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THOUGHTS ON BAPTISM, 
 
 ©r&inante of lirogilatfem ; 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONTROVERSY 
 
 RESPECTING 
 
 TERMS OF COMMUNION. 
 
 By AGNOSTOS. 
 
 I speak as to wise m€n ; judge ye what I say."— Paul. 
 
 
 Second SMtfou. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS' 
 COURT, LUDGATE-STREET. 
 
 1823. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 SHACKBI.L AND ARBOWSMITH, JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET-STREET. 
 
PROr ' ■ 4 ^ u 
 
 fi£C 
 
 
 "•> T „ t M W t. 
 
 i***' 
 
 THOUGHTS ON BAPTISM, 
 
 The union of Christians of various denominations 
 to advance the Redeemer's kingdom, chiefly by- 
 means of Bible and Missionary Societies, must 
 prove highly gratifying to every pious mind. We 
 hail this union, so far as it has hitherto proceeded, 
 on account of the prospect that it exhibits, still 
 more than of the pleasure that it affords. We re- 
 gard it as the harbinger of that period, when, to 
 adopt the language of a justly celebrated poet, 
 
 " The noise of jarring sectaries shall cease, 
 And e'en the dipt and sprinkled live in peace : 
 Each heart shall quit its prison in the breast, 
 And flow in free communion with the rest.'' 
 
 Much has been done to effect this desirable ob- 
 ject, but much more remains to be done; for we 
 have every reason to believe that the union of 
 Christians with each other, will be more cordial 
 and more complete than it has ever yet been, be- 
 fore the outpouring of the Spirit in the latter day. 
 We are not in much danger of too highly appre- 
 ciating the subject of Christian unity, when we re- 
 flect that one great end of the death of Christ is 
 a 2 
 
stated to be, " to gather together in one, the chil- 
 dren of God who were scattered abroad."" This 
 important object lay very near the heart of the Re- 
 deemer, while offering up his last intercessory prayer 
 in the presence of his disciples, just before he suf- 
 fered ; especially when he uttered those emphatic 
 words, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for 
 them also who shall believe on me through their 
 word : that they all may be one, as thou, Father, 
 art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one 
 in us : that the world may believe that thou hast 
 sent me :" intimating by the latter clause, which 
 he urges as a plea to enforce his petition, that he 
 did not expect to see his messiahship universally 
 acknowledged, nor his kingdom fully established 
 till this union was completely effected. 
 
 The prophetic vision of Ezekiel, recorded in the 
 37th chapter of his prophecy, suggests the same 
 idea. The bones which he saw in the open valley, 
 he was told, represented the whole house of Israel : 
 and who that is acquainted with the state of Chris- 
 tianity at the present period, but must acknowledge 
 that they furnish as apt an emblem of the whole 
 world of professing Christians ? very many, indeed, 
 but very dry ; while their mutual animosities have, 
 for ages together, tended to widen and perpetuate 
 that separation from each other, which is the effect 
 and the evidence of moral and spiritual death. 
 On surveying the melancholy scene, one is ready to 
 exclaim, "Can these bones live?"" Yes, they can, 
 they shall ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken 
 it, and with God nothing is impossible. But how, 
 and under what circumstances shall this work be 
 accomplished ? Not in a state of separation from 
 each other ; no, surely ; they must be re-united 
 "before they are re-animated. Bone must come to 
 Tiis bone. Every member must find his own place 
 in the body of which he forms a part. The eya 
 
must no more say to the hand, I have no need of 
 thee, nor the head to the feet, I have no need of 
 you. When this union is fully effected, then, and 
 not till then, may we expect the Spirit of life from 
 God to enter into them ; and they will stand up 
 an exceeding great army. 
 
 This cordial union of Christians is necessary, not 
 only for obtaining that combination of effort which 
 is requisite for evangelizing the world, but also for 
 the purpose of giving such a view of the nature and 
 tendency of genuine Christianity, as nothing short 
 of this can exhibit. To this, perhaps, more than 
 to any of the other means employed in the apostolic 
 age, may be attributed the rapid progress of the 
 gospel during that period, when " the multitude of 
 them that believed were of one heart and of one 
 soul." 
 
 It becomes then a subject of serious enquiry, 
 what are the principal obstacles to this union among 
 Christians, which is so very desirable, and what 
 means are best adapted to the removal of these ob- 
 stacles ? On minute investigation, it is more than 
 probable that it will appear, in respect of most of 
 the differences subsisting among real Christians, 
 and such differences as have, on various occasions, 
 excited the greatest hostility to each other, that the 
 opposing parties have been nearly at an equal dis- 
 tance from the truth, to which they have both ex- 
 clusively laid claim. Such differences very much 
 resemble the ancient dispute between the Jews and 
 Samaritans, respecting the place where men ought 
 to worship, while the nature of true worship, and 
 the important ends for which it was instituted, 
 were equally overlooked by both. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no subject of controversy, to 
 which the above remark will more forcibly apply, 
 than to that of Baptism ; which, it is much to be 
 reg retted > has, of late years, been revived, with a 
 
6 
 
 pertinacity, if not with an asperity, equal to that 
 which has accompanied the agitation of it at any 
 former period. A bye-stander, however, who is 
 not enlisted under the banners of either of the con- 
 tending parties, observing how very dexterously^ 
 they handle their weapons when assailing their an- 
 tagonists, and how extremely deficient they appear 
 when attempting to establish their own peculiar 
 views, may be led to suspect that they are both in 
 the wrong, and that the error lies in the common 
 ground which they agree to occupy, and which 
 forms the basis of their respective systems. This 
 will bring him to the previous question, a question 
 which, however important, seems never to have 
 come properly before the public, at least not to 
 have met with that consideration to which it 
 is certainly entitled. Was Baptism designed to 
 be a standing ordinance of the Christian Church, to 
 be perpetuated from age to age? — or was it ap- 
 pointed, in its original institution, as an ordinance 
 ofproselytism, of which, (if continued at all,j Mis- 
 sionaries are the only proper administrators, and 
 Proselytes the only proper subjects? To conduct 
 the reader to the latter conclusion, is the design of 
 the following pages ; and should the writer succeed 
 in the attempt, and his views of the subject be ge- 
 nerally adopted, he will consider himself as having 
 rendered a very important service to the religious 
 public, by removing out of the way, what has hi- 
 therto proved one of the greatest hindrances to that 
 union of Christians, whTcrT, as stated above, seems 
 indispensably requisite to effect the universal spread 
 of the gospel, and usher in the glory of the latter 
 day. 
 
 We come now to the subject more immediately 
 before us ; but in order to do justice to it, we must 
 trace Baptism to its origin, and mark the circum- 
 stances which attended its introduction, the light in 
 
which it was regarded, and the end which it was 
 designed to answer. 
 
 This ordinance was introduced, according to the 
 account of it which is given us in the New Testa- 
 ment, by John, the forerunner of our Lord, who 
 appears himself to have been a very extraordinary- 
 character. The length of time which had elapsed 
 since any prophet had been seen in Israel, the family 
 of John, so well known and so highly respected, 
 the remarkable circumstances attending his birth, 
 his rigid austerity and unfeigned piety, the peculiar 
 situation of the people at that time, groaning under 
 the Roman yoke and anxious for deliverance, to- 
 gether with the universal expectation then enter- 
 tained by the Jews of the speedy approach of the 
 Messiah, and even by the Gentiles of the appear- 
 ance of some extraordinary personage, who should 
 ameliorate the condition of mankind, and restore 
 the golden age — all concurred to awaken curiosity 
 and excite attention; so that, when John com- 
 menced his ministry, though it was in the most re- 
 cluse and least populous part of the country, in the 
 wilderness, as it is called, he immediately drew 
 vast multitudes after him ; for we are informed by 
 the Evangelists, that there went out to him, not 
 the inhabitants of Jerusalem only, but of the land 
 of Judea, and all the region round about. And 
 they were all baptized by him in Jordan, confessing 
 their sins. That the Baptism administered by John 
 was an ordinance of proselytism will not admit of 
 ! a doubt. The subjects of it were such as were ca- 
 / pable of receiviog instruction, and making a pro- 
 / fession ; upon which, being baptized by him, they 
 were considered as his disciples or proselytes. 
 
 The growing fame of John did not escape the no- 
 tice of the Jewish rulers. It is more than probable 
 that it excited their envy, and that they began to 
 entertain serious apprehensions, lest the respect in 
 
which he was held, and the influence Which he pos- 
 sessed, should eclipse their reputation, and dimi- 
 nish their authority. They accordinly sent Priests 
 and Levites from Jerusalem, to interrogate him on 
 the subject. Their object appears to have been, 
 not so much to learn the nature and design of the 
 ordinance which he administered, for of that they 
 seemed fully aware, but what were his pretensions 
 for administering that ordinance. It was not so 
 much, What doest thou? as who art thou? and 
 why doest thou thus ? What exalted personage art 
 thou? what special commission hast thou received 
 from heaven, that thou shouldst baptize and make 
 proselytes? The answer of John is well known. 
 He disclaimed the character of the Messiah, and 
 professed to act only as his forerunner, to prepare 
 his way, agreeably to ancient prophecy. Whether 
 these rulers were satisfied with this declaration of 
 John or not, they well knew that he stood too high 
 in the estimation of the people, to permit them, 
 with safety, openly" to oppose him. They would 
 not, however, give him their sanction, as appears 
 from another part of this history, where they are 
 said to have rejected the counsel of God against 
 themselves, being not baptized by him. 
 
 At this period, a circumstance took place, too 
 important to be allowed to pass unnoticed, what- 
 ever bearing it may have on the present question. 
 While John was administering the rite of Baptism 
 to the multitudes that flocked to him from every 
 quarter, our Lord thought proper to present him- 
 self as a candidate. This excited (as might be sup- 
 posed) the surprise of John, who would have de- 
 clined the honour that was thus to be put upon 
 him. " I have need (says he) to be baptized by 
 thee, and comest thou unto me ?" " Suffer it to be 
 so now (was the answer of our divine Redeemer), 
 for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," 
 
9 
 
 Our Lord by employing the pronoun us, on this 
 occasion, includes the administrator with himself; 
 for, surely, if it became him to submit to the ordi- 
 nance, it was no less becoming in John to adminis- 
 ter it, when required by him so to do. Many have 
 inferred from this, that believers, in the present day, 
 ought to be baptized because their Lord and Sa- 
 viour was baptized ; seeing he hath left us an ex- 
 ample, that we should follow his steps. But this 
 is by no means a necessary consequence. There 
 were many things which became our Lord, and 
 which constituted a part of that righteousness which, 
 as the Redeemer of his people, he was to fulfil, 
 which are not at all obligatory upon us : nay, there 
 are some, in which it would be even sinful for us 
 to attempt to imitate him. To accomplish the 
 work of our redemption he took our nature upon 
 him, was made under the law, and rendered obe- 
 dience to that law, ceremonial as well as moral. 
 He w r as circumcised, kept the passover, and con- 
 formed exactly to the Jewish ritual. Nor was this 
 all: for, in the present instance, he was pleased, 
 by his own example, to sanction an ordinance which 
 was appointed as introductory to a dispensation 
 that was afterwards to be more fully established. 
 This circumstance, however, affords no well-founded 
 argument for the perpetuity of Baptism as an or- 
 dinance of the Christian church ; especially when 
 it is recollected that the baptism to which our Lord 
 submitted, was the baptism of John, which, it is 
 agreed on all hands, was but local and temporary. 
 There was, nevertheless, a peculiar propriety in 
 this act of condescension, on the part of our Re- 
 deemer, at the precise period in which it took place ; 
 and this seems to be intimated in the mode of ex- 
 pression, " Suffer it to be so now? An opportunity 
 was afforded at this time, of which our Saviour 
 thought proper to avail himself, while thus bearing 
 a 3 
 
10 
 
 testimony to the character of John, of receiving a 
 divine attestation to his own character and mission ; 
 and this, in the most solemn manner conceivable, 
 in full view of the assembled multitude, just when 
 he was about to commence his public ministry. 
 This august transaction has frequently and very 
 justly been considered as affording a striking exhi- 
 bition of the doctrine of the sacred Trinity ; in 
 which each of the Divine persons appears in his 
 own character and office, according to the economy 
 of the covenant of redemption. Behold the Son of 
 God in the midst of the flowing stream, receiving 
 the baptismal rite ; while the Holy Spirit, probably 
 like a lambent flame, in a dove-like shape, is seen, 
 descending upon and hovering over him ; and a 
 voice from heaven, the voice of God the Father, is 
 heard, saying, " This is my beloved Son in w T hom 
 I am well pleased !V Such were some of the ends 
 to be answered by this memorable event ; enough 
 surely to justify that seeming deviation from pro- 
 priety, which so forcibly struck the mind of John, 
 in the character of one who had no sins to confess, 
 and who was infinitely superior to the person to 
 whom he appeared thus to submit himself. 
 
 Shortly after this transaction, we read that Jesus 
 made and baptized more disciples than John, though 
 Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples. From 
 this we learn that the Baptism administered by our 
 Lord, or rather by his disciples under his immediate 
 direction, proceeded exactly upon the same princi- 
 ple as that of John, his fore-runner, at least in this 
 respect, it was an ordinance of proselytism ; and 
 when we consider what vast multitudes were bap- 
 tized at this time by one or the other, and how 
 small the number of true converts before the effusion 
 of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we are neces- 
 sarily led to the conclusion, that an external pro- 
 fession was deemed sufficient to entitle any one to 
 
11 
 
 the ordinance, without a rigid scrutiny into the 
 state of I he heart. 
 
 From this time we hear little or nothing of Bap- 
 tism, except as it is on certain occasions metaphori- 
 cally alluded to, till after our Lord^ resurrection 
 from the dead ; when, just before his ascension to 
 glory, be commissioned his Apostles to go into all 
 the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 
 The terms of this commission demand our closest 
 attention, as constituting the only authority on 
 which the practice is founded. u Go ye therefore, 
 (was the language of our divine Redeemer, as re- 
 corded by Matthew) and teach (disciple or prose- 
 lyte) ail nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; 
 ^teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
 have commanded you ; and lo, lam with you al- 
 ways, even unto the end of the world. Amen." 
 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. The word which, in our ver- 
 sion of the Bible, is translated " teach," in the first 
 of these verses, signifies to proselyte, or make dis- 
 ciples. Dr. Doddridge, in his Family Expositor, 
 employs the first of these terms, " proselyte all na- 
 tions " &c. It is of exactly the same import with 
 that which occurs in the passage referred to above, 
 where it is said that Jesus made and baptized more 
 disciples than John. It appears, clearly, from 
 comparing these passages together, that, so far as 
 proselytism is concerned, this commission of our 
 Lord proceeded on the same principle with the 
 practice of John, and that of his own disciples dur- 
 ing his personal ministry. Their sphere of action 
 was, indeed, considerably enlarged, embracing all 
 nations : yet to whatever extent it is carried, it is 
 still connected with proselytism ; while not a sylla- 
 ble is said about the descendants of those who were 
 thus to be proselyted and baptized. 
 
 From the promise annexed " Lo, I am with you 
 
12 
 
 always, even unto the end of the world," it has 
 been inferred that the ordinance of Baptism must 
 be of perpetual obligation. But, neither the words 
 themselves, nor the situation in which they are found, 
 will support such an inference: for, it must be ob- 
 vious to every reflecting mind, that the spiritual 
 presence of Christ with his disciples, would have 
 been equally necessary, and doubtless would, at 
 this particular period, when his bodily presence 
 was about to be totally withdrawn, have been 
 made as much the subject of a special promise, if 
 no such ordinance as that of Baptism had been ap- 
 pointed. Besides, if we read the whole passage, 
 we shall see that the promise stands more imme- 
 diately connected with those subsequent instruc- 
 tions, which would form the important topics of 
 the gospel ministry in all succeeding ages, after the 
 Apostles had closed their testimony, even to the 
 end of time, when Baptism, as an ordinance of pro- 
 selytism, would be no longer requisite. 
 
 But if any just inference can be drawn from a 
 supposed connexion between the precept and the 
 promise, on the ground of proximity of situation, 
 the record of this transaction by the Evangelist 
 Mark, would lead us to an opposite conclusion: 
 for there, after the recital of the commission, " Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
 every creature : He that believeth and is baptized, 
 shall he saved ; but he that believeth not, shall be 
 damned ;" it is immediately added, " and these signs 
 shall follow them that believe; in my name shall 
 they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new- 
 tongues ; they shall take up serpents ; and if they 
 drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them ; they 
 shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall re- 
 cover." Here we find the institution of Baptism 
 closely connected with the promise of miraculous 
 gifts ; and indeed this connexion seems to coincide 
 
13 
 
 with the nature and design of that ordinance faf 
 better than the other. Miracles and ceremonies 
 were the distinguishing characteristics of the Jewish 
 dispensation. In both, an appeal is made to the 
 senses. They were, therefore, well adapted to 
 that period of the church, which is justly represent- 
 ed by the Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Gala- 
 tians, as a state of childhood. Children, we know, 
 are more affected with that which is presented to 
 the eye, than that which is addressed to the ear. 
 They are generally better pleased with pictures 
 fofran with books, and learn more from striking ex- 
 hibitions than from abstract reasonings. Hence, 
 the former dispensation was a dispensation of cere- 
 monies, a shadow of good things to come ; very 
 useful at that period, but not meant to b9 perpetual, 
 being, like miraculous gifts, no longer requisite, 
 when the Christian dispensation should b? fully es- 
 tablished. 
 
 Baptism, indeed, seems to partake of the nature 
 of both dispensations, being partly Jewish and 
 partly Christian, though not exclusively belonging 
 to either. It was, therefore, well adapted to form 
 the close of one and the commencement of the other. 
 In its mode of administration, it much resembled 
 the legal purifications, which, in the epistle to the 
 Hebrews, are called divers washings, or baptisms, 
 (as the word is in the original) being a part of those 
 carnal ordinances, that were to continue in force 
 only till the time of reformation : while, in respect 
 of its subjects, it essentially differed from them ; ex- 
 acting of every candidate that profession of faith 
 and repentance, which the law never required of 
 those who participated, nor even of those who ad- 
 ministered its most solemn rites. Baptism may, 
 therefore, be considered as. a sort of twilight ordi- 
 nance, interposing between the shadows of Jewish 
 ceremonies, which were about to flee a vay, and 
 
14 
 
 that glorious day of gospel light that was just ready 
 to dawn on a benighted world. 
 
 Our Lord was pleased to adopt this ordinance, 
 which had been introduced by John his forerunner, 
 instead of instituting a new rite, as might have been 
 expected, when he commissioned his Apostles to go 
 into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
 creature. Viewed in the light in which we have 
 hitherto considered it, there was much wisdom in 
 the appointment. Baptism, as an ordinance of pro- 
 selytism, was well known ; it had already been 
 practised to a considerable extent, and the nature 
 and design of it could not be misunderstood. 
 
 But it may be asked, If Baptism was ordained 
 only for a particular purpose, adapted to circum- 
 stances then existing, why was it enjoined with such 
 solemnity, and enforced with such strictness, especi- 
 ally, (as recorded by Mark) connected with the de- 
 claration, " He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
 saved ?" We reply to this by observing, that the de- 
 claration referred to, instead of militating against 
 the sentiment we have advanced, tends very much 
 to confirm it: for it stamps such an importance on 
 the ordinance of Baptism at that period, as can by 
 no means be attached to it, as practised among us 
 at the present day. Hence the difficulty that com- 
 mentators have universally found, in their attempts 
 to interpret this passage, and the various ways in 
 which they have sought to evade its force, or ex- 
 plain away its meaning. Let us consider the sub- 
 ject a little more attentively, and we shall see 
 clearly how the matter stands. 
 
 In every period of the church, and under every 
 dispensation, a public profession of religion, in one 
 way or other, has been considered as essential to the 
 character of the people of God ; and in proportion 
 to the clearness of the light and the extent of the 
 privilege, the duty has become more indispensable. 
 
15 
 
 Hence we read, (i\Iatt. x. 32, 33.) " Whosoever 
 shall confess me before men, him will I confess be- 
 fore my Father who is in heaven : but whosoever 
 shall deny me before men, him will I also deny be- 
 fore my Father who is in heaven." Such was the 
 solemn declaration of our Lord during the period of 
 his public ministry: but when, after his resurrec- 
 tion from the dead, he commissioned his Apostles 
 to proselyte all nations, he was pleased to require 
 those who embraced their doctrine to make a pub- 
 lic profession of the same, not by a mere verbal de- 
 claration of their faith in him, but by a significant 
 and solemn act, in the name of the sacred Trinity. 
 There was a great propriety in this. Words are li- 
 able to different constructions, and may be under- 
 stood in different senses, conveying more or less of 
 meaning, according to the varying circumstances of 
 him that utters them. But an act of this sort could 
 neither be misunderstood nor retracted. The rubi- 
 con was passed, and they must abide by the conse- 
 quences. It was impossible to go back without in- 
 curring the charge, aud exposing themselves to the 
 odium of apostacy from the faith. In this view the 
 declaration, " He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved," was not too strong. Being bap- 
 tized, in compliance with the command of Christ, 
 was at that period, and under those circumstances, 
 absolutely necessary to prove that their faith was 
 genuine, and that they were in a state of salvation. 
 
 This view of the subject is illustrated and con- 
 firmed by the language of the Apostle Peter on the 
 day of Pentecost, when three thousand souls ap- 
 pear to have been converted under one discourse. 
 Deeply convinced of the guilt they had incurred, 
 and dreading the vengeance to which they had ex- 
 posed themselves, by the murder of the Lord of life 
 and glory, they said unto Peter and to the rest of 
 the Apostles, " Men and brethren, what shall we 
 
ft 
 
 do ?* Then Peter said unto them, " Repent and be 
 baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall re- 
 ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the promise 
 is unto you and to your children, and to all that 
 are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God 
 shall call." O what rich encouragement! what 
 heavenly consolation ! w r hat divine joy ! were these 
 words adapted to inspire into the hearts of those 
 who but a short time before had clamorously de- 
 manded the crucifixion of the Redeemer, impiously 
 saying, " His blood be on us and on our children !" 
 and now to hear that a way was open, in w r hich 
 they and their children might be rescued from that 
 destruction which they had thus wickedly impre- 
 cated, by repenting of their sins, believing in Christ, 
 and being baptized in his name ! It is added, " And 
 with many other words did he testify and exhort, 
 saying, Save yourselves from this untoward genera- 
 tion." Then (it follows) they that gladly received 
 his word were baptized ; and the same day there 
 were added unto them about three thousand souls. 
 Here we see Baptism standing in exactly the same 
 connection with faith on the one hand and salvation 
 on the other, as in the declaration recorded by 
 Mark, " He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
 saved." Mark (it is generally understood) wrote 
 his gospel under the direction of Peter, who doubt- 
 less recollected the above expression of our Lord, 
 and knew full well how to understand it. This 
 same Apostle also, in his first general epistle, refer- 
 ring to the ark, wherein few, that is, eight souls, 
 were saved by water, adds, " The like figure where- 
 unto, even Baptism doth also now save us, (not the 
 putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the an- 
 swer of a good conscience towards God) by the 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ" 3 Peter iii. 20, 21. 
 It appears clearly from the above statement, that 
 
it 
 
 Saptism was at that period, in a certain sense, a* 
 saving ordinance. It was the divinely appointed 
 means, by which, in connection with faith and re- 
 pentance, those whom the Apostle Peter addressed 
 were exhorted to save themselves from the awful 
 judgments denounced against the Jewish nation, 
 which subsequently came upon them, even before 
 that generation had passed away, but from which 
 those who thus professed their faith in Christ were 
 happily exempt. When performed in obedience to 
 the command of their risen and exalted Redeemer, 
 as a fruit of faith, with right views, and under the 
 influence of proper motives, it also furnished satis- 
 factory evidence of interest in the more important 
 and invaluable blessings of spiritual and eternal sal- 
 vation. We may further observe, that Baptism was 
 then the only door of entrance into the visible church 
 of Christ, the only means of access to Christian fel- 
 lowship and the communion of saints, by which 
 those who were formerly aliens from the common- 
 wealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of 
 promise, having no hope, and without God in the 
 world, were brought nigh, considered and treated 
 as being no more strangers and foreigners, but fel- 
 low-citizens with the saints, and of the household of 
 God ; having a right to partake of all the ordi- 
 nances, and enjoy all the privileges to which Chris- 
 tians are entitled, to none of which they could be- 
 fore lay claim. By attending to this ordinance, it 
 was the will of Christ that those who were con- 
 verted to the faith by the ministry of the Apostles 
 and Evangelists, should come out from among the 
 unbelieving Jews and idolatrous Gentiles, with 
 whom they were previously mingled, and form a 
 distinct community, united among themselves, and 
 separate from their former associates. 
 
 Such being the nature of Baptism in its original 
 institution, and such the eDds to be answered by its 
 
18 
 
 appointment, the fair presumption is, that being or- 
 dained under peculiar circumstances, and for special 
 purposes, not corresponding with our present situa- 
 tion, it was not intended to be made a standing or- 
 dinance of the Christian Church, to be perpetuated 
 from age to age ; nor are we obliged so to regard it 
 without a clear and explicit command to that ef- 
 fect. Such a command is certainly not to be found 
 in the terms of the commission. Some have sup- 
 posed it to be included in the words that imme- 
 diately follow, " Teaching them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded you. 1 '' But 
 if so, we must certainly find some trace of it in the 
 subsequent writings of the Apostles : otherwise, the 
 obvious inference must be, either that the perpetu- 
 ity of the ordinance of Baptism was not among the 
 number of those things which Christ commanded, 
 and which they were consequently bound to teach 
 his people to observe; or, that they have been, in 
 this respect at least, sadly deficient in their duty ; 
 seeing they have left us so much in the dark on the 
 subject. This is the more extraordinary, as on 
 every other branch of Christian duty, they have 
 been so very explicit, not sparing to urge it, under 
 all the varied forms of precept, exhortation, admo- 
 nition, warning, and caution. But, in regard to 
 Baptism, whether their epistles are addressed to 
 ministers, to churches, or to individuals, there 
 seems on this subject, one had almost said, a studied 
 silence. There is no injunction to enforce it, no ex- 
 hortation to press it, no admonition or warning of 
 the danger of delaying or neglecting it, no caution 
 against the abuse of it ; nor is there any intimation, 
 from which we can certainly infer that it was meant 
 to be continued from age to age. It was not so un- 
 der the former dispensation. There, if an ordi- 
 nance was appointed that was designed to be per- 
 petual, that is, to continue as long as the dispensa- 
 
19 
 
 tion lasted, it was specified as such. Hence we read 
 so repeatedly, " This shall be a statute for ever. 1 '* 
 " This shall be an ordinance to be observed in all 
 your generations." Nor were they left to vague 
 conjecture, either as to the mode of performing 
 these ordinances, or the persons to whom it apper- 
 tained to administer or to partake of them. Indeed, 
 we may venture to lay it down as a certain rule, 
 founded on the equity of the Divine government, 
 and applicable to all the ordinances which God has 
 appointed ; that the perspicuity with which they 
 are defined will be invariably proportioned to the 
 strictness with which they are enforced, and the 
 importance attached to their observance. Let this 
 rule be once admitted, and we are furnished with 
 an unanswerable argument against the perpetuity of 
 the ordinance of Baptism. For never was any or- 
 dinance, instituted with such solemnity, enforced 
 with such strictness, and having such importance 
 attached to it at the time of its enactment ; being 
 closely connected, not with the possession or forfei- 
 ture of temporal good, but with the salvation of the 
 precious and immortal soul ; and yet, in respect of 
 its continued observance, so extremely vague and 
 indefinite; leaving us (if we may judge from the 
 contradictory opinions entertained concerning it) 
 in a mist of obscurity and a labyrinth of perplex- 
 ity, without a clue to guide us, either in respect of 
 the description of character authorized to adminis- 
 ter the ordinance, the kind of persons who are the 
 proper subjects of it, or the mode of its perform- 
 ance. All this is perfectly unaccountable upon the 
 supposition that it was intended to be a standing 
 ordinance of the Christian church. xA.dmit the con- 
 trary, and every difficulty vanishes. Instead of 
 perplexing ourselves any further on the subject, we 
 may rest satisfied, being already in possession of all 
 
that it is requisite for us to know, on a subject with 
 Which personal duty has no necessary connection. 
 
 It may, notwithstanding, be contended, that an 
 ordinance once instituted with such solemnity, and 
 enforced with such strictness, as we have admitted 
 respecting Baptism, must necessarily be considered 
 as of perpetual obligation, unless repealed by the 
 same authority, and in a manner as clear and defi- 
 nite, as the declaration by which it was first enact- 
 ed. This is certainly very plausible, and is perhaps 
 the strongest argument that can be adduced in fa- 
 vour of the practice. But if we closely examine it, 
 we shall perceive that it is far from being so conclu- 
 sive as we might, at first sight, imagine. Happily 
 for us, we have a precedent set before us in the 
 New Testament ; the proper consideration of which 
 will materially assist our investigation of this im- 
 portant point. The ceremonial law, in its various 
 branches, was delivered by Moses to the Israelites 
 with all due solemnity, and the observance of it en- 
 forced with the utmost strictness. It might, there- 
 fore, have been expected, that if ever it should be 
 abrogated, it would be by the mandate of authority, 
 or by a special commission from heaven for the pur- 
 pose, and that in terms so explicit as to leave no 
 room for doubt or hesitation on the subject, in the 
 mind of any who truly feared God. This, how- 
 ever, we know- was not the case. Many of the be- 
 lieving Jews, for a considerable time after their ha- 
 ving embraced Christian^, cherished a fond regard 
 for those institutions which for so long a period 
 they had been accustomed to venerate. Now, by 
 what means were they to be detached from these 
 antiquated rites, to which they were so closely wed- 
 ded ? Not by the dictate of authority, compelling 
 an immediate, entire, and absolute relinquishment 
 of them, but by the dint of argument, showing that 
 
21 
 
 when first instituted they were not designed to be of 
 perpetual obligation ; that they were appointed for 
 a special purpose ; and when that purpose was fully 
 accomplished, there existed no longer any obliga- 
 tion to regard them. 
 
 This mode of proceeding, with respect to the ce- 
 remonial law, serves to establish a very important 
 principle, which will apply to all the commands of 
 God, without exception. It is this. The moment 
 that the reason for which any command was given, 
 ceases, that moment the obligation to obey such 
 command ceases with it. A proper attention to this 
 rule would have preserved many from those errors 
 into which they have been betrayed by a servile re- 
 gard to precepts and examples recorded in the New 
 Testament, without inquiring the reason of such ob- 
 servances, the end to be answered by them, and 
 whether it is necessary and expedient for us, in our 
 present circumstances, which may be widely differ- 
 ent from theirs, to employ the same means for the 
 attainment of such end. We may refer to one or 
 two instances which occur in the historical part of 
 the New Testament, by way of illustration. 
 
 When, at an early period of the Christian church, 
 a question arose respecting the propriety of impos- 
 ing upon Gentile converts the necessity of conform- 
 ing to the Jewish ritual, a consultation of the 
 Apostles and Elders w T as held at Jerusalem upon 
 the subject ; when, after much debate, it was deter- 
 mined that nothing more should be required of them 
 than those " necessary things," as they are called, 
 " To abstain from meats offered to idols, and from 
 blodd, and from things strangled, and from fornica- 
 tion: from which (it is added) if ye keep yourselves, 
 ye shall do well." Now, with respect to the last of the 
 things here mentioned, it has always been considered, 
 and very properly, as necessary for us to abstain from 
 it as for them ; yet, though no distinction whatever is 
 
22 
 
 made in the decree between one and the other, we 
 have always been accustomed to regard the rest as 
 deriving all their importance from peculiar circum- 
 stances then existing, and consequently not obliga- 
 tory upon us, who are placed in different circum- 
 stances. On this subject Dr. Doddridge observes, 
 that " the reason of the prohibition is now ceased, 
 and the obligation to abstain from these things 
 ceases with it;" which exactly corresponds with 
 the position we have advanced. 
 
 Again, it pleased our Lord, on a certain occa- 
 sion, in order to inculcate more forcibly the neces- 
 sity of humility and condescension among his fol- 
 lowers, first to wash the feet of his disciples, and 
 then to explain his reasons for so doing, saying, " If 
 I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, 
 ye also ought to wash one another's feet ; for I have 
 given you an example that ye should do as I have 
 done to you." Here we have a positive injunction 
 of Christ, sanctioned by his own example ; and yet 
 it is generally understood to be the spirit and not the 
 letter of this precept and example, to which we are 
 bound to conform. 
 
 Under the former dispensation, indeed, there were 
 positive institutions, the propriety or expediency of 
 which was never considered as a proper subject of 
 inquiry or discussion, so long as that dispensation 
 continued in force ; nor was the least excuse admit- 
 ted, for any neglect, delay, or deviation from the 
 prescribed mode of observing them : it being (as we 
 are told) of the nature of positive institutions, to 
 require implicit obedience on the eole ground of the 
 authority of the Legislator. Hence, we repeatedly 
 find instances of disobedience to such precepts, 
 though in things apparently trivial, punished with 
 the utmost severity, as acts of rebellion against the 
 King of Zion. Now, it is urged by many, that the 
 ordinances of divine service enjoined upon us, 
 
23 
 
 though fewer in number, and more simple in their 
 nature, than those which belonged to the former 
 dispensation, yet, being like them positive institu- 
 tions, they proceed exactly on the same principle, 
 and ought to be enforced with the same strictness. 
 On this ground, the Baptists defend their conduct 
 in refusing communion at the Lord's table to Paedo- 
 baptists ; nor is it easy to see with what justice or 
 propriety those who admit the above principle can 
 censure them for so doing. Let us hear their rea- 
 soning on this subject, as presented to us by the late 
 Mr. Booth, in his " Apology for the Baptists ; in 
 which they are vindicated from the charge of lay- 
 ing an unwarrantable stress on the ordinance of 
 Baptism." In the third section of his treatise on 
 this subject, he thus expresses himself: — " As the 
 sovereign will of God is more concerned and mani- 
 fested in positive ordinances than in any other 
 branches of holy worship ; so it is evident from the 
 history of the Jewish church, that the divine jea- 
 lousy was never sooner inflamed, nor ever more aw- 
 fully expressed, than when God's ancient people 
 failed in their obedienee to such commands, or de- 
 viated from the prescribed rule of such institu- 
 tions. The destruction of Nadab and Abihu by 
 fire from heaven ; the breach that was made upon 
 Uzzah ; the stigma fixed and the curses denounced 
 on Jeroboam ; together with the fall and ruin of all 
 mankind by our first father's disobedience to a po- 
 sitive command, are among the many authentic 
 proofs of this assertion." In order to show how 
 the above remarks apply to the object that he has 
 in view, which is to prove the necessity and impor- 
 tance of Baptism, as a term of communion, he adds, 
 " The clearer light which God has afforded, and the 
 richer grace which Christ has manifested, under the 
 present dispensation, are so far from lessening, that 
 they evidently increase our obligations to perform 
 
24 
 
 every divine command relating to Christian wor^ 
 ship. Accursed, then, is the principle, and rebel- 
 lious is the conduct of those professors, who think 
 themselves warranted by the grace of the gospel to 
 trifle with God's positive appointments, any more 
 than the priests or the people were of old." 
 
 Another author, whom Mr. B. quotes with ap- 
 probation, after stating, in respect of the ordinances 
 of the gospel, " that the primitive mode of admi- 
 nistration should be strictly and conscientiously 
 adhered to? adds, " In a former dispensation, in 
 which the ritual was numerous and burdensome, 
 the great Jehovah was particularly jealous of his 
 honour as supreme lawgiver, and looked upon the 
 least innovation as a direct opposition to his au- 
 thority. Moses, we are informed, was admonished 
 of God to make all things according to the pattern 
 showed him in the mount. And those unfortunate 
 youths who presumed to alter the form of his reli- 
 gion, and worship him in a way he had not com- 
 manded, fell under the severest marks of his dis- 
 pleasure ; which shews that he looked upon the 
 least imiovation in the ceremonial part of his pre- 
 cepts, as an impious and daring opposition and 
 contempt of his authority, and deserving of as pecu- 
 liar and distinguished vengeance, as a direct and 
 open violation of the moral law. And as the great 
 King of the universe required such strictness and 
 punctuality, and insisted on such scrupulous ex- 
 actness in the performance of the minutest rite be- 
 longing to the legal dispensation, it would be ex- 
 tremely difficult to assign a reason why he should 
 be more lax and careless, and allow a greater scope 
 to human discretion, under the Christian economy. 
 The greater light which shines in our religion, the 
 small number and simplicity of its ceremonials, and 
 the end and design of those institutions being more 
 clearly revealed, are reasons which strongly indi- 
 
25 
 
 cate the contrary? He then proceeds to point out 
 the absurdity (as he is pleased to term it) of sup- 
 posing " that the sublime Author of our religion will 
 dispense with the performance of his positive laws, 
 or admit of the least variation? 
 
 Mr. Booth, in his celebrated work, entitled 
 " Peedobaptism examined, on the principles, con- 
 cessions, and reasonings of the most learned Psedo- 
 baptists," insists upon it, that " Baptism is as 
 really and entirely a positive institution, as any that 
 were given to the chosen tribes;" and that " the 
 disciples of Christ are as much obliged to regard 
 the positive laws of the New Testament, with strict 
 punctuality, as the Jews were to observe that di- 
 vine ritual which is contained in the books of Mo- 
 ses*." It must be acknowledged, however, in jus- 
 tice to Mr. B. that he is by no means singular in 
 his view of the nature of positive institutions, and 
 the obligation of Christians to regard gospel ordi- 
 nances as such ; in proof of which we need only 
 refer to the various quotations with which the above 
 work abounds, from learned doctors and eminent 
 prelates, who have expressed their ideas, on the 
 subject in terms nearly as strong as those employed 
 by Mr. B. himself. 
 
 Now, if the above sentiments are just, and Mr. 
 B.'s views of the ordinance of Baptism are correct, 
 in what light are we to regard the conduct of those 
 who have not only deviated from the mode, with- 
 out any scriptural authority for so doing, but have 
 absolutely changed the ordinance itself, in its very 
 nature, and the design and end for which it was in- 
 stituted ; so that (except in the name, and the form 
 of words employed in its administration ) it bears 
 no resemblance whatever to that ordinance which 
 our Lord commanded his Apostles to administer : 
 
 • See " Psedobaptism Examined, &c." pages 13 and 165. 
 B 
 
26 
 
 for among Paedobaptists, Baptism, instead of being 
 the appointed token of a personal and individual 
 profession of faith, as originally intended, is neither 
 more nor less than a certain mode of dedicating 
 children to God : a purpose very different from 
 that for which Baptism was originally instituted ; a 
 purpose, the idea of which we hesitate not to say, 
 would never be likely to enter into the mind of a 
 sincere inquirer after truth, who had no means of 
 ascertaining it but such as the New Testament 
 affords. 
 
 With these views of the subject, who shall dare 
 to charge the Baptists with laying an unwarrant- 
 able stress on the ordinance of Baptism ? or won- 
 der at their refusing to hold communion with Pae- 
 dobaptists at the Lord's table ? The greater won- 
 der is, that they will have any communion with 
 them at all, or shew them the smallest degree of 
 respect ; for if the least innovation in a positive in- 
 stitution is a crime as heinous, and deserving a pu- 
 nishment as severe, as a direct and open violation 
 of the moral law* according to the sentiment ad- 
 vanced above, then surely the Baptists would be 
 fully justified in refusing to unite with such flagi- 
 tious offenders in any religious exercise whatever, 
 as well as in the celebration of the Lord's Supper ; 
 yea, it would be their duty (however painful to 
 their feelings) to testify, in every possible way, 
 their abhorrence of such atrocious conduct, instead 
 of acknowledging such to be Christians, and treat- 
 ing them as brethren, as, through an excess of can- 
 dour and liberality, they are sometimes disposed to 
 do. For let it be recollected, that the offence with 
 which Paedobaptists stand charged, is not merely a 
 single deviation from the prescribed rule of a posi- 
 tive institution, but a line of conduct which they 
 are habitually and invariably pursuing ; nor is this 
 all ; for they not only violate this positive precept 
 themselves, but actually teach men so to do. 
 
27 
 
 What then can we think of the Divine conduct 
 towards such characters? We do not, indeed, in the 
 present day, expect to see transgressors, however 
 aggravated the offence may be, consumed by fire 
 from heaven, as Nadab and Abihu were, or visited 
 with instant death, like Uzzah, when he presumptu- 
 ously touched the ark. But if their crime, as stated 
 above, is as heinous, and deserving a punishment as 
 severe, as a direct and open violation of the moral 
 law, we should expect to behold some tokens of the 
 divine displeasure, such as we have repeatedly wit- 
 nessed in the case of those who have disgraced their 
 profession by a conduct grossly immoral. In some 
 such instances, however dignified the character, 
 eminent the talent, exalted the title, and extensive 
 the influence, which they may previously have pos- 
 sessed, no sooner has the fact been indubitably as- 
 certained, than they have sunk like a millstone in 
 the mighty waters — sunk to rise no more. Others, 
 in similar circumstances, have attempted to continue 
 in the exercise of their profession, having no other 
 means of support ; but they have only dragged out 
 a miserable existence, without credit and without 
 comfort ; their respectability gone, their influence 
 at an end, and a fatal extinguisher put over all 
 their prospects of future usefulness. The effect has 
 been nearly the same, where the fundamental doc- 
 trines of the gospel have been denied or disregard- 
 ed. In all these cases, that solemn declaration of 
 Jehovah has been fully verified, " Them that ho- 
 nour me I will honour, but they that despise me 
 shall be lightly esteemed.*" Such is God's method 
 of dealing with those who incur his displeasure by 
 walking contrary to him. 
 
 But what do we behold in the case before us ? 
 Just the reverse of all this. We see a class of de- 
 linquents, whose offence is exactly of the same de- 
 scription with that which called down fire from 
 b2 
 
28 
 
 heaven on the guilty heads of the culprits ; being no 
 less than a deviation from the prescribed ride of a 
 positive institution; and nothing, according to Mr. 
 B. can be conceived more horribly provoking to 
 God, or more adapted to excite his keenest indig- 
 nation, and the most awful displays of his ven- 
 geance ; and this offence too, attended with circum- 
 stances of deeper aggravation, because committed 
 under a dispensation of clearer light and richer 
 grace than that with which the sons of Aaron were 
 favoured. Yet, strange to tell ! we see no mark 
 whatever of the divine displeasure towards them on 
 this account. So far from it, that we may venture 
 to say, that none of the servants of God, who walk 
 in all his commandments and in all his ordinances 
 blameless, have been more enriched with the gifts 
 and graces of the Spirit, or have had their labours 
 for the conversion of sinners, and the edification of 
 saints, crowned with moreabundantsuccessthanthey. 
 A Paedobaptist, however, may be supposed to say, 
 ' f You labour under a very great mistake, if you 
 think of charging us with deviating from the pre- 
 scribed rule of a positive institution. This deviation 
 is not on our part, but on the part of the Baptists; for 
 we are fully persuaded, and do verily believe, that 
 Infant Baptism was practised by the Apostles them- 
 selves. We are confirmed in this sentiment by a 
 learned friend of ours, who has recently taken a 
 great deal of pains to prove, in a work that he has 
 published on this subject, that the Greek word 
 oikos, which in our translation is rendered house- 
 hold or house, signifies family, and consequently 
 must include infants ; on the supposition that in- 
 fants were actually to be found in those families, 
 (few in number) whose baptism is recorded in the 
 Acts of the Apostles. We are sorry that it is not 
 in our power exactly to ascertain this fact. It must 
 therefore rest on conjecture or probability. Had it 
 
29 
 
 so happened that there had been infants in the ark, 
 we should certainly have considered this circum- 
 stance as pleading strongly in our favour; espe- 
 cially under the idea that the ark is represented by 
 the Apostle Peter as a figure of Baptism. Nay, had 
 the matter been left vague and undetermined, we 
 should have concluded, as in the instances before 
 us, that infants must have been there, seeing the 
 same term employed ; for the Lord said unto Noah, 
 ** Come thou, and all thy house into the ark." The 
 Apostle Paul also, in his epistle to the Hebrews, re- 
 ferring to the same transaction, tells us that " Noah, 
 being warned of God of things not seen as yet, 
 moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of 
 his house" In this case we should have urged the 
 extreme absurdity of supposing that no infants were 
 to be found in that ark, whose inhabitants were des- 
 tined to people the whole world with their future 
 progeny. As it is, however, we are fully disposed 
 to pass the matter over in silence, and should it at 
 any time be referred to, strenuously to maintain 
 that it has nothing to do with the subject. But to 
 return from this digression. Taking it for granted, 
 as we are compelled to do for want of proof, that 
 there were infants in the families alluded to, our ar- 
 gument stands thus : Every general term must ne- 
 cessarily include all which that term is employed to 
 express in its most extended signification. But this 
 rule (if it may be so called) admits of so many ex- 
 ceptions, and the cases occur so frequently where 
 these exceptions must be made, or we must violate 
 all the dictates of common sense, that we scarcely 
 know what to say. There is one instance puzzles 
 us extremely, and the more so, as it stands closely 
 connected with the ordinance in question. When 
 our Lord gave his commission to his Apostles, as 
 recorded by Mark, he commanded them to preach 
 the gospel to every creature. The term creature, it 
 
30 
 
 is well known, in its literal signification, includes 
 irrational and even inanimate beings. In short, it 
 extends to every person and every thing that is the 
 subject of creating power. But to understand it in 
 this sense, in reference to the above command, would 
 be grossly absurd."" " Not more absurd, however, 
 (say the Baptists) than to understand the term fami- 
 ly, where Baptism is concerned, as necessarily in- 
 cluding infants ; for brutes and blocks are as ca- 
 pable of understanding and receiving the gospel, as 
 infants are of making that profession of faith and 
 repentance, which is indispensably requisite to the 
 due administration of the ordinance of Baptism. 
 Let this, rather, be your rule of interpretation, a 
 rule which will invariably apply to all cases that 
 may occur : Every general term must necessarily 
 admit of those exceptions which the nature of the 
 subject and the dictates of common sense demand." 
 
 " Who shall decide when Doctors disagree ?" 
 
 One thing, however* we cannot forbear remark* 
 ing, that the continued existence of this contrariety 
 of opinion among wise and good men, tends very 
 much to confirm the idea, that Baptism was not in- 
 tended to be a standing ordinance of the Christian 
 church, or it never would have been left so ex- 
 tremely vague and indefinite. 
 
 We may further observe, that the dispensations of 
 God, as the God of providence, and as the God of 
 grace, form an infallible comment on his sacred 
 word, especially the preceptive part; wherein we 
 find the divine conduct repeatedly exhibited, as fur- 
 nishing the most exact pattern for imitation, and 
 the most powerful motive to obedience. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, in his exhortations to the ex- 
 ercise of mutual forgiveness, brotherly love, conju- 
 gal affection, and other relative duties, enforces all 
 upon this ground : God bath forgiven you, and 
 loved you ; therefore ye ought in like manner to 
 
31 
 
 forgive one another, and to love one another. John, 
 the beloved disciple, pursues a similar course in his 
 first general epistle, inferring, from the love of God 
 to us, that we ought also to love one another. If he 
 laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our 
 lives for the brethren. Our Lord himself also 
 adopts precisely the same mode of reasoning when 
 he says, " Love ye your enemies, and do good, and 
 lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward 
 shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the 
 Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful, and to 
 the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father 
 also is merciful. Be ye therefore perfect, even as 
 your Father who is in heaven is perfect." 
 
 This was precisely the principle upon which the 
 Apostle Peter proceeded on a very remarkable oc- 
 casion. When charged with having acted impro- 
 perly in holding free communion and intimate fel- 
 lowship with Gentile converts, and admitting them 
 to the full enjoyment of all the privileges of the 
 Christian church, without requiring them to be cir- 
 cumcised, he rests his defence on this ground, and 
 on this ground alone ; for he uses no other argu- 
 ment in vindication of his conduct. " Forasmuch, 
 then, as God gave them the like gift as he did unto 
 us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what 
 was I that I could withstand God ? And God, who 
 knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them 
 the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us ; and put 
 no difference between us and them, purifying their 
 hearts by faith. ,, Acts xi. 17, and xv. 8, 9. The 
 scope of his reasoning is evidently to show, that 
 where God has made no difference, we should make 
 none. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, urges the 
 duty of mutual forbearance exactly on the same 
 ground; summing up the whole in this short sen- 
 tence, " Wherefore, receive ye one another, as 
 Christ hath also received us to the glory of God." 
 
32 
 
 When the opponents of free communion are close- 
 ly pressed with these and similar passages, they ge- 
 nerally attempt to evade their force by alleging that 
 they relate to the ceremonial law, which is now 
 completely abrogated ; that they must therefore be 
 considered as irrelevant, having nothing to do with 
 the positive institutions of the New Testament. But 
 it ought to be remembered, that, however clear the 
 subject may seem to us, the complete abrogation of 
 the Jewish ritual was not fully understood by those 
 whom Peter addressed, any further than they might 
 draw the inference from the transaction which he 
 narrated. They might reason thus, and no doubt 
 many of them did so. Those services which were 
 once enjoined with so much solemnity, and enforced 
 with so much strictness, are now treated with indif- 
 ference, and that even by God himself. Surely the 
 purpose for which they were ordained must have 
 been fully accomplished ; and the reason of their 
 enactment having ceased, the obligation to regard 
 them has ceased with it: for we cannot believe, 
 were they still in force, that He, who is so jealous 
 of his honour, would suffer them to be totally neg- 
 lected with impunity ; much less that he would 
 bestow his favours as liberally on those who pay no 
 regard to them at all, as on those who observe them 
 with the utmost strictness ; making no kind of dif- 
 ference between the one and the other. 
 
 Let us apply this to the subject before us, and we 
 shall see that Baptism stands exactly in the same si- 
 tuation in the present day, that circumcision did in 
 the days of the Apostles. If the Baptists are right 
 in their views of the ordinance, nothing can be more 
 clear. According to them, Infant Baptism is no 
 Baptism at all : it is a mere nullity. In their es- 
 teem, the far greater part of the Christian world, in- 
 cluding some of the wisest and best men now on the 
 face of the earth, are, to all intents and purposes. 
 
33 
 
 unbaptized. It appears, then, that God bestows the 
 gifts and graces of his Spirit alike upon the baptized 
 and the unbaptized, just as he did in the primitive 
 ages of the Christian Church, on the circumcised 
 and the uncircumcised, without distinction. On 
 the supposition that Baptism ought to be regarded 
 as a standing ordinance, and insisted on as a term 
 of communion, this is most unaccountable. 
 
 Now it so happens that Mr. Booth himself, in his 
 defence of exclusive communion, adopts the very 
 principle for which we contend, and rests the chief 
 weight of his argument upon it : for he evidently 
 considers the dealings of God with, his professing 
 people, when they fail in their observance of his sta- 
 tutes, as furnishing a criterion whereby we may in- 
 fallibly determine the nature and quality of the of- 
 fences with which they stand chargeable, and the 
 judgment which we ought to form of them. Hence 
 he infers, from the awful visitations of divine Provi- 
 dence on the two eldest sons of Aaron, and others 
 who committed similar transgressions, the heinous 
 guilt of deviating from the prescribed rule of a posi- 
 tive institution. But it is worthy of note, that every 
 instance which he adduces is taken from the Old 
 Testament, not one from the New. This is the 
 more extraordinary, as in his controversy with Pae- 
 dobaptists, he is perpetually exposing the absurdity 
 of this mode of proceeding, when resorted to by 
 them, in order to prove the right of infants to Bap- 
 tism ; considering it as betraying the weakness of 
 the disputant, or the want of substantial evidence; 
 as a tacit confession that Evangelists and Apostles 
 afford but slender evidence in proof of the point 
 which they wish to establish : otherwise, there 
 would be no need to send us back to obsolete cere- 
 monies, antiquated rites, the Old Testament, and the 
 former dispensation, to know the meaning of the 
 commission which our Lord gave to bis Apostles, 
 
 B3 
 
34 
 
 and to learn the nature of an ordinance which is pe- 
 culiar to the New Testament, and belongs solely to 
 the present dispensation. But we would ask, Is it 
 more absurd for a Psedobaptist to conclude from the 
 promise which God made to Abraham, to be a God 
 to him and to bis seed after him, that therefore Chris- 
 tian parents ought to baptize their children, than for 
 the advocate of exclusive communion to infer from 
 the circumstance of the sin of Nadab and Abihu 
 being: punished by fire from heaven, that therefore 
 Baptists are justifiable in refusing to admit Paedo- 
 baptists to communion with them at the Lord's 
 table ? We may here, mutatis mutandis, retort on 
 Mr. B. his own language, and say, " May we not 
 conclude that he would never have produced any 
 passage from the Old Testament in favour of his 
 sentiment, were he not keenly sensible that the apos- 
 tolic writings do not furnish him with solid argu- 
 ment in its defence ? But, as Dr. Watts observes, 
 * Through the influence which our own schemes or 
 hypotheses have upon the mind, we sometimes be- 
 come so sharp-sighted as to find these schemes in 
 those places where the sacred writers never thought 
 of them, nor the Holy Spirit ever intended them.'"' 
 Mr. B.'s reasoning on this subject, however, is 
 perfectly correct, so far as it goes to establish the 
 general principle, that the conduct of God towards 
 offenders forms a proper test, by which we may 
 judge of the magnitude of the offence. But the due 
 application of this rule must ever have respect to 
 the nature of the dispensation under which the of- 
 fence is committed, and the actual treatment which 
 such offenders, or supposed offenders, receive from 
 the hand of God. In this view of the subject, the 
 justness of which is incontrovertible, Mr. B.'s argu- 
 ment may be turned completely against himself; for 
 the principle which he has taken so much pains to 
 establish, if properly applied, proves the truth of the 
 sentiment directly opposed to that which it is ad- 
 
35 
 
 duced to establish. The argument will then stand 
 thus: If the awful judgments above referred to, 
 evince the heavy guilt incurred by the slightest in- 
 fraction of the ceremonial law, the seal of divine ap- 
 probation which has been so evidently affixed to the 
 labours of the faithful servants of Christ, notwith- 
 standing their differing so widely from each other in 
 modes of worship and discipline, and the adminis- 
 tration of gospel ordinances, incontestably proves 
 that such differences, however they may be magni- 
 fied by the partizans of their respective sects, are of 
 little or no account in the estimation of Him whose 
 judgment is according to truth. 
 
 But how is it, some may be disposed to inquire, 
 that such astonishing latitude should be allowed re- 
 specting the institutions of the gospel, whilst those 
 of the law were enforced with so much rigour ? 
 There is no difficulty in assigning an adequate rea- 
 son for this. Theologians, indeed, have involved 
 the subject in perplexity, by employing the same 
 term to designate the ordinances of the gospel, and 
 the ceremonies of the law, calling them ■ positive 
 institutions ;' and then, having thought proper to 
 give the same name to both, they have immediately 
 supposed them to be alike, and have argued from 
 the one to the other, as if there were the most per- 
 fect resemblance between them ; when, in fact, 
 they differ from each other in nature and design, as 
 much as the dispensations to which they respec- 
 tively belong. 
 
 If we would entertain correct ideas of these dis- 
 pensations, it must be, not by comparing them to- 
 gether, but by contrasting them with each other. 
 The former dispensation was external, carnal, and 
 worldly. Its ordinances are expressly called " car- 
 nal ordinances," the place where they were ad- 
 ministered " a worldly sanctuary,'" and the law by 
 which they were enforced, " the law of a carnal 
 
36 
 
 commandment." Rites and ceremonies were es- 
 sential to this dispensation. They were interwoven 
 with its whole texture, and constituted its very be- 
 ing. They were "shadows of good things to come, 
 patterns of things in the heavens." This rendered 
 the exact observance of them so extremely import- 
 ant: for a small defect in a pattern may lead to an 
 erroneous conception of the thing which it is de- 
 signed to represent. But with us the case is far 
 otherwise. We have the heavenly things them- 
 selves ; not the type but the antetype ; the sub- 
 stance, not the shadow ; the reality, not the re- 
 semblance. The religion of Christ, consists not in 
 meats and drinks, not in ceremonial observances, 
 but in righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost. The present dispensation is altogether spi- 
 ritual : for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision 
 availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith 
 which worketh by love. It is not being baptized, 
 or unbaptized, but being a new creature, created 
 anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, that consti- 
 tutes any one a child of God and a member of 
 Christ: for, as many as received him, to them gave 
 he power to become the sons of God, even to them 
 that believe on his name ; who were born, not of 
 blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will 
 of man, but of God. Hence, says the Apostle 
 Paul in his epistle to the Galatians, Ye are all the 
 children of God by faith in Christ Jesus : and if 
 ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed; 
 and heirs according to the promise. It is by a spi- 
 ritual, not by a carnal birth, that we become enti- 
 ced to spiritual privileges. Indeed, the difference 
 >etween the two dispensations is such, that if, with- 
 out bearing the distinction in our minds, we at- 
 + jmpt to prove any controverted point by inferences 
 Irawn from the one to the other, we are almost 
 sure to be led into error. 
 
37 
 
 There are ordinances of divine service, it is true, 
 under the present dispensation, as well as under the 
 former one ; but, congenial with the nature of that 
 gospel which they are designed to unfold and exhi- 
 bit, they may be considered rather as means of 
 grace than acts of duty. They are the means of 
 communicating the grace which God has promised, 
 and the means of improving and strengthening the 
 grace which he has imparted. In a devout attend- 
 ance upon them, we are encouraged to expect that 
 spiritual knowledge will be increased, spiritual dis- 
 positions exercised, and spiritual blessings enjoyed, 
 to the glory of God. They are, therefore, set be- 
 fore us, rather under the idea of privileges of which 
 we are invited to partake, than of duties which we 
 are commanded to perform. Their manifest ten- 
 dency to promote our instruction, edification, and 
 comfort, the great purposes for which they were 
 instituted, will be found to supply the best and most 
 efficient motives for a constant regard to them ; and 
 at the same time, to furnish an unerring criterion, 
 by which we may distinguish between such ap- 
 pointments as were ordained under peculiar circum- 
 stances, and for a special purpose, and those which 
 should be regarded as standing ordinances of the 
 Christian church. 
 
 The difference between the legal and the evan- 
 gelical dispensation will appear yet more fully, if 
 we consider the condition of the people of God un- 
 der each, and the relative characters which they 
 are consequently represented as sustaining. Under 
 the former economy they were in a state of compa- 
 rative darkness and bondage; under the present, of 
 light and liberty. Their condition then, was that of a 
 servant, who is told what he is to do, without being 
 informed, or even permitted to inquire, why he is to 
 doit. Their condition now, is that of a son, and of 
 a son arrived at years of maturity, who is supposed 
 
38 
 
 to understand his father's interest, and to be able to 
 form a correct judgment of the way in which that 
 interest may be best promoted. Our Lord, in allu- 
 sion to this idea, says to his disciples, John xv. 15. 
 " Henceforth, I call you not servants ; for the ser- 
 vant knoweth not what his lord doeth : but I have 
 called you friends ; for all things that I have heard 
 of my Father, I have made known unto you." Such 
 language certainly does not comport with the views 
 which we have hitherto been led to entertain of 
 'positive institutions.'' According to the definition 
 usually given of that term, there can be no place 
 for them under the present dispensation. They be- 
 long rather to the law, which was given by Moses, 
 than to the gospel of grace and truth, which came 
 by Jesus Christ. Rites and ceremonies make no 
 essential part of his religion. He did not abrogate 
 one ceremonial law to establish another ceremonial 
 law in the room of it. We are now come, not to 
 Mount Sinai, but to Mount Zion. We are not un- 
 der the law but under grace. The gospel dispensa- 
 tion is a dispensation, not of the letter which kill- 
 eth, but of the spirit which giveth life. 
 
 In relation to this subject, a modern writer thus 
 expresses himself : "The Jewish and the Christian 
 ceremonies, are represented by the Apostle Paul, 
 as possessing the perfect correspondence of a sha- 
 dow with the substance, of a type with the reality ; 
 but as exhibiting in all other respects, the strongest 
 contrast. The institutions of the Jewish church 
 were positive, and agreeably to their design, na- 
 tional, local, temporary. In those of Christianity, 
 we perceive the character of universality and per- 
 manence. Scarcely any thing of a nature merely 
 positive is to be found in the institutes of the New 
 Testament. The will of Christ, so far as it respects 
 his ultimate purpose in redeeming his church, is re- 
 vealed with the utmost clearness, so as to prevent, 
 
39 
 
 one might imagine, the possibility of mistake; but 
 the directions are few, which enable us to determine 
 or arrange the means of accomplishing his will, 
 otherwise than by a careful reference to that design, 
 which he has made it our duty to regard as our end. 
 How much useless controversy would an attention 
 to this simple truth have obviated !"* 
 
 Yes, we will venture to say, that a due attention 
 to this simple truth, would tend more than any other 
 consideration to bring to an amicable termination 
 those unhappy controversies which still continue to 
 separate Christians from each other, and prevent 
 their cordial union in the fellowship of the gospel. 
 " True it is (says the above cited Author in another 
 place) that there is no book of Leviticus in the New 
 Testament, for there is nothing Levitical in Chris- 
 tianity?^ We cannot, however, forbear remark- 
 ing, that those who would enforce a Christian or- 
 dinance with all the rigour of the Jewish ritual, and 
 attempt to justify their conduct in so doing, by re- 
 ferring us to the punishments inflicted for offences 
 against the Levitical law, seem to act as if they be- 
 longed to the tribe of Levi. The principle on which 
 they found their proceedings, is certainly more con- 
 genial with the former, than with the present dis- 
 pensation. Were the simplicity and spirituality of 
 the Christian system clearly understood, and the 
 great end for which it was instituted properly 
 regarded, no difference of opinion that might 
 be entertained by Christians respecting external ser- 
 vices could ever be considered as a proper ground of 
 separation, or prevent their union and communion 
 with each other. 
 
 The dissimilarity between the two dispensations 
 
 * See Conder on Protestant Nonconformity, Vol. I. pages 
 21. 
 
 f Ibid. Vol. II. page 350. 
 
 20, 
 
4© 
 
 will further appear, if we consider the nature of the 
 respective covenants which constitute the foundation 
 of each. The legal dispensation was founded on 
 the covenant originally made with Abraham, but 
 afterwards renewed and confirmed with the whole 
 people of Israel at Mount Sinai, according to the 
 declaration of Moses, li The Lord our God made a 
 covenant with us in Horeb." This covenant in- 
 cluded not only the ten commandments delivered 
 with such awful pomp at Mount Sinai, but all those 
 statutes and ordinances, which were subsequently 
 made known to Moses, and by him communicated 
 to the people. It was made with the nation of Is- 
 rael as such, and contained promises and threaten- 
 ings ; but, exactly corresponding with the dispen- 
 sation to which they belonged, the promises were 
 promises of temporal blessings, the threatenings 
 were threatenings of temporal judgments. The 
 whole is summed up in a very concise manner by 
 the prophet Isaiah, " If ye be willing and obedient, 
 ye shall eat the good of the land, but if ye refuse 
 and rebel, ye shall be cut off; for the mouth of the 
 Lord hath spoken it." Thus their enjoyment of the 
 promised blessings depended on their performance 
 of the prescribed conditions. 
 
 But the evangelical dispensation is founded on 
 another and a better covenant ; yes, infinitely bet- 
 ter. It is a covenant ordained for a better purpose, 
 put into better hands, and established on better pro- 
 mises. It is better, also, in reference to its extent 
 and its perpetuity. It is ordained for a better pur- 
 pose. Not for the purpose of conducting the sons 
 of Abraham, according to the flesh, to the posses- 
 sion of an earthly inheritance ; but for a purpose 
 infinitely more exalted, even that of bringing the 
 sons of God — whom he is pleased to call out of a 
 worse than Egyptian bondage into the glorious li- 
 berty of his own dear children — to future and ever- 
 
41 
 
 lasting glory ; that, having their sins pardoned, and 
 their persons accepted, through the atoning sacri- 
 fice, perfect obedience, and prevalent intercession, 
 of their divine Redeemer ; being, by his Spirit and 
 grace, made meet to be partakers of the inheritance 
 of the saints in light — they might, in due time, be 
 brought to the full possession of that heavenly 
 inheritance. 
 
 Again, The new covenant is put into better hands. 
 The Sinai covenant was put into the hands of 
 Moses, at the request of the people, and with the 
 approbation of God ; for Moses was faithful in all 
 his house, But the covenant of grace is put into 
 the hands of Jesus Christ, who is. not merely a 
 servant in the house, but a son over the house; 
 which house is his own ; being the purchase of his 
 precious blood, and the residence of his indwelling 
 Spirit. Moses was constituted the Mediator of the 
 Sinai covenant, but he was nothing more than Me- 
 diator. In that capacity, he made known the will 
 of God to the people, offered up prayers and sup- 
 plications on their behalf, and set before them, in 
 the most impressive manner, the consequences that 
 would inevitably follow from their obedience or dis- 
 obedience to the statutes and ordinances, which he 
 had delivered to them at the command of God. 
 This was the utmost that he could do. But Christ 
 is not only the Mediator but the Surety of the co- 
 venant of grace ; which stamps an unspeakable va- 
 lue upon it, and gives the firmest stability to the 
 hopes of those who are interested in its blessings : 
 seeing that He, who is their Mediator and Surety, 
 has undertaken, on their behalf, to provide all 
 things requisite for their safe conduct through this 
 wilderness world ; affording them the strongest as- 
 surance that he will never leave nor forsake them, 
 till he has brought them to his everlasting kingdom 
 and glory. 
 
 We proceed to observe, that the new covenant is 
 
42 
 
 established on better promises, not only in respect 
 of the superior nature of the blessings promised, 
 which are spiritual and eternal, not merely tempo- 
 ral ; but also in the security afforded for the com- 
 plete and final enjoyment of these blessings. This 
 is a very important consideration ; and the Apostle 
 does not fail to give it due prominence, when treat- 
 ing on this subject, in the eighth chapter of his 
 epistle to the Hebrews ; where he says, in reference 
 to our Lord Jesus Christ, " He is the Mediator of 
 a better covenant, which was established upon bet- 
 ter promises : for (adds he) if that first covenant 
 had been faultless, then should no place have been 
 sought for the second. For, finding fault with 
 them, he saith, (alluding to the prophecy of Jere- 
 miah, whence he makes the following quotation) 
 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I 
 will make a new covenant with the house of Israel 
 and with the house of Judah: not according to 
 
 THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FA- 
 THERS, in the day when I took them by the hand 
 to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they 
 continued not in my covenant, and I regarded 
 them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant 
 that I will make with the house of Israel after those 
 days, saith the Lord : I will put my laws into their 
 mind, and write them in their hearts ; and I will be 
 to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.' 1 
 In the next chapter of the same prophecy, it is said, 
 " I will make an everlasting covenant with them, 
 that I will not turn away from them to do them 
 good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that 
 they shall not depart from me." Thus, we see that 
 the forfeiture of these blessings by apostacy ; or the 
 failing short of them, through a deficiency in those 
 dispositions, which were necessary for their enjoy- 
 ment, was precluded by promises as absolute as 
 those which relate to the blessings themselves. 
 
43 
 
 This is, indeed, a covenant ordered in all things and 
 sure. 
 
 Once more, The new covenant is better than the 
 old in its extent and in its perpetuity. The cove- 
 nant which God made with his ancient people was 
 local and temporary. The blessings which it pro- 
 mised extended not beyond the borders of Judea, 
 which is, therefore, called " The land of promise." 
 Nor was it designed to continue. It was only 
 meant to prepare the way for a better, an everlast- 
 ing covenant, to which it should give place ; a co- 
 venant, the blessings of which should be communi- 
 cated to all nations and kindred, and people and 
 tongues ; and be perpetuated beyond the period of 
 this mortal existence, even to eternal ages. That 
 this covenant is not to be considered as a mere con- 
 tinuation of the former, with a few modifications, 
 which circumstances might render necessary, but 
 as one altogether new, whose introduction was to 
 effect the entire removal of that which preceded it, 
 is abundantly evident from the language of the 
 Apostle, who adduces the very term by which it is 
 designated, in confirmation of this idea. " In that 
 he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. 
 Now that which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready 
 to vanish away." 
 
 But it may be objected, If this is a correct view of 
 the subject — if, under the former dispensation, no- 
 thing was required but external obedience, and no- 
 thing promised but temporal blessings, what, on the 
 one hand, can we make of the spirituality of the law ; 
 and how, on the other, are we to understand those 
 exceeding great and precious promises, which are 
 to be found in the Old Testament as well as in the 
 New ? To the first part of this objection we reply 
 — that the law of Ten Commandments, commonly 
 called the Moral Law, which is summed up in that 
 comprehensive precept, " Thou shalt love the Lord 
 
44 
 
 thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour asf 
 thyself," though delivered to the Israelites, as the 
 depositaries of revealed truth, was not intended for 
 them only, nor to be confined to that dispensation ; 
 but should rather be considered as the general rule 
 of God's moral government, exhibiting a specimen 
 of his requirements, as Creator and Governor of the 
 universe, from all his intelligent creatures, and con- 
 sequently, from the Israelites in common with the 
 rest of mankind. But, even here, whatever was 
 peculiar to them as a nation, was external and tem- 
 poral. The preface to the Ten Commandments re- 
 fers to a temporal deliverance ; and the promise an- 
 nexed to the fifth commandment, is a promise of 
 outward prosperity, in connexion with an earthly 
 inheritance. The above remark will apply to all 
 those precepts which relate to internal dispositions, 
 such as, " My son ? give me thy heart.' 1 " Rend 
 your hearts and not your garments," &c. &c. 
 
 With respect to those promises of spiritual and 
 eternal blessings, which we find in the Scriptures 
 of the Old Testament, we would observe, that the 
 dispensation under which they were revealed, whilst 
 it was typical of a better state of things, furnished 
 the means, whereby the people of God, during its 
 continuance, obtained the knowledge and enjoy- 
 ment of those things ; which, nevertheless, made 
 no part of the dispensation itself, but rather belong- 
 ed to gospel times and gospel blessings, which w T ere 
 therein predicted and- prefigured. In this view, the 
 Jewish economy may be fitly compared to a scaf- 
 folding, upon which we often see the materials of 
 the future edifice: but those materials belong to 
 the building, which is to continue, and not to the 
 scaffolding, which must be removed as soon as the 
 purpose for which it was erected is accomplished ; 
 that it may not encumber or disfigure the building 
 when finished, to which, while in a state of pro- 
 gress, it was attached. 
 
45 
 
 The difference between the former and the present 
 dispensation is also evinced by the language of John 
 the Baptist, in his address to the Pharisees and Sad- 
 ducees who came to his Baptism. " Think not to 
 say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our 
 father : for I say unto you, that God is able of these 
 stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And 
 now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : 
 therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good 
 fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." These 
 expressions clearly intimate that a dispensation was 
 coming forward, which should proceed on a prin- 
 ciple totally different from that of the former one. 
 Here, not the outward conduct merely, but the in- 
 ternal state of the heart, from which that conduct 
 emanated, would become the subject of severe 
 scrutiny : for the axe was now to be laid to the root 
 of the trees. We perceive, also, that this was to 
 be an individual not a national concern : for we 
 are told that every tree, which bringeth not forth 
 good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. It 
 is likewise evident, that descent from godly parents 
 would not be taken into the account. " Think 
 
 NOT TO SAY WITHIN YOURSELVES, We HAVE 
 
 Abraham to our father." It is not pious an- 
 cestry but personal religion, not relative connexions 
 but spiritual dispositions, which can be of any 
 avail under the dispensation of the gospel. The 
 above statement will appear peculiarly entitled to 
 our regard, when we recollect that it is the state- 
 ment of John the Baptist; and that it was deliver- 
 ed by him, while in the very act of administering 
 that ordinance, which was appointed for the ex- 
 press purpose of introducing the present dispensa- 
 tion into the world. . 
 
 Such were the declarations of the forerunner of 
 our Lord, at this remarkable period. Had these 
 declarations been clearly understood, and invaria- 
 
4C 
 
 bly acted upon, in the successive periods of the 
 Christian church, we are fully of opinion that the 
 dispute respecting the proper subjects of Baptism 
 would never have existed. And had the Baptists, 
 who have engaged in this controversy, bent their 
 whole force to this point, instead of maintaining a 
 sort of bush fighting, with Greek verbs and Greek 
 prepositions, for the purpose of establishing a parti- 
 cular mode of administering Baptism, and then 
 making the ordinance so administered, a term of 
 communion, it is presumed that the contest might 
 long since have been brought to a successful termi- 
 nation, which, upon their present plan of proceed- 
 ing, it is never likely to be. 
 
 But to return : — Had Baptism been intended to 
 have been perpetuated from age to age, as a stand- 
 ing ordinance of the church of Christ, retaining all 
 the importance with which it was originally invest- 
 ed, and which the Baptists still attach to it ; we 
 might reasonably have expected that, when God 
 was pleased to pour out his Spirit upon his servants 
 to whom, as instruments, we are indebted for the 
 glorious reformation from popery, he would cer- 
 tainly have enlightened their minds on this as well 
 as on other important subjects ; to the end, that an 
 ordinance, the due administration of which is deemed 
 essential to the enjoyment of Christian fellowship, 
 might be restored to its pristine purity ; that thus, 
 being freed from the corruptions introduced by the 
 grand apostacy, it might have been transmitted in 
 its native simplicity through all the successive ages 
 of the church down to the end of time. If this, 
 however, was too much for the first reformers to 
 attempt, considering the difficulties which they had 
 to encounter, it might, at least, have been expected 
 from their successors, who were not so circum- 
 stanced ; especially from such of them as have deli- 
 berately renounced all regard to human authority 
 
47 
 
 in respect of worship and discipline, as well as of 
 doctrine; professing to consider the Scriptures as 
 the only rule of faith and practice: yet, except 
 paring off some of the grosser superstitions of the 
 church of Rome, they have generally left Baptism 
 nearly as they found it ; not only admitting, but 
 even vindicating, that application of the ordinance, 
 which is regarded by many as a corrupt perversion 
 of it. 
 
 This, however, is not the case in respect of the 
 Lord's supper. There the reformation seems to 
 have had its due effect. In Protestant churches 
 that ordinance is generally administered according 
 to its original design ; and, where civil or political 
 authority is not allowed to interfere, it appears 
 in its original simplicity. But this is not the only 
 circumstance in which it differs from Baptism. The 
 Apostle Paul, who was eminently the Apostle of 
 the Gentiles, gives particular directions respecting 
 it, in his first epistle to the Corinthians ; where, in 
 detailing the account of its institution, he introduces 
 the following declaration: "As often as ye eat this 
 bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's 
 death till he come :" a mode of expression never em- 
 ployed respecting Baptism. We may likewise re- 
 mark the peculiar solemnity of his address on this 
 occasion. He speaks as having had a special com- 
 mission from Christ for the purpose : " For I have 
 received of the Lord that which also I delivered 
 unto you." But how different his language when 
 Baptism is the subject ! In the first chapter of the 
 same epistle, after thanking God that he had bap- 
 tized so few of them, he adds, " For Christ sent 
 me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." 
 
 It is also worthy of notice that, in the tenth chap- 
 ter of bis epistle to the Romans, when particularly 
 pointing out those things which constitute a state 
 of salvation, he makes no mention whatever of Bap- 
 
48 
 
 tism, but only says, " If thou shaft confess with 
 thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 
 heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou 
 shalt be saved : for with the heart man believeth 
 unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession 
 is made unto salvation." Here we see confession 
 with the mouth occupying exactly the same place 
 which Baptism occupied at the time of its original 
 institution, according to the declaration, " He that 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved." The lan- 
 guage of the Apostle forms a complete comment 
 on that of our Lord, and points out the sense in 
 which alone his solemn declaration on the subject 
 can be properly understood; the letter of it being 
 confined to the age in which it was delivered, whilst 
 the spirit of it, as of every other precept, extends 
 through each successive period of the church, down 
 to the end of time. It is as much the duty of be- 
 lievers now to avow their attachment to Christ by 
 an explicit declaration of their faith in him (the end 
 for which Baptism was instituted) as it ever was. 
 It is no less essential to the Christian character, and 
 is equally necessary to constitute a state of salva- 
 tion, as at any former period ; though the precise 
 mode in which that profession should be made, may 
 vary according to times and circumstances. There 
 have been periods when it w T ould be impossible for 
 a Christian to prove his faith to be genuine, or his 
 profession sincere, without sealing that profession 
 with bis blood. This, indeed, is to drink of the 
 cup of which the Saviour drank, and to be 
 baptized with the baptism wherewith he was bap- 
 tized. All are not called thus to manifest their 
 faith in and love to him ; but all are required to 
 cherish a disposition which, if circumstances ren- 
 dered it necessary, would constrain them to make 
 such a sacrifice. 
 
 Hitherto we have considered Baptism, chiefly in 
 
49 
 
 respect of the subject of the ordinance, without ad- 
 verting to the mode of its administration. One rea- 
 son for this, is, that as we not regard gospel 
 ordinances in the light of positive institutions, such 
 as were prescribed by the ceremonial law, we can- 
 not attach importance to the mere mode of perform- 
 ing any external rite under the present dispensation. 
 As, however, the Baptists lay such a stress on the 
 mode as to make it essential to the ordinance itself, 
 considering none as baptized at all, but those who 
 are baptized in their way ; and as most of them 
 make the ordinance thus performed, indispensably 
 requisite to communion with them at the Lord's ta- 
 ble, itmay be worth while to show that, however 
 plausible their arguments on this subject may ap- 
 pear, they do not amount to proof. Now, as this 
 relates to what they term a positive institution, and 
 as they have annexed so much importance to it, we 
 have certainly a right to demand real, positive proof 
 in its support; such as they never fail to require 
 when Infant Baptism is the subject of controversy. 
 
 According to them," Baptism is immersion ; and 
 Christian Baptism is neither more nor less than an 
 immersion of the whole body in water, solemnly 
 performed in the name of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Spirit."* Their chief argument in favour 
 of this sentiment is founded on the meaning attached 
 to the original term by which Baptism is desig- 
 nated. 
 
 The principle on which they proceed, and which 
 they consider as an established rule of criticism, is 
 this ; " that every word should be taken in its pri- 
 mary, obvious, and ordinary meaning, unless there 
 be something in the connexion, or in the nature of 
 
 • See Dr. Ryland's " Candid Statement of the Reasons which 
 induce the Baptists to differ in Opinion and Practice from so 
 many of their Christian Brethren." — Page 7. 
 C 
 
50 
 
 things, which requires it to be taken otherwise."* 
 In order to ascertain this point, on which in their 
 view so much depends, Lexicons and Lexicogra- 
 phers have been diligently consulted ; the works of 
 almost every author that has written in the Greek 
 language, whether pious or profane, Jew, Heathen, 
 or Christian, have been ransacked ; and every sig- 
 nification that could possibly attach to the word, 
 pointed out. The result has been, that the above 
 authors appear to have generally, employed the 
 term, to signify the act of dipping, immersing, or 
 plunging : whence it has been concluded, that such 
 is its primary, obvious, and ordinary meaning. 
 
 But we apprehend that all this trouble might have 
 been saved. In regard to any expression that relates 
 to a religious ordinance, we conceive that the 
 shortest and the surest way to obtain a right under- 
 standing of it, is to inquire in what sense such an 
 expression was likely to be understood by those 
 among whom the ordinance originated ; and when 
 a scriptural expression is the subject of discussion, 
 we must search the Scriptures, if we would as- 
 certain its meaning. In the present case, we should 
 also do well to remember that the ordinance re- 
 ferred to, is evidently of Jewish extraction. It 
 was introduced before the abrogation of the cere- 
 monial law, and was, in the first instance, confined 
 to the Jewish nation. We may, therefore, expect 
 to see the term by which it is designated, employed 
 in allusion to some of the services that were familiar 
 to that people Nor shall we be disappointed. In 
 the gospel according to Mark, we find it used by 
 our Lord, when reproving the Pharisees for their 
 neglect of the law of God, whilst they paid a super- 
 
 * See Dr. Ryland's " Candid Statement, &c."— Notes. Page 
 xvi. 
 
51 
 
 stitious regard to the traditions of the elders, parti- 
 cularly in the washing, or baptism, of cups, pots, 
 brazen vessels, and tables. It is not necessary to 
 suppose, nor is it likely, that the articles here spe- 
 cified were all washed exactly in the same way. 
 Some might be cleansed by having water poured 
 upon them, others by being dipt in water. In ei- 
 ther case, they were washed or baptized. The 
 same object was attained, and the same term is em- 
 ployed to designate that object. The act of purifi- 
 cation seems to be the thing intended, by whatever 
 mode that act might be performed. 
 
 We are confirmed iu this view of the subject by 
 the language of the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the 
 Hebrews, when, speaking of the ancient ceremonies 
 of the Jews, he says, " Which stood only in meats 
 and drinks, and divers washings, (or baptisms) and 
 carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time 
 of reformation" The expression " divers wash- 
 ings," or baptisms, seems to refer to the various 
 modes of purification in use among the Jews, such 
 as dipping, pouring, and sprinkling. The last of 
 these is particularly referred to in this connexion, as 
 denoting the application of the blood of Christ to 
 the conscience, to cleanse it from the guilt of sin. 
 (See Heb. ix. 10—23.) Hence, it is called in the 
 same epistle (chap. xii. 24.) "the blood of sprink- 
 ling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." 
 Peter, also, in his first epistle (chap. i. 2.) speaks 
 of the " sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 
 The same term is employed to signify the renewal 
 of the heart to holiness, as in that precious promise 
 of the new covenant. (Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26.) 
 " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and 
 ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness and from 
 all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also 
 will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within 
 you." Purification, or washing, is evidently the 
 c 2 
 
52 
 
 idea meant to be. conveyed in all these places, and 
 the term washing is frequently used to express that 
 idea. Thus, we find it employed Rev. i. 5. "Un. 
 to him that loved us, and washed us from our sins 
 in his own blood/' And in the epistle to Titus, 
 (chap. iii. 5.) we read of " the washing of regene- 
 ration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. 1, In 
 perfect accordance with this idea, we hear Ananias 
 thus addressing Paul just after his conversion, in 
 immediate reference to the ordinance of Baptism, 
 "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, 
 calling on the name of the Lord."" 
 
 It appears, then, that the primary, obvious, and 
 ordinary meaning of the word Baptism, in respect 
 of religious institutions, is that of purification, or 
 washing ; which, as we have seen above, might be 
 performed, in the most literal sense, by pouring, 
 and, in its moral and spiritual signification, by 
 sprinkling, as well as by immersion. It is not, 
 therefore, from the term itself that we can certainly 
 conclude in what particular mode Baptism was ad- 
 ministered as a Christian ordinance. 
 
 But, as the Baptists refer us to scripture examples 
 for a confirmation of their views, it may be proper 
 to attend to them; and see if we can obtain addi- 
 tional light on the subject of our inquiries, by ex- 
 amining the circumstances connected with the Bap- 
 tisms recorded in the New Testament. There are 
 but two instances, in which we have any particular 
 account of the transaction ; that of our Lord by 
 J^bn, his forerunner, and that of the Ethiopian Eu- 
 nuch by Philip the Evangelist. In both these cases, 
 it should seem that the subject went down with the 
 administrator into the water, where he received the 
 bh t mal rite ; after which, they both came up out 
 of the water. But how that rite was administered 
 while they were in the water, whether by dipping, 
 pouring, or sprinkling, we are not informed. The 
 
53 
 
 most probable conjecture is, that it was by pouring 
 water on the head. There is certainly more dignity 
 and solemnity attached to this mode of administering 
 the ordinance than to that which is practised by the 
 Baptists. The act of plunging persons backwards 
 beneath the surface of the water ; while it is revolt- 
 ing to the natural feelings, is but ill adapted to ex- 
 cite the feelings of devotion, either in the subject or 
 in the spectators ; nor is it at all congenial with the 
 nature of a solemn act of worship, performed in the 
 name of the sacred Trinity. 
 
 If we are right in our ideas of the way in which 
 Baptism was administered, it exhibited at one view 
 all the various modes in which purification was per- 
 formed among the Jews; whether by dipping, 
 pouring, or sprinkling ; for here we have partial 
 immersion, combined with the act of pouring water 
 on the head ; and if water is poured on one part, it 
 must, of necessity, be sprinkled on other parts. 
 No term could be found better adapted to designate 
 this ordinance than that of Baptism ; which, to the 
 mind of a Jew, would convey the idea of purifica- 
 tion in all its various modes. Our translators, 
 therefore, acted very properly in retaining this term, 
 instead of putting any English word in the room of 
 it ; as there is no word in our language which would 
 suggest precisely the same idea. 
 
 Once more : — The term Baptism is often used 
 figuratively. Let us inquire, then, in what sense 
 it is to be understood when so employed ; for this 
 may materially assist us in our investigation of the 
 subject. There is nothing more frequently, more 
 strongly, or more directly alluded to by this term, 
 than the communication of the Holy Spirit in his 
 gifts and graces. Now, the influences of the Spirit 
 are uniformly represented as coming down from 
 above, falling, descending, being poured out, or 
 poured down, on those who were the subjects of 
 
54 
 
 them ; like the holy oil (by which the same thing 
 was intended) which was poured on the head of 
 those who, under the former dispensation, were 
 anointed to the office of prophet, priest, or king. 
 If the rite of Baptism was thus administered, the 
 allusion is just and striking; if otherwise, we are at 
 a loss to conceive of its propriety. Let us hear the 
 language of John the Baptist on this subject. " I 
 indeed baptize you with water unto repentance ; 
 but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, 
 whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall bap- 
 tize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." This 
 declaration, with a little diversity of expression, is 
 repeated by every one of the Evangelists. Our 
 Lord himself employs similar language at the near 
 approach of the period when the predicted event 
 should take place. Just before his ascension, he 
 says to his disciples, " John truly baptized with 
 water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy- 
 Ghost not many days hence." Accordingly, we 
 find, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was poured 
 out upon them from on high ; as an emblem of 
 which, cloven tongues, as of fire, sat upon each of 
 them. In reference to this memorable event, Peter, 
 when narrating the circumstances that attended the 
 opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles, thus 
 expresses himself: "As I began to speak the Holy 
 Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then 
 remembered I the word of the Lord, how he said, 
 John indeed baptized with water ; but ye shall be 
 baptized with the Holy Ghost." 
 
 This ordinance is also emblematical of the suffer- 
 ings to which our Lord was exposed, while accom- 
 plishing the redemption of his people ; for thus he 
 himself speaks, (Luke xii. 50.) "I have a Baptism 
 to be baptized with ; and how am I straitened till 
 it be accomplished!" To those who had witnessed 
 the administration of this rite, in the midst of the 
 
55 
 
 river Jordan, such an expression must convey a very 
 impressive idea of the circumstances in which the 
 Redeemer was placed ; when, for our sakes, while 
 encompassed with sorrows on every side, the wrath 
 of God was poured out upon him, and the ven- 
 geance of heaven fell on his devoted head. 
 
 The Apostle Paul gives us the same view of the 
 subject (1 Cor. x. 1, 2,) when, referring to the case 
 of the ancient Israelites, he says, " 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/' With the waters of the cloud above 
 them and of the sea on either side of them, they 
 must appear in a situation very similar to that of 
 those who were baptized by John in Jordan. 
 
 But the most striking representation of all, is 
 that of Peter, in a passage already quoted ; where 3 
 having spoken of the ark, in which Noah and his 
 family were preserved during the flood, he adds, 
 The like figure whereunto, even Baptism doth also 
 now save us. Here the ark is not only represented 
 as a figure of Baptism, but it is expressly said to be 
 like unto it. It is impossible to conceive of any fact 
 or circumstance that could be set before us which 
 could look more like Baptism, or give us a clearer 
 view of the mode, in which (as we apprehend) that 
 ordinance was originally administered, than what 
 is here exhibited ; where we see the ark partially 
 immersed in the waters of the flood, while water 
 from above, is pouring down upon it. 
 
 There is one expression, however, 3f which it is 
 necessary to take some notice; as the Baptists lay 
 very great stress upon it, and consider it as conclu- 
 sive in their favour. It occurs twice in the epistles 
 of Paul, (Rom. vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12,) where the 
 Apostle, speaking of believers in Christ, represents 
 them as buried with him by or in Baptism. In the 
 first of these places, the scope of his reasoning evi- 
 
66 
 
 dently is, to show the obligations which devolved 
 on those, who, by Baptism had made a profession 
 of the name of Christ, to act consistently with that 
 profession. " Know ye not (says he, in the pre- 
 ceding verse) that so many of us as were baptized 
 into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death ." 
 The death of Jesus Christ, connected with his re- 
 surrection, while it formed the basis of their hope, 
 constituted both the motive and the pattern of their 
 obedience. By Baptism they professed themselves 
 the subjects of that change of heart, which is some- 
 times represented as a new, spiritual and heavenly 
 birth ; at other times, as a resurrection from the dead. 
 In that passage in the prophecy of Ezekiel, to which 
 we have already adverted, after it is said, " Then 
 will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall 
 be clean : from all your filthiness and from all your 
 idols will I cleanse you ;" it is immediately added, 
 46 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit 
 will I put within you." " Except a man be born 
 of water and of the Spirit, (says our Lord to Nico- 
 demus) he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 57 
 Peter, in his first general epistle, (chap. i. 3,) 
 speaks of believers as " begotten again to a lively 
 hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
 dead." But Paul, in the passage under considera- 
 tion, represents this important change as having 
 taken place, not only in consequence of, but in con- 
 formity to, the death and resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ. " Therefore (says he) we are buried with 
 him by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was 
 raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, 
 even so we also should walk in newness of life : for 
 if we have been planted together in the likeness of 
 his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his re- 
 surrection." 
 
 Mr. Scott, in his exccellent commentary on this 
 passage, writes thus : " It is here shown, that a 
 
57 
 
 Christian's profession implied this death to sin, that 
 he may live to God. The Apostle inquires of the 
 Romans, whether they did not understand that all 
 who had been baptized into the name and religion 
 of Jesus, bad received the sign, and made the pro- 
 fession, of communion with, and conformity to, 
 him in his death ; that in virtue of his dying for 
 their sins, they should die to, and cease from, the 
 love and practice of all sin, and have done with 
 their former unholy satisfactions, pursuits, habits, 
 and connexions. This profession is equivalent to 
 being * buried with Christ,' as dead with him ; for, 
 as his burial was a manifestation that he was really 
 dead, and an introduction to his immediate resurrec- 
 tion, by the glorious power of the Father, or for 
 the display of his glory ; so the baptism of a con- 
 verted Jew or Gentile, was a professed manifesta- 
 tion of his death to sin, and to all his carnal expec- 
 tations, affections, and pursuits, from which he 
 meant to be entirely secluded, as one buried is 
 from the affairs of life ; and it was a professed in- 
 troduction to his entrance upon a ' walk with God 
 in newness of life,' not only as to his outward ac- 
 tions, but with respect to his inward principles." 
 
 It appears, then, to be the import of a profession 
 of Christianity, rather than the precise mode where- 
 in that profession is made, on which the Apostle 
 founds his exhortation to die unto sin, and to live 
 unto righteousness ; between which and the actual 
 death and burial, resurrection and ascension of 
 Jesus Christ, he points out a very striking resem- 
 blance. 
 
 The above observations will equally apply to the 
 corresponding passage, Col. ii. 12, where it appears 
 to be the object of the Apostle, to wean the Colos- 
 sians from a superstitious attachment to external in- 
 stitutions ; seeing that all which might be deemed 
 valuable and important in them, was to be found 
 c 3 
 
58 
 
 in Christ; d or was Baptism itself of any account, 
 but as a token of their faith in, and conformity to 
 him ; in whom alone they were complete. 
 
 We further proceed to inquire, if Baptism is to 
 be viewed as a standing ordinance, who are the 
 persons authorised to administer it, and under what 
 description of character? The message sent to 
 John by the rulers of the Jews, shows clearly that 
 they considered a special commission from heaven 
 as absolutely necessary for that purpose. Such a 
 commission John had received, as he himself de- 
 clares (John i. 33.) He was " sent to baptize with 
 water." Such a commission was also given to the 
 Apostles by our Lord himself, who, when he au- 
 thorized them to baptize, furnished them at the 
 same time with the power of working miracles in 
 confirmation of the authority with which he had 
 invested them. It may be said that Philip baptized 
 who was not an Apostle. It is true: but Philip 
 also wrought miracles, and who shall dispute the 
 authority of him who can produce such credentials? 
 Besides, Philip appears to have been one of those 
 on whom the Apostles bad laid their hands, by 
 which significant act, accompanied with prayer, 
 extraordinary powers were usually imparted. But 
 to those who, in the present day, baptize without 
 a special commission, and powers to verify such 
 commission, we may say, with propriety, By what 
 authority do ye this thing, and who gave you that 
 authority? The Apostles, as such, have left no 
 successors, and if they have not delegated the au- 
 thority which they possessed to any other person or 
 persons ; nor, in any part of their writings, de- 
 signated the characters to which this service pro- 
 perly appertains, and by whom it should subse- 
 quently be performed, the obvious inference is, that 
 it expired with them and their contemporaries, no 
 provision being made for its future continuance. 
 
59 
 
 This work has generally been considered as pe- 
 culiarly belonging to the pastoral office, and form- 
 ing one of its essential duties. If this were really 
 the case, we might expect to meet with particular 
 instructions concerning it, in those epistles espe- 
 cially which are addressed to Ministers, of which 
 there are two to Timothy, and one to Titus. These 
 Ministers of the gospel were the companions of Paul 
 in his travels, and were employed under his direc- 
 tions, in watering the seed which he had sown, and 
 organizing the churches which he had planted; 
 aiding them in the choice of proper officers, ordain- 
 ing their elders, and superintending their affairs. 
 To qualify them more fully for these various and 
 important duties, as well as to assist and encourage 
 them in their own ministerial labours, and in the 
 exercise of personal religion, appears to be the 
 great aim of the Apostle in these epistles. Accord- 
 ingly, we find particular directions respecting the 
 office of a Bishop or Pastor, and that of a Deacon, 
 pointing out the qualifications requisite for the due 
 discharge of their respective duties. There are also 
 sundry rules in regard to discipline, and the inflic- 
 tion of church censures, according to the nature of 
 the offence and the quality of the offender ; together 
 with some remarkable predictions relative to the 
 grand apostacy, and various practical exhortations 
 and admonitions. But, throughout the whole of 
 these epistles, from the beginning to the end, we 
 are not favoured with any directions respecting 
 Baptism. We are left wholly in the dark, as to 
 any department, or office in the church, to which 
 it should be attached. Nor is the subject itself so 
 much as once mentioned, or any hint given that 
 might furnish a clue to our inquiries concerning it. 
 
 With respect to the preaching of the gospel, it is 
 quite otherwise. Here we are told, that a Bishop 
 should be " apt to teach." 1 Tim. iii. 2, and in 
 
CO 
 
 the second chapter of the second epistle to Timothy, 
 the Apostle says, " The things that thou hast heard 
 of me, among many witnesses, the same commit 
 thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach 
 others also." Thus, a provision is directed to be 
 made for the perpetuity of a gospel ministry, but 
 none for the perpetuity of Baptism. The same 
 silence on this subject is observed in other parts of 
 Scripture, and in those parts where we might have 
 expected to find it treated of at large. Paul, in his 
 address to the Elders of Ephesus, (Acts xx. 18 — 35,) 
 exhorts them to " take heed to themselves, and to 
 all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made 
 them overseers, to feed the church of God, which 
 he hath purchased with his own blood ; w but he 
 says not one word about Baptism. Peter, also, 
 observes a similar silence in his first general epistle, 
 where he particularly exhorts the Elders to feed the 
 flock of God, which was among them, taking the 
 oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, 
 &c. (See 1 Peter v. 1—4.). So that, whether the 
 address is to Elders, Pastors, or Bishops imme- 
 diately, or to Evangelists, whose business it wa*s to 
 ordain such, as well as to assist churches in the se- 
 lection of suitable characters to fill these depart- 
 ments ; still nothing is said, nor any hint given re- 
 specting Baptism as one of their official duties. 
 There are various passages in the epistolary writings, 
 (such as Rom. xii. 6 — 8. 1 Cor. xii. 8 — 10. Ephes. 
 iv. 11,) in some of which the gifts of the Spirit are 
 enumerated ; while in others the offices are specified, 
 wherein these gifts were to be exercised: but Bap- 
 tism finds no place in either the one or the other. 
 
 Now, as the command to proselyte and baptize 
 was given to the Apostles by our Lord himself; as 
 we never find any presuming to baptize but Apostles 
 or Evangelists, who were their associates in this 
 important work, being endued with miraculous 
 gifts for that purpose, or such as acted under their 
 
61 
 
 own personal authority ; as the work of bap- 
 tizing has never been consigned to any description 
 of Ministers, inferior to Apostles or Evangelists ; 
 we cannot but conclude that Pastors of churches, 
 or Ministers in general, in the present day, have no 
 scriptural warrant for performing that work, any 
 more than Deacons or even laymen ; seeing that the 
 office of Pastor or Minister of the gospel, differs so 
 materially from that of Apostle or Evangelist, that 
 no command given to the one, can be considered as 
 conveying authority to the other. 
 
 But, it may be observed that there is a descrip- 
 tion of Ministers employed, as instruments, in the 
 conversion of the Heathen, who, though not desig- 
 nated Apostles or Evangelists, are engaged in a ser- 
 vice very similar to theirs ; and, as the first preachers 
 of the gospel were commanded to baptize those 
 whom they proselyted, it seems but reasonable to 
 infer, that such as are called to one of these offices 
 may consider themselves as authorized to perform 
 the other. There is much weight, we acknowledge^ 
 in this observation, and, were the call to proselyte 
 the Heathen, whatever may be understood by that 
 call, accompanied with the gift of miracles, as it 
 certainly was in the first instance, the argument 
 might be deemed unanswerable. But the state of 
 the world at large is far different from what it was 
 at that period. Idolatry is not now, as formerly, 
 seated on the throne of universal dominion, with all 
 the power and wealth, science and literature, of the 
 most polished nations, combined with the deep- 
 rooted prejudices of every class of society, enlisted 
 on its side, and engaged in its defence. Miraculous 
 powers were found necessary to break such a for- 
 midable phalanx, and an initiatory ordinance was 
 appointed to distinguish those who renounced its 
 dominion from such as continued in subjection to 
 its authority. Now, however, the scene is changed; 
 
62 
 
 for though idolatry still lamentably prevails over a 
 large portion of the habitable globe, it is over that 
 portion only which is sunk in barbarism, or, at best, 
 very partially civilized : and the diffusion of general 
 knowledge, together with Christian principles, has 
 so direct a tendency to expose the absurdity of the 
 system, as effectually to prevent its regaining its 
 former ascendancy over the minds of men. 
 
 We may further remark, that it has been so or- 
 dered of late, in the course of divine Providence, as 
 if to show that Baptism is not so necessary or im- 
 portant as some might imagine, even in the heathen 
 world ; that whole nations, in the South Sea Islands, 
 have renounced idolatry and embraced Christianity, 
 without having this ordinance introduced among 
 them.^ To whatever cause this omission may be 
 traced, it is abundantly evident that the influence of 
 the Spirit, accompanying the word preached, has 
 not been withheld on account of such omission. Be 
 this, however, as it may, we still maintain that, 
 could it be incontrovertibly proved to be the duty 
 of Missionaries to baptize those who were prosely- 
 ted by their ministry, it would by no means follow, 
 that this ordinance should be entailed on their de- 
 scendants, or continued in countries where Chris- 
 tianity is universally professed. If it is still to be 
 administered, let it be by Missionaries, and by Mis- 
 sionaries only. In short, from every view which 
 we have hitherto taken of the subject, we derive 
 additional conviction of the propriety of consider- 
 ing Baptism as an ordinance of proselytism, of 
 which, if continued at all, Missionaries are the only 
 proper administrators, and Proselytes the only pro- 
 per subjects. 
 
 • See a " Narrative of the Mission at Otaheite, and other 
 Islands in the South Seas," lately published by order of the Di- 
 rectors of the London Missionary Society. 
 
 
63 
 
 But how is it, some may be disposed to ask, if 
 the promise of miraculous gifts was co-extensive 
 with the command to administer Baptism, that the 
 latter should have continued to exist so long after 
 the former has ceased. To this we reply, that, had 
 it been as much within the compass of human abi- 
 lity to perforin miracles as to dispense ceremonies, 
 there is every reason to believe that the former 
 would have continued quite as long as the latter. 
 Those who are acquainted with human nature must 
 have observed, that men in general are much better 
 pleased with that, in religion, which is outward and 
 visible, than with that which is inward and spiri- 
 tual ; and prefer that which makes an appeal to 
 the senses, before that which requires the exercise of 
 faith. Hence the attachment of the Jewish Chris- 
 tians to the law of Moses; and when, by the de- 
 struction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, they 
 were driven from that ground, they immediately 
 set to work to make the present dispensation as 
 much like the former one as possible. Christian 
 ordinances were supposed to bear an exact resem- 
 blance to such of the Jewish ceremonies as ap- 
 peared to have the same spiritual signification. 
 Thus Baptism is said to have come in the room of 
 Circumcision, and the Lord's supper in the place of 
 ihe Passover; being, like them, "positive institu- 
 tions; 1 ' as much so, we have been told, as any that 
 belonged exclusively to the Jewish ritual. With 
 this strong propensity in our nature, it need not ex- 
 cite surprise that Baptism, in some form or other, 
 should continue as a ceremony, long after the end 
 and design for which it was instituted had ceased to 
 exist. This also will account for the extreme im- 
 portance attached to it soon after the days of the 
 Apostles, its consequent perversion, and the super- 
 stitious and absurd ceremonies with which it was 
 so quickly encumbered. Like the body when the 
 
64 
 
 vital spark is extinct, it was soon turned into a mass 
 of corruption ; and now, bereft of its pristine beauty 
 and vigour, incapable of exercising its former func- 
 tions, and scarcely retaining a single lineament of 
 those features which were originally impressed up- 
 on it and rendered it a just object of regard, it is 
 become not only useless but injurious, not merely 
 an idle ceremony, but a root of error, and a bone of 
 contention. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, 
 in order more fully to show the impropriety of con- 
 tinuing the observance of ceremonies, after the end 
 for which they were instituted had been fully ac- 
 complished, compares the Jewish ritual, with the 
 covenant on which it was founded, to a garment in 
 a state of decay through age. We may apply the 
 idea, with additional force, to Baptism, as practised 
 in the present day. It is, indeed, a garment not 
 only worn with age, but sadly torn, soiled, and dis- 
 figured ; insomuch that it appears, with the cere- 
 monies patched upon it, the errors cleaving to it. 
 and the dissensions occasioned by it, to be rendered 
 totally unfit for use, and the disgrace of that family 
 of which it was once the ornament. 
 
 If our views of the nature and design of the ori- 
 ginal institution are correct, it will follow that Bap- 
 tism is not now practised, by any denomination of 
 Christians, in the way, and for the purpose, for 
 which it was specially appointed, so that it is vir- 
 tually abolished. We have the name, but the thing 
 intended by it is not to be found. With respect to 
 the mode, it is a singular circumstance, that although 
 all the pictures, prints, and engravings, whether an- 
 cient or modern, which we have seen, of the bap- 
 tism of our Lord by John, or of the Eunuch by 
 Philip, exhibit precisely the idea which we have 
 suggested (except only one or two prints of very 
 recent date, and evidently manufactured for a par- 
 
Q5 
 
 ticular purpose); yet we know not any denomina- 
 tion of professing Christians, who administer the 
 rite in this manner. All either dip or sprinkle. The 
 introduction of Infant Baptism rendered a deviation 
 from the original plan, in some sort, necessary ; for 
 though infants may be either sprinkled or dipt, yet, 
 they cannot walk down, with the administrator, 
 into the water, and there, while both are standing 
 in it, have it poured upon their heads. 
 
 With respect to the practice of baptizing infants ; 
 as it certainly does not answer the purpose for which 
 Baptism was originally appointed, that of a personal, 
 individual profession of Christianity; as it does not 
 appear to have been commanded by our Lord, and 
 we have no satisfactory proof that it ever was prac- 
 tised by the Apostles ; as there is nothing in it con- 
 genial with the nature of the present economy, or 
 with the constitution of those churches which are 
 formed on the plan of the New Testament; we are 
 under the necessity of concluding that it owes its 
 origin to an overweening attachment, manifested at 
 a very early period, to an abrogated dispensation, 
 of which infant circumcision was one of the carnal 
 ordinances. Its obvious tendency, and general 
 effect, is to blend the church and the world, and to 
 substitute nominal for real religion. It has by 
 many, to their soul's eternal ruin, been put in the 
 place of that righteousness, which alone can make 
 the sinner just, and of that change of heart, without 
 which, according to the express declaration of our 
 Saviour, no man can enter into the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 But, it may be said that we cannot, from the 
 abuse of any thing, deduce a just argument against 
 the true and proper use of it. What then, we should 
 be glad to know, is the true and proper use of In- 
 fant Baptism ? What are the special advantages re- 
 sulting from the practice ? For our parts, we have 
 
66 
 
 not yet been able to discover any one good end, 
 supposed to be answered by it, but what may be 
 and is attained full as well without it as with it. 
 We are confirmed in this sentiment by observing 
 that, in those families where it is not practised, the 
 children are as piously educated, and as frequently 
 become, in early life, the subjects of converting and 
 sanctifying grace, as where they are said, while in 
 a state of infancy, to be dedicated to God by Bap- 
 tism. All the ordinances of Christ are designed and 
 adapted to promote the instruction, comfort and 
 edification, of those who rightly partake of them. 
 But what edification, what comfort, what instruc- 
 tion can Baptism administer, when an infant is the 
 subject ? It is often called an initiatory ordinance. 
 But, under such circumstances, we would ask, Into 
 what does it initiate? Into the doctrines, the duties, 
 or the privileges of Christianity ? Doctrines which 
 an infant cannot understand, duties which an infant 
 cannot perform, privileges which an infant cannot 
 enjoy! 
 
 Notwithstanding the absurdities inseparably con- 
 nected with the practice, (and it would be easy to 
 fill a volume on the subject,) it appears that there 
 are those, some of whom might have been expected 
 to have known better, who cling, with astonishing 
 tenacity, to this uncommanded rite. An eminent 
 Paedobaptist Minister was lately heard to say, that 
 he would sooner relinquish his pastoral charge than 
 give up the Baptism of infants. i\nother, no less 
 respectable, piously exclaims, " Thank God, we 
 can conscientiously inculcate Infant Baptism !" If, 
 in opposition to this sentiment, we presume to sug- 
 gest the idea, that the ordinauce of Baptism, when 
 administered to infants, is not adapted to answer 
 any valuable purpose, we are immediately told, 
 that " nothing can be more absurd than to deny the 
 utility of what we have never tried, in contradic- 
 
67 
 
 tion to those who have tried it. Even if we have 
 tried it, without finding it useful, this cannot prove 
 that others have not found it so."* Persons who 
 reason in this way, would do well to recollect, that 
 the grossest superstitions that ever were practised 
 under the name of religion, have been defended up- 
 on this very principle. Tell a Roman Catholic, 
 for instance, that the sacrifice of the mass, auricu- 
 lar confession, penances, and pilgrimages to holy 
 wells and holy mountains, answer no valuable pur- 
 pose whatever, he will probably reply, " We have 
 tried these things ; we have found the benefit of 
 them ; and nothing can be more absurd than to 
 deny the utility of what you have never tried, in 
 contradiction to those who have tried it. Even if 
 you had tried it, without finding it useful, this 
 would not prove that others had not found it so." 
 With respect to the comfort and edification which 
 some profess to have experienced in dedicating 
 their children to God by Baptism, we may adopt 
 the language of Mr. Greatheed, in his letter to the 
 Editor of the Evangelical Magazine, on External 
 Christian Institutions ; where, in reference to the 
 Baptism of adults who have been educated as 
 Christians, he says, li I do not question, that pious 
 people may have received spiritual benefit in the 
 devotional engagements connected with it, as in any 
 other solemn religious service : but this they might 
 surely as well have done in Christian ' doctrine and 
 fellowship, and breaking of bread and prayer,' 
 without perverting Baptism from its original pur- 
 pose." 
 
 Though some, on mistaken principles, may thus 
 tenaciously adhere to Infant Baptism, it will be 
 
 * The above remark is quoted verbatim from a letter of the 
 late Mr. Greatheed, in reply to one addressed to him by the au- 
 thor of this work. 
 
' found on examination that the greater part of those 
 who retain the practice hold it with a very loose 
 hand. Even such of them as consider Baptism, of 
 some sort or other, absolutely necessary, as a preli- 
 minary to communion at the Lord^ table, entertain 
 no scruples as to the kind of Baptism which may 
 have been employed. Any thing that is called by 
 that name will answer their purpose; no matter 
 when, how, or by whom administered ; whether in 
 infancy or in riper years ; by sprinkling or by im- 
 mersion ; by the hands of a Baptist or Independent 
 Minister ; by the Parson of the Parish, or by a Ro- 
 mish Priest, with ceremonies as absurd and unscrip- 
 tural as any of the rites of Paganism. Baptism 
 seems to be regarded by such, as a certain indescri- 
 bable something, of which they can give no rational 
 account : which they, nevertheless, conceive, ought 
 to be attended to, somehow or other, by all who 
 would be thought Christians : but then, as it is uni- 
 versally admitted that Baptism once performed 
 should never be repeated, having been baptized, as 
 they suppose, in infancy, they think they need give 
 themselves no further trouble about it. The feeling 
 which they cherish on this occasion, is very similar 
 to that of a person who has had the small-pox ; 
 whether in the natural way, by inoculation or by 
 vaccination, in infancy or at mature age, he consi- 
 ders himself as secure from the complaint, at any 
 future period of his life, and that he may, there- 
 fore, safely dismiss the subject from his thoughts. 
 
 Adult Baptism, it must be acknowledged, is quite 
 another sort of thing. It certainly bears a much 
 greater resemblance to the Baptism of primitive 
 Christians than what we have just been considering. 
 But then, in respect of the important end for which 
 the ordinance was appointed at that period, it may, 
 as practised among us, be fitly compared to a body 
 recently deprived of life, which, though it should 
 
69 
 
 retain the features, is incapable of exercising the 
 functions, with which it was originally endowed. 
 It is still, indeed, an ordinance of proselytism ; but, 
 here, instead of bein^ used in proselyting to Chris- 
 tianity, it proselytes to a particular sect of Chris- 
 tians. Hence, as we have often witnessed, when a 
 truly pious character, who, for a series of years, 
 has made an honourable profession of religion, and 
 even been eminently useful as a preacher of the gos- 
 pel, adopts these views of the ordinance and acts 
 accordingly, the general impression is, not that he 
 is become a Christian, but that h© i» turned Bap- 
 tist. His personal Christianity was previously too 
 well established to need such evidence to support it. 
 Baptism, in such cases, appears to answer no end 
 whatever, except it be, to tell all whom it may con- 
 cern, that he who was formerly a Churchman, an 
 Independent, a Methodist, or a Quaker, is now a 
 Baptist. Thus that ordinance, which was origin- 
 ally the distinguishing badge of Christianity, is be- 
 come the mere badge of a sect, adapted to excite a 
 sectarian spirit, and promote sectarian views. Now 
 we cannot persuade ourselves that Baptism was or- 
 dained for any such purpose as this ; least of all, 
 that it was designed to furnish one particular sect 
 with the arrogant claim of an exclusive right to sit 
 down at the table of the Lord ; while they refuse to 
 acknowledge, as churches of Christ, any Christian 
 societies that are not formed precisely on the same 
 model with their own. That this is the principle 
 on which the Baptists proceed, their conduct suffi- 
 ciently evinces. They hold nc communion with 
 any churches but those of the same faith and order 
 with themselves. They give no dismissions to them, 
 and receive no dismissions from them. Nor is the 
 operation of this act of exclusion from Christian 
 fellowship confined to Paedobaptists. It extends 
 to churches of their own denomination who allow 
 
70 
 
 of free commiiDion. In their esteem, the admission, 
 into such a connexion, of a single individual, who 
 has not been baptized as they have been baptized, 
 is sufficient to contaminate the whole body, and 
 render the society, of which he forms a part, un- 
 worthy to be designated a church of Christ, or 
 treated as such. 
 
 A circumstance which fell under the observation 
 of the writer of these remarks, who was acquainted 
 with the parties concerned, may serve to illustrate 
 and confirm what is advanced above. A young 
 man, of respectable connexions, having become a 
 member of a strict Baptist church in the metropo- 
 lis, went, shortly after, to reside in a neighbouring 
 village, where he sat down as an occasional mem- 
 ber, with a church of the same denomination, which 
 admitted of mixed communion. Conceiving it pro- 
 bable that he should fix his abode there, he sent for 
 his dismission ; but it could not be granted. The 
 church with which he had occasionally communed, 
 though of the same faith was not of the same order 
 with that which he originally joined. Some time 
 after this, there appeared to be an opening for one 
 in his line of business, in a town at a greater dis- 
 tance from the metropolis. He accordingly went. 
 Here he found a strict Baptist church. Now he 
 thought that he must be right. No obstacle could 
 remain in the way of obtaining his dismission, nor 
 any pretence, as he conceived, be urged for with- 
 holding it. How greatly then was he mortified on 
 being informed, that he was not a member of the 
 church, and therefore could not be dismissed. The 
 fact was, that his first application disclosed the cir- 
 cumstance of his having sat down at the Lord's 
 table with unbaptized persons ; a crime, it should 
 seem, in the estimation of this church, of sufficient 
 magnitude to procure his expulsion from their so- 
 ciety. Now, as both these churches were as re- 
 
- 71 
 
 spectable, and the ministers who presided over 
 them as eminent for piety and talents, as any in the 
 denomination, the inference is, that this may be 
 considered as a fair specimen of their mode of pro- 
 ceeding in similar cases. Churches acting upon a 
 different plan, and pursuing a different line of con- 
 duct, would, of course, be regarded as irregular and 
 disorderly. 
 
 And is this the Baptism which was commanded 
 by our Lord, and practised by his Apostles? Sure- 
 ly not. That was, indeed, a noble institution, while, 
 as the token of a personal profession of faith, it 
 united all who bore the name of Christ, both Jews 
 and Gentiles, as one fold, under one Shepherd. 
 But Modern Baptism, whether, as on the one hand, 
 administered to unconscious babes, or, as on the 
 other, made the engine of a party, and the standard 
 of sectarianism ; while it unites such as should be 
 kept separate, and separates such as should be uni- 
 ted, instead of claiming our regard, as a standing 
 ordinance of the Christian church, rather merits 
 our reprobation as a standing disgrace to the Chris- 
 tian name. 
 
 That Baptism was originally of Divine appoint- 
 ment is readily acknowledged, and so was the ser- 
 pent which Moses lifted up in the wilderness. That 
 serpent, in the hands of him to whom the command 
 was given, to exhibit it to the view of the whole 
 camp of Israel, answered a very important pur- 
 pose. But, after that purpose had been fully ac- 
 complished, when, coming at a subsequent period 
 into other hands, it was perverted to superstitious 
 uses, and became the object of idolatrous venera- 
 tion, Hezekiah very properly ordered it to be de- 
 stroyed. And could our feeble voice prove as ef- 
 fectual in one case, as the mandate of authority did 
 in the other, we would say of Modern Baptism, 
 Let this superstitious ceremony, this root of error, 
 
72 
 
 this bone of contention, be completely removed out 
 of sight ; and let no trace of it remain, except on 
 the records of the sacred page ; where, like the 
 brazen serpent, it may prove the vehicle of instruc- 
 tion, without becoming an engine of mischief. 
 
 The disputes which it has been the means of ex- 
 citing and perpetuating, not only between Baptists 
 and Peedo baptists, but among Baptists themselves, 
 tend, in no small degree, to stamp importance on 
 the sentiment for which we plead, as the most ef- 
 fectual means of reconciling these jarring dispu- 
 tants, and uniting them in the bonds of Christian 
 fellowship ; it being acknowledged on all hands, 
 that, could it be made to appear that the ordinance 
 of Baptism is not of perpetual obligation, no ground 
 of contention would remain between them. 
 
 The controversy recently agitated on " Terms of 
 Communion," may be considered as a contest be- 
 tween Christian principles and Baptist principles. 
 Like two hostile armies set in battle array, they are 
 directly opposed to each other. Both cannot main- 
 tain their ground : one or other must yield. Either 
 the letter of the law of Baptism must be sacrificed, 
 or the spirit of the gospel of Christ must be vio- 
 lated. It is the unhappy lot of those who advo- 
 cate the cause of exclusive communion to differ not 
 only with their brethren but with themselves, and 
 their own avowed principles. By refusing to hold 
 communion at the Lord's table, with persons of un- 
 doubted, y< . of eminent piety, whose characters 
 they revere, and the success of whose labours in the 
 cause of Christ, fills their souls with unfeigned joy, 
 they act as ^consistent a part as can well be con- 
 ceived. They plead apostolic precedent. But when 
 were the Apostles, or primitive Christians, known 
 to deny access to the table of the Lord, to such as 
 they acknowledged to be Christians, walking con- 
 
73 
 
 sistently with their profession, and of whose genu- 
 ine piety not the least shadow of doubt could be 
 entertained? It may be said that such a case could 
 not occur in the primitive church, as no unbaptized 
 Christians were then to be found. Be it so. It 
 seems, then, that the precedent on which they lay 
 so much stress, is no precedent at all. It does not 
 apply to the subject: for, it appears, by their own 
 showing, that such a case could not exist at the 
 period referred to. It is, therefore, not a case in 
 poini, and consequently can yield no support to the 
 argument which they attempt to found upon it. 
 
 The practice of the Apostles was doubtless in 
 perfect unison with the principle by which they 
 have directed us to regulate our conduct. " Re- 
 ceive ye one another, as Christ hath received us to 
 the glory of God." Some have objected to the ap- 
 plication of this rule to the subject before us, be- 
 cause Baptism is not mentioned in it, nor is there 
 any ground to conclude that it was in the contem- 
 plation of the writer at the time. It appears, how- 
 ever, to have been his intention, on this occasion, to 
 lay down a maxim which should apply to those 
 minor differences of sentiment and practice which 
 might at any time be found among real Christians. 
 Respecting Baptism there could be no such differ- 
 ence at that period, for very obvious reasons. But 
 He, by whose authority the principle was estab- 
 lished, directed the Apostle to record it in his epis- 
 tles ; well knowing that, though the dispute which 
 occasioned its suggestion would soon be buried in 
 the ruins of the temple and city of Jerusalem, never 
 to rise again, other grounds of difference, not then 
 existing, would make their appearance, to which 
 the above maxim would properly apply ; and, by 
 a due attention to which, Christians might be pre- 
 served from violating the spirit of the gospel while 
 
74 
 
 zealously contending, as they might conceive, for 
 the letter of its institutions. 
 
 It is an additional objection to exclusive commu- 
 nion that, while it unduly magnifies the ordinance 
 of Baptism, it also perverts that of the Lord's sup- 
 per, and defeats one great end of its institution ; 
 rendering that very ordinance the bar of separation, 
 which the Redeemer appointed as the bond of 
 union among his disciples and followers. To make 
 this apparent, let us consider, for a moment, the 
 important event which it was designed to bring to 
 our remembrance, connected with the circum- 
 stances attending its first celebration. " As often 
 as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, (says the 
 apostle) ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." 
 But for what purpose did this great event take 
 place, and what was the end to be accomplished 
 by it? It was, as we have already observed, tc to 
 gather together in one the children of God who 
 were scattered abroad." This, we acknowledge, 
 was not the only end, but it certainly was a very 
 important one, or it would not have been made so 
 prominent as we see it, in the passage above allu- 
 ded to. Let us then attentively peruse the history 
 of this transaction, as recorded by the Evangelist 
 John, together with the discourse which our Lord 
 delivered to his disciples on this solemn occasion. 
 What are its principal features, and what is the 
 scope of the whole? It is replete with heavenly 
 wisdom and divine consolation. But the duty 
 which it particularly enjoins, is that of brotherly 
 love. No where in all the Bible is this duty so re- 
 peatedly urged, and so powerfully enforced ; for on 
 no other occasion was a scene presented to view so 
 well calculated to give effect to the exhortation. 
 Let us hear the words of our divine Redeemer, at 
 this very interesting period. " A new command- 
 ment I give unto you, that ye love one another ; as 
 
75 
 
 1 have loved you, that ye also love one another. 
 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
 if ye have love one to another." Again, " This is 
 my commandment that ye love one another as I 
 have loved you. Greater love hath no man than 
 this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 
 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command 
 you." Once more, " These things T command 
 you, that ye love one another." (See John xiii. 34, 
 35. xv. 32—14, 17.) To this may also be added 
 the remarkable petition in the intercessory prayer 
 of our Lord, which, at the close of this discourse, 
 he offered up on behalf of his disciples, saying, 
 " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also 
 who shall believe on me through their word : that 
 they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, 
 -and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." 
 
 In this view of the subject, how admirably is the 
 ordinance of the Lord's supper adapted to promote 
 Christian unity, by reminding us, that when the Sa- 
 viour shed his precious blood, when he laid down 
 his life for the sheep, it was for the purpose of 
 uniting them (however diversified their circum- 
 stances) to himself and to one another, as one fold, 
 under one Shepherd ; and that his last prayer, and 
 dying exhortations, all tend to the accomplishment 
 of this great and important object. 
 
 What then shall we say to those who in this or- 
 dinance refuse to hold communion with their bre- 
 thren of a different denomination, with whom they 
 can nevertheless unite, with the utmost cordiality, 
 in every other act of social worship and spiritual 
 intercourse ; who will not recognise such as Chris- 
 tians, at the table of the Lord, though, in any other 
 situation, they will cheerfully acknowledge their 
 claim to the character ? 
 
 The language of our Lord, when, on a certain 
 occasion, foretelling his sufferings and death, is very 
 d 2 
 
16 
 
 significant : " And I, if I be lifted up from the 
 earth, will draw all men unto me." Now where 
 and when is the influence of this heavenly magnet 
 so likely to be sensibly felt, as at the table of the 
 Lord, round which his people meet to partake of 
 the memorials of his dying love ; when Jesus Christ 
 is evidently set forth before their eyes, as crucified 
 among them ? And yet, strange to tell ! there are 
 those who seem as if they had discovered the un- 
 happy art of investing this centre of attraction with 
 the power of repulsion, and rendering the very fo- 
 cus of union the point of separation. 
 
 In acting thus, they do violence not only to 
 Christian principles but to Christian feelings. 
 Every affection of the renewed mind revolts at 
 such a line of conduct. Do they appeal from the 
 feelings to the judgment, we have not the least ob- 
 jection to have the cause we plead tried before that 
 tribunal, and are willing to stand or fall by its de- 
 cision ; being fully persuaded that the dictates of 
 an enlightened understanding will concur with the 
 affections of a gracious heart to pronounce a verdict 
 in our favour. Is it then, we would ask, consis- 
 tent with just reasoning to refuse to hold commu- 
 nion with our fellow-Christians in one ordinance, 
 on the subject of which we are perfectly agreed, 
 because there is another ordinance, which has no 
 necessary or immediate connexion with it, respect- 
 ing which different views are entertained. If so, 
 then it would follow, that we ought not to maintain 
 communion with our brethren in any thing that re- 
 lates to the duties or privileges of Christianity, un- 
 less there w r as an exact conformity between us in 
 sentiment and in practice, with respect to every thing 
 belonging to the system ; which would render all 
 the apostolic exhortations to mutual forbearance in 
 regard to difference of opinion completely nugatory 
 
 That there is no more connexion between Bap- 
 
11 
 
 tism and the Lord's supper than between Baptism 
 and any other branch of Christian worship (as even 
 Mr. Kinghorn himself seems to admit) is abun- 
 dantly evident. No two ordinances can be more 
 distinct from each other. They were appointed at 
 different times, and for different purposes ; and 
 where one is enjoined, the Scripture is silent 
 respecting the other. We are told, indeed, in the 
 history of the proceedings on the day of Pentecost, 
 that they who gladly received the word, were bap- 
 tized, and that they continued stedfastly in the 
 Apostle's doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking 
 of bread, and in prayers. This appears to be the 
 only place where Baptism is associated with the 
 Lord's supper (supposing that the expression, 
 " breaking of bread," is to be understood in rela- 
 tion to that ordinance). But even here, it is no less 
 intimately connected with the Apostle's doctrine, 
 and fellowship, and prayers ; so that, if the want of 
 Baptism would exclude from the table of the Lord, 
 it would equally exclude from those other exercises 
 of devotion and instruction, which are represented 
 as designating the Christian character. We con- 
 ceive, therefore, that we are perfectly justified in 
 the inference, that the practice of exclusive com- 
 munion is both irrational and unscriptural, standing 
 opposed to the most correct dictates of the judg- 
 ment as well as the best affections of the heart. 
 
 Mr. Booth, in his Apology for the Baptists, seems 
 very much hurt at the idea suggested by one of his 
 opponents, that their conduct in refusing to admit 
 Padobaptists into communion with them, is "great- 
 ly prejudicial to the honour and interest of true re- 
 ligion, and not a little contributing to the cause of 
 infidelity? But if we consider how much the in- 
 terest of true religion is promoted by the cordial 
 union of real Christians, and that of infidelity by 
 their contentions, divisions, and separation from 
 
78 
 
 each other, the expression, however harsh it may 
 sound, will scarcely seem too strong. 
 
 If, however, exclusive communion is completely 
 at variance with Christian principles, the opposite 
 practice is no less incompatible with Baptist prin- 
 ciples. Here, the opponents of mixed communion 
 have the advantage of their antagonists. For, what 
 can be more inconsistent than to maintain that Bap- 
 tism is a positive institution, and a standiDg ordinance 
 of the Christian church, and yet treat it as a matter 
 of indifference, and countenance the total neglect of 
 it ; by admitting to an equal participation of all the 
 privileges of church fellowship, those who are un- 
 baptized with those who have paid a regard to that 
 ordinance ? 
 
 In a church so constituted, Baptism not being the 
 door of entrance, it will sometimes happen, with 
 respect to persons who have not turned their atten- 
 tion to the subject, or duly considered it, at the 
 time of their joining the church, that, after a lapse 
 of years, they will feel their minds powerfully im- 
 pressed with the idea, that hitherto they have neg- 
 lected to yield obedience to a positive command 
 of Christ. Under this conviction, they come for- 
 ward and are baptized, as if they were but just set- 
 ting out in the ways of God ; though they have 
 been not only professors of religion, but members of 
 that very church, many years before. Now, we 
 conceive that, if there is any necessity for Baptism 
 at all, it is at the commencement and not at the 
 close of a religious profession. Every thing is beau- 
 tiful in its season ; but this is out of season. It is 
 like sowing when we ought to reap, and casting in 
 the seed when we should thrust in the sickle. And 
 what a spectacle does such a church exhibit, the 
 members of which have some of them been baptized 
 before they joined the church, some on their forming 
 a connexion with it, others ten, fifteen, or, it may 
 
79 
 
 be, twenty years after that event has taken place, 
 and others who have never been baptized at all ! 
 Yet this is denominated a Baptist church ! ! What 
 right it has to such an appellation, we leave others 
 to determine. 
 
 Mr. Hall contends that the universal adoption of 
 the plan of mixed communion would considerably 
 promote the Baptist interest. But, with due defer- 
 ence to his superior judgment, we must confess that 
 we are much inclined to think that the opposite ef- 
 fect would be produced; especially when we con- 
 sider that what, in many instances, constitutes a 
 powerful motive for paying a practical regard to 
 Baptism, is, on this principle, taken completely out 
 of the way. We are fully persuaded that there are 
 hundreds, if not thousands, who have been baptized 
 by immersion, where Baptism is made a term of 
 communion, that never would have submitted to 
 that ordinance, if they had not been influenced by a 
 strong desire of being closely united with those 
 churches of which they are now members. " What ! 
 (perhaps some may be ready to reply, with a tone 
 of indignation) do you suppose, then, that such 
 persons have acted contrary to the conviction of 
 their own minds ?" By no means : we have no idea 
 of bringing such a charge against them. But, we 
 do verily believe that, had they not been prompted 
 by the motive above stated, they never would have 
 paid that attention to the subject, which issued in 
 their conviction. We are sufficiently acquainted 
 with human nature to know that the disposition has 
 a considerable influence over the judgment. When 
 there are two ways to attain the same object, one 
 difficult and troublesome, the other plain and easy, 
 it is no hard task to determine which will be gene- 
 rally preferred. Who would wade through the pool 
 before the house, in order to enter at the front door, 
 when, by taking a few steps to the right or to the 
 
80 
 
 left, he might be admitted at a side or a back doof, 
 be received with a hearty welcome, and have free 
 access to every room, with all the privileges of an 
 inmate ? 
 
 The strict Baptists are fully aware of this, and 
 have felt, as might have been expected, tremblingly 
 alive to the interests of their denomination ; well 
 knowing that in proportion as Mr. Hall's system 
 prevails, the cause which they have espoused must 
 sink. Stripped of its importance, bereft of its uti- 
 lity, and no longer subservient to any valuable pur- 
 pose, it would soon, like a worn out garment, be 
 totally laid aside. No wonder, then, that they 
 should take the alarm, summon all their forces, and 
 dispute every inch of ground ; when one, who is a 
 host of himself, brings the whole weight of his 
 mighty artillery to bear, not merely on their out- 
 works, but on the very citadel of their strength ; 
 threatening, at least in their esteem, should his ef- 
 forts be crow r ned with success, to deprive them of 
 that which is peculiarly dear to them. For what 
 can be supposed to hold a much larger place in the 
 affections of Baptists than Baptism ? The zeal 
 which they have ever manifested in its defence suffi- 
 ciently evinces the reality and strength of their at- 
 tachment. It. is, indeed, their distinguishing charac- 
 teristic, the very name after which they are called ; 
 a name which is marked (so to speak) on every 
 bale of their ecclesiastical commodities. Their deno- 
 mination is the Baptist denomination ; their minis- 
 ters are Baptist ministers ; their churches are Bap- 
 tist churches ; their societies for propagating the 
 gospel at home and abroad, are Baptist societies ; 
 and their magazine is the Baptist Magazine. In 
 short, you may as well expect a Christian to re- 
 nounce Christianity, as a Baptist to give up Bap- 
 tism. 
 
 Mr. Hall, indeed, as if to allay their fears, does 
 
81 
 
 in effect assure them, that exclusive communion is 
 the exclusive object of his attack. Let this be sur- 
 rendered, let mixed communion be allowed to oc- 
 cupy its place, and there is no ground for alarm. 
 The Baptist interest, which they hold so dear,, in- 
 stead of being impaired or diminished would be 
 wonderfully strengthened and enlarged by the 
 change. Paedobaptists, being brought under the 
 ministry of Baptists, would have their minds en- 
 lightened on the subject; and the cause which they 
 have so much at heart would mightily grow and 
 prevail. But the strict Baptists are very far from 
 perceiving the justness of this inference. They are 
 at a loss to conceive how the mere circumstance of 
 Paedobaptists attending on the ministry of a Bap- 
 tist should effect such a change in their views, as to 
 overcome their objections to Baptism by immer- 
 sion, and induce a practical regard to that ordi- 
 nance ; when all that they are likely to see or hear 
 in relation to the subject, would rather tend to con- 
 firm them in the ideas which they had previously 
 entertained, that it was of little or no importance, 
 and altogether unnecessary. For, it should be ob- 
 served that, in those churches where Baptists and 
 Paedobaptists are indiscriminately associated, in a 
 sort of co-partnership, it is generally understood, if 
 not absolutely stipulated, as a term of communion, 
 that Baptism should be kept out of sight as much 
 as possible ; that it should scarcely ever be men- 
 tioned, and never insisted on, lest the peace of the 
 church should be disturbed, and the harmony of its 
 members be interrupted. 
 
 This is a subject for serious consideration. It 
 certainly constitutes a very strong objection against 
 mixed communion ; since a minister is thereby ex- 
 posed to the temptation of shunning to declare the 
 whole counsel of God, or what he esteems to be 
 such, in order to avoid giving offence to some of 
 d3 
 
■ 
 
 the members of bis church. Thus the love of truth 
 is sacrificed to the desire of peace. Nor is this all. 
 We are the creatures of habit ; and it is impossible 
 to say what injurious habits this mode of proceed- 
 ing may lead to the indulgence of, both in ministers 
 and people. It may induce in ministers a habit of 
 temporizing, which, beginning in things of compa- 
 ratively small importance, may be gradually ex- 
 tended to subjects of far greater moment. The 
 people, also, being accustomed to see an acknow- 
 ledged duty treated as a matter of indifference, may 
 be led to excuse themselves, while living in the 
 omission or neglect of more important duties; not 
 having kept alive in their minds a due regard for 
 the authority of Christ, and the necessity of render- 
 ing implicit obedience to all his commands. 
 
 There is another objection to mixed communion, 
 which should not be lightly passed over. In some 
 Baptist churches, Paedobaptists have been admitted 
 in such numbers, that on the demise of their Pastor, 
 they have formed the majority of the members, and 
 chosen a Paedobaptist minister to succeed bim. 
 Thus, in the estimation of those who are outvoted, 
 the ordinance is lost out of the church. Such cir- 
 cumstances have frequently occurred ; in relation to 
 which, Messrs. Bogue and Bennett, in their History 
 of Dissenters, make the following remarks : •* Some 
 Baptists, upon the liberal consideration that those 
 who differ from them conceive themselves baptized, 
 admit them to the Lord's supper, which is called 
 open, or more properly, mixed communion. As 
 those Independents, who practise Infant Baptism, 
 generally admit Baptists to their communion ; in 
 some churches, there has been such an intermixture, 
 both of pastors and of members, that it would be 
 difficult to ~know under which denomination they 
 thould be placed? Such churches seem very much 
 to resemble those amphibious animals who, by Mr 
 
83 
 
 rag sometimes in the water and at other times out of 
 the water, render it very questionable to which class 
 they really belong. 
 
 But the mischief is not confined to the actual 
 change which may thus be made in the constitution 
 of the church. Supposing such an event should 
 never take place, still the possibility, if not probabi- 
 lity, that it may occur at some future period, has a 
 tendency to excite a spirit of jealousy and dissatis- 
 faction between the opposite parties, which, in pro- 
 portion as it prevails, must prove destructive of that 
 peace and unity which ought to subsist among mem- 
 bers of the same church. Thus, one of the strong- 
 est arguments in favour of mixed communion, that 
 of promoting brotherly love, is turned against the 
 practice; this object being completely defeated, 
 and a contrary effect produced. 
 
 From this brief review of some of the leading 
 points of the controversy relative to terms of com- 
 munion, it clearly appears that, whether we adopt 
 the system of Mr. Hall, or that of Mr. Kinghor-n, 
 we are surrounded with difficulties. All these diffi- 
 culties, however, we cannot forbear observing, arise 
 from the admission, on both sides of the question, 
 that the ordinance of Baptism is of perpetual obli- 
 gation, and as binding on the followers of Christ now 
 as when it was first appointed. Let but this be re- 
 linquished, and every difficulty vanishes. If, on 
 the other hand, we are determined to hold it fast, 
 we are inevitably brought to this conclusion — that 
 our Lord has appointed a standing ordinance in his 
 church, which he has left in such a state, and his 
 people under such circumstances, as to render it 
 impossible for them to enforce it, as it was origin- 
 ally enforced, or to pay that regard to it, which 
 ought to be paid to every injunction of Him who is 
 King in Zion, without acting inconsistently with 
 Christian principles, or doing violence to Christian 
 
84 
 
 feelings; principles which God has laid down, in, 
 his Word for the government of his people, and feel- 
 ings, which, by his Spirit, he has implanted in their 
 hearts. 
 
 Many have been ready to conclude, that Baptism 
 must be a standing ordinance, because those who 
 have differed the most concerning it, in every other 
 point of view, have agreed in acknowledging its 
 perpetuity. But this by no means follows. Such 
 as are acquainted with ecclesiastical history may 
 recollect, that there was a period when a dispute 
 arose between the Eastern and Western churches, 
 respecting the proper time of keeping Easter ; in 
 consequence of which, a separation took place, 
 which has continued to the present day. But it 
 does not appear, during the utmost heat of the dis- 
 cussion, to have entered into the minds of the dispu- 
 tants, on either side, to call in question the necessity 
 of keeping it at all, and thus settle the point at once. 
 Since that time, however, the obligation to regard it 
 has not only been questioned, but absolutely denied, 
 by a numerous and respectable portion of the Chris- 
 tian world, even the whole body of Protestant Dis- 
 senters. Now, what has happened in respect of 
 the keeping of Easter, may happen in regard to the 
 administration of Baptism. And should this revo- 
 lution take place in the mind of the religious pub- 
 lic, we should hail it as one of the most auspicious 
 signs of the times ; indicating the near approach of 
 that period, when Judah shall no more vex Ephraim, 
 nor Ephraim envy Judah. 
 
 If, however, this is too much to be expected at 
 the present moment, it is, at least, high time that 
 something should be done, to put an end to the pre- 
 sent state of things; which, so long as it is suffered 
 to continue, cannot fail to prove a source of incal- 
 culable mischief, injury, and disgrace, to the com- 
 mon cause of Christianity. While Baptists and 
 
85 
 
 Paedobaptists persist in holding one another at arm's 
 length, and regarding each other with an eye of 
 jealousy ; he who cannot go the full length of either 
 of the parties, is almost sure to be repulsed by both. 
 If, after close investigation, he can find no autho- 
 rity in the New Testament for the practice of Infant 
 Baptism — should it appear to him totally uncon- 
 genial with the spirit and constitution of the present 
 dispensation, and, in fact, a mere nullity (and, by 
 the way, it requires no superior talent to arrive at 
 such a conclusion ; it being one of those subjects of 
 which we may say, in the language of the poet, 
 " All heads can reach it, and all hearts conceive") 
 — if, under these impressions, concluding, as most 
 do, that Baptism is a standing ordinance, and an 
 indispensable duty, he should unite in sentiment 
 and practice with the Baptists ; unless, indeed, he 
 imbibes their spirit, and becomes exclusively one of 
 their party, he will probably not have been long in 
 communion with them, before he will find himself 
 assailed with " You a Baptist! you're not half a 
 Baptist ! you're more of a Methodist than a Bap- 
 tist r 
 
 If, offended with their want of liberality and 
 their groundless assumption of superiority over other 
 sects, he leaves them, and goes among the Inde- 
 pendents or Methodists, it is more than probable 
 that he will be repelled on another ground. Unless 
 he is prepared to renounce the sentiment as well as 
 the communion of the Baptists, and acknowledge 
 the validity of Infant Baptism, his new friends will 
 soon make him feel that he is not one of them. The 
 tocsin of alarm will be sounded. It will be heard 
 throughout their whole camp. " A Baptist ! a Bap- 
 tist! a Baptist! You must beware of him, or he 
 will certainly drag you into the water." Thus, he 
 unhappily becomes the object of suspicion and 
 dread, and is shunned, as if he were infected with 
 
86 
 
 a contagious distemper. In vain does he remon- 
 strate ; in vain does he appeal to the general tenor 
 of his conduct ; in vain does he protest, and refer 
 to those who have the best means of knowing the 
 truth of the assertion, that he has never obtruded 
 the subject of Baptism on such as were differently 
 minded in regard to that ordinance. It signifies 
 nothing. He is a Baptist. That is enough. 
 
 Another evil, inseparably connected with the pre- 
 sent system, is its direct and immediate tendency to 
 preclude free inquiry. There are, we have no 
 doubt, among the professors of religion in the pre- 
 sent day, thousands, and tens of thousands, who 
 cling to Infant Baptism, as a tradition received 
 from their fathers, of which they can give no ra- 
 tional account ; knowing no scripture to warrant it, 
 no reason to enforce it, and no advantage to re- 
 commend it; except, when the service is performed 
 in a parish church, that of referring to the official 
 register at any subsequent period, if necessary, to 
 verify the transaction. But why so tenaciously ad- 
 here to a practice, in favour of which they have so 
 little to advance ? The reason is obvious. If In- 
 fant Baptism is a nullity, it follows, as a necessary 
 consequence, that they are wibaptized. It being 
 deeply rooted in their minds, that Baptism, of some 
 sort, is indispensably requisite, in compliance with 
 the command of our Saviour, they seem to be pretty 
 well aware that, should they examine the subject, 
 for the purpose of attaining full satisfaction respect- 
 ing it, the result might be, that they must either 
 violate conscience, by living in the omission of 
 known duty ; or, alienate themselves from their 
 present connexions, relinquish, it may be in some 
 instances, an extensive sphere of usefulness, and 
 unite themselves with a sect, which they have ever 
 been accustomed to regard with disgust and aver- 
 sion. They, therefore, shut their eyes and stop 
 
87 
 
 their ears against every thing that might possibly 
 produce such an effect. ' They do not wish to read 
 or hear any thing about Baptism. It is very well 
 for them to attend to it that see it to be their duty, 
 and, indeed, they ought to do it ; but as for them- 
 selves, they were baptized in infancy, and that is 
 enough: they do not want to be baptized over 
 again ; and, after all you can say, it is a mere non- 
 essential.' The uneasiness of the mind, on such 
 occasions, is generally visible in the countenance ; 
 and were the subject to be pressed any farther, it 
 would be beyond endurance. They would be 
 seized with a sort of hydrophobia, and the dread of 
 being hurried into the water would take full pos- 
 session of their disordered imaginations. 
 
 And must things continue for ever in this state ? 
 Surely not. Those party walls which have so long 
 separated Christians from each other, built of incon- 
 gruous materials, and with untempered mortar, are 
 hastening to their downfall. The dew of heavenly 
 grace, with an irresistible, though secret influence, 
 is, even now, pervading and dissolving the sub- 
 stance of which they are composed. Our business, 
 at the present moment, is to clear away the rubbish 
 with which their mouldering ruins have overspread 
 our path ; while, in the confidence of faith, we an- 
 ticipate the period, when the Spirit, being poured 
 out from on high, shall carry them away, as with 
 a mighty torrent, and not leave one stone upon 
 another. 
 
 We are encouraged in this expectation, by consi- 
 dering the effects actually produced by the out- 
 pouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost ; when 
 a church was formed, the privileges of which were 
 to be enjoyed equally by Jews and Gentiles without 
 distinction. The foundation of this union of cha- 
 racters, previously so opposite to each other, was 
 laid in the death of Christ, by whose blood they 
 
88 
 
 who had been far off were made nigh. " For he 
 (says the Apostle) is our peace, who hath made 
 both one, and hath broken down the middle wall 
 of partition between us; having abolished in his 
 flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments 
 contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of 
 twain, one new man, so making peace, and that 
 he might reconcile both unto God in one body by 
 the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." 
 
 We learn from the above statement, not only the 
 cause of this important event, but the means where- 
 by it was accomplished. The enmity subsisting be- 
 tween Jews and Gentiles was taken away by abo- 
 lishing the occasion of that enmity, even the law of 
 commandments contained in ordinances. And who 
 can tell but it may please God to reconcile Baptists 
 and Psedobaptists by abolishing the ordinance of 
 Baptism ; or, rather, by showing both the one and 
 the other of the contending parties that that ordi- 
 nance was not designed for perpetuity ; and that its 
 obligation ceased, so soon as it ceased to answer 
 the end for which it was appointed ? We do not 
 expect such a change in public opinion to be sud- 
 denly effected. Customs long established and uni- 
 versally observed, are not quickly laid aside. The 
 ceremonial law was held in high veneration by the 
 believing Hebrews, for a considerable time after its 
 abrogation by the death of Christ. The difference 
 of opinion which then prevailed respecting their ob- 
 ligation to observe it, was, doubtless, suffered to 
 take place, for the purpose of giving scope to the 
 exercise of that mutual forbearance, which was so 
 forcibly inculcated upon them, and which it is the 
 duty of all Christians, under such circumstances, 
 invariably to regard. And can a better reason be 
 assigned for the permission of those differences that 
 subsist among us, or a greater benefit be derived 
 from their continuance ! 
 
89 
 
 But the practice of exclusive communion defeats 
 this end, and deprives us of this benefit; the only- 
 benefit which can, in any degree, compensate for 
 that which is in itself so great an evil. It affords 
 consolation, however, to reflect that this Antichris- 
 tian practice cannot continue long. It must fade 
 and fail, and, at length, totally disappear, before 
 the bright shining of that light, which has already 
 dawned upon us, and which will shine yet more 
 and more unto the perfect day. The nature and 
 design of the present dispensation, the genius of the 
 gospel, and the spirit of the times, are all against 
 it It has been weighed in the balances, and found 
 wanting. Its days are numbered, and will shortly 
 be finished. We have seen how directly it stands 
 opposed to Christian principles and Christian feel- 
 ings ; and, as for apostolic precedent, when pro- 
 perly examined, it appears on the other side of the 
 question. But we will go a step further. 
 
 We do not hesitate to assert that exclusive com- 
 munion is contrary, not only to the example of the 
 Apostles, but to the express injunction of our Lord 
 himself. When he instituted the sacred supper it 
 was for all his disciples to partake of it, and, in ad- 
 ministering the cup, he particularly said, " Drink 
 ye all of it." The Protestants, on this ground, 
 censure the Romau Catholics, and very justly, for 
 withholding the cup from the laity. What then 
 must we think of the conduct of those who with- 
 hold both bread and wine from the whole Christian 
 world, except their own narrow denomination? 
 Like the church of Rome, advancing the arrogant 
 claim of being the only true apostolic church, they 
 unchurch all Christian societies but their own, and 
 unchristianize every individual professor of religion, 
 who does not belong to their party. We say un- 
 christianize ; for what do we mean by that term, 
 except it be, to treat a person as if he were no 
 
90 
 
 Christian ? And this they do in regard to every 
 person to whom they deny access to the table 
 of the Lord. They do, in effect, say to such, 
 " Yon may be outward court worshippers. You 
 may attend those religious exercises, which are 
 open to all, whether pious or profane, Jew, Hea* 
 then, or Infidel ; but this is an ordinance designed 
 for Christians only; within this sacred inclosure 
 you must not enter." If this is not treating a person 
 as if he were no Christian, or, which is the same 
 thing, unchristianizing him, we know not what is. 
 
 They may say in reply, that they are very far 
 from entertaining such an unfavourable opinion of 
 those who differ from them on the subject of Bap- 
 tism, though they refuse to hold communion with 
 them at the Lord's table. They may allege, in 
 proof of this, the circumstance of their frequently 
 attending on the ministry of such, and even inviting 
 them to occupy their pulpits. Strange inconsistency ! 
 To invite a person to occupy the pulpit whom they 
 do not deem worthy to approach the table. They 
 have no objection to sit under him as a preacher of 
 the gospel, though they scruple to sit beside him as 
 a fellow-communicant. Now we do think that if 
 any distinction should be made between the pulpit 
 and the table pew, it is the former rather than the 
 latter that requires the exercise of caution. We 
 can easily conceive of a truly good man, who, hav- 
 ing embraced some strange notions, and being in 
 the habit of using unguarded expressions, may of- 
 ten injure the cause which he means to promote by 
 his pulpit discourses; but what harm even such a 
 one can do by sitting down at the table of the Lord, 
 we cannot conceive. To admit a person, therefore, 
 into a situation where much mischief may be, and 
 often has been done, and refuse him a seat where* 
 in the nature of things, no mischief Gan be done, is 
 preposterously absurd ! 
 
91 
 
 And can it be supposed that the ordinance of 
 Baptism was instituted to countenance such conduct 
 as this? Is it not far more rational to conclude 
 that it was appointed solely for the introduction of 
 a new dispensation into the world ; and that it was 
 for this express purpose that the commission to ad- 
 minister it, was given by our Lord to his Apostles. 
 We are confirmed in this idea, by observing that 
 though, in the execution of this work, they asso- 
 ciated others with themselves, yet they never dele- 
 gated the authority by which they performed it to 
 any that should come after them in the successive 
 periods of the church. 
 
 Again, — The command to baptize being imme- 
 diately followed by the promise of miraculous gifts, 
 there is no more reason to conclude that the former 
 is of perpetual obligation than that the latter is of 
 perpetual duration; seeing that there is no limit as- 
 signed to the one more than to the other. And, 
 indeed, if we consider Baptism in respect of the 
 nature and design of the institution, we need not 
 hesitate to affirm that it did not long survive the age 
 of miracles. A superstitious ceremony, called by 
 that name, has, we admit, been practised from the 
 above period down to the present time ; but this 
 bears no resemblance to the ordinance appointed 
 by our Lord and administered by his Apostles, whe- 
 ther we view it in reference to the subject, the 
 mode, or the end of its administration. 
 
 An attempt has been made, of late years, to re- 
 cover Baptism, and bring it back to its original de- 
 sign. But what has been the result? Instead of 
 restoring it to the churches of Christ, as the doc- 
 trines of the gospel were restored at the reformation 
 from popery, the only effect has been, to detach a 
 small portion of Christians from the rest of their 
 brethren, and form them into a distinct sect, main- 
 taining principles incompatible with the principles 
 
92 
 
 of Christianity, and manifesting a spirit diametri- 
 cally opposite to the spirit of the gospel ; excom- 
 municating* every professor of religion, who does 
 not entertain their views, and adopt their plans. 
 
 Against this system of exclusive communion we 
 feel it necessary to enter the most decided protest; 
 as its direct and immediate tendency is, to cherish 
 that spirit of bigotry and intolerance, which we 
 cannot but detest and abhor. 
 
 Be that bigotry far from our breast, 
 
 Which would Christian from Christian divide ; 
 
 Which by blind party zeal is caress'd, 
 The offspring of folly and pride. 
 
 Names, parties, and sects disappear, 
 
 With their separate interests and laws : 
 No name but of Christ would we hear, 
 
 No interest but that of his cause. 
 
 We think it necessary, however, to say that, 
 while thus strongly reprobating the practice of ex- 
 clusive communion, we would not be supposed to 
 give an unqualified approbation to the plan of mix- 
 ed communion ; which we think liable to serious 
 objections, as stated above. We conceive that 
 there is a broad line of distinction between the two, 
 though that distinction has not been clearly pointed 
 out by those who have engaged in the controversy 
 on either side. One reason of this may be, the 
 custom generally prevailing among Independents as 
 well as Baptists, of making the circumstance of 
 being actually admitted a member of some regular 
 church, as it is called, an indispensably requisite 
 qualification for sitting down at the table of the 
 Lord. Now, we must own, we see no ground for 
 this ; and we are fully persuaded that the Scriptures 
 give no countenance to such a mode of proceeding. 
 
 * See Hall's Reply to Kinghorn, Part III. Chap, ix. 
 
93 
 
 The Lord's supper was instituted for the Lord's 
 people. It is the birthright of those who are the 
 children of God by faith in Jesus Christ; a privi- 
 lege from which none of their brethren have any- 
 right to exclude them, except (as must always be 
 excepted; when they are chargeable with denying 
 the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, or acting 
 in a manner grossly inconsistent with their Christian 
 profession. With this exception only, we have 
 every reason to believe that primitive Christians 
 never denied access to the Lord's table, to those 
 whom they considered as belonging to the house- 
 hold of faith ; nor is there any reason why we 
 should. 
 
 It may., indeed, be expedient, so long as a di- 
 versity of opinion prevails respecting modes of 
 worship and discipline, and minor points of doc- 
 trine, that members of the same church should, as 
 much as possible, be of the same mind and of the 
 same judgment. Let Baptists then unite with Bap- 
 tists, Peedobaptists with Psedobaptists, Calvinists 
 with Calvinists, and Arminians with Arminians; 
 but let these communities, though perfectly distinct, 
 recognise each other as churches of Christ, receiv- 
 ing dismissions from one to the other without scru- 
 ple ; and let individuals sustaining the Christian 
 character, be freely invited to partake of the Lord's 
 supper, whenever and wherever that ordinance may 
 be administered, without regard to sect or denomi- 
 nation. It would then be, what it was originally 
 designed to be, a bond of union and not a bar of 
 separation among the followers of Christ. 
 
 We appeal to Christian common sense, if such a 
 plan would not better accord with the spirit of the 
 gospel than that which has been adopted of late, 
 particularly by the various tribes of Sandemanians, 
 whose divisions and subdivisions areendless. Hence, 
 we are repeatedly hearing of some fresh commander 
 
94 
 
 of a petty squadron, quitting the regiment to which 
 he formerly belonged, and marching off, with his 
 little company, to a remote part of the camp; 
 where a separate table must be kept, and none, on 
 any account, be permitted to sit down at that table, 
 but such as belong to his company ! 
 
 If difference of opinion, on various topics, must 
 subsist among real Christians, never, O never, let 
 those points of difference be so magnified as to pre- 
 vent such as are children of the same family, redeem- 
 ed with the same blood, partakers of the same Spirit, 
 and heirs of the same inheritance — from sitting 
 down at the same table, to commemorate that great 
 and glorious transaction, on which all their hopes 
 are founded, and whence all their comforts spring. 
 
 We are aware that sentiments which stand op- 
 posed to current opinion, must have many difficul- 
 ties to encounter before they can be expected to 
 prevail. Old prejudice is commonly too strong for 
 young conviction, and is frequently known to stifle 
 it in the birth. Persons are not easily dispossessed 
 of ideas which they have cherished with fond at- 
 tachment for twenty, thirty, or forty years toge- 
 ther ; which have s grown with their growth, and 
 strengthened with their strength ;' which are inter- 
 woven with all their views and feelings, and en- 
 twined round every fibre of the heart; and, what is 
 still worse, the more erroneous these ideas are 
 (such is the perverseness of human nature!) the 
 firmer will be their hold of the mind, and the greater 
 the difficulty of eradicating them ; for it is with 
 error as it is with vice : nor shall we find it a much 
 easier task to induce him to ihink right who has 
 been in the habit of thinking wrong, than to pre- 
 vail on him to do good who has been accustomed to 
 do evil. 
 
 What presumption then (some may be ready to 
 say) must possess the writer, to obtrude his senti- 
 
95 
 
 meats on the public, without a name to recommend 
 them ; when, under the most favourable circum- 
 stances there are such difficulties to be surmounted ! 
 He is, however, notwithstanding all these disad- 
 vantages, encouraged to proceed, under a full per- 
 suasion that, if his views are correct, they will ul- 
 timately prevail. Truth is slow in its march, but it 
 is progressive, and will finally triumph. And, what 
 if God, who delights to abase that which is high, 
 and exalt that which is low — who sometimes employs 
 things which are not to bring to nought things that 
 are — should please, in order to secure the whole 
 glory to himself, to make use of an obscure, an un- 
 known individual, as an instrument in his hands, for 
 effecting that which learning and talent, combined 
 with known respectability, have attempted in vain. 
 There was a period, when a certajn man drew a 
 bow at a venture, and it so happened, doubtless 
 under Divine direction, that the arrow shot from 
 a bow, drawn by an unknown hand, was made 
 the means of accomplishing a more valuable 
 and important purpose, than appears to have been 
 effected by any that issued from the quivers of the 
 most renowned, the most mighty, or the most skil- 
 ful, among all the hosts of Israel, or of Syria. 
 
 Whatever construction may be put on the fore- 
 going remarks, it affords, at least, some consola- 
 tion to reflect, that if no good should be produced 
 by this work, no harm is likely to ensue from it. 
 It creates no sect, forms no party, and excites no 
 divisions. On the contrary, its obvious tendency 
 is to put an end to those divisions and contentions, 
 which still subsist among Christians, by removing 
 the cause of them — showing — that true religion, 
 the religion of Jesus, consists not in modes and 
 forms and rites and ceremonies, but in the know- 
 ledge and enjoyment of God ; faith in, and love to 
 Christ ; communion with him, and conformity to 
 him ; — that the circumstantials of religion are of 
 
96 
 
 no account whatever, any further than they are 
 adapted to promote these ends — and that this con- 
 stitutes the test or rule, by which we are to judge 
 of their importance and of their permanence. " For 
 (says the great Apostle of the Gentiles) in Christ 
 Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor 
 uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many 
 as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, 
 and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." 
 
 To conclude: — Should these thoughts and ob- 
 servations, which the writer committed to paper 
 as they occurred to his mind, and now presents to 
 the public, prove the means of promoting peace 
 and unity among the people of God — that in one 
 spirit, with one mind, they may henceforth strive 
 together to diffuse the savour of evangelical truth, 
 and advance the kingdom and interest of the Re- 
 deemer — he shall consider himself amply remuner- 
 ated for the time and pains bestowed upon them, 
 and to God be all the glory. Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 Page 36, line 11, for antetype, read antitype. 
 
 Shackcll $ Arrowsmith, Joimgoris Court, Fleet Street.