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 OilNIONS AND EVIDENCE? 
 
 OS THE 
 
 MODE, SUBJECTS, AND HISTORY 
 
 or 
 
 baptism : 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 OBSERVATIONS AND INFERENCES. 
 
 ADDRESSED TO BAPTISTS AND F2EOOBAPTJ8TS. 
 
 Bv THOMAS WESTLAKE. 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION, MUCH ENLARGED. 
 
 SonDon : 
 
 SOLD BY W. BUTTON, PATERNOSTER-ROW, 
 
 ALSO BY P. STREET, 10, FH<ENIX ; COURT, WEST-STREET^ 
 WEST SMITHFIELD : D A V I ES A N D ELDRIDGE, GANDY's- 
 STREET, AND GRES6WELL, NORTH-STREET, EXETER; 
 JAMES, BRISTOL ; AND PASSMORE, TRURO. 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/generalviewofopiOOwest 
 
A 
 
 GENERAL VIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 OPINIONS AND EVIDENCE 
 
 OX THE 
 
 MODE, SUBJECTS, 2ND HISTORY, 
 
 Toaptisim, etc. 
 
Printed by J Gressicell y 
 87, Nortk'Street, Exeter. 
 
A 
 
 GENERAL VIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 OPINIONS AND EVIDENCE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 MODE, SUBJECTS, AND HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 baptism : 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 OBSERVATIONS AND INFERENCES. 
 ADDRESSED TO BAPTISTS AND PJEDORAPTISTS. 
 
 By THOMAS WESTLAKE 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION, MUCH ENLARGED. 
 
 God is not pleased with any thing in worship which is not 
 his own. That which pleases God, must come from God.; 
 what he appoints that he approves, and nothing else. 
 
 Greenhill on IVill-lVorship. 
 
 SontJon ; 
 
 SOLD BY W. BUTTON, PATERNOSTER-ROW, 
 
 ALSO BY P. STREET, 1U, PHCENIX- COURT, WEST-STREET, 
 WEST PMITHFIELD ! NAVIES AND ELIJRIDGK, GANDY'g- 
 STREET, AND GRESSWELL, NORTH-STREET, EXETER; 
 JAMES, BRISTOL; AND PASSMORE, TRURO. 
 

\ 
 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 
 This Treatise is designed for the use of 
 such persons as may not have either lei- 
 sure to turn over huge volumes of church 
 history, or inclination to follow polemic 
 writers through the dark maze of contro- 
 versy. Those who wish farther to pursue 
 the subject, will be amply gratified in 
 the perusal of the various authors referred 
 to in this publication. 
 
 A peedobaptist lately asserted, in a con- 
 versation with the author, ' That baptism 
 is an indifferent thins : a mere trifle— 
 That sprinkling is baptizing— That bap- 
 tism came in the room of circumcision 
 -•-That there is as good a warrant in the 
 Bible for sprinkling infants, as there is 
 for admitting women to the Lord's table 
 —That all the martyrs were paedobap- 
 tists — and, That there were no baptists 
 
IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 in the world till they sprang up in 
 Germany, a few years since/ These as- 
 sertions, with many others of a similar 
 import, and the appearance, about that 
 time, of several pamphlets on the same 
 side of the question, occasioned this plain 
 Defence of Scriptural Baptism. 
 
 As the Author has nothing but truth 
 for his object, so his own conscience, the 
 concessions of learned paedobaptists, an- 
 cient history, and the Bible itself, all 
 concur in bearing him testimony that he 
 has nothing but truth for his subject. 
 
 * Great is Truth, and it must prevail. 1 
 
 Bartholomew -Yard, Exeter, 
 January 1st, 1814. 
 
RECOMMENDATION. 
 
 . . . 
 
 
 We think this small Publication to he very 
 interesting, and to afford a larger portion of 
 information than could be met with in many 
 larger volumes. We therefore readily recom- 
 mend it to the serious perusal of sincere enqui- 
 rers into the nature and design of the First 
 Ordinance of Christianity, whether they are at 
 present called Baptists or Pcedobaptists* 
 
 Isaiah Birt, 
 
 John Cherry, 
 
 T. C. Edmonds, m. a, 
 
 S. KlLPIN, 
 
 Henry Page, m. 4, 
 John Rtppon, d* d. 
 Thomas Roberts, 
 John Ryland, d. d. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Baptism is a positive Duty page 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 On the meaning of the words Baptize and Bap- 
 tism , , p. II 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Design of Baptism ; or, the Blessings repre- 
 sented by it p. -27 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 
 The Design of Baptism more fully expressed by 
 Immersion, than by Sprinkling p, '3 I 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Practice of John the Baptist, of the Apostle*, 
 and of the Church in succeeding ages, in rcganL 
 to the manner of administering the ordinance of 
 Baptism p, 3-Z 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 Reasons, Rise, and Prevalence of Sprinkling instead 
 of Immersion , , p. 43 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 A either Precept, nor Example, for Infant-baptism, 
 in the Neiv Testament p, 4S 
 
 CHAPTER VIII, 
 
 JVo Evidence of Infant- baptism before the beginning 
 of the third century . , . ...;>. 51 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Rise and Grounds of Infant baptism . . , p. 59 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The most popular Arguments in favour of Infant* 
 sprinkling, briefly considered p. lit) 
 
i 
 
 A 
 
 TREATISE !^ r >^ 
 
 TSaptigm. 
 
 chapter r. 
 
 Baptism is a Positive Dull/* 
 
 ^VTORAL duties arise from the naftire of things ; 
 they are discoverable, in some respects, by the 
 light of reason ; and they are universally and 
 immutably binding. Such, for instance, is the 
 great duty of love to God. This was the duty 
 of Adam before he fell ; it is incumbent upon us 
 in our state of depravity ; and it will be for ever 
 obligatory on all intelligent beings. This duty, 
 which arises from the filness there is in things, 
 approves itself to every enlightened mind ; and 
 the obligation to the discharge of it can never be 
 superceded. But the duty of baptism does not 
 necessarily arise from the nature of things — rea- 
 son, in its most perfect state, could not discover 
 its propriety ; — it is not incumbent upon all men ;. 
 and there was a time when it was not binding upon 
 any, because it was not then instituted. It i^ 
 
 B 
 
S Baptism is a Positive Duty. 
 
 from the sovereign will of (be great Head of tlie 
 Church, that baptism derives all Us authority ; 
 
 and this sovereign will is expressed in positive 
 commands. Were it not, we could not possibly 
 be acquainted with it ; for that which solely de- 
 pends on the good pleasure of His will, cannot 
 be known unless revealed. That which is duly, 
 merely because the supreme Legislator requires 
 it, must be commanded. — Christ has commanded 
 his ministers to preach the gospel to mankind at 
 large, and to baptize those who believe. in his 
 name : and yet some of our opposcrs say, That, 
 ns baptism is not a moral duly, it is only an in- 
 ditferent thing — a mere trifle. Such assertions 
 are awfully profane. To suppose it an indifferent 
 thing, is to degrade the Author of it, the Lord of 
 glory, as an indifferent person. If baptism be a 
 trifle , the blessed Jesus who observed and enjoined 
 it is a trifler. All duties derive their importance 
 from the authority and dignity of him who ap- 
 pointed them. To diminish the importance of a 
 duty, is, so far, to degrade him who made it a 
 duty. If the least command of parents, or mas- 
 ters of families be treated with indifference, the 
 slight terminates on the parents or masters them- 
 selves. — Let such professors seriously reflect on 
 what took place when our Lord was baptized in 
 Jordan. — Head the passage. — c And Jesus, when 
 lie was baptized, went up straightway out of the 
 water : and lo ! the heavens were opened unto 
 him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending 
 like a dove, and lighting upon him. And lo ! a 
 voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved 
 SoiJj in whom 1 am well pleased.' — Here was 
 
 J 
 
Baptism is a Positive Duty. 9 
 
 Jesus Christ the Son of God in our nature bap- 
 tized. Here was the Holy Spirit by a visible 
 symbol descending on him : and a voice from 
 heaven was heard, saying, This is ray beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased. — Was there 
 ever a more solemn transaction ? Must it not be 
 the height of impiety to treat it with contempt ? 
 Thus did not the ancient christians : they used 
 to say, ' Go to Jordan and there learn the doc- 
 trine of the Trinity.' But we not only learn the 
 doctrine of the Trinity in this ordinance ; but we 
 Lave in it also a standing memorial not only of the 
 overwhelming sufferings, but of the death, bu- 
 rial, and resurrection of the blessed Redeemer. 
 And shall any of the Lord's own called people 
 treat this sacred institution as an indifferent thing ! 
 ■ — as a mere trifle ! God forbid. 
 
 A certain preacher lately declared, That for 
 the sake of usefulness he would not join the bap- 
 tists, even if he knew they were right. What is 
 this but saying, I will continue to do what my 
 conscience tells me is wroug, in order to be use' 
 fid ? Or in other words ; c 1 will do evil, that 
 good may come ! ' 
 
 Others have said (in the presence of the author) 
 That it would be a sin in them to be baptized. 
 Why ? Because they have (as they say) been 
 baptized with, or have received the Holy Ghost. 
 The Apostle Peter thought otherwise : ' Can 
 any man' (says he) 9. forbid water, that these should 
 not be baptized, which have received the Holy 
 Ghost, as well as we ? And he commanded them to 
 be baptized in the name of the Lord :' Acts x. 4 7. 
 The venerable John Wicklift* was, in this iu- 
 
10 Baptism is a Positive Duty. 
 
 stance, of the same opinion with the Apostle 
 Peter : ' Persons' (says he) l are first to be bapi ized 
 in the !)lood of Christ, before they are baptized 
 in water ; without which, their baptism in wafer 
 profits not. — Believers, after the example of 
 Christ, should be baptized in pure water. — It is 
 not lawful for believers, though they have receiv- 
 ed the baptism of the Spirit, to omit the baptism 
 of water: but that as opportunity and circum- 
 stances may concur, it is necessary to receive it.' 
 Dancers on Bap. p. 283. (a) 
 
 But behold ! a greater than WicMif- — a greater 
 than Peter is here. The Son of God himself, 
 •who partook of the Spirit without measure, con- 
 descends to submit to this his own institution. — 
 How strange is the conduct of some of our oppo- 
 sers, relative to this subject ! They will plead th^, 
 cause of infant-sprinkling, with great ardor, as if 
 it were a matter of the utmost importance: but 
 when they are foiled, their tone is immediately- 
 changed : they then tell us, ' That they have 
 received the Spirit, and that baptism is only an 
 indifferent thinsr, a mere trifle ! ' They would 
 do well, we think, to remember, that baptism is 
 enjoined by the same authority, by which other 
 duties are enjoined. It is therefore, in this respect, 
 of equal importance with all other duties. The 
 same divine Oracle that says, 4 Pray without 
 ceasing — Do this in remembrance of me,' says 
 also, ; Repent and be baptized — Arise and be 
 
 (a) Mr. Danvers, anil the various otlier author* men- 
 tioned iu this Treatise, have produced ample authorities foi 
 all the Historic Sketches here cited 3 to whoui; for brevity's 
 ■ake, the reader is referred. 
 
Meaning; of the Word Baptize , $e. 1 1 
 
 baptized.' The great Head of the Church is still 
 saying to all those who slight any of his com- 
 mands, c Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do 
 not the things which I say : — Ye are my friends, 
 if ye do whatsoever I command you — If ye lovo 
 me, keep my commandments.' Surely if our 
 adorable Lord be worthy of regard in any thing, 
 he ought to be regarded in every thing. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 On the meaning of the words Baptize and 
 Baptism. 
 
 IROBINSON : < Whether John the Baptist 
 and the Apostles of our blessed Lord baptized by 
 pouring on water, or by bathing in water, is to 
 be determined chiefly, though not wholly, by 
 ascertaining the precise meaning of the word bap- 
 tize. A linguist determines himself by his own 
 knowledge of the greek language, and an illite- 
 rate man by the best evidence he can obtain from 
 the testimony of others. To the latter it is suffi- 
 cient to observe, that the word is confessedly 
 greek, that native Greeks must understand their 
 own language better than foreigners, and that 
 they have always understood the word baptism 
 to signify dipping ; and therefore from their first' 
 embracing of Christianity to this day they have 
 always baptized by immersion. This is an au- 
 
12 Meaning of the Word Baptize, &c. 
 
 Ihorify for the meaning of the word baptize infi- 
 nitely preferable to that of European lexicogra- 
 phers ; so that a man who is obliged to trust 
 human testimony, and who baptizes by immersion 
 because the Greeks do, understands a greek word 
 exactly as the Greeks themselves understand it ; 
 and in this case the Greeks are unexceptionable 
 guides, and their practice is, in this instance, safe 
 ground of action.' Hist, of Bap. p. 5. 
 
 6 Greatly as the Greeks were divided in specu- 
 lative opinions, and numerous as the congrega- 
 tions were, which dissented from the established 
 church, it is remarkable, and may serve to con- 
 firm the meaning of the word baptize, that there 
 is not the shadow of a dispute in all their history 
 in favour of sprinkling. Because they were 
 Greeks, they all thought to baptize was to baptize, 
 that is, (o dip was to dip. — The bulk of the dis- 
 senters among them, have always baptized by im- 
 mersion, and never baptized any but on their own 
 profession of faith.' Researches, p. 92. 
 
 6 Baptize is a dyer's word, and signifies to dip, 
 so as to colour. Mohammed, in the Coran, calls 
 baptism, divine dj/ing* or the tinging of God. 
 A celebrated orientalist says, Mohammed made 
 use of this compound term for baptism, because 
 in his time christians administered baptism as 
 dyers tinge by immersion, and not as now (in the 
 west) by aspersion.' Hist, of Bap. p. 6. 
 
 German Testament, Mittt. iii. 1. : In those 
 days came Jjoljanncs tier ZmUx (John the Dip- 
 per). — The same text in DcTcn : In those days 
 came $of)anncs tic Boopcr (John the Dipper). 
 
 Danish Catechism : Q. What is Christian 
 
Meaning of the Word Baptize, &c. 13 
 
 dipping ? A. Water in conjunction with the 
 Word, and command of Christ. Q. What is 
 implied in the command, Matt, xxviii. 19. Mark 
 xvi. 15, 16. ? A, A command to the clipper 
 and the dipped, -with a promise of salvation to 
 those who believe. Q. How is this christian 
 dipping to be administered ? A. The person 
 must be deep dipped in water, or overwhelmed 
 with it in the name of God the Father, &c'.' Tke 
 above teas translated by a gentleman zcell versed 
 in the Danish language. 
 
 The Syrians, the Armenians, the Persians, and. 
 all eastern christians have understood the greek 
 word baptism to signify dipping, and agreeably 
 to their own versions, they all, and always, ad- 
 minister baptism by immersion. 
 
 C. Bulkley : c As to the formal and exact 
 nature of the action or outward solemnity itself, 
 it plainly appears to consist in immersing or 
 plunging the whole body under water. This as it 
 stands opposed both to sprinkling and pouring 
 according to all the observations that I have had 
 an opportunity of making, appears to be the pro- 
 per and distinct, the constant and invariable, 
 meaning of the word in its original greek. 7 OEcon. 
 of the Gos. p. 481. 
 
 Zanchy : c Baptism is a greek word, and 
 properly signifies immersion into the water ; — 
 by baptism we are buried together — with Christ. 7 
 KatchbulVsAnnot. p. 301, 303. 
 
 Dr. Ash : ' Baptism (in divinity) ; An im- 
 mersion in water, a washing by immersion. — 
 Baptize ; To dip, to plunge, to overwhelm/ 
 Diet. 
 
14 Meaning of the Word Baptize, <$r. 
 
 Bossuet : i To baptize signifies to plunge, 
 as is granted by all the world.'* 
 
 Salma.sius : * Baptism, is immersion; and 
 was administered in ancient times, according to 
 the force and meaning of the word. Now it is 
 only rhantism, or sprinkling : not immersion, or 
 dipping.'* 
 
 II. Clignetus : c Baptism is so called from 
 immersion or plunging into ; because in the pri- 
 mitive times those that were baptized were en- 
 tirely immersed in water.' * 
 
 Stapfertjs : c By baptism we understand 
 that rite of the New Testament church, com- 
 manded by Christ, in which believers, by being 
 immersed in water, testify their communion with 
 the church.'* 
 
 Diodati : c Baptized ; viz. plunged in water 
 — In baptism, being dipped in water according 
 to the ancient ceremony, it is a sacred figure unto 
 lis, that sin ought to be drowned in us by God's 
 Spirit.' * 
 
 Sel-den : i In England, of late years, I ever 
 thought the parson baptized his own fingers, ra- 
 ther than the child.' * 
 
 Zepperus : l If we consider the proper 
 meaning of the term, the word baptism signifies 
 plunging into water, or the very act of dipping or 
 washing. It appears therefore, from the very 
 signification and etymology of the term, which 
 was the custom of administering baptism in the 
 beginning ; whereas we now, for baptism, rather 
 Lave rhantism, or sprinkling.'* 
 
 Pool's Continuators : ' To be baptized, 
 is to be dipped in water ; metaphorically, to be 
 plunged in affliction.' * 
 
Meaning of the Word Baptize , &rc. 15 
 
 Witsius : • It cannot be denied, that the na- 
 tive signification of tlie word baptize is to plunge, 
 or to dip.' * 
 
 Bailey : c Baptism, in strictness of speech, 
 is that kind of — washing which consists in dip- 
 ping ; and when applied to the christian institu- 
 tion so called, it was used by the primitive chris- 
 tians in no other sense than that of dipping ; as 
 the learned Grotiusand Casaubon well observe.'* 
 
 Venema : i The word to baptize, is nowhere 
 used in the scripture for sprinkling.' * 
 
 G. Whitehead : ' Sprinkling infants, I deny 
 to be baptism, either in a proper or scriptural 
 sense. For sprinkling is rhantism, and not bap- 
 tism, 'i 
 
 T. Lawson : c Such as sprinkle infants, have 
 no command from Christ, nor example among 
 the Apostles, nor the first primitive christians, 
 for so doing — The ceremony of John's ministra- 
 tion, according to divine institution, was by dip- 
 ping, plunging or overwhelming their bodies in 
 water ; as Scapula and Stevens, two great mas- 
 ters in the greek tongue, testify — As for sprink- 
 ling, the Greeks call it rhantismos, which I Tender 
 rhantism : for tis as proper to call sprinkling 
 rhantism, as to call dipping baptism. This lin- 
 guists cannot be ignorant of, that dipping and 
 sprinkling are expressed by several words, both 
 in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. 'Tis very evident, 
 if sprinkling had been of divine institution, the 
 Greeks had their rhantismos ; but as dipping was 
 the institution, they used baptismos; so main- 
 tained the purity and propriety of the language. 
 —To sprinkle young or oid ; and call it baptism, 
 
16 ]\Feaai/?g of the Word Baptize, tyc. 
 
 is very incongruous ; yea as improper as to call 
 a horse a cow : for baptism signifies dipping. 
 However, rhantism bath entered into, and aruong, 
 the professors of Christianity ; and to gain the 
 more acceptance 'tis called baptism. 1 i • Pcedo- 
 baptists, — \ Quakers, as quoted by Mr, Booth, 
 in Pcedobap. Exam. 
 
 Mr. Leigh : ' The native and prop rr signifi- 
 cation of it [the term baptizo~\ is, to dip into wa- 
 ter ; or, to plunge under water. — Figuratively, to 
 plunge into great afflictions.' Crit. Saera. p. 77* 
 
 Joseph us (who like the Apostles was a Jew, 
 and wrote in the greek language) uses the word 
 baptized, or baptizing, when he speaks of a per- 
 son or thing as dipped, plunged, or overwhelmed. 
 He uses it twice concerning the death of Aristo- 
 bulus, the brother of Mariamne, who was drown- 
 ed by Herod's order at Jericho, by certain 
 Greeks, who enticed him into the water to swim, 
 and then under pretence of play, ' Baptizing, 
 (or putting him under water) they did not leave 
 off, till they had quite suffocated him.' Jfudso?? , s 
 Josephus, vol. i. p. 666. — He mentions the same 
 Event in his Wars of the Jews, Book i. Chap. 22. 
 c The young man was sent to Jericho, and there, 
 according to his (Herod's) order, being baptized 
 (or immersed) in a fish-pond, he died.' vol, ii. 
 p. 1012 — In his Life, Josephus speaking of his 
 own voyage to Rome, and his providential deli- 
 verance when shipwrecked, says, c Our ship 
 being baptized (or sunk) in the midst of the Adri- 
 atic Gulph, we, being about the number of 600 
 persons, swam all night, and at day break, I and 
 some others, to the number of 80, were taken up 
 
Meaning of the Word Baptize, Sec. 17 
 
 by another ship.' vol. ii. p. 905. — He also says, 
 (in his Antiquities, 1. ix. ex.) of the ship in 
 -which Jonah attempted to fiee from the presence 
 of the Lord, ; The ship was about to be baptized,' 
 that is, to be sunk or overwhelmed. § 2. Hud- 
 so??\ edit. vol. i. p. 419. See the late venerable 
 J. Ili/land's Six views of Bap, p. 23. 
 
 Homer (the grech poet) says, 'When a smith 
 hardens a hatchet or pole-axe he baptizes them 
 in cold water.' In Gale^s Rejf. on Walts Hist, 
 p. 96. It is well known that when a smith hardens 
 a tool, made of iron or steel, he dips it, red-hot, 
 into cold water. 
 
 Dr. Campbell : 'The word Baptize, both 
 in sacred authors, and in classical; signifies to dip, 
 to plunge, to immerse, and was rendered by Ter- 
 tiillian, the oldest of the Latin Fathers, tingere, 
 the term used for dying cloth, which was by 
 immersion. Jt is always construed suitably to 
 this meaning.' Note on Matt. iii. 11. 
 
 Mr. Porson (professor of greek in the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge) says, < It is absurd to 
 imagine baptizo has any other proper meaning 
 than to dip entirely, or plunge, or immerse.' In 
 Dorc's Serm. on Bap* p. 12. 
 
 Bezor : i Christ commands us to be baptized : 
 by which it is eertain immersion is signified. — 
 To be baptized in water signifies no other than to 
 be immersed in water.' In Pordobap. Exam. 
 
 Dr. Ciieyne : ' I cannot forbear recommend- 
 ing cold -bathing, and 1 cannot sufficiently admire 
 how it should ever have come into such disuse, 
 especially among Christians, when commanded 
 by the greatest Lawgiver that ever was, under 
 
18 Meaning of the Word Baptize, &c. 
 
 the direction of God's Holy Spirit, and perpetu- 
 ated to us in the immersion at baptism, by the 
 same Spirit ; who with infinite wisdom in this, 
 as in every thing else that regards the temporal 
 and eternal felicity of his crealures, combines 
 their duty with their happiness.' Essay on 
 Health, p. 100. 
 
 * The antiquity of baptism by immersion is 
 fixed upon too firm a basis to be removed, as 
 may be shewn from the consent and testimony of 
 the most approved ancient and modern writers.' 
 Hist. ofRclig. vol. 4= p. 194. 
 
 Of the Places where Baptism was wont to 
 be administered. 
 
 John baptized in the river Jordan : Matt. iii. 6. 
 Do persons use to sprinkle others in a river? 
 Would a man appear wise who went into a river 
 to sprinkle another? Can we think that John 
 would act so incorrectly ? But if he immersed 
 the people, all is clear, wise, and natural. — Our 
 adorable Redeemer was baptized in the same 
 famous river: Matt. iii. 13 — 17. Would he be 
 sprinkled in a river ? If he were immersed, a 
 river was quite convenient, and proper for the 
 purpose. But if he were sprinkled, we should 
 think it would have been performed in any place, 
 in a parlour, a kitchen, a synagogue, the temple, 
 any where, rather than in a river. Common sense, 
 and all history will confirm this. Can any man 
 produce an instance from history, of people going 
 into a river to be sprinkled ? Then let it be done, 
 that we may consider it. We know that John 
 
Meaning of the JVord Baptize, $c. 19 
 
 "was baptizing- in Enon — because the.re was much 
 zcater there, John iii. 23. Observe the reason ; 
 because there was much water there. Is this 
 reason satisfactory if he sprinkled the people ? 
 Would that require much water? Would not one 
 small rivulet be sufficient ? But the reason is a 
 good one, if he immersed the people. He then 
 wanted much water. There was much water at 
 Enon, and therefore he baptized at that place.(b) 
 As Philip and the Eunuch went on their way, they 
 came to a certain water; — And he commanded 
 the chariot to stand still ; and they went both 
 down into the water; both Philip and the Eu- 
 nuch ; and he baptized him. And when they 
 were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the 
 Lord caught away Philip. Acts via. 26 — 39. 
 Here a plain reader will ask as before, Why did 
 they both go down into the water ? Was it pru- 
 dent if the Eunuch was only sprinkled ? Would 
 two wise men go into a water for such a purpose ? 
 If sprinkling were baptism, would not Philip 
 have sprinkled the Eunuch ? And can we sup- 
 pose that, in these circumstances, Philip would 
 have gone into the water to have done this ? (c) 
 
 (b) Some piedobaplists observe, tbat this passage sbould 
 be translated ' Many Waters j 1 that is, say tbey, many purling 
 rills. Many Waters is, no doubt, a literal translation of tbe 
 original words; and tbey are thus rendered with great beauty 
 in Rev xix.6 * I heard as it were tbe voice of a great mul- 
 titude, and as the voice of many waters, and as tbe voice of 
 mighty thunderiugs, &c.' But if these many waters were 
 merely little tinkling streatns, and not the rushing of a mighty 
 confluence of waters, what a preposterous association in 
 this comparison! and what ridiculous introduction of them 
 in company with the voice of a great multitude and the tre- 
 mendous roar of the artilleiy of heaven. 
 
 («•) Bokchakdvs ; From Hebron, six miles northward. 
 
20 Meaning of the Word Baptize, £ . 
 
 Mr. Chambers, when describing a baptist- 
 
 try, says, ' It is a place or edi/ice where wafer is 
 preserved for persons io be baptized in. Ancient- 
 ly, in the churches, which baptized by immersion^ 
 the baptistery was a kind of pond where the ca- 
 techumens were plunged ; though in many pla- 
 ces the next river served for a baptistery, which 
 was the case in the time of Justin Martyr, and of 
 Tertullian,' [Wha lived in the second and third 
 centuries]. Diet, bj/ Jlees. 
 
 Bede, the ancient Saxon historian, after giving 
 an account of Paulimts's baptizing kirns Edwin 
 at York in the year 627, informs us ; That the 
 king's sons, and many of the nobles, and a great 
 number of other persons were baptized, at various 
 times, by tire said Paulinas in the river Glen — 
 in the river Swale — and in the river Trent. Sec 
 fade's Eeel. Hist. Stevens Edit. p. 158, 159, 
 164. — How very unlike primitive baptism is the. 
 ceremony which our opposcrs call by that name ! 
 Do they ever go into a river, or down into the 
 water, to sprinkle either an infant or an adult ? 
 
 Of Metaphorical Baptism. 
 
 1 Cor. x. 1,2. c All our fathers were under 
 the cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and 
 were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in 
 the sea.' The Apostle refers to the state of the 
 
 declining a little to the west, to Nebel Escol, that is, the 
 Irook of the cluster, from whence the spies curried the cluster 
 of granes: to the left of this valley, for the space of a mile, 
 ■runs a river, in which Philip haptized the T'.unvch of qur< n 
 Candace y not far from Siceluh^ In Dr, (J ill's JBsrpoi, on Ac's 
 viii. 3'J, 
 
Meaning of the Word Baptize , S?c. 21 
 
 Israelites, Exod. xiv. 21, 22. A bright cloud 
 was over them. The sea became dry land ; and 
 ihey went into Ihe midst of it on dry ground. 
 The waters were a wall to them on both sides. In 
 this situation they surrendered themselves to the 
 direction of Moses, who, by divine appointment, 
 was engaged to conduct them to the promised 
 land. Moses was an eminent type of Christ, as 
 a prophet and lawgiver, Acts iii. 22, 23 : and as 
 the people surrendered themselves to the conduct 
 of Moses, so a believer, in the ordinance of bap- 
 tism, humbly surrenders himself to Christ, as the 
 Saviour, Lawgiver, and Head of the Church, to 
 be conducted by him to the Canaan above. — 
 Consider the situation of the Israelites. They 
 were in the midst of the sea, and the cloud over 
 them. Thus they resembled a person immersed 
 or covered in the water, when he is baptized, (d) 
 1 Pet. iii. 20—22. : < The long-suffering of 
 God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark 
 was preparing ; wherein few, that is eight souls 
 were saved by water. The like figure whereunto 
 even baptism doth also now save us, (not the put- 
 ting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer 
 of a good conscience towards God) by the resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ.' The ark was God's 
 ordinance and not man's invention ; so is bap- 
 tism, it is from heaven, and not of men. The 
 ark while it was preparing, was the scorn and 
 derision of men ; so is baptism ; it was rejected 
 
 (d) Grotius : * The cloud was over their head : so also is 
 the water over the head of those who are baptized. The sea 
 encompassed iheit sides : so also does the water ev compass those 
 y> ho arc baptized ' Li Foot's Plain Account/ Toulmin's. Edit p. AG. 
 
22 Meaning of the JVord Baptize, &e. 
 
 by the Scribes and Pharisees, as it still is by mul- 
 titudes. The ark, when Noah and his family 
 were shut up in it by God, represented a burial ; 
 and their coming out of it was a figure of (be re- 
 surrection. .Just such a figure is baptism, both 
 of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and 
 of the resurrection of saints to walk in newness of 
 life. Those who were baptized in the Apostles' 
 days, did not attend to that ordinance in order to 
 put away the filth of (lie flesh, as many of the 
 paxlobaptists have erroneously asserted; but. to 
 answer a good conscience towards God — And 
 here by the way, it may not be improper to re- 
 mark, That as infants could not attend to baptism, 
 in order to answer a good conscience towards God, 
 of course infants, in the Apostles' days, were not 
 baptized. 
 
 Rom. vi. 4.: Col, ii. 12. : c Buried with 
 Christ in baptism.' It is generally allowed, that 
 the Apostle here alludes to the manner of bap- 
 tizing by immersion. Nor is it easy, in any other 
 way, to account for the expression. That im- 
 mersion resembles a burial, none will deny ; but 
 will this be asserted of sprinkling? If not, the 
 Apostle cannot here allude to sprinkling. Con- 
 sequently not sprinklings but immersion is chris- 
 tian baptism, (e) 
 
 Horn. vi. 5. l For if we have been planted to- 
 gether in the likeness of his death, we shail be 
 also in the likeness of his resurrection.' 
 
 (e) Bishop Hoadly : • If baptism had been then [in the 
 first days] performed, as it is now among us, [the paedo- 
 l;>ptists,J we should never hare so much a> heard of this form 
 of expression, of dying and arising again } in this rite.' Plain 
 Account, p % 150. 
 
Meaning of the Word Baptize, &c. 23 
 
 Mr. P. Edwards says, < The Apostle does here 
 evidently speak of it [baptism] under the notion 
 of planting ;' but adds, ' There are none, I be- 
 lieve, who make plant in g an illusion to the mode 
 of baptism.' Here Mr. E. is much mistaken ; 
 as many learned pasdobaptists have given us ex- 
 positions of the passage, exactly the same with 
 those given by the baptists themselves. 
 
 Dr. Toweiisox speaking of 'Plunging the 
 party baptized,' adds, < It is a signification which 
 St. Paul will not -suffer those to forget, who have 
 been acquainted with his Epistles. For, with re- 
 ference to that manner of baptizing;, we find him 
 nrHrming, Rom. vi. 4. that zee are buried with 
 Christ by baptism, S?e. And again xer. 5. that 
 if zee have been plantedtogether in the likeness of 
 his death, zee shall be also in the likeness of his 
 resurrection.'* Sacra* of Bap. part iii. p. 51. 
 
 Dr. Mackmght : 'Planted together in the 
 likeness of his death. The burying of Christ, and 
 of believers first in the water ot baptism, and af- 
 terward in the earth, is fitly enough compared to 
 the planting of seeds in the earth, because the 
 effect, in both cases, is a reviviscence to a state 
 of greater perfection.' Note on Rom. vi. 5. 
 
 Assembly of Divines : ' Planted together : 
 by this elegant similitude the Apostle represents 
 to us, that, as a plant that is set in the earth lieth 
 as dead and immovable for o time, but after 
 springs up and flourishes, so Christ's body lay 
 dead for a while in the grave, but sprang up and 
 re-flourished in his resurrection ; and we also, 
 when we are baptized, are buried, as it were, in, 
 
24 Meaning of the Word Baptize, &c. 
 
 the wafer for a time, but afler are raised up io 
 newness of life' Note on the I y assage. 
 
 \\ rs presumed that Mr. Kdwards would have 
 written with mueh less taunt and with much less 
 confidence, had his acquaintance with authors 
 been a little more extensive previously to his com- 
 mencing author himself. 
 
 c I have' (says the blessed Redeemer) ' a bap- 
 tism to be baptized with, and how am 1 straitened 
 till it be accomplished ! ' Luke xii. 50. Now 
 what could he mean by this ? Did he mean that 
 Bufferings were to be sprinkled, or poured out 
 partially upon him ? Would not this lead us to 
 suppose that they were comparatively few and 
 small ? Is it not more reasonable and more em- 
 phatic to think our Lord meant, that he was to 
 )ye overwhelmed in distress ? In common lan- 
 guage, afflicted persons are sometimes figuratively 
 spoken of as in deep ajjliclion, and oxer hcad-and- 
 ears in trouble, or in debt, (f ) Thus also was 
 Christ plunged into sorrow ; and thus he speaks 
 of himself, by the Spirit of prophecy, / am come 
 into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 
 Ps. Ixix. 2. O ! how was lie overwhelmed in 
 affliction, when he said, My soul is exceedingly 
 sorrowful, even unto death : and when he cried 
 out with a loud voice, My God, my God, why 
 hast thou forsaken me? His former baptism in 
 water was an emblem of these sufferings : and to 
 signify his belief of them, the baptized person, 
 
 (f)Thus Plutarch uses the; word figuratively, speaking 
 of (Mho ;is btiifji baptized in debts of fifty million diathmie, 
 In Plutarch's Life of Galba. 
 
Meaning of the Word Baptize, &c. 25 
 
 being plunged in water, reasons thus with him- 
 self : This is cool and refreshing water ; but 1 
 have deserved everlasting fire ; instead of being 
 baptized in water, why am I not overwhelmed in 
 the tormenting lake ? Because Jesus my Lord 
 waded through the depths of divine wrath, that 
 he might to me bring salvation. I was sinking 
 lower and lower into guilt ; but such was his love 
 to my soul, that he plunged himself into the abyss 
 of misery, to snatch me as a brand out of the fire. 
 Blessed be God for his unspeakable gift, (g) 
 
 Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Bp. Reynolds : 6 The Spirit, under the gos- 
 pel, is compared to water ; and that not a little 
 to sprinkle or bedew, but to baptize the faithful 
 in ; and that not in a font or vessel — but in a 
 spring, or living river.' Works, p. 226. 
 
 Le Clerc : 'He [Christ] shall baptize you in 
 the Holy Spirit. As I [John] plunge you in 
 water, he shall plunge you, so to speak, in the 
 Holy Spirit.' $ 
 
 (g) Dr. Campbell, in his translation of the four evan- 
 gelists, renders Luke xti. 50. 4 I have an immersion to undergo, 
 and how am 1 pained till it be accomplished.' 
 
 Sir Harry Trelawney : 'Here, I must acknowledge, 
 that our baptist brethren have the advantage; for our 
 Reneeraer's sufferings must not be compared to a few drops 
 of water sprinkled on the face, for he was plunged into dis- 
 tress, and his soul was environed with sorrows.' InDore's 
 Serm. m Bap. p 39. 
 
 Hervey : ' He [Christ] was even straitened, under a kind 
 of holy uneasiness, till the dreadful work was accomplished; 
 til; he was baptized with the baptism of his sufferings, bathed 
 in blood, and plunged in death 1 ' Theron, vol. 2.p* 150. 
 
 c 2 
 
^6 Meaning of I he Word Baptize > $>e. 
 
 Casaubon : 'To baptize, is to immerse — 
 and in this sense the Apostles are truly said to be 
 baptized ; for the house in which this was done 
 was filled with the Holy Ghost, so that the 
 Apostles seemed to be plunged into it, as into a 
 
 pool.' x 
 
 Leigh : 'Baptize; that is, drown you all 
 over — dip you into the ocean of his grace ; op- 
 posite to (he sprinkling which was in the law.' t. 
 
 Abp. Tili.otson : ' Jt [the sound from hea- 
 yen, Aets ii. 2.] piled all the house. This is 
 that which — our Saviour c'*\h baptizing with the 
 Holy Gliost. So that they who sat in the house 
 were, as it were, immersed in the Holy Ghost, 
 as they who were buried with water, were over- 
 whelmed and covered all over with water, which 
 is the proper nation of baptism.' X 
 
 T'i us modern paedohaptists, who practised 
 sprinkling. Let us now hear one of the ancients 
 who wrote in the orreek language, and practised 
 immersion. Cyril of Jerusalem, who lived in 
 the fourth century, speaks in the following man- 
 ner. c As he who is plunged in water and bap- 
 tized, is encompassed by the water on every side ; 
 so arc they that are w -holly baptized by the Spirit. 
 — There [under the Mosaic economy] the ser- 
 vants of God were partakers of the Holy Spirit ; 
 but here they were perfectly baptized, or immers- 
 ed, of him.' % \ In Booth's Reply to Williams, 
 
 Grotios : 'That this rite [baptism] was 
 wont to be performed by immersion, and riot by 
 perfusion, appears both from the propriety of the 
 word, and the places chosen for its administration, 
 and the many allusions of the Apostles, which 
 
The Design of Baptism, $c. 27 
 
 cannot be referred to sprinkling.' In SlennelCs 
 Ans. to Russen, p. 146, 
 
 From the preceeding body of evidence it ap- 
 pears that immersion is the radical, obvious, and 
 established meaning of the term baptism. Con- 
 sequently, that the divine Writers, when speak- 
 ing of this ordinance, have actually used a word, 
 which, In its classical, primary, natural, and 
 common acceptation, cannot agree to any action 
 beside that for which we plead. — The honest 
 reader is now to judge whether Immersion is the 
 true import of the word Baptism ; or, whether 
 to Sprinkle be the genuine sense of the term 
 Baptize. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Design of Baptism; or, the Blessings, 
 represented by it. 
 
 ClIRYSOSTOM : < To be baptized and plung- 
 ed into the water, and then to emerge or rise out 
 of it again, is a symbol of our descent into the 
 grave, and of our ascent out of it. And there- 
 fore Paul calls baptism a burial, when he says, 
 we are therefore buried with him by baptism in- 
 to death.' In Sternietfs Ans. to Ilussen, p. 145. 
 W. Tyndale : ' The plunging into the wa- 
 ter signifieth that we die and are buried with 
 Christ as concerning the old life of sin which is 
 Adam, and the pulling out again'sjgnifleth tl^t 
 we rise again with Christ in a new Itfc.' I 
 
28 The Design of Baptism, $c. 
 
 Abp. Cranmer : < The dipping into (he 
 water doth betoken, thai (he old Adam, with all 
 his sin and evil lusts ought (o be drowned and 
 killed by dailv contrition and repentance.' 2 1 
 2 Hist, of Bap. p. AVJ. 
 
 Brausobke : 'Baptism was, as i( was (lien 
 administered, a sensible sign of death and a bu- 
 rial, on the one hand ; and on the other, of a re- 
 surrection. The subject was buried under the 
 water, which was, so to speak, a liquid grave, 
 into which he was for a moment put. Then he 
 was raised up, like a new man restored to life. 7 
 In Dore's Serm. on Bap. p. 40. 
 
 Dr. Wells : ' St. Paul here alludes to im- 
 mersion, or dipping (he whole body under water 
 in baptism ; which, he intimates, did typify the 
 death and burial (of the person baptized) to sin, 
 and his rising up out of the water did typify his 
 resurrection to newness of life.' Illus. Bib. on 
 Mom. vi. 4. 
 
 Scuddefi : 'Baptism — doth lively represent 
 the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, to- 
 gether with your crucifying the affections and 
 lusts ; being dead and buried with him unto sin, 
 and rising with him to newness of life, and to 
 hope of glory.' * 
 
 Pictetus : i That immersion into, and emer- 
 sion out of the water, practised by the ancients, 
 signify the death of the old, and the resurrection 
 of the new man.' * 
 
 Peter Martyr : c As Christ, by baptism, 
 hath drawn us with him into his death and burial; 
 so he hath drawn us out unto life. This doth 
 the dipping into the water, and (he issuing forth 
 again, signify, when we are baptized.' * 
 
The Design of Baptism, &c. 29 
 
 Bp. Nicholson : * The ancient manner in 
 baptism, the putting of the person baptized under 
 the water, and then taking him out again, did 
 "well set forth these two acts ; the first his dying, 
 the second his rising again. — Into the grave with 
 Christ we went not ; for our bodies were not, nor 
 could be buried with his : but in our baptism, by 
 a kind of analogy or resemblance, while our bo- 
 dies are under the water, we may be said to be 
 buried with him.' * 
 
 Manton : 'The putting the baptized person 
 into the water, denoteth and proclaimeth the bu- 
 rial of Christ, and we by submitting to it are 
 baptized with him, or profess to be dead to sin ; 
 for none but the dead are buried. So that it sig- 
 aiifieth Christ's death for sin, and our dying unto 
 sin.' * 
 
 Bengelius : 'He that is baptized puts on 
 Christ, the second Adam ; he is baptized, I say, 
 into a whole Christ, and therefore also into his 
 death : and it is like as if, in that very moment, 
 Christ suffered, died, and was buried for such a 
 man ; and such a man suffered, died, and was 
 buried with Christ.' * 
 
 S. Clark : ' We are buried zcith Clirist, 8?c. 
 In the primitive times, the manner of baptizing 
 was by immersion, or dipping the whole body 
 into the water. And this manner of doinjr it, 
 was a very significant emblem of the dying and 
 risintjr again, referred to by St. Paul, in Rom. 
 vi. 4.' * 
 
 T.Gogdwin: 'The eminent thing signified 
 and represented in baptism, is not simply tiie 
 blood of Christ, as it washeth us from sin ; but 
 
50 The Design of Baptism* #c. 
 
 there is a further representation therein of Christ's 
 death, burial, and resurrection, in the baptized's 
 being first buried under if ater, and then rising 
 out of it : and this is not in a hare conformity 
 unto Christ, bu( in a representation of communi- 
 on with Christ, in that his death and resurrection. 
 Therefore it. is said, we are buried with him in 
 baptism ; and wherein. you are risen with him.''* 
 
 Augustin : 'It sacraments carry no resem- 
 blance of the things whereof they are sacraments, 
 they are no sacraments at all.' * 
 
 Mastricht : 'Similitude and analogy, be- 
 tween the sign and the thing signified, are neces- 
 sarily supposed in every sacrament. ' * 
 
 6 These learned authors are almost unanimous 
 in considering baptism as principally intended, 
 by the great Legislator, to represent the death, 
 burial, and resurrection of Christ ; the commu- 
 nion his people have with him in those momentous 
 facts; and their interest in the blessings thence 
 resulting. To confirm and illustrate which, they 
 agree in applying the declarations of Paul, re- 
 corded in Rom, vi. 4., and Col. ii. 12. : There- 
 fore we are buried with him by baptism into 
 death : that like as Christ was raised up from 
 the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we 
 also should walk in newness of life. — Buried with 
 him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with 
 him through the faith of the operation of God, 
 who hath raised him from the dead. — Now if such 
 be the chief design of the ordinance ; if these pas- 
 sages of holy writ be pertinently applied ; and 
 if ihere be any correspondence between the sign 
 and the things that are signified by it ; immer- 
 sion must be the mode of administration.'* * In 
 Booth's f*cedobap. Exam, 
 
The Design of Baptism, $?c. 3] 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Design of Baptism more fully expressed 
 by Immersion, than by Sprinkling, 
 
 MASTRICHT: c Immersion— was used by 
 the Apostles and primitive churches, because it 
 is not only more agreeable in warm countries, 
 but also more significant.' * 
 
 Cave : ' The party to be baptized was wholly 
 immersed, or put under water : — whereby they 
 did more notably and significantly express the 
 three great ends and effects of baptism.' * 
 
 Alstedius : ' The rite of immersion, which 
 is intimated by the very word baptism, certainly 
 bears a greater analogy to the thing signified.' * 
 
 Pictetus : ' it was usual in ancient times 
 for the whole body to be immersed in water — and 
 it must be confessed that such a rite most happily 
 represented that grace by which our sins are as 
 it were drowned, and we raised again from the 
 abyss of sin.' * 
 
 Witsius : 4 It must not be dissembled, that 
 there is in immersion a greater fruitfulness of 
 signification, and a more perfect correspondence 
 between the sign and the thing signified ; as we 
 shall shew, when we come to that part of our 
 subject.'* 
 
 M. Morus : c Baptism was formerly celebrat- 
 ed by plunging the whole body in water, and not 
 by casting a few drops of water on the forehead : 
 that representing death and the resurrection much 
 better than this.'* * In Fcecbbap. Exam. 
 
32 Practice of the Apostles, S'C. 
 
 Being (alight, therefore, by these learned pac- 
 dobaptisfs, that the radical idea of the term bap- 
 tism — the chief design of the ordinance — the 
 apostolic example — and the emphasis of signifi- 
 cation, are all in favour of immersion ; we must 
 stand acquitted of blame, in the judgment of all 
 impartial men, and our conduct appear worthy 
 of imitation, whilst we strenuously adhere to the 
 practice of it, in all our administrations of that 
 holy rite. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Practice of John the Baptist, of the 
 Apostles, and of the Church in succeeding 
 Ages, in regard to the Manner of adminis- 
 tering the ordinance of Baptism. 
 
 MOSHEIM : < The form of initiation which 
 he [John] adopted, in regard to all those who 
 promised an amendment of heart and life, was to 
 immerge them in the river. — Jesus himself,before 
 he entered on his ministry, condescended to com- 
 ply with this rite, and was solemnly baptized by 
 John in the river Jordan.' Comment on the first 
 three Cent. VidaWs edit. p. Hi. 
 
 The above learned author elsewhere says, i The 
 disciples of John the baptist were initiated into 
 the kingdom of the Redeemer by the ceremony 
 of immersion, or baptism. — The sacrament of 
 baptism was administered in this [ihc first] con- 
 
Practice of the Apostles, S?c. 33 
 
 fury, -without the public assemblies, in places 
 appointed for that purpose, and was performed 
 by immersion of the whole bod?/, &c — The per- 
 sons that were baptized in this [the second] cen- 
 tury were immersed under water, and received 
 into the Church by a solemn invocation of Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, according to the express 
 command of our blessed Lord.' Eccl. Hist, 
 Cent. J. Part I.— Part 2.— Cent. 2. Part 2. 
 
 Dr. Gill : ' The christians of Christ's time 
 are called by the Jews, in a way of contempt, 
 apostates, that received the doctrine of baptism, 
 and were dipped in Jordan.' Expos, on Matt. 
 iii. 6. 
 
 Bp. Newton, in his note on the twenty-first 
 line of Milton's Paradise Regained, admits, That 
 John the Baptist immersed his disciples. 
 
 Venema : ' It is without controversy that 
 baptism in the primitive church was administered 
 by immersion into water, and not by sprinkling-. 
 — The essential act of baptizing, in the second 
 century, consisted, not in sprinkling, but in im- 
 mersion into ^ater, in the name of each Person in 
 the Trinity. — It was performed in a river, a pool, 
 or a fountain.' In Pcedobap. Exam. v. 1. p. 212. 
 
 Tertullian, describing the manner of bap- 
 tizing used in his time, says, ' Men's minds were 
 hardened against it because the person [to be 
 baptized] was brought down into the water with- 
 out pomp, without any new ornament or sump- 
 tuous preparations, and dipped at the pronunci- 
 ation of a few words. And there is no difference' 
 (:*ays he) ' whether one is washed in the sea or in 
 a pool, in a river or in a fountain^ in a lake or iu 
 
34r Practice of the Apostles, S?c. 
 
 a channel ; nor is any distinction to he made be- 
 tween those whom .John dipped in Jordan, and 
 those whom Peter dipped in t lie Tiber.' In Sten- 
 miCs Ans. to Russen, p. 14 4. 
 
 Abp. Tillotson : * Anciently, those who 
 were baptized put off their garments, which sig- 
 nified the putting off the body of sin ; and were 
 immersed and buried in the water, to represent 
 their death to sin ; and then did rise up out of 
 the water, to signify their entrance upon a new 
 life. And to these customs t he Apostle alludes, 
 Rom. vi. 2—6. Gal. iii. 27.' Works, iol. 1. 
 Serm. 7. p. 179. 
 
 Dr. Sharp, Ahp. of York: Q Whenever a 
 person in ancient times was baptized, he was not 
 only to profess his faith in Christ's death and re- 
 surrection, but he was also to look upon himself 
 as obliged to mortify his former carnal affections, 
 and so enter upon a new state of life ; and the 
 very form of baptism did lively represent this 
 obligation. For what did his being plunged un- 
 der water signify, but his undertaking, in imita- 
 tion of Christ's death and burial, to forsake his 
 former evil courses, as his ascending out of the 
 water, did his engagement to lead a holy spiri- 
 tual life.' Serm. before Queen Mary, March 
 27, 1692. 
 
 LiiNFANT : c With wafer — with the Holy 
 Ghost — Greek, in water — in the Holy Ghost. 
 These words do very well express the ceremony 
 of baptism, which was at first performed by 
 plunging the whole body in water.' Note on 
 Matt. iii. 2. Eng. Tran. 
 
 Confession of Helvetia : c Baptism was 
 
Practice of the Apostles, ftc. 35 
 
 instituted and consecrated by God : and the first 
 that baptized was John, who (lipped Christ in 
 (he water in Jordan.' * 
 
 Magdeburg Centuriators : ' The Son 
 of God was dipped in the water of Jordan, by 
 the hand of John the Baptist.' * * In Pcedobap. 
 Exam. 
 
 Dr. Macknight : ' He [Christ] submitted 
 to be baptized, that is, to be buried under the wa- 
 ter bj/ John, and to be raised out of it again, as 
 nn emblem of his future death and resurrection. 1 
 Note on Rom. vi. 4. 
 
 Dr. Gregory : ' The initiatory rite of bap- 
 tism was [in the first century] publicly performed 
 by immersing the whole body, &c.' Hist, of 
 the Church, vol. I. p. 53. 
 
 Dutch Testament : ' Matt. iii. 5, 6. : 
 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, 
 &c, and were gcSoopt in Dc Norton; (and were 
 dipped in the Jordan) — Acts viii. 38. : and they 
 went down both into the water, both Philip and 
 the Eunuch, enfci £» tioopte \jtm ; (and he dipped 
 him) — Acts ix. 18. ; and he received sight forth- 
 with, enfce stout op, tribz foert geboojrt; (and stood 
 up, and was dipped).' (h) 
 
 Clemens Alexandrinus : c A Christian is 
 one who knows God, who believes in Christ, who 
 possesses the grace of God — and who has been 
 
 (h) Mr. S. Clarke, in his life of Anthony Wallieus, after 
 giving ;iii Recount of the piety, learning, and industry, of 
 those « bo translated the Scriptures into the Dutch language, 
 
 says, ' It is judged the most exquisit translation extant ; 
 as no remarkable defect can be observed in it.' Jlarr. of 
 Led. lli-t. part J . p. Q80. 
 
36 Practice of the Apostles^ &c. 
 
 dipped in the sacred laver.' See Eusebius^ b. 4. 
 chap. 62. Note, 
 
 Quenstedius : c Immersion is, as it were, a 
 burial, emersion, a resurrection. — It is written, 
 Acts viii. S8j 39. that Philip went dozen with the 
 Eunuch into the water^ and there baptized him ; 
 and it is added, that the ordinance being admi- 
 nistered, they both came up out of the water. — 
 Both the eastern and western chu relies were very 
 observant of the rite of immersion for a great 
 number of years.'* 
 
 Wolfius : i That baptismal immersion was 
 practised in the first ages ofthe christian church, 
 many have shown from the writings of the an- 
 cients — Some learned christians therefore have 
 judged, that the same rite of immersion should be 
 recalled into practice at this day, lest the mystical 
 signification ofthe ordinance should be lost.'* 
 
 Chambers : * In the primitive times this ce- 
 remony was performed by immersion : as it is to 
 this day in the oriental churches, according to 
 the origii*al signification ofthe word.' * 
 
 Assembly of Divines : ' Buried zcith hi?n, 
 8?c. Col. ii. 12. In this phrase the Apostle seem- 
 eth to allude to the ancient manner of baptism, 
 which was to dip the parties baptized, and as it 
 were to bury them under the water for a while, 
 and then to draw them out of it, and lift them up, 
 to represent the burial of our old man, and our 
 resurrection to newness of life.' J 
 
 Alt Mann us : ' In the primitive church, per- 
 sons to be baptized were not sprinkled but entirely 
 immersed in water ; which was performed accord- 
 ing to the example of John the Baptist.' * 
 
Practice of the Apostles, Sfe* 37 
 
 T. Lawson : c John the Baptist, thai is, John 
 ihe dipper ,■ so called because he was authorized 
 to baptize in water. — Such as rhantize, or sprin- 
 kle infants have no command from Christ, nor 
 example among the Apostles, nor the first primi- 
 tive christians for so doing.' ± 
 
 R. Baxter : ' It is commonly confessed by 
 us to the baptists, as our commentators declare, 
 that in the Apostles' times the baptized were dip- 
 ped overhead in t lie water, and that this signified 
 their profession, both of believing the burial and 
 resurrection of Christ ; and of their own present 
 renouncing the world, and flesh, or dying to sin 
 and living to Christ, or rising again to newness of 
 life, or being buried and risen again with Christ, 
 as the Apostle expoundeth, in the forecited texts, 
 Col. ii. 12. Row. vi. 4.'* * Pcedobaptists. — 
 \ Quaker. In Pcedobap. Exam. 
 
 Calvin : ' Here we perceive how baptism 
 was administered among the ancients ; for they 
 immersed the whole body in water. Now it is 
 the prevailing practice for a minister only to 
 sprinkle the body or the head.' Com. on Acts 
 viii. 38. 
 
 The above author elsewhere says, c The word 
 baptize, signifies to immerse ; and the rite of im- 
 mersion was observed by the ancient church.' 
 Inst it id. L. iv. c. 15. 
 
 J. Wesley : i Buried with him — Alluding 
 to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion.' 
 Note on Pom. vi. 4. 
 
 G. Whitefield : c It is certain, that in the 
 words (Pom. vi. 4.) there is an allusion to the 
 manner of baptism, which was by immersion.' 
 Eighteen Serm. p. 297. 
 
38 Practice of the Apostles, &?c. 
 
 Jos rni Mead : c There was no such thing 
 as sprinkling, used in baptism in the Apostles* 
 
 times, nor many ages after them.' Note on Titus 
 iii. 5. 
 
 Bp. Taylor : c The custom of the ancient 
 churches was not sprinkling, but immersion ; in 
 pursuance of the sense of the word in the com- 
 mandment, and the example of our blessed Sa- 
 viour.' In Pasdobap, Exam. 
 
 Laurentius, (who wrote about the year 500) 
 in his homily on Alms says, c Christ being once 
 dipped in the rivci Jordan, thereby sanctified the 
 waters ; but he abides in the poor, and washeth 
 away the sins of those that give to them.' Dr. 
 Affix's Hist, of Piedmont, p. 30. 
 
 P. Svmson (a Scotch historian) in the account 
 he gives of the fourth Council of Toledo, which 
 was held in the year 639, says, ' Concerning the 
 rites used in Baptism — some using the ceremony 
 of thrice dipping in water, others once dipping 
 only, it was thought expedient to be content with 
 one dipping, because the Trinity is so lively re- 
 presented in the Name of the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, that there is no necessity for three 
 dippings in water to represent the Trinity.' Syhi. 
 Hist, of the Church, Cent. 7. p. 5 C 27. 
 
 Godeau, in his history of the church in the 
 ninth age, informs us, that in the time of Charles 
 the great, baptism was conferred by plunging in- 
 to the water-, and not by pouring it on the head, 
 or by sprinkling. 1 
 
 The Bp. of Meaux acknowledges, c That 
 it may be made appear by the acts of Councils 5 
 and by the ancient rituals, that for thirteen hun- 
 dred years baptism was administered by im- 
 4 
 
Practice of the Apostles, S?c. 39 
 
 mersion throughout the whole church, as far as 
 possible.' 2 
 
 Whitby: c Immersion was religiously ob- 
 served by all christians for thirteen centuries.' 3 
 1 2 3 In StcnnetCs Ans. to Russen, p. 160, 
 173, 176. 
 
 Robinson: c Immersion, in the church of 
 Rome, stood by law established till the latter end 
 of the eighth century. Then pouring was tole- 
 rated in cases of necessity.** 
 
 c In this country, sprinkling was never declared 
 valid, ordinary baptism, till the Assembly of 
 Divines in the time of Cromwell, influenced by 
 Dr. Lightfoot, pronounced it so.** 
 
 c Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry the eighth 
 — Prince (afterwards King) Edward the sixth — 
 and Princess (afterwards Queen) Elizabeth, were 
 all baptized by immersion.' ** **IIist. of Bap. 
 p. 525. 132. 120. 
 
 Mr. John Evans : c In the church of Cran- 
 brook is a large dipping place , in which the per- 
 sons, agreeable to the primitive mode, are to be 
 immersed on the profession of Christianity.' Ju- 
 venile Tourist, p. 434. 
 
 Mr. Turner: 'The anglo-saxons baptized 
 by immersion — Prince (afterwards King) Ethel- 
 red was plungedS Hist, of the Anglo-saxons, 
 vol. 2. p. 34. 
 
 • * In Scotland, immersion was the only rite 
 known as baptism, till the latter end of the twelfth 
 century.' Bap. Register, vol. 4. p. 660. 
 
 Robinson: 'Sixteen years after the esta- 
 blishment of the dutch church in Austin-Friars, 
 London, [which was about the year 1548;] th« 
 v 
 
40 Practice of the Apostles > &;c. 
 
 congregation published a Catechism, either com- 
 posed, or recommended, by John a Lasco, the 
 pastor of the said church, in which are the fol- 
 lowing questions and answers. Q. What are the 
 Sacraments of the church of Christ? A. Bap- 
 tism and the Supper of the Lord. Q. What is 
 Baptism? A. It is a holy institution of Christ, 
 in which the church is dipped in water, in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost.' ** 
 
 Even ancient Mockeries of baptism, afford evi- 
 dence in our favour. * In an history or the ii'iz- 
 zantine theatre, it is said, that in the year S9T, 
 the players, on a theatre at a city of A sia, diverted 
 the pagan spectators with a mock baptism. For 
 tin's purpose they provided a large bathing tub, 
 tilled it with water, and plunged Gelasinus into 
 it, to the no small diversion of the company.'** 
 
 1 It is also recorded of one Porphyry, a p.igan 
 player, that he grew to such an height of impiety, 
 that he adventured to baptize himself in jest upon 
 the stage, on purpose to make the people laugh 
 at christian baptism, and so to bring both it and 
 Christianity into contempt : and for this purpose 
 he plunged himself into a vessel of water which 
 he had placed on the stage, calling aloud upon 
 the Trinity, at which the spectators fell into great 
 laughter. But lothe goodness of God to this pro- 
 fane miscreant ! it pleased God to shew such a 
 demonstration of his power and grace upon him, 
 J J >at this sporting baptism of his became a serious 
 {aver of regeneration to him, inasmuch that of a 
 graceless player he became a gracious christian ; 
 and not long after he received the crown of 
 
Practice of the Apostles, fyc. 41 
 
 martyrdom.' * **IIist. of Bap. p. 433, 437, 
 326, 415. 
 
 A friend of the author's orice asked Dr. Pop- 
 ham, the then rector of Churchstanton, in the 
 county of Devon, the following question : < Sir, 
 how did John the Baptist, and the Apostles, ad- 
 minister the ordinance of baptism ; did they sprin- 
 kle the people, or did they immerse them ?' The 
 Dr. replied, ' Baptism was certainly administered 
 in the primitive church, by immersion; but I 
 think we have found out a much belter way.' It 
 has been often said, That every generation grows 
 wiser and wiser : but, it must be the height of 
 blasphemy to suppose that any man, or sect of 
 men, are grown wiser than the great Head of the 
 Church, who enjoined this ordinance, and who 
 submitted to it himself. 
 
 A poor man, a few years since, resided for some 
 little time in Holland. While there, he became 
 acquainted with a Dutch minister, and once at- 
 tended him at a christening. The minister took 
 the child in his arms and said, c %k fcoop gr>, m tint 
 name fcc<s Gators, &c. That is, I dip you in the 
 name of the Father, &c.' and then cast a few 
 drops of water on the child's face. The man after- 
 wards asked him, how he could say, c I dip you,'" 
 when he only scattered a few drops of water on 
 the face of the child ? The minister replied, « It 
 is the fashion, and 1 am obliged to conform to it ; 
 but my conscience often upbraids me for so doing.' 
 Well might his conscience accuse him : for every 
 time he performed this ceremony, he told a known 
 falsehood, not only in the presence of God,, but 
 
42 Practice of the Apostles, &c. 
 
 in the name of each Person in the Godhead. 
 Communicated to the author, by the persons 
 above alluded to. 
 
 Before we conclude this chapter, we shall se- 
 lect one witness more (from the vast number that 
 might have been produced) to give evidence on 
 this part of our case. — The learned Curcel- 
 i>iEus : 6 Baptism' (says he) < was performed by 
 plunging the whole body into water, and not by 
 sprinkling a few drops. So John baptized ; nor 
 did the disciples of Christ afterwards administer 
 baptism in any other way.' In Dore's Serm. 
 on Bap. p. 48. 
 
 If ever a fact was clearly ascertained and fully 
 established from the page of history, and from 
 concessions of learned opposers, it is this, that 
 John the Baptist, the Apostles, and the church 
 in her pure and primitive times administered 
 baptism by immersion, and by immersion only. 
 Should any man be hardy enough to assert the 
 contrary, he will have opposed to him the whole 
 current of learned writers from the earliest ages 
 down to the present day. — How awfully appli- 
 cable are the words of Claudius, Bishop of 
 Turin, when applied to this subject ! 6 God ' 
 (says he) c commands one thing, and these peo- 
 ple [the Paedobaptists] do quite the contrary.' 
 
Rise of Sprinkling , ftc. 43 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Reasons, Rise, and Prevalence of Sprinkling 
 instead of Immersion. 
 
 Jl HE first instance on ecclesiastical record, of 
 pouring or sprinkling is that of Novatian, in the 
 year 251. Which case is thus described in Eu- 
 sebius. c He [Novatian] fell into a grievous dis- 
 temper, and it being supposed that he would die 
 immediately, he received baptism, being be- 
 sprinkled with water on the bed whereon he lay, 
 if that can be termed baptism.' Euseb. EccL 
 Hist. b. 6. chap. 43. 
 
 Robinson: ' The administration of baptism 
 by sprinkling was first invented in Africa in the 
 third century, in favour of clinics, or bed-ridden 
 people : but even African Catholicks, the least 
 enlightened, and the most depraved of all catho- 
 licks, derided it, and reputed it no baptism.' 
 Hist, of Bap. p. 449. . 
 
 By the twelfth canon of the council of Neocae- 
 sarea, these clinics were prohibited priesthood. 
 Yea, so imperfect was this baptism esteemed, 
 that Bp. Taylor tells us ; 6 It was a formal and 
 solemn question, made by Magnus to Cyprian, 
 whether they are to be esteemed right christians, 
 who were only sprinkled with water, and not 
 washed or dipped.' 
 
 Robinson : 'The absolute necessity of dip- 
 ping in order to a valid baptism : and the indis- 
 pcnsible necessity of baptism in order to salvation 
 
44 Jtisc of Sprinkling, S>c. 
 
 were (wo doctrines which clashed. Therefore a 
 thousand ingenious devices have been invented 
 to administer baptism by sprinkling in extraor- 
 dinary cases. It would shock the modesty of 
 people unused to such a ceremony to relate the 
 law of the case. Suffice it, therefore, to observe, 
 that if the hand or foot only ofa babe dying with 
 its mother in the birth be sprinkled, it is (as they 
 say) baptism, and the child is saved. Father 
 Jerome Florentine, of Lucca, published a fourth 
 edition ofa middle-size quarto, to explain, con- 
 firm, and direct the baptism of infants unborn. 
 A book is seldom seen graced wilh so many re- 
 commendations. — Even in the present times an 
 humane doctor of divinity and laws of Palermo, 
 in 1751, published at Milan, in the Italian tongue, 
 a book of 320 pages in quarto, dedicated to all 
 the guardian angels, to direct priests, and physi- 
 cians how to secure the eternal salvation of infants 
 by baptizing them, when they could not be born. 
 The surgical instruments and process cannot be 
 mentioned here; and the reader is come to a 
 point in the history of infant-sprinkiing, where 
 English modesty compels him to retire.' Hist. 
 of Bap. p. 430. 
 
 Pamelius : < Whereas the sick, by reason of 
 their illness, could not be immersed or plunged 
 (which, properly speaking, is to be baptized), 
 they had the salutary water poured upon them, 
 or were sprinkled wilh it, &c.' * 
 
 Turrettinus : i Immersion was used in for- 
 mer times and in warm climates. But now, 
 especially in coltf countries, when the church be- 
 gan to extend itself towards the north, plunging 
 
Rise of Sprinkling, ftc. 45 
 
 was changed into sprinkling, and aspersion only 
 is used.' * 
 
 R.Baxter: 'We grant that baptism then 
 [in the primitive times] was by washing the whole 
 body ; and did not the deference of our cold 
 country as to that hot one, teacli us to remember, 
 I will have mercy and not sacrifice, it should be 
 so here.' * 
 
 Bp. Burnet : c The danger of dipping in 
 cold climates, may be a very good reason for 1 
 changing the form of baptism io sprinkling. 1 * 
 * In Pccdobap. Exam. 
 
 Dr. Johnson : ' As to the giving the bread 
 only -to the laity ; they [the papists] may think, 
 that in what is merely ritual, deviations from the 
 primitive mode may be admitted on the ground 
 of convenience ; and I think they are as welt 
 warranted to make this alteration, as zee are to 
 substitute sprinkling in the room of the ancient 
 baptism.' Boszcelfs Life of Johnson 9 vol. 4. 
 p. 311. 
 
 Bailey : 'Baptistery is either the place or 
 vessel in which persons are baptized. In ancient 
 times, this being performed by immersion, the 
 persons so initiated went into a river and were 
 plunged; but in the time of Constantine the 
 Great, chapels or places on purpose to baptize 
 in, were built in great cities, which was per- 
 formed in the eastern and warmer countries by 
 dipping the persons ; but w process of time, in 
 western and colder countries, sprinkling was sub- 
 stituted in place of dipping ; which was the origiu 
 of our fonts in churches.' Diet. 
 
 Mr. Wall : ' The way that is now ordinarily 
 
46 Rise of Sprinkling, fyc. 
 
 used we cannot deny to have been a noxclty, 
 brought into this [the] church [of England] by 
 those that had learned it in Germany, or at Ge- 
 neva. And they were not contented to follow 
 the example of pouring a quantity of water 
 (which had there been introduced instead of im- 
 mersion) but improved it (if I may so abuse that 
 word) from pouring to sprinkling ; that it might 
 have as little resemblance of the ancient way of 
 baptizing, as possible.' Def. of the Hist, of 
 Infant~bap. p. 403. 
 
 Sir J. Flgyer : 'Aspersion or sprinkling, 
 was brought into the church by the popish school' 
 men, and oar dissenters had it from them. The 
 schoolmen employing their thoughts how to find 
 out reasons fox the alteration, brought sprinkling 
 into use in the twelfth century.' Essay on Cold 
 Bathing, p. 58. 
 
 Gurtlerus : c The action in this element of 
 water, is immersion ; which rite continued for a 
 long time in the christian church, until, in a -eery 
 late age, it was changed into sprinkling.' Instiltit. 
 Theolog. chap, xxxiii. 
 
 By the quotations here produced from eminent 
 paedobaptists we are taught ; ' That to be im- 
 mersed or plunged, is (properly speaking) to be 
 baptized — That immersion was used in former 
 times — That the danger of dipping in cold cli- 
 mates was assigned as a reason for changing the 
 form of baptism to sprinkling — That sprinkling 
 was substituted in the place of dipping — That 
 pouring is a novelty imported from Germany or 
 Geneva — That sprinkling bears no resemblance 
 io the ancient way of baptizing — and, That 
 
Rise of Sprinkling, 8rc. 47 
 
 aspersion or sprinkling was brought into the 
 churches by the popish schoolmen.' From which 
 it is evident, that Antiquity is in our favour — 
 That the form of baptism, as administered by 
 ouropposers has been changed — and That ac- 
 cording to their own confession) they have not 
 kept this ordinance, as it was delivered to them. 
 Some of those who have written in favour of 
 infant-sprinkling, have suggested, that there is 
 something indecent attached to the administration 
 of baptism ; — this, shocking thought, is no less 
 than charging indecency on Him who was per' 
 fectli/ holy as Man, and infinitely holy as God : 
 — had these men been of the tribes of Israel — had 
 they lived under the former dispensation, how 
 would they have complained of the danger, and 
 Jhe indecency connected with circumcision I 
 
 The coldness of the climate, is pleaded, as a 
 reason, for changing the form of baptism to 
 sprinkling ; and yet thousands in these nations 
 often bathe to refresh their bodies, or to cure them 
 of disorders ; but if to be baptized in water is di- 
 rected to as an ordinance of the adorable Re- 
 deemer, then it is to our opposers, a grievous yoke 
 which they cannot bear. 
 
 They would do well, we think, to remember, 
 that, to change a divine ordinance is represented 
 in Scripture, as a crime of great enormity. Paul 
 commends the Corinthians because they kept the 
 ordinances as he had delivered them to that 
 church. Awful threatnings are denounced by 
 the prophet Isaiah xxiv. 5. and one of the crimes 
 on account of which the threatnings are denounced 
 is, they have changed the ordinance. Whatever 
 ordinance is intended, the lesson we are taught is, 
 
48 No Precept for Infant-baptism, SfC, 
 
 that to change an ordinance is a great sin. When 
 (wo of (he sons of Aaron made a change in one 
 single circumstance, in (lie offering of incense, 
 there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured 
 them. For, saith Jehovah, I will be sanctified 
 in them that come nigh me, and before ail the 
 people I zcill be glorified: Lev. x. 1 — 3. This 
 passage is sufficient to make one tremble at the 
 thought of altering, in any degree, a sacred in- 
 stitution, or of conforming to such an alteration, 
 when it is made by any man, or number of men 
 in the world. 
 
 We shall conclude this chapter in the words of 
 Ephraim, the Syrian: 'The truth written 7 
 {says he) c in the sacred volume of the gospel, is 
 a perfect rule. Nothing can be taken from it, 
 nor added to it, without great guilt. 1 Paleys 
 Evid. vol. 1. p. 237. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Neither Precept, nor Example, for Infant- 
 baptism in the New Testament. 
 
 JBP. BURNET : < There is no express precept, 
 or rule, given in the New Testament for baptism 
 of infants.' * 
 
 Fuller: 'We do freely confess, that there 
 is neither express precept nor precedent, in the 
 New Testament for baptizing of infants.' * 
 
 Luther : ' It cannot be proved by the sacred 
 
No Precept far Infant-baptism, Src. 49 
 
 Scripture that infant-baptism was instituted by 
 Christ, or begun by the first christians after the 
 Apostles.' * 
 
 Cellarius : c Infant-baptism is neither com- 
 manded in the sacred Scripture, nor is it con- 
 firmed by apostolic example.'* 
 
 Magdeburg Centuriators : 6 Examples 
 prove that adults, both Jews and Gentiles, were 
 baptized. Concerning the baptism of infants, 
 there are indeed no examples of which we read.' * 
 
 S. Palmer : 'There is nothing in the words 
 of the administration of this rite, respecting the 
 baptism of infants : there is not a single precept 
 for, nor example of this practice through the 
 whole New Testament.' * 
 
 W. Penn : ' There is not one text of Scrip- 
 ture to prove that sprinkling in the face was the 
 water baptism, or that children were the subjects 
 of water baptism, in the first times.' J 
 
 T. Lawson, has produced Zuinglius and 
 Meianchton, as expressing themselves to the same 
 effect. He also tells us, ' the Oxford divines, 
 in a convocation held 1617, acknowledge, that 
 without the consentaneous judgment of the uni- 
 versal church, they should be at a loss, when 
 called upon for proof, in the points of infant- 
 baptism.' J 
 
 J. Philipps : c The practice of sprinkling 
 infants, under the name of baptism, hath neither 
 precept nor precedent in the New Testament.' ^ 
 
 R. Barclay : i As to the baptism of infants, 
 it is a mere human tradition, for which neither 
 precept nor practice, is to be found in all the 
 Scripture.' % * Pcedobaplists—% Quakers, In 
 Peedobap. Exam. 
 
50 No Precept for Infant-baptism, S?c. 
 
 Mr. Booth : c Such being the concessions of 
 our learned opposers, and such the harmonious 
 testimony of impartial friends, I am reminded of 
 the following apostolic declarations, which may 
 be here applied. We gave no such command- 
 ment — Tfe have no sueh custom. The Apostles, 
 it seems, gave no command for the baptizing of 
 infants ; and therefore a precept cannot be found. 
 They had no such custom, and therefore an ex- 
 ample of it is not recorded in the history of their 
 practice.' 
 
 But though there is no precept for, nor ex- 
 ample, nor intimation of, infant-baptism in the 
 NewTest anient, yet a certain pasdobaptist Doctor 
 hath found a text in the Old Testament, which, 
 as he says, affords * an unanswerable argument 
 to prove its validity.' HisText — Canticles vii. 2.: 
 * Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth 
 not liquor.' His Comment — ' And by the by,' 
 (says he) i here is a great controversy solved, 
 namely, between us and the baptists, who are 
 against the baptizing of children, because they 
 are not come to years of understanding. Let it 
 be remembered, from what is suggested to us 
 here, that infants (according to the notion which 
 prevailed in those days) receive nourishment by 
 the navel, though they take not in any food by 
 the mouth ; yea, though (according to the opi- 
 nion of those times) they did not so much as use 
 their mouths. So it is no good objection against 
 baptizing infants, that they are ignorant, and un- 
 derstand not what they do ; and that they are 
 not able to take in the spiritual nourishment after 
 the ordinary way ; if it may be done (as 'tis said 
 here) by the navel, by that federal knot or link 
 
No Evidence of Infant-baptism , #c. 51 
 
 which ties 'era fast to their christian and believ- 
 ing parents ; which, according to the best divines 
 is an unanswerable argument to prove the validity 
 of infant- baptism : tor they belong to the cove- 
 nant as they are the offspring of the faithful ; and 
 thence are pronounced holy by the Apostle. 
 And here also we see farther the congruity of the 
 expression here used by the wise man ; for the 
 use of the navel is not only to convey nutriment 
 to the foetus, but to fasten the tcetus to the mother : 
 which denotes that intimate union and conjunc- 
 tion with the church of Christ, our common mo- 
 ther, that is made by the baptismal performance.' 
 Dr. Edwards, on Cant- vii. 2. 
 
 We shall make no reflections on this mighty 
 Solution of the controversy : but leave our op- 
 posers to please themselves with the delicacy and 
 logic of their champion : and conclude this part 
 of the subject in the words of Basil, ofCesarea : 
 * Hearers instructed in the Scriptures' (says he) 
 c ought to examine what is said by their teachers, 
 and to embrace what is agreeable to the Scrip- 
 tures, and to reject what is otherwise.' Paley's 
 Evid. vol. L p. 237. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 No Evidence of Infant-baptism, before the 
 beginning of the Third Century. 
 
 SaLMASIUS and Suicerus:. 'In the two 
 first centuries no one was baptized, except, be- 
 
52 No Evidence of Infant-baptism, 8?c. 
 
 ing instructed in the faith, and acquainted with 
 the doctrine of Christ, he was able to profess 
 himself a believer.' * 
 
 Curoell^eus : ' The baptism of infants, in 
 the two first centuries after Christ, was altoge- 
 ther unknown ; but in the third and fourth was 
 allowed by a few. In the fifth and following 
 ages it began to obtain in divers places — The 
 custom of baptizing infants did not begin before 
 the third age after Christ. In the former ages 
 no trace of it appears — and it was introduced 
 without the command of Christ.' * 
 
 Chambers : ' It appears that in the primitive 
 times none were baptized but adults.' * * In 
 Pcedobap, Exam, 
 
 Tektullian speaking of the work of the 
 Apostles, says, 6 Their business was first to 
 preachy afterwards to dip or baptize : and that 
 those who were ready to enter upon baptism 
 should give themselves to frequent prayers, fast* 
 ings, &c.' 1. 
 
 Jerom speaking of the ministerial work, or- 
 dained by the commission of Christ, says, ' First 
 they teach all nations, and when they are taught, 
 dip them in water.' 2. 1. 2. In Stennett's Ans. 
 to Russen, p. 90. 
 
 Erasmus reads our Lord's commission thus t 
 c Go and teach all nations, and when they have 
 learned, dip them, &c.' In the Portsmouth 
 Dispute* 
 
 Athanasius : c Our Saviour hath not simply 
 commanded to baptize, but says, Teach, then 
 baptize : because true faith proceeds from teach- 
 ing, and baptism then, rightly follows faith.' 
 In his 3. Sermon against the Arians. 
 
No Evidence of Infant-baptism, S?c. 53 
 
 The apostolic Fathers make no mention of bap- 
 tizing infants — Barnabas says, 'Blessed are 
 they who putting their trust in the cross, descend 
 into the water.' And a little after, — < We go 
 down into the water full of sins and pollutions ; 
 but come up again bringing forth fruit ; having 
 in our hearts the fear and hope which is in Jesus, 
 by the Spirit.' Wake's Gen. Epis. p. 180, 181. 
 Bp. Barlow: '1 do believe and know that 
 there is neither precept nor example in Scripture 
 for predobaptism, nor any just evidence for it for 
 about two hundred years after Christ.' Letter 
 to Mr. John Tombs. 
 
 Wolf. Capito : * In the first times of the 
 church no one was baptized, nor received into the 
 holy communion of christians, till after he had 
 given himself up entirely to the word and autho- 
 rity of Christ.' In Pcedobap. Exam. vol. ii.p. 79. 
 Walaf. Strabo : c In the primitive times 
 the ordinance of baptism was administered only 
 to those who through perfection of body and 
 mind, understood what profit they received by 
 baptism ; what was to be professed, what to be 
 believed ; and lastly, what was to be observed by 
 those that were born again in Christ.' Daxye 
 on Bap. p. 63. 
 
 Limborch: c The subject of baptism, to 
 whom it is to be administered, is a believer; one 
 who is endued with a true faith in Jesus Christ, 
 and touched with a serious repentance for past 
 offences.' Sj/st. Div. b. v. chap. 22. 
 
 Saurin : 4 In the primitive church instruction 
 preceded baptism ; agreeable to the order of 
 Jesus Christ, Go, teach all nations, baptizing 
 them, ^c.' Serm. torn. i. p. 301. 
 
54 No Evidence of Infant-baptism, S?c. 
 
 Robinson: 'Not one natural infant of any 
 description appears in this church [Rome] during 
 the first three centuries, and immersion was the 
 only method of baptizing. — Professor Boehmer 
 with his usual accuracy makes a just distinction 
 in regard to the places of baptism. The place 
 of administering baptism,' says he, ' was, not 
 the church but a river, in which people were 
 dipped in the presence of witnesses.' 
 
 c There is no trace of infant-baptism among the 
 catholicks of Spain earlier than the year 517. 
 In this year, it is said, Lender consulted Pope 
 Gregory on the propriety of trine immersion, 
 and Gregory's answer was inserted in a council 
 held at Toleda in 633, where it was determined 
 that baptism should be administered by single 
 immersion.' Researches, p. ISO, 215. 
 
 c It is very evident, that the baptism of natural 
 infants was not so early, nor even so general, as 
 hath been by many imagined. The Fathers 
 should be allowed to expound themselves, and 
 Clement's hymn makes it appear with the utmost 
 evidence that by infant, and little infant, he did 
 not mean either a babe, or a minor, but a christian 
 of any age. His whole book called the Peda- 
 gogue is additional evidence, and he expressly 
 says : Paul defines an infant, in the Epistle to 
 the Romans, where he informs them : 1 would 
 have you wise to that which is good, and simple 
 concerning evil. We, adds Clement, are a choir 
 of such infants. Agreeably to this notion, at the 
 close of his book of Pedagogy, supposing him- 
 self and his companions united in a choir by Jesusj 
 the Pedagogue of all his disciples, he proposes a 
 hymn of praise to be sung by all the church, to 
 
No Evidence of Infant-baptism, 8?c. 55 
 
 the honour of their common benefactor, the only 
 teacher, and the perfect pattern of spiritual in- 
 fancy — that is of innocence.' 
 
 The word infant, as used by the ancients, was 
 of wider extent than is now generally supposed. 
 * Servants are called the master's infants — Foot 
 soldiers are the infantry under the command of 
 general officers — The children of the house of 
 Spain are called infants — In the Gothic laws a 
 man's infants were disqualified for sitting as ju- 
 ry-men in his law-suits, for being his tenants they 
 would be tempted to be partial.' ** 
 
 Young persons during their minority, were, in 
 the middle ages, stiled infants ; as appears from 
 various documents, of which the following is but 
 a sample. — The last will and testament of the 
 little infant Count Gaifer, ' 1, a young infant un- 
 der age, named Gaifer, Count, Son of the late 
 Count Landoar, by this deed, offer to God, and 
 to the famous church of St. Mary, my estate, &c. 
 Done at Salerno in the year 1000.' — The last, will 
 and testament of the little infant Hubert. ' Be it 
 known, that 1, Hubert, a little infant, called Melis, 
 the son of Hugh, of the race of Saracens, &c. 
 Dated 1018.' — An inscription in the eighth cen- 
 tury at Naples, says, ' Basil, the son of Shilibud 
 and Gregoria, lost his life in the twelfth year of 
 his infancy.' ** — When therefore we read in the 
 early periods of ecclesiastical history of the bap- 
 tism of infants, it must not be understood of in- 
 fants as defined by the paxlobaptists \ but of 
 persons in a state of minority. (i) 
 
 - 
 
 (i) The laws of England and our own courts of justico, 
 E 
 
56 JVo Evidence of Infant-baptism, S?c. 
 
 1 Few writers have been so often quoted in the 
 controversy concerning infant- baptism as Tertul- 
 lian, and yet the subject is not so much as menti- 
 oned by this father. They are boj/s and not babes 
 of whose baptism he writes.' ** 
 
 lip. Victor's account of the church at Car- 
 thage, agrees with the above assertion. He says, 
 * There uere, in the church at Carthage, when 
 Kugenius was bishop, a great many little infants, 
 readers, who rejoiced in the Lord, and suffered 
 persecution with the rest of their brethren.' ** 
 
 In another place he says, i There was in the 
 church at Carthage a man named Theucarius, 
 who used to read, and was master of the singers 
 — Twelve of these were little infants. There were 
 also little infants, who in time of persecution ran 
 up and down the streets crying, We are christians 
 — We are christians — We are christians : and as 
 they repeated this three times, both catholicks 
 .and arians thought they held the doctrine of the 
 Trinity : the latter knocked them on the head, 
 and the former registered them for martyrs. — 
 There were seven monks put to death ; Maximus, 
 a little infant, was one. The officers pitied his 
 youth, and tried to persuade him to recant. No, 
 said he, nobody shall persuade me to leave my 
 father abbot, and my brethren. Do not think you 
 can seduce me because I am young — If I deny 
 
 (even in the present clay) stile those persons infants, who are 
 under twenty- one yeais of age. Judge Blacks! one says ; 
 * The full age in male or female is twenty-one years, which 
 age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a 
 person's birth-, who till that time is tin infant, and sostilcd in 
 law.' Comment on the Laics of England) r. i. p. 4C3. 
 
No Evidence of Infant-baptism, S?c. 57 
 
 Christ before men lie will deny rae before his Fa- 
 ther in heaven.' ** 
 
 Cardinal Bellaumine : 'They were all 
 led into the mistake by applying to natural in- 
 fants what Origen had said only of youths and 
 adults. Origen's infants were capable of repent- 
 ance and martyrdom : but the infants of the re- 
 formers were incapable of either.' ** **Hi$t. of 
 Bap. p. 56i, 136, 139, 152, 164, 171, 172, 
 339. 
 
 6 During the first three centuries christian con- 
 gregations all over the east subsisted in separate 
 independent bodies, unsupported by government, 
 and consequently without any secular power over 
 one another. All this time they were baptized 
 churches, and though all the fathers of the four 
 first ages down to Jerom, were of Greece, Syria, 
 and Africa, and though they gave great numbers 
 of histories of the baptism of adults, yet there is 
 not one record of the baptism of a child till the 
 year 370, when Galates, the dying son of the em- 
 perorValens, was baptized, by order of a monarch 
 who swore he would not be contradicted. The age 
 of the prince is unknown.' Researches, p. 55. 
 
 T. Lawson : 'Seethe author of rhantism, that 
 is sprinkling ; not the Apostles, but Cyprian, not 
 in the days of Christ, but some two hundred and 
 thirty years after. — Augustine, the son of the vir- 
 tuous Monice, being instructed in the faith, was 
 not baptized till about the thirtieth year of his 
 age. (k) — Ambrose, born of christian parents, rr- 
 
 (k) 'Aucustivf, [about the year .397] in company with 
 his son. then fifteen years of aje, and bis friend AlypiuA 
 
 e2 
 
58 No Evidence of L?fa)it-baptism, $c. 
 
 mained instructed in christian principles, and was 
 unbaptized till he was chosen bishop of Milan — 
 Jerom, born of christian parents, was baptized 
 "when about thirty years old — Nectarius was 
 chosen bishop of Constantinople before he was 
 baptized' — [Gregory Nazianzen, born in 318, 
 whose parents were christians, and his father a 
 bishop, was not baptized till about thirty years of 
 age — Chrysostom, born of christian parents in 
 347, was not baptized till near twenty-one years 
 of age] * — Basil, whose father, grandfather, and 
 great-grandfather were christians, was not bap- 
 tized till the twenty-eighth year of his age t : 
 and Constantine the great also, the son of Con- 
 stance and Helena, (both eminent christians) born 
 in the year 305 ; was solemnly baptized in Jor- 
 dan, after the example of Christ, by Eusebius of 
 IVicomendia, a little before his death. Miliars 
 Hist, of Christ i. vol. 1. p. 392. *I?i Patdobap, 
 Exam, + Hist, of Bap. p. 69. 
 
 The quotations here produced from eminent 
 pa?dobaptists, and the various historic facts here 
 cited, abundantly prove that baptized believers, 
 in the primitive church, did not baptize their 
 infants. 
 
 was baptized by imnicrsitw, in (be baptistry of Milan, by 
 Ambrose, in tbe thirty-third year of his age. The Cister- 
 cians at Milan have preserved the memory of this by public 
 monument,' Hist, of Bap, p. 203. 
 
The Rise of Infant-baptism, 4*c. 59 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Rise, and Grounds, of Infant-baptism, 
 
 TROBINSON : < The baptism of babes first ap- 
 peared in the most ignorant and impure part of the 
 catholick world, Africa. It was not the offspring 
 of critical learning or sound philosophy, for it 
 sprang up among men destitute of both ; nor 
 did any one ever take the African fathers for phi- 
 losophers, or critical investigators of the sacred 
 oracles of God ; and if they be ail taken for moral 
 men they are overprized, for in spite of their vain 
 boast of an orthodox faith, they were pagans and 
 blasphemers, who worshipped idols in secret, and 
 dedicated their children to demons. There was 
 no crime that they did not practise ; perjury, de- 
 bauchery of every species, oppression, tyranny, 
 and wickedness of every kind ; so that the people 
 groaned for a revolution. When, in the time of 
 Augustine, the Vandals surrounded Carthage to 
 besiege it, the members of the church were lying 
 in luxury at the play, or at some public amuse- 
 ment, and the poor were more wretched and more 
 wicked than they had ever been under the Ro- 
 mans.' ** 
 
 4 There was a ferocity in the manners of the old 
 Carthaginians, and their history is full of exam- 
 ples of the cruel insensibility with which they 
 shed the blood of citizens as well as foreigners. 
 This ferocity they carried into their religion. — 
 When Agathocles was upon the point of besieging 
 Carthage, the inhabitants imputed their misfor- 
 
CO The Rise of Infant-baptism, $c. 
 
 tune to the anger of Saturn, because instead of 
 children of the first quality, which they used to 
 sacrifice to him, they had fraudulently substituted 
 the children of slaves and strangers. To make 
 amends fortius pretended crime, they sacrificed 
 two hundred children of the best families of Car- 
 thage to that god. A brazen statue was set up, its 
 two arms, brought almost together, were extended 
 downward over a fierce fire. The mothers kissed 
 and decoyed their children into mirth lest the god 
 should be offended with the ungraccfulness of his 
 worshippers. The priests were habited in scarlet, 
 and the victims in a purple vest. The children 
 were laid upon the arms of the statue, and rolled 
 from thence into the fire, and a rough music 
 drowned their shrieks lest mothers should hear 
 and relent.' ** •* Hist, of Bap. p. 182, 185. 
 Rollings Ancient Hist. vol. i. p. 115. 
 
 Among such a people as the above lived Fidus, 
 the first on record who proposed the baptism of 
 infants. And though, as Mr. Wall intimates, he 
 was but an indifferent man for a bishop, yet he 
 might be shocked at such horrid abominations. 
 It is more than probable that Fidus bethought 
 himself of baptizing these little ones, as an ex- 
 pedient to save them from the arms of the brazen 
 statue, and from the devouring flame. If so, he 
 ought to be canonized for his humanity, if not for 
 a saint. 
 
 The advocates of Pcedohaptism, from its 
 commencement to the present day, have almost 
 universally ascribed a degree of utility and im- 
 portance to baptism zchich divine Revelation 
 ifeej not warrant. This, however strange it may 
 
Hie Grounds of Infant-baptism, 61 
 
 appear at first sight, hath been one of the princi- 
 pal causes of its being so generally practised. 
 
 Salmasius : ' An opinion prevailed, that no 
 one could be saved without being baptized ; and 
 from that reason, the custom arose of baptizing 
 infants.' In Pen^ill^s Treat, on Bap. p. 51. 
 
 Augustin : 'Not only persons who are come 
 io the use of reason, but also little children, and 
 infants newly born ; if they die without baptism, 
 — do go into everlasting fire.' See Dwct/e on 
 Bap. p. 67. 
 
 Isidorus : ' If children are not baptized, and 
 so ( hereby renewed, and original sin washed away, 
 they are in a state of damnation.' Magd. Cent. 
 7. p. 98. 
 
 Anselm : 6 Children should be baptized, that 
 they may be freed from original sin, and be ren- 
 dered saints and holy ones.' :f 
 
 Bernard: 'Without baptism children can- 
 not be saved.' ± J Danvers on Bap. p. 120. 
 
 Church of Rome : 'Sin, whether contracted 
 by birth from our first parents, or committed of 
 ourselves, — by the admirable virtue of this sacra- 
 ment [baptism] is remitted and pardoned. — By 
 baptism we are joined and knit to Christ, as mem- 
 bers to the head. — By baptism we are signed with 
 a character which can never be blotted out of 
 our souls, — it opens to every one of us the gate? 
 of heaven, &c.' * 
 
 Council of Trent : ' If arw one shall say 
 that baptism is not necessary to Salvation, let him 
 be accursed.' * 
 
 Dodwell : ' It is by baptism the soul is ren- 
 dered immortal.' * *In Pasdobap. Exam. 
 The Lutherans in their Augustine Confer- 
 
62 The Grounds of Infant'baplism. 
 
 sion, made 1530, declare, < hat haplism is ne- 
 cessary to salvation : and (hat God's grace is 
 conferred (hereby. They also condemn (lie bap- 
 tists, for not baptizing infants, and for holding, 
 that children are saved without it.' Danvcrs, 
 p. 128. 
 
 Church of England : 'Baptism wherein 
 I was made a member of Christ, (he child of God, 
 and an inheritor of (he kingdom of heaven.' 
 
 Peterborough Cathedral: 
 
 * Here lies a babe, tbat only rr\\\ 
 
 In baptism to be wasbt from sin, and dy'd. 
 
 January 17, 1C66. IlacfcetCs Epit. p. 124. 
 
 Vossius : 'It is manifest, that in baptism we 
 are born again, adopted, received into the cove- 
 nant of grace ; and upon (hat receive remission of 
 sins, are renewed by (he Holy Spirit, and made 
 heirs of the heavenly kingdom.' * 
 
 J. Ambrose: ' By baptism we are washed, 
 we arc sanctified, we are justified, in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our 
 God/ * 
 
 Mr. Gbe : ' This sacrament of baptism doth 
 confer on (he persons baptized the grace of re- 
 mission, of adoption, and sanctification.' * 
 
 Waterland : ' Baptism alone is sufficient to 
 make one a christian, yea, and to keep him such, 
 even to his life's end.' * 
 
 ' BuRKiTT,speaking of infants under the notion 
 of lambs, calls baptism Christ's ear-mark, by 
 which Christ's sheep are distinguished from the 
 devil's goats.' * 
 
 Hollazius : ' By baptism is applied to us, 
 calling grace — illuminating grace — regenerating 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 63 
 
 grnee — justifying ffrace — indwelling grace — and 
 glorifying grace.' t 
 
 M. Henry : ; Baptism wrests the keys of the 
 heart out of the hands of (he strong man armed, 
 that the possession may be surrendered to him 
 whose right it is. — The water of baptism is de- 
 signed for our cleansing from the spots and defile- 
 ments of the flesh.' * 
 
 G. Whitfield : c Does not this verse JJohn 
 iii« 5. ] urge the absolute necessity of water Bap- 
 tism ? Yes, where it may be had ; but 3iow 
 God will de" 1 with persons unbaptized we can- 
 not tell.' * V 
 
 J. Wesley : c If infants are guilty of original 
 sin, in the ordinary way, they cannot be saved 
 unless this be washed away by baptism.' * 
 
 Dr. Williams : c Jesus Christ was equally 
 liable to ceremonial pollution with the Jews in 
 common; and, when baptized, he was legally 
 purified. — Baptism ratifies the promises, and au- 
 thenticates divine revelation. -. — Baptism gives a 
 legal title to read the Scripture, to all the contents 
 of that sacred volume, and to all the means of 
 conversion. — The obligation to repentance, to 
 holiness, and to obedience, results from being bap- 
 tized, &c.'+ * In Pcedobap. Exam, f In 
 Reply to Williams. 
 
 D. Featley : c The sacrament of baptism 
 ought to be administered to children, as the or- 
 dinary means of their salvation.' Dipper dipt, 
 p. 11. 
 
 R. Carpenter : c Baptism is our birth of 
 water and of the Spirit, opening unto us the king- 
 dom of God ; and, our birth of water and of the 
 
64 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 Spirit, opening unto us the kingdom of God, is 
 nothing else but baptism.' Bap. washed, and 
 shrunk in washing, p. 35. 
 
 G. Clayton : ' Such full assurance of hope 
 have I in the efficacy of this sacrament, [infant- 
 sprinkling] that I doubt not but it will appear in 
 that day, when the secrets of divine operation 
 shall be disclosed, that the seeds and principles 
 of the better life were, in some instances, infused 
 into the mind at the very hour when baptismal 
 water was externally applied, in the name of the 
 Father, &c.' Pious Regard, p. 13. 
 
 Dr. Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln : 6 Justifi- 
 cation takes place at baptism. — Those who are 
 baptized are immediately translated from the 
 curse of Adam to the grace of Christ ; they re- 
 ceive the forgiveness of sins, they become recon- 
 ciled to God, partakers of the Holy Ghost, and 
 heirs of eternal happiness.' JRcfut. of Calvin, 
 p. 101, 83. 
 
 Dr. Gregory : c Except a man be baptized, 
 he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Diet, 
 
 Bp. Beveridge : 4 Put oft' your baptism no 
 longer — It was your parents' fault that you were 
 not baptized before : it is your own if ye be not 
 baptized now. And therefore be advised to fit 
 yourselves for it, as soon as possible, lest as ye 
 have hitherto lived, so ye die too without it, and 
 so be damned for ever.' Serm. on Bap. 
 
 Mr. Lewelyn : c Christ has nothing to do 
 with any man, nor any man with Christ, till he is 
 baptized with water. All power in heaven and 
 earth is in baptism. He that is not baptized has 
 no interest in Father, Son, nor Spirit. — By this 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 65 
 
 ordinance he is united unto the true God, and 
 becomes one with him in all things. Baptism is 
 our righteousness and holiness — It is remission 
 and cleansing from sin, and though our sins are 
 red as scarlet, baptism makes white, and whiter 
 than snow. He who is baptized is as white and 
 clean from sin as God can make him.' Treat, 
 on Bap. p. 5, 11, 18,22,23. 
 
 Though Dr. Feat let/ and Mr. Russen assert, 
 that the baptists arc very ignorant, and a very- 
 impious people : yet it is hoped that nothing will 
 ever be found in any of their writings, that sa- 
 vours half so much of ignorance and impiety, as 
 what we have cited from the works of Vossius, 
 Gee, Williams, Lewelyn, and others* And yet, 
 reader, these are the men, and wisdom and vh> 
 tue are to die with them ! 
 
 This catalogue of antiscriptural assertions, 
 might be easily enlarged, but we forbear ; and 
 dismiss this disgusting part of the subject with a 
 suitable reflection. 
 
 Though the baptists only assert, That none 
 but those who, under divine influence, believe in 
 Christ, and who cherish repentance towards God, 
 are the proper subjects of baptism ; and that it is 
 the duty as well as the privilege of all such to 
 attend to it, according to the command of the 
 great Head of the Church ; yet their opposers 
 have frequently charged them with attaching too 
 much importance to this ordinance. But surely 
 common sense, when divested of prejudice and 
 interest, will confess, That the charge is not only 
 ill-founded, but that it comes from the advocates 
 of, what they call infaut-baptism, with a very 
 
G6 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 bad grace : for it is evident, from the preceding 
 quotations, that they themselves consider it as 
 almost, if not altogether a Saviour. 
 
 * Yes, we have prov'd it by their practice : 
 No argument like matter of fact is.* 
 
 For, according to them, (not to mention all the 
 profane and ridiculous things which they say on 
 the subject) infants are in, if not by, what they 
 style baptism, made members of Christ, children 
 of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. 
 This is the generally prevailing opinion amongst 
 them. The Rev. G. Crabb, in his Poem on th» 
 Parish Register, gives us their sentiments in the 
 following couplet : 
 
 ' Here, with an infant, joyful sponsors come, 
 Then bear the new-made christian to its home. 1 
 
 But is there such a marvellous efficacy in infant- 
 sprinkling as its advocates suppose ? Does it in- 
 deed wash away sin ? Are the babes, at the font, 
 actually made members of Christ, children of 
 God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven ? 
 How then comes it to pass, (hat such numbers of 
 them in subsequent life, are enemies to Christ — 
 are avowedly hostile to religion, and die too in 
 a state of awful impenitence and alienation from 
 God ? What an awful delusion ! Oh, when shali 
 christians learn to surrender their prejudices to 
 reason and revelation, and abandon a practice 
 unknown to the Scriptures — a practice, in its ten- 
 dency, obviously subversive of genuine; vital, 
 and personal religion ! 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 67 
 
 The difficulty of providing for the children 
 of the priests, was another article that forward- 
 ed the baptism of infants. — * They provided si- 
 necures, and even cures for tbem in their child- 
 hood. Pope Gregory reproved the bishop of 
 Liege, for marrying some of his bastards into no- 
 ble families, and portioning them by assignments 
 of church estates; for procuring benefices for 
 others who were minors; for conferring both 
 cures and sinecures on them himself; for giving 
 a prebend in his church to the brother of a nun ; 
 and for portioning two daughters by the same 
 nun with ecclesiastical money. — Ratherius wrote 
 to Martin bishop of Ferrara on the same subject, 
 and reproved him for selling orders to children, 
 of which lie had made a perpetual practice. — 
 There are letters of Atto to his clergy, wherein 
 be describes the manner of ordaining little boys, 
 and uses precisely the same arguments against the 
 practice, as the baptists do against the baptizing 
 of them. It seems, the infants as he calls them, 
 were trained by the rod to give answers to ques- 
 tions in public, which they could hardly utter, 
 and not a word of which they understood. — No 
 step could be taken towards pensioning these 
 little ones before they had been baptized. — They 
 were therefore taught very early to make the 
 responses. A presbyter of twelve years of age, 
 or, as they called them, Little infant presbyters, 
 were very common.' * Pope John the tenth, 
 created a child, of no more than five years of age, 
 bishop of Reims : and Pope John the thirteenth, 
 
C8 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 (who was wont to drink healths to the devil) cre- 
 ated a boy but ten years old, bishop of Tuderti- 
 nat.t This abuse was not local, it prevailed over 
 the whole catholic world. * Hist, of Bap. p. 
 309. t Hist, of Popery, vol. 1. p. 317, 319. 
 Thus was the order of the church subverted, 
 by giving those the name who had not the thing, 
 and by transferring the whole cause of Christi- 
 anity from the wise and pious few to the ignorant 
 and wicked multitude, who, being supposed 
 christians, interfered in religion, degraded the 
 community, invaded the offices, and converted 
 the whole into a worldly corporation. 
 
 The scarcity of Bibles, at the time when the 
 i mystery of iniquity began to work,' was a czr- 
 cumstance favourable to the rise and establish' 
 ment of infant-baptism. 
 
 After the ministers of Christ of the two first 
 centuries had exchanged earth for heaven, men 
 of corrupt minds introduced a variety of heresies 
 and superstitions into the churches. (1) The Scrip- 
 tures, in those days, were in but very fczc hands. 
 
 (1) Several human inventions, beside that of infant bap- 
 tism, were introduced into the African churches in the fourth 
 century.— Prayers were made for the dead---lncense was 
 used in their assemblies—Crosses were placed on their 
 communion-tables— -Wax-lights (in the day-time) were set 
 up in their places of worship --Lighted lamps were placed 
 on the tombs of their martyrs--And the Lord's supper 
 was given to children, to dying persons, and even to the 
 dead.---The8e deviations from the Apostolic practice, were 
 so many steps by which the BJan of Sin ascended his throne 
 in the temple of God. See J. Owen's Covsecrat. of Temples 
 chap. 7 p 56. Dr. AU'tx's IJist of Pudmont, p. 10. 
 
The Grounds of Infant -baptism. 69 
 
 In England, so late as (he time of Edward the 
 first, the price of a bible was from thirty-five to 
 forty pounds sterling. A labouring man, at that 
 time, got but three halfpence a day ; so that the 
 whole earnings of a day-labourer for fifteen or 
 sixteen years, were but just sufficient to purchase 
 a copy of the Holy Scriptures. The dictates of 
 the priests were a law, and their heresies and su- 
 perstitions were, by degrees, received as gospel. 
 And it is well known, that whatever is received 
 and established in the darkest ages, is not easily 
 set aside in after and more enlightened times. 
 An instance of this sort, we have in the history 
 of the Carthaginians: the shocking custom of 
 offering children a sacrifice to their gods, pre- 
 vailed amongst them in the dark ages of pagan- 
 ism ; but, strange to tell ! they continued this 
 diabolical practice for a series of years after they 
 professed the christian religion.* If such a prac- 
 tice, which commenced in the dark ages of pagan- 
 ism, was still continued by a people after they 
 professed Christianity, we need not be surprized 
 that infant-baptism and infant-sprinkling, which 
 owe their origin to the gloomy days of the gene- 
 ral apostacy , should so long be continued amongst 
 those of the half-reformed churches. — Let the 
 followers of antichrist have their seven sacraments 
 — Let them mutilate the Lord's supper — Let 
 them set aside scriptural baptism — Let them 
 sprinkle their infants — But, let the Lord's own 
 people revere his authority, bozi) to his commands, 
 and attend to his ordinances as they are exhibit- 
 ed in the sacred page. * See Sakiani de gubev- 
 not die. lib. viii. 
 
70 The Grounds of Infant-baptism, 
 
 Gross misrepresentation, and violent persecu- 
 tion, have off en been employed to aid the cause 
 of infant - baptism . 
 
 Pope Innocent the first, and AuGUSTiN,had 
 no sooner established infant-baptism in the Mile- 
 vitan council, (a provincial town in Africa) about 
 the year 402, than laws and decrees were made 
 and published in order to enforce the reception 
 and practice of this new antiscriptural ceremony. 
 In the above council it was decreed, fc That it is 
 our Kill, that all who affirm that young children 
 receive everlasting life, albeit they be not by 
 baptism renewed ; and that will not that young 
 children from their mother's womb, should be 
 baptized, to the taking away of original sin — 
 That they be anathematized? — AndTiiEonosius 
 and Honorius published the following edict in 
 the year 413, viz. < Thatall persons re-baptized, 
 as well as the administrator, should be punished 
 with death — and that none should so much as eat 
 with an anabaptist.' It was also decreed, in the 
 first general council held at Carthage, in the year 
 416, ' That we will, that whoever denies that 
 little children by baptism are freed from perdition, 
 and eternally saved — That they be accursed? 
 
 In consequence of the above decrees, Alba- 
 ntjs, a zealous minister, with several others were 
 put to death (about the year 424) for baptizing 
 believers, who had been christened in their in- 
 fancy. See Danxers on Bap. p. 105, 113. 
 
 The Donatists were persecuted for not ad- 
 ministering baptism to infants, and for holding, 
 That infants are saved without it, — Augustin, 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 71 
 
 writing against one of them, says, c Thou ac- 
 knowledges* that children are guilty of original 
 sin, yet absolvest them without the laver of re- 
 generation, and permiltest them to go into the 
 kingdom of heaven. These things are very 
 perverse, and against the catholick faith.' — To 
 another person, who seems to be his friend, he 
 writes thus : 6 Firmly do thou hold, and by no 
 means doubt, that not only men who are come to 
 the use of reason, but also children, whether be- 
 ginning to live in their mothers' womb, and then 
 dying or being newly born : if they die without; 
 baptism, — do go into everlasting fire. — And if 
 thou know any teach contrary hereunto, shun him 
 as the plague, reject him as an heretick, and as 
 an enemy to the christian faith ; let him be ana- 
 thematized by all catholick christians. ' See 
 Davj/e on bap. p. 64 — 76. Darner's Reply to 
 Baxter, p. 41. 
 
 Rob i n son : l About the year 590, a council 
 was held at Toledo in Spain. The king produced 
 the articles of his faith, which he and the queen, 
 the bishops and some nobles subscribed. Here 
 unity of faith, and uniformity of worship were in- 
 troduced, anathemas were plentifully denounced, 
 and the vengeance of heaven and earth was threat- 
 ened to overwhelm all, who did not accede to the 
 faith and the measures of the council. The former, 
 creed was disowned, and a. curse was denounced 
 against anabaptism. In return for these favours, 
 the prelate graced the king with the title of 
 catholick, which descended to his successors.' 
 Researches, p. 208. 
 
 From the above relation we learn, — That in- 
 
 F 
 
72 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 fant-baptism was at its commencement established 
 by compulsion ; and (hat one of l lie most ancient 
 as well as one of the most powerful arguments 
 that was ever urged against (he Baptists, was (hat 
 of putting tlit m to death. This is an argument 
 •which they could never withstand — it has put 
 thousands of them to everlasting silence. 
 
 Extracts taken from Jeffery, of MonmoutJ^ 
 Fuller, and Fabin ; by II. Danvers. 
 
 4 In the country of the Britons, Christianity 
 flourished, which never decayed even from the 
 Apostles' (ime ; among whom was (he preaching 
 of (lie gospel, sincere doctrines, and living faith, 
 and such form of worship, as was delivered to the 
 churches by the Apostles themselves. They, 
 even to death itself, withstood the Romish rites 
 and ceremonies. — About the year 593, the En- 
 glish Saxons compleated their conquest of the 
 Britons. — In b96, Gregory, bishop of Rome, 
 sent Austin (he monk into England, to bring the 
 Saxons into a conformity to the church of Rome : 
 for as long as the British churches possessed the 
 country, they were kept sound in the faith, and 
 pure in the worship, order, and discipline of 
 Christ. — Austin endeavoured to reduce the Bri- 
 tons as well as the Saxons, to a conformity to the 
 church of Rome ; at which time, the old Britons 
 were principally in Wales, where Bangor on the 
 north, and Cair-Leon on (he south, were the two 
 principal seats, both for learning and religion : 
 in Bangor was a college containing two thousand 
 one hundred christians, who dedicated them- 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 75 
 
 selves to tbe Lord, to serve him in the ministry, 
 as they became capable ; to whom was attributed 
 the name of monks of Bangor. Yet did they in no 
 ways accord with the popish monks of that, or 
 the following age ; for they were not reduced to 
 any ecclesiastical order ; but were for the most 
 part, lay-men, who laboured with their hands,, 
 married, and followed their calling ; only some 
 of them, whose spirits the Lord fitted and in- 
 clined to his more immediate service, devoted 
 themselves to tiie study of the Scriptures, and 
 other holy exercises, in order to the work of the 
 ministry : who sent forth many useful instru- 
 ments : many of whom Austin got to a council 
 he kept about Worcestershire ; where he pro- 
 pounded to them the embracing the Romish rites, 
 and to join with him in preaching and in ad- 
 ministering in their way ; which they refused. 
 Then he said to them, Since you will not assent 
 to my hests generally, assent you to me specially 
 in three things : The first in your keeping Easter- 
 day in the form and time as it is ordained [at 
 Rome]. The second, that you give Christendom 
 to children. And the third, that you preach to 
 the Saxons, as I have exhorted you : and all the 
 other debate, I shall suffer you to amend and re- 
 form among yourselves. But they would not. 
 To whom then Austin said, That if they would 
 not take peace with their brethren, they should 
 receive war with their enemies ; and suffer by 
 their hands the revenge of death ; and which 
 Austin accomplished accordingly, by bringing 
 the Saxons upon them, to their utter ruin. And 
 thereupon, that faith that had endured in Britain. 
 e2. 
 
74- The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 for near four hundred years, became near extinct 
 throughout the land.' 
 
 Humphry Loyde : c In Denbighshire, neiir 
 
 the castle of Holt, is seen the rubbish and reliqiiics 
 of the monastery of Bangor, while the glory oft he 
 Britons flourished; in llie same were two thou- 
 sand one hundred monks, very well ordered and 
 learned, divided into seven parts, daily serving 
 God ; amongst whom those thai were unlearned* 
 by their handy labour, provided meat, drink, and 
 apparel for the learned, and such as applied 
 themselves to their studies ; and if any thing was 
 remaining, they divided it among the poor. That 
 place sent forth many hundred of excellently 
 well-learned men — and afterwards, by the envy 
 and malice of Austin, that arrogant monk, and 
 the most cruel execution of his minister Ethelfred 
 [the pagan king of Northumberland] these worthy 
 men were destroyed, the whole house, from the 
 very foundation, together with their library (more 
 precious than gold) was razed down and demo- 
 lished by fire and sword.' Brev. of Brit. p. 70, 
 
 Thomas Crosby : i I have traced the practice 
 of the British churches relative to baptism, from 
 their commencement to the time that sprinkling 
 was first intrcduced among them : and 1 find that 
 in the first three centuries, no other rite was used 
 as baptism but that of immersion ; and no other 
 subjects were baptized, but those of adults upon 
 a profession of their faith : and after the subjects 
 were changed, and infant-baptism was introduced 
 by a massacre of almost all those that refused to 
 comply with the change, yet immersion was con- 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 75 
 
 firmed for about twelve hundred years.' Pref. 
 to Cros. Hist. vol. 2. p. 54. 
 
 From the preceding extracts, we find, (hat the 
 college at Bangor was laid in ruins — its valuable 
 library was reduced to ashes — and a great num- 
 ber of God's people were massacred; for no 
 other reason but because these primitive believers 
 would not ke'*p Easter with the Pope — because 
 they would not baptize infants — and because 
 they would not preach in conjunction with an 
 anti-christian monk. — For so far from Austin's 
 being the converter of the English to the true faith, 
 (as is often supposed by the vulgar) in fact, he 
 was the subverter of pure religion, the murderer 
 of saints, and the first promulgator of Romish 
 abominations in this island. The authors of the 
 history of popery very justly style him, 'The 
 churches' Butcher.' vol. 1. p. 56. 
 
 Sebastian Frank : 'About the year 610, 
 ch ildren's-baptism was held in many places of 
 little esteem, owing to the learned endeavours of 
 Adrianus and others ; therefore the popes set 
 themselves to uphold it; and particularly at the 
 council of Bracerene, in 610 it was ordained, 
 concluded, and published, that young children 
 must be baptized ; as being necessary to salvation, 
 upon penalty of damnation.' Danvers on Bap. 
 p. 232. 
 
 In a, one of the kings of the West-Saxons, 
 about the year 700, decreed ; that every family, 
 possessed of goods to the value of twenty pence, 
 should pay one penny a-yearlo blessed saint Peter 
 and the church of Kome. He also prescribed a 
 penalty for deferring the baptism of infants be- 
 
76 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 yond thirty days, and a much greater when they 
 died unbaptized.' Toulmins Hist, of Taunton* 
 
 The emperor Charlemagne, also, levied a 
 heavy fine on the parent, who, except he had 
 a licence from the priest, did not baptize his 
 child within a year after its birth.' Hist, of Bap, 
 p. 426. 
 
 In 1050, pope Leo the third, in his decretal 
 epistle to the bishop of Aquitain, commanded 
 that young children should be baptized, because 
 of original sin. t 
 
 In 1070, pope Gregory the seventh, decreed, 
 that those young children whose parents are ab- 
 sent, or unknown, should be baptizedA + Dan- 
 vers on Bap. p. 249. 
 
 Deylingius : ' If christian parents defer ihc 
 baptism of their infants ; or, seized by the spirit 
 of anabaptism — will not have them baptized at 
 all ; then by the authority of the magistrate, the 
 infant must be taken from the parents, and when 
 initiated by baptism, returned to them,' In 
 Pcedobap. Exam. 
 
 In 1022, Heribertus, Lisonius, and Stephanus, 
 with eleven more, were burnt at Orleans, in 
 France, for opposing infant-baptism.* 
 
 At Goslar, in the time of the emperor Henry 
 the third, several persons were put to death for 
 opposing infant-baptism. • 
 
 In 1095, at Parenza, in Italy, many who oppos- 
 ed infant-baptism, were condemned and suffered 
 death. — Peter Ablardus, a learned man, and a 
 great opposer of infant-baptism, was imprisoned 
 and martyred at Rome. * 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 77 
 
 In 1105, several persons were banished out of 
 the bishoprick of Tryers for opposing infant -bap- 
 tism.* * Danxers on Bap. p. 234, 235, 257. 
 
 ' Peter de Bruys, [an itinerant baptist] who 
 made the most laudable attempt to reform the 
 abuses and to remove the superstitions that dis- 
 figured the beautiful simplicity of the gospel ; 
 and after having engaged in his cause a great 
 number of followers, during a laborious ministry 
 of twenty years' continuance, was burnt at St. 
 Giles's, in 1130, by an enraged populace, set on 
 by the clergy, whose traffic was in danger from 
 the enterprising spirit of this new reformer.' 
 
 c Henry, his successor, [who also opposed the 
 church of Rome in the article of infant-baptism] 
 left Lausanue, a city of Switzerland, travelled to 
 Mans, and being banished thence, removed suc- 
 cessively to Poictiers, Bourdeaux, and the coun- 
 tries adjacent, and at length to Tholouse, in 
 
 1147, exercising his ministerial function in all 
 these places, with the utmost applause from the 
 people, and declaring, with the greatest vehe- 
 mence and fervour, against the vices of the clergy, 
 and the superstitions they had introduced into 
 the church. At Tholouse he was warmly op- 
 posed by St. Bernard, by whose influence he was 
 overpowered, notwithstanding his popularity, 
 and obliged to save himself by flight. But being 
 seized in his relreat, by a certain bishop, he was 
 carried before pope Eugenius the third, who pre- 
 sided in person at a council then assembled at 
 Bheirns, and who, in consequence of the accusa- 
 tions brought against Henry, committed him, in 
 
 1148, to a close prison, where, in a little time 
 
78 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 sifter this, he ended his sufferings,' JMosheim^s 
 Eccles. Hist. cent. 12. part 1 1, chap. 5. Sten~ 
 mtCs Ans. to Russcn, p. 8,'i. 
 
 Twisk's CiiRON. ; century the eleventh, p. 
 423 : 4 It appears that in this age, the baptism 
 of believers was asserted and practised by the 
 Waldenses and Albigenses.' Uanvers on Bap. 
 p. 72. 
 
 Favin, the French chronologer, says, * In 
 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Albigen- 
 ses did deny infant-baptism, esteeming it super- 
 stitious.' Danvers' Reply to Wills, p. 125. 
 
 Barnard, the monk, accuses the Albigenses 
 with holding a variety of (what he styles) here- 
 sies ; and among the rest, that of their despising 
 infant-baptism. — Guimondus, Bp. of Aversa, 
 likewise charges them with overthrowing, as 
 much as in tliem lay, the baptism of infants. 
 Dr. Allixs Hist, of Piedmont, p. 123, 147. 
 
 Peter Auterii (one of their ministers) is 
 accused of teaching, ' That the baptism of water, 
 made by the church [of Rome] was of no avail 
 to children ; because they [the children] were 
 so far from consenting to it, that they wept. 1 
 Limborch's Hist, of the Inquisition, by Chand- 
 lery vol. 1. p. 44. 
 
 Arnold, another of their ministers, is also ac- 
 cused by the church of Rome as unsound in his 
 judgment about the sacrament of the altar, and 
 infant-baptism. In other words (says Mr, Jones) 
 fie rejected the popish doctrine of transu Instantia- 
 tion and of the baptism of infants. — In one of 
 their confessions of faith, they sny, ' By this or- 
 dinance, [baptism] we are received into the holy 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 79 
 
 congregation of God's people, previously pro- 
 fessing and declaring our faith and change of life.' 
 — Mr. Jones in his Sketch of (he State of the 
 Church from A. D. 843 to 1160, says, « As the 
 catholics of those times baptized by immersion, 
 the Waldenses made no complaint of the mode 
 of baptizing ; but when they were examined, 
 they objected vehemently against the baptism of 
 infants, and condemned it as an error.' See 
 Jones's Hist, of the Waldens. p. 322, 330, 
 33i\ 368. 
 
 Cassander the historian (though a paedobap- 
 tist) declares, that the greatest part of the Albi- 
 genses were opposers of infant- baptism. In 
 Stennetfs Ans. to Russen, p. 82. 
 
 Dutch Martyrolog y, p. 307—320 : < The 
 Waldenses and Albigenses, do cast far from them 
 all the sacraments of the Romish church, and 
 among those, they do wholly reject that of infant- 
 baptism : but for that baptism, according to 
 Christ's appointment, they have a very high 
 value and esteem.' Danxers's Reply to Wills, 
 p. 130, 131. 
 
 The Albigenses, alias Waldenses, were a sect 
 of reformers about Tholouse and Albigois, in 
 Languedoc, in the twelfth century. Peter Valdo 
 was oue of their principal leaders, who sold his 
 goods and distributed the money among the poor 
 — he baptized only the adult — and in other 
 things was remarkable for opposing the church 
 of Rome. Hist, of Relig. vol. 4. A. L. B. 
 
 Jacob Merningus : ' I have seen a con- 
 fession of faith in the German tongue, of the 
 baptists, called Waldenses, which asserts, That 
 
80 The Grounds of Infant-baptism, 
 
 in the beginning of Christianity there was no 
 baptizing of infants : and that their forefathers 
 practised no such thing.' Morning. Hist, part 2. 
 p. 738. 
 
 W. Jones : ' At the period alluded to, [1530] 
 there were nearly a million of Waldenses scattered 
 throughout the different countries of Europe; 
 and though I will not go so far as to affirm that 
 they were all baptists, yd I have the testimony 
 of two unexceptionable historians, viz. Limborcli 
 and Mosheim, that they were almost wholly 
 such.' Letter to the editor of the Bap. Mag. 
 Dec. 1812. (m) 
 
 In 1179, pope Alexander the third, in the 
 Lateran council, anathematized the Waldenses, 
 for denying baptism to infants, t 
 
 In 1281, pope Lucius held his general council 
 at Verone, wherein the Albigensian sect were 
 damned for daring to preach without apostolical 
 approbation, and for teaching otherwise about 
 the eucharist, baptism, — and other sacraments of 
 the church, than the church of Rome preacheth 
 and observeth. + t Darners on Bap. p. 257, 252. 
 
 6 The first means the popes used to extirpate 
 the Waldenses, before they came to open force, 
 was with spiritual thunder-bolts and anathemas, 
 severe constitutions and decrees, to render them 
 odious to the princes and people of the earth, pro- 
 hibiting all manner of society and communion 
 with them, sentencing them as unworthy of the 
 
 (m) The author thought it proper to prove that the Wal- 
 denses uere Baptists, before he produced a sample of their 
 sufferings tor their being such. 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism, 81 
 
 least public charge, honour, profit, or inheri- 
 tance ; nay, not so much as to have a burial-place 
 among other christians, confiscating their goods, 
 disinheriting their children, and razing their 
 houses to the ground. Which sentences are to 
 this very day to be see/), together with several 
 popes' letters, containing the strict commands 
 they laid on kings, princes, magistrates, consuls, 
 and people, to enquire after them, and root them 
 out without mercy ; giving their accusers a third 
 part of their property.' Hist, of Popery y vol. 1. 
 p. 427. 
 
 In 1182, many of the Waldensian faith suf- 
 fered death in Flanders, under the earl Philip 
 Elzates, for opposing infant-baptism.* 
 
 Pope Innocent the third, in 1199, writes his 
 decretal epistle to the abp. of Aries respecting 
 the Albigensian sect, to which Baronius in his 
 annals, writes this preamble : ' Among (he Aria- 
 tenses were hereticks who excluded infants from 
 baptism, counting them incapable of that hea- 
 venly privilege : therefore did Innocent write 
 this epistle to the abp. of Aries, to confute and 
 confound them. Wherein having given many- 
 arguments to enforce the baptizing of infants, he 
 makes this decree, viz. That since baptism is 
 come in the room of circumcision, therefore not 
 the elder only, but also young children, which 
 of themselves neither believe nor understand, 
 shall be baptized, and in their baptism original 
 sin shall be forgiven them.' * * Dangers on 
 Bap. p. 258, 253. 
 
 This pope, in order to confute and confound 
 Uiese Waldenses, promised full pardon of all sin, 
 
82 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 and paradise for ever, (o all that would bear arms 
 against them for forty days : by which promise 
 lie assembled a vast army ; who, in six months, 
 or thereabout, butchered two hundred thousand 
 of these pious and zealous opposers of the Roman 
 Antichrist. Hist. ofRelig. to/. 1. p. 206. 
 
 In 1200, many of the Waldenses who opposed 
 the church of Rome in the business of infant-bap- 
 tism, were burnt in Germany by Coradus van 
 Morpurgh. * 
 
 In 1230, many of the Waldenses suffered death 
 in the bishoprick of Tryers, for opposing infant- 
 baptism. * 
 
 In 1232, nineteen persons were burnt, witness- 
 ing against infant-baptism in the bishoprick of 
 Tholouse. — At Marseilles in France, four monks 
 who had been converted from the Romish reli- 
 gion, were by pope John the twenty-second, 
 burnt for opposing infant-baptism.* * Danxers 
 on Bap. p. 258, 235. 
 
 In 1336, four baptized persons, three men 
 and one woman, were apprehended and thrown 
 into prison at Zierixsee : and afterward, tortured 
 upon the rack till the blood ran down to their 
 feet : on the fourth of July they were beheaded 
 — their bodies were burnt, and their heads w^re 
 set upon stakes. Brandt's Hist. vol. I. p. 74. 
 
 At Cremo in Austria, in the bishoprick of Pas- 
 sau, many of the Waldenses were burnt for op- 
 posing infant-baptism in 1315. — A pious woman 
 named Peronne, of Aubiton in Flanders, was 
 burnt in the profession of this faith, witnessing 
 against infant-baptism, in 1373. — At Montpellicr 
 in France, was burnt in 1417, Katherine van 
 
The Grounds of In font -baptism. 83 
 
 Thaw, a pious matron, witnessing against the 
 same error. — At Ausburgh in Germany, in 1517, 
 were burnt several godly and learned men of the 
 Waldensian faith, for opposing infant-baptism. 
 Dan vers, on Bap. p. 236. 
 
 About the year 1522, an edict was published 
 against the baptists, at Zurick, in which there 
 was a penalty of two guilders set upon all such as 
 should withhold (what they call) baptism from 
 their children. 
 
 In 1529, nine men, three women, and two boys, 
 for being what their opposers call re-baptized, 
 that is, for being baptized, were put to death 
 near Gant. Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. p. 57, 77. 
 
 In 1527, Leonard Skooner, a baptist minister, 
 was beheaded at Rottenburg in Germany, and 
 seventy more of the same persuasion, were at the 
 same place put to death. — Felix Mans, a faithful 
 servant of Christ, [and one of the first reformers 
 in Switzerland] owning to the same faith, was in 
 the same year drowned at Zurick. Danvers on 
 Bap. p. 236. 
 
 About this time, John Wadon and two other 
 baptized persons were roasted to death by a slow 
 fire at the Hague. Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. ^.57. 
 
 One Simon, who kept a stall in the market- 
 place of Bergen-op-zoom, being a baptist, refused 
 to kneel to the sacramental bread, as it was car- 
 ried before his shop; for which offence he was 
 imprisoned, condemned to death, and burnt with- 
 out the town. His wonderful constancy and cou- 
 rage in suffering, made such an impression upon 
 the lord of the place, who had caused him to be 
 prosecuted, and had seen his end, that as soon as 
 
84 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 he bad readied bis borne, be fell into a violent fit 
 of sickness both of body and mind ; during which 
 be did nothing but cry out, oh Simon ! oh Simon ! 
 Tbe monks endeavoured to pacify him, but all in 
 vain : be died soon after in awful despair. In 
 lleess Ans. to Walker, p. 215. 
 
 In 1528, tbe learned Dr. B. H. Pacimontamis, 
 of tbe town of WaHazar, was burnt at Vienna (or 
 preaching and writing against infant-baptism. — 
 In this year, Hans Shadier and Leonard Freek, 
 at Schwas, and Leopald Suyder, at Au&burgh, 
 were beheaded ; and eighteen persons at SaKz- 
 burgh, and twenty-five at Waltzen, were burnt, 
 for opposing infant-baptism. Preface to Crpsby's 
 Hist, vol 1. p. 19, 30. 
 
 About the year 1530, Erasmus was so dis- 
 pleased with the means used to establish the re- 
 formation in Germany, that he writ a letter to the 
 inhabitants of East-Frieseland, in which he ex- 
 horts them to avoid disorders and tumults. — He 
 was particularly offended at the Zuinglians per- 
 secuting the baptists ; for it was about that time, 
 that the magistrates of Zurich ordered by a se- 
 cond proclamation, that they should be appre- 
 hended in order to be sentenced to death. They 
 [the Zuinglians] maintain, says Erasmus, 'That 
 hereticks ought not to be punished with death ;' 
 and yet they inflict a capital punishment upon 
 the baptists, though there is hardly any thing to 
 be blamed in their conduct, and though many of 
 them have renounced a very bad life, to live a 
 very virtuous one. * 
 
 In 1532, a woman, for being baptized, was 
 thrown into the lake of Harlem. Her husband,. 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 85 
 
 and two other men were burnt at the Hague. 
 — Tn 1533, a man, named Sikke Snyder, was 
 beheaded at Leu warden, for a like offence. * 
 * Roches Ab. of Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. p. 33, 
 36. (n) 
 
 In this year the harbouring of baptist's minis- 
 ters, was forbidden in Holland ; and a reward of 
 twelve guilders was promised for every one of 
 them that should be apprehended. 1 — In 1535, 
 three men and two women, for being baptized, 
 were put to death at Horn. The men were be- 
 headed — the women were thrown into the sea, 
 willi great stones fastened about their necks. 2, — 
 I n 1539, a man and his wife, with (heir eldest son, 
 for being baptized, were put to death at Mun- 
 nikedam in North-Holland. 3. 1, 2, 3. Brandt's 
 Hist, vol L-jK 60, 69, 78. 
 
 An abstract of the bloody Edict of the Empe- 
 ror Charles the fifth, made June the 10th, 1535, 
 against the Baptists or Waldensian christians, 
 c Commanding all persons to renounce those per- 
 suasions and practices, and to refrain the publish- 
 ing the same, by preaching or otherwise, upon 
 penalty of the forfeiture of life and goods, with- 
 out mercy ; the men to be burnt, the women to 
 be drowned, and all that conceal, harbour, and 
 do not, in their places, prosecute the law against 
 them, to suffer the same penalty. And that those 
 that discover them, to have a third part of their 
 estates : forbidding all mediation or intercession, 
 upon severe punishment ; because they shall 
 
 (n) In this year [1533] the commotions took place at 
 Minister. Mosheiins Hist. vol. 4. ^, 139. 
 
86 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 never partake of merry, nor shall (heir execution 
 be delayed. — In 155(3, Philip (he second, khig 
 of Spain, renewed and enlarged that bloody edict 
 that his father, Charles the tilth, had enacted.' 
 [ This cruel edict was in full force for about forty- 
 rive years ; during which period thousands were 
 burnt, drowned, banished, &c. for no other reason 
 but because the objects of it conscientiously ad- 
 hered to scriptural baptism.] 
 
 In the former part of the thirteenth century, 
 in the space of about twenty years, it lias been 
 computed that a million of the Albigenscs were 
 put to death in the Southern provinces of France 
 only. — On the 31st of January, 1686, the duke 
 of Savoy published an order, forbidding his sub- 
 jects the exercise of the protestant religion upon 
 pain of death, the confiscation of their goods, the 
 demolition of their places of worship, and the 
 banishment of their pastors. All infants born from 
 that time were to be baptized and brought up in 
 the Roman catholick religion, under the pen ally 
 of their fathers being condemned to the gallies ! 
 The king of France marched an army to the con- 
 fines of Piedmont, to see the order of the duke 
 properly executed. — The persecution which took 
 place in consequence of the above order, dis- 
 peopled the vallies of Piedmont of their ancient 
 inhabitants; and the lamp of heavenly light, 
 which during a long succession of ages, had there 
 shined in resplendent lustre, was at length totally 
 removed. See Jones's Hist, of the JFaldetises, 
 p. 442, 572, 576. 
 
 Dr. Featley, that bitter enemy of the baptists, 
 tells us, that i At Vienna many of the baptists 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 87 
 
 were so (ied together in chains, that one drew the 
 other after him into the river, wherein they were 
 all suffocated : many thousands of this sect, who 
 defiled their first baptism by a second, were bap- 
 tized the third time in their own blood.' — c Here,* 
 (saj r s the Dr.) * you may see the hand of God in 
 punishing these sectaries some way answerable to 
 their sin — They who drew others into the whirl- 
 pool of error, are constrained to draw one another 
 into the river to be drowned ; and they who pro- 
 phaned baptism by a second dipping, rue it by 
 a third immersion.' FeaXley s Dipper clipt y 
 p. 73, 257. 
 
 In 1536, two men, and a woman, for being 
 baptized, were beheaded, and burnt at Ziriezee. 
 Roches Ah. of Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. p. 59. 
 
 About the year 1547, one Hicht Haynes, a 
 Frisian woman, was taken out of her house soon 
 after she had been baptized, and bound with 
 cords, though big with child, and hurried away 
 to prison at Leuwarden ; where she was delivered 
 of a son, who was marked on the arms with his 
 mother's bands. As soon as she was out of child- 
 bed, they put her to the rack, to make her dis- 
 cover those of the same persuasion ; and torment- 
 ed her so grievously, that she lost the use of her 
 hands ; notwithstanding which, she accused na 
 person. At last, she was thrust into a sack, and 
 drowned. Brandt's Hist. vol. I. p. 85. 
 
 In 1569, Peter Paterson, a baptized believer, 
 was burnt at Amsterdam. One of his friends of 
 the same faith, named William Jenson, resolved 
 to see him die, and had the courage to exhort hirn 
 to fight manfully for the truth. He also was ap- 
 
8S The Grounds of 1 )>:fant- baptism. 
 
 prehended, and after lie had been put twice to 
 the rack, (hey caused him to expire in the midst 
 of the flames. + 
 
 Many of the baptists were put to death in 1551. 
 One of them, being upon the scnilbld at Ghent, 
 cried out : ' Inhabit (nits of Ghent, zee do not die 
 like the Heretics, or Lutherans, who hold a pot 
 of beer in one hand, and (he Bible in the other , 
 and disgrace the Word of God by drunkenness, 
 but we die for the Truth.'' t — The above martyr 
 was not the only person that charged the Luther- 
 ans, and the Reformed of those days, with immo- 
 rality. Mr. Brandt, the historian, says, ' The 
 cruelties of the church of Rome made her every 
 day more odious ; but most of those who had 
 embraced the reformation, lived such an unchris- 
 tian life, that their conduct gave Erasmus occasion 
 to say : I am afraid that paganism will succeed 
 pharisaism.' + t Roche's Ab. of Brandt's Hist, 
 vol 1. p. 21, 75, 51. 
 
 A very venerable old man suffered this year : — 
 liis hair was white, his body lean with age, his 
 manners irreproachable, such as naturally sprang 
 from an heart possessed with the fear of God. 
 He was about seventy-five years old, when he 
 became a baptist. Whilst he sat bound like an 
 innocent sheep prepared for the slaughter-house, 
 encompassed by a number of the burghers, wait- 
 ing for the criminal magistrate, who was to pro- 
 nounce sentence of death against him ; one of the 
 officers spake thus to him, in the hearing of the 
 people : i Good father, why do you continue 
 thus obstinate in your accursed error : do you 
 think there is no such a place as hell ? Sir, said 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism* 89 
 
 tlie old man, / believe a hell most certainly ; but 
 I know nothing of the errors you mention. Yes, 
 said another, you are in an error, and in so dread- 
 ful a one, that if you die in it, you will be damned 
 for ever. Are you sure of that ? said the old 
 man : Yes, replied the officer, it is as sure as any 
 thing in the world. If it be so, said the old man, 
 then are ye murderers of my soul. At which 
 the officer cried out to the prisoner ; What do 
 you say, you impudent fellow ? Are we the mur- 
 derers of your soul ? The old man answered ; Do- 
 not be angry, Sir, at the sound of truth. You 
 know, that faith is the gift of God; that neither 
 J, nor any other person, can extort this saving 
 gift out of God's hand; God bestows his gifts 
 on one man early, on another late, just as he 
 called the husbandmen into the vineyard. Sup- 
 pose now, that I have not as yet received this 
 gift, as you have; ought you to punish me for 
 that misfortune ? Might not God, in case you 
 suffered me to live, impart to me as well as to 
 you, this wholesome gift in a week, in a months 
 or in a year ? If then you hinder me from shar- 
 ing therein, by depriving me of this time of 
 grace, what are you otherwise than murderers 
 of my soul ? These plain arguments urged by 
 this good old man, did so move the hearts of the 
 town's people that stood about him, that there was 
 no small murmuring among them ; insomuch 
 that the officer of justice hurried away the prisoner 
 to the Court, where they condemned him to death, 
 and beheaded him the same morning, to the great 
 discontent of many of the burghers, who were 
 g2 
 
90 The Grounds of Infant- baptism. 
 
 forced to behold this lamentable tiagedy in silence. 
 Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. p. 92. 
 
 In 1553, at Dixmude, in Flanders, one Walter 
 Capel, (a baptized believer) was condemned on 
 (he account of his religion. He was a very gene- 
 rous man, and bountiful to the poor, among 
 whom he had often fed a poor simple creature 
 that was maintained by the alms of the town, and 
 passed for a changing. When he was sentenced, 
 this poor man cried out to the judges ; Ye are 
 murderers ; ye spill innocent blood. The man 
 has done no ill, bid alzcays given me bread. 
 And whilst the martyr was at the stake, he would 
 have thrown himself into the lire if he had not 
 been hindered. Nor did his gratitude die with 
 Lis patron, for he went daily to the gallows-field, 
 where the half- burnt carcase was fastened to a 
 stake, and there he stroked the flesh of the dead 
 man with his hand, saying : Ah, poor creature, 
 you did no harm, and yet they have spilt your 
 blood. You gave me my belly full of victuals. 
 And some time after, when the flesh was all con- 
 sumed, he went again to the stake, pulled away 
 the bones, and laying them upon his shoulders, 
 carried (hem to the house of one of the burgo- 
 masters, with whom, as it happened, several other 
 of the magistrates were (hen present ; and casting 
 them at (heir feet, cried out in a snarling tone : 
 There you murderers, you have first eaten his 
 flesh ; eat now his bones. Hist, of Popery, 
 vol. 2. p. 605. 
 
 Algerius, a learned man of Padua, for oppos- 
 ing infant-baptism, had scalding oil cast upon 
 
The Grounds of Infant -baptism. 91 
 
 Lis body, and burnt to ashes at Rome, in 1557. 
 Danvers on Bap. p. 257. 
 
 A copy of the Sentence, passed at Dort, on 
 George JVippe, zcJio had been a Burgomaster 
 at Menin. 
 
 c Whereas George Wippe, born at Menin, in 
 Flanders, lias presumed to be rebsptized, and lias 
 entertained ill opinions, according to the evidence 
 that has been given against him before the ma- 
 gistrates, and his own confession, he is therefore 
 condemned, to the honour of God, and for an 
 example to the public, to be drowned in a barrel, 
 and after that, his body is to be carried to the 
 place of common execution, and there fastened lo 
 the gallows, and his estate forfeited to the Town's 
 Treasury.' Decreed the ilh of August, in 1558. 
 
 The hangman, who was to have executed the 
 above sentence, refused to do it, saying, that he 
 would rather lay down his office, than be guilty 
 of the death of so good a man ; by whose bounty 
 his wife and children had been often fed ; who 
 had often done good to him and others, and never 
 done wrong to any. Thereupon he was remanded 
 back to prison, where he continued seven weeks 
 longer, till at last they caused him to be drowned 
 privately, and in the night, by another hand.' 
 InRees's Ans. to Walker, p. i215. 
 
 In 1560, eighteen baptized persons were put to 
 death on account of their religion, at Antwerp, 
 Gant, and Terveer ; seven of whom were women. 
 Some of the above were privately murdered in 
 the prisons for fear of tumult. * 
 
 Among the various persons that suffered death 
 in 1563, was one John Gerrits Ketelar. This 
 
$•2 The Grounds of bifdnl-baptism. 
 
 man relates in one of his letters, that he had been 
 inhumanly tortured to make him confess who it 
 was that baptized him ; but that he bore it all 
 without the least murmuring or complaint. He 
 wished he could describe what he felt, whilst on 
 the rack ; adding, That the Word of God, and 
 his Saviour's bitter sufferings for sinners, made so 
 deep an impression on his mind, that he thought 
 on nothing else. * * Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. p. 
 136, 148. 
 
 In J 569, Richard Willemson of Asperen, soon 
 after he had been baptized, being pursued in the 
 winter by an officer of justice, ran away. The ice 
 broke under the man who pursued him. Willem- 
 son, perceiving the danger his enemy was in, 
 came back, helped him to get out of the water, 
 and saved his life at the hazard of his own. The 
 officer being moved with his generosity, was will- 
 ing to let him go; but the burgomaster, who 
 came at that very moment, prevented it ; so that 
 the officer, being afraid that his gratitude might 
 endanger his life, carried the poor man to jaif. 
 He was condemned; and was burnt alive on the 
 sixteenth of May. Roche's Ab. of Brandt's 
 Mist. vol. L jp, 122. 
 
 Among the many persons that were burnt in the 
 Low-Countries in this year, was one Flekwvk. 
 He had a long dispute, on several articles of faith, 
 with Cornelius, a friar of Dort, who after his way 
 attempted his conversion. Among other argu* 
 ments which he made use of, lie told Flek. That 
 unless he would embrace the catholick religion, 
 and cause his children to be baptized, he ran the 
 risque of being burnt alive. To which the other 
 
The Ground* of Infant-baptism. 93 
 
 replied, He might run the same risque perhaps, 
 though he should renounce his faith, and suffer 
 his children to be christened. The friar then gave 
 him to understand that in such a case they would 
 allow him the sword. But, said Flek. Co what 
 purpose? zee never meddle with the sword. The 
 friar replied, you know what I mean, you shall 
 only be beheaded. Then Flek. asked, Whether if 
 he sincerely owned he had erred in the faith, and 
 caused his children to be baptized, he should not 9 
 according to the meaning of the friar, become a 
 good christian ? It was answered, yes, in all re- 
 spects. And could you papist, says Flek. spill 
 the blood of such a good christian, without think- 
 ing it a great sin f The friar replied, That as he 
 had been an apostate and a baptist, he ought to die. 
 The prisoner rejoined, That the man of whom. 
 Christ speaks, icho had an hundred sheep did not 
 cut the throat of the lost one, as soon as he had 
 found it, but laying it upon his shoulders, carried 
 it home with great joy. — After this they had ano- 
 ther dispute ; at the close of which the friar called 
 him a blasphemer, a belzebubian, an anabaptist, 
 an infernal trinitarian, and an enemy to the mother 
 of God : he concluded with wishing that he might 
 broil in hell-fire ; and said that he was enough to 
 make a hundred thousand doctors of divinity 
 stark and staring mad. — He was burnt alhe on 
 the tenth of June. Brandt's Hist. vol. I. p. 2S2. 
 In 1572, one of the brethren, who was a painter 
 on glass, was imprisoned at Dort. The magis- 
 trates made no haste to put him to death ; and 
 even one of them had his picture drawn by him. 
 This gentleness displeased the monks; th -»• dc- 
 
91 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 dared, oven in (he pulpits, that the magistrates 
 kept that herctick in prison only to iiave pictures 
 made for them. At last he was burnt to satisfy 
 these sons of antichrist. Being at the stake, he 
 unbuttoned his waistcoat, and showing his bloody 
 breast (for he had been put to the rack)? he cried 
 out, 1 bear in my body the marks of the Lord 
 Jesus. Roche s Ab. of Brandt's Hist, vol. 1. 
 p. 142. 
 
 About the year 1577, many persons for being 
 baptized, were put to death at Antwerp. An ac- 
 count of one of them must at present suffice. 
 Raphael van de Velde had been grievously tor- 
 tured on the rack, yet would he not discover any 
 of his brethren. He writes thus in one of his letters, 
 ./ thought in myself, O Lord, how shall I be 
 able to undergo these torments ! but then it came 
 into my mind that the torments of hell are more 
 grievous, and will last for* ever. I therefore took 
 courage and called upon God — O help me in this 
 extremity, and let me not involve my neighbour 
 in the same distress ; and the Lord inspired me 
 with so much resolution, that I chose rather to 
 die on the rack. And a little after, he says, The 
 .Lord continually freed me from pain ; for zchen 
 J zcas tortured that I thought it teas impossible 
 io bear it, my limbs became benumbed. To God 
 be thanks, and praise, and glory ! In another 
 letter which he writ to his wife ; after thanking 
 iicrforher kindness to him, he recommends her 
 nnd their son to God, in the following expressions, 
 / send you this letter, my dearest, against our 
 approaching separation. It was God that joined 
 us, and it is he that parts us. To him I recoup 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 95 
 
 mend you and your child, as to a faithful Hus- 
 band and Father. Do you continue faithful to 
 him, and he will take care of your soul and body. 
 — With such tranquillity were those people wont 
 to abandon all that was dear to them here below, 
 forthesakeofa good conscience. Brandt's Hist. 
 vol. 1. p. 3*26. 
 
 About the year, 1600, the clergy of Friesland 
 declared against the baptists ; and one of their 
 ministers was banished out of the province. 
 Roche's Ab. of Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. p. 226. 
 
 Mr. Rees informs us, that in and about the 
 Low-Countries only, more than five hundred 
 and seventy baptized persons were put to death, 
 merely on account of their religion ; besides an 
 assembly of these people, which was betrayed at 
 Rotterdam in 1544; a few of whom made their 
 escape, but all that were taken were put to death ; 
 [the men were beheaded, and the women were 
 thrown into a boat and thrust under the ice, and 
 so drowned.] — The historian observes, <■ That in 
 the judgment of charity, there appeared in those 
 not only equal firmness of mind, and the traces of 
 a good spirit, but they had such divine trans- 
 ports, and solid assurances before their exits, as 
 eminently attended our British martyrs.' t 
 
 Cardinal Hosius, one of the pope's presi- 
 dents at the council of Trent, says, ' If the truth 
 of religion were to be judged of, by the readiness 
 and chearfulness which a man of any sect shews 
 in suffering,. then the opinion and persuasion of 
 no sect can be truer or surer than that of the bap- 
 tists ; since there have been none for these twelve 
 hundred years past, that have been more griev- 
 
96 The Grounds of Infant-baptism* 
 
 onsly punished, or that have more chearfully 
 and steadfastly undergone, and even offered 
 themselves to the most cruel sorts of punishments, 
 than these people.' + t In Rees's Ans. to Walker, 
 p. "206, 220. 
 
 Mr. G. Brandt informs us, That about the 
 year 1597, the states of Holland treated the bap- 
 tists with great humanity, notwithstanding the 
 opposition they met with from the protest ant 
 clergy : — and adds, That the persecutors had 
 put to death, in the Low-Countries, ten of the 
 baptists to one of the reformed. See Roche's Ab. 
 vol. 1. p. 236. 
 
 ' The Martyrology of the foreign baptists is a 
 large book, in folio, and the account it gives of 
 the number of their martyrs and confessors, as well 
 as of the cruelties that were used towards them, 
 very much exceeds any thing that has been done 
 in England.' Hist, of Rclig. vol. 4. p. 194. 
 
 J. A. Veluanus, a Flemish writer of the six- 
 teenth century, says, ' That some judges put the 
 baptists to death to keep their places ; and that 
 if they had lived in the time of Christ and his 
 apostles, they would have condemned them to 
 death, rather than lose their ollices.' Roche s 
 Ab. of Brandt's Hist. vol. 1. ;;. 76. 
 
 From the Dutch Mart. Fol. 774.— -Fox's 
 Acts, p. 867, 868, 869, 918, we learn, that, in 
 the time of Henry the fourth, and Henry the 
 sixth, the followers of Wickliffand Lollard were 
 cruelly persecuted, and many of them were put 
 to death because they would not baptize their 
 infants, and for saying that infants are saved 
 without it. Junius junior's Loyal Address, p. 44. 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 97 
 
 In the reign of Henry the eighth, about eigh- 
 teen or twenty of the baptists suffered martyrdom 
 — and sixteen men and fifteen women were ban- 
 ished from this country for opposing infant-bap- 
 tism. Danrers on Bap. p. 306. 
 
 In October, 1538, a commission was sent to 
 Cranmer, Stokesly, Sampson, and others, to en- 
 quire after the baptists — to proceed against them 
 '—to restore the penitent — to burn their books — ■ 
 and to deliver the obstinate to the secular arm. 
 Burnet's Hist. vol. 3. lib. 3. p. 159* 
 
 In the time of Edward thesixth, many persons 
 [for opposing infant-baptism, and for being what 
 their opposers call rebaptized, that is for being 
 baptized] were convented in Paul's church before 
 the bishops of Canterbury and Westminster, Dr, 
 Cox, Dr. May, Dr. Cole, and others ; and being 
 (as they said) convicted, some were dismissed 
 with admonition, and some sentenced to bear the 
 faggot at Paul's cross. Heylins Hist, of the 
 Refor. p. 73. 
 
 Joan Boker and George van Paris were burnt 
 in this reign. — Mr. Strype says, that Boker was 
 a great dispcrser of Tindal's New Testament, and 
 was a great reader of Scripture herself. Which 
 book also she dispersed in the court, and so be- 
 came known to certain women of quality, and was 
 more particularly acquainted with Mrs. Ann 
 Ascue. She used, for the more secrecy, to tie the 
 books with strings under her apparel, and so pass 
 with them into the court. * By this it appears, 
 that she hazarded her life, in dangerous times, to 
 bring others to the knowledge of God's word. 
 * Eccles. Man. vol. 2. p. 214.— Mr. Ncalsays, 
 
98 The Grounds of Infant-baptism, 
 
 that Paris was a man of a strict and virtuous life, 
 and very devout : he suffered with great constancy 
 of mind, kissing the stake and faggots that were 
 to burn him. Hist, of the Puritans, vol. 1. p. 55. 
 
 In queen Mary's time, we lind that several of 
 the baptist's were imprisoned, who gave the fol- 
 lowing grounds against infant-baptism, viz. First, 
 because antiscriptural. Second, because com- 
 manded by the pope. Third, because Christ 
 commanded teaching to go before baptism. Fox's 
 Acts, vol, 3, p. 606. 
 
 In 1555, Mr. Thomas Hanks, (who was brought 
 up a courtier) was burnt alive at Coxshall in 
 Essex, for not permitting his infant-son to be 
 baptized. Clarke's Mart, part 2. p, 140. 
 
 in 1556, Mr. David George, of Delpt in Hol- 
 land, was driven from his own country by per- 
 secution. He died in London, and was honour- 
 ably interred in St. Lawrence's church. Three 
 years after it was discovered that he was a baptist ; 
 upon which his friends were sought after; a 
 number of divines and lawyers were appointed 
 to examine them ; his opinions were condemned 
 by an ordinance ; his picture was carried about 
 in derision and burnt ; and his corps was taken 
 up and burnt likewise. Ivimet/'s Hist, of the 
 Bap, p. 98.^ 
 
 In queen Elizabeth's time, In 1575, a congre- 
 gation of baptists were taken at their meeting 
 near Aldgate ; twenty-seven of whom were shut 
 up in a dungeon, and one of them died in it, four 
 recanted, two were burnt in Smith field, and the 
 rest were banished. Stoic's Citron, p. 678, 679. 
 Roche's Ab. of Brandt's Hist, 'vol, 1. p. 167. 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 99 
 
 In this reign, a proclamation was put forth, 
 commanding all the baptists to depart the king- 
 dom, whether they were natives or foreigners, 
 under the penalties of imprisonment or loss of 
 goods. Crosby'* s Hist, vol. 1. p. 79. 
 
 In the reign of James the first, among the per- 
 secuted exiles that fled to Holland were several 
 baptists, who set up a church under the pastor- 
 ship of Mr. John Smith, who had been a minister 
 of the established church ; but they were vio- 
 lently opposed by the other puritan exiles, from 
 whom they received much abuse. [Many also 
 transported themselves to America, where, for a 
 series of years, they were as grievously oppressed 
 by their congregational brethren, as they had 
 been before, in England, by the episcopalians. 
 They were fined, imprisoned, whipped, harassed 
 in the spiridial courts, and even banished; — for 
 no other offence than that of pleading the cause 
 of Scriptural baptism.] * — In this reign, Edward 
 Wightman, of Burton-upon-Trent, was burnt at 
 Litchfield. He was the last martyr that suffered 
 by this cruel kind of death in England ; and it 
 may be remarked that William Sawtre, [in the 
 time of Henry the fourth] the first that suffered 
 in that manner, for his religious opinions, was 
 supposed to have denied infant-baptism : so that 
 this sect had the honour both of leading the way, 
 and bringing up the rear, of all the martyrs who 
 were burnt alive in England. Hist, of Relig, 
 vol. 4. p. 197. *■ Backus's Hist, of the Ameri- 
 can Bap. rot. 1. p. 231, 237, 364. 
 
 In the reign of Charles the first, Ephraim 
 Pagitt, a priest in the city of London, drew up 
 
100 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 a volume of all the false and filthy tales about 
 town, and added a list of heresies and half here- 
 sies and presented it lo the Lord-Mayor, humbly 
 hoping that the parliament would suppress the 
 baptists, for in other countries christian princes 
 and magistrates had never left burning, drowning, 
 and destroying them, till their remainder v. as con- 
 temptible. Hist, of Bap. p. 467. 
 
 In 1645, Dr. Featly published a vile libel 
 on the baptists ; which he dedicated to the most 
 noble Lords, with the honourable Knights, Citi- 
 zens, and Burgesses, then assembled in Parlia- 
 ment. In the preface to which he tells them, that 
 the baptists ought to be most carefully looked af- 
 ter, and severely punished. Yea, that they ought 
 to be utterly exterminated and banished out of 
 the church and kingdom. And in order to render 
 them odious,not only to the government, but to the 
 public at large ; Featly asserts, that 4 The bap- 
 tists are an illiterate, sottish, lying, blasphemous, 
 impure, carnal, cruel, bloody, prophane, and 
 sacrilegious sect.' He says, that four of them came 
 to him, to dispute about infant-baptism — church- 
 government, &c. whom, (according to his o:cn 
 account) he treated with the utmost contempt. 
 Yet we find, that one of these very men, whom 
 lie loads with so much abuse, was no less a per- 
 son than the renowned William Kilfin — a man of 
 superior talents — a scholar, possessed of a large 
 fortune, and pastor of a baptist church meeting in 
 Devonshire-square : who oUcn conversed with 
 king Charles the second : and at a time when the 
 king was in want of money, Mr Kirhn gave him 
 ten thousand pounds. He was also personally 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 101 
 
 known to king James the second ; and was by 
 him made a justice of the peace, and an alderman 
 of London — lie was often before, and disputed 
 with, the privy-council. And yet Featly repre- 
 sents this man, among others, as a mere Igno- 
 ramus! What will not such men say, or do, in 
 order to support an antiscriptural ceremony, and 
 to traduce the character of those who conscien- 
 tiously differ from them ! Preface to Featley's 
 Dipper Dipt. Wilson's Hist, of Noncon. 
 Churches ) vol. 1. p. 403. 
 
 About this time, that holy man Mr. Samuel 
 How, baptist minister at Deadman's-place, Lon- 
 don, was excommunicated, — and denied, what 
 they call, christian burial. A constable's guard 
 paraded the parish ground at Shoreditch, to pre- 
 vent his interment. — At length he was buried at 
 Agnes-la-clear. Crosby's Hist. vol. 1. p. 164. 
 
 In the beginning ot Cromwell's usurpation, an 
 ordinance was published against a variety of [what 
 was styled] heresies. One of which was, that 
 'Whosoever shall say that the baptism of infants 
 is unlawful and void, and that such persons ought 
 to be baptized again, shall upon conviction, by 
 the oath of two witnesses, or by his own confes- 
 sion, be ordered to renounce his said error in the 
 public congregation of the parish where the 
 offence was committed. And, in case of refusal, 
 he shall be committed to prison till he find sure- 
 ties that he shall not publish or maintain the said 
 error any more.' This presbyterian ordinance 
 was dated May 2, 1648. Upon Which several 
 baptists were prosecuted for denying the validity 
 of infant-baptism. Hist, of /{dig. iol. 4, p. 
 132, 202. 
 
102 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 About the year 1659, Mr. Edwards, lecturer 
 at Christ-Church, directed magistrates how they 
 should act to establish presbytery without liberty 
 of conscience to others : — tie tells them, they 
 should execute some exemplary punishment upon 
 all dippers — And if any, after being dipped, fall 
 sick and die, the dippers should be indicted upon 
 the statute of killing the king's subjects, and pro- 
 ceeded against accordingly. The parliament (he 
 said) should forbid all dipping, and take some 
 severe coarse with all dippers, as the senate of 
 Zurick did. — Mr. Edwards might well call it 
 some severe course ; for an edict was published 
 at Zurick in 1530, making it death for any to be 
 baptized who had been christened in their in- 
 fancy. Upon which law, several baptized per- 
 sons were tied back to back, and thrown into the 
 sea ; others were burnt alive, and many starved 
 to death in prison. See Crosby' 's Hist. vol. 1 . 
 p. 178, 184. 
 
 In 1641, Mr. Edward Barber, a baptist mi- 
 nister in London, was kept eleven months in 
 prison, for denying the validity of infant-bap- 
 tism. 1. 
 
 Mr. Ben. Cox, a bishop's son, and some time 
 minister of Bedford, was committed to Coventry 
 goal, for preaching and disputing against infant- 
 baptism in the year 1643. 2. 
 
 Mr. Hen. Denne, who had been educated at 
 Cambridge, ordained a minister by the bishop of 
 St. David, and enjoyed the living of Pyrton, in 
 Hertfordshire, about ten years, upon changing 
 his opinion about baptism, was in 1644 appre- 
 hended in Cambridgeshire, and sent to jail for 
 preaching against infant-baptism, and for bap- 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 103 
 
 tizing believers who had been christened in their 
 infancy. 3. 
 
 In 1645, Mr. Andrew Wyke was taken up 
 and imprisoned in the^county of Suffolk, for a 
 like offence. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. Crosby's Hist. vol. 1. 
 p. 219,220,221,235. 
 
 1 In the time of Charles the second, and James 
 the second, they [the baptists] were every where 
 loaded with fines, hardships, reproaches, and 
 abuse. To survey the sufferings of these pious 
 and worthy persons, who encountered all perils 
 for the sake of a good conscience, would draw 
 tears from the sympathetic eye. We really think 
 their fortitude proceeded from the secret influence 
 of a superior and unseen power, which strength- 
 ened them in the day of trial.' Impartial Hist. 
 xol. 4, p. 202. 
 
 In the above reigns, the baptists atUpottery, 
 in the county of Devon,were so narrowly watched, 
 and so bitterly persecuted by their opposers, that 
 they were obliged to meet in woods in the middle 
 of the night for divine worship ; nor did they 
 dare to assemble twice following in the same place. 
 They were also under the necessity of adminis- 
 tering the sacred ordinance of baptism in the 
 night season. This was often done in the court- 
 yard of Mr. Thomas Quick, the author's great- 
 grand-father. 
 
 Mr. Sam. Oates, a very popular preacher, and 
 great disputant, taking a journey into Essex, in 
 1646, preached in several parts of that county, 
 and baptized great numbers of people, especially 
 about locking, Braintree, and Tarling. This 
 made the presbytcrians in those parts \ery un- 
 it 
 
104 TVie Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 easy, especially the ministers, who complained 
 bitterly that such things should be permitted; and 
 spurred on the magistrates all they could to sup- 
 press him. It happened that among the hundreds 
 which he had baptized in this county, one died 
 within a few weeks after ; and this they would 
 have to be occasioned by her being dipped in 
 cold water. Accordingly they prevailed upon the 
 magistrates to send him to prison, and put him in 
 irons as a murderer, in order to take his trial at 
 ihe next assizes. Great endeavours were used that 
 he might be brought in guilty : nay, so fond were 
 some of this story, that they published it for truth 
 before it bad been legally examined. They de- 
 clared that he held her so long in the water, that 
 she fell presently sick ; that her belly swelled with 
 Ihe abundance of water she took in, and within a 
 fortnight or three weeks died; and upon her 
 death-bed expressed her dipping to be the cause 
 •of her death. All which was afterwards made ap- 
 pear to be notorious falsehoods. They arraigned 
 Lim for his life at Chelmsford assizes ; but upon 
 ins trial several credible witnesses were produced, 
 among whom the mother of the maid was one ; 
 who all testified upon oath, that the said Ann 
 Martin (that being her name) was in better health 
 for several days after her baptism than she had 
 been for some years before : and that she was seen 
 to walk abroad afterwards very comfortably. So 
 that notwithstanding all the malignity that ap- 
 peared in this trial, he was brought in not guilty, 
 to the great mortification of his enemies. — Not 
 long after this, Mr. Oates went to Dunmow in 
 Essex : when sonic of the zealots for infant-bap- 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 105 
 
 lisra in that town beard where he was; without any 
 provocation but that of his daring to come there, 
 they dragged him out of the house, and threw 
 him into a river,boasting that they had thoroughly 
 dipped him. Crosbys Hist. to/. 1. p. 236, 241. 
 
 In 1664, the venerable Benjamin Keach, pastor 
 of a baptist church atVVinslow, in Buckingham- 
 shire, was imprisoned — accused of sedition and 
 heresy — stood twice in the pillory (two hours 
 each time) and paid a fine of twenty pounds to 
 the king, for no other offence than that of his 
 publishing a baptist catechism. His book was, 
 by order of Lord Chief Justice Hide, burnt at 
 Winslow by the common hangman. * 
 
 In 1666, Mr. Robert Shakier, (a baptized be- 
 liever) who had suffered much by imprisonment 
 for Christ's sake, and who dying soon after his 
 release from confinement, was interred in the 
 common burying-ground amongst his ancestors : 
 the same day that he was buried, certain zealots, 
 inhabitants of Croft, in the county of Lincoln, 
 opened his grave, took him from thence, and 
 dragged him to his own gate, and there left 
 him/* *See Crosbtfs Hist. vol. 2. p. 187, 239. 
 
 In 1683, Thomas de Laune, a pious and 
 learned baptist, with his wife and two children, 
 perished in Newgate, for no other crime than that 
 of his publishing his reasons for nonconformity. 
 This book (a masterly performance)was, by order 
 of the recorder of London, burnt by the hang- 
 man at the royal exchange. Preface to De 
 Launch Pica. 
 
 The time would fail us to tell of Powell — of 
 Hobsou — of Knollys — of Lamb— of Joanes — of 
 li 2 
 
106 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 Sims — of Stcnnctt — of Banyan — of Cheare — of 
 Gilford — of Bampfieldc — of Jeffery — of Ilam- 
 inon — of Cope — of Kcatc — of Reve — of Peck 
 — of Monk — of Write — of Stanley — of Steed — 
 of Smith — of Coombs — ofDagnal — of Jennings — 
 of Plant — of Tidmarsh — of Curtis — of Stanger — 
 of Collins — of Reynolds — of Griffith — of James, 
 and of clouds of witnesses beside, who in those 
 days, thus suffered through the malevolence of 
 their opposers. But, they are entered into their 
 rest — God lias wiped all tears from their eyes — 
 the days of their mourning are ended. 
 
 In 1673, was published a pamphlet, entitled, 
 1 Mr. Baxter baptized in blood.' \i\ which it was 
 asserted, that c Mr. Josiah Baxter, a godly minis- 
 ter of Boston, in New England, had been murdered 
 by four anabaptists, for no other reason but be- 
 cause he had worsted them in disputation.' This 
 matter being thoroughly investigated, proved to 
 be a vile forgery ; to the everlasting shame of its 
 pa?riobaplist authors. .See Crosby's Hist, to/, 2. 
 p. 27$. 
 
 Dr. Hurd : < In 1643, the baptists published 
 their confession of faith ; and in 1646, it was 
 licensed by order of the parliament. Except in 
 the articles of baptism and church-government : 
 this confession differed very little from that of 
 Westminster, now established in the church of 
 Scotland. — However, they were now persecuted 
 by the presbyterians, just as they had been be- 
 fore by the episcopalians. The story of Venner, 
 the fifth monarchy-man, is well known ; who at 
 the time of the restoration, sallied out from a house 
 in Colcman-strcef; with some of his hearers, pa- 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 107 
 
 raded the streets, and knocked down every person 
 that came in their way. Their professed intention 
 was, to set king Jesus upon his throne. These 
 infatuated people believed, that themillenium was 
 then to take place, and Christ was to reign with 
 Jiis people a thousand years. — It is certain that 
 the baptists had no more concern with this insur- 
 rection of Venner's than they had with the elec- 
 tion of a pope, but the presbyterian party at 
 court embraced the opportunity of wreaking their 
 vengeance on the whole body of these innocent 
 people; — four hundred of whom were crowded 
 into Newgate, besides many in other prisons. 
 But at the coronation they were set at liberty by 
 the act of indemnity. They published a decla- 
 ration, wherein they testified their abhorrence of 
 Venner's insurrection ; and all they begged for 
 was, liberty to meet together, to worship God 
 according to the dictates of their own consciences. 
 This, however, did not avail them much, forthey 
 were continually persecuted during the whole of 
 this reign.' Rites and Cerem. p. 593. 
 
 The conduct of the presbyterians in the above 
 instance, was base beyond description. It being 
 well known that Venner and his people were 
 pasdobaptists ; and the avowed enemies of the 
 baptists. For Venner himself had declared, that 
 if he succeeded, the baptists should hnozc that in- 
 fant-baptism was an ordinance of Christ's appoint- 
 ment. See Crosby s Hist, xol. 2. pi 65. Hist. 
 kfRelig. xol -4. p. 202. 
 
 Mr. Turner, in order to render the baptists 
 obnoxious to government, has represented them 
 as enemies to the chief magistrate : — merely be- 
 
108 The Grounds of Infant -baptism. 
 
 cause they hold that magistrates have no right to 
 prescribe modes of worship. Turner* g Hist, of 
 all Relig. p. 294. 
 
 Many have endeavoured to render the baptists 
 odious to the world at large, by endeavouring to 
 represent the greatest hcreticks, and men who 
 have been executed for the worst of crimes, to be 
 of that sect. Thus, Sir Gervis Yelvis, lieutenant 
 of the Tower, who was executed on Tower-hill 
 for poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, was repre- 
 sented to be a baptist, as appears by his speech 
 on the scaffold : in which he says, 'The Lord 
 Chief Justice, at my arraignment, said 1 was an 
 anabaptist : 1 would to God I was as clear from 
 all other sins, as from that ; for I always detested 
 that denomination.' Preface to Crosby's Hist. 
 -vol. 3. p. 50. 
 
 Mr. Arnold and Dr. Schyn, have proved by 
 irrefragable evidence from state papers, public 
 confessions of faith, and authentic books, that 
 E. and F. Spanheim, Heidegger, Hoffman, and 
 others, have given a fabulous account of the his- 
 tory of the Dutch baptists, and that the younger 
 Spanheim had taxed them with holding thirteen 
 heresies, of all which not a single society of them 
 believed one word : yet later historians quote 
 these writers as devoutly as if all they had affirmed 
 was undisputed, and allowed to be true. Hist, 
 of Bap. p. 467. 
 
 Many zealous defenders of infant-sprinkling 
 have upbraided the baptists with the irreligious 
 behaviour of a people who lived in Germany about 
 three hundred years since. But this is very illibe- 
 ral ; for their conduct no more affects the baptists 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 10D 
 
 at large, than the sin of Jndas affected the Apos- 
 tles ; or, than the horrid abominations of tho 
 papists affect the paedobaptists in general. — If all 
 the errors which have been maintained, and all 
 the thefts, murders, adulteries, and rebellions > 
 which have been committed by Pcedobaplists, 
 were to be made the consequence of their opi- 
 nions relative to baptism, it would soon appear 
 to be a bloody and dangerous t< j nct; and would 
 render those who held it very offensive to society 
 at large, (o) 
 
 There were, about the year 1692, two neigh- 
 bouring dissenting teachers of congregations in 
 Wapping : Hercules Collins, who taught a bap- 
 tist congregation ; and Francis Mence, who 
 taught a congregation of independents. Collins 
 published a book of reasons for believers' baptism, 
 in which he observed, among other things, that 
 there was no reason to baptize an infant under 
 pretence of saving him, for that original sin wast 
 not washed off by baptismal water, but by the 
 blood of Christ, and the imputation of his righ- 
 teousness. Meuce, thought it his duty to guard 
 
 (o) There is no just reason for laying those tumults, 
 which took place in Germany at the door of the baptists j 
 for it is plain, from the history of those times, that papist* 
 as well as protectants, and of these the padobaptists as well 
 as the baptists, were concerned in them. The confusions at 
 Munster were begun by a minister of theLutheran persuasion,, 
 one Bernard Rotman, preacher at the church of St. Maurice, 
 in that city ; and were carried on by him with several other 
 Lutherans, for some time before any of the baptists had 
 any hand in them. But these things most of our oppesers 
 have always took care to forget to mention. See Pre/, tv 
 Crosby s Hist, vol, I. p. 25. 
 
HO The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 his congregation against this supposed error, and 
 Jic both preached and printed i That this zcas 
 infant-damping doctrine. The principle, (he 
 said), evidently excluded dear infants from the 
 kingdom of God, which was an audacious cru- 
 elty, sending them by swarms into hell.' In 
 vain Collins explained himself and justified his 
 doctrine in a cheap pamphlet intended for the 
 information of the godly about Wapping and 
 elsewhere. The religious people about Wapping 
 were not so easily satisfied, and he went a great 
 While in danger of his life, the streets resounding 
 with the cries of tender-mothers, ' There goes 
 Collins who holds the damnation of infants.' 
 Hist, of Bap. p. 473. 
 
 Mr. Lewelyn : 'You [baptists] leave the 
 helpless [infant] to perish, and for no other 
 reason but because he is helpless. It — fills you 
 with rage to hear that God hath graciously pro- 
 vided for the peace of benign and merciful parents, 
 putting it m their power to wash their infants in 
 baptism, and place them in the salvation of God, 
 safe and secure in his favour living or dying, all 
 their minority and incapacity to chuse and act 
 lor themselves. You are daily praying and preach- 
 ing to deliver the world from the great plague of 
 infant-salvation, and earnestly hope for the blessed 
 time to come, when they shall be all left in the 
 Jiands of the devil.' Doctrine of Bap. p. 68. 
 
 Mr. Marshall charges the baptists with 
 being guilty of pronouncing l a rash and bloody 
 sentence ; condemning infants as out of the state 
 of grace : ' nay, he affirms, that < their conduct 
 exceeds the cruelty of Herod and HazacJ, in 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism, 111 
 
 slaying- and dashing the infants of Israel against 
 the wall.' In Mr. Tombes's Exam. p. 170. 
 
 Mr. Russen says, ' Their [the baptists] mi- 
 nisters are ministers of error and schisms, teachers 
 of heresy and blasphemy, and their churches arc 
 synagogues of Satan.' In another place he says, 
 'He believes the Jewish woman, who in the wars 
 of Jerusalem killed her child and eat it, will be 
 more excusable in the day of judgment than the 
 anabaptists ; because she only killed the body, 
 and that for food in a time of famine: but these 
 kill the soul in a time of plenty, &c.' Fwida- 
 ynentals, chap.o — 6. — From the spirit and temper 
 here manifested, we may infer, thai it was a great 
 mercy for the baptists, that the stake and the 
 faggots were not, at this time, in the hands of 
 these their opposers. 
 
 Mr. Burkitt : i Since the last general liberty 
 the baptists thinking themselves thereby let loose 
 upon us, have dispersed themselves in several 
 counties. — One of their teaching disciples having 
 set up in our neighbourhood for making prose- 
 lytes, by baptizing them in a nasty horsepond, 
 into which the filth of the adjacent stable occasi- 
 onally flows, and out of which his deluded con- 
 verts came forth witli so much mud and filthiness 
 upon them, that they rather resembled creatures 
 arising out of the bottomless pit, than candidates 
 of holy baptism ; and all this before a promiscu- 
 ous multitude in the face of the sun.' Discourse 
 on Infant-bap. — But it was well for these perse- 
 cuted believers, that a promiscuous multitude 
 was present at their baptism, that so they might 
 have witnesses to detect this false, this wicked 
 
112 The Grounds of Infant-baptism, 
 
 story. A certificate was drawn up, and signed 
 by several that were present, both peedobaptists 
 as well as baptists, in which, after they had cited 
 Mr. Burkitt's words, as above, they say, * We 
 whose names are hereunto subscribed, do so- 
 lemnly certify and declare to the whole world, 
 that those reports and assertions of the said Mr. 
 Burkitt are utterly and notoriously false.' This 
 certificate was published : nor did Mr. Burkitt, 
 or any person for him, ever attempt a rejoinder. 
 Crosby's Hist. vol. 4. p. 285. 
 
 The Methodist Dialogue Writer, lately 
 published a falsehood similar to the above. * The 
 persons I saw baptized (says he) were immersed 
 in a stagnant pool ; and though the ceremony is 
 doubtless an emblem of purity, so foul was the 
 appearance of the water, that 1 apprehend they 
 must come out of it more externally impure than 
 they went in. — We shall just observe, as a reply 
 to such a slander, that the place to which this au- 
 thor seems to allude, is kept perfectly clean — the 
 water, which is pure, is let into it the day before 
 the ordinance is administered, and it is let out 
 again as soon as the service is ended. Such wri- 
 ters would do well to peruse the 16th verse of 
 the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus : c Thou, 
 shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.' 
 
 Messrs. Bogue and Bennett have lately 
 published a work intitled, A History of the 
 Dissenters ; in which the baptists are, in many 
 places, grossly misrepresented. We refer to vol. 
 iii. On the state of learning among the baptists at 
 the close of the reign of George the second. They 
 say, < The baptists as yet had no academy of their 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 113 
 
 own.' This is not correct, as a baptist academy 
 Lad existed for nearly half a century anterior to 
 the period to which these historians refer. They 
 also assert, that * Many of their [the baptists! 
 ministers had no academical education, nor would 
 many of their churches have admitted such a 
 man as their pastor.' Part of this assertion is as 
 incorrect as the former : for though none of our 
 churches would ever receive for their pastor a 
 learned man, unless at the same time they, in the 
 judgment of charity, supposed him to be a sub- 
 ject of divine grace ; yet none of our churches 
 ever refused to receive a good man as their pastor, 
 merely because he was a man of learning. They 
 further assert, that c Such of our ministers as had 
 a regular education were indebted [for it] to the 
 independents. ' This is not a fair representation of 
 the state of learning among our predecessors : for 
 many of our ministers in those days were learned 
 men who had not been assisted in their studies by 
 the independents, and some of them had been 
 graduated at our universities. See this more at 
 large in an account of the histori/ above alluded 
 to, in the Baptist Magazine for September , 
 1810.— Ought not Mr. Bogue and Mr. Bennett 
 to have confined their historical talents to the con- 
 cerns of their own denomination ; unless, when 
 meddling with those of others, they had the 
 liberality to take the trouble necessary to make 
 themselves correct ? 
 
 We might easily fill a volume, yea volumes, 
 with historic sketches and remarks similar to the 
 preceding : but these are sufficient to prove, that 
 infant- baptism owes much of its popularity to the 
 
114 The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 
 
 laws of kings and emperors, the decrees and ana' 
 themas of popes and councils, the base, misrepre- 
 sentations of an antichristian priesthood, and to 
 the artifice of many protcstant authors. All these, 
 for a succession of ages, have been engaged in 
 its favour and support. Thousands have been 
 martyred, banished, and despoiled of their worldly 
 goods, for conscientiously adhering to scriptural 
 baptism : but not a single person in all Christen- 
 dom, since the man of sin first declared himself 
 head of the church, has ever been imprisoned, 
 banished, or put to death, for dipping or sprink- 
 ling infants. Why this difference of treatment ? 
 The reason is obvious : — Believers" baptism is 
 from heaven ; therefore the apostate church of 
 Rome, and a superstitious world, have agreed in 
 opposing it — Infant-baptism is of men ; therefore 
 it is much esteemed and warmly supported : for 
 the world loves its ozen. 
 
 While some have basely misrepresented and 
 cruelly persecuted the baptists, others have art- 
 fully drawn a veil over them. Two or three 
 instances, out of an hundred that might be named, 
 must at present suffice. Ur. Haweis has given 
 us, what he calls, 'An Impartial History of the 
 Church.' The principal source from whence he 
 derived the documents which constitute his two 
 first volumes, seems to be the works of Dr. Mo- 
 sheim. But though Mosheim tells us, ' That John 
 the Baptist immersed his disciples — That bap- 
 tism was administered, in the first and second 
 centuries, by immersion — That persons received 
 baptism, according to the primitive manner, 
 even by immersion, &c.' Yet Haweis passes 
 
The Grounds of Infant-baptism. 115 
 
 over all this in studied silence. And though he 
 gives some account of Peter de Bruys, and Henry 
 his successor, who flourished in the twelfth cen- 
 tury, yet takes care not to say anything about 
 these popular reformers opposing the church of 
 Rome in the article of infant-baptism. Why 
 were these historic facts suppressed ? The reason 
 is evident — his readers are by and by to be told 
 that the rise of the baptists was not till the six- 
 teenth century — Therefore nothing contrary to 
 this false assertion must be admitted into the for- 
 mer part of his impartial bistort/. 
 
 Mr. S. Jones, in his Biographical Dictionary, 
 tells us, that Richard Baxter, an eminent divine, 
 was a Nonconformist — That Samuel Badcock, 
 an eminent critic, was a Presbyterian — That 
 Dr. Owen, an eminent divine, was an Indepen- 
 dent — That John Wesley was a celebrated leader 
 among the Methodists — That John Gambold, a 
 truly good man, was a bishop among the Mora- 
 vians — And, That Robert Barclay was an emi- 
 nent writer among the Quakers. But in the 
 account he gives of Dr. Gill, and Dr. Gifford, 
 nothing is said of their being Baptists. Why 
 this partiality ? Why ! The public at large must 
 not be informed that there are learned Doctors to 
 be met with among the people of this denomi- 
 nation. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Carne, of Exeter , has lately 
 employed his learned pen in opposing the bap- 
 tists, though he seems to be altogether unac- 
 quainted with their religious sentiments. He 
 says much about the baptism of the Holy Ghost ; 
 but he does it in such a way, as to induce his 
 
116 Infant- sprinkling briefly considered. 
 
 readers to think, that the baptists are totally ig- 
 norant in regard to that important subject. In 
 the plenitude of his christian zeal and Oxonian 
 urbanity, he styles the baptists blasphemers, pba* 
 risees, and bigots. And in order to render them 
 completely odious, he informs the public, that 
 Judas was a baptist ; as though the baptists had 
 derived all their religion from the traitor ; and 
 as if he were the only baptist who lived in the 
 Apostolic age. — We much lament, that men, who 
 set themselves up for reformers, should, under 
 the influence of prejudice, thus deviate from the 
 principles of decency and common honesty. But 
 alas ! how shall a defective cause be otherwise 
 supported ? (p) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The most popular Arguments in favour of 
 Infant-sprinkling, briefly considered. 
 
 JL HE argument that is most frequently urired, is 
 grounded on the language and conduct of Christ 
 respecting little children : 3/ ark x. J 3 — 16 — 
 Much do we admire the amiable condescension 
 of the Son of God, in regard to these infants ; 
 but did he baptize them ? If so, the sacred histo- 
 rian has not recorded the important fact. Not 
 
 (p) The above was written previous to Mr C*s leaving 
 Exeter. 
 
Infant' sprinkling briefly considered. 117 
 
 one word does he say of baptism throughout the 
 whole chapter. John, on the contrary, informs 
 us, that Jesus himself baptized not, but his disci- 
 ples, John iv. 2. Nor can we suppose, with any 
 appearance of reason, that these infants were bap- 
 tized by the disciples ; because they were much 
 displeased, and even rebuked those who brought 
 them. Would they have acted thus if they had 
 been in the habit of baptizing children ? — A 
 learned bishop (Dr. Jerem. Taylor) when treat- 
 ing on this subject, says, < From the action of 
 Christ's blessing infants, to infer that they are to 
 be baptized, proves nothing so much as, that there 
 is great want of better arguments. The conclu- 
 sion would be with more probability thus, Christ 
 blessed children and so dismissed them, but bap- 
 tized them not; therefore infants are wo? to be 
 baptized.' Lib. Proph. p. 310. 
 
 The second argument, which we notice, is ta- 
 ken from the words of Peter, Acts ii. 39 : 4 The 
 promise is unto you and to your children, and 
 to all that are afar off, even to as many as the 
 Lord our God shall call.' — To say nothing of 
 the original term, which means, not infants, but 
 descendants, we may observe, that the Apostle 
 limits the promise, whatever be its import, to 
 those whom the Lord our God shall call. Now 
 this is perfectly our idea. All who are called of 
 God, whether young or old, ought to be baptized. 
 
 The third argument is derived from the account 
 which we have of the baptism of households. Of 
 these we have three or four instances. We are 
 told that Lydia was baptized and her household : 
 but before uny argument deduced hence can be 
 
118 Infant-sprinkling briefly considered. 
 
 admitted as valid, it is necessary to ascertain 
 whether Lydia had children ? Whether they 
 were infants ? Whether they were at Thyatira, 
 her own city, or with her at Philippi ? But, on 
 supposition that she had infants with her, it 
 would not follow, from the use of the term house- 
 hold, that they were baptized, because it is said 
 that Elkanah and all his house went up toShiloh, 
 to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and 
 his vow ; and yet we learn from what follows, that 
 Hannah and the young child Samuel, staid at 
 home. — The next instance, which is that of the 
 household of the jailor, requires only to be stated. 
 Paul and Silas spake unto him the word of the 
 Lord, and to all that were in his house. He re- 
 joiced believing io God with all his house. And 
 he and all his were baptized, Acts xvi. 32. All 
 this is natural and proper. The word of the Lord 
 was addressed to them ; — they believed ; — and 
 their faith produced obedience to his commands. 
 — The third instance is that of Stephanas, which 
 Paul mentions: 1 Cor. i. 16. Of (his household 
 he says in the same epistle, chap. xvi. 15. that it 
 is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have 
 addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. 
 What an honourable employ ! What a sterling 
 proof did this happy family afford of the reality, 
 and of the strength of their faith.. — It is also re- 
 corded in Acts xviii. 8. That Crispus the chief 
 ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, 
 with all his house : and many of the Corinthians 
 hearing, believed, and were baptized. — These 
 are all the households that are recorded as bap- 
 tized by the Apostles; and though households. 
 
Infant-sprinkling briefly considered* 119 
 
 almost without number, are mentioned in scrip- 
 ture, and nothing added by which we know of 
 what they consisted, of infants or grown persons; 
 yet it lias pleased God, that the households bap- 
 tized should all be described, so that after ages 
 might not be left to uncertain conjectures respect- 
 ing them. Lydia's household are brethren, and 
 comforted. The Jailor's are all taught, and they 
 all believed. Stepbanus' were the first-fruits of 
 the gospel, and set themselves to do good to the 
 saints. And Crispus' all believed. 
 
 Surely Old Prejudice must have cast a few 
 grains of Romish dust into the mind's eye of 
 those men, who bring forward the above passages 
 in order to support the cause of infant-baptism ; 
 as all the accounts recorded of those transactions, 
 afford an unequivocal, and an everlasting testi- 
 mony in favour of believers' baptism, and of be- 
 lievers' baptism only. 
 
 The next argument we notice, is, that baptism 
 came in the room of circumcision. But where 
 are we told this ? The apostle Paul does not ap- 
 pear to have been acquainted with this fact, or it 
 would have been natural for him to have insisted 
 on it, when be was called to oppose Judaizing 
 ,zealots : but though he constantly affirmed tnat 
 circumcision is abolished, he never gives the least 
 hint that baptism was its substitute — besides, if 
 baptism came in the room of circumcision, why 
 do not our opposers sprinkle their infants on the 
 eighth day ? And why do they perform this cere- 
 mony on females ? Females, it is well kuown,were 
 not circumcised. 
 
 A fifth argument is taken from the covenant, 
 x 
 
120 Infant-sprinkling brief y considered. 
 
 into which God condescended to enter with Abra- 
 ham. (q) Now. without enquiring into the nature 
 of this covenant, it will be sufficient fo observe, 
 that, by the seed of Abraham, we must under- 
 stand, either his natural or his spiritual seed ; for 
 there is no medium. If his natural seed only be 
 meant, z:e are all necessarily excluded, because 
 we are sinners of the GenfileVace. 1 f his spiritual 
 seed be intended, we must possess the faith of 
 Abraham, before we can claim a relation to him. 
 Know ?/e, therefore, that they which arc of the 
 faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 
 So then they wftich be of faith, are blessed with 
 faithful Abraham. If ye be Christ's then are 
 ye Abraham's seed ; and heirs according to the 
 promise. Gal. iii. 7 — 9 — 29. Thus it appears 
 that they are heirs according to the promise, who 
 believe in Christ, for none but such have any 
 evidence that they belong to Christ; or, in other 
 words, are Ckrisfs, as the apostle speaks. Now 
 we maintain that all of this description ought to 
 be baptized, (r) 
 
 Some contend that if infants are not to be bap- 
 tized, the christian dispensation is less merciful 
 
 (q) As some of our opp<sers often assert, that baptism is 
 a seal of the covenant— -We beg leave just to observe, That the 
 blocd of Christ, in one view, and the Spirit of Christ, in 
 another, appear to us to be the only seals of the covenant of 
 grace. By the former, the covenant itself is most solemnly 
 ratified ; by the latter, our interest in it is inviolably ascer- 
 tained See Matt. xxvi. 23. Heb. ix. 16. 1/. Eph. \. 13. 
 and iv. SO. 
 
 (r) Those who wish farther to pursue this part of the 
 subject, will be amply gratified in the perusal of A Con- 
 versation between EiiGENlo and Epeneti's ', printed at 
 
Infant- spr inkling briefly considered. 121 
 
 than was the Jewish. How less merciful ? Be- 
 cause the Jewish males were circumcised. — How 
 differently do the sacred writers speak upon this 
 subject ! The Apostles, when assembled in coun- 
 cil at Jerusalem, to deliberate on the expediency 
 of circumcision, called it a yoke. Acts xv. 10. 
 Those of the primitive christians, who had just 
 views of the glorious superiority of the new 
 dispensation compared with the old economy, 
 rejoiced in their freedom from Jewish ceremonies. 
 Others, whose minds were less enlightened, were 
 frequently exhorted by the ApostJes to stand fast 
 in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them 
 free ; and to take care not to be entangled again 
 with the yoke of bondage. Gal. v. 1. 
 
 Others plead apostolic tradition. To such, we 
 shall only repeat what two learned paedobaptists 
 have said on the subject. Curcell.eus : ' Pa> 
 dobaptism was unknown in the two first ages after 
 Christ ; in the third and fourth it was approved 
 by a few ; at length, in the fifth and following 
 ages it began to obtain in divers places ; and 
 therefore this rite is indeed observed by us as an 
 dntient custom, but not as an apostolic tradition.' 
 In GiWsAns. to Towgood. Di-.Tayler : 'That 
 the apostles did baptize any children, is not at 
 all reported by any credible tradition.' Dissua- 
 sive against ropery, sect. iii. p. 117. 
 
 We ought indeed to consider all arguments 
 from tradition as futile, except so far as they de- 
 rive any force from corresponding evidence m 
 the apostolic page. 
 
 There are others who assert that infant-baptism 
 came in the room of Jewish proselyte baptism. 
 i 2 
 
122 Infant-sprinkling brief y considered. 
 
 This is certainly a very proper pedestal for it (o 
 rest upon. The foundation and superstructure 
 are both of the same unsanctified materials. For 
 as there is no precept, nor example, nor intimation 
 relative to infant-baptism in the New Testament, 
 so there is no command for, nor example, nor 
 intimation of proselyte bathing in the Old Testa- 
 ment. Hence a popish ceremony is erected upon 
 a Jewish tradition. (s) 
 
 We notice the three following texts, as some 
 of our opposers have pressed them into their 
 service. 
 
 I. Malt, xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore and teach 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 The different views which learned pacdobaptists 
 have of this capital text are very remarkable: 
 for professor Arnold maintains, that the baptism 
 of infants is either commanded here, or no where : 
 professor Venema frankly acknowledges, that 
 
 (s) As tlie Scriptures are totally silent relative to prose- 
 lyte baptism, so (Dr, Gill amiris u*J there is no mention 
 made of it, either hy the Jewish doctors, or the christian 
 fathers, of the first three or four centuries. See Gill's Dissert, 
 on Proselyte Bap. 
 
 Dr. Lardner says, * As for the baptism of Jewish pro- 
 selytes, I take it to be a mere fiction of the Rabbins, by whom 
 we have suffered ourselves to be imposed upon.' Letter to 
 Dr. Doddridge- 
 
 Calmkt: 'It has been a custom of some standing among 
 1he Jews, upon their admitting a stranger as a proselyte, to 
 join to circumcision baptism, or the dipping the body quite 
 underwater. However, we find nothing of this commanded 
 in the law. Antiquities. TindaCs edit. b. iii, p. 22.— This 
 learned author observes, that proselyte baptism is not com- 
 manded j and that (with the Jews) dipping is baptizing. 
 
Infant- sprinkling briefly considered. 123 
 
 our Lord speaks concerning the baptism of adults 
 only. Thus doctors differ. Strange however as 
 it may seem, we have the singular happiness to 
 agree with them both. Considering this text as 
 the great law of baptism, we concur with the for- 
 mer in concluding, that if there be no requisition 
 of infant-baptism here, it is in vain to seek tor one 
 any where else. On the other hand, we are 
 equally clear the latter is perfectly right, when 
 he gives it as his opinion, that our Lord in this 
 passage does not command the baptism of infants, 
 — We may be assured, though doctors thus dis- 
 agree, that the Apostles knew the mind of Christ 
 in this commission ; and that they practised ac- 
 cordingly : and as their practice, in regard to 
 baptism, was a comment on this command; 
 so their infallible writings must be considered as 
 a faithful representation of that practice. As 
 therefore this divine law says nothing of infant- 
 baptism, and as the records of apostolic practice 
 are equally silent about it ; we are warranted to 
 conclude, that pcedobaptism was neither com- 
 manded by our Lord, nor practised by his Apos- 
 tles. See Booth's Pcedobap. Exam, yob 2. 
 p. 269—310.(t) 
 
 II. Rom. xi. 16. : For if the first-fruits he 
 holy, the lump is also holy : and if tlie root be 
 
 (t) St. Jerom, when commenting: on Mutt, xxviii. 19, 
 says. ' First they teach alt nations, then dip those that are 
 taught in water ; for it cannot be that the body should re- 
 ceive the sacrament of baptism, unless the soul has before 
 received the truth of faith.' In Dr. Gill's Body of Divin. 
 vol. 3. p. 319. 
 
 Hornbeekins: * Without faith, water-baptism cannot 
 by any means be lawful,' Socin, Confut. torn, hi, p, 384 t 389* 
 
124 Infant- sprinkling briefly considered, 
 
 koly, so are the branches. The first-fruits, were 
 those Jews who received the first-fruits of the 
 Spirit in the land of Judea. They were but few 
 in number, as the first-fruit is but small in com- 
 parison of the lump, and mean, and abject, like 
 a root in a dry ground ; yet were pledges and 
 presages of a large number of souls among that 
 people, to be converted in the latter day. Now 
 the Apostle's argument is, i If the first-fruits be 
 holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root be 
 boly, so are the branches ;' that is, that whereas 
 those persons who were converted among the 
 Jews, however few in number, and despicable in 
 appearance, yet they were truly sanctified by the 
 Holy Spirit ; and as they were, so should the 
 body of that people be in the last days- — Here is 
 not a syllable about baptism, much less about 
 infant-sprinkling, in this passage nor in the con- 
 text. 
 
 HI. 1 Cor. vii. 14. : For the unbelieving 
 husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbe- 
 lieving zcife is sanctified by the husband; else 
 were your children unclean, but nozo they are 
 holy. This text, like the former, has nothing to 
 do with baptism : not the least mention is here 
 made of that ordinance, nor the remotest reference 
 had to it. The Apostle is speaking of a man and 
 his wife unequally yoked. The one a believer, 
 and the other an unbeliever. The believer is 
 supposed to have received the gospel since the 
 conjugal relation commenced. The unbeliever 
 probably was a pagan. The question is, Docs 
 not a moral union with Jesus Christ, dissolve, 
 in such circumstances, the matrimonial contract ? 
 
fn/ant-sprinkling briefly considered. 123 
 
 The answer is, No ; by no means. For though 
 a moral union with Christ, makes it criminal in 
 any to marry an infidel, yet as the parties in 
 question were set apart to each other for life, 
 while they were both of them unacquainted with 
 the gospel, their civil connection, formed as it 
 was, could not be considered as criminal : for 
 6 marriage is honourable in all.' — By the sanctifi- 
 cation of the unbelieving party cannot be meant 
 internal sanctification ; for as the heart can only 
 be purified by faith, the person in that case, 
 would be no longer an unbeliever. So the chil- 
 dren are called holt/, not in a moral, but in a civil 
 sense : that is, they are not spurious. As if the 
 Apostle had said, If your marriage were unlaw- 
 ful, your children would be illegitimate. But 
 the former is not a fact ; therefore not the latter. 
 — Though some of our opposers fancy that in- 
 fant-baptism is to be found in this passage, yet 
 many of the learned among them have given us 
 expositions of it, similar to the above. 
 
 Mr. P. Edwards pleads the following phrases 
 as almost decisive in favour of sprinkling : 6 I 
 indeed baptize you with water — 1 indeed have 
 baptized you with water — I come baptizing with 
 water — John truly baptized pith water, &c. He 
 then adds, ' It may be contended that the greek 
 word, which occurs in most of these passages, 
 and is translated with, may be rendered, into : — 
 but such a translation, (he says) would be con- 
 temptible." 
 
 Mr. Edwards should be informed, that Mr. 
 William Whiston, who was professor of mathe- 
 
126 Infant- sprinkling briefly considered. 
 
 matics in the university of Cambridge, has given 
 us a translation of the New Testament immedi* 
 ately from three of the most ancient greek manu- 
 scripts ; wherein he lias rendered the word (in 
 many places) on which Mr. Edwards lays so 
 much stress — in water — instead of with water. 
 See the following passages in his translation: — 
 Matt. iii. 11. < I indeed baptize you in water. 
 Luke iii. 16. I baptize you in water ; but he that 
 cometh is mightier than I — he shall baptize you 
 in the Holy Ghost and fire. Jo/in i. 31, 33. 
 therefore am 1 come baptizing in water — but he 
 that sent me to baptize in water, — the same is he 
 who baptizeth in the Holy Ghost.' — Mr. Edwards 
 should also be informed, that Dr. Campbell, 
 who was principal of the Marischal College at 
 Aberdeen, has given us a translation of the four 
 gospels ; in which he has thus rendered the fol- 
 lowing texts : — Matt. iii. 11. c I indeed baptize 
 you in water — but he who cometh after me — He 
 will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. 
 Mark i. 8. I indeed have baptized you in water 
 — but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. 
 .Luke iii. 16. I indeed baptize you in water — 
 but one mightier than I cometh — he will baptize 
 you in the Holy Spirit and fire. John i. 26, 
 31, 33, I baptize in water — 1 am come baptizing 
 in water ;.— Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the 
 Spirit descending — the same is he who baptizeth 
 in the Holy Ghost. But though Mr. Whiston 
 and Dr. Campbell have thus translated the above 
 passages, yet they were never deemed contempt- 
 ible authors. As men of integrity, they were 
 
Infant- sprinkling briefly considered. 127 
 
 not a whit below even Mr. Edwards himself— as 
 men of learning, it is well known, they were 
 many, very many, degrees above him. 
 
 Mr. D. Tyreman pleads a criticism on the 
 sacred history, relative to the baptism of the 
 Eunuch, as making very much against immer- 
 sion. He says, < It cannot be proved from the 
 words of the original that Philip and the Eunuch 
 ever went into the water, or came out of the 
 water. Nothing more can be proved (he says) 
 than that they went to, and came from the water*' 
 In order to support and confirm this his very 
 learned animadversion, he quotes two or three 
 sentences of Dr. Lardner's ; the second of which 
 is as follows : 6 The Eunuch and Philip went 
 out of the chariot to the water, and stood in the 
 water, #c.' But how, in the name of common 
 sense, could they stand in the water, if they ne- 
 ver went into it ? And if they stood in the water, 
 they must go out of it, or be standing there till 
 the present moment. — We verily believe, that 
 even Sir Isaac Newton himself, with all his talent 
 for demonstration, would never have produced 
 such a quotation as evidence in favour of such a 
 criticism. - 
 
 Mr. Trego, at the Tabernacle, Exeter, not 
 long since, asserted, < That there is neither pre- 
 cept nor example for immersion in the New Tes- 
 tament. ' This is indeed a weighty objection : 
 but it comes with an ill grace from a man who 
 sprinkles infants^ without even the shadow of a 
 precept or example for it in the sacred page. 
 But it doubtless becomes us, who profess to be 
 guided by the precepts and examples found in 
 
128 Infant-sprinkling briefly considered. 
 
 the Now Testament, with respect to the positive 
 institutes of the gospel, to notice his assertion. 
 B nt, what is this for which there is neither pre- 
 cept nor example ? There is doubtless both pre- 
 cept and example for baptism ; and if immersion 
 and baptism are words of the same import, then 
 there is precept and example for immersion. It 
 is true, that when the sacred writers were speak- 
 ing of this gospel ordinance, they did not use the 
 word immersio, because they did not write in 
 latin ; and for a similar reason they did not use 
 the words dip, plunge, or overwhelm, as they 
 did not write in english ; but they made use of 
 a word which exactly corresponds in etymology 
 and import with them : and for Mr. T. to deny 
 this, is not only to beg the question, but to con- 
 tradict the opinion of men (as may be seen in 
 chapters second, third, and fourth of this treatise) 
 who, for their superior knowledge in the greek 
 language, and their acquaintance with ecclesi- 
 astical history, are placed as far above Mr. T. 
 as Mr. T. may think himself raised above the 
 most illiterate of his own audience. 
 
 One of our paedobaptist friends lately endea- 
 voured to justify the practice of sprinkling from 
 a passage in the septuaginl, where it is said that 
 Nebuchadnezzar was baptized with the dew of 
 heaven. We beg leave just to observe, that the 
 word baptized, in this text, is used figuratively ; 
 and its obvious meaning is, That Nebuchadnez- 
 zar was so enveloped in and so soaked with the 
 dew, which is very abundant in the eastern parts of 
 the world, that he appeared, not to be partially 
 sprinkled, but as if he had been immersed iu 
 
Infant- sprinkling briefly considered. 129 
 
 water. This remark is justified by Mr. Irwin, 
 in his travels in Arabia. He says : < Difficult as. 
 we found it to keep ourselves cool in the day- 
 time, it is no easy matter to defend our bodies 
 from the damps of the night : we lie exposed to 
 the whole weight of the dews, and the cloaks in 
 which we wrap ourselves, are as wet in the morn- 
 ing as if they had been immersed in the sea.' 
 Irwin's Travels , p. 87. — Those who can discern 
 a partial sprinkling in the above passage, must 
 be possessed of peculiar organs of vision, or be 
 the subjects of the strongest prejudices. 
 
 The baptism of the three thousand, Acts ii. 41. 
 has also been pleaded, as presumptive evidence, 
 in favour of sprinkling. — Mr. Booth : ' That 
 three thousand should be solemnly immersed at 
 such a place as Jerusalem, and at a time when, 
 as the sacred historian remarks, the disciples had 
 favour with all the people ; even supposing them 
 all to have been baptized in one day, is not half 
 so strange as various accounts relating to facts of 
 the same nature, that we find in the page of 
 history. Thus for example, — We read in the 
 authentic life of Gregory, the apostle of the 
 Armenians, that he baptized twelve thousand 
 together by immersion, in the river Euphrates : 
 which Isaac, the patriarch of that nation, confirms 
 in his first invective. — Mr. Fox informs us that 
 Austin, the monk, baptized ten thousand Saxons 
 or Angles in a river near York, in one day.'(u) — 
 
 (u) E Pagitt says, that Austin commanded the people 
 to uo into the river by couples, and one to baptize the other 
 in the uame of the Trinity. Descrip.o/Christi. part the third, 
 P< J5, 
 
130 Infant-sprinkling briefly considered. 
 
 Several similar examples might have been pro- 
 duced ; but we shall conclude this part of the 
 subject, by citing one passage more from Pa?do- 
 baptism Examined : c We are informed, (says 
 Mr. Booth) by the sacred historian, that when 
 kingSolomon dedicated his magnificent temple,/*e 
 offered two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand sheep. Now suppose a 
 deist were to question the truth of this historical 
 fact, on account of the great number of animals 
 that were offered ; it would soon be replied by our 
 opposers themselves, A great number of priests 
 were employed ; nor was the work performed 
 in one day. Why then may not a similar answer 
 suffice in the present case ? ' (x) 
 
 A zealous opposer of scriptural baptism lately 
 asserted, ' That they had as good a warrant 
 from the Bible for sprinkling infants, as they had 
 for admitting women to the Lord's table.' Let us 
 try this assertion by the sacred standard of di- 
 vine truth. We are informed, that those who 
 believed, l Were baptized, both men and wo- 
 men.' Acts, viii. 12. And Paul says, ; Let your 
 women keep silence in the churches.' 1 Cor. 
 xiv. 34. From these, and other passages it apr 
 pears that women were in the churches. — and 
 it is evident that women did commune, as part 
 of the church, at Jerusalem. — c And when they 
 were come in, they went up into an upper room, 
 where abode both Peter, and James, and John, 
 
 (x) Bp Wilson : ' The same day : that if, at that time, 
 on account of that sermon; though they might not all he 
 haptizci in one day, but were at that time converted.' Note 
 is /yc. 
 
Infar>t-sprinkling briefly considered, 131 
 
 and Andrew, and Philip, and Thomas, and Bar- 
 tholomew, and Matthew, James the son of AI- 
 pheus, Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of 
 James. These all continued, with one accord, 
 in prayer and supplication with the women, and 
 Mary the mother of Jesus, Acts. i. 13, 14. The 
 number of the names together, [both men and 
 women] were about an hundred and twenty, 
 v. 15. And they continued steadfastly in the 
 Apostles'doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking 
 of bread, and in prayers, chap. ii. to. 42. And 
 all that believed [both men and women] were 
 together, to. 44. And they continued daily with 
 one accord in the temple and breaking of bread 
 from house to house, v. 46. And the Lord ad- 
 ded to the church daily [both men and women] 
 such as should be saved.' v. 47. — Now if any 
 of the paedobaptists can produce such a scripture- 
 history of infants being sprinkled, we promise 
 freely to be of their opinion. 
 
 The Methodist Dialogue Whiter says, 
 4 1 do not pretend to ground the practice of in- 
 fant-baptism on any plain positive command. — 
 Baptism must rest not upon the instructions of 
 the word of God, but upon probabilities, in- 
 ferences, human reasonings, and conclusions.' 
 p. 9 — 17. Strange ! that one of the ordinances of 
 the gospel, should lie so dark and obscure in the 
 New Testament that it cannot be proved from it, 
 4 but by probabilities, inferences, human reason- 
 ings and conclusions.' Can this gentleman, or any 
 of his brethren, point out to us a single institute of 
 the Mosaic law, that lay so concealed ? Did not 
 Moses make every law, precept and command 
 
132 Infant- sprinldin g briefly considered. 
 
 plain, so that those who run might read ? And 
 must the ever blessed Redeemer, who spoke as 
 man never spoke, be charged with ambiguity ? 
 God forbid ! No, his commands are express — the 
 subjects of baptism, and the manner of baptizing, 
 are plainly made known in the sacred page. If 
 our author or any of his friends, wish to sec a 
 command for infant-baptism, they may find seve- 
 ral in the preceeding chapter; but they will 
 soon perceive, that they are the commands of 
 Antichrist. 
 
 Again — It is often said, c That if the sprinkt 
 ling of infants be not commanded, it is not for- 
 bidden ; ' hence the propriety of it is presumed. 
 But upon this ground our opposers lie open to 
 the attacks of papists and mahometans. A papist 
 will urge that milk, honey, and salt in baptism 
 are not forbidden, therefore they should be used. 
 With equal propriety might a mahometan con- 
 tend, that as they are not expressly forbidden to 
 go on pilgrimage to Mecca, it is their duty to go, 
 [f to such absurd reasoning, they reply, We are 
 not to regard the doctrines and commandments of 
 men ; they furnish us with an argument by which 
 to oppose the practice of infant-sprinkling. For, 
 without intending the least disrespect to those 
 who conscientiously differ from us, we cannot 
 view this ceremony in any other light, than as 
 an human institution, unknown to Scripture, no 
 where commanded by Jesus Christ, and never 
 practised by his Apostles. 
 
 Some of our opposers, when pleading for the 
 lawfulness of deviating from the primitive prac- 
 tice, often tell us, ; That even we who are baptists 
 
Itifant- sprinkling briefly considered. 133 
 
 have not been baptized as Jesus Christ was, be- 
 cause we were not dipped in Jordan. * We take 
 leave just to remind such quibblers, that Philip 
 did not take the Eunuch back to Jordan, when 
 he was made willing to follow the Lord in this 
 sacred ordinance, but baptized him in the water 
 that was next at hand. And that Tertullian 9ays, 
 6 There is no difference whether one is washed in 
 the sea or in a pool, in a river or in a fountain, 
 in a lake or in a channel ; nor is any distinction 
 to be made between those who were dipped in 
 Jordan, and those who were dipped in the Tiber.' 
 This we deem a sufficient answer to such a futile 
 observation. See Stennett's Ans. to Russen^ 
 p. IU. 
 
 Lastly — We beg leave to notice a few of the 
 contradictions that exist among our opposers, 
 relative to the subject before us. Mr. Brown, 
 Mr. Horsey, with a few others, say, That men 
 may be saved without baptism. But St. Augus- 
 tin, St. Barnard, Isidorus, Mr. Lewelyn, Dr. 
 Gregory, and a hundred besides, declare, That 
 xcithout baptism there can be no salvation. — 
 Mr. Maurice and Mr. Habden tell us, That 
 immersion was never used as baptism, in the 
 primitive church ! But Venema, Attmannus, 
 Curcellaeus, Mosheim, Wolfius, Chambers, Bax- 
 ter, Calvin, Grotius, the bishop of Meaux, 
 Whitby, Cave, and a great number beside, ac- 
 knowledge, That John the Baptist, the Apostles, 
 and the church in succeeding ages, administered 
 baptism by immersion. — Mr. Elliot (a warm op- 
 poser of the baptists) says, That believers only 
 are the subjects of baptism ; but that sprinkling 
 
134 Infant-sprinkling briefly considered. 
 
 is the proper mode ; and adds, That dipping is 
 not baptizing ! But Mr. Wall (one of the greatest 
 men that ever wrote in favour of infant-baptism) 
 says, That infants are subjects of baptism ; but 
 that immersion is the proper mode ; and adds, 
 That pouring and sprinkling are novelties im- 
 ported into this country from Germany or Ge- 
 neva. — Two books, written in favour of infant- 
 sprinkling, fell into the hands of the author about 
 twenty-three years since ; (the names of the writers 
 he has now forgotten) : one of them affirmed, 
 That John the Baptist could not immerse his 
 disciples in Jordan, because the waters of Jordan 
 were not more than ankle deep. The other as 
 boldly asserted, That John could not dip the 
 people in Jordan, because the waters of Jordan 
 were twice as deep as a man's head ! — Mr. Hit- 
 chin, Mr. Billio, and Mr. Waters, found infant- 
 baptism on the concurrent harmony of the Holy 
 Scriptures. But bishop Burnet, Mr. Fuller, Cel- 
 larius, Mr. S. Palmer, and many beside, say 
 That there is neither precept nor precedent in 
 the sacred Scripture for the baptizing of infants : 
 and Salmasius, Curcelheus, Chambers, bishop 
 Barlow, Walaf. Strabo, Wolf. Capito, Jacob 
 Merningus,with many others, acknowledge, That 
 none but adults were baptized in the primitive 
 times. — Mr. Pirie has produced three or four sen- 
 tences from Irenaus, Justin Martyr, and Origen, 
 with a view to establish the antiquity of infant- 
 baptism. But those passages have been deemed, 
 by several learned paxlobaptists, as totally inade- 
 quate to support the cause for which they have 
 been suborned. Iren^eus's words stand thus, 
 
Ittfant'Sprinkling, brief?/ considered. 135 
 
 c He [Christ] came to save all ; all I say, who by 
 him are born again unto God, infants, and little 
 ones, and children, and young men, and old 
 men.' But Mr. Le Clerc says, ' We see nothing 
 here [in the words oflrenaeus] concerning bap- 
 tism ; nor is there any thing relating to it in the 
 immediately preceding or following words.' — 
 The words of Justin Martyr, are these, i Se- 
 veral persons among us, men and women, of sixty 
 and seventy years of age, who from their child- 
 hood were instructed in Christ, remain incorrupt. 1 
 But the monthly reviewers, for May 1784, say, 
 ' It requires very considerable ingenuity to make 
 it, [the above quotation] in any view, an argu- 
 ment in favour of infant-baptism. — The passage 
 referred to as Origen's, reads thus, ' The bap- 
 tism of children, is given for the remission of sins.' 
 But cardinal Bellarmine observes, ' They were 
 all led into the mistake by applying to natural 
 infants what Origen had said onlj/ of youths and 
 adults. Origen's children were capable of repent- 
 ance and martyrdom :' But Mr. Pirie's infants 
 are incapable of either. — Mr. Tyreman quotes 
 Acts ii. 39. The promise, &c. and then says, 'The 
 promise is to you, therefore be ye baptized : the 
 promise is to your children, therefore let them be 
 baptized.' But Dr. Whitby declares, 'That this 
 passage will not prove a right of infants to receive 
 
 baptism.' — Mr. N supposes that Matt. xix. 
 
 14. Suffer little children, fyc. a sufficient warrant 
 to baptize infants. But Mr. Burkitt says, i They 
 [the little children] were brought unto Jesus 
 Christ : but for what end ? not to baptize them, 
 but to bless them.' — Mr. Towgood derives infant- 
 
136 Infant-sprinkling briefly co?isidercd. 
 
 baptism from apostolic tradition. But Curcel- 
 laeus says, it is not an apostolic tradition, but only 
 an ancient custom. — Dr. Hammond derives bap- 
 tism from Jewish proselyte-bathing. But Dr. 
 Lardner, and Sir N. Knatchbull tell us, That 
 prosclytc-baptism is a mere fiction of the Rabbins, 
 hy -whom some persons have suffered themselves 
 to be imposed upon. — Pope Innocent the third, 
 Peter Edwards, and others, assert, ' That baptism 
 came in the room of circumcision.' But Dr.Ham- 
 mond Terrentinus, Chamicrus, and others , say, 
 That baptism did not come in the room of cir- 
 cumcision. — Jonathan Evans, Herbert Mends, 
 and others, tell us, That the children of believing 
 parents are to be baptized. But pope Gregory 
 the seventh, Dr. Williams, and others, affirm, 
 That all children, without distinction, ought to 
 be baptized. — Anselm says, Children should be 
 baptized, that they may be made holy ones. But 
 Beza tells us, That the children of saints are ad- 
 mitted to baptism, because they are holy ones. 
 — Dr. Williams exclaims, ' Was I baptized in 
 infancy ? How highly have I been honoured ! 
 How greatly benefited ! For from that early pe- 
 riod has the pardon of sin, free saltation, ctcr- 
 7ial life, <xilh every new covenant blessing, been 
 sealed to me.' Yet Mr. Horsey, when addressing 
 the parents of a recently sprinkled infant (not- 
 withstanding all the above sealed blessings) says, 
 * You anticipate, but with great uncertainty, its 
 future character and lot, is it an embryo-angel, 
 or an embryo-fiend?*' — Mr. P. Edwards asserts, 
 That baptism is nowhere called a burial ; and that 
 the Apostle, in Mom. vi. 3, 4. and Coloss. ii. 2. 
 
Infant-sprinkling briefly considered, 137 
 
 < Buried with him in baptism &c.' does not al- 
 lude to baptismal immersion. But Chrysostom, 
 Hoadly, Wills, Clarke, Goodwin, Mackni^ht, 
 Tillotson, Baxter, Doddridge, Whitefield, Wes- 
 ly, and scores beside, declare that in these pas- 
 sages, there is an allusion to the ancient manner 
 of baptizing, which was by immersion. — Mr. 
 Towgood says, ' Should immersion be allowed 
 to have been the only ancient, apostolic, and 
 scriptural mode of baptizing ; yet a strict ad- 
 herence to it is not obligatory on us : but this 
 circumstance may very lawfully and fitly be 
 exchanged, for sprinkling or pouring.' But Mr. 
 Charnock says, ' God never gave power to any 
 man to change his ordinances, or to dispense 
 with them.' — The baptists, in this instance, per- 
 fectly accord with Mr. Charnock. — The clergy 
 of the establishment baptize, or rather rhantize 
 infants on the faith of sponsors : the presbyte^ 
 rians do it on the faith of parents : and Rivetus, 
 Thysius, Buddeus, and others, on the faith 
 of the infants themselves ! — But even those who 
 plead for the faith of infants, are as much at 
 variance about that faith, as they, and the rest of 
 their brethren, are about every other part of the 
 subject. For Mr. Leigh says, that infants may 
 have an imputed faith : Mr. Bingham suggests, 
 that they have a passive faith ; Witsius hints, 
 that they have a relative faith : Chemnitius 
 says, They have faith in semine : and Prideaux 
 asserts, That they have the faith of the covenant, 
 though not the faith of covenantees ! 
 
 These, Reader, are a sample of the flat coiitra- 
 dictions that exist among our opposers, relative 
 
138 Infant-sprinkling briefly considered. 
 
 to the Mode, Subjects, and History, of Baptism. 
 They remind us of a common adage ; that is, 
 that t Error is multifarious.' Surely such men 
 as Mr. P. Edwards, Dr. 'Osgood, and the Editor 
 of the Evangelical Magazine, ought to harmo- 
 nize those discords, before they proceed any fur- 
 ther in opposing Scriptural Baptism : for such 
 contradictory evidence as the above, would in- 
 evitably nonsuit any cause — but that of infant- 
 sprinkling — in any court — but that where Old 
 Prejudice sits as judge. 
 
 Our opposers are also at variance among them- 
 selves relative to the origin of the baptists. 
 Those of them who are mere drivellers in history 
 often assert, That the baptists sprang into exist- 
 ence about the middle of the sixteenth century. 
 — Mr. Wall styles Peter de Bruys and Henry 
 his disciple, who flourished in the twelfth century, 
 the first of the antipaedobaptist persuasion. — Mr. 
 Philpot says, That Auxentius, bishop of Millan, 
 who lived in the fourth century, was one of the 
 first of those who denied baptism to children.— 
 Mr. Stokes tells us, That Tertullian, who lived 
 in the second century, was one of the first bap- 
 tists in the world. And Dr. Mosheim says, That 
 the origin of the baptists cannot be ascertained, 
 as it lies hid in the dark ages of antiquity. 
 
 Had these good men consulted the Evangelists 
 on this subject, they would have informed them, 
 That the baptists first made their appearance 
 between the banks of the Jordan ; in, or about, 
 the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar ; 
 •when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. 
 
 To conclude — Every consistent believer in 
 
Infant -sprinkling briefly considered. 139 
 
 Christ, makes the New Testament the sole stand- 
 ard of his practice, in regard to this ordinance. 
 There baptism (not rhantism) appears along with 
 the persons of men and women. One verse of 
 the history of the church of Samaria, which was 
 congregated by Philip the deacon, is full and 
 express, and may serv* as a specimen of all the 
 rest. When the Samaritans believed Philip, 
 preaching the things concerning the kingdom 
 of God, and the name of Jesus Christ , they 
 were baptized, both men and women* This was 
 exactly conformable to the command and the 
 example of Jesus, whose disciples they were : to 
 his command, teach all nations baptizing them ; 
 and to his example, for he was at man's estate 
 when he went to be baptized, being about thirty 
 years of age. This is a plain path, and free from 
 every difficulty, to all those who wish to run 
 the ways of Christ's commands, independent of 
 human tradition. 
 
 ' Tis not as led by custom's voice, 
 
 We make these ways our favour'd choice, 
 
 And thus with zeal pursue : 
 No, heaven's eternal sovereign Lord 
 Has, it) the precepts of his word, 
 
 Enjoin'd us thus to do-' 
 
 F I N IS. 
 
 Gresswelly Printer, Exeter. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
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