
 itself, and regard its authority as paramount, according to 
 the frequent admonition of our opponents themselves. 
 
 " They contend, however, that circumcision was the seal 
 of the righteousness of faith, Rom. iv. 11, 12, notwith- 
 standing which infants were circumcised who were inca- 
 pable of belief. I answer as above, that it was indeed 
 the seal of the righteousness of faith, but only to Abraham, 
 and to such as, after his example, believed, being yet un- 
 circumcised ; in the case of infants it was a thing of en- 
 tirely different import, namely, an outward and merely 
 national consecration to the external service of God, and, 
 by implication, to the Mosaic form of worship, which was 
 in due time to be ordained. Lastly, it is urged that the 
 apostles baptized whole families, and consequently infants 
 among the rest. The weakness of this argument is clearly 
 shewn by Acts viii. 12, * When they believed they were 
 baptized, both men and women,' infants not being included, 
 xvi. 31 — 34, * Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved and thy house ; and they spake to him the 
 word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house ; and 
 he took them — and was baptized, he and all his straight- 
 way — and he rejoiced, beheving in God with all his 
 house.' Here the expression all his houses obviously 
 comprehends only those who believed in his house, not 
 infants ; therefore those alone unto whom they spake the 
 word of the Lord, and who believed, were baptized. The 
 
82 
 
 same is evident from ch. xi. 17, * Forasmuch then as God 
 gave them the Hke gift, as he did unto us who beHeve/ 
 xviii. 8, * Crispus beUeved on the Lord with all his liouse ; 
 and many of the Corinthians hearing, beUeved, and were 
 baptized.' Even the baptism of John, which was but the 
 prelude to that of Christ, is called the baptism of repent- 
 ance, Mark i. 4 ; and those who came to it were bap- 
 tized, confessing their sins, Matt. iii. 6, whereas infants 
 are incapable either of repentance or confession. If, then, 
 infants were not meet for the baptism of John, how can 
 they be meet for the baptism of Christ, which requires 
 knowledge, repentance, and faith, before it can be re- 
 ceived ? 
 
 " Immersion. It is in vain alleged by those who, on the 
 authority of Mark vii. 4, Luke xi. 38, have introduced the 
 practice of affusion in baptism instead of immersion, that to 
 dip and to sprinkle, mean the same thing ; since in wash- 
 ing, we do not sprinkle the hands, but immerse them, 
 
 " To signify their regeneration, John iii. 5, * Except a 
 man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of God ;' that is, if the omission pro- 
 ceed from neglect. Acts xxii. 16, ' Why tarriest thou ? 
 Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on 
 the name of the Lord.' 1 Cor. vi. 11, ' But ye are 
 washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.* 
 Eph. v. 26, ' That he might sanctify and cleanse it, with 
 the washing of water by the word.' Tit. iii. 5, ' By the 
 washing of regeneration.' 
 
 " Union with Christ in his death, &c. 1 Cor. xii. 13, 
 * By one Spirit* are we baptized into one body.' Gal. 
 iii. 27, ' As many of you as have been baptized into 
 Christ have put on Christ.' Rom. vi. 3, * Know ye not 
 
 * Literally, in one Spirit — tv Ivi TtvivfAan. 
 
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were 
 baptized into his death ? therefore we are buried with him 
 by baptism into death.' Col. ii. 12, * Buried with him 
 in baptism.* Hence it appears that baptism was intended 
 to represent figuratively the painful life of Christ, his death 
 and burial, in which he was immersed, as it were, for a 
 season : Mark x. 38, * Can ye be baptized with the bap- 
 tism that I am baptized with ?' Compare also Luke xii. 
 50." Respecting the administration of baptism, see chap. 
 xxix. — on the visible church, and chap. xxxi. on particular 
 churches. 
 
 In the former of these places, Mifton says — " If, 
 therefore, it be competent to any believer whatever to 
 preach the gospel, provided he be furnished with the re- 
 quisite gifts, it is also competent to him to administer the 
 rite of baptism ; inasmuch as the latter office is inferior to 
 the former. John iv. 2, * Jesus himself baptized not, but 
 his disciples.' 1 Cor. i. 17, * Christ sent me not to 
 baptize, but to preach the gospel.' Hence Ananias, who 
 was a disciple, baptized Paul, Acts ix. 10, 18; x. 48, 
 * He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the 
 Lord ;' which command was given to the companions of 
 Peter, who are only called brethren, v. 23, and they 
 which believed, ver. 45. And if it be true that baptism 
 has succeeded to the place of circumcision, and bears the 
 analogy to it which is commonly supposed, why should 
 not any Christian whatever (provided he be not a mere no- 
 vice, and therefore otherwise incompetent) be qualified to 
 administer baptism, in the same manner as any Jew was 
 qualified to perform the rite of circumcision ? The bap- 
 tism of John was essentially the same as the baptism of 
 Christ ; but it diflfered in the form of words used in its 
 administration, and in the comparative remoteness of its 
 efl[icacy. If it had not been really the same, it would fol- 
 low that we had not undergone the same baptism as Christ, 
 
84 
 
 that our baptism had not been sanctified by the person of 
 Christ, that Christ had not fulfilled all righteousness, Matt, 
 iii. 15 ; finally, that the apostles would have needed to be 
 re-baptized, which we do not read to have been the case. 
 In some respects, however, there was a diff'erence ; for al- 
 though both baptisms were from God,* and both required 
 repentance and faith, f these requisites were less clearly 
 propounded in the one case than in the other, and the 
 faith required in the former instance was an imperfect 
 faith, founded on a partial manifestation of Christ ; in the 
 latter, it was a faith in a fully-revealed Saviour. The bap- 
 tism of Christ was also administered with a more solemn 
 form of words, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Spirit, (although it is no where said, that 
 this form was ever expressly used by the apostles,) and at- 
 tended, as above observed, with a more immediate efficacy; 
 inasmuch as the baptism of John was with water only,J 
 except in the single instance of Christ, the design of which 
 exception was not to prove the virtue of John's baptism, 
 but to bear testimony to the Son of God. Hence the apos- 
 tles did not receive the Holy Ghost till a much later pe- 
 riod, Acts i. 5, and the Ephesians, who had been baptized 
 with the baptism of John, had not so much as heard whe- 
 ther there was any Holy Ghost, xix. 1,2; whereas the 
 baptism of Christ, which was with water and the Spirit, 
 conferred the gifts of the Spirit from the very beginning. 
 
 " It is usually replied, that in the places where the baptism 
 of John is said to be with water only, it is not intended to 
 oppose the baptism of John to baptism with water and the 
 Spirit, but to distinguish between the part which Christ 
 acts in baptism, and that of the mere minister of the rite. 
 If,, however, this were true, the same distinction would be 
 
 * " Luke iii. 2, 3, vii. 29, 30. f Acts xix. 4, 5. 
 
 X " iMatt. iii. 11 ; John i. 33 j Acts i. 5, xix. 2. 
 
85 
 
 made with respect to other minis;er5 of baptism, the apos- 
 tles for instance, which is not the case ; on the contrary, it 
 is abundantly evident that the apostles baptized both with 
 water and the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " Considering, therefore, that the baptism of John either 
 did not confer the gifts of the Spirit at all, or not imme- 
 diately, it would appear to have been rather a kind of ini- 
 tiatory measure or purification, preparatory to receiving 
 the doctrine of the gospel, in conformity with the ancient 
 Hebrew custom, that all proselytes should be baptized, than 
 an absolute sealing of the covenant ; for this latter is the 
 province of the Spirit alone. 1 Cor. xii. 13. 
 
 *' Hence it appears that the baptism of Christ, ahhough 
 not indispensable, might, without impropriety, be super- 
 added to the baptism of John ; Acts xix. 5, ' When they 
 heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus ;' those, namely, who had already been baptized by 
 John, ver. 3. I have said, not indispensable, inasmuch as 
 the apostles, and many others, appear to have rested in the 
 baptism of John ; according to which analogy I should be 
 inclined to conclude, that those persons who have been 
 baptized while yet infants, and perhaps in other respects 
 irregularly, have no need of second baptism when arrived 
 at maturity ; indeed, I should be disposed to consider bap- 
 tism itself as necessary for proselytes alone, and not for 
 those born in the church, liad not the apostle taught that 
 baptism is not merely an initiatory rite, but a figurative re- 
 presentation of our death, burial, and resurrection, with 
 Christ. 
 
 " Previously to the promulgation of the Mosaic law, No- 
 ah's ark was the type of baptism : 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21, * While 
 the ark was a preparing, &c., the like figure whereunto 
 even baptism doth also now save us.' Under the law it 
 was typified by the cloud : 1 Cor. x. 2, * All our fathers 
 were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.' " 
 I 
 
86 
 
 In the succeeding part of the chapter, und(?r the head of 
 the Lord's Supper, Mihon makes some additional remarks 
 on the Sacraments generally, from which a few short pas- 
 sages may be extracted. " When it is said, John iii. 5, 
 * Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he 
 cannot enter the kingdom of God,' this must be under- 
 stood in a conditional sense, assuming that a fit opportunity 
 has been offered, and that it has not been lost through 
 neglect." P. 444. " The Sacraments are not to be ap- 
 proached without self-examination and renunciation of sin." 
 — " The neglect, or the improper celebration of the Sa- 
 craments, equally provokes the indignation of the Deity. — 
 Hence it is not only allowable, but necessary, to defer par- 
 taking in them, till such time as a proper place and season, 
 purity of heart and life, and a regular communion of be- 
 lievers, concur to warrant their celebration.'* P. 447. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Practical Observations in Refutation of some Miscel- 
 laneous Objections. 
 
 [I shall here present to my readers an article which has 
 been kindly furnished to me by a friend, on whose judg- 
 ment, accuracy, and consistency, I place the fullest reli- 
 ance. It will be considered, therefore, that I am entitled 
 to no credit for the excellent observations which follow, 
 any farther than as I am the medium through which they 
 are made public] 
 
 Obj, I have already so ^ns. This is justifying the 
 long professed myself, and omission by the omission, 
 been known as, a Christian, Had it been left for each in- 
 that the institution can have dividual to speculate upon the 
 
87 
 
 no application to me. applicability of the ordinance 
 
 to his own particular case, the 
 persons who most need its influence, would probably be 
 the foremost to evade its obligation. The practical wisdom, 
 therefore, of the Institutor, is exhibited in making the or- 
 dinance obligatory upon all. 
 
 That no man shall take advantage of his own wrong, is 
 as sound a maxim in morals as in law ; and though lateness 
 of compliance may deprive the ordinance of some of its 
 significancy, it will evince the individual's resolution, that 
 if he cannot do all he ought, he will do all he can. 
 
 This argument for continued disobedience from the 
 length of past neglect, can at most only furnish a personal 
 excuse. It admits the general obligation, and the indivi- 
 dual availing himself of it ought at least to avow himself a 
 Baptist in principle^ and do his best to save others from 
 bringing themselves into the same anomalous situation 
 with himself. But the taunt, " Physician heal thyself," 
 to which his efforts would be necessarily exposed, might 
 well excite in his mind some misgiving as to the validity oi 
 his own exemption. 
 
 Ohj. If I do not see it Ans, This plea, from the 
 my duty, my non-compli- mouth of a sincere inquirer, 
 ance will be innocent. who, after using all the means 
 
 of information within his 
 reach, may fail to perceive the obligation of the ordinance, 
 is respected by none more highly than by the Baptist. At 
 the same time, let it be kept in mind that the blind are 
 excused not because they do not see, but because they 
 cannot see, and that if there be any who shut their eyes in 
 order not to see, they do so at their peril, and must be 
 responsible for all they might have seen if they had kept 
 their eyes open. 
 
88 
 
 Ohj. Baptism is unim- ^ns. There must be de- 
 portant in comparison with grees of importance even 
 moral duty. among moral duties, and by 
 
 this rule we may discard every 
 duty that is not absolutely at the top of the scale. There is 
 a further fallacy in overlooking that a positive institution, if 
 enjoined by competent authority, is a moral duty, and a 
 wilful neglect of its known requirements an actual immo- 
 rality, 
 
 Ohj, If- I lead a good Ans. The same argument 
 life, my omission of bap- applied to each individual 
 tism cannot endanger my duty in succession, would in 
 salvation. the end get rid of all. A life 
 
 can only be good or bad, as 
 the preponderating character of the several acts or motives 
 of which it is made up may be virtuous or vicious : and 
 who can say but that in his own case the wilful neglect of the 
 ordinance in question may be the very circumstance to turn 
 the scale against him ? It is the last feather that breaks the 
 horse's back. What individual has such a redundancy of 
 goodness that he can afford thus to set his virtues and vices 
 in Debtor and Creditor array against each other, and to risk 
 his salvation on the difference } Seeing, besides, that 
 it is on the Divine mercy that our hopes must, after all, 
 depend, where is the prudence or gratitude of thus estimat- 
 ing to a fraction on how little we may be saved, and " con- 
 tinuing in sin that grace may abound" ? 
 
 But does not this pretext for continued neglect amount 
 to saying, " Though I saw it my duty, I would not comr 
 ply" } And, incredible as it may appear, such, to the 
 writer's knowledge, have been the expressions of indivi- 
 duals who would have been shocked to hear their Chris- 
 tianity questioned. To persons prepared to go this length. 
 
89 
 
 the simple answer is, that they are premature in discussing 
 the obligation of Christian baptism at all — since, so far 
 from being hound, they are not so much as qualified to 
 receive an ordinance, by which the believer avows himself 
 a disciple of Christ, and expresses his resolution to do 
 whatsoever he has commanded. 
 
 Ohj. It is a frivolous ex- Ans, Unless the objector's 
 ternal ceremony — a worn- a priori speculations on the 
 out superstition — a worth- moral character of the ordi- 
 less, uninteresting question, nance, inducing, if correct, 
 no more than a mere pre- 
 sumptive inference, are to nulhfy all the direct evidence, 
 not only which does exist, but also which may by possi- 
 bihty be conceived to exist, in support of the historical 
 fact, — the question still returns, Is it or not, a duty en- 
 joined on us ? If enjoined, what Christian shall apply 
 these opprobrious epithets ? If not enjoined, what Baptist 
 seeks to enforce its obligation ? 
 
 Ohj. It has no moral ^7i5. The grand fallacy per- 
 value or utility. vading more or less all the 
 
 foregoing objections is that 
 of representing the question as respecting only an outward 
 ceremony — a ritual observance. That any ceremony, sim- 
 ply as such, and without an ulterior object, can form part 
 of Christianity, none would be more loth to admit than 
 the intelhgent Baptist. It is, however, not a mere question 
 of water. The real question is, whether Christ has not 
 enjoined a specific act by which each individual, after the 
 free exercise of his own judgment, shall voluntarily and 
 unequivocally declare his conviction of the truth of the 
 Gospel, and his resolution to regulate his life by its pre- 
 cepts. It is on the reality of this conviction, on the sin- 
 cerity of this resolution, that the practical influence of reli« 
 i2 
 
90 
 
 gion upon individual conduct and character must mainly 
 depend — and those objects cannot be more effectually at- 
 tained than by an institution leading each individual to look 
 forward to a specific, unambiguous act, which shall defi- 
 nitively indicate that such conviction has been attained — 
 such resolution formed. It is in furnishing this specific 
 act — in embodying the right and duty of private judgment 
 — in giving time, place, and circumstance, to what would 
 otherwise be a mere mental operation, and but for such 
 external expression might never perhaps be performed at 
 all, that the obvious utiHty of Christian baptism consists. 
 
 To say, as some do, that the Lord's Supper may be 
 made to answer all these beneficial purposes, is admitting 
 the principle, and only differing about the mode. But a 
 particular mode having been prescribed by Christ, no 
 other can afford such a recognition of his authority as that 
 appropriated by himself, and to persist in substituting for 
 that mode another of our own selection, is not easily dis- 
 tinguishable from disobedience for disobedience* sake. 
 " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which 
 I say ?" 
 
 To the influence of baptism upon moral character a 
 stronger testimony could scarcely be offered than was in- 
 voluntarily rendered by an otherwise estimable individual, 
 who declared in conversation, that were he convinced of 
 the obligation, he would not be baptized, inasmuch as on 
 every subsequent impropriety of conduct, he should have 
 his baptism rising up in accusation against him. 
 
 Christianity is pre-eminently a religion of the under- 
 standing — and a more effectual preservative of its original 
 purity could scarcely have been devised, than an institu- 
 tion which provided that the grounds on which this religion 
 rests its claims on our acceptance, should be presented to 
 the deliberate judgment of every individual seeking to bear 
 its name. But " an infant asks no questions :" hence 
 
91 
 
 the previous degradation of baptism from its original intel- 
 lectual character, and its perversion into an engine of men- 
 tal slavery,* were indispensably necessary to make way for 
 ecclesiastical usurpation, and all the consequent corrup- 
 tions of Christian truth. 
 
 Were the baptismal institution correctly understood and 
 generally acted on, its waters would become the Rubicon 
 of Christianity. Many who now, for want of a specific 
 motive to quicken or induce decision, remain timid and ir- 
 resolute, or oscillate betwixt nominal belief and practical 
 doubt, must, in such a case, abandon their present ambi- 
 guous position. Christianity would acquire strength, not 
 only by its purification from those merely born and bred 
 Christians, whose nominal adherence adds only weakness — 
 not only by the conversion into intelligent, consistent be- 
 lievers of those whose desultory inquiries now leave them 
 half-convinced and half-resolved — but also by the increased 
 decision of character and consequent advance in knowledge 
 and virtue of all its real professors. All, too, who should 
 have thus deliberately and intrepidly asserted in their own 
 case the right of private judgment, would, in so doing, have 
 pledged themselves to the most uncompromising hostility 
 to human creeds, and every usurpation of authority, from 
 whatever quarter, over liberty of conscience. 
 
 * Witness the followiHg in our National Catechism : 
 
 Quest. Dost thou not think that thou art bo?jn(l to believe and 
 to do, as they [the godfather and godmother] have promised for 
 thee ? 
 
 ^m. Yes, verily j and by God's help, so I will. 
 # * * » 
 
 Quest. Why then are infants baptized, when by reason of their 
 tender age they cannot perform them [i. e. repentance and 
 faith, the conditions] ? 
 
 y^ns. Because they promise them both, by their sureties : 
 which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to 
 perform. 
 
92 
 
 Postscript. 
 
 The following particulars may be deemed by some of 
 the readers of this volume as important, although a suita- 
 ble place for the introduction of them has not before been 
 presented. 
 
 Dr. Priestley did not believe that baptism was a substi- 
 tute for circumcision. TVorks, by Rutt, XX. pp. 470, 
 526. 
 
 Mr. Belsham granted that " the New Testament con- 
 tains no express testimony for infant baptism, and exhibits 
 no example of the practice." — Plea for Infant Baptism, 
 p. 51. 
 
 The learned Catholics grant that the baptism of babes, 
 as well as the doctrine of Trinity-in-Unity, cannot be 
 proved from the Scriptures alone. See the authorities 
 cited in a valuable paper in the Christian Moderator, and 
 the Last Sentiments of the learned Dr. Courayer (1787), 
 pp. 68,71. 
 
 The Polish Unitarians, in the sixteenth century, were, in 
 general. Baptists. See a very interesting account of their 
 sentiments on this head in Dr. Rees' Racovian Catechism^ 
 pp. 253, &c. 
 
 " The Reformation was introduced into Transylvania by 
 Unitarian Baptists." — Robinson's Eccksiast. Researches, 
 p. 630. 
 
 Wegscheider (ranked by Dr. Parr among learned Uni- 
 tarians) has written sensibly on the subject of Christian 
 Baptism, and in favour of its perpetuity, though his reason 
 dissents from the application of baptism, believers' baptism, 
 to babes. — Institutiones Theological, Halse, 1819, p. 409. 
 
 Many, if not all, of the first English Unitarians were 
 Baptists. Of these, Joan Boucher, a lady of Kent, suffered 
 death for her religious opinions, at Aldington, near Hythe, 
 
93 
 
 A. D. 1549 ; and Edward Wightman, the last English 
 Martyr, was burnt at Litchfield, April 11, 1612. 
 
 It has not come within the scope or limits of this volume 
 to enter upon the argument from ecclesiastical history. But 
 It would be important for those who wish to make that 
 part of the argument their study, to consider, in corrobora- 
 tion of the fact mentioned in Appendix I., that tiie Greek 
 word Ttai;, which enters into combination in Pcedobap" 
 ti-st, was applicable to a young person even of seventeen 
 years of age. See Xenophon's Cyropcedia. Its usage 
 is very similar to that of puer among the Romans. The 
 diminutive itaihiov is applied in the Gospel (Mark v. 39, 
 40), to a girl of twelve years of age. 
 
 See Robinson's very learned and interesting History 
 of Baptism, 1790, and his Ecclesiastical Researches, 1792. 
 
 Tertullian was regarded by Mr. Belsham [Plea for 
 Infant Baptism, p. 16) as furnishing decisive evidence in 
 favour of infant baptism, being in his time, viz. the end of 
 the second and the beginning of the third century, " a ge- 
 neral or rather a universal practice." But there is an im- 
 portant word used by Tertullian, which I cannot but sup- 
 pose that Mr. Belsham did not sufficiently take into ac- 
 count. The following is Mr. Belsham's own translation 
 [Plea, p. 14) : " Therefore, according to every one's con- 
 dition, and disposition, and also age, the delaying of bap- 
 tism is more profitable, especially (praecipu^) in the case of 
 little children." Here it is to be observed that the baptism 
 of children is only one of the cases. What were the 
 others ? 
 
 For a particular examination of the~ several objections to 
 the Perpetuity of Baptism, I would refer to Dr. Gale's 
 Sermous, Vol. II. No. 5—11. 
 
 The Four Lectures at Worship Street, in the year 1826, 
 and Mr. Marsom's Answer to Mr. Wright, it cannot be 
 necessary for me to specify or recommend. 
 
94 
 
 See a valuable paper, entitled " Metaphorical Baptism 
 Disproved," prefixed to the Monthly Repository for Nov. 
 1826; also, an interesting, and to me quite satisfactory, 
 letter, in favour of the perpetuity of the baptismal ordi- 
 nance, by Dr. Doddridge, in his recently published Let- 
 ters, &c., Vol. II. pp. 342—349. 
 
 The objection of Emlyn has been left unnoticed in this 
 volume for the reason given by honest Whiston in the fol- 
 lowing extract : 
 
 " As to my great friend Mr. Emlyri's Previous Ques- 
 tions about baptism, it is written with great acuteness ad 
 hominem, as we say, but seems to me destitute of all real 
 foundation ; the authority of the Talmud, and the modern 
 Rabbins, no way deserving any regard, when they not only 
 are unsupported, but contradicted by all other genuine 
 evidence. Nor do I believe any such baptism of prose- 
 lytes till John the Baptist." See a Letter to Mr. John 
 Depee, near Coslany Bridge, Norwich, x\pril 20, 1738, in 
 Whiston's Memoirs, Vol. I. 
 
(95 ) 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Baptism, 27 — of divineap- 
 poiiitment, 55 — admi- 
 nistered by John, 29 — 
 submitted to by Jesus, 
 30 — a confession of 
 faith, 39, 61— alluded 
 to in the conversation 
 with Nicodemus, 33, 
 55 — promoted by Christ, 
 
 33 commanded by 
 
 Christ, 36— included by 
 himin his religion, 57 — 
 commanded by Peter, 
 37,39— submitted to by 
 3000 believers, 37— of 
 the Samaritan believers, 
 ib. — of Simon Magus, 
 38 — in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus, ib., and see 
 the Acts— of tlie Ethi- 
 opian officer, ib. — of 
 Paul, 39 — of Cornelius, 
 ib.—ot' Lydia, 40 — of 
 the jailor at Philippi, ib. 
 — of the Corinthians, ib. 
 — of the twelve disciples 
 at Ephesus, 41 — result 
 of conviction, 43 — often 
 alluded to in the Epis- 
 tles, 65, &c. — manner 
 of, 44, 67, 68 — immer- 
 sion, 44, 67y 68, 82— 
 of perpetual obligation 
 on believers, 45, 46 — 
 value of, 49—53, 71— 
 75, fe6— 91— time of its 
 observance, 48, 63, 70, 
 71 — miscellaneous ob- 
 jections to, answered, 
 
 ' 86—91 
 
 Baptismal commission, ge- 
 
 
 nuineness of, 
 
 56 
 
 Barclay, {note,) 
 
 64 
 
 Belsham, 65, 92, 
 
 93 
 
 Cornelius, his conversion 
 
 
 and baptism, 
 
 39 
 
 Christiau Reformer, 
 
 64 
 
 Catholics, 
 
 92 
 
 Courayer, 
 
 ib. 
 
 Doddridge, 
 
 94 
 
 Emlyn, 
 
 ib. 
 
 Epistles, frequent allusion 
 to baptism in the, 65, &c. 
 
 Evans, Dr., his Life of 
 Richards, 68 
 
 Fonts in churches, 45 
 
 Foster, Dr. James, 54, 71 
 
 Gentile believers were bap- 
 tized, 58, &c. 
 Grotius, 67 
 
 Hindooism, 8 
 
 Idolatry, 9 
 
 Infant baptism, a relic of 
 Popery, 92 — an engine 
 of slavery, 90, 91 
 
 Infants, ambiguity of the 
 original term, 70, 71 
 
 Jesus baptized, John iii. 
 22, 26, 56— not in per- 
 son, 33, 56 — commanded 
 his apostles to baptize, 36 
 
 Locke on the Epistles, 1 
 
96 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Legal preacliing, 
 Lord's Supper, 
 
 11 
 
 28, 86, 90 
 
 Methodism, 6 
 
 Mahometanism, 8 
 
 Moral duties, 21 
 
 Miltou, on Baptism, 75 — 86 
 refutes from Scripture 
 the practice of baptizing 
 ^ babes, 76, &c. 
 
 Marsora on Baptism, 75 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, in fa- 
 vour of believers' baptism, 71 
 
 Positive institutions, 21, 
 
 27, 54, 55 
 Philip baptized, 38 
 
 Paul's conversion and bap- 
 tism, 39 
 Paul baptized, 42, 63, 64 
 Peter's allusion to bap- 
 tism, 43, and see Baptism. 
 Pearce (Bishop) quoted, 65 
 Priestley (Dr.), 21, 54, 92 
 Polish Unitarians Baptists, ib. 
 na^, 93 
 na*S/ov, ib. 
 
 Rees', Dr., Racovian Ca- 
 
 
 techism, 
 
 92 
 
 Regeneration, 
 
 82 
 
 Righteousness, 19, 
 
 20 
 
 Richards, Dr., 
 
 68 
 
 Robinson's, R., Ecclesias- 
 
 
 tical Researches, and 
 
 
 History of Baptism, 92, 
 
 93 
 
 Sacrifices, 2 
 
 Superstition, 25 
 Sumner, Bishop, 75, 
 
 (note,) 76 
 
 Thirty-nine Articles, 1 1 
 
 Toulmin on Baptism, 61, &c. 
 
 Tertullian, 64, 93 
 
 Transylvania, 92 
 
 Unitarian Baptists, 92 
 
 Wilberforce, 7 
 
 Westminster Confession, 1 1 
 
 Worship of God, 27 
 
 Wright on Baptism, 58, 59, 63 
 
 Wakefield, 67 
 
 Whitby, ib. 
 
 Wall, ■ ib. 
 
 Reason in religion , 
 
 14 
 
 Whiston, 
 Wegscheider, 
 
 70, 94 
 92 
 
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