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ADULT BAPTISM 
 
 THE RT. REV. GEORGE BURGESS, D.D., 
 
 BISHOP OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE 
 DIOCESE OF MAINE. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 [Protestant episcopal society for, the promotion op 
 
 ! EVANGELICAL KNOWLEDGE, 
 
 11 BIBLE nOUSE, ASTOR PLACE. 
 
 1857. 
 

 s J, 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 In all Christian countries except our own, al¬ 
 most all persons have been baptized in their infancy. 
 It was so amongst the settlers of our country. 
 But at present, in the United States, the majority 
 die in childhood unbaptized, or arrive unbaptized at 
 manhood. A denomination which rejects all bap¬ 
 tism except that which is performed by immersion 
 and at a ripe age, has become in its various branches, 
 an overwhelming multitude. Far beyond its own 
 limits, its influence casts, of course, a shade of doubt 
 over what was once prized as a sweet consecration 
 of the cradle and the fireside. Amongst several 
 other denominations, the practice, after a struggle, 
 has been confined to the children of communicants. 
 Everywhere, it is easier to leave undone than to do: 
 ^ arguments on the side of neglect are readily ad¬ 
 mitted ; and children will remain without baptism, 
 if their parents believe infant baptism to be wrong, 
 or doubt whether it is right, or are quite indifferent 
 to the duties of religion, or permit themselves to 
 postpone acknowledged duties from month to month, 
 
4 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 and then from year to year. Thus it is that so many 
 of those into whose hands this tract may fall, will 
 find in it an appeal to themselves; for, very possibly, 
 half of them are still nnbaptised when their eyes 
 first rest upon its pages. 
 
 In these pages, the question of infant baptism, 
 however, is not to be discussed. Every rebuke of 
 those who bring little children to Jesus, that he may 
 bless them, is a violation of his command, “ Forbid 
 them not,” and to persuade any whom he has so 
 received and blessed to renounce that baptism and 
 seek another, must be left to more daring pens than 
 mine. 
 
 Those, too, who have been already baptized in 
 their maturer years are not here particularly ad¬ 
 dressed. In any right view of adult baptism they 
 will find something to remind them of the vows 
 which are upon them as soldiers of Christ crucified. 
 But, enlisted as they are, they need not be urged by 
 the summons which calls men to his banners. Their 
 task is now to fight the good fight manfully. 
 
 For unbaptized readers chiefly, this tract is in¬ 
 tended. They must be at this moment in one of two 
 classes; such as have not , and such as have , considered 
 more or less, the question whether they ought not 
 to be candidates for baptism. 
 
 Those to whom this question has never seriously 
 occurred, should be reminded of questions even 
 more pressing and more solemn. The reason why 
 it has not occurred must be, either that they have 
 thought very little of Christ and his commands; or, 
 

 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 5 
 
 that they have been perfectly conscious of their utter 
 unfitness for an act so holy. In either event, the 
 word of God has other messages for them, before this 
 can come with power to their conscience. To speak 
 to the disbelieving, the profane, the vicious, the 
 frivolous, or the worldly and merely worldly, of 
 baptism as their duty, might possibly mislead, 
 and would certainly be useless. To speak of bap¬ 
 tism as the duty of any, however sober, moral, or 
 virtuous, who have never yet asked with any serious 
 concern, what the Lord would have them to do, 
 might be a language which they could misinterpret. 
 But that which may not be simply and strictly their 
 duty till they are otherwise than they now are, is 
 yet to be before them in all its authority and neces¬ 
 sity, as a duty fastened to other duties, of which one 
 and all are as binding upon them as upon all beside 
 who hear the Gospel. They may be startled by two 
 reflections, which, in some thoughtful hour, may 
 steal upon them, and refuse to be dismissed. 
 f^The first consideration is this. Nothing can be 
 more certain than that our Lord and Saviour has 
 \ required of “every creature ’ 7 of the human race to 
 Whom his word shall be preached, to believe and to 
 [be baptized. “He that believeth and is baptized 
 ^sha ff be saved.” Baptism is as plainly enjoined as 
 belief; not as in itself of the same nature, but upon 
 precisely the same authority. When you are asked 
 why you are not baptized, your answer is, in sub¬ 
 stance, that it is because you do not believe. With 
 neither of these two conditions, therefore, have you 
 
6 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 complied; and you have not tlie slightest hold upon 
 the promise of salvation. You disregard one com¬ 
 mand because you have already disregarded, and 
 still continue to disregard, another and a higher. 
 That baptism should, under all circumstances, be a 
 condition of salvation, it may be impossible to sup¬ 
 pose : but why should it not be such for those whose 
 only excuse for remaining unbaptized is that they 
 are neither fit nor desirous to obey a divine com¬ 
 mandment ? In offering pardon to a multitude of 
 guilty men, their sovereign might require them to 
 apply for a certain document, which, duly attested, 
 should be the pledge of their safety. If any of them, 
 while earnestly desiring to comply with his offers of 
 clemency, yet misunderstood them, or were unable 
 to perform the condition, such might still hope and 
 expect from a just and merciful sovereign that they 
 should not suffer for their involuntary failure. But 
 surely against those who had turned scornfully away 
 from every offer, the absence of the attested docu¬ 
 ment would be evidence enough. Think well that, 
 however it may be with others, the want of baptism 
 signifies in such as you indifference to the commands 
 of Christ and to the terms of salvation, when these 
 commands and these terms have been declared by 
 him with exceeding plainness and solemnity. You 
 read them in the very commission which he gave to 
 , ^ his apostles, when he sent them and their successors 
 into all the world, to preach the Gospel to every 
 creature and so to you. 
 
 ^ (^The other consideration is, that the unbaptized are 
 
 £ 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 7 
 
 not within the communion of the Church on earth 
 That Church is a society, founded by our Lord, to 
 bind together all his servants in one sacred fellow¬ 
 ship. He names it his temple, his spouse, his body. 
 The only entrance into that society is by baptism. 
 It has its unworthy members, and they are many: 
 and yet, the intention^of Christ, that all who look to 
 him for salvation should be its members, even though 
 tares should be so thick among the wheat, that it 
 should rather be said that the wheat are among the 
 tares; the intention of Christ that every Christian 
 should be baptized, and thus become a member of 
 his visible Church, is as clear as any other one thing 
 in the Holy Scriptures. The duties of such mem¬ 
 bership you have never discharged or attempted. 
 The privileges of such membership are not yours. 
 It is a very serious, a very awful thing to remain to 
 the end without the fold of the Good Shepherd, 
 when he has come to seek and save the lost; to 
 decline enlisting in the armies of the Captain of sal¬ 
 vation, when he has summoned all to his help against 
 the mighty; and to determine, under the full light 
 of the Gospel, on casting in your lot with the heathen. 
 The Bride, as well as the Spirit, has said, 11 Come 
 and you have not come. You might have entered at 
 any hour, but you have chosen to wait at a distance. 
 You never thought seriously of becoming one of the 
 company of Christians. Those who belong to that 
 company may well remember with deep solicitude 
 that within their outward fellowship there is still an 
 inward communion of the saints, which can not be 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 8 
 
 severed from the unfaithful portion of the Church 
 till the final harvest. But you belong neither to the 
 inward nor to the outward communion: you are not, 
 and you care not to be, members of the Church 
 visible or invisible. Shut out by your own willing 
 act and persevering choice, from the society of which 
 Christ is king, here below, how can you enter that 
 in which he reigns above? It can not be. 
 
 We now turn from those who have not, to those 
 who have , regarded the question whether they ought 
 not to receive baptism, as one of personal and solemn 
 duty. Some obstacle bars their way. It may be a 
 particular view of the nature of baptism; or a doubt 
 whether they are prepared for its engagements; or 
 a mere habit of consenting to delay a step so decided; 
 or all these causes may have been combined, to pro¬ 
 duce neglect till now. 
 
 Has any thing in your view of the nature of bap¬ 
 tism persuaded you that you ought not to believe it 
 binding upon your own conscience ? 
 
 The ordinance of Christian baptism originated, 
 not at all with the wisdom of the Church, but simply 
 from the will of our Lord and Saviour. He said 
 to the apostles, “Go ye, the refore, and teach all 
 nations^ baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching then? 
 to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
 ^you. 7r The apostles did as they were commanded 
 They preached the Gospel everywhere, and the} 
 baptized those by whom it was received. On ths 
 day of Pentecost, they that “gladly received th* 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 9 
 
 word of Peter were baptized,' 7 so that the church of 
 Jerusalem at once numbered more than three thou¬ 
 sand. When the Gospel passed on to Samaria, they 
 who believed “were baptized, both men and women. 77 
 When the Holy Ghost fell on Cornelius and his 
 friends, those first fruits of the Gentiles, the apostle 
 Peter at once exclaimed, “ Can any man forbid water, 
 that these should not be baptized? 77 When “the 
 Lord opened the heart of Lydia, 77 “ she was baptized, 
 and her household. 77 The converted jailer at 
 Philippi “ was baptized, he and all his straightway. 77 
 It was the practice, always and everywhere, of those 
 inspired preachers; and it has never ceased to be the 
 practice of those who, following in their steps, have 
 preached the Gospel to the heathen. In all Chri stian 
 countries, too, the person who has professed faith in 
 Christ, and a desire to live in obedience to his laws, 
 has been exhorted," if still~TinBapHze37 ^ bap- 
 tism wi thout needlessUelay. TTumerous have been 
 the divisions amongst Chnstians; but as to this duty, 
 there has never been a doubt in any class, with one 
 single exception. 
 
 That exception is the society of Friends, or Qua¬ 
 kers. It is a society which has embraced some per* 
 sons of wide benevolence. It is a society, too, which 
 has fallen into peculiar delusions. It is a society of 
 human and recent origin, and can claim to be no 
 more. That the churches of the apostles were not 
 associations of Quakers is as certain as that they 
 existed at all. They had, as every reader of the 
 Scriptures perfectly knows, the baptism of water, 
 1 # 
 
10 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 and the breaking of bread; and these ordinances the 
 Quakers have not. The fact that the Quakers have 
 held themselves at liberty to dispense with these 
 ordinances, as less spiritual than their own customs, 
 can have no weight except with those who may 
 regard that society as so specially guided and in¬ 
 spired by the Holy Ghost, that they may undo what 
 the apostles did, with authority at least equal to that 
 of the apostles themselves. You have no such 
 opinion. You can not doubt that they have taken 
 a very bold and awful position when they have 
 taught that the sacraments ordained by Christ ought 
 not to be observed. They profess a more spiritual 
 practice than that of our Saviour, who was baptized, 
 and commanded his apostles to baptize. Such a 
 profession, where it is sincere, is an appalling error; 
 and, should it ever be insincere, must be something 
 still more appalling. 
 
 I will not suppose, then, I can not suppose, that 
 any reader really doubts the authority for baptism. 
 But some who do not doubt its authority, are accus¬ 
 tomed to view it as only an act of profession. They 
 sometimes add that religion may be possessed, where 
 it is not professed; and often the thought is plainly 
 cherished, that it is safer as well as easier not to 
 assume the responsibility of a profession which must 
 be sustained by a religious life. They who thus 
 reason are mistaken indeed in their idea of the 
 Christian profession itself, as if it were designed, not 
 so much to honor Christ as to distinguish Christians. 
 It is honorable to him that his name should be 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 11 
 
 confessed by men; and he has made it the bounden 
 duty of all. They who do it make no profession of 
 their own holiness, but they declare his power and 
 love, and acknowledge their obligation and propose 
 to be his servants. Whoever shrinks from this 
 shrinks from religion itself. He might as well be 
 afraid to promise allegiance to his country, or faith¬ 
 fulness to his consort. Both are acts of profession; 
 and yet no honest citizen or true husband ever re¬ 
 fused to promise, as in the presence of the Searcher 
 of hearts, the duty which he meant to perform. If 
 baptism were but an act of profession, it would be 
 binding still upon all who hope for salvation through 
 Christ; and it could not be refused by any to whom 
 Christ and his cause are dear. 
 
 But baptism is not merely nor chiefly an act of 
 profession: it is a test of obedience. To receive it is 
 to obey him who has a right to command the ob¬ 
 servance of any test. It is like the charge to Naaman 
 to bathe seven times in Jordan. It is like the charge 
 to the blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam. 
 The great Healer of all the diseases of our souls, may, 
 if he see it best, couple a like charge with their res¬ 
 toration to holiness and peace; and it is not for us 
 to discuss, in the spirit of Naaman, the fitness or 
 necessity of the arrangement. It is enough if he has 
 bidden us “wash and be clean.” Do we wish to be 
 healed of our moral leprosy and our spiritual blind¬ 
 ness ? We must not disobey, because we can not see 
 the nature of the connection between baptism with 
 water and baptism with the Holy Ghost. We must 
 
n 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 not say that if some great thing had been required 
 of us, we would have done it; but that, since the 
 yoke which is laid upon us is so easy, we will shake 
 it off, and hold ourselves blameless. 
 
 Baptism is not merely a sign of the Christian pro¬ 
 fession, and a test of obedience, b^nt, a s eal of the 
 grant of forgiveness . The title of that which was 
 administered by John was, “ baptism for the remis¬ 
 sion of sinsand it was administered by him as the 
 forerunner of our Saviour. “Repent and be bap¬ 
 tized for the remission of sins,” was the exhortation 
 of Peter on the day of Pentecost. “Arise, and be 
 baptized,” said Ananias to Saul, “and wash away 
 thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” In 
 many grave transactions, amongst men, there is some 
 outward sign, without which the transaction is not 
 legally valid and complete. A spot of land is not 
 transferred till a formal deed has been signed, sealed, 
 and delivered. A marriage has not taken place, 
 till hands have been joined, and vows have been 
 uttered, with some solemn ceremonial, in the presence 
 of witnesses. A right to the privileges of naturali¬ 
 zation is not conferred till the oath of citizenship has 
 been taken. A grant of pardon can not release the 
 prisoners, till it has the seal which represents the su¬ 
 preme authority. In bestowing his mercies, and 
 establishing his covenant with men, Grod could surely, 
 if it seemed good to him, fix some such sign or form, 
 through which the grant of forgiveness should be 
 sealed and perfected. It is a simple question of 
 fact, whether he did ordain a sign like these, when 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 13 
 
 he commanded that men should be baptized. If he 
 commanded that they should be “baptized for the 
 remission of sins,” that question is decided. His 
 command was expressed by his apostles in these very 
 words; and therefore baptism is to the grant of 
 Divine forgiveness what the seal is to the warrant of 
 release from prison; what the deed is to the transfer 
 of land; what the oath of citizenship is to the right 
 of citizenship; what the marriage ceremony is to the 
 marriage union. 
 
 Baptism is more than a sign of profession, a test 
 of obedience, and a seal of forgiveness: i t is also th e 
 mea ns of a gift of grace. By grace alone are we 
 saved] H^Tmay dispense his grace in any manner 
 which may be approved by his perfect wisdom; and 
 the mode which he has ordained must always be the 
 best and the most effectual. Is prayer his appoint¬ 
 ment? Baptism is as clearly his appointment. Are 
 we required to hear and believe his word ? So are 
 we required to be baptized. Prayer is a means ot 
 grace, in one form; the word is another means in 
 another form; and baptism is still another means in 
 another form ; but through them all works one and 
 the selfsame Spirit. Does any doubt the operation 
 of that Spirit through baptism? “By one Spirit,” 
 says St. Paul, “are we baptized into one body.” 
 Does any say that the inward work of the Spirit is 
 enough without the outward sacrament ? The same 
 apostle has associated them in the closest union of 
 language. “According to his mercy he saved us, by 
 the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
 
14 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 Holy Ghosts Can we not explain the connection, 
 and shall we therefore doubt? Our Lord has at 
 once asserted the connection, and refused the ex¬ 
 planation. “ Except a man be born of water and ol 
 the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.” 
 “ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest 
 the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
 cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that 
 is born of the Spirit.” Is this to make baptism a 
 saving ordinance? St. Peter answers, that like the 
 ark of Noah, “the like figure, even baptism, doth 
 now save us; not the putting away of the filth of the 
 flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward 
 God.” There is a grace, a spiritual blessing in this 
 sacrament, which can not be lightly valued till we 
 have learned our belief elsewhere than from the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Baptism is not only a sign of the Christian pro¬ 
 fession ; not only a test of obedience; not only a seal 
 of forgiveness; not only a means of grace: j t^is like - 
 wisejhe.gate^of^the Christian communion. Within 
 that communion, as in a sacred school, the faithful 
 are to be trained up for the employments of heaven. 
 They are to dwell together in unity and brotherly 
 love. They are to contend, as one embattled host, 
 against the evil that is in the world. They are to 
 offer together, as with one voice and heart, the per¬ 
 petual sacrifice of praise to God and to the Lamb, 
 as it is for ever offered in the celestial temple. The 
 Church is much divided; and at different periods 
 and in different parts, it has been much darkened 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 15 
 
 and corrupted. But it has always been purer than 
 the world beside: it has always included the best of 
 men: within it have always been those who were 
 united by that love which was the proof that they 
 were born of God. It is as surely the abode of the 
 divine presence as was the temple at Jerusalem, so 
 often defiled yet always the chief resort of all pious 
 Israelites, and the seat of the divine promises, and 
 the spot which the Lord had chosen to place his 
 name there, till the Desire of all nations had come 
 and consecrated it more than ever by his entrance 
 within its courts. I do not now speak of any pre¬ 
 ference of one portion of the Church before another, 
 as more pure in practice, more scriptural in doctrine, 
 or more perfect in organization. But into no portion 
 of the Church can you enter without the baptismal 
 sacrament: Christ placed it at the porch, as it were, 
 of his sanctuary. You may possibly have been ac¬ 
 customed to think of the Church as only a society 
 of more advanced Christians. “A church member” 
 is sometimes mentioned as one who has entered into 
 pledges of his own, and even superfluous pledges, to 
 exhibit a holiness which others need not attain. His 
 faults are condemned with little mercy, while the 
 same faults in others are taken as matters of course, 
 because they are not of the body of Christian “pro¬ 
 fessors.” The modest and humble might avoid such 
 a position. They wo aid choose to be better than 
 they seem, rather than hazard the blame of seeming 
 better than they are. But the Church was intended 
 to be the home, not of the most mature and holy of 
 Christians, only, but of all believers, small and great, 
 
16 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 young and old, weak and strong. All are called to 
 be there: none is at liberty to be absent. Whoever 
 hopes for salvation through the blood of Jesus is 
 bound to be numbered with his disciples; and there¬ 
 fore, if still without this washing of water, to ask, 
 like every convert in the days of the apostles, “ what 
 doth hinder me to be baptized” ? 
 
 It is the very question which, at times, you have 
 been asking. The reply of your heart has probably 
 been that you doubted whether you ought to seek 
 baptism, because you doubted whether you were 
 prepared to receive it, as your Saviour meant that it 
 should be received. The objection is sufficient, if 
 the doubt is well founded. It is not an excuse, but 
 an obstacle; an obstacle not to be surmounted, but 
 to be removed. Whether baptism be viewed as a 
 sign of profession, as a test of obedience, as a seal of 
 forgiveness, as a means of grace, or as an admission 
 to communion, no one could wish that a profligate 
 or an unbelieving man should, without a change, 
 present himself for this act of consecration ; and the 
 same causes must shut out others, less wicked, but 
 wicked still. He certainly did not intend that all 
 men without distinction should be admitted to his 
 sacraments. You are right in desiring, before you 
 take a step like this, to know whether you can be¬ 
 lieve yourself to be one of those whom he intended 
 to admit, and whom his apostles would have ad¬ 
 mitted; and for this end, to know what are the 
 qualifications for baptism which the word of God 
 has imposed, and which it is the duty of his Church 
 to demand. 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 17 
 
 Of these qualifications, the first is, a knowledge of 
 the Gospel. Our Lord commanded his apostles to 
 “ teach all nations, baptizing them” in the name of 
 the Holy Trinity. With adult persons, teaching 
 must precede baptism; and he who is taught must 
 learn and understand, since this is the end of teach¬ 
 ing. Those who were baptized on the day of Pen¬ 
 tecost were “they that gladly received the word” of 
 Peter. The Ethiopian eunuch had just inquired of 
 Philip the meaning of Isaiah in a certain prophecy 
 of the suffering Messiah; and Philip had “begun at 
 the same Scripture, and preached to him Jesus.” 
 Saul, before his baptism, had been taught by the 
 Lord himself; taught more in one moment than we 
 can learn from the study of volumes on the doctrines 
 or evidences of Christianity. Cornelius declared 
 that he and his friends were “ all present before God 
 to hear all things that were commanded” the apos¬ 
 tle; and they heard before they were baptized. 
 Lydia “ attended to the things which were spoken 
 of Paul” before she was baptized, and her household. 
 The jailer at Philippi, though, after the earthquake 
 which released his prisoners, “he was baptized, he 
 and all his straightway,” yet was not baptized till 
 they had first “spoken unto him the word of the 
 Lord, and to all that were in his house.” The twelve 
 disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus, heard from 
 Paul how John had testified of “ him which shall 
 come after him;” and then “they were baptized in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus.” Simple and brief, in all 
 these instances, must have been the instruction. 
 Much more has been placed before every child who 
 
18 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 has learned his catechism. Whatever truths were 
 taught by the apostles at such times are preserved 
 for us in their history or their epistles. They are 
 known to you and to all who have read the New 
 Testament. Yery indistinct, it is true, are often the 
 religious ideas of those who must yet be quite fami¬ 
 liar with the words of the Scriptures. But when 
 the heart is but awakened, the very truths which had 
 been so indistinct at once stand forth as if in letters 
 of living light. They have long since been presented 
 to the understanding, and locked up in the memory 
 Nothing is needed to make the meaning clear and de 
 cisive, except that attention which is always given by 
 those who ask indeed what they must do to be saved. 
 This attention made the hearers of the Gospel such 
 rapid scholars. Where this attention has been awak¬ 
 ened, that knowledge of the Gospel which has been 
 gathered from childhood upward, is at once sufficient 
 to guide the soul to its Redeemer and its duty. You 
 can have no doubt that you have, or that at least 
 in a few days or hours you could obtain, so much of 
 this knowledge as is required in a candidate for 
 Christian communion. It is well that every such 
 candidate should employ himself diligently in the 
 study of the Scriptures, as a special preparation ; 
 for, his knowledge can not be too clear or too abun¬ 
 dant. But it is not well, it is utterly wrong, that he 
 should wait till on every question of Christian doc¬ 
 trine he has arrived at conclusions founded upon his 
 own inquiries, and perfectly satisfactory to his own 
 understanding. Such an one would cease to be a 
 learner, a disciple, before lie takes upon him the 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 19 
 
 character of a disciple. That knowledge is enough 
 to prepare for baptism, which is enough to show the 
 way to Christ and to heaven. 
 
 A second part of the preparation is faith, corre¬ 
 sponding with our knowledge. Belief and baptism 
 had been coupled in the promise of our Saviour. 
 When the Ethiopian asked, “ What doth hinder me 
 to be baptized? 5 ’ Philip replied, “If thou believest 
 with all thy heart, thou mayest.” “I believe,” he 
 answered, “ that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 
 and in this faith he went down into the water. 
 When the Samaritans “ believed Philip, preaching 
 the things concerning the kingdom of God and the 
 name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men 
 and women;” and Simon the sorcerer “himself be¬ 
 lieved also and was baptized.” “Believe in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy 
 house,” was the promise of Paul and Silas to the 
 jailer before his baptism. The very administration 
 in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost, expresses and exacts belief in the 
 Creator, Kedeemer, and Sanctifier. Every church 
 accordingly requires before baptism some distinct 
 profession of Christian belief. But what, you may 
 ask, is the kind of belief which is required ? There 
 is a belief which overcomes the world, which proves 
 itself by its works, which justifies, which saves; 
 and there is a belief which merely assents to the facts 
 of religion. The former you are afraid to profess; 
 the latter you certainly can avow. No exact defini¬ 
 tions and descriptions are here given us by the Scrip¬ 
 tures. They speak a language which is to be con- 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 oa 
 
 iyv 
 
 strued by common-sense and earnest feeling. Tcj 
 common-sense and earnest feeling it is plain that it 
 can not aid the salvation of a bad man, that he believes 
 certain events to have occurred, which have no in¬ 
 fluence on his conduct and character. It is just as 
 plain that when the simple proposition is uttered, 
 “ If thou belie vest with all thine heart, thou mayest,” 
 nothing more is meant than a simple, entire, hearty 
 acceptance of the truth which has been announced 
 and understood. No snare is laid for the feet of the 
 inquirer. No mystical meaning hides itself from 
 him at the very threshold of Christianity. The be¬ 
 lief which is required before baptism is an honest 
 reliance of the mind and heart upon the truth of the 
 Gospel, upon the truth of the proclamation, 11 that 
 God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him- 
 self.” 
 
 When the Apostle Paul, in those very words, de¬ 
 clared the Gospel, and immediately, as an ambassa¬ 
 dor of Christ, prayed his readers “ to be reconciled 
 to God,” he expressed thus the third requisition. It 
 is that which remains on our part towards perfect 
 reconciliation, when every hindrance on the part of 
 our Maker and his law has been removed. It is re¬ 
 pentance ; and repentance is the change of the mind 
 and heart from following sin to renouncing sin. In 
 such an act the whole man acts; and the action is 
 simple, intelligible, reasonable, and our conscience 
 bears witness, as if with ten thousand voices, that it 
 is just, right, and necessary. Without such a resolve 
 against sin, we perfectly feel and know that sin can 
 never be washed away. Men cut to the heart in- 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 21 
 
 quired of Peter and the other apostles, “ What shall 
 we do ?’ 7 and Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be 
 baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, for the remission of sins.” They were not en¬ 
 couraged to linger till they could bring forth fruits 
 meet for repentance. They were baptized, that, their 
 guilt being blotted out, they might receive the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost, and be fruitful in good works, 
 unto life eternal. It is, in fact, impossible to be 
 poised equally between two sides in that great con¬ 
 test which, in this world, and in our very hearts, is 
 carried on between God and his enemies and ours. 
 We are against him, or on his side; and when we 
 lay down the weapons of our rebellion, we become 
 at once his servants. He who is not prepared to re¬ 
 nounce, for the remainder of his days, the service 
 of the world, the flesh, and the devil; he who has 
 not determined that by God’s help, he will walk, 
 to the end of his days, in the way of God’s com¬ 
 mandments; he certainly has no repentance, and 
 must not come to the baptismal waters. But he 
 who, after a faithful examination of his heart, feels 
 that his choice is made, should not ask to tarry till 
 he has further proofs of the reality of his penitence. 
 He can have no proof which will not leave it open 
 to him to suspect himself, whenever his diligence in 
 making his calling and election sure shall decline. 
 He can have no proof which will secure him against 
 the utter disappointment of all his hope at last, if 
 he shall hereafter turn back unto perdition. 
 
 Such is the preparation for adult baptism; such 
 knowledge, such faith, swell repentance. The neces* 
 
22 
 
 ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 sary knowledge is certainly yours. If you have 
 begun to inquire with earnestness whether you also 
 possess the necessary faith and repentance, you must 
 be in one of three states of mind; either persuaded 
 —I. do not say, assured—that you have them ; or 
 persuaded that you have them not; or quite in un¬ 
 certainty. If you are quite in uncertainty, that un¬ 
 certainty ought now to have an end. For, you have 
 only to push the inquiry with sincerity and steadfast¬ 
 ness a little longer, and you will reach a degree of 
 certainty which is sufficient to govern your conduct. 
 The balance will hang on one side or on the other, 
 decidedly. 
 
 What, then, if you are persuaded, reasonably per¬ 
 suaded, that you have not from your heart accepted 
 Christ as your Lord, and His gospel as your hope, 
 and are not prepared to promise, in the strength of 
 God, renunciation of sin, and obedience to his com¬ 
 mandments ? It then remains for you to determine 
 whether this shall longer be so; whether you will 
 turn, and go on your way, without hope and without 
 God, and live a little longer without the fellowship 
 of the Church on earth, liable to hear, on any day, 
 that summons which, finding you thus, must shut 
 you out from the fellowship of the Church in heaven. 
 So it need not be, for if there be truth in the Gospel, 
 you can obtain, without money and without price, that 
 for want of which your soul is perishing. u Who¬ 
 soever will, let him take the water of life freely.” 
 
 If, on the contrary, you are persuaded, reasonably 
 persuaded, that with the heart you believe and trust 
 in the Redeemer of mankind, and that from the 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 28 
 
 heart you renounce Satan and sin, your way is as 
 plain as that of Israel on the border of the Red 
 Sea. In the cloud and in the sea they were baptized 
 unto Moses. Like them, 11 go forward.” You must 
 not hesitate to advance wherever the command of 
 your Saviour, like the pillar of the cloud, directs 
 your way. No false humility, no real timidity, no 
 willingness to be tried by a lower standard than that 
 of the Christian profession, no desire to rise above 
 the standard by which you are judged amongst men, 
 no habit of delaying acts of serious decision, must 
 be permitted to prevail. It is, of course, easier to 
 stand still; to assume no responsibilities ; to encoun¬ 
 ter no public notice; to take up no cross; to be 
 better than your profession; to do more for religion 
 than you have undertaken, because you have under¬ 
 taken nothing. It is easier, if you have no glowing 
 love of Christ—if your conscience can suffer you to 
 be at rest in the neglect of his laws, and if you at¬ 
 tach no preciousness to the seals of his covenant, the 
 instruments of his grace, or the fellowship of his peo¬ 
 ple. But with you I have supposed it to be other¬ 
 wise ; and if it be otherwise, you will never be satis¬ 
 fied till, having believed, you have been also bap¬ 
 tized, for the service and in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Not there, however, will you pause. It would be 
 a dreadful error, to think of baptism as a point 
 which once reached, was to be deemed the place of 
 safety. It is not the end, so much as the beginning, 
 of Christian soldiership. The race, the battle, the 
 business of serving Gorl, purifying the heart, and 
 
ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 24 
 
 working out salvation with fear and trembling, still 
 follows. All the Epistles of the New Testament, 
 with all their reproofs and exhortations, were written 
 to baptized persons. Baptism is but a step, though 
 a most solemn and sacred one, upon the road, which 
 leads through duties, ordinances, conflicts, tempta¬ 
 tions, comforts, and defeats and triumphs, to glory, 
 honor, and immortality. 
 
 When you clearly perceive the duty of receiving 
 baptism, and humbly trust that you are prepared to 
 take it upon you, let me counsel you to seek such 
 conference with your pastor as may tend to make 
 your approach to the sacramental fold of the Lord 
 Jesus most unhesitating, tranquil, and joyful. In the 
 administration and reception of baptism there should 
 be no abruptness. Some time should be set apart 
 for special prayer, and meditation, as the occasion 
 draws nigh. Let some friends in whose Christian 
 sincerity and fidelity you can have confidence attend 
 you to the*)font, that you may have companions on 
 your course who will not see you depart hereafter 
 from the safe and narrow way, without fulfilling the 
 office of a faithful friend. Having endeavored to 
 assist you thus far, nothing is left for me but to speak 
 once more, as Ananias spoke, when the Lord had 
 sent him to one who had just been brought out of 
 darkness into light, and who was to become a glo¬ 
 rious leader in the army of believers, and to be wel¬ 
 comed as a good and faithful servant to a dazzling 
 and everlasting crown of righteousness. “And now, 
 why tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptized, and wash 
 away thy sins, c alling on the name of the Lord.”