A. Onr first parents, being left to the freedom of their own vrill, fell from the state wherein they were created, by sinning against Ood.

Q. 17. What is sin f

A.. Sin is any want of conformity nnto, or transgression of, the law of God.

Q. 18. What was the sin whereby oar first parents fell from tlie state wherein they were created ?

A. The sin whereby onr first parents fell from tiie state wherein they ware created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.

Q. 19. Bid all mankind foil in Adam'a first transgression 1

A. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.

Q. 20. Into what state did the fall bring mankind f

A. The fall brought mankind into astate of sin and misery.

Q. 21. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that state where-into man fell ?

A. Thesinfalnessof tbatBta^whereintomanM,connstaiii the gnilt of Adam'a first nn, tfie wmt of oripnal rigMeonsness, and the corruption of hia whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together <iritiMU|ketiialtcaaEgresBioD3wMch proceed &(»u it

Q. 22. What is the misery of that state whereinto man fell f

A. All mankind, by their fall, lost commnnion with God, are nnder his wrath and enrse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

Q. 23. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery ?

A. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation, by a Redeemer.

Q. 24. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

A. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.

Q. 25. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man ?

A. Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to him-self^a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and bom of her, yet without sin.

Q. 26. What ofl&ces does Christ execute as our Redeemer f

A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his state of humiliation and exaltation.

Q. 2T. How does Christ execute the office of a prophet ?

A. Christ executes the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.

Q. 28. How does Christ execute the office of a priest?

A. Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and to reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.

Q. 29. How does Christ execute the office of a king ?

A. Christ executes the office of a king, in subduing us to

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himself, ia niling and defending ns, and in restraining and conqaeiing all his and onr enemies.

Q. 30. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist t

A. Christ's hnmiliation consisted in his being bom, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing th« miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

Q. 81. Wherein consists Christ's exaltation?

A. Christ's exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

Q. 32. How are we made partakes of the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christy by the effectual application of it to us, by his Holy Spirit

Q. 83..How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ ?

A. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

Q. 34. What is effectual calling ? *

A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and rdiewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christy freely offered to us in the GospeL

Q. 35. What benefits do they that are effectually called, partake of in this life ?

A. They that are effectually called, do in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctl&cation, and the Mveral benefits which in this life do either acoonfAiBy MT ioir ibcHB tbon.

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Q. 36. What is justification ?

A. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

Q. 3T. What is adoption f

A. Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.

Q. 38. What is sanctification ?

A. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Q. 39. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification ?

A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

Q. 40. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death ?

A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection!

Q. 41. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection ?

A. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed both in soul and body, in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity.

Q. 42. But what shall be done to the wicked at their death?

A. The souls of the wicked shall at their death be cast into

the torments of hell, and their bodies lie in their graYOB tDl the resurrection and jadgment of the great day.

Q. 43. What shall be done to the wicked at tJ^e day of judgment ?

A. At the day of judgment, the bodies of the wicked, being raised out of their graves, shall be sentenced, together with their souls, to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels forever.

Q. 44. What is the duty which God requires of man ?

A. The duty which God requures of man, is obedience to his revealed will.

Q. 45. What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience ?

A. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law.

Q. 46. Where is the moral law summarily comprehended ?

A. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.

Q. 4*7. What is the sum of the ten commandments?

A. The sum of the ten commandments is, to love the Jjord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.

Q. 48. What is the preface to the ten commandments ?

A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, " I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt^ out of the house of bondage."

Q. 49. What does the preface to the ten commandments teach us?

A. The preface to the t^ commandments teaches us, iha^t because God is the Lord, and our God and Kedeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his conmiandments.

Q. 50. Which is the first commandment ?

A. The first commandment is, ** Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

Q. 51. What is reqnired jn the first commaadment?

A. The first commandment requires as to know and acknowledge God to be the only tme God, and our God, and to worship and glorify him accordingly.

Q. 52. What is forbidd^ in the first commandment 7

A. The first commandment forbids the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the tme God, as God and our Ood; and the giving that worship and glory to any other, which is due unto him alone.

Q. 53. What are we especially taught by these words, " before me," in the first commandment ?

A. These words, ''before me," in the first commandment, teach us, that God, who sees all things, takes notice of, and 18 much displeased with, the sin of having any other God.

Q. 54. Which is the second commandment ?

A. The second commandment is, ''Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that ifl in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me: and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

Q. 55. What is required in the second commandment ?

A. The second commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pare and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances, as God has appointed in his word.

Q. 56. What is forbidden in the second commandment ?

A. The second commandment forbids the worshipping of Ood by images, or any other way not appointed in his word.

Q. 57. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment ?

A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment^ are,

God's sovereignty over us, his property in us, and the zeal he has for his own worship,

Q. 68. Which is the third commandment ?

A. The third commandment is, ** Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

Q. 59. What is required in the third commandment ?

A. The third commandment requires the holy and reverend use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works.

Q. 60. What is forbidden in the third commandment ?

A. The third commandment forbids all profaning and abusing of any thing whereby God makes himself known.

Q. 61. What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?

A. The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.

Q. 62. Which is the fourth Commandment 7

A. The fourth commandment is, " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it"

Q. 63. What is required in the fourth commandment ?

A. The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God one whole day in seven, to be a Sabbath to himself.

Q. 64. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath ?

A. Before the resurrection of Christy God appointed the

seventli day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath, and the first day of the week, ever since, to continne to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.

Q. 65. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified ?

A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from snch worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

Q. 66. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment ?

A. The fourth commandment forbids the omission or careless perfortiiance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works about worldly employments or recreation.

Q. 61. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment ?

A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, are, God's allowing us six days of the week for our own lawful employments, his challenging a special property in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day.

Q. 68. Which is the fifth commandment ?

A. The fifth commandment is, " Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

Q. 69. What is required in the fifth commandment ?

A. The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to every one in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.

Q. 70. What is forbidden in the fifth commandment ?

A. The fifth commandment forbids the neglecting of, or doing any thing against the honor or duty which belongeth to

every one in their several places and relations. 8

Q. iTl What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment ?

A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is, a promise of long life and prosperity, (as far as it shall serve for God's glory and their ovm good,) to all such as keep this commandment.

Q. T2. Which is the sixth commandment ?

A. The sixth commandment is, "Thou shalt not kill."

Q. 73. What is required in the sixth commandment?

A. The sixth commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others.

Q. 74. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment ?

A. The sixth commandment absolutely forbids the taking away our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereto.

Q. T5. Which is the seventh commandment f

A. The seventh commandment is, " Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Q. T6. What is required in the seventh commandment ?

A. The seventh commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor's chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.

Q. 77. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment ?

A. The seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.

Q. 78. Which is the eighth commandment ?

A. The eighth commandment is, "Thou shalt not steal."

Q. 79. What is required in the eighth commandment ?

A. The eighth commandment requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward state of ourselves and others.

Q. 80. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment ?

A. The eighth commandment forbids whatsoever does or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbor's wealth or outward state.

THE BAPTIBT OATSOHISM. ST

Q. 81.. Which is the ninth commandment ?

A. The ninth commandment is, ** Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

Q. 82. What is required in the ninth commandment?

A. The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor's good name, especially in witness-bearing.

Q. 83. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment ?

A. The ninth commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own, or our neighbor's good name.

Q. 84. Which is the tenth commandment ?

A. The tenth commandment is, " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's."

Q. 85. What is required in the tenth commandment ?

A. The tenth commandment requires full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit towards our neighbor, and all that is his.

Q. 86. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?

A. The tenth commandment forbids all discontentment with our ovm state, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to any thing that is his.

Q. 87. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God ?

A. No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, or deed.

Q. 88. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous ?

A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

Q. 89. What does every sin deserve ?

A. Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life Mid in that which id to come.

Q. 90. What does God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and corse, due to us for sin ?

A. To escape the wrath and corse of God doe to os for sin, God reqoires of os faith in Jesos Christ, repentance onto life, with the diligent ose of all the ootward means whereby Christ commonicates to os the benefits of redemption.

Q. 91. What is faith in Jesos Christ ?

A. Faith in Jesos Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest opon him alone for salvation, as he is revealed as the free gift of God to os, in the GospeL

Q. 92. What is repentance onto life ?

A. Repentance onto life is- a saving grace, whereby a sinner, oot of a troe sense of his sins, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, torn from it onto God, with foil porpose o^ and endeavor after, new obedience.

Q. 93. What are the ootward means whereby Christ commonicates to OS the benefits of redemption ?

A. The ootward and ordinary means whereby Christ commonicates to OS the benefits of redemption, are his Ordinances, especially the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Sopper, and Prayer; all which means are made e£fectoal to the elect, throogh faith, for salvation.

Q. 94. How is the Word made effectoal to salvation ?

A. The Spirit of God makes the reading, bot especially the preaching of the word, an effectoal means of convincing and converting sinners, and of boilding them op in holiness and comfort, throogh faith, onto salvation.

Q. 95. How is the word to be read and heard?

A. We most attend thereonto with diligence, preparation, and prayer, receive it with faith and love, lay it op in oor hearts, and practise it in oor lives. •

Q. 96. What is Baptism ?

A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, insti-toted by Jesos Christ, to be onto the party baptized a sign of

bis fellowship with him, in his death, and bnriali and resurrection, of his being ingrafted into him, of remission of sins, and of his giving up himself nnto God, through Jesus Christy to live and walk in neymess of life.

Q. 97, To whom is baptism to be administered ?

A. Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, aoid obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ; and to none other.

Q. 98. Are the infants of such as are professing believers to be baptized ?

A. The infants of such as are professing believers are not to be baptized: because there is neither command nor example in the holy scriptures, or certain consequence from them, to baptize such.

Q. 99. How is baptism rightly administered?

A. Baptism is rightly administerei by immersion, or dip-ping the whole body of the person in water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ's institution, and the practice of the Apostles, and not by sprinkling or pouring of water, or dipping some parts of the body, after the tradition of men.

Q. 100. What is the duty of such as are rightly baptized 7

A. It is the duty of those who are rightly baptized, to give up themselves to some particular and orderly church of Jesui Christ, that they may walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Q. 101. What is the Lord's Supper?

A. The Lord's Supper is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to his appointment, his death is showed forth, and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourish-menty and growth in grace. 8*

Q. 103. Who are the proper subjects of this ordmanee ?

A. Godly persons who have been baptized npon a personal profession of their faith in Jesos Christ, and repentance from dead works.

Q. 103. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper ?

A. It is required of them that would worthily (that is, suitably,) partake of the Lord's Supper, that they examine themselves, of their knowledge, to discern the Lord's body; of their faith, to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience: lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

Q. 104. What is prayer?

A. Prayer is an oflFering up our desires to God, by the assistance of 'the Holy Spirit, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, believing 5 with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

Q. 105. What rule has God given for our direction in prayer ?

A. The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer, but the special rule of direction is that prayer, which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer.

Q. 106. What does the preface to the Lord's Prayer teach us.

A. The preface of the Lord's Prayer, which is, "Our Father, which art in heaven," teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us, and that we should pray with and for others.

Q. lOT. What do we pray for in the first petition ?

A. In the first petition, which is, "Hallowed by thy name," we pray, that God would enable us and others to glorify him in all that whereby he makes himself known, and that he would dispose all things to his own glory.

Q. 108. What do we pray for in the second petition ?

A. In the second petition, which is, " Thy kingdom come," we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed, and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced; ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

Q. 109. What do we pray for in the third petition?

A. In the third petition, which is, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," we pray, that God by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.

Q. 110. What do we pray for in the fourth petition ?

A. In the fourth petition, which is, " Give us this day our daily bread," we pray, that of God's free gift, we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them.

Q. 111. What do we pray for in the fifth petition ?

A. In the fifth petition, which is, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," we pray, that God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.

Q. 112. What do we pray for in the sixth petition ?

A. In the sixth petition, which is, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," we pray, that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.

Q. 113. What does the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach us ?

A. The conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, which is, " For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen," teaches us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him. And in testimony of our desire, and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen.

THB LAW or OOD, CONTAINED IN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS GITBN BT

QOD AT MOUNT SINAL

Exodus, Chaptsbs xix. and xx.

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud : so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when'the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. •

And God spake all these words, saying: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them : for I THE Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

lY. Remember the Sabbath-Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath op the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy

stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lobb made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lokd blessed the Sab-BATH-DAT and hallowed it.

V. Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may ' be long npon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

VI. Thou Shalt not kill.

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

THE spirit of THE WHOLE LAW. Matthkw xzn. 36-40.

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus, saying. Master, which is the great commandment in the law ?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lobd thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

OUK SAVIOUR'S NEW COMMANDMENT. Jomr zux. 34-36.

A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one ANOTHER: as I 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.

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CHAPTER III.

Baptism—Pengilly's work aU which is necessary. 1. The fottr Gospels. 2. John's Baptism. 3. The subjects, mode, and spiritual design of baptism. 4. The mode of John's baptism. 6. The baptism of Jesus. 6. Christ baptizing by his disciples. 7. John's last b^tizing in ^non. 8. References of Jesus to John, and his baptism and success. 9. Christ's sufferings under the figure of baptism. 10. The great commission. 11. Conclusion of the four Gospels. 12. The Acts of the Apostles. 13. The Pentecostal baptism. 14. Philip baptizing at Samaria. 15. Mode of the Eunuch's baptism. 16. The baptism of ^^aul. 17. Of Cornelius and his Mends. 18. Of Lydia and her household. 19. Of the^ jailor and his household. 20. Paul and household baptisms at Corinth. 21. Be-flections upon household baptisms. 22. Baptisms at Ephesns. 23. Conclusion of the Acts. The Epistles. 24. Passages which contain express allusions to baptism. 25, Occasional mention of baptism. 26. Baptism illustrated by events in the Old Testament 27, Conclusion of the New Testament.

It seems a work of supererogation to attempt to originate any thing upon the subject of baptism. So much has been written, so well, that the only task left us is that of selection for our pages.

It would require a volume to notice the numerous able works on the subject of baptism. Learned and practical men have famished works on every phase of it; so that little, if any thing, remains to be desired, except that these works should be studied. Their study would produce a desirable harmony on the subject among Christians. I have selected so much of Pengilly's work as relates to "a faithful citation of all the pas-«ages in the New Testament on the subject of baptism, with the passages referred to in the Old Testament:"

1. Fassciges in the Four Gospels,

2. Tlie Mtssion, Freaching and Baptizing of John the Baptist,

The first place of Scripture where the ordinance of baptism

is fonnd, is in the account given of the ministry of John the Baptist^ the forerunner of Christ. The surname of " Baptist" was most probably given him because he was " sent to baptize" by Divine authority, and was the first so authorized and employed. As all the four evangelists have given some account of John, I shall unite the testimony of the four, and present it to the reader in a continued relation.

Mark i. 1. The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christy the Son of God.

John i. 6, T. There was a man sent from God, whose name toas John: the same came to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. Matt. iii. 3. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Luke i. 16, IT. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God: And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. iii. J, 2. Now the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

Matt. iii. 1. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea; Luke iii. 3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins ; Matt. iii. 2. And saying. Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Acts xiii. 24. John preached the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; (xix. 4,) saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

John i. 19 to 31. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and'Levites to ask him, Who art thou ? He confessed, 1 am not the Christ. I am the voice of one crying in ibid wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. And

they asked him, Why baptizest thou, if thou be not that Christ ? John answered, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, who, coming after me, is preferred before me. That HE should be manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 33. [For God] sent me to baptize with water.

Matt. iii. 5. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6. And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Mark i. 4. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 5. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

Luke iii. 12. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do ? 13. And he said unto them. Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

Matt. iii. T. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, 0 generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? 8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: 9. And 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. 11. 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 baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: 12. Wh ose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the gamer ; but he will bum up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

3. The Subjectsf Mode, and Spiritual Design of Baptism,

There are three inquiries in relation to the ordinance of baptism, upon which, I shall imagine, you are desirous of obtaining satisfaction of mind, purely deduced from the Scriptures— namely:

I. Who are proper svlyjects of Christian baptism, according to the authority of Christ, and the practice of his harbinger and apostles ?

II. By what mode should the ordinance be administered, according to the same authority and practice ?

III. What is the spiritual design of Baptism, and in whom is that design realized ?

These three inquiries will be kept constantly in view in the following pages. In the forgoing section of Scriptures you have a full account of John the Baptist, with reference to his practice, in which you may notice,—

Bis mission was divine. He was "sent from God." He was raised up by the special purpose and power of God, and employed in a work entirely his own; succeeding to no one who had gone before him, and followed by no one in the same office. His instructions for his work he obtained by Divine revelation:—" The word of God came unto John," and thus his entire work was of God's immediate appointment.

The great object of his ministry was to. *^prepare the way of the Lord;^^ i. e., of Christ, who was immediately to follow him, according to the prediction of the prophets; Isa. xl. S. Mai. ill. 1. This great design John was to accomplish, 1. By proclaiming repewtonce—impressing on the minds of his hearers their guiU before God; the necessity of being sensible of it, and confessing it; and thus, with contrition of heart, "to turn to the Lord their God." 2. By announcing the immediate approach of the long-promised Messiah ; assuring the Jews that his "kingdom was at hand;" and, 3. By seriously charging and exhorting them to "Believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." By these labors attended with the blessing of heaven, he was " to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." And this was happily accomplished, inasmuch as the first disciples of Christ were previously disciples of John. John i. 35-4'^*

It does not appear, therefore, that the "design of Johi^'§ 9

mission could be realized in any bat in aduU persons, or persons come to the years of understanding; none else could repent of sin; none else could embrace the glad tidings of the coming Saviour, and thereby be " a people prepared" for the service of Christ; who, within one year, was to follow John, and receive the people so prepared.

His ministry was to he followed by the administration of the ordinance of baptism. His copimission from heaven included this ordinance. Baptism as a divine institution was unknown in the church of God previous to the mission of John. But he informed his hearers, that the same God who sent him to prepare the way of the Lord, "sent him to baptize with water," (John i. 33,) and this too was preparatory to the ministry of Christ, as it was fitted and intended to teach the guilt of sin, and the penitent sinner's purification in the way which the gospel of Christ should bring more fully to light. Of that blessed work of purification baptism was an appropriate and impressive emblem. In accordance with these remarks, we have the excellent

Matthew Henry. " Baptism with water made way for the manifesting of Christ, as it supposed our corruption and filthiness, and signified our cleansing by him, who is the Fountain opened.^^ Of John's express commission from heaven for baptizing, Mr. Henry adds, " See what sure grounds John went upon in his ministry and baptism. He did not run without sending; God sevi him to baptize. He had a warrant from heaven for what he did. . . God gave him both his mission and his message; both his credentials and instructions." Expos, on John i. 6-14, and 29-36.

The per807i8 John baptized had received his ministry, and were professed penitents. One particular circumstance is expressly asserted by Matthew, and repeated again by Mark, descriptive of the persons whom Johh baptized, and by the latter it is asserted of " all" of them; namely, that they con-1188KD THEIB SINS. He had preached repentance—exhorted

to repentance—and of the Pharisees and Sadducees demanded the "fruits of repentance;" while he peremptorily rejected er^ry plea they might urge, particularly that, in which they generally gloried, thM they were the children of Abraham; and hence, in accordance with that repentance which John thus preached and demanded^ "they were all baptized of him, confessing their sins." Thus his baptism is expressly called by Mark i. 4, by Luke iii. 3, and twice by Paul, Acts xiii. 24, and xix. 4, "the baptism of repentance." This being admitted, it will follow, that the persons, yea, all the persons, whom John baptized, were those who had received and believed HIS MINISTRY; and, as the " fruit" of their conviction, they openly professed repentance toward God, and faith in the approaching Saviour. Thus,

Mr. Erskine. "John's baptism was termed the baptism of repentance^ and baptism to repentance; because he required of ALL whom he admitted to baptism, a profession of repent-ance, and exhorted them to such a conduct as would demonstrate their repentance genuine." In Booth's Pcedobap. Exam. Vol. II. p. 241. Ed. 2.

Mr. Scott. " It does not appear that any but adults were baptized by John. . . adult Jews, professing repentance and a disposition to become the Messiah's subjects, were the only persons whom John admitted to baptism." Comment, on Matt, iii. 5, 6.

Mr. Burkitt. " John's baptism was the baptism of repentance, of whicl^ infants were incapable." Expos. Notes on MaM, xix. 13-15.

4. Of the Mode of John^s Baptism.

My reader will, no doubt, be aware that the ordinance of baptism is administered three different ways, in different countries, and by different bodies of Christians; namely, by dipping —^POTJRiNG—and sprinkling. He will also be aware, that in whatever way the water be employed, it cannot take away sin. No spiritual benefit can be conveyed by

|iH> THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION.

am* one mode more than by another; bat, notwithstanding this, it is a serions and interesting question, which of these has DIVINE AUTHORITY ? How did the harbinger of Christ, having Ood?8 command upon the subject, administer the ordinance ? By which of these modes was Jesus baptized f and his disciples by his sanction ? There can be but one mode that has this divine authority ; a deviation from this, is a deviation from the revealed will of God, and can be nothing better than a mere human invention. What is that ONE authorized mode? Will the Scriptures afford an inquiring mind satisfaction on this subject? No doubt; they were intended for that purpose, on this as well as on every other subject, in which our obedience to God is required.

Turn then your eye, reader, from the diversified and often varying practices of men, to that unerring and unchangeable source of information, which, in these pages, we propose to examine. Two inquiries here suggest themselves:

I. What does the word in the original language, employed by the Spirit of God to express this ordinance, signify ? Does it express the action of dippingj pouring, or sprinkling f

IT. What mode do the circumstances attending the ordinance most evidently favor ?

I. To express the action by which this ordinance is to be administered, the word so chosen is Ba^f tf«; which our translators have not rendered into English by a verb of our own lan^age expressive of the sam>e action, but adopted the Ckriginal Greek word, which with us is to baptize. To obtain tKeivtoe (he sense of this word, we will turn to a Lexicon, wtK^re the word in question is explained.* The following is

^ Vr<» miflil liere eall to our assistftnce lexicographers and other learned «tilM« iMil of number; but I may with confidence affirm, that in citing one, w^<iH tftwy competent authority on the subject; for in the proper and | >rt >m ir j f m«m of the word baptize, learned men of all classes and countries «K<^ l^pr^H^I. M I shall show in the Appendix.

(W# iMi^ udd to this note of Pengilly, that Robinson, a learned Pedo-w^« h«i propared a yaluable Lexicon of the New Testament^ does

from the excellent Greek and English Lexicon of Db. John Jones, which gives the plain sense of words without refining or accommodating:

" Bartf CO, I dip ; —J dye, simn.

" Ba^ft'fw, 1 plunge ; I plunge in water, dip^ baptize ; bury^ overwhelm,

" Baftti^ofuu, I am plunged; plunge myself in sorrow; submit to suffer.

"BoHtiofia, immersum, baptism; plunging in affliction.^^

To the unlearned reader it may be proper to observe, that the first of these words is the tTieme or root of the three following, and gives the primary idea of all; the first sense of which is to dip. The second is the word chosen by inspiration, to express tTie action by which the ordinance is administered, to baptizef i,e,,to plunge. The third is the same, in the passive form, used by our Lord respecting his suflferings, in Matt XX. 22, 23, and Luke xii. 50. The last is the Scripture name of the ordinance, baptism; the first sense of which is immersix)n.

According to this authority, to bapHze, is to plunge, to plunge in water, to dip ; and then, figuratively, to plunge, or overwhelm, as in sorrow, sulBFering, or affliction; and also, that baptism is immersion. I refer my reader to the Appendix, at the end of this pamphlet (Part II.), for a confirmation of the sense here given; and requesting him to associate this sense with the words baptize and baptism, when they occur in future sections of Scripture, in order to observe whether that sen^e harmonizes with other statements connected with the ordinance, we pass on to notice

II. What mode do the circum^nces attending the ordinance, as now administered by John, most evidently favor f

We should notice the place where John administered this ordinance. It was'Hhe river Jordan." If, in reference to

not intimate that baptiso means to sprinkle. The same \M true of Donnegan; and indeed of all modem les^icographers.]

9*

the people of Jerusalem, a situation where water might be easily obtained for sprinkling or pouring was what John required, we read of our Lord at this place directing the man that was born blind to go and " wash in the pool of Siloam;" so we read of the " pool called Bethesda," and " the brook Cedron ;" all in or near Jerusalem (and we read of others in the Old Testament) ; and, without doubt, at some of them the penitent Jews of that city and neighborhood might have received the ordinance, if such were the mode by which John administered it; and it cannot reasonably be imagined he would have required those persons to go the distance of several miles for the convenience of the river Jordan: more reasonable to suppose he would have baptized in every town and village where his ministry had its intended effect; and especially at or near the metropolis. This strongly favors the opinion, that immersion was his mode. Thus,

Mr. Towerson. " For what need would there have been of the Baptist's resorting to great confluxes of water, were it not that the baptism was to be performed by an immersion ? A very little water, as we know it doth with us, sufficing for an effusion or sprinkling." In Booth^s Pcedobap. Exam, Vol. I. p. 209. Ed. 2.

It is moreover affirmed, that not only was t?ie river Jordan' chosen by John for his baptism, but Matthew states, the people " were baptized of him in Jordan," and Mark adds, " in the RIVER of Jordan." The idea of going into the water of a river for the purpose of baptizing in it, by sprinkling on the face, or pouring on the head, is too absurd to be entertained.

John also states himself, "I indeed baptize you {iv vSafi,) that is, " IN water ;" not " tmih water," as it is rendered in the English authorized version. The passage was translated in water, in some of the early versions of the New Testament into our language. It is in water in the Yulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions; it is so rendered by Montanus, and recently, in our own country, by that pre-eminent scholar, G.

Campbell, (Principal of Murischal College, Aberdeen,) whose jadicious and, in my opinion, unanswerable note upon the place I will lay before my reader.

Me. Campbell. " So inconsistent are the interpreters last mentioned [i. e., certain Protestant] that none of them have scrapled to render ev t-w lo^Savj^, in Jordan ; though nothing can be plainer than that, if there be any incongruity in the expression in vxiter, this, in Jordan^ must be equally incongruous. But they have seen that the preposition in could not be avoided there, without adopting a circumlocution—^which would have made this deviation from the text too glaring. The word jSaytfc^ftv, both in sacred authors and in classical, signifies to dip, to plungef to immerse, and was rendered by TertuUian, the oldest of the Latin fathers, tingere ; the term used for dyeing cloth, which was by immersion. It is always construed suitably to this meaning; thus it is, «•/ vSatt, sv <« lo^^af?;," (that is, in water, in the Jordan.) "But I should not lay much stress on the preposition ?v, which, answering to the Hebrew (beth), may denote vriih, as well as in, did not the WHOLE PHRASEOLOGY, In regard to this ceremony, concur in BVINOINQ THE SAME THING. Accordingly, the baptized are said to arise, em^erge, or ascend, ver. 16, and Acts viii. 39, from or out of the water. When, therefore, the Greek word [baptizo] is adopted, rather than translated into modem languages, the mode of construction ought to be preserved so far as may conduce to suggest its original import." Let the reader seriously consider what follows. "It is to be regretted that we have so much evidence, that even good and learned men allow their judgments to be warped by the sentiments and customs of the sect which they prefer. The true partisan, of whatever denomination, always ingunes to cjorrect the diction op THE spirit by THAT OP THE PARTY." Four Gospels, Note on Mail. iii. 11.

Tbrtijllian, who lived within a century after the Apostle John, mentions expressly the people (quos Joannes in Jordane

tinxit) "whom John dipped in Jordan." In StenneWs An*-8wer to Bussen, p. 144.

Would it not be absurd to render the passage " John baptized vrith the Jordan ?" and if, of necessity, it must be " in the Jordan," then it trndeniably follows, it must be "in water;" and baptism in water or in a river, wherever-so observed throughout the world, is baptism by immersion. But I hope to satisfy any candid inquirer on this subject in the Appendix.

Mr. Hervey, when contending that ev signifies in, adds, "I can prove it to have been in peaceable possession of this signification for more than two thousand years.^^ "Every one knows," he observes in another place, that with " is not the native, obvious, and literal meaning; rather a meaning swayed, influenced, moulded by the preceding or following word." Letters to Mr. Wesley, Let. X. and II.

LiQHTFOOT AND Adam Clabke. "That the baptism of John was by plunging the body (after the same manner as the washing unclean persons was) seems to appear from those things which are related of him; namely, that he baptized in Jordan, that he baptized in Enon, hecavM there was much water tfiere,^^ &c. In A, darkens Commentary, at the end of Mark.

Inference, If, then, I am a sincere inquirer after the will of God, and disposed to gather that will from what God has been pleased to reveal in his word for that purpose, I am constrained, from the foregoing Scriptures, to draw the following inference, namely, " that John baptized none but those who gave him satisfactory evidence of being conscious of their sin and guilt before God, and whom he exhorted to-repent and to believe in Jesus; and as to the Mode, that he immersed them in water, in the JordcmJ^

6. The Baptism of Jesus.

.Our Lord's baptism we next find immediately following the foregoing account of John. This place attaches to it infinite interest, by the infinite dignity of the Person baptized.

Matt. ill. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan -uito John to be baptized of him. 14. Bat John forbade him, eaying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? 15. And Jesus answering, §aid unto him, Suffer it to be BO now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suflFered him. Mark i. 9. [Thus] Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

Matt. iii. 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. Mark i. 10. And coming up out of the water, Luke iii. 21, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.

John i. 32. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 29, 36. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! 34. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. 28. These things were done in Bethabara, where John was baptizing.

What, my pious reader, shall we say of the Person baptized in this case I What an honor is hereby attached to the ordinance, and consequently to all that duly follow the example of the Redeemer in it!

Let the man who slights and contemns this sacred institution, calling it'' an useless, unmeaning ceremony, incapable of washing away sin, or of eflFecting any good," let him read these verses, and view the immaculate Son op God, who had " no sin" to wash away, proceeding from Galilee down to Jordan, " to be baptized." Let him see the " Wisdom of God" entering the streams, and bowing beneath them,

" The emblem of his fVitnre grave!"

This, we should suppose, would induce a different sentiment of the ordinance, and silence every objection to the practice of it.

And if a sight of Chbist in Jordan had not that effect, let him hear and see the approbation of the Father and Spirit testified on this very occasion, and immediately upon his submission to this sacred rite. Never was an ordinance so honored I Here is a dignity given to it infinitely exceeding any of the rites of the Old Testament. Each Person of the sacred Trinity is specially present, and each Divine Person gives it the testimony of his approbation ! The blessed Redeemer submits to be baptized; the Father, at the instant of his rising from the water, calls him his beloved Son, in whose conduct he was well pleased; and the Divine Spirit, at the same instant, descended upon him in a viable form I O, to have witnessed this scene, how overwhelming 1 Nothing since the commencement of time, has equalled in sublimity and glory this wonderful , event.

Four things are to be noticed in this place. The Reason why Christ would be baptized; upon which, hear the celebrated and excellent

WiTSius. " Our Lord would be baptized, that he might conciliate authority to the baptism of Jolin—^that, by his own example, he might commend and sanctify our baptism—^that men might not be loath to come to the baptism of the Lord, seeing the Lord was not backward to come to the baptism of a servant —^that, by his baptism, he might represent the future condition both of himself and his followers; first humble, then glorious; now mean and low, then glorious and exalted; that represented by immersion, this by emersion —and fijially, to declare by his voluntary submission to baptism, that he would not delay the delivering up of himself to be immersed in the torrents of hell, yet with a certain faith and hope of emerging." —Jn Peed, Exam, Vol. I. page 141.

The Time chosen for fulfilling the promise of pouring forth the Spirit upon Christ. This is noticed and improved by the pious

DoDBBiDQE. '' Jesus had no sin to wash away, yet he was

BAPTISM. ^ lOT

baptized; and God owned that ordinance so far as to make it the season of ponring forth the Spirit upon him. And where can we expect this sacred effusion, but in a conscientious and humble attendance upon divine appointments ?" Fam. Expos, Improv. of the place.

The Language of Christ, in answer to John; which is thus explained by an esteemed commentator :

Mr. Scott. Thus it becometh us, &c, "We never find that Jesus spake of himself in the plural number; and it must therefore be allowed he meant John also, and all the servants of Gk)d, in a subordinate sense. It became Christ, as our surety and our example, perfectly to fulfil all righteous ness; it becomes us to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of God, without exception, and to attend on every divine institution—as long as it continues in force. Thus far Christ's example is obligatory." Commentary on Matt, iii. 13-16.

The Circumstance immediately following his baptism, namely, his "coming up out op (he water,^^ which evidently implies that he went down into it, (as is expressly said of Philip and the eunuch, Acts viii. 38;) a circumstance required in no mode of baptism but immersion, and hence we infer that Jesus was buried or immersed in the water. To this mode of baptism our blessed Saviour plainly alludes, when referring to his overwhelming sufferings, in Luke xii. 50, which we shall come to presently.

Campbell's Translation. " Jesus, being baptized, no sooner rose out of the water, than heaven was opened to him." Four Gospels, Matt. iii. 16. tpb Doddridge's. " And after Jesus was baptized, as soon as

he ascended out of the water, behold, the heavens were opened unto him." In loco,

Macknight. Jesus "submitted to be baptized, that is, buried under the water by John, and to be raised out of it

lOS THx BAmst ramnfiKATHHi.

flgatn, as aa emblem of Mb fotore dealh and i cw ii rectioiL^ ApostoL JEpis, Note an Bom, tL 4.

Bishop TATI4HL ''The custom of the ande&tdliiiiehes was not sprinkling, bat immersion; in poisnanee <tf the sense of the word in the commandment^ and the ezamj^e iji our blessed fkmowrJ* In Feed. Exam. YoL L p. 199.

I neyer, my reader, can think oi the baptism oi this glorious and diyine Person—the Son oi Qod —the Lord from heayen— the righteous Jodge of the last daj—the Author of our salvation, and the Giyer of eternal life, but with feelings of the deepest interest We obserre him here proceeding on his long joumej, (for Nazareth was three days joumej from Jerusalem, and not less from Bethabara,) the object of which is, " to be baptized." We obserre him admitting of no argument against his submission to that rite; and we ought never to forget how he associated his people, his followers, with himself "thus it becometh us I'' the servant as weU as the Lobd, the members as well as the Head, ^ to fulfil all" practical ''righteousness;" all that Ood enjoins and requires. How strong is the obligation to realize what the Saviour here intended I Who will not concur in the pious decision of Ms. Polhill ? '' The pattern of Christ and the Apostles is more to me than all the human wisdom in the world." Nor can any one deny me the following

Inference. The Baptism of Jesus, as an Example, is fulfilled in the baptism of a Believer by Immersion^ and in no other case.

6. Christ Baptizing by hds Disciples.

This is the only mention of our Lord's baptizing, or of the disciples by his authority and direction, during his corporeal ^.^g^ presence with them; and, consequently, it claims our very serious attention.

John iii. 22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them and baptized, 26. And they came unto John, and said unto him,

Babbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the s,ame baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 30. He most increase, but I must decrease.

Chap. iv. 1. When, therefore, the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2. (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3. He left Judea, and departed again into Gali' lee. X. 40. And [he] went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized;—42. And many believed on him there.

The import of this passage is simply this: '^ Jesus went into the land of Judea, and baptized certain disciples,—^many hearing of him, and remembering what John had preached concerning him, flocked to him,—and soon it was generally known and said, as the happy fruit of his labors, ' T?iat JesiLS made and baptized more disciples than John;^ upon which the Saviour departed, and went into Galilee. He again, however, visited this interesting place, and many more believed on him there."

The only thing to be noticed here, and it is certainly of some importance as to our first inquiry^ is this, that Christ MADE disciples before he baptized them. He did not begin by baptizing, and afterwards instructing; buthe^rs^ taught them his gospel, and they, believing and embracing his word, are thereby ''made his disciples;" and hence they are said to '' come to him," to conform to his commandments, and then, secondlyf he baptized them. As this is all the Evangelists have recorded respecting Christ baptizing, through the whole of his ministry, this is, consequently, all in which the Prac-tice of Christ is given for the guide of his people. What we are to understand by "disciples," or "making disciples,?'is thus described by

Mn. Owen. " By the disciples of Christ, I intend them, and them only, who profess faith in h^ person and doctnsL<&^ 10

Ac. This is the method of the gospel, that first men, by the preaching of it, be made disciples, or be bronght nnto faith in Christ, and then to be taught to do and observe whatever he commands." In Peed. Exam, Vol. II. p. 216 and 281.

Mn. Baxter. '' A disciple and a Christian are all one." lUd. p. 288.

Our Lord, however, may be heard for himself, as to what is intended by Ms disciples: " Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Luke xiv. 21. Whatever, therefore, may be said in favor of infant baptism, it cannot be said that either Christ's Example or Practice affords it any support; and we shall presently come to his Command on the subject. But, in passing from noticing the Practice of Jesus, let me cite the words of one of the most eminent Paedobaptist Commentators on the Bible England has ever witnessed:—

Mr. Scott. "The baptism of Jesus was, doubtless, of adults alone." Commentary on John iii. 22-24.

7. John^s last baptizing in JSnon,

The next passage we find on our subject, is contained in few words. It is, however, of powerful import relative to the Mode.

John iii. 23. And John also was baptizing in iBnon, near to Salim, because there was much water there; and they came and were baptized.

Of the Persons here alluded to as baptized by the Harbinger of the Redeemer, nothing is said descriptive of them, except that "they came^' to John, as the penitent Jews had before done at Jordan, and, like them, "were baptized;" which fairly implies, that it was their own voluntary act thus to seek this holy rite; and if so, they must have been previously instructed.

But, in reference to our inquiry on the Mode of baptism, this passage is of great weight. We have here the Reason assigned, on account of which John chose the place where

we now find him pursuing the object in which he is divinely employed. He is baptizing in -^non, "because there was MUCH WATER there." No candid Christian, I think, can object to the following

Inference. If John chose a place for the purpose of baptizing, on account of one circumstance, necessary for that ordinance, namely, "because there was much water there," then his Mode of baptism required miich water. But much water is not necessary for any Mode of baptism but Immer-siony and hence, without doubt, tJuU was his practice. The same inference was drawn, with as little doubt, by the illustrious Pedobaptists following:—

Calvin. "From these words, John iii. 23, it may be inferred, that baptism was administered, by John and Christ, by plunging the whole body under water." In Poed. Exam. Yol. I. p. 194.

Whitby. "Ott vhata 7to%xa, tjv txu; Because tkere was rmwh water tTiere, in which their whole bodies might be dipped; for in this manner only was the Jewish baptism per-formedy by a descent into the water. Acts. TiiL 38, and an ascent out of it^ ver. 39, and a burial in it. Rom vi. 3, 4. Colos. ii. 12." Amwt, on the place. See Lightfoot and A. Clarke, at p. 16.

My readers scarcely need be told, that those who practice sprinkling never go to rivers^ or places of miAch water, to administer the ordinance, and, if they should do so, the great quantity of the water could not be assigned as the reason for choosing such places ; because, in their Mode, a very sTnall quantity only is required.—Not much candor is necessary to admit the truth so plainly conveyed as in this passage.'*'

* The answer that some have made that the words, ^'rnuch water," shonld be ''many waters," and refer to many§hallmo HreatM, is sufficiently answered by the learned Pedobaptist Expositor, who thns renden and explain the passage:

Doddridge. ''John was also at that time baptizing at JBnon; and he particularly chose that place, becauser there was a great ^[uantitjf of water

8. Befereiwes of Jesus Christ to John, his baptism and success.

As the passage in the preceding section contains the last record of John's baptizing, it appears proper to follow it by the testimony Jesus bore to his Harbinger and his labors.

Lake vii. 24. And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John. What went ye out into the wilderness for to'see? 26. A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. Matt. xi. lO. For this is Ac of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 11. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are bom of woinen, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. John v. 35. He was a burning and a shining light.

Mark xi. 29. And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one question. 30. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men ? answer me. 31. And they reasoned with themselves, saying. If we shall say. From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him ? 32. But if we shall say. Of men: (all the people will stone us: Luke XX. 6,) they feared the people; for all men counted John that he was a prophet indeed. 33. And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell.

Luke vii. 29. And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

Here observe, 1. The Redeemer in the first of these passages, gives John a pre-eminence above all the servants of

there, which made it very conveDient for his purpose.'*. " Nothing surely can he more evident, than that ^'^St^ta HoXka"] many water; signifies a large quantity of water, it heing sometimes used for he Euphrates. Jer. li. 13. {Sept%Mgint,) To which, I suppose, there may be an allusion, Rev. xvii. 1. Compare Ezek. xliii. 2., and Rev. i. 15; xir. 2; xix. 6 ,• where the voice of many toatere does plainly signify the roaring of a high sea." Fam, Expoe, Paraph., and Note on the Place.

Gkxl, of the former dispensation; not excepting Abraham, Moses, or Isaiah. His revelations were more signal; his prea<;hing of more vital importance, and his success greater. Thus was he more than a prophet

2. lYom the question which the Redeemer proposed to the Jews, Whether the baptism of John was from heaven or of men ? in order to convict them of their guilt in treating John's labors as they had done, it will evidently follow that it was "From heaven." Had John's baptism been borrowed from Jewish proselyte baptism, it would have been ofm^n, (for that is unknown in the word of God,) and then the question might have been answered without hesitation, and the design of our Lord, in that case, could not have been realized.

3. The common people, who heard John's ministry, (the fiaviour adds,) "justified God," i. e., approved of the Divine conduct in John's ministry and baptism; and this they evinced in "being baptized with the baptism of John;" while classes of higher religious repute, "the Pharisees and lawyers," in contempt of this messenger of God, and his message too, ^^ rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.^^ Here our Lord plainly indicates that the ordinance of baptism was a part of "the counsel of God," i. e., his mind and will; and, as far as this rite is contemned, so far the counsel of God is " rejected;" and it is, emphatically, " against themselves" who thus opposed what God enjoins.

Infererwe, If John, who was but a mui, is to be so highly regarded, and his baptism considered " the counsel of God;" so that neglect of it thus meets the marked disapprobation of our Redeemer;—^how much more may the Divine indignation be expected on them who slight this sacred ordinance in that stiU more interesting form, in which we shall presentiy find it^ *—enjoined by Him, whose name is written " King of kings, and LoBD of lords I" Surely I may add, " If they escaped not who refused him ffud spake on earth, much more shaU

*10 • I

not we escape J if we turn away from Htm that speakethfrom heaven P^ Heb. xii. 25.

9. Christ represents his Sufferings under the Figure of Baptism.

Matt. XX. 22. But Jesns answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? They say unto him, We are able. 23. And he said unto them. Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ; but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to giye, but iJt shall he given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Luke xii. 50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished I

Our Lord, in these affecting and impressive passages, is referring to the greatness of his approaching sufferings,—and, by a metaphor, he calls them "a Baptism.^^ An interesting question from hence arises in reference to our second inquiry. Does sprinkling a little water on the face, or being totally immersed and overwhelmed in a large quantity, most appropriately exhibit an image of the severity of the sufferings of Christ ? The following extracts will, I have no doubt, contain my reader's opinion:

DoDDBiDGE thus paraphrases the places : " Are you able to drink of the bitter cup of which I am now about to drink so deep, and to be baptized with the baptism, and plunged into that sea of sufferings with which I am shortly to be baptized, and, as it were, overwhelmed for a time!" "I have, indeed, a most dreadful baptism to be baptized with ; and I know that I shall be shortly bathed, as it were, in blood, and plunged in the most overwhelming distress." Fam. Expos, on the places.

WiTSius. "Immersion into the water is to be considered by us, as exhibiting that dreadful abyss of Divine justice, in which Christ, for our sins, was for a time, as it were, absorbed; as in

David, his type, he complains, Psahn box. 2, "/ am come into deep waters J where the floods overflow one." (Econ. of the Gov, L. lY. C. xvi. § 26.

Mr. James Heryet expresses himself, on this subject, with great energy. "He longed, (beneficent, blessed Beinq I) he longed for the fatal hour. He severely rebuked one of his disciples who would have dissuaded him from going as a volunteer to the cross. He was even straiiened, under a kind of holy uneasiness, till the dreadful work was accomplished; till he was baptized with the baptism of his sufferings^ bathed in blood, and plunged in death I" Theron and Aspasio, Yol. IL Let. 1. ^

" Sir H. Trelawney, under whose impressive ministry," says the late amiable Mr. Dore, of London, "my irst religious feelings were invigorated, referring to those words of our Lord, exclaimed to this effect: * Here, I must acknowledge, our Baptist brethren have the advantage: for our Redeei^er's sufferings must not be compared to a few drops of water sprinkled on the face, for he was plunged into distress, and his soul was environed with sorrows.' " Sermons on Baptism, by J. Dore, p. 39.

Inference, If our Lord intended the ordinance of baptism to exhibit an image of the overwhelming sorrows of his soul, in the garden and on the cross, his intention is frustrated by the change of immersion into sprinkling I And if this be admitted, (and it cannot be denied,) what devout Christian can think of this change but with deep regret I

10. The Commission which our Lord gave his Apostles about the time of his Ascension into Hffeaven, containing the formal Institution of Christian Baptism.

We have already seen that Baptism, as a New,Testament ordinance, was. instituted of God, and enjoined upon John as the herald and precursor of Christ. It is evident, also, that John administered it upon an admitted or professed acknowledgment of faith " in him who was to come after him." Acts

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f

))t ^BK BAFTISr SSNOBilNATION

XiXs 4^ Bvt ^^ our Redeemer had- come, and finished his ^kmtIu mi aheration was necessary in this partictdar circum-K^iiic^, None on earth, bat Jesus, could make that alteration; %nA b«» as Hkad and Lord of the church, now does it; requiring it to be administered from this hour, ''In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holt Ghost." This I consider as a beniwed institution of the same sacred rite, altered only in its reference to the coming of Christ, to set up his kingdom. And, what adds greatly to the solemnity of it in this renewed form, our Lord delayed its institution till his last moments on earth, and then niiited it with his final parting and solemn charge, given by Matthew and^ Mark in the ▼erses following:

Matt zzviii. 16. Then the eleven disciples went away into GNdilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying. All power is-given nnto me in heaven and in earth. 19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark xvi. 15. And he said unto them, Gto ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned. 19. So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

How solemn and interesting was this occasion I The Re-disemer had undergone the baptism of his sufferings, last described—^he had been bathed in blood in the garden I—^he had sunk into death on the cross under floods of wrath, due to mankind I But now he is risen triumphant, and is about to ascend to his glory.

He had appointed his disciples to meet him on a mountain

of Galilee, where he was to give them his last most solemn and iipportant charge contained in the verses above. The interesting hour is come; we may be sure the disciples are eager to catch every word from their ascending Lord, and that he would give them his directions in the plainest language pos-siblie.

He begins by encouraging their sorrowful minds, with a view of his supreme power in heaven and earth— in fieaverjbj to give them the Holy Spirit; to employ the angels in their behalf; and, finally, to bestow the kingdom of heaven upon them. So he had aU power in earthy to gather his church out of all nations ; to subdue or restrain his enemies, and to reign over and dwell with his people, as Lord and King of Zion.^

Hence the Saviour gives them the " Commission" for preaching and baptizing, which you, my reader, cannot too attentively consider. If you conceiye there is any obscurity in the one Evangelist, the other wUl explain him; and this explanation you will, no doubt, esteem preferable to ten thousand criticisms. By uniting the words of both, they may be thus disposed: " Go ye, therefore, into all the world ; teaoh all nations, and ^*preach the gospel to every creature: him that believeth bap^ **tize, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the "Holy Ghost, and he shall be saved; but he that believeth not "shall be damned,^^

Our great Legislator, who only has the right to enact laws for his church, to whom we must submit, and who will have nothing taken away from, or added to his word, Rev. xxii. 19, has here described to his apostles the person to whom they are to administer this his ordinance, namely, the belteyeb ; the person who shall cordially believe the gospel which they shall preach. And if we allow him to have expressed his mind clearly and fully, he restricts the ordinance to the believer alone. He has given no direction to admit any other to it, and who will dare to speak where He is silent ? Who shall enlarge or extend the limits He has prescribed ? or, who will

I

dare to go beyond, or attempt to remove, the bonndaries Hb has fixed and established ? Sorely the mind of a true disciple recoils at the thought 1 Let us now hear the remarks of some eminent Pedobaptist writers on these passages:—

Mil Abohibaij) Hall, predecessor of Mr. Waugh, of London. " How grand and awful is that weighty preface to the institution of Christian Baptism I Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. Who is that daring, insolent worm, that will presume to dispute the authority, or change the ordinances of Him who is given to be head over all things to the church ? The solejnnity of this ordinance is complete: and all the purposes of its institution are secured by the authority and blessing of Christ. His laws are not subject to any of those imperfections which are attendants of the best contriyed systems among men, and frequently need explanations, amendments, and corrections. It is most dangerous and presumptuous to add any ceremony, or to join any service, on any pretence, unto heaven's appointment" Gospel Worship^ Vol. L pp. 325, 326.

Saurin. "In the primitive church, instruction preceded baptism, agreeable to the order of Jesus Christ, Goj teach all nations, baptizing them,^^ Ac. In Peed, Exam, Vol. II. p. 2T4.

Mr. Baxter has a very forcible passage on the same place. ** (To, disciple me all noMcms, baptizing them, As» for those who say they are discipled by baptizing, and not before bap-tiadng, they speak not the sense of the text; nor that which is true or rational; else, why should one be baptized more than another ?—^This is not like some occasional historical mention of baptism; but it is the very commission of Christ to his apostles, for preaching and baptizing; and purposely express-eth their sev^al works in their several places and order. Their first task is, by teaching, to make disciples, which are, by Mark, called believers. The second work is, to baptize them, whereto is annexed the promise of their salvation. The third work is, to teach them all other things which are afterwards to be learned in the school of Christ [Observe what fol-

lows.] To contemn this order, is to renounce all roles of order; for where can we expect to find it, if not here? I profess, my conscience is fully satisfied from this text, that it ia one sort of faith, even saving, that must qo before baptism ; and the profession whereof the minister must expect" In Fasd, Exam, Vol. II. p. 210.

11. Conclusion of the Four Gospels,

The last Scriptures we cited close the information which the Four Gospels afford us on the subject of Baptism. Before we pass to the subsequent books, I beg to remind the reader,, that we have had before us the practice of John; and'the Example, Pr^Eictice, and Command of our Lord Jesus Christ. As yet, we have not met with a single passage or word, which can fairly be interpreted as indicating that any persons should receire this ordinance, or are proper subjects for it, but those who hare been first taught the gospel, and who profess to he" lieve it.

But I am most anxious to impress on the attention of an inquirer the words of Jesus in the Commission, which we have just read. Remember, reader, that this Jesus is to be our Judge at the last great and awfal day; and that He will not judge us according to the opinions or practices of men, but according to his own word. Upon this command of our Saviour, I would, therefore, beg briefly to add, and leave to the reader's deliberate meditations:—

I. That we have here (he enaciment of the Divinb Law, in reference to Baptism: and this Law we find delivered in language the most solenfn, and in circumstanoes the most interesting and affecting.

II. That this Law of Jesus is not like huiiian lawB, which admit of alterations or amendmi^rds. None but Jesus has authority to alter: and, coming from the Fountain of heavenly Wisdom, who will presume to improve upon ms appointment? And

III. This Law is as delightful to the mind of a CI

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as it is solemn. The words, ''baptizing them irdo the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," imply a pablic recognition of the glorions change which has taken place in the spiritual circumstances of true converts, in their having passed firom the family of sin and Satan, into the family of the Tbi-VNE Gk)D I A change, not of the ordinance, but of the power and grace of God.

We now pass on to the Acts of the Apostles. Here we have an historical relation of the labors of the Apostles, for above thirty years after the ascension of Christ; and here we shall find the baptism of many thousands of persons. If we have misunderstood the will of Christ on this subject, the Apostles surely did not, and their obedience to his command will correct our error; but if, on the contrary, we have rightly interpreted his will, their obedience will confirm our opinion.

12. The Acts of the Apostles.

" The penman of this Scripture," the Assembly of Divines, in the argument to it, assures us, ''was Luke the Evangelist^ (as appears from the first words of it,) for the most part an eye-witness to the things he records, being constantly a fellow-laboi^r with Paul. His purpose," they add, "in writing this narrative was, as he intimates in his first preface, that the church might have the certain knowledge of Christ, his gospel, and kingdom; that our faith might not be built on the uncertain reports of pretenders to truth." Hence, admitting the writer to be a faithful and pious historian, and writing purposely for the direction of the Church of Christ in all following ages; and, above all, under the influence of the Spirit of God, we may safely rely, not only on the accuracy of the accounts, but on the fulness and sufficiency of the information to answer the professed purpose.

We have here, on infallible record, nine instances of the administration of baptism, which we will examine in their own order.

13. The Baptism at the Feast of Pentecost,

On this memorable occasion, which was but ten days from the ascension of Christ, when the Apostles and Disciples were together at Jerusalem, it pleased God to accomplish the promise of sending them the Holy Ghost. By his miraculous power they were enabled to speak in different languages to the multitude then assembled at Jerusalem from different nations: so that every one heard, in his own tonguey the wonderful works of God, Peter delivers to the multitude an impressive discourse, in which he charged the Jews with having crucified the Lord of glory; but added, that God had raised him from the dead, and exalted him to his right hand, as the only Lord and Christ. Upon this follow the verses relating to the ordinance, and descriptive of the subjects of it.

Acts ii. 31. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do ? 38. 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 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: 39. 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. 41. Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42. And fhey continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. «4T. Praising God, .and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Here we must observe how the Apostle Peter obeys his Lord's direction in the Commission. He begins by preaching^ and never mentions a word about baptism, tOl he evidently found some of his hearers answering the character, " he that believeth." Hence, the persons who were baptized are thus described,—1. Their hearts were deeply penetrated by II

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„132 THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION.

truth they heard, so that they cried, Whxd shall tve^f 2. They are exhorted to repent of their sins. 3. They, at length, "GLADLY RECEIVED THE WORD," and thereon were baptized, and added to the church. 4. They afterward continued stead-fa^ in the doctrine of the gospel, and in the practice of its duties. Not a word of this will apply to infants.

There is, however, one clause in the 39th verse of the above scriptures, " The promise is to you, and to your childrenj^^ which is commonly urged in favor of infant baptism; as if the Apostle alluded to some promise, on the ground of which infant children were deemed proper subjects of Christian baptism. To answer which, let the three following things be considered :—

I. The promise to which the Apostle alludes, has no relation to infant children, it being the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, joined with its effects, of which infants are incapable. My reader will observe that the people, on this occasion, were astonished at the effects produced by the gift of the Spirit. The Apostle assures them, verses 16-18, that it was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel; which prophecy is thus expressed, chap. ii. 28 : " i will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,^^ Ac. The Apostle having delivered an impressive discourse, observing his hearers deeply affected and amazed at the gifts of the Spirit, in order to turn their amazement into hope and joy, refers tEem a second time to this promise, and to their own interest in it, in the following words, ver. 38, 39, " Repent, Ac, and you {[yourselves] shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for [by this I assure you of it] the promise is to you and to your children." Now, as the gift of the Spirit, with his miraculous powers, is the object of the promise and as infant children are incapable of that gift, children in infancy cannot be intended. Thus,

Whitby. " These words will not prove a right of infants to receive baptism; the promise here being that only of the

Holy Ghost, mentioned in yerses 16, IT, 18, and so relating only to the times of the miraculons effusion of the Holy Ghost, and to those persons who, by age, were capable of these extr^ ordinary gifts." AnrwL on the place.

DoDDBXDGE. " The promise is to you and to your children. Considering that the gift of the Spirit had been mentioned just before, it seems most natural to interpret this as a reference to that passage in Joel, which had been so largely recited above, ver. IT, &c., where God promises the effusion of the Spirit on their sons and their daughiers.^^ Fam. Expos. Note on the place.

II. The word, in the original, -rcxva, rendered childre^n, signifies posterity ; and does not necessarily imply infancy, •

Hammond. " If any have made use of that very uncon-cludent argument, [referring to this passage. Acts ii. 39,] I have nothing to say in defence of them. The word children there, is really the posterity of the Jews, and not peculiarly their infant children." Works, Vol. I. p. 490.

LiMBOBGH, a learned divine of Amsterdam. " By tixva the Apostle understands, not infants, but posterity; in which signification the word occurs in many places of the New Testament; see, among others, John viii. 39. [i/* ye were Ahraham^s GECCLDBEN, ye would do the works of Abraham."] Whence it appears, that the argument which is very commonly taken from this passage, for the baptism of infants, is of no foboe, and GOOD fob nothing." Comment, in loc.

IIL Tfle words of the Apostle immediately following, explain his own meaning in the most decisive terms: " The promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lobd oub God shall call,"— " to as many of you and your children, and the Gentiles afar off, as God should call by his word and Spirit to this great privilege."

Matthew Henby. " To this general, the following limitation must refer even as many of them, as many particular.

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persons in each nation, as the Lord our God shxill call effectually into the fellowship of Jesus Christ." Expos, of the place.

Inference, From the whole, it appears most evident, that none were, in this case, encouraged to hope for Christian baptism, but such as gave evidence of being called effectually by grace; and none were, in fact, baptized, but such as *'gladly received thje word,^^ So far, the word of God is our plain guide.

14. Philip baptizing at Samaria,

Acts viii. 5. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing, and seeing the miracles which he did. 8. And there was great joy in the city.

12. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13. Then Simon himself believed also; and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were. done.

In this instance, as in the former, the commission of Christ is literally fulfilled. Philip began his work by preaching Christ to them; and when they had heard the doctrines and saw the miracles, they were filled with joy. Not a word about baptizing, till some of the people " believed^^ the things concerning Jesus Christ; then "(key were baptized, both men and vxymen.^^

Now, if it were the will of Christ that infants should be baptized, and it were true that the Apostles, (like Psedobap-tist Missionaries among the Heathen,*) were accustomed to

* In the acooants we are often receiving from Psedobaptist Missionaries among the Heathen, our brethren naturally inform us of the children, as well as the adults, they baptize. For example, in the " Mi$8ionary Eegiater'* for the year 1821, at page 19, a Report from South Africa states—" During the

baptize children together with the parents; then, if any of those "men and women" at Samaria had children, (which surely is highly probable,) Philip must hare baptized them : but had he baptized meuy women, and children, is it to be imagined that the inspired historian, writing, (as he says,) " of ATT, that Jesus began to do and to teach," and "having had' perfect understanding of all things from the very first;" and his avowed design being that his reader " might know I5ie certainty of things ;" is it to be imagined that he would jpar-ticularize the two, out of the three descriptions of the baptized, and omit the third f This I conceive impossible, and therefore draw this

Inference. When the Evangelist states, "they were baptized, both men and women," had infants also been baptized, he must have added, to have completed the record of the circumstance, "and children;" but not making that natural and necessary addition, I infer, that men and women only were baptized; and that no infants received the ordinance with them; therefore, that the practice at that time did not exist.

15. The Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunvjch, The eunuch described in this chapter was a person of high authority in the kingdom of Ethiopia, but it would seem a proselyte to the Jewish religion. He is here returning from

year 1819, 20 adults and 21 children were baptized." At page 293, a Missionary in Western Africa states— ** September 3d, Sunday—I preached, Ac, and then baptized 23 adults and 3 infants." Page 294, Not. 29th—<< On the first Sunday of this month I baptized 34 adults and their children i 48 in all."

Rev. 0. Mault writes from NdgereoU, East Indies, in March, 1826: ''Last month I baptized 5 adults and 4 children." Rev. 0. Barff writes from Sua-hin^, South Sea Islands, June 5, 1825, "30 were added to the church during our visit, and a number baptized. Among those baptized were 16 infjuits." — Mifsionary Chronicle, for November, 182Q.

Are not such accounts quite natural where infant baptism prevails ? And why is there a perfect silence throughout the history of aposi(^cal labors on this sttbjeot ? Their practice surely was not the same*

11*

Jerusalem. Philip is directed to meet liira in his way. He found the eunuch reading, as he proceeded in his chariot, the prophet Isaiah, chap. liii. T. "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter," &c. He is desirous that Philip should explain to him. Whether the prophet, in that place, spake of himself or of some other ? and he took him up into his chariot for that purpose: upon which the Evangelist adds:

Acts viii. 35. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water : and the eunuch said. See, here is water ; what doth hinder me to be baptized ? 31. And Philip said. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered, and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38. And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he baptized him. 39. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

My reader will not need to be reminded of the Commission of his Redeemer, after perusing these verses. We have here a plain example of the practice of the Apostles, before they admitted a person to baptism. Philip might have deemed the eunuch, after having heard the gospel, a proper subject for baptism, by being directed from heaven to teach him—^he might have inferred it, also, from his sincere request of it; yet he does not, he dares not, baptize him, until he openly profess to "believe vnth all his heart;^^ remembering, no doubt, that Christ had appointed the ordinance for such, and for such only. Nothing can demonstrate more clearly than this, that a

DECSLARATION OP FAITH WAS INDISPENSABLY REQUIRED PREVIOUS TO BAPTISM.*

* Those who contend that crenrants and children were aU haptized in those days, with^ and on account of, their masters and parents, would find it diffi-enlt to support their hypothesis in this case.- It is the greatest absurdity to

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16. Of the Mode of the Eunuch^s Baptism.

We have, in this case, the circumstances attending the administration of baptism more minutely described than in any other instance recorded in the New Testament. The reader is requested to observe the following things :

1st. If spriukling or pouring were the mode of baptism ordained by Christ, and practiced by the Apostles, we are assured, by the best authority, that travelers through those deserts "never omitted" to furnish themselves with vessels of water for their journeys ; that this provision was "absolutely necessary;" and, if so, the eunuch had all that was required for the ordinance, without waiting till they came to a place of water. See Doddridge, as presently cited, and Shaw'^s Travels, as referred to by him.

2d. We are here, however, informed, verse 36, that they proceeded on their journey till " they came" (t^tt, ad) " unto a certain water." And it appears that it was the sight of this place of water that suggested to the eunuch his immediate submission to the ordinance. " See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized ?" How unmeaning would this be if he had the requisite water before !

3d. If we admit that the eunuch was not previously provided with water, now^ when they were " come to a water," it would have been easy, and natural to be expected, for one of the attendants to have conveyed to him as much water as was required, without his, or Philip's, proceeding farther. But, though "he commanded the chariot to stand still," no command is given upon this point,—of bringing water to him. But,

suppose that Philip would admit the ennuch's servants to baptism, without any profession, pr even instruction, when he would object to the pious master, after he requested it, unless he was able to give a frank and open profession of faith in Christ But he baptized none but the eunuch; and, therefore, we may safely conclude, the apostles had ''no such custom, neither the churches of God.''

4th. Leaving the chariot, verse 38, "they went down into the water;" («tj *o v8w^, in aquam.) Here the reader will remark, It was not sufficient to come to the water^ (which we are often told is all that the original means,) for this they had done before; but here is a second circumstance,—after they had come to itf they went down into it.

6th. The inspired historian also adds, that It was not the eunuch alone that went into the water, but " they went down both;" and this is repeated again, as if to make quibbling or doubting on this subject impossible, "both Philip and the eunuch." Such was the mode of baptism, as now established by the Son of God, that it could not, in this case, be administered unless Philip attended the eunuch into the water. And

6th. While in this situation, both of them in the water and surrounded therewith, " he baptized him;" that is, if the word be translated, " he immersed him,'' in the name of the Tri-une Jehovah. For this solemn act, the circumstances before noticed were necessary, but for any other mode they would be absurd.

Tth. The sacred rite being performed, it is lastly added, "when they were come up, («» tov vfiaro^) out op the water," they were parted asunder; probably to meet no more till they should enter the presence of Him to whom they now rendered this act of prompt and cheerful obedience.

It is not easy to imagine how the mode of this sacred ordinance could be more minutely described. That we have here an example of Immersion, is allowed by the learned and candid of all denominations.

Mr. Towerson. " For what need would there have been of Philip and the eunuch going down into this [water], were it not that the baptism was to be performed by immersion, a very little water, as we know it doth with us, sufficing for an effusion or sprinkling ?" In Peed, Exam. Vol. I. p. 209.

Calvin, in his Comment on this place, observes, " Here we

1

perceire bow baptism was administered among tbe ancient^ for tbey immersed the wbole body in water." Ibid, p. 194.

Doddridge. " They both went down to the water. Considering how frequently bathing was used in these hot countries, it is not to be wondered that baptism was generally administered by immersion, though I see no proof that it was essential to the institution. It would be very unnatural to suppose, that they went down to the water merely that Philip might take up a little water in his hand to pour on the eunuch. A person of his dignity had, no doubt, many vessels in his baggage, on such a journey through a desert country : a precaution absolutely necessary for travelers in those parts, and never omitted by them.—See Shaw's Travels^ Preface, p. 4." Fam. Expos. Note in loc. See numerous other authors in Booth's P(sd. Exam. Vol. I. p. 191 to 224.

Inference. If I find one sufficient proof of the mode of baptism in the days of the Apostles, whatever that mode may be, I infer that I have ascertained what was their invariable practice. Because it cannot be imagined that the Apostles (having probably witnessed, and certainly knowing well, the mode by which the Lord Jesus was baptized, and having all received the same instructions from their Lord Mid Master,) could be divided either in sentiment or practice. And if immersion be proved in one case, and from thence it be granted that Jesus was thus baptized, and that He cx)mmanded the ordinance thus to be administered, would not the amiable and pious Doddridge, who grants above, "baptism was generally administered by immersion," allow me to infer, (from the authority of Christ's example and command,) that this mode is "essential to the institution ?" Here I have an instance of immersion, and from this I am authorized to conclude, and I do it with the utmost confidence and satisfaction of mind, that immersion was what Christ ordained, and his obedient Apostles and Disciples invariably practiced; and, consequently, any departure &om this practice is a departure from

the revealed vrlll of Christ; and such an act can be yiewed in no other light than an act of rebellion against his Divine anthority.

It. The Baptism of the Apostle Pavl.

Saul, while breathing out threatenings against the disciples of Christ, is met, in his career of persecution, by the Lord himself, at whose exceeding glory he falls prostrate on the ground. Ananias, a devout disciple, is directed of God to go to him, and teach him what he is to do; and for his encouragement in visiting the persecutor, he is informed that Saul was praying, and that God has made him a chosen vessel to himself.

Acts ix. IT. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, said. Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Chap. xxii. 14. And he said. The God of our fathers had chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth. 15. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16. And now why tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Chap. ix. 18. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

The promptitude of Ananias in baptizing Saul, " who also is called Paul," as soon as he had received the message from his Saviour, and the restoration of his sight, shows how strictly this ordinance was observed in the days of the Apostles ; and, consequently, how it should be observed to the end of time. Paul is exhorted to arise, and be baptized, and wash away his sins, &c. He was to arise, and yield obedience to the command of Christ, in baptism, and, at the same time that bis body received the washing of ^ater, he was to call on the name of the Lord, that his soul might be washed and purified

by being, through faith, bathed in the " fountain opened for sin." This spiritual purification, immersion in water would strikingly represent. Thus the pious poet,

CowPER.—" There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuers yeins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains."

In this instance, we have the spiritual design of the ordinance very plainly referred to. " The meaning is not," says an excellent writer, " as if remission of sins were obtained by baptism; but that, by means of the ordinance, they might be led to the sufferings, death, and bloodshed of Christ repre-sented in it."

All our three inquiries are answered in the baptism of this illustrious man. 1. Respecting the Person to be baptized,— Paul was a believer in Christ. 2. To the Modej —^he himself refers when speaking of his baptism, and that of others, comparing it to a burial; " Therefore we are buried with him by baptism." Rom. vi. 4. And, 3. The Spiritual Design is to represent a washing away of sinj obtained in "calling on the name of the Lord."

18. The Baptism of Cornelius and his Friends,

The next instance records the baptism of the first Gentiles received into the Christian Church. Cornelius was " a devout man, and one that feared God, with all his house." He is directed from Heaven to send for Peter the Apostle; and against his comimg, he called together his kinsmen and near friends. The Apostle having taught them the leading doctrines of the gospel, concludes by repeating what Christ had commissioned his Apostles to do as their first and chief work, and the testimony of the prophets concerning him, in the two first verses below ; after which we have the ordinance in question.

Acts X. 42. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of G^<vl

to he the Judge of the quick and the dead. 43. To him gave all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him, shall receive remission of sins. 44. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. 45. And they of the circumcision which believed, were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 46. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, 4t. Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? 48. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

The order of the commission is here also observed. Peter began hj preaching ; and never a word.of baptism is found, till the people had heard the gospel, and had given certain evidences of their conversion. Then, and not till then, Peter pleads for their baptism; and, what should be particularly observed, he pleads for it upon the ground of their being, most evidently, true beueyers, and as having received the Holy Ghost His language, in verse 41, implies that, if they did not appear to be regenerate persons, any one might object to their baptism; but as they had given evidences that could not be disputed, he infers, no one could deny the propriety of their being baptized. Hence, they were converts to the faith of Christ. Accordingly,

Me. Holland had infallible authority for his observation. " In the first plantation of Christianity among the Gentiles, such only as were of full age, after they were instructed in the principles of the Christian religion, were admitted to baptism." In WalVs Hist Inf, Bap. Vol. 11. i;. ii. § 14.

As to the manner by which the&c persons were baptized, nothing is said of it, by the sacred historian, beyond the simple fact. It has been suggested, however, that teter, by the words, "Can any man forbid water," intimates that he required

a litUe wcUer to be hroiight to him, la t^-evip or basini (or tbd purpose of sprinkling ; bot the Apostle neither speaks of t'&tle nor much water, nor about bringing it, but simply of wcUer, and, no doubt, he intended as much as the ordinance required. It is most improper to form conjectures upon inconclusive statements of Scripture,, against that which, by other Scriptures^ is evidently confirmed and established. When persons are said to be baptized, we are bound to infer that they were baptized according to the Pattern and Authority of Christ, This, I conclude, was the case in this, and in every other instance.

19. The Baptism of Lydia and her Household,

The three following instances, as they relate to ^^hjouseholds^^^ are commonly urged in favor of infant baptism; and, indeed, as being the principal support of that practice in the New Testament. The reader will, therefore, the more particularly examine the Scriptures below in reference to the' persons that constituted these households, and if he find recorded the baptism of one infant, or any thing in the text which evidently indicates it, he will consider the point as settled forever in favor of infant baptism; but if the text does not contain such an indication of infants, but describes the baptized households as consisting of persons arrived at the years of understanding, and so capable of hearing and believing the gospel —and especially if what is recorded implies that they actually did h^ar and believe, then it must be granted that adult and believers' baptism receives all the support these instances afford. The first is of Lydia and her household.

Paul, whose baptism we have just considered, is now become an Apostle of Christ. He, with Silas, (and with them, probably, Luke, the writer of this history,) are commissioned from heaven to proceed to Macedonia, and to Philippi, a chief city of it, to preach the gospel. Having arrived, they began their work in the following way, and with the following success:

Acts xvi. 13. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we 12

sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted Ihiiher. 14. And a certain woman named Lydia^ a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard ub : whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 15. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us^ saying. If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide (here. And she constrained us. 40. And they [that is, Paul and Silas, who afterward had been imprisoned at Philippi] went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

Lydia herself, it is evident, had a right to be baptized, according to the order of Jesus Christ, being a belieyeb. But of what does it appear, from the text, did her household consist ? of chUdren, or grown persons ? Before we answer this question, we observe, there axe four things which a Psedobap-tist must admit and take for granted, before he can urge this place in his favor; but if he can j?rove none of them, his argument (to use the learned Limborch's phrase) "is good for nothing."

1st. That Lydia had, at this time, or lately, a husband.

2d. That she had children, and children then in infancy.

3d. That these children were with her at Philippi.

4th. That such children were actually baptized.

The whole of these admissions I strongly question ; for.

The 1st is improbable ; for, had she a husband, she was not likely to be thus engaged in business: and especially as no

mention is made of him, though the Apostles were repeatedly

at her house. '

The 2d \sruncerlain; because there are thousands of households where there are no infant children.

The 3d is incredible; for if, as the text indicates, Lydia was come from Thyatira (a journey, including both sea and land, of probably not less than 300 miles) ON business, it is

not to be believed she would bring young children with her, if she had any.

The 4th is inconclusive; because the word household or h^use is used in Scripture, when the whole of the family is not included, but the principal part only. See 1 Sam. i. 21, 22.

The argument, therefore, for infant baptism, grounded upon the baptism of Lydia's household, is extremely weak, as there

is NO EVIDENCE SHE HAD EITHER HUSBAND Or GHILDBEN : and

certainly, before any such custom can from this case be sup-ported, as an ordinance of the New Testament, it ought to be UNDENIABLY PROVED, from the tcxt, that she had infant children, and that they were actually baptized.

Should it be replied, in favor of infant baptism, that Lydia at this time was probably a resident at Philippi, although originally from Thyatira, and that consequently her infant children must be with her—^this I would answer by asking, Must not then her husband be with-her ? But this evidently was not the case, for this reason—^If Lydia had a husband with her, he surely must be one of the " household"—^if he was one included in this household, he must have been baptized, because the household was—^if he was baptized and joined in the same union with Paul and Silas, as Lydia^ would she say, " Come into my house ?" or would Luke say, "they entered into the house of Lydia,^^ supposing there was a believing husband at the head of the family ? Impossible. The language employed by the inspired historian evidently implies,

"A SINGLE FEMALE AT THE HEAD OF A FAMILY, AND AT THE

HEAD OF A BUSINESS." And the fair conclusion is, that her household were her servants; or, if her children, that her husband was deceased, and her children so far advanced in life as to join in her journey, her business, and her worship; and thus they would be capable of instruction, faith, and baptism, as Christ commanded; and as in effect plainly stated of the household in the next section. But^ more satisfactory to the pious reader than ten thousand

Bnnnises, the qnestion of the persons of Lydia's household, may be answered, with the greatest probability, from the last verse above cited. Paul and Silas being delivered from prison, and quiUing the jailer^s house and family^ according to his own request, ver. 34, 36, they " entered into the house of Lydia," (for my reader will remember, this was the only other Christian house in the city, and in this family the only other persons baptized;) and here, undoubtedly, they would meet with her "household" which they had baptized: having entered, we read, "when they had seen the brethren, they cjomported THEM, and departed." If then Lydia's household be denominated "brethren,I' and were capable of being "comforted" by the word, they must have been beueyers in Christ.

Mr. Whitby seems to consider this unquestionable. "And when she, and those of her household, were instructed in the Christian faith, in the nature of baptism required by it, she was baptized and her household." Paraphrase on the place.

IriMBORCH. " An Undoubted argument, therefore, cannot be drawn from this instance, by which it may be demonstrated that infants were baptized by the Apostles. It might be, that all in her house were of a mature age; who, as in the exercise of a right understanding they believed, so they were able to make a public profession of that faith when they received baptism." Gomment, in loco. In Pcedobap, Ex, Vol. 11. p. 359.

Mr. T. Lawson, referring to this argument, says, " Families may be without children; they may be grown up, &c. So it is a wild inference to ground infant baptism upon." Baptis-malogiay p. 92.

Assembly of Divines. " Of ike city of ThyaJHra —a city of Asia—^here dwelt Lydia, that devout servant of God."— " And entered into the house of Jjydia: doubtless to con-firm them in the faith which they had preached to them:—Lydia and HERS hearing of their miraculous deliverance, could not

but be comforted and confirmed in the truth." AnnoU on Acts xvi. 14, 40.

The place at which Lydia was taught and baptized must have been remarkably convenient for immersion. The people were " by a river side," ver. 13, and at a place frequented by the Jews for religious purification, by washing in the water. Thus

Mr. Doddridge. " On the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the side of the river Strymon, where, accordmg to the custom of the Jews, there was an oratory, or a place of public prayer."—"It is certain that the Jews had a custom of building their oratories or proseuchas, or places of public prayer, by the sea side, or near rivers, for the sake of purification." Fam. Expos, on the place.

Joseph John Gurney. " Although the baptism practiced by John and by the Apostles, did not, in all its circumstances, resemble those Jewish washings to which I have now adverted; yet it was precisely similar to them in that main particular of IMMERSION in water." Observ, on the Fecul. of Friends, p. 61.

Inference. If the Divine word, which records the baptism of Lydia and her household, and subsequently refers to them, is to be my only guide upon the inquiries before us, I must infer, " that they were all believers in Jesus, and were baptized as their Saviour was."

20. The Baptism of the Fhilippian Jailer and Household.

Paul and Silas, having been cast into prison at Philippi, are delivered from their confinement at midnight, by the miraculous interposition of God. An earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, the doors of it were opened, and the prisoners' bands loosed. The Jailer, suspecting the escape of the prisoners, drew his sword to destroy himself, but which Paul prevented, by assuring him the prisoners were all there. Then follow his conversion and baptism:—

Acts xvi. 29. Then he called for a light, and sprang in« 12*

and came trembling, and fell down before Panl and Silas. 30. And brought them out, and said. Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? 31. And they said. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32. And they spake «nto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes ; and .was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

Here observe, 1. The jailer, bringing Paul and Silas out of the prison, being persuaded that they were the servants of the true God, and were now delivered by his power from their unjust and cruel punishment; and deeply convinced, at the same time, of his own guilt and danger, urges them to tell him what he should do to be saved ! To this greatest of questions, he received a direct answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt he savedy and thy house. It is probable, many, if not all the jailer's family, alarmed at this awful event, ran to his assistance, as his life they would consider imminently in danger, both by the prisoners in order to escape, and especially by the law, if any had fled. Hence Paul indirectly spake to the whole. Believe^ and thou shalt he saved, yea, and thy house too, in the same way.

Doddridge. " Thou shalt he saved and thine house. The meaning cannot be that the eternal salvation of his family could be secured by his faith; but that if they also themselves believed, they should be entitled to the same spiritual and everiasting blessings with himself; which Paul might the rather add, as it is probable that many of them, under this terrible alarm, might have attended the master of the family into the dungeon." Fam, Expos, Note on the place.

2. We may next learn, from the text, in the most satisfactory manner, of what the jailer's household consisted; that they were not infants, or persons so young as to be incapable

of being taught the gospel, and of believing it; for thus we read, ver. 32, " They spake unto him the word of the Lord,

AND TO ALL THAT WERE IN HIS HOUSE." TMs household is

instructed^ instructed all, and then baptized. Infants, therefore, cannot here be included.

3. Luke farther describes the jailer and his household, and shows thereby how the Lord's commission was still strictly obeyed. Paul and Silas first preached the gospel to the whole house, as observed above ; and now we read, verse 34, the jailer rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house." Then it follows, he had no infant children, or those words cannot include them ; for of this faith they would be incapable.

Matthew Henry. " The voice of rejoicing, with that of salvation, was heard in the jailer's house,— he rejoiced, believing in God, vyith all his house: there was none in his house that refused to be baptized, and so made a jar in the ceremony, but they were unanimous in embracing the gospel, which added much to the joy." Eocpos, on the place.

Calvin is still more expressive. " Luke commends the pious zeal of the jailer, because he dedicated his whole house to the Lord; in which, also, the grace of God illustriously appeared, because it suddenly brought the whole eamily to a pious consent." Comment, in loco.

Inference. As the same pre-requisites to baptism are here specified, in relation to the jailer's family, as to himself, viz. : 1st, that the word of the Lord was spoken to them as to him ; and, 2d, that he and they equally believed in God, I must, on inspired authority, conclude, that we have here nothing more or less than a plain example of a believing household baptized, the whole being equally disciples of Christ; and as to the mode, that it was what the Lord sanctioned by his example and command, and nothing different therefrom.*

* Some, in opposing the practice of immersion, have imagined great difficulties in this case. They cannot conceive where the jailer could find a luitahle place, and especially in the nighty to receive the otdixAsi^^ \s^ "Qb^

21. Paul and HouseTvold Baptisms at GorirUh,

The next instance is the baptism of several persons at Corinth, where we now find the same Apostle exerting himself to the utmost for the spread of the Messiah's kingdom. Here, though many opposed ifiemselves, and bla^phemedj yet he zealously persevered, and his labors were crowned with success; for thus we read :— ^

Acts xviii. 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews thxit Jesus loas Christ. 8. And Crispus, the chief ruler pf the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house : and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized.

A church being formed in this place, Paul afterwards writes them two epistles. In the first of these, he laments the unhappy divisions that prevailed amongst them, in contending for different ministers, as if they had so many saviours, and

form. It is not for us, at this distance of time, to state the place, as the sacred historian has not done so. The Scriptures affirm that ''he and his were baptized:" what do these words mean ? We replj (from the sense of the word, and from the other Scriptures,) '' they were immersed in the name of the Lord Jesus." Then it falls to the part of our opponents to pbovb that they were not baptized in this way. These imagined diffieultiea have not a particle of weight upon that mind that admits that Christ's authority was Paul's only guide.

It may not be improper, howeyer, to remind the reader how exceedingly common the practice of cold bathing was, and still is, in the East. That frequent bathing was usual among the Grecians, Bomans, and now is in Turkey, in which country this city Philippi stood, is testified by

Lord Bacon. " It is strange that the use of bathing, as a part of diet, is left. With the Bomans and Grecians it was as usual as eating or sleeping ; and so it is amongst the Turks at this day." In Stennet^a Answer to Addirigton, p. 34.

Grotius, (the most learned and best informed man in Europe in his time,) held it as highly probable, from the practice of the country, that the jail at Philippi was provided with baths, which would admit of the ordinanoe in this form without delay.

had been baptized in their separate names. Upon which he reasons:—

1 Cor. i. 13. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul ? 14. I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gains. 16. Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. 16. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. It. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

Chap. xvi. 16. Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.

Paul at Corinth, as at all other places, begins his work by "testifying" to the people "the things concerning Jesus Christ," and by teaching, not by baptizing, he makes disciples to Christ. He continued his labors at Corinth a year and six months, in which time, "many hearing" his preaching, "believed, and were baptized." He himself baptized but few,.namely, Crispus, Gains, and the household of Stephanas, and in this he afterwards rejoiced, as none of them, in their angry contentions, and excessive partiality, could say "they were for Paul; for, Paul baptized them, and that in his own name;" for, he adds, the first and chief work for which Christ sent him, was, " not to baptize, but to preach the gospel."

It is not said, the household of Crispus were baptized, though, had it been so, it is certain they were proper subjects of the ordinance, agreeably to the words of the institution; for, he "believed on the Lord, with all his house." Their baptism, if obedient to Christ, was a matter of course.

The persons who composed "the house of Stephanas," (the last household said to be baptized,) are not described where their baptism is recorded; and had nothing, in any other place, been said of them, this would have been the only house left in svjcK uncertainty; but, as if it were the design of the Holy Spirit to leave no room for dispute, as to the proper peraoiifiL

to receive the ordinances of Christ, we find this family also described at the end of this epistle, as cited above: they were the "first fruits" of the word of God in Achaia, and "they addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints." They exerted themselves in acts of zeal and charity, in reference to their fellow, but poorer, or more afflicted disciples; and hence, (we scarcely need add) could not be infant children.

DoDDBiDGE. " They Jiave set themselves, <hc. This seems to "imply, that it was the generous care of the whole family to assist their fellow Christians; so that there was not a member of it which did not do its part." Fam, Expos, Note on the place.

Guise. " It therefore seems that the family of Stephanas were all adult believers, and so were baptized on their own personal profession of faith in Christ." On the place,

Hammond. "I think it unreasonable that the Apostle's bare mention of baptizing his [Stephanas'] household, should be thought competent to conclude that infants were baptized by him; when it is uncertain whether there were any such at all in his house." Works, Vol. I. p. 492. In Peed. Exam. Vol. 11. p. 358.

Macknight. " The family of Stephanas seem all to have been adults when they were baptized, for they are said, chap, xvi. 15, to have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints,^^ Apos, Epis, Note on 1 Cor. i. 16.

22. Refiection on the BapHsm of Households,

We have now found the record of Three Households baptized by the Apostle Paul, or Silas, his companion: Lydia% the Jailer^s and Stephanas*, If it were the constant practice of the Apostles to baptize children with their parents, (as our Psedobaptist Mends maintain,) we should reasonably have expected, and, no doubt, should have found, in various places of Scripture, after naming the baptism of believers, the words added, "and their children," or "and their little ones;" as families of young children are expressed in the Old Testa-

BAPTISM.

«!

ment. And I infer that this must have been a fact in many instances, because we find in this book many thousands of adults believing, and being baptized, or added to the Lord. See Acts ii. 41, iv. 4, v. 14, &c. Would it, then, be probable that three families only would be specified as families, while hundreds, or, it may be, thousands of other families, are not referred to in the most distant way ? This I conceive next to impossible, and, therefore, infer that the baptism oi families was comparatively of rare occurrence.

But in these three cases we have not the words " and their little ones;" nor yet " and their children;" (and this expression might be used without necessarily implying infants,) but the term " house" or " household'.' is used, which conveys no idea as to the age of the persons intended, nor whether they were the children or the servants of the heads of the femilies; and, therefore, had nothing been said descriptive of them, it would have been exceedingly inconclusive to have inferred a precedent fob infant baptism horn the use of the word household; because there are thousands, yea, millions of families that have no infant children. The writer of this pamphlet has baptized households, and, among others, a "Lydia and her household," and yet never baptized a child. From the word "household," therefore, to infer the baptism of infants, is completely begging the question. But, as my reader has seen, there is something said of these three households, which describes the constituents of them: from this it is DEMONSTRABLY CERTAIN, that the jailer's and Stephanas' were professedly believers in Christ, and that which is said of them is of infants impossible. And as to Lydia's, if " the brethren" Paul and Silas " comforted" in her house were her household, (and there were no other Christians in the city but the family they had just quitted,) there is no more uncertainty respecting them. Thus, while households out of number are referred to in the Scriptures, and nothing is added by which we could learn of what they consisted, it has pleased God to give such informa-

THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION.

tion of the baptized households, as to lead the reader to infer, that they all were (as the same Apostle testifies of the church of which Stephanas and his household were members) "called of God to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.'* 1 Cor. i. 9.

The celebrated Paedobaptist writers I have cited, candidly allow that the Scriptures, regarding these households, teach nothing further upon our inquiries than what I have endeavored to make plain to the reader. To his own judgment I cheerfully leave his decision.

2'3. Certain Disciples at Ephesus Baptized.

This is the ninth and last place, in the Acts of the Apostles, relative to our present inquiries. The question whether the persons here referred to were baptized tvyice, first with John's baptism, and now Christ's, does not affect the object of our examination.

Acts xix. 1. Paul, having past through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus; and finding certain disciples, 2. He said unto them. Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? And they said unto him. We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3. And he said unto them. Unto what then were ye baptized ? And they said. Unto John's baptism. 4. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance. Saying unto the people, That they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 6. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. T. And all the men were about twelve.

That in these persons we have an example of adult baptism is clear: For, 1. They are called "disciples."—2. They "believed. "—3. They "received the Holy Ghost."—4. They "spake with tongues and prophesied;" and were in number twelve

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MEN. We need not, therefore, add another word respecting them.

24. Conclusion of the Acts,

We have now, Christian reader, passed through all the Acts of the Apostles, and examined all the instances of the administration of this ordinance recorded ia this sacred history, and to this place, we can confidently assert. That we have nowhere found a single place or passage that describes^ records^ or implies the baptism of any infants. The reader will not suppose this a hasty conclusion, when he hears the following Psedobaptists:—

Goodwin. '^ Baptism supposes regeneration sure in itself first. Sacraments are never administered to begin, or vxyrk grace. Read all the Acts, still it is said, they believedf and were baptized.^^ Works, Vol. I. P. I. p. 200.

Me. T. Boston. " There is no example of baptism recorded in the Scriptures, where any were baptized but such as appeared to have a saving interest in Christ." WfyrkSf p. 384.

LiMBOBOH. " There is no instance can be produced, from which it may iudisputably be inferred that any child was baptized by the Apostles." Complete Syst. Div. B. V. Ch. xxii. § II.

Mr. Baxter. (The appeal he makes to Mr. Blake, in this place, might be made, with all confidence, to every Paedobap-tist.) " I conclude, that all examples of baptism in Scripture do mention only the administration of it to the professors of saving faith; and the precepts give us no other direction. And I provoke Mr. Blake, as far as is seemly for me to do, to name one precept or example for baptizing any other, and make it good if he can." Disput. of Bight to Sacram. p. 166. In Feed. Exam. Vol II. p. 29, 13

THE EPISTLES.

We now proceed, lastly, to examine those passages in the Apostolical Epistles, which refer to this ordinance.

25. Passages which contain an express allusion to Baptism.

Bom. vi. 3. Know ye not, that so many of ns as were baptized into Jesns Christ, were baptized into his death ? 4. Therefore we are bnried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised np from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Colos. ii. 12. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

The object of the Apostle Paul in these places, and their connection, is to show the churches to which he is writing, the necessity of a holy walk land conversation. To this end, he puts them in mind of their baptism, the profession they made in it, and the obligation they took upon themselves to live according to those truths symbolically taught by and in the ordinance. " Know ye not,*^ says he to the Komans, " th/it so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Ghrist,^^ into a profession of his religibn, " v}ere baptized into his death,^^ into a reliance upon, and conformity to his death, the great design of wMch was to take away sin; and, consequently, as our Lord died, and was buried on account of it, so should we die and be buried to the love and practice of it ? Then follows this plain and striking allusion to the particular act by which the rite in question is administered, in verse 4, which, with the same allusion in the Epistle to the Colossians, reads to this effect:—

" Therepobe (that is, to express this very design) we are BURIED BY and IN BAPTISM, with Chrfst our Lord; and as He was RAISED Tjp fron^ the dead by the glory of the Father, so

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are we at onr baptism, wherein we likewise are raised up to walk thenceforth in newness of life ; and this is not of oor-selves, bnt thbouqh the faith of the operation of God, who thus raised np his Son from the sepulchre to lire and reign forever."

In these places the Apostle does tioice describe baptism as efTecting a burial and a resurrection, and as such to be a continued representoMon of the burial and resurrection of Christy our Pattern and Lord; and this is realized only in immer-sum.

By these plain allusions to the Mode of the ordinance, the sense of the word '^ baptize" is most plainly exhibited and confirmed; and the necessity of ''going down into, and coining up otT OF the water"—of "baptizing in the Jordan," and where "there was much water;" (which phrases we found in connection with baptism,) is here evidently explained. Pffidobaptist divines, of the greatest celebrity for learning and information, have frankly allowed What we have above assert^ ed. We have no difficulty bnt in making such a selection as would be most highly esteemed by the reader. The following are, perhaps, the most unexceptionable that could be produced :—

Mr. Wall, Vicar of Shoreham, in Kent, and au^fwr of (hat famous work, " T?ie History of Infant Baptism,*^ for which he received the thanks of the whole clergy in conixh cation, " As to the manner of baptism then genendly used, the texts produced by every one that speaks of these matters, John iiL 23, Mark i. 5, Acts viii. 38, are undeniable proofs that the baptized person went ordinarily into the water, and sometimes the Baptist too. We should not know from these accounts whether the whole body of the baptized was put under water,.head and all, were it not for two later proofs, which seem to me to put it out of question : one, that St. Paul does twice, in an allusive way of speaking, call baptism a burial ; the other, the custom of the Christians, in the n.efi£

micceeding times, which, being more largely and particnlarly delivered in books, is known to have been generally, or ordinarily, a TOTAL DiMERSiON." Defence of (he History of Infani. Baptism, p. 131.

Aeohbishop Tillotson. " Anciently, those who were baptized, were immersed and buried in the water, to represent their death to sin; and then did rise up out of the water, to signify their entrance upon a new life. And to these customs the Apostle alludes, Rom. vi. 2-6." Works, Vol. I. Serm. vii. p. 1T9.

Abohbibhop Seckeb. " BuRTiNO, as it were, the person baptized in the water, and raising him out again, without question, was anciently the more usual method; on account of which Saint Paul speaks of baptism as representing both tiie death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and what is grounded on them-^-our being dead and buried to sin, and oui" rising again to walk in newness of life.*' Led. on Catechism, li. xxxv.

Me. Sam. Olaeke. " We are buried wUh Christ by bap^ tism, &c. In the primitive times the manner of baptizing was by immersion, or dipping the whole body into the water. And this manner of doing it was a very significant emblem of the dying and rising again, referred to by St. Paul, in the above-mentioned similitude." Eocpos, of the Church Catechism, p. 294, ed. 6.

Mr. Wells. "St. Paul here alludes to immersion, or dipping the whole body under water in baptism; which, he intimates, did typify the death and burial (of the person baptized) to sin, and his rising up out of the water did typify his resurrection to newness of life." Ulust, Bib. on Rom. vi. 4.

Me. Nicholson, Bishop of Gloucester. " In the grave with Christ we went not; for our bodies were not, could not be buried with his; but in baptism, by a kind of analogy or resemblance, while our bodies are under the water, we may be

said to be bxtbied with him. Expos, of the Church Caiechiam, p. 11L

Mb. DoDDBiDaE. " Buried wUh him in baptism. It seems the part of candor to confess, that here is an allusion to the manner of baptizing by immersion." Fam, Expos, Note on the place.

Mb. Geobge WmTEFnaj). "It is certain that in the words of our text, Rom. vi. 3, 4, there is an allusion to the manner of baptism, which was by immersion, which is what our own church allows," &c. Eighteen Sermons^ p. 29T.

Mb. John Wesley. " Buried with him —alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by inmiersion." Note on Kom. vi. 4.

Mb. Whitby, avihor cfa Commentary on the New Testa-mentf and mjore than forty other learned works. " It being so expressly declared here, Rom. yi. 4, and Col. ii. 12, that we are bubied with Christ in baptism, by being buried under water; and the argument to oblige us to a conformity to his death, by dying to sin, being taken hence; and this immersion being religiously observed by all Chbistians fob thibteen gentubies, and approved by our church, and the change of it into sprinkling, even without any allowance from the author of this institution, or any license from and council of the church, being that which the Romanist still urges to justify his refusal of the cup to the laity; it were to be wished that this custom might be again of general use, and aspersion only permitted, as of old, in case of the Clinici, or in present danger of death." Note on Rom. vi. 4.

The Apostle uses the figure of Planting, as well as of Burying, in allusion to baptism, verse 5. " If we have beei^ planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." This al^o is in perfect agreement with the same Mode of administering it. Thci eircumstance in nature, from which the figure is borrowed, is the same as that employed by our Lord, John xii. 24. "Except 13*

a com of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, bnt if it die, it bringeth forth mnch fmit." The seed to be planted must be buried in the soil; so the Christian in baptism is " planted in the likeness of the death, that he may be also in the likeness of the resurrection of his Lord."

Me. Macknight. " Planted together in the likeness of his death. The burying of Christ and of belieyers, first in the water of baptism, and afterwards in the earth, is fitly enough compared to the planting of seeds in the earth, because the effect, in both cases, is a reviyiscence to a state of greater perfection." Note on Rom. vi. 6.

Assembly of Divines. " If we have been planted together^ &c. By this elegant similitude, the Apostle represents to us, that as a plant that is set in the earth lieth as dead and immovable for a time, but after springs up and flourishes, so Christ's body lay dead for a while in the grave, but sprung up and flourished in his resurrection ; and we also, when we are baptized, are buried, as it were, in the water for a time, bnt after are raised up to newness of life." Annot in loco.

Inference. With certainty I may gather from the Scriptures at the head of this section, That the outward form of baptism in the apostolic age was a btjbial in water. It is made infinitely interesting to the heaft of a Christian by that which it was intended to represent, viz., the death, burial, and resurrection of the Redeemer; and here too I may infer the infinite and irresistible obligation the- baptized person is under to devote his life to that Lord to whose death and resurrection he is thus emblematically conformed in the baptismal rite: and I see also in these verses, by what principle and power this is all to be realized, "through faith, which is of the operation of God." In none destitute of that living principle can this intention of the ordinance be fulfilled. If sprinkling were the mode, and infants the subjects, these passages never could have been written. To the- baptism of believers alone, and that administered by immersion, will these passages apply.

26. Occasional Mention of Baptism,

Eph. iv. 6. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

1 Cor. xii. 13. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether toe be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Gal. iii. 27. For as many of yon as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

1 Cor. XY. 29. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? Why are they then baptized for the dead ?

To the Ephesians and Corinthians the Apostle is recommending peace and unity; that they should be all of one heart and mind, 80 that there be no schism in the body, as all were one in Christ. To urge which, he puts them in mind of what they had been uniformly taught, that there was but " One LoED, ONE Faith, one Baptism;" and that "all were baptized into ONE body, whether Jews or Gentiles." We should here observe, (what we have so frequently noticed before,) that the Apostle places faith before baptism, as Christ the great Lawgiver had done. He that believeth and is baptized. " One faithf one baptism,^^ If this passage were to be expressed according to the general practice of the present day, the order both of Christ and the Apostle must be "reversed,^' See Simeon, at p. 28.

In the above verse to the Chilatians, the Apostle is thought to be alluding to the change of garments which must necessarily take place after the administration of the ordinance; to which may allude the expressions " putting off the old man with his deeds," and "putting on the new man," Eph. iv. 22, 24; Col. iii. 9, 10; and especially, as here, "putting on Christ," as "the Lord our righteousness."

Adam Clarke. "When he [the person baptized] came up out of the water, he seemed to have a resurrection to life. He was therefore supposed to throw off his old Gentile state,

as he threw off his clothes, and to assume a new character, as the baptized generally put on new or fresh garments.'^ Comment, on Rom. vi. 4.

The last verse cited above, 1 Cor. xv. 29, has obtained many interpretations, as the meaning of the Apostle in the words, " for the dead," is not certain.

John Edwards. ''Some of the fathers hold that the Apostle's argument in the text is of this sort: If there should be no resurrection of the dead hereafter, why is baptism so significant a symbol of our dying and rising again, and also of the death and resurrection of Christ ? The immersion into the water was thought to signify the death of Christy and their coming out denotes his rising again, and did no less represent their own future resurrection." In StenheWs Anstoer to Ad-, dington, p. 105.

Magknight. ''Christ's baptism was an emblem of his future death and resurrection. In like manner, the baptism of believers is emblematical of their own death, burial, and resurrection." Apost, Epis, Note on Rom. vi. 4.

Inference, If faith fregeded baptism in the Apostles' days, and the persons who received that ordinance had imbibed the influence of thai one Spirit, and had put on Christ as the robe of righteousness, the spiritual adorning of their souls, hoping for their part in the first resurrection at His appearing and glory, it is most manifest, that none but a genuine convert to Christ could thus be baptized, or enjoy such high and delightful privileges.

2T. Baptism itlustraJted by Events recorded in the Old Testament.

These are the last passages we find in the New Testament which relate to the subject of our examination.

1 Cor. X. 1. Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2. And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

1 Pet. iii. 20. The long-suffering of Gfod Wdited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 31. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The better to understand the Apostle Paul, in the first pas-sj^e above, the reader would do well to peruse the account^ in the Old Testament, in Exod. xiv., to which he refers. In verse 22, we are told, that the Israelites " went into the midst of the Bed Sea upon dry ground,^^ that the water divided, opening a passage for them, and forming **a wall unto them on the right hand and on the left,'' We also learn, that "the cloud" which had conducted them, now removed its situation; stood between the two armies, and overspread and concealed the Israelites from their enemies; that it was bright, and " gave light^^ to the former, while it was "darkneas^^ toward the latter. It does not appear that any water a>ctvally tcmched the Israelites in any sense whatever; and hence, the word "baptized" must be used by the Apostle in a figurative sense; and if it has a reference to the mode, we have only to ask. Does the situation of the Jews, "m the cloudy and in the sea,^^ best agree to sprinkling uyUh water, or a total burialnn ti^? Peedo-baptists of the highest celebrity will answer:—

"WiTSixjs (says Mr. Booth) expounds the place to this efifect, ' How were the Israelites baptized in the cloud, and in the sea, seeing they were neither immersed in the sea, nor wetted by the cloud ? It is to be considered that the Apostle here uses the term 'baptism' in a figurative sense, yet there is some agreement to the external sign. The sea is water, and a cloud differs but little from water. The cloud hung over their heads, and the sea surrounded them on each side; and so the water in regard to those that are baptized."' In Peed. Exam. Vol. I. p. 185.

Whitby. " They were covered with the sea On both side^,

Exod. xi7. 22; so that both the clond and the sea had some resemblance to onr being corered with water in baptism Their going into the sea resembled the ancient rite of going into the water; and their coming ont of it, their rising up ont of the water." Ibid, p. 18T.

By the Apostle Peter, in the passage cited, we are taught that as Noah and his family '^ were saved by waJLer^^'* so baptism, the antitype of the water of the deluge, "now saves" the belieyer; not by a washing of his person, or a ceremonial purification, which cannot take away sin; but the water being a "like figure" in both cases, that is, ExmsiriNa Ghkist and HIS merits, the believer is saved by the saored reality 9ignir fied. In this case baptism is " The ansioer of a good con-sQvence toward God:^^ both the answer given to inquiry at baptism, and the subsequent testimony of the mind to God^ are conscierUioiLSf being in accordance with a sincere and heartfelt faith in the merits of the dying and rising Saviour.

Owen. "I deny not but that there is a great analogy be* tween the salvation by the ark, and that by baptism, inasmuch as the one did represent^ and the other doth exhibit Christ himself." On Hebrews, Vol. IV. p. 138, WiUiams's Abr.

Magknioht. " This answer of a good coTiscienoe being made to God, is an inward answer, and means the baptized person's sincere persuasion of the tMngs which, by submitting to baptism, he professes to believe ; namely, that Jesus arose from the dead, and that at the last\day he will raise all from the dead to eternal life, who sincerely obey him." Apost. Epist, Note in loc.

Inference, If the exercise of " a good conscience" is associated with the ordinance of baptism, in none but a believer in Christ can this union be realized.

28. Conclusion of the New Testament,

Having now, my reader, completed the chief design of this pamphlet, in transcribing and laying before you every passage of this sacred volume that relates to the subject of our inquiry,

and contains any infonnation, whether on the mbjectSf mode, or spiritual design of baptism, I have, I humbly hope, fulfilled the title I have assumed, in presenting you with "the scripture GUIDE TO BAPTISM." OuT'Divine Master commanded us to "search the Scriptures," and I have no doubt but that it would meet with His gracious approbation, if this plan were adopted, in reference to any subject pertaining to His cause or kingdom. " To the word and to the testimony," is an inspired maxim in theology, and one from which no Protestant will dissent. "Ye do err," said our Redeemer, "not knowing the Scriptures."

We ought, therefore, now to be able to answer the three Inquuies proposed at the begmning:

I. Who are proper subjects of Christian baptism, according to the authority of Christ, and the practice of his Apostles ?

Answer, We have met with the baptism of many thousands of persons, and the ordinance administered on many different occasions; but we have no where found, through all this sacred book, any one person baptized (Christ excepted) that we have the slightest reason to suppose was not first INSTRUCTED in the doctrines of the gospel, and had professed to BELIEVE ; but this is either expressly testified, or so implied of all, as to leave no just ground of dispute.