Pædobaptism examined : with replies to the arguments and objections of Dr. Williams and Mr. Peter Edwards

'^.

PRINCETON, N. J.

\

Presented by Mr. Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa.

A g 11 CIV Coll. on Baptism, No.

v.

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This Tablet

'was erected ty die Chirrck ia ol-atefiil Remeniba'anc*'
of th.eia" teloved and venerable rastoi"
ABRAJHAAl BOOTH.
wSijo with. unremitted Fidelitv discharg'edliiB AfinisteiiaLLaboure
in this Flace. Thirty -seTeiiYeai's.
■. nifenandas a Chxietiaii.lLe-was Mdlilv ^wid deservedly esteemed
as g Mini ster.lie was solertui and devout-
His addresses "were perspiciioiis.eneroVtic. and impressive,
th» vwere directed to l3ie imderstandiu^' tlie com'iene^.and tbe Heart
ProfoTind luiOTvledo'esonud Wisdom luid imalieeted Fiety
■^vere atritiny'lT es**m]>lified
iu the conduct of this eicelleut Man,
Til liini. the Foorliave lost aliuman** an<l ^Vuerons Beue&ctor
Tlie afflicted and the Distrefsed a"wiee and sympathetic Counsellor
and this Clmx'cli ,
a disinteivsted aflectionate andfaithfiilFastor ,
noi Toll Jub ^Nani*- or liis "Writing's be foi\t'otten .
g^\liil Ev-mbelit UTinith (.haUbt* rereivd.Geiiins atuniredormte^iitvRespecttiii
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P^DOBAPTISM EXAMINED;

REPLIES

itrgumeiit^ Binta ^hiution^

DR. WILLIAMS AND MR. PETER EDWARDS.

BY ABRAHAM BOOTH.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

PRINTED FOR EBENEZER PALMER,

18, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON,
MDCCCXXIX,

T. Bensley, Printer, 9, Cnmo-court, Fleet-street.

ADVERTISEMENT

THIRD EDITION.

The Treatise of the late Reverend Abraham Booth,
entitled " Paedobaptism Examined," &c. having become
very scarce, and being regarded by us, as a standard
work on that subject, we feel great pleasure in seeing
this new and complete Edition presented to the
Public.

While we are aware that the character of the
learned, pious, and venerated Author, and the admitted
sterling and intrinsic worth of these publications, render
any recommendation from us quite superfluous, we
must acknowledge our obligations to John Satchell,
Esq. for the compilation of a complete Index to the
whole, and also for the great attention that gentleman
has paid to the Work, while passing through the press ;

ADVERTISEMENT,

and to Mr. Ebenezer Palmer, the publisher, who
has spared no expense in rendering this Edition worthy
the patronage of the public.

(Signed) JOHN RIPPON, D. D. London.

ISAIAH BIRT, Hackney.

WILLIAM STEADMAN, D. D. President of the Baptist
Academy, Bradford, Yorkshire.

WILLIAM NEWMAN, D.D. London.

JOSEPH KINGHORN, Norwich.

JOSEPH IVIMEY, London.

THOMAS GRIFFIN, London.

GEORGE PRITCHARD, London.

F. A. cox, LL.D. Hackney.

ISAAC MANN, A.M. London.

MICAH THOMAS, President of the Baptist Academy,
Abergavenny.

T. C. EDMONDS, A. M. Cambridge.

THOMAS MORGAN, Birmingham.

RICHARD PENGILLY, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

W. H. MURCH, Theological Tutor of the Baptist Academy,
Stepney.

JOHN DYER, Secretary to the Baptist Missionary Society.

SAMUEL SAUNDERS, Liverpool.

BENJAMIN GODWIN, Classical Tutor of the Baptist
Academy, Bradford, Yorkshire.

EDWARD STEANE, Camberwcll.

THOMAS PRICE, London.

JAMES EDWARDS, Shipley.

London,
November 26, 1828.

PiEDOBAPTISM EXAMINED,

PRINCIPLES, CONCESSIONS,

REASONINGS

MOST LEARNED P^DOBAPTISTS.

BY ABRAHAM BOOTH.

" As certain also of your own poets have said." — Paul.

" This testimony of theirs, to me, is worth a thousand others; seeing it comes
from such as, in my opinion, are evidently interested to speak quite other-
wise."— Daille'.

" How happy it is to have to do with people that will talk pro and con ! By
this means you furnish me with all I wanted ; which was, to make you confute
yourselves." — Pascal.

VOL. I.

/

PREFACE

^•^ CI

Li-asoi'O

SEHlS^

Having observed, for a course of years, that many of
the most learned and eminent Paedobaptists, when
theological subjects are under discussion, frequently
argue on such principles, admit of such facts, interpret
various texts of scripture in such a manner, and make
such concessions, as are greatly in favour of the Baptists;
I extracted a number of passages from their publica-
tions, and made many references to others, which I
thought might be fairly pleaded against infant sprink-
ling.* On reviewing these quotations and memoranda,
I concluded, merely for my own private use, to employ
some leisure hours in transcribing and arranging them,
under different heads of the Psedobaptist controversy.

When I had made a considerable progress in the
work of transcription and arrangement, Mr. Henry's
Treatise on Baptism fell into my hands. f Prepossessed

* N. B. As the terms infant sprinkling, wherever they occur in
this Treatise, are used merely by way of distinction, and not of
contempt ; so the expressions, VieAo-baptism, and infant baptism,
are used in compliance with general custom j not because the author
thinks an infant is baptized, on whom water has been solemnly
poured or sprinkled.

f The Monthly Reviewers, after pronouncing this " the most
popular defence of infant baptism and of the mode of sprink-
ling that hath appeared," very justly add^ "Some reflections, how-
ever, which he casts on their [the Baptists] mode of baptism (which,
perhaps, the editor might as well have omitted,) — are scarcely con-
sistent vjith that candour and liberality which might have been ex-
pected from the author, and which, had he been now livings he
would probably have discovered.'' Monthly Review, for April 1784,
p. 313. My reader may see in what an illiberal manner Mr. Henry
has reflected on the baptismal immersion, and some animadver-
sions upon it. Vol. I. Chap. IV. Reflect. VII. p. 231, this edition.

b 2

Vlll PREFACE.

Oi a high regard for the character of that worthy au-
thor, I perused the treatise with care. Not convinced,
however, by any thing contained in it, that the sprink-
hng of infants is an appointment of Christ; and being
fully persuaded that Mr. Henry had employed his learn-
ing and zeal in defence of an unscriptural ceremony; I
determined to prosecute the subject with greater appli-
cation, and to publish the result of my enquiries and
thoughts concerning it. Such was the occasion of this
publication.

The method of arguing here adopted, is far from
being either novel or unfair: it has been used, by the
spirit of infallibility against Pagans;* by Christians
againsts the Jews;f by the Reformed against Roman
Catholics; and by Protestant Dissenters against our
English Conformists.:}: It is, in a particular manner,
employed and pursued by the author of Popery con-
futed by Papists; a book, indeed, which I had not seen,
till the far greater part of these pages was composed.
The following words of that anonymous writer may be
justly applied, mutatis mutandis, to the present subject.
" I will call the church of Rome for a witness to our
cause; and if she do not plainly confess the antiquity of
our tenets, and the novelty of her own ; if she herself do
not proclaim the universality of our faith; if she do not

* Acts xvii. 28 J Titus i. 12.

f So Witsius, for instance, in his Jiidaeus Christianizans/p, 276 —
402} and Hoornbeekius, Contra J lulfeos, 1. ii.c.i.j l.iv. c.ii.

J A remarkable instance of this kind, is mentioned by Mr, Peirce,
who having informed us, that Kp. Hoadly and Mr. Ollyfe wrote
against Dr. Calamy, in defence of their own Conformity, adds; "It
happened, as is very usual with our adversaries, that these two de-
fended conformity upon different princij)les. Dr. Calamy, there-
fore, in liis answer, set their arguments one against another, and so
handsomely defended our cause — that the Dissenters looked upon
themselves obliged, not only to the doctor for his defejice, but to
his antagonists, who gave him the occasion of writing." V'indicat.
of Dissent, part i. p. 282.

PREFACE. IX

confess that we are both in the more certain and safe
way in the Protestant church, I will neither refuse the
name" * — of an Anabaptist, nor any part of that cen-
sure which is due to such a character.

Though I do not approve of every sentiment con-
tained in the following quotations produced on behalf
of the Baptists, yet, as the generality of those P^edo-
baptists, from whose writings the extracts were made,
must be considered as persons of learning and eminence
in the several communions to which they belonged;
and as no small number of them were famous pro-
fessors in Protestant universities, their declarations,
in the argumentum ad hominem, cannot but have the
utmost weight. Nor can their testimonies, concerning
the signification of Greek terms, or the practice of the
church in former ages, be hastily rejected, without in-
curring the imputation of gross ignorance, of enormous
pride, or of shameful precipitancy. Considering the
quotations adduced, and the characters of those writers
from whom they were taken, it is presumed, that the
leading ideas of another paragraph, in Popery confuted
by Papists, may be here applied. " If these witnesses
had been ignorant and unlearned men, or excommu-
nicate persons in their own church -— there might be
some plea why their testimonies should not be admitted.
But when the points in question are articles of their
own creed; when they are witnessed by popes, by coun-
cils, by cardinals, by bishops, by learned doctors and
schoolmen in their own church, on our behalf, and
against their own tenets; I see no cause why I should
not demand judgment in defence of our church, and
trial of our cause. It is the law of God and man, ' I
will judge thee out of thine own mouth.' "f Thus also
Mr. Claude, when confuting the Roman Catholics; "I
will make their authors that are not suspected by them

* Popery confuted by Papists, sect. viii. p. 43,
f Ut supra, sect.x, p. 152.

X PREFACE.

to speak, whose passages 1 will faithfully translate, which
they may see in the originals if they will take the
pains." * To which I may add the following words of
another Pasdobaptist, which are considered by him as a
kind of axiom. " The confessions of enemies, and cir-
cumstances favourable to any body of men, collected
from the writings of their adversaries, are deserving of
particular regard." f Testimonium Adversarii contra se
Validissimnm.

The reader will find, that our auxiliaries in this dis-
pute are both numerous and respectable; for while a
multitude of Paidobaptists reluctantly concede this, that,
and the other, in support of immersion upon a pro-
fession of faith, those M'ho may be justly esteemed
impartial judges of the evidence produced on both sides
of this debate, very cheerfully award the cause to us.
Yes, those disinterested Friends, the people called
Quakers, without so much as one exception occurring
to observation, pour in their attestations on our behalf,
and treat infant sprinkling as a merely human inven-
tion.

Though I am not conscious of having misrepre-
sented the meaning of any Paedobaptist, whose testi-
mony is produced, yet, as the quotations are very
numerous, and as many of them are translated from the
Latin, it is possible that mistakes may be discovered,
by those readers who accurately compare my quotations
with the writers from whom they were taken. Such
mistakes, it is hoped, however, will be found compara-
tively few, and of trifling importance. I am persuaded,

* Defence of Reformation, part ii. p. 127.

f Dr. Priestley's Letters to Dr. Horsley, p. 137. " What," says
the learned Chamier, " can be a more convincing proof, than that
which arises from the confession of an adversary ? " Panstrat. torn. iv.
1. viii. c. ix. § 4. Conformably to which, Mr. Travis, when speaking
of a particular fact, says : It " is proved by the best testimony pos-
sible, the acknowledgment of an adversary." Letters to Mr. Gib-
bon, lett. iii. edit. 2nd.

PREFACE. Xr

therefore, that the judicious and candid will impute them
to inadvertency, or ignorance, rather than to a disinge-
nuous intention.

A learned foreigner has justly observed, that while
all Christians deservedly acknowledge the Bible as a
divine revelation, it has fallen out, that every one desires
to find in that sacred volume whatever in his own ima-
gination seems divine ; and that men are so wonder-
fully happy in this respect, as hardly ever to complain
of being disappointed, or of having lost their labour, in
searching the sacred records for what they wanted ; but
all, in the language of self-gratulation, repeat the old
evpYjKoc of Archimedes, / have found it ! I have found
it!* — "It is but too frequently," says Mr. Placette,
" that we see truth clashing with our temporal interests,
with the secret bias of our hearts, with our most violent
passions, and with other things which we make the
ordinary measures of our conduct. Whenever this
happens, we ought to despise these vain interests, to
stifle these inclinations, to repress these criminal mo-
tions, and in all our proceedings to stick close to the
unalterable rule of truth. But we cannot bring our-
selves to such a resolution : on the quite contrary, ^e
endeavour to ply and bend this rule ; and instead of
conforming ourselves to it, would have it conform to
ourselves. Not being able to change it, because it is
really constant and perpetual, our next attempt is to
change our own judgment about it. We try to persuade
ourselves out of its directions ; and, with much pains
and labour, we come at length to succeed in our design.
No man can, indeed, be ignorant of that mighty sway
which the heart bears over the understanding. Accord-
ing to the order of nature, and the intention of its divine
Author, it is the understanding that ought to guide the
heart, and to be set up as its faithful lamp and light;
but in common experience we see the reverse of this.

* Werenfelsii Opuscula^ p. 376^ ^zr.

XU PREFACE.

The heart draws aside the understanding that way to
which itself inclines; and if it fail to do this imme-
diately, and by absolute command, it carries its point by
time and stratagem. — It hinders the intellective power
from attending to such, reasons as are disagreeable to
itself, and keeps it perpetually busied about the opposite
arguments. — It makes us look on the former with a
secret desire, that they may prove false ; and on the
latter, with a most unjust wish that we may find them
true : and then, no wonder if it be successful in its arts,
and if it effectually lead us into error." *

Very important is that declaration of our Lord ; " If
any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself:"
with which the following direction of Bp. Taylor agrees:
" If a man enquires after truth earnestly, as after things
of great concernment ; if he prays to God to assist, and
uses those means which are in his hand, and are his best
for the finding it ; if he be indifferent to any proposition,
and loves it not for any consideration, but because he
thinks it true ; if he will quit any interest rather than
lose a truth ; if he dares own what he hath found and
believed ; and if he loves it so much the more, by how
much he believes it more conducing to piety and the
honour of God ; he hath done what a good and wise
man should do : he needs not regard what any man
threatens, nor fear God's anger when a man of another
sect threatens him with damnation. For he that heartily
endeavours to please God, and searches what his will is,
that he may obey it, certainly loves God ; and nodiing
that loves God can perish." f — Such is the rule of our
duty in this respect ; but as we are far from being insen-
sible of our liability to be influenced by prejudices and
corrupt affections in our enquiries after the mind of God

* Christian Casuist, b. ii. chap, xxiii.

f Ductor Dubitant. p. 755, See Mr. Locke's Conduct of the
Understanding, sect, xi.

PREFACE. Xlll

respecting the ordinance of baptism, it is no small satis-
faction to lind, that our most learned and eminent op-
posers have said so much in favour of immersion, upon
a profession of faith, as the appointment of Jesus Christ.
For, as Dr. Owen observes, " Truth and good company
will give a modest man confidence."*'

In proportion as I have become acquainted with the
Popish controversy, and with that between our English
Episcopalians and Protestant Dissenters, the more have
I been convinced, that there is a remarkable similarity be-
tween the arguments used by Roman Catholics in defence
of Popery; by our Conformists, in support of their Esta-
blishment ; and by Pasdobaptists in general, in favour of
infant sprinkling. It gives me, therefore, peculiar plea-
sure to find, that the general principles on which I oppose
Peedobaptism, are the very same with those upon which
the Reformed have always proceeded, in confuting the
Papal system, and upon which Protestant Dissenters
argue against the constitution, government, and unscrip-
tural rites of the English church. By these consider-
ations, I am the more confirmed in my disapprobation of
infant sprinkling. Agreeable to which are the following
words of Dr. Calamy, when speaking of the persecuted
Nonconformists, and of their leading principles : " They
were the more confirmed in their adherence to these
principles,, by finding the most eminent divines of the
church forced to make use of the very same in their
noble defence of the Reformation against the Roman-
ists; and, indeed, it seemed to them remarkable, that
those which were reckoned by the clergy the most suc-
cessful weapons against the Dissenters, should be the
same that are used by the Papists against the Protestant
Reformation."'!'

In the course of my reflections on the language and

* Vindication against Sherlock, p, 41.

f Nonconformist's Memorial^ Introduct. p. 53.

XIV PREFACE.

arguments of some Pa?dobaptists, the reader will meet
with a few strokes of pleasantry. It is presumed, how-
ever, that he will have no reason to complain of ill
temper, or of a want of benevolence to any from whom
I conscientiously differ. For though it appears, from
several quotations, that the harshest things have been
said of the Baptists by some of their opposers;* and
though it must be acknowleged the Baptists have some-
times retorted in an unbecoming manner; yet, as every
one must confess, that " the wrath of man worketh not
the righteousness of God," so it may be observed of the
cause that is here pleaded,

Non tali auxilio, nee defensorihus istis.

Some persons, to avoid the labour of thinking, and
to keep their consciences easy in a compliance with
prevailing custom, pronounce baptism a controverted
point; and then infer, that all disputes about the mode
and subjects of the ordinance, are not only stale and un-
important, but unworthy the character of any who profess
a warm regard for the interests of moral virtue, or for
the person, the atonement, and the grace of Jesus Christ.
That baptism has been the subject of much controversy
must be allowed ; but then I will say, with Bp. Hurd ;
" Show me the question in religion, or even in common
morals, about which learned men have not disagreed ;
nay, show me a single text of scripture, though ever so
plain and precise, which the perverseness or ingenuity of
interpreters has not drawn into different, and often con-
trary meanings. What then shall we conclude? that
there is no truth in religion, no certainty in morals, no
authority in sacred scripture ? If such conclusions as
these be carried to their utmost length, in what else can

* Dr, Featley acknowledges that, when writing; against the
Baptists, " he could hardly dip his pea in any other liquor than the
juice of gall.'' In Crossby's Hist, liap. vol. i. Pref. p. 5. See
Backus's Church Hist, of New Eng. vol. ii. p. 323, 324.

PREFACE. XV

they terminate, but absolute universal scepticism ?" * I
may add, in the words of Dr. Waterland, " As long as
religion [or any particular branch of it,] is held in any
value or esteem, and meets with opposers, it must occa-
sion warm disputes. Who would wish that it should
not ? What remedy is there for it, while men are men,
which is not infinitely worse than the disease? A total
contempt of religion, [or an universal and absolute indif-
ference for any particular article in it,] might end all
disputes about it; nothing else will."f

It must, indeed, be acknowledged, that positive rites,
forms of worship, and ecclesiastical order, are not of
equal importance with doctrines that immediately respect
the object of our worship, as rational creatures ; the
ground of our hope, as criminals deserving to perish ; or
the source of our blessedness, as intended for an im-
mortal existence. Nor is the most punctual perform-
ance of a ritual service, detached from faith in Christ
and benevolence to man, worthy of being compared with
truly devotional principles and virtuous tempers, though
attended with much ignorance relating to the positive
parts of divine w-orship. But is this a sufficient reason
for treating the law of baptism as of little or no im-
portance — as if it were obsolete, or as if our great
Legislator had no meaning when he enacted it ? That
mutilation of the sacred supper, which is practised in
the Romish communion, has been sharply opposed and
loudly condemned by all denominations of Protestants :
and is it not lawful, is it not matter of duty, to oppose
and condemn such an outrage on divine authority and
primitive example ? Are we not required to contend
earnestly, but with virtuous dispositions, for every branch
of that faith which was once delivered to the saints ? If,
therefore, infants be solemnly sprinkled by divine right,
it must be the indispensable duty of Paedobaptists to

* Introduct. to Study of Prophecies, serm. viii.
f Importance of Doct. of Trinity, p. 206.

XVI PREFACE.

contend for it ; but if, on the contrary, infant sprinkling
be a human invention, the Baptists are equally bound to
oppose it, as deserving to be banished from the worship
of God, where it has long usurped the place of a divine
institution. If Christ be the only Lord and Lawgiver
in his own kingdom, then certainly it is far from being a
matter of indifference whether the laws \Ahich he enacted
be regarded or not : for, with equal reason, might any
one question, whether our Saviour should be believed, in
what he declares ; as whether he should be obeyed, in
what he commands. Under the fair pretext of charity,
forbearance, and Catholicism, we might, with JNIelancthon
and other adiaphorists in the sixteenth century, consider
the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the number of
the sacraments, the jurisdiction claimed by the pope,
extreme unction, the observation of Popish festivals, and
several superstitious rites, as things indifferent : * or,
with others, we might assert the innocence of mental
error in matters of doctrine and of worship ; and so, by
unavoidable consequence, render the Bible itself of little
worth.

It has been often asserted, both by ancients and
moderns, that the followers of Christ should never seek
for peace at the expense of truth, nor of religious duty.
Thus, for example, Hilary, bishop of Poictiers : " The
name of peace is, indeed, very specious, and the mere ap-
pearance of unity has something splendid in it ; but who
knows not, that the church and the gospel acknowledge no
other peace than that which comes from Jesus Christ, that
which he gave to his a postles before the glory of his passion,
and that which he left in trust with them by his eternal

command, when he was about to leave them?"t Dr.

Owen: " We are not engaged in an enquiry merely after

* See Mosheim's Ecclos. Hist. cent. xvi. sect. iii. part. ii. § "^^S..
Venemae Hist. Eccles. secul. xvi. § 156.

f In Claude's Defence of Reformation, part iii. p. 3.

PREFACE. XVll

peace, but after peace with truth. Yea, to lay aside the
consideration of truth, in a disquisition after peace and
agreement, in and about spiritual things, is to exclude a
regard unto God and his authority, and to provide only
for ourselves. . . .The rule of unity, as it is supposed to
comprise all church communion, falls under many re-
strictions. For herein the special commands of Christ,
and institutions of the gospel committed unto our care
and observance, falhng under consideration, our practice
is precisely Hmited unto those commands, and by the
nature of those institutions .... We are not obliged to
accommodate any of the ways or truths of Christ unto

the sins and ignorance of men."* J. A. Turrettin :

" There ought to be no charity without truth; no charity
that is an injury to truth; no charity which causes us to
offend against the truth. . . .For this ought not to be
called charity, but a confederation and a conspiracy of
error. ' We wish,' says Jerome, ' for peace; and we
not only wish, but also pray for it : but it is the peace
of Christ, true peace, peace in which no war is in-
volved.' Otherwise, as Nazianzen teaches, ' war is
more eligible than that peace which separates us from

God.'"t Mr. Henry: "The method of our prayer

must be, first for truth, and then for peace; for such
is the method of the wisdom that is from above; it
isjirst pure, then peaceable.'" % With this both prophets
and apostles agree; for their language is, Love the truth,
and peace — Speaking the truth in love. §

The folly and impiety of pleading for charity and
peace, at the expense of divine truth and of religious
duty, are well represented and properly chastised by a
Paedobaptist author, in the following manner : " A con-
siderable succedaneum for the Christian unity, is the
Catholic charity; which is like the charity commended

* Discourse on Evangelical Love and Peace, p. 17, 24, 233.
f Oratio do Theologo Veritatis et Pacis Studioso.
X Exposit. on Rom. xv. 5.
§ Zcch. viii. 19; Eph. iv. 15.

XVIII PREFACE.

by Paul, in only this one instance, that it groweth e.v-
ceedingly. — Among the stricter sort, it goes under the
name oi forbear mice. We shall be much mistaken if we
think that, by this soft and agreeable word, is chiefly meant
the tenderness and compassion inculcated by the pre-
cepts of Jesus Christ and his apostles. It strictly means
an agreement to differ quietly about the doctrines and
commandments of the gospel, without interruption of
visible fellowship. They distinguish carefully between
fundamentals^ or things necessary to be believed and
practised ; and circumstantials^ or things that are indif-
ferent. Now, whatever foundation there may be for
such a distinction in human systems of religion, it cer-
tainly looks very ill-becoming in the churches of Christ,
to question how far He is to be believed and obeyed.
Our modern churches. . . .have nearly agreed to hold all
those things indifferent which would be inconvenient and
disreputable; and to have communion together, in ob-
serving somewhat like the customs of their forefathers.
Many of the plainest sayings of Jesus Christ and the
apostles are treated with high contempt, by the advo-
cates of this forbearance. — The common people are
persuaded to believe, that all the ancient institutions of
Christianity were merely local and temporary, excepting
such as the learned have agreed to be suitable to these
times; or, which have been customarily observed by their
predecessors. But it would well become the doctors in
divinity to show, by what authority any injunction of
God can be revoked, besides his own; or, how any man's
conscience can be lawfully released by custom, example,
or human authority, from observing such things as vvere
instituted by the apostles of Christ in his name. . . .This
corrupt forbearance had no allowed place in the primi-
tive churches. The apostle, in the Epistle to the Ephe-
sians, required of them, to adorn their vocation ' with
all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbear-
ing one another, in love.' But had they dispensed

PREFACE. XIX

with the laws of Christ, for convenience and ease, it had
been forbearing one another in hatred; for those laws
were expressions of his love ; the most fervent love that
was ever shown among men, directed by infallible wis-
dom. Whosoever, therefore, would obliterate them, or
any how attempt to change them, must either suppose
himself wiser than Jesus Christ, or a greater friend to
mankind. He must be moved, either by an enormous
self-conceit, or by the spirit of malevolence. .. .The
more thinking part of religious men, observing what
great mischiefs have arisen from contentions about
truth, — have found it most desirable to let truth alone,
and to concern themselves chiefly about living profitably
in civil society. To be of some religion, is but decent;
and the interests of human life require that it be popular
and comphant. If men have different notions of Jesus
Christ, his divinity, his sacrifice, his kingdom, and the
customs of his religion, even from what the apostles
seemed to have; charity demands that we think well of
their religious characters, notwithstanding this. It is
unbecoming the modesty of wise men to be confident on
any side; and contending earnestly for opinions, injures
the peace of the Christian church. Thus kind and hum-
ble is modern charity ! Instead of rejoicing in or with
the truth, it rejoiceth in contemplating the admirable
piety that may be produced from so many different, yea,
opposite principles .... The Christians of old time were
taught, not to dispute about the institutions of their Lord,
but to observe them thankfully; and hereby they expressed
their affection to him and to each other. If that affection
be granted to be more important than the tokens of it, it
would be unjust to infer that the latter have no obliga-
tion; which would imply, that Christ and the apostles
meant nothing by their precepts. The Methodists have
not, indeed, gone so f^ir as their spiritual Brethren [the
Quakers] have done, in rejecting all external cere-
monies; but they are taught to believe, that all con-

XX PREFACE.

cern about the ancient order and customs of the
Christians is mere party-spirit, and injurious to the
devout exercises of the heart. Thus the modern charity
vaunts itself, in answering better purposes than could
be accomplished by keeping the words of Christ. It
produces a more extensive and generous communion,
and animates the devotion of men, without perplexing
them by uncertain doctrines or rigorous self-denial ....
Although it supposes some revelation from God, and
some honour due to Jesus Christ, it claims a right to
dispense with both — to choose what, in his doctrine and
religion, is fit to be beheved and observed."*

While, however, we think it our duty with a reso-
lute perseverance to maintain the purity and import-
ance of baptism, as a divine institution ; we are far from
considering ourselves as the only disciples of Christ, or
our own communities as the only Christian churches.
Nor is an idea of that kind justly inferable from our deny-
ing communion at the Lord's table to Paedobaptists.f
Respecting this particular, Dr. Owen says; " There is no
necessity that any should deny all them to be true
churches, from whom they may have just reason to
withdraw their communion. . . .When we judge of our
own communion with them, it is not upon this question,
Whether they are true churches, or not? as though the
determination of our practice did depend solely thereon.
For as we are not called to judge of the being of their
constitution, as to the substance of it, unless they are
openly judged in the scripture, as in the case of idolatry
and persecution persisted in; so a determination of the
truth of their constitution, or that they are true churches,
will not presently resolve us in our duty, as to commu-
nion with them .... It is most unwarrantable rashness

* Strictures upon Modern Simony, p. 48 — 55. Luther, in his
vehement manner, says ; " Maledicta sit charitas quse servatur cum
jactura doctrinEe fidei, cui omnia cedere debent, charitas, apostohis,
angelus e ctclo." Comment, in Epist. adGalat.

f Sec my Apology for the Baptists.

PREFACE. XXI

and presumption, yea, an evident fruit of ignorance, or
want of love, or secular private interest, when, upon
lesser differences, men judge churches to be no true
churches, and their ministers to be no true ministers."*
The same excellent author says; " There is nothing
more clear and certain, than that our Lord Christ. . . .
never joined with [the Jews] in the observance of their
own traditions and pharisaical impositions, but warned
all his disciples to avoid them and refuse them ; whose
example we desire to follow:, for, concerning all such
observances in the church, he pronounced that sentence,
' Every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted
shall be rooted up."'t

It is against what the author considers as an error
■ in sentiment, and a corruption of worship, that the fol-
lowing Examination of Paedobaptism makes its appear-
ance : errors, not persons, are here opposed. He thinks,
with Mr, Leigh, that we should '' distinguish between
loving of men's persons and their errors;" J and, with
Bp. Burnet, that " whatever moderation or charity we
may owe to men's persons, we owe none at all to their
errors, and to that frame which is built on and supported
by them."§ Nay, as Dr. Waterland in another case
observes, " While we are of a contrary judgment, it
cannot but be guilty practice and conduct in us, and
very great too, to smother our sentiments, or not to bear
our testimony in such a way as Christ has appointed,
against all notorious corruptions, either of faith, or wor-
ship, or doctrine." II

Should this Examination of Paedobaptism have the
honour of being regarded as deserving an answer, and

* Discourse on Evangelical Love and Church-Peace, p. 82, 83,
84. See Plain Reasons for Dissenting from the Church of England,
part i. reason i. ; and Stapferi Theolog. Polem. torn. i. p. 518.

t Enquiry into Orig. and Nature of Churches, p. 253.

X Treatise on Relig. and Learning, b. i. chap vii.

§ In Mr. Robinson's Plan of Lectures, Motto.

11 Importance of Doct. of Trinity, p. 135.
VOL. I. C

\

XXll PREFACE.

should any of our opposers write against me, it will not
avail to refute some particular parts of the work, de-
tached from the general principles on which I proceed.
No ; the data., the principal gTomids of reasoning, which
are adopted from Paedobaptists themselves, must be
constantly kept in view, or nothing to the honour of
infant sprinkling will be effected. For as the grand
principles on which my argumentation proceeds, and
whence my general conclusions are drawn, are those of
Protestants when contending with Papists, and those of
Nonconformists when disputing with English Episco-
pahans; it will be incumbent on such opposer to show,
either that the principles themselves are false, or that
my reasoning upon them is inconclusive. Now, as I do
not perceive how any Protestant can give up those prin-
ciples, without virtually admitting the superstitions of
Popery; nor how they can be deserted by any Dissenter,
without implicitly renouncing his Nonconformity; so I
conclude, that the whole force of any opponent must be
employed in endeavouring to prove, that I have reasoned
inconsequentially from those principles. That this might
be easily proved, I am not at present convinced; and
whether any of our Paedobaptist Brethren will consider
this publication as of sufficient importance to excite such
an attempt, is to me uncertain.

To the conclusions inferred from those very nume-
rous concessions which our opposers have made, (and
my reader will find that many of the greatest eminence
among them have been the most free in making con-
cessions,) it may, perhaps, be objected : " Notwithstand-
ing all their concessions, they continued in the profession
and practice of infant baptism." Granted; but then it
should be considered, that this objection is quite futile;
because I professedly argue against Paedobaptism, on
the principles, reasonings, and concessions of Pccdo-
baptists. Besides, though such an exception to my con-
clusions ex])resses a fact, yet it pays the consistency of

PREFACE. XXUl

the authors concerned but a poor comphment. In this
light similar concessions from Roman Catholics have
always been viewed by Protestants; of which the reader
will meet with various instances in the course of this
work.*

Being fully persuaded, that I appear in defence of a
divine institution and of apostolic practice, I earnestly
commend this publication to the blessing of that sublime
Being, who " worketh all things after the couofei of his
will." Sincerely praying, that evangelical truth and
experimental religion, that purity of worship and the
practice of holiness, may flourish among all denomina-
tions of Christians, I conclude in the following words
of Lord Bacon: "Read, not to contradict or confute,
nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and
discourse, but to weigh and consider. "f

A. BOOTH.

Goodman's Fields,
Aug. S, 1787.

* See particularly Vol. I. p. 268, 269, this edition.

t In Dr, Edwards's Discourse concerning Truth and Erroi', p. 456,

ERRATA.

Vol. I. p. 28. 1. 24, /or supercription, read superscription.

48,1.22, — eavTov, — eavrov.

Vol. II. p. 25, 1. 7, — childisly, — childishly.

105, 1. 18, — fxa6rjT€V€iv , — (/.ad-^Tevtiv.

142, 1. 2, — parishoners, — parishioners.

431,1.29, — destitue, — ■ destitute.

Vol. III. p. 15(5, 1. 30, — (TOf^aTo,, — crafxara.

175,1. 5, — fortels, — foretells.

189, 1. 5, • — irvev/jaTi, — ntvevfxart.

236, 1. 10, — proxility, — prolixity.

246, 1. 24, — essense, — essence.

331, 1. 34, — ominions, — ominous.

GENERAL CO]NTE]>![TS?Hn^ CITOIT

^1

VOL. I.
PiEDOBAPTISM EXAMINED.

PART I.

TTie Mode 0/ Administration.

Page

Chapter I. — Concerning the Nature, Obligation, and Import-
ance of Positive Institutions in Religion . . _ 1 — 39

Chap. II. — Concerning the Signification of the Terms, Baptize

and Baptism --------- 40 — 131

Chap. III. — The Design of Baptism ; or, the Facts and Blessings
represented by it, both in regard to our Lord and his
Disciples 132—170

Chap. IV. — The Practice of John the Baptist, of the Apostles,
and of the Church in succeeding Ages, in regard to the
Manner of administering the Ordinance of Baptism - I7I — 238

Chap. V. — The present Practice of the Greek and Oriental

Churches, in regard to the Mode of Administration - 239 — ^244

Chap. VI. — The Design of Baptism more fully expressed by

Immersion, than by Pouring or Sprinkling . _ _ 245 — 252

Chap. VII. — The Reasons, Rise, and Prevalence of Pouring or

of Sprinkling, instead of Immersion - - - - 253 — 300

PART II.

The proper Subjects.

Chapter I. — No Express Precept nor Plain Example for

Psedobaptism, in the New Testament - - - - 303 — 367

Chap. II. — No Evidence of Psedobaptism, before the latter End

of the Second, or the Beginning of the Third Century - 368 — 411

Chap. III. — The high Opinion of the Fathers concerning the
Utility of Baptism, and the Grounds on which they proceeded
in administering that Ordinance to Infants, when Psedobaptism
became a prevailing Practice 412

VOL. 11.

Page

Chap. IV. — .Concerning the Modern Grounds of Psedobaptism ;
namely, Jewish Proselyte Baptism — External Covenant Re-
lation— Jewish Circumcision — Particular Passages of Scrip-
ture— and Apostolic Tradition.

Section 1. — Jewish Proselyte Baptism . . - _ 1 — 33

XXVI GENERAL CONTENTS.

P.ige

Sect. 2. — External Covenant Relation 33 — 68

Sect. 3. — Jewish Circumcision ------ 68 — 97

Sect. 4. — Particular Passages of Scripture : viz.

§ 1.— Matt, xxviii. 19 97—134

§ 2.— Gen. xvii. 7 134—152

§ 3.— Ezek. xvi. 20, 21 153—157

§ 4.— Matt. xix. 14 157—164

§ 5.— John iii. 5 164—170

§ 6.— Acts ii. 39 170—177

§ 7.— Acts xvi. 15, 33; 1 Cor. i. 16 . - - - 177—185

§ 8.— Rom. xi. 16 186—189

§ 9.— 1 Cor. vii. 14 189—231

Sect. 5. — Apostolic Tradition, and the Impracticability of point-
ing out the Time when Psedobaptisra commenced - - 231 — 251

Chap. V. — Infant Baptism and Infant Communion introduced
about the same Time, and supported by similar Argu-
ments ----- 252—279

General Remarks 279—342

PART III.
REPLY TO DR. WILLIAMS.

Chap. I. — Concerning the Title of Dr. Williams's Book, his

Professions, and his Conduct, relative to this Controversy, 353 — 395

Chap. II. — On the little Regard Dr. Williams pays to Quotations
produced from Psedobaptists ; and on his Disposition to extort
Concessions from the Baptists _ _ . . - 396 — 406

Chap. III. — On Dr. W.'s Pretence, that his Book includes a full

Reply to my Psedobaptism Examined - - - - 407 — 454

FOL. III.

Page

Chapter IV. — Concerning Positive Institutions and Analogical

Reasoning --------- 1 — 119

Chap. V. — On the Meaning of the Words Baptize and Baptism,

as represented by Dr. W. 120—236

Chap. VI. — The General Principles on which Dr. W. founds the

Right of Infants to Baptism ----- 237—325

Chap. VII. — Infant Communion and Infant Baptism com-
pared - . . . 326—344

Chap. VIII. — On the Utility and Importance of Baptism, as re-
presented by Dr. AV. - - - - - - - 345—366

PART IV.

REPLY TO MR. PETER EDWARDS.

Mr. Dorr's Preface ------- 369—388

The Reply 389—460

PART L

P^DOBAPTISM EXAMINED,

THE MODE OF ADMINISTRATION,

--. .u-'H i!-^i
THSOLO';

PiEDOBAPTISM EXAMINEIJ;^^'^

\

CHAPTER I.

Concerning the Nature, Obligation, and Importance
of Positive Institutions in Religion.

Dr. Doddridge. — "Those are called positive in-
stitutions or precepts, which are not founded upon any
reasons known to those to whom they are given, or dis-
coverable by them, but which are observed merely be-
cause some superior has commanded them." Lectures,
Definit. Ixxi. p. 238.

2. Bp. Taylor. — " All institutions sacramental, and
positive laws, depend not upon the nature of the things
themselves, according to the extension or diminution of
which our obedience might be measured ; but they
depend wholly on the will of the Lawgiver, and the will
of the Supreme, being actually limited to this specifica-
tion, this manner, this matter, this institution : whatso-
ever comes besides, it hath no foundation in the will
of the Legislator, and therefore can have no warrant or
authority. That it be obeyed, or not obeyed, is all the
question and all the variety. If it can be obeyed, it
must; if it cannot, it must be let alone. . . .Whatsoever
depends upon a divine law or institution, whatsoever
God wills, whatsoever is appointed instrumental to the
signification of a mystery, or to the collation of a grace
or a power, he that does any thing of his own head,
either must be a despiser of God's will, or must suppose
himself the author of a grace, or else to do nothing at

VOL. I, B

2 CONCEllNIXG THE NATURE

all in what he does; because all his obedience and all
the blessing of his obedience depend upon the will of
God, which ought always to be obeyed when it can :
and when it cannot, nothing can supply it, because the
reason of it cannot be understood .... All positive pre-
cepts, that depend upon the mere will of the lawgiver,
admit no degrees, nor suppletory and commutation ;
because in such laws we see nothing beyond the words
of the law, and the first meaning, and the named
instance : and therefore it is that in iiidividuo which
God points at ; it is that in which he will make the trial
of our obedience; it is that in which he will so per-
fectly be obeyed, that he will not be disputed with or
enquired of, luhy and hoiv, but just according to the
measures there set down ; so, and no more and no less,
and no otherwise. For when the will of the lawgiver
is all the reason, the first instance of the law is all the
measure, and there can be no product but what is just
set down. No parity of reason can infer any thing else;
because there is no reason but the w ill of God, to which
nothing can be equal, because his will can be but one."
Ductor Dub. b. ii. chap. Hi. § 14, 18.

3. Mr. Reeves. — " The distinction of obligations be-
tween moral and positive duties is to be understood
with great caution. For though the goodness of a law
be a great motive and inducement to obedience, yet the
formal reason of obligation does not arise from the
goodness of a law, but from the authority and will of
the legislator. God commands a thing which was be-
fore indifferent ; therefore that thing is as much a law
as if it was never so good in its own nature : he for-
bade the eating of a tree in the midst of the garden,
which without that prohibition had been indifi^erent.
But Adam, and in him all his posterity, was condemned
for the breach of a law purely positive. . , .When God
therefore says, that he ' w ill have mercy and not sacri-
fice,' it is not to be understood as if God would have

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 3

any of his laws broken ; but, as our Saviour explains it,
* These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the
other undone.' I ask then, what are natural laws?
Why, what we conclude merely from the light of nature
that God has commanded or forbidden, either to be
believed or done. What then are positive laws ? Why,
what we know to be the will of God by his express
word only. In both cases then we see, that it is the will
of God, and not the goodness of the thing, or the man-
ner of the discovery, which induces the obligation."
Apologies, vol.ii. p. 217, 218, edit. 1709.

4. Dr. Fiddes. — " The distinction between positive
law and moral law is founded in this difference : the
subject matter of positive law is something to which we
are antecedently under no obligation, and which only
obliges by virtue of its being enacted, and perhaps to a
certain limited period. The subject matter of a moral
law^ is, on the other hand, something antecedently, in
the visible reason of it, obligatory to us, and the obliga
tion thereof will always continue unchangeably the
same. . . .By a positive command, I understand an e:v-
press declaration made by competent authority, whether
concerning things to be done, or to be omitted." Theo-
log. Pract. b. i. chap. vi. p. 50; b. ii. part i. chap, i,
p. 105.

5. Dr. Owen. — " Positive institutions are the free
effects of the will of God, depending originally and soleli/
on revelation, and which therefore have been various
and actually changed." Discourse concerning the Holy
Spirit, b. i. chap. iii. § 3.

6. Buddeus. — '' The obligation by which men are
bound rightly to use positive appointments, is to be
derived from the moral law itself; by which it is mani-
fest, that men are obliged to do all those things by which
their eternal felicity may be promoted .... God had the
wisest reasons, why he would have an appointment
administered in this or the other manner. It is not

B 2

4 CONCERNING THE NATURE

lawful, therefore, for men to alter any thing, or to muti-
late the appointment. Thus the sacraments are to
be used, not according to our own pleasure, but in the
manner appointed by God." Institut. Theol. Moral,
pars i. c. V. § 18; i)ars ii. c. ii. § 50. Lips. 1727.

7. Bp. Butler. ^ — " Moral precepts are precepts, the
reasons of which we see ; positive prece})ts are pre-
cepts, the reasons of which we do not see. INIoral
duties arise out of the nature of the case itself, prior to
external command ; positive duties do not arise out of
the nature of the case, but from external command ; nor
would they be duties at all, were it not for such com-
mand, received from Him whose creatures and subjects
we are. But the manner in which the nature of the case,
or the fact of the relation is made known, this doth
not denominate any duty either positive or moral. . . .
The reason of positive institutions, in general, is very
obvious ; though we should not see the reason why such
particular ones are pitched upon, rather than others.
Whoever, therefore, instead of cavilling at words, will
attend to the thing itself, may clearly see, that positive
institutions in general, as distinguished from this or that
particular one, have the nature of moral commands,
since the reasons of them appear. Thus, for instance,
the external worship of God is a moral duty, though no
particular mode of it be so. Care then is to be taken,
when a comparison is made between positive and moral
duties, that they be compared no farther than as they
are different; no farther than as the former are positive,
or arise out of mere external command, the reasons
of which we are not acquainted with ; and as the latter
are moral, or arise out of the apparent reason of the
case, without such external command. Unless this
caution be observed, we shall run into endless confusion.
Now this being premised, suppose two standing pre-
cepts enjoined by the same authority ; that in certain
conjunctures it is impossible to obey both; that the

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. O

former is moral, i. e. a precept of which we see the
reasons, and that they hold in the particular case before
us ; but that the latter is positive, i. e. a precept of which
we do not see the reasons : it is indisputable that our
obligations are to obey the former, because there is an ap-
parent reason for this preference, and none against it. . . .
As it is one of the peculiar weaknesses of human nature,
when, upon a comparison of two things, one is found to
be of greater importance than the other, to consider this
other as of scarce any importance at all ; it is highly
necessary that we remind ourselves how great presump-
tion it is, to make light of positive institutions of divine ap-
pointment ; that our obligations to obey all God's com-
mands vv'hatever, are absolute and indispensable; and
that commands merely positive, admitted to be from
him, lay us under a moral obligation to obey them ; an
obligation moral in the strictest and most proper sense."
Analogy of Religion, part ii. chap. i.

8. Dr. J. G. King. — " Positive duties, having no
obligation in the reason of things, can have no founda-
tion but in the e.vpress words of the institutor, from
which alone they derive their authority." Rites and
Ceremonies of the Greek Church in Russia, p. 12.
_ 9. Mr. Jonathan Edwards.- — " Those laws whose
obligation arises from the nature of things, and from the
general state and nature of mankind, as well as from
God's positive revealed will, are called moral laws.
Others, whose obligation depends merely upon God's
positive and arbitrary institution, are not moral : such
as the ceremonial laws, and the precepts of the gospel
about the two sacraments." .... Positive " precepts
are the greatest and most proper trial of obedience ;
because in them the mere authority and will of the
legislator is the sole ground of the obligation, and
nothing in the nature of the things themselves; and
therefore they are the greatest trial of any person's
respect to that authority and will." Sermons, p. 232.

6 CONCERNING THE NATURE

Hartford, 1780. Sermons on Imp. Sub. p. 79.
Edinb. 1785.

10. Bp. Burnet. — " Sacraments are positive pre-
cepts, which are to be measured only by the insti-
tution, in which there is not room left for us to carry
them any farther." Exposit. Thirty-nine Articles,
Art. xxvii. p. 279, edit. 5.

11. Mr. Steele. — " Sacraments depend merely upon
their institution : hence doth their being result, and upon
this their matter and signification do depend. The in-
stitution, with the element, makes the sacrament ; and
so the o?iij/ rule and balance for them must needs be
their institution.*" Morning Exercise against Popery,
Serm. xxii. p. 764, 765.

12. Stapferus. — " Visible signs are the matter of sa-
craments .... Signs are either natural or arbitrary. Sa-
cred ceremonies are of the latter kind. But whatever
an arbitrary sign be, it is such by institution." Institut.
Theolog. Polem. tom. i. cap. iii. § 1623, 1624.

13. Dr. Goodman." — The term institution " implies
a setting up de novo, or the appointing that to become a
duty which was not knowable, or at least not known
to be so, before it became so appointed. For this word,
institution, is that which we use to express a positive
command by, in opposition to that which is moral in
the strictest sense, and of natural obligation. Now it is
very evident, that all things of this nature ought to be
appointed very plainly and e.vprcssly, or else they can
carry no obligation with them ; for seeing the whole
reason of their becoming matter of law or duty, lies in
the will of the legislator, if that be not plainly dis-
covered, they cannot be said to be instituted, and so
there can be no obligation to observe them ; because
where ' there is no law, there can be no transgres-
sion;' and a law is no law, in eft'ect, which is not
sufficiently promulgated." Preserv. against Popery,
title viii. p. 7.

or POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 7

J 4. Dr. Sherlock. — " What is matter of institution
depends wholly upon the divine will and pleasure; and
though all men will grant, that God and Christ have
always great reason for their institution, yet it is not the
reason, but the authority which makes the institution.
Though we do not understand the reasons of the insti-
tution, if we see the command we must obey; and
though we could fancy a great many reasons why there
should be such an institution, if no such institution
appears, we are free, and ought not to believe there is
such an institution, because we think there are reasons
to be assigned why it should be." Preserv. against
Pop. title ix. p. 419.

15. Anonymous. — " We deny that there are any
accidental parts of instituted worship ; for if instituted,
(i. e. commanded by Christ,) it cannot be accidental,
(i. e. left to our liberty, as what may or may not be
done without sin.) If accidental, it may be a part of
somewhat else, but of the instituted worship of Christ
it cannot be. . . .Circumstances of worship (as such) un-
determined by the Lord, to be appointed by men, we
deny. . . .These circumstances are such as, without which
the worship of God is perfect, or it is not. If the Jirst,
we need them not; they are vain, fruitless, having with-
out them a perfect worship. If the second, the worship
God hath commanded, as it comes out of his hands,
without human additaments, is imperfect : but this is
little less than blasphemy. . . .To assert, it is lawful to
conform to any part of instituted worship, wdthout war-
rant from the scripture, reflects sadly upon the wisdom
and faithfulness of Christ. For, either he was not wise
enough to foresee that such a part of worship was or
would be requisite; or had not faithfulness enough to
reveal it : though the scripture compares him to Moses
for faithfulness, who revealed the whole will of God,
to the making of a pin in the tabernacle .... We had
thought, that the perfection of scripture had consisted

8 CONCERNING THE NATURE

in this, that the whole of that obedience that God re-
quires of us, had therein been stated and enjoined ; for
which end we conceive it vvas at first commanded to be
written, and hitherto by the wonderful gracious provi-
dence of the Lord continued to us. The accidentals
of worship are either part of that obedience we owe to
God, or they are not. If not, how came they to be
such parts of worship, as without them we are inter-
dicted to perform it ? or, indeed, whence is it, that we
are tendering them up to God, when all our worship is
nothing else but the solemn tender of that obedience that
we owe to him? If they are, then there is some part of
our obedience that is not prescribed in the scripture :
then is the scripture imperfect, and that with respect
to the main end for which it was given forth, viz. to
indoctrinate and direct us in the whole of that obedi-
ence that God requires of us." Jerubbaal, chap. ii.
p. 154, 155, 156.

16. Chamierus. — " This is a most certain principle,
that the sacraments are nothing, except from their insti-
tution; and this institution must be divine. Whatever,
therefore, was invented by man, does not belong to a
sacrament. . . .The use of the sacraments depends upon
their institution. . . .Nothing belongs to the institution of
the Lord's supjier, that is not essential to it. . . .If the
whole essence of the sacrament be of divine institution,
certainly, that being violated, the sacrament itself can-
not stand." Panstrat. tom. iv. 1. v. c. xvi. §23; 1. vii.
c. iii. § 1 ; c. XV. § 7; 1. viii. c. ii. § 3.

17. Gerhardus. — " Seeing that a sacrament depends
entirely on the appointment of (lod, when we do not
what God has appointed, it certainly will not be a
sacrament." Loci Theolog. tom. iv. De Sacram. <§ 52.
Francof. 1657.

18. Dr. Clagett. — " To conclude, that in matters
depending upon the pleasure of God, he hath done that
^vhich . eenieth best to our reason, is to suppose that

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS, 9

in these things we know what is best, no less than God
doth; that we have weighed all the conveniences and
inconveniences of either side; the advantages and dis-
advantages of every thing that lies before us ; the argu-
ments for, and the objections against this or that, with
the same exactness, wherein they are comprehended in
his infinite understanding. . , .When once the institutions
of God are revealed and testified to us, we must not
only conclude that they are wise and good, because thev
are his ; but we ought also to take notice of those foot-
steps of divine wisdom and goodness, which are dis-
cernible in them : and the more that a wise man con-
siders and understands their ends and usefulness, the
more worthy of their Author he will find them to be.
But their congruity to our reason is not the proof of
their divine institution; since there are very many things,
which to our finite understandings would appear as
useful and as reasonable, but which yet God hath not
instituted. . . . Even where the appointments of God are
evident, that wisdom and goodness which I can dis-
cover in them, is not the proper ground of my assurance
that he hath established them ; for that is no other than
the evidence of the institution. Nor can that discovery
alone give me the least assurance, that in making such
provision he hath not been wanting to our needs ; for
the reason of that assurance is this, that it is He, it
is God, I say, that hath made such provision for us.
When it once appears what God hath instituted in order
to our salvation, and no more, we are to conclude that
this is enough in its kind, because it is all that God hath
done. But for that other kind of arguing, that God
hath been wanting to us in his institutions, if he has not
instituted [this or that,] and therefore he has instituted
it, I leave to those whose conclusions need it; very
much desiring them to consider, what a cause that must
be which drives them to such bold reasonings as these
are.'' Preserv. against Pop. title vii. p. 9S.

10 CONCERNING THE NATURE

19. Dr. Grosvenor,* — "The diminutive things that
have been said by some, of the positive appointments in
religion, and the extravagant things that have been said
by others, are two extremes which true reasoning leads
nobody into, on either hand. It is as contrary to the
nature of things to make nothing of them, as to make
them the whole of religion. To know exactly the re-
gard that is due to them, is to find out the rank and
order they are placed in by Him uho has appointed
them .... I shall lay togetlier •\\ hat I have to say on this
subject, under the following propositions.

" Proposition I. Some things are absolutely ne-
cessary to salvation, and in their own nature. We
call those things absolutely necessary, without which
there can be no salvation at all. Thus, a mind suited
to the happiness intended by the word salvation, is ab-
solutely necessary : or holiness, ' without which no
man shall see the Lord.' All the titles in the world to
heaven, can never give the pleasure of heaven, with-
out a suitableness to its enjoyments. Fitness here is
as the eye to the delights of colours and prospects; the
ear, to the pleasures of harmony ; and as the palate, to
those of taste and relish; that is, a capacity of enjoy-
ment. As there must be an animal nature for animal
pleasures, and a rational nature for rational ones ; so
there must be the divine and heavenly nature, for those
that are divine and heavenly. No man would care to
live even with a God whom he did not love.

" Prop. II. No merely positive appointments are
necessary in this sense, i. e., absolutely and in their
own nature. If there never had been a sacrament in
the world, I might have been happy without it : you
cannot say so of love to God and likeness to him. , . .

" Prop. III. A disposition to obey divine orders,
wherever they are discerned, either positive or moral, is

* Anonymous, indeed, but supposed to be Dr. lienj. Grosvenor.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 11

part of that ' holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord.' I may be saved without a sacrament; but
I cannot be saved without a disposition to obey God's
authority wherever 1 see it. A sacrament is a positive
rite, and not to be compared with moral virtue : but is
not a disposition to obey God's order, moral virtue and
Christian grace? Or can there be any moral virtue,
or Christian grace, without a disposition to obey the
authority of Christ, wherever I discern it? Surely,
obedience to God's command is a moral excellence,
though the instances of that obedience may lie in posi-
tive rites. The command to Abraham, to sacrifice his
son, was a positive order, and a very strange one too ;
seemingly opposite to some moral orders given out be-
fore : and yet his disposition to obey, when he was sure
of a divine warrant in the case, has set him as the head
of all the believing world ; as the hero of faith, the father
of the faithful, and the friend of God. The command
of sprinkling the blood of the passover upon the door-
posts of the Israelites, was an external positive rite : if
there had not been a disposition to obey that order, it
would have cost some lives; as it had like to have done
to Moses, the neglect of circumcising his child, as good
a man as he was in other respects. Was not the for-
bidden fruit a positive instance ? an external thing ?
Setting aside the divine prohibition, there was nothing
immoral in eating of that, any more than of any other
tree ; but disobedience is an immorality, let the instance
be what it will.

" Prop. IV. The sincerity and truth of such a dis-
position, is best known by its being uniform and univer-
sal. (Psalm cxix. 6 ; Col. iv. 3.) The Author of our
religion has told us, and added his example to his word,
that ' thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness,'
and so ordered himself to be baptized. Baptism was
a positive rite, an external thing; and yet he calls it
righteousness. Such righteousness as became Him who

12 COXCERNING THE NATURE

was the Holy One of God; became Him who had in-
trinsically no need of any outward ceremony ; whose
inward purity was perfectly divine : and if it became
Him to fulfil such a sort of righteousness, it can hardly
become any mIio pretend to be his followers to ne-
glect it.

" Prop. V. As a competent evidence is supposed
needful, for any external rite being of divine appoint-
ment; so again, a wilful ignorance of that evidence, or
not discerning it, through criminal causes, will not ex-
cuse from guilt. The criminal causes of not seeing the
evidence for such appointments, are, in this case, as in
many other cases, non-enquiry, laziness, prejudice, lust,
pride, and passion. That an ignorance owing to these
causes, cannot be pleaded for a neglect of any of God's
appointments, is so much the general sense of all ca-
suists, that I shall only add here, that it is at every
man's peril, how he comes not to know the
WILL OF God, as well as not to do it. We must
look to it, how we came not to see the appointment,
and must answer that to God and our own conscience.
It is not enough to say, Zo;y/, / did not know it was
appointed ; when the answer may justly be. You never
enquired into the matter : you never allowed yourself' to
think of it : or if you did, you resolved in your mind
that you would not be convinced. You made the most
of every cavil, but never minded the solution to any of
your objections.

" Prop. VI. The duty and necessity of any external
rites, and particularly of sacraments, have their measures
and degrees. And here I apprehend, the measures of the
duty and necessity of sacraments to be, — The autliority
enjoining. When we see the broad seal of heaven, where
there is the divine warrant, ' Thus saith the Lord;' it is
worse than trifling, to cavil and say. It is but an external
rite. — The degree of evidence of their being so appointed.
Where the evidence is not so clear, the obligation is

OF POSITIVE IXSTITUTIONS. 13

weakened in proportion; but where the terms are plainly
binding, and strongly commanding, there the obligation
is not to be evaded. When positive appointments and
moral duties cannot be both performed ; when the one
or the other must be omitted, the preference is given to
the moral and spiritual duty. — The stress God lays upon
them for the time they are to continue. Sprinkling the
blood of the passover upon the posts of the doors, was
not at all necessary in itself to preservation from the
destroying angel; but God laid that stress upon it. The
oracle, or the mercy-seat, was a mere positive appoint-
ment. God could have met Moses any where else; but
God laying that stress upon it, measures the degree of
the necessity of observing that order : ' There will I
meet thee, and commune with thee,' Exod. xxv. 22.
Moses might have reasoned with himself, God is every
where, and can meet me any where, if he pleases, and if
he does not please, he will not do it here; and so have
missed the honour of communion with his Maker;
broke the divine order; lost the benefit of the oracle;
and offended God, by the neglect. — The reason and end
of them. If there should be any reasons of these
injunctions that we do not know, it is sufficient that
they are known to God. Our obedience is always a
reasonable service whether we know God's reasons for
the injunction or not. His command is always reason
enough for us ... .

" Prop. VII. He that commands the outward
positive rite, commands the inward and moral temper
at the same time. He does not say. Do this, without
concerning himself hom it is done; whether in a manner
suitable to an end appointed or not .... There is no such
command of his, as enjoins the outward act without the
inward temper and disposition.

" Prop. VIII. Positive appointments for such
uses and ends as these, are of a quite different nature
from arbitrary impositions, with which they are too

14 CONCERNING THE NATURE

often confounded. The idea of arbitrary I think,
implies a weakness incompatible to the divine nature ;
whose perfection it is, to do nothing but for some wise
reason, and for some good end. . . .

*' Prop. IX. Though no positive appointments are
absolutel}' necessary, yet the contempt of them, and
of the divine authority discerned in them, cannot con-
sist with holiness. This contempt may be shown — by
contemptuous language. . . .a careless attendance. . . .a
total neglect .... and by prostituting them to persons that
do contemn them, and to purposes that are unworthy. . . .

" To conclude: External rites are nothino; vvithout
the inward temper and virtue of mind; the inward
temper is but pretended to, in many cases, without the
external rites, and is acquired, promoted, and evidenced
by the use of them. If ' I give all my goods to the
poor, and have not charity ; ' there is the external act,
without the inward moral temper, and so it is all
nothing. If, on the other hand, I say, I have the
inward temper of charity, and give nothing to the poor,
but say to my brother, ' Be thou warmed ; be thou
clothed :' how dwelleth the love of God in that man?
Therefore what God hath johied together, let no man
put asunder. Whatever comparative excellence there
may be in the two different instances of obedience, they
are both instances of obedience; and the direction of
our regard is summed up in that text, (Matt, xxiii. 23.)
' These ought ye to have done, and not to have left
the other undone.'" Moral Obligation to the Positive
Appointments in Religion, passim. Lond. 1732.

20. Bp. Hoadly. — " I. The partaking of the Lord's
supper is not a duty of itself, or a duty apparent to us
from the nature of things; but a duty made such to
Christians, by the positive institution of Jesus Christ.

" II. All positive duties, or duties made such by
institution alone, depend entirely upon the will and
declaration of the person who institutes or ordains them,

OF POSITIVE INSriTUTIONS. 15

with respect to the real design and end of them; and
consequently to the due manner of performing them.
For, there being no other foundation for them with
regard to iis but the will of the institutors, this will
must of necessity be our sole direction, both as to our
understanding their true intent, and practising them
accordingly : because we can have no other direction in
this sort of duties, unless we will have recourse to mere
invention; which makes them our ozon institutions, and
not the institutions of those who first appointed them.

" III. It is plain, therefore, that the nature, the
design, and the due manner of partaking of the Lord's
supper, must of necessity depend upon what Jesus
Christ, who instituted it, hath declared about it.

" IV. It cannot be doubted, that he himself suffi-
ciently declared to his first and immediate followers the
whole of what he designed should be understood by it,
or implied in it. For this being a positive institution
depending entirely upon his will, and not designed to
contain any thing in it, but what he himself should please
to affix to it, it must follow, that he declared his mind
about it fidli/ and plainly : because otherwise, he must
be supposed to institute a duty, of which no one could
have any notion without his institution ; and at the same
time not to instruct his followers sufficiently what that
duty was to be.

'■' V. It is of small importance, therefore, to Chris-
tians to know what the many writers upon this subject,
since the time of the evangelists and apostles, have
affirmed. Much less can it be the duty of Christians to
be guided by what any persons, by their own authority,
or from their own imaginations, may teach concerning
this duty. This reason is plain : because in the matter
of an instituted duty, (or a duty made so by the positive
will of any person,) no one can be a judge, but the insti-
tutor himself, of what he designed should be contained
in it; and because, supposing him not to have spoken

16 CONCERNING TFIE NATURE

his mind plainly about it, it is impossible that any other
person (to whom the institutor himself never revealed
his design) should make up that defect. All that is
added, therefore, to Christ's institution, as a necessary
part of it, ought to be esteemed only as the invention of
those who add it : and the more there is added (let it
be done with never so much solemnity, and never so
great pretences to authority,) the less there is remaining
of the simplicity of the institution, as Christ himself

■left it

" VI. The passages in the New Testament, w4iich
relate to this duty, and they alone, are the original ac-
counts of the nature and end of this institution ; and the
only authentic declarations, upon which we of later ages
can safely depend." Works, vol. iii. p. 845, 846, 847.
See also Heidegg. Corp. Theol. loc. ix. § 40 ; loc. xxv.
§ 2. Mr. Alsop's Antisozzo, p. 468. Dr. Ridgley's Bod.
Div. quest, xci. xcii. p. 491, 492. Glasg. edit. Puffen-
dorff's Law of Nat. and Nations, b. i. c. vi. § 18. Mr.
Reynolds on Angelical Worlds, p. 1 1, 12, 15.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. By this learned and respectable body
of P^dobaptists we are taught, that positive institutions
originate entirely in the sovereign will of God, No. 1 —
20 ; — that positive laws must be plain and express. No.
4, 8, 12, 13, 20; — that the obligation to observe them
arises, not from the goodness of the things themselves,
but from the authority of God, No. 2, 3 ; — that they
are determined by divine institution, as to their matter,
manner, and signification. No. 2, 16, 20; — that they
admit of no commutation, mutilation, or alteration, by
human authority. No. 2, 6 ; — that they depend entirely
on divine institution, and are to be regulated by it. No.
10, 1 1, 16; — that we ought not to conclude that God has
appointed such a rite, for such a purpose, because we
- imagine ourselves to stand in need of it, and that there

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 17

are sufficient reasons for it, No. 14, 18 ; — that our obli-
gation to observe them does not result from our seeing
the reasons of them, but from the command of God ;
and that his positive command is enforced by the moral
law. No. 6,7, 14 ; — that there are no accidental parts of
a positive institution, No. 15; — that it is unlawful to con-
form to any part of a religious rite, without a divine
warrant, No. 15; — that it is at our peril to continue
ignorant of the will of God, relating to his positive
appointments, No 19; — that it is great presumption to
make light of them. No. 7, 19 ; — that a disposition to
obey God in his positive institutes, is part of that holi-
ness without which none shall see the Lord, No. 19;—
and, that external rites are of little worth, detached from
virtuous tempers, No. 19- Such are the declared senti-
ments of these respectable authors concerning positive
institutions.

Reflect. II. As it seems to be the unanimous and
well attested opinion of these learned Pasdobaptists, that
positive institutions derive their whole being from the
sovereign pleasure of God ; so his revealed will must
have given them their existence under every dispensa-
tion of true religion. Consequently, we cannot know
any thing about their precise nature, their true design,
the proper subjects of them, or the right mode of their
administration, farther than the scriptures teach : for
" they are to be measured onli/ by the institution, in
which there is not room left for us to carry them any
farther." See No. 10, 20. It follows, therefore, from
the nature of the case, that positive ordinances must be
entirely under the direction of positive precepts, or of
examples in scripture, that are warranted by the Holy
Spirit. For, as Dr. Goodwin observes, " There is this
difference between doctrinal truths and institutions, that
one truth may be, by reason, better fetched out of
another, and more safely and easily than institutions:
for one truth begets another, and truth is infinite in the

VOL. I. c

18 CONCERNING THE NATURE

consequences of it; but so institutions are not. And the
reason of the difference is this ; because they depend
upon a promise, and upon the power and will of God,
immediately to concur with them, and set them up.
They are things that are singled out by the will of God,
to a spiritual end, with a spiritual efficacy. We may
be assured what is an institution of God, by examples
which we meet with in the scriptures : for one way by
which Christ was pleased to convey his institutions to
us, is by way of examples in the New Testament; without
the which, being intended as a rule for us, we acknow-
ledge that a complete rule for all things could not be
made forth .... If an example be written as a rule, then
it will bind, because there is no supposition of error."*

Remarkably strong to our purpose, is the language
of Dr. Sherlock, who speaks as follows : " I would not
be thought wholly to reject a plain and evident con-
sequence from scripture ; but yet I will 7iever admit of
a mere consequence to prove an institution, which must
be delivered in plain terms, as all laws ought to be :
and where I have no other proof, but some scripture-
consequences, I shall not think it equivalent to a scrip-
ture-proof. If the consequence be plain and obvious,
and such as every man sees, I shall not question it : but
remote, and dubious, and disputed consequences, if we
have no better evidence, to be sure are a very ill foun-
dation for articles of faith, [or ordinances of worship.]
Let our Protestant then tell such disputants, that for the
institution of sacraments, and for articles of faith, he
expects plain positive proofs : that, as much as the Pro-
testant faith is charged with uncertainty, we desire a
little more certainty for our faith, than mere inferences
from scripture, and those none of the plainest neither."']'
— With Dr. Sherlock, Peter Martyr agrees, when he

* Works, vol. iv. Government of the Church of Christ, chap. iv.
p. 21, S^.

f Preserv. against Pop. vol. ii. Appendix, p. 23.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 19

says, " It is necessary that we should have a clear testi-
mony from the holy scriptures, concerning sacraments."*
It seems, indeed, to be the general practice of all
Protestants, when contending with Roman Catholics
about their claims of prerogative and their numerous rites,
to proceed on this principle : nothing short of an e.vpUc'U
grant, a positive command, or a plain example in the
New Testament, can prove their divine origin. Is the
debate concerning Papal supremacy, or infallibility^ No
reasonings from remote principles, no conclusions from
far-fetched consequences, are allovved. The honours in
dispute being such as depend entirely on the sovereign
pleasure and special donation of God, an explicit divine
grant of these prerogatives is loudly demanded. — ^Are
five of their seven sacraments; the ceremonies performed
by them, when administering baptism and the Lord's
supper; their withholding the cup from the people, and
other things of a similar kind, the subjects in debate ?
Protestants hardly ever fail to require a direct proof, —
a positive precept, or a plain example, from the New
Testament. All arguments drawn from ancient Jewish
rites; all that are formed on general principles, or moral
considerations ; and all endeavours to produce inferen-
tial proof, are justly discarded as incompetent — as hav"-
ing nothing to do with the subject. For the subject be-
ing no other than the ritual part of that worship which
God requires under the New Testament; a divine insti-
tution of the rites in question, a plain positive order, or
an apostolic example, may well be required, before they
have a place in our creed, or become a part of our
solemn service. If, therefore, the New Testament say
nothing about the institution or the practice of such
rites, we have nothing to do with them, nor any thing
to believe concerning them.— On the same principle
Protestant dissenters proceed, when defending Non-
conformity ; using many of the same arguments

* Apud Chamierum, Panstrat. torn. iv. 1, i. c. xi. § 8.
C 2

20 CONCERNING THE NATURE

against their Episcopalian opponents, which those Epis-
copahans employ when vindicating their own secession
from the church of Rome, The demand of Nonconfor-
mists upon their Episcopalian brethren is; Produce yow
warrant (for this, that, and the other,) from our only
rule of faith and practice — a divine precept, or an apos-
tolic e.rample, relating to the point in dispute. So im-
portant is this principle, respecting every thing of a
positive nature in Christianity, that I can hardly imagine
any sensible Protestant would ever think of writing
against the Popish system ; or any conscientious Dissen-
ter of justifying his Nonconformity, without availing
himself of it in many cases. Nay, so obvious and so
important is this principle, so congenial to that grand
maxim, the bible only is the religion of Pro-
testants ; that we might well wonder if a judicious
author omited it, when handling the doctrine of positive
rites ; except it appeared, that he laboured to establish
some hypothesis, to which this principle is inimical.

Nor does it appear from the records of the Old Tes-
tament, that when Jehovah appointed any branch of
ritual worship, he left either the subjects of it, or the
mode of administration, to be inferred by the people,
from the relatioti in which they stood to himself, or from
general moral precepts, or from any branch of his moral
worship; nor yet from any other well known positive
rite : but he gave them special directions relating to the
very case; and those directions they were bound to re-
gard, whether they appeared in a pleasing or a painful,
in a decent or a disgusting light. For as nothing but
the divine will can oblige the conscience, and as that w ill
' cannot be known unless revealed; so, when made
known, whether in reference to moral or positive duties,
it must oblige. We are bound, therefore, to regard the
divine laws, not so much on account of what they are in
themselves, however excellent; as because they are the
will of Him whose claim of obedience is prior to every

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 21

Other consideration. See No. 2, 3. Consequently, see-
ing baptism is as really and entirely a positive institu-
tion, as any that were given to the chosen tribes ; we
cannot with safety infer, either the mode, or the subject
of it, from any thing short of a precept, or a precedent,
recorded in scripture, and relating to that very ordinance.
That the laws of positive worship under the Old
Testament were particular, clear, and decisive, will not
be denied ; and that our Lord has furnished the gospel
church with as complete a rubric of solemn service in
the New Testament, as that recorded by Moses in the
Pentateuch, our Paedobaptist brethren assert. Thus Dr.
Owen, for instance : " All things concerning the worship
of God in the whole church or house now under the
gospel, are no less perfectly and completely ordered and
ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ, than they were by
Moses under the law."* Dr. Isaac Chauncy : " Christ
hath been more faithful than Moses, and therefore hath
not left his churches without sufficient rules to walk by."'f
Dr. Ridgley : " It is a great dishonour to Christ, the
king and head of his church, to suppose that he has left
it without a rule to direct them, in what respects the
communion of saints ; as much as it would be to assert
that he has left it without a rule of faith. If God was
so particular in giving directions concerning every part
of that worship that was to be performed in the church
before Christ's coming, so that they were not, on pain
of his highest displeasure, to deviate from it ; certainly
we must not think that our Saviour has neglected to
give those laws by which the gospel church is to be go-
verned."J Mr. Polhill : " Christ was as faithful in the
house of God as Moses; his provision was as perfect for
rituals, as that of Moses' was." §

* On Heb. ii. 2,3, vol. ii. p. 26.

f Preface to Dr. Owen's True Nature of a Gospel Church.

X Body of Divinity, quest. Ixi — Ixiv.

§ Discourse on Schism, p. dQ.

221 CONCERNING THE NATURE

Reflect. III. It seems natural hence to infer, that
our sovereign Lord must have revealed his will con-
cerning the ordinance of baptism, in a manner propor-
tional to its obligation and importance. For, as an
appointment of Christ, it originated in his will, and from
a revelation of that will the whole of its obligation re-
sults. In proportion, therefore, as we annex the idea
of obscurity to what he says about the mode and the
subject of it, we either sink the idea of obligation to
regard it, or impeach the wisdom, the goodness, or the
equity of our divine Legislator; for we neither have,
nor can have any acquaintance with a positive institu-
tion, farther than it is revealed ; and a natural incapa-
city will always excuse the non-performance of what
would otherwise be an indispensable duty. We are
therefore obliged to conclude, that our Lord has dearly
revealed his pleasure, with reference to both his positive
appointments, in that code of law and rale of religious
Avorship, which are contained in the New Testament.
See No. 20.

On this point let us hear Mr. Payne, when contend-
ing with the learned and artful Bossuet, bishop of
Meaux. " Surely," says the Protestant P^dobaptist,
" so wise a lawgiver as our blessed Saviour, would not
give a law to all Christians that was not easy to be un-
derstood by them ; it cannot be said without great reflec-
tion upon his infinite wisdom, that his laws are so obscure
and dark, as they are delivered by himself, and as they
are necessary to be observed by us, that we cannot know
the meaning of them without a farther explication. . . .
God's laws may be very fairly explained away, if they
are left wholly to the mercy of men to explain them."*
Agreeable to this is the language of Mr. Arch. Hall,
when he says, " The appointments of the Deity con-
cerning his worship, are not to be gathered from the
uncertain tradition of the elders, the authority of men,

* Freserv. against Popery, title vii. p. 147.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 23

or the dictates of our own reason : no ; they slaad en-
grossed in the volume of his Book, which is the only
rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him."*
J. A. Turrettinus tells us, " That whatever of importance
the scripture delivers concerning the sacraments, may be
included in a few pages, nay, perhaps, in a few lines ;
and that so as a little child may understand it."'}" Once
more : Chemnitius assures us, that a positive rite "should
have an express divine command .... Whatever is main-
tained to be necessary in the church of Christ, should
have a command in the divine word, and scriptural exam-
ples."J Nay, even Bellarmine declares, that " in things
which depend on the will of God, nothing ought to be
affirmed, unless God hath revealed it in the holy scrip-
tures."§ — Clear, however, as the positive laws of Christ
are. Dr. Waterland has well observed from Le Clerc,
that if men be " governed by their passions, and con-
ceited of their prejudices, the most evident things in
the world are obscure ; and, that there is no law so
clear, but a wrangler may raise a thousand difficulties
about it." II — It is, I think, worthy of remark, that
though Protestant authors in general, consider the
meaning of the law of Christ relating to his last supper,
as being evident beyond all reasonable doubt; and
though they severely censure the Roman Catholics for
insinuating the contrary, yet, with regard to the law of
baptism, they frequently represent its meaning, as am-
biguous and embarrassed ; nay, as favouring opposite
practices : so that whether an infant, or one professing
faith, be sprinkled, or immersed, the whole design of
the law may be fulfilled, and a divine blessing on the
administration expected. But whether this be con-
sistent or scriptural, is left with the reader.

* Gospel Worship^ vol. i. p. 30, f Cogitat & Dissertat,

torn. i. p. 18, 19 + Examen Concil. Trident, p. ^04, 285.

§ In Prescrv. against Popery, title viii. p. 83.
II Importance of Doct. of Trinity, p. 461, edit. 2n(l.

^

24 CONCERNING THE NATURE

Reflect. IV. That no addition should be made by
human authority to the positive appointments of Jesus
Christ ; and that it is not lawful, under any pretence,
either to corrupt or depart from the p7i??iithe institution
of those appointments ; are things generally maintained
and strongly urged against the Papists, by Protestants
of all descriptions. The following quotations may serve
as a specimen of their language and sentiments, in
reference to these particulars. Dr. Owen : " All wor-
ship is obedience; obedience respects authority; and
authority exerts itself in commands. And if this autho-
rity be not the authority of God, the worship performed
in obedience unto it is not the worship of God, but of
him or them whose commands and authority are the
reason and cause of it. It is the authority of God
alone that can make any worship to be religious, or
the performance of it to be an act of obedience unto him.
God would never allow that the will and wisdom of any
of his creatures should be the rise, rule, or measure of
his worship, or any part of it, or any thing that belongs
unto it. This honour he hath reserved unto himself,
neither will he part with it unto any other. He alone
knows what becomes his own greatness and holiness,
and what tends to the advancement of his glory. Hence
the scripture abounds with severe interdictions and
comminations against them who shall presume to do
or appoint any thing in his worship, besides or be-
yond his own institution .... Divine institution alone,
is that which renders any thing acceptable unto God ....
All divine service, or worship, must be resolved into
divine ordination or institution. A worship not or-
dained of God, is not accepted of God. . . .It is a hard
and rare thing to have the minds of men kept upright
with God in the observation of the institutions of divine
worship. Adam lost himself and us all by his failure
therein. The Old [Testament] Church seldom attained
unto it. . . .And at this day there are very few in the

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 25

world who judge a diligent observation of divine insti-
tutions to be a thing of any great importance. By
some they are neglected ; by some corrupted with ad-
ditions of their own ; and by some they are exalted
above their proper place and use, and turned into an
occasion of neglecting more important duties. . . .Our
utmost care and diligence in the consideration of the
mind of God, is required in all that we do about his
worship. There is nothing wherein men, for the most
part, are more careless. Some suppose it belongs unto
their own wisdom to order things in the worship of
God, as it seems most meet unto them ; some think
they are no farther concerned in these things, than only
to follow the traditions of their fathers. This, unto the
community of Christians, is the only rule of divine
worship. To suppose that it is their duty to enquire
into the way and manner of the worship of God, the
grounds and reasons of what they practise therein, is
most remote from them .... It were no hard thing to
demonstrate, that the principal way and means whereby
God expects that we should give glory unto him in this
world, is by a due observation of the divine worship
that he hath appointed. For herein do we in an especial
manner, ascribe unto him the glory of his sovereignty, of
his wisdom, of his grace, and holiness ; when in his
worship we bow down to his authority alone ; when
we see such an impress of divine wisdom on all his
institutions, as to judge all other ways folly in com-
parison of them ; when we have experience of the grace
represented and exhibited in them, then do we glorify
God aright. And without these things, whatever we
pretend, we honour him not in the solemnities of our

worship."* Turrettinus: " The appointment of God,

is the highest law, the supreme necessity."! ^^•

Archibald Hall : " As we live under the gospel dispen-

* On Heb. i. 6; ix. 1; viii. 5,

f Institut. Theol. loc, xix, qusest, xiv. torn, iii. p. 441.

26 CONCERNING THE NATURE

sation, all our worship must be regulated by gospel in-
stitution, that it may be performed according to the
appointment of Christ, as king of the church." The
same author, when speaking of baptism, says : " This
ordinance should be observed with an honest simplicity,
and kept pure and entire, as Christ hath appointed it.
The rule given us in the word of God is our directory,
and we do well to take heed to it in this duty, as much
as in every other. How grand and awful is that weighty
preface to the institution of Christian baptism ! (Matt,
xxvii. 18, ly.) Who is the 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 solemnity of this ordi-
nance is complete, and all the great purposes of its
institution are secured by the authority and blessing of
Christ, who is a rock, whose work is perfect, and all
his commandments are sure. His laws are not subject
to any of those imperfections, which are attendants of
the best contrived systems among men, and frequently
need explanations, amendments, and corrections. It
is most dangerous and presumptuous, to add any cere-
mony, or to join any service, on any pretence, unto
heaven's appointment. This is the most criminal rash-
ness ; and, if it is not disputing the authority of Christ
directly, it is mingling the authority of men with the
authority of Him who has a name above every name. . . .
When divine authority is interposed to point out the
will of God concerning any service, which is enjoined
for standing use among the saints, such a service ought
to be observed without any regard to the manners and
usages of mankind; because both the substance and the
inanncr of it are the institution of Christ."*

Reflect. V. Concerning the circumstances of posi-
tive institutions, our Picdobaptist brethren speak as fol-
low. Mr. Vincent Alsop : " Under the Mosaical law

* Gospel Worshii), vol i. p. 32, 325, 326 j vol. ii. p. 434.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. %%

God commanded that they should offer to him the daily
burnt-offering ; and, in this case, the colour of the beast
(provided it was otherwise rightly qualified) was a mere
circumstance: such as God laid no stress upon, and
that man had proved himself a superstitious busy-body,
that should curiously adhere to any one colour. But,
for the heifer whose ashes were to make the water of
separation, there the colour was no circumstance, , but
made by God's command a substantial part of the
service. To be red, was as much as to be a heifer:
for when circumstances have once passed the royal
assent, and are stamped with the divine seal, they be-
come substantial in instituted worship .... We ought
not to judge that God has little regard to any of his
commands, because the matter of them, abstracted from
his authority, is little : for we must not conceive that
Christ sets little by baptism, because the element is
plain, fair water ; or little by that other sacrament,
because the materials thereof are common bread and
wine .... For though the things in themselves be small,
yet his authority is great .... Though the things be small,
yet God can bless them to great purposes, (2 Kings v.
11.)... .Nor are we to judge that God lays little stress
upon his institutes, because he does not immediately
avenge the contempt and neglect of them upon the
violaters. (Eccles. viii, 11; Matt. v. 29; 1 Cor. xi.
30.) .... As we must not think that God appreciates
whatever men set a high value upon, so neither are we
to judge that he disesteems any thing because it is grown
out of fashion, and thereby exposed to contempt by
the atheistical wits of mercenary writers .... If any of
Christ's institutions seem necessary to be broken, it will
be first necessary to decry them as poor, low, inconsider-
able circumstances ; and then to fill the people's heads
with a noise and din, that Christ lays little stress on
them ; and in order hereto call them the circumstantials,
the accidentals, the minutes, the punctilioes, and, if need

28 CONCERNING THE NATURE

be, the petty Johns of reHgion, that conscience may not
kick at the contemning of them. . , .It would be inju-
rious to conclude that God has very little respect to his
own institutions, because he may suspend their exercise
pro hie (^' iiunc, rather than the duties imperated l)y a
moral precept. Mint, anise, and cummin, are inconsider-
able things, compared with the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, and faith ; and yet our Saviour
tells them, (Matt, xxiii. 23,) 'These ought ye to have
done, and not to have left the other undone'. . . .God is
the sovereign and absolute legislator, who may suspend,
rescind, alter his own laws at pleasure ; and yet he has
laid such a stress upon the meanest of them, that no
man may, nor any man, but the man of sin, dares pre-
sume to dispense with them, much less to dispense
against xhem. .. .Positives may be altered, changed,
or abolished, by the legislator, when and how far he
pleases ; but this will never prove that he lays little
stress upon them whilst they are not changed, not
abolished : nor will it prove that man may chop and
change, barter and truck one of God's least circum-
stantials, because the Lawgiver himself may do it. He
that may alter one, may, for aught I know, alter them
all, seeing they all bear the same image and supercrip-
tion of divine authority .... If God was so rigorous in
his animadversions, so punctual in his prescriptions,
when his institutions were so numerous, his prescriptions
so multiform ; what will he be when he has prescribed
us so few, and those so easy and useful to the observer?
If we cannot be punctual in the observation of a very
few positives of so plain signification, how should we
have repined had we been charged with a numerous re-
tinue of types and carnal rudiments ! If Christ's yoke
be accounted heavy, liovv should we have sunk under
the Mosaical pa^dagogy !'"*

]\Ir. Payne : " It is from the institution of the siicra-
* Sober Enquiry, p. iJS9 — 304.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 29

ment [of the Lord's supper,] that we know what belongs
to the substance of it, and is essential to it, and what is
only circumstantial and accidental. I own, there were
several things, even at the institution of it by Christ,
which were only circumstantials; as, the place, the time
when, the number of persons to whom, the posture in
which he gave it; for all these are plainly, and in their
own nature, circumstantial matters ; so that nobody can
think it necessary or essential to the sacrament, that it
be celebrated in an upper room, at night after supper,
only with twelve persons, and those sitting or lying
upon beds, as the Jews used to do at meals; for the
same thing which Christ bids them to do, may be done,
the same sacramental action performed in another
place, at another time, with fewer or more persons,
and those otherwise postured or situated ; but it cannot
be the same sacrament or same action, if bread
be not blessed and eaten, if wine be not blessed and
drunken, as they were both then blessed by Christ,
and eaten and drunk by his apostles. The doing
of these is not a circumstance, but the very thing
itself, and the very substance and essence of the sacra-
ment ; for without these we do not what Christ did ;
whereas we may do the very same thing which he did,
without any of those circumstances with which he did it
. . . .The command of Christ, Do this, does not in the least
extend to these [circumstances,] but only to the sacra-
mental action of blessing bread and eating it ; blessing
wine and drinking it, i?t remembrance of Christ: for
that was the thing which Christ did, and which he com-
manded them to do ... . He that does not plainly see
those to be circumstances [before mentioned,] and can-
not easily distinguish them from the thing itself which
Christ did, and commanded to be done, must not know
what it is to eat and drink, unless it be with his own
family, in such a room of his own house, and at such an
hour of the day : it is certainly as easy to know what

30 CONCERXING THE NATURE

Christ instituted, and what he commanded, as to know
this ; and, consequently, what belongs to the essence of
the sacrament, without which it would not be such a
sacrament as Christ celebrated and appointed, as to
know what it is to eat and to drink ; and yet Monsieur
de Meaux is pleased to make this the great difficulty,
to know what belongs to the essence of the sacrament,
and what does not, and to distinguish what is essential

in it, from what is not."* Mr. Arch. Hall: " The

signs, and even every circumstance relative to the use of
them, must be appointed by Christ, and not contrived
by men : for here, as in every other duty, we must ob-
serve all things that Christ hath commanded us. It is
equally presumptuous and vain, to teach for doctrines
the commandments or inventions of men. The signs
that are used in the sacraments have a natural fitness to
bring the things they represent to our mind."'('

Reflect. VI. With regard to positive institutions
Protestant Pasdobaptists farther inform us, that the Lord
Jesus Christ is jealous of his honour; that what is not
commanded, need not he foi^ bidden ; and that nothing is
lawful, which is not a duty. The following instance
may here suffice. — Dr. Witherspoon : Our obedience
" must be implicit ; founded immediately on the au-
thority of God. We must not take upon us to judge
of the moment and importance of any part of his will,
farther than he hath made it known himself It is
a very dangerous thing for us to make comparisons be-
tween one duty and another; especially with a view of
dispensing with any of them, or altering their order, and

substituting one in another's place.'':}: Dr. Owen :

" Christ marrying his church to himself, taking it to that
relation, still expresseth the main of their chaste and
choice affections to him, to lie in their keeping his insti-
tutions and his worship according to his appointment.

* Preserv. against Pop. title vii. p. 110, 137, 13S.
I Gospel Worship, vol. i. cliap. vii. p. 235.
I Practical Discourses, vol. i. p. 3,'^;'").

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 31

The breach of this he calls adultery everywhere, and
whoredo7n: he is 2, jealous God, and he gives himself that
title only in respect of his institutions. And the whole
apostasy of the Christian church unto false worship, is
called fornication, (Rev. xvii. 5,) and the church that
leads the others to false worship, the mother of harlots.
On this account, those believers who really attend
to communion with Jesus Christ, do labour to keep
their hearts chaste to him in his ordinances, institutions,
and worship .... They will receive nothing, practise
nothing, own nothing in his worship, but what is of
his appointment. They know that from the foundation
of the world he never did allow, nor ever w ill, that in
any thing the will of the creatures should be the measure
of his honour, or the principle of his worship, either as
to matter or manner. . . .That principle, That the church
hath power to institute and appoint any thing, or cere-
mony belonging to the worship of God, either as to mat-
ter or to manner, beyond the orderly observance of such
circumstances as necessarily attend such ordinances as
Christ himself hath instituted, lies at the bottom of all
the horrible superstition and idolatry, of all the confu-
sion, blood, persecution, and wars, that have, for so long
a season, spread themselves over the face of the Chris-
tian world ; and it is the design of a great part of the
Revelation [of John] to make a discovery of this truth."*'
— — Mr. Arch. Hall : " God will bless nothing but his
own institutions. The inventions of men, in serving God,
are as unprofitable as they are wicked and presump-
tuous, (Deut. xii. 31, 32.). . . .We cannot think God
will honour the inventions of men, however they may be
dignified by the specious names of useful, decent, agree-
able, or prudent contrivances ; yet, if they are an addi-
tion to his system, will he not say, Who hath required
these things at your hands ?"t Hoornbekius : " In

* Commun. with God, part ii. chap. v. p. 169, 170.
t View of Gospel Church, p. 33, 82.

32 CONCERNING THE NATURE.

what relates to the sacraments, and the affairs of reli-
gion, it is unlawful to do any thing that is not warranted

by the command of God.* Dr. Sherlock : " Our

[Popish] author, and some of his size, who do not see
half a consequence before them, think they have a
mighty advantage of us, in demanding the same proofs
from us to justify our rejecting their doctrines, which
we demand of them to justify their behef of them. That
is to say, as we demand of them a scripture-proof, that
there is such a place as purgatory ; they think they may
as reasonably demand of us a scripture- proof, that there
is no such place as purgatory : just with as much reason,
as if one should tell me, that, by the laws of England,
every man is bound to marry at twenty years old ; and
when I desire him to show me the law which makes this
necessary, he should answer. Though he cannot show
such a law, yet it may be necessary, unless 1 can show
him a law which expressly declares that it is not neces-
sary. Whereas nothing is necessary, but what the laiu
makes so ; and if the law has not made it necesssary,
there is no need of any law to declare that it is not ne-
cessary."f Dr. Owen : " What men have a right to

do in the church, by God's institution, that they have a

command to do. "J -x\nonymous : " There is nothing

relating to instituted worship, as such, that is lawful,
but is our necessary duty ; viz. necessary, necessitate
prcecepti instituting it."§

Reflect. VII. That the subjects of positive divine
laws cannot slight or neglect them without offending
God, is maintained with a decisi%'e tone by our learned
Paedobaptist brethren. Thus, for instance, Bp. Taylor :
" The positive laws of Jesus Christ cannot be dispensed
with by any human power. All laws given by Christ,

* Socin. Confut. torn. iii. p. 436. f Preservat, against

Pop. vol. ii. Appendix, p. G.5. + On Heb. vii. 4, .5, 6, vol. iii.

p. 1^7. § Jerubbaal, j). 458

1

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 33

are now made for ever to be obligatory."* Mr. Jo-
seph White, speaking of the ancient ceremonial law,
says : " To slight any of its services, was to insult the
authority which enjoined it."t Dr. Waterland : '' Po-
sitive duties stand upon a moral foot. . . .To obey God
in whatsoever he commands is the first moral law, and
the fundamental principle of all morality. The reason of
things, and the relation we bear to God, require that God
should be obeyed in matters otherwise indifferent : and
such obedience is moral, and the opposite disobedience

immoral Positives, therefore, while under precept,

cannot be slighted without slighting morals also. In short,
positive laws, as soon as enacted, become part of moral
law ; because, as I said, universal obedience to God's
commands, is the first moral law into which all laws re*

solve Whenever positive duties are so performed as

to become true obedience, they are as valuable in God's
sight as any moral performances whatever, because obey-
ing God's voice is all in all. Obedience was the thing
insisted upon with Adam, with Abraham, with Saul,
and with many others, in positive instances ; and God
laid as great a stress upon obedience there, as in any
moral instances whatever. To conclude then, moral
performances, without the obedience of the heart, are
nothing; and positive performances, without the like
obedience are nothing : but the sincere obeying of God's

voice in both, is true religion and true morality." |

Mr. Reynolds : "To call some law moral, in contra-
distinction from other law, as if it was nQt moral at all,
is improper enough. Every law, properly so called, is
regula moralis, or regula morum ; an obliging rule for
the moral creature to walk or act by ... . Positive com-
mands are more easily transgressed than those that bear

* Ductor Dub. b. ii. chap iii. p. 334.

f Sermons before University of Oxford, p. 130, edit. '2nd.
I Scripture Vindicated, part iii. p. 37, 7', 72.
VOL. I. D

34 CONCERNING THE NATURE

hard upon the Hght and law of nature. The seeming
indifferency of the subject, or matter, in which they are
concerned, allays the awe, and fear, and distance, that

attends more criminal matter."* Mr. Wadsworth :

" Some may say, — Sure, God will not be so much con-
cerned with a failure in so small a punctilio as a ceremony !
True, it [the Lord's supper] is a ceremony; but it is
such a one that beareth the stamp of the authority of
the Lord Jesus. If He appoints it, will you slight it,
and say. It is but a ceremony? — It is but a ceremony,
but you are greatly mistaken if you think that therefore
there is no danger to neglect it. What was the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, but a ceremony ? Yet, for
disobedience in eating thereof, do you not know and teel
what wrath it hath brought on the whole race of man-
kind ? And tell me, was circumcision any more than a
ceremony ? Yet it had almost cost Moses his life for
neglecting to circumcise his son ; for the angel stood
ready with his sword to slay him, if he had not pre-
vented it by his obedience, (Exod. iv. 24, 25, 26.) So,
for the Lord's supper, as much a ceremony as it is, yet
for the abuse of it, some of the church [at Corinth] were
sick and weak, others fell asleep, that is, died : and if
God did so severely punish the abuse, how think you to
escape, \hdl presumptuously 7ieglect \he use thereof? But
I am regenerate and become a new creature; — I do not
fear that God will cast me away for the disuse of a cere-
mony. Is this the reasoning of one regenerate ? Surely,
thou dost not understand what regeneration meaneth.
Is it not the same with being born of God? And what
is it to be obedient to the Father, but to do as he com-
mandeth ? And hath he not commanded you by his
Son, to remember your Saviour in this supper? When
you have considered this, then tell me what you think
of this kind of reasoning : I am a child of God, therefore

* Enquiries concerning Angelical Worlds, p. 11, 12, 15.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 35

I will p7^esu7ne to disobey him. He bids me remember
Jesus in this supper, and I will not. Methinks thou
blushest at the very mentioning of it. And what, if he
should not cast thee quite off for this neglect ? yet thou
hast no reason to think, but that either outwardly, or in-
wardly, or both, he will scourge thee for this sin before
thou diest."* This reasoning, it is plain, mutatis mu-
tandis, applies with equal force to a neglect of baptism :
to which I will add the following passage from Dr.
Owen: " Slaves take liberty /ro?7z duty; children have
liberty in duty. There is not a greater mistake in the
world, than that the liberty of sons in the house of God
consists in this, they can perform duties, or take the
freedom to omit them : they can serve in the family of
God, that is, they think they may if they will, and they
can choose whether they will or nOo This is a liberty
stolen by slaves ; not a liberty given by the Spirit unto
sons."t

It is well observed by Chamier, and it is a dictate of
common sense, " That no law derives its authority from
the judgment [or the inclination] of those to whom it is
given."]; And it is equally clear, that when a law has
been fairly promulged, ignorance of its demands cannot
render a non-compliance innocent. For, as Dr. Water-
land observes, the law presumes, " that when a man has
done an ill thing, [or neglected his duty] he either knew
that it was evil, or else ought to have known it. Igno-
rantia juris non excusat delictum'' \ It is therefore
incumbent on every professor of Christianity, to make a
diligent and impartial search into the records of the
New Testament, that he may know and perform the will
of his Lord respecting baptism. Nor has any one reason
to consider himself as possessed of a pious and virtuous

* Supplem. to Morn. Exercise at Cripplegate, p. 243, 244.
f Communion with God, part ii. chap. x. p. 246.
\ Panstrat. torn. i. 1. vi. chap. xx. § 1.
§ Import, of Doct. of Trin. p. 164.
D 2

S6 CONCERNING THE NATURE

temper, while destitute of a disposition to make such an
enquiry. Because " virtue," says Heineccius, " is al-
ways united with an earnest, indefatigable care to un-
derstand the divine law. The greater progress one has
made in virtue, the more ardent is this desire in his
breast." Nay, though a person should plead conscience
for the omission or corruption of a positive institute, he
would not be exculpated ; for, as the last mentioned
author justly observes, " Though he be guilty who acts
contrary to his conscience, whether certain or probable,
yet he cannot, for that reason, be said to act rightly and
justly, who contends that he has acted according to his
conscience. Conscience is not the rule, but it applies
the rule to facts and cases which occur .... He who fol-
lows an erroneous conscience sins on this very account,
That he follows it rather than the will of the Legislator :
though he be more excusable than one who acts directly
against conscience, yet he is guilty."* The morality of
our conduct does not depend on the understanding ; for
our knowing, or being ignorant of a thing, is not the
reason of its being good or evil, any more than the na-
ture of an action does upon the will ; because the willing
a bad action to a good end, cannot render it innocent.
Divine law is the rule of our conduct ; and a want of
conformity to that rule is a sin.

It appears, therefore, by the preceding reasoning,
and from the authors produced, that none are worthy
the name of Christians who are destitute of a disposition
to acknowledge the authority of Christ by submission to
his positive appointments ; and, that ignorance of their
nature, obligation, and use, is far from excusing, except
it arise from 7iatural incapacity, and not from a bad
state of the will. Now-, in regard to baptism, we have
not only the command of our Lord, but his own example
also, to enforce our observance of it ; concerning which,
Mr. Wesley very properly says : " Let our Lord's sub-

* Universal Law, b. i. chap. ii. § 37, 45.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 37

mitting to baptism teach us a holy exactness in the ob-
servance of those institutions which owe their obligation
merely to a divine command. Surely, thus it becometh
all his followers to fulfil all righteousness.'"* It has been
justly remarked by a learned Lutheran, " That so great
an honour was never conferred upon any ceremony, "f
as there was upon baptism, when our Lord himself was
immersed in Jordan, by the hands of John ; M'hen the
divine Father, with an audible voice, proclaimed him
his beloved Son ; and when the Holy Spirit descended
upon him.

I will conclude this part of our subject with the
reasoning of Dr. Gerard. " A total disregard to the
positive and external duties of religion, or a very great
neglect of them, is justly reckoned more blameable, and
a stronger evidence of an unprincipled character, than
even some transgressions of moral obligation .... Even
particular positive precepts, as soon as they are given
by God, have something moral in their nature. Sup-
pose the rites which are enjoined by them, perfectly in-
different before they were enjoined ; yet from that mo-
ment they cease to be indifferent. The divine authority
is interposed for the observance of them. To neglect
them is no longer to forbear an indifferent action, or to
do a thing in one way rather than another, which has
naturally no great propriety : it is very different ; it is
to disobey God, it is to despise his authority, it is to re-
sist his will. Can any man believe a God, and not ac-
knowledge that disobedience to him, and contempt of
his authority is immoral, and far from the least heinous
species of immorality ?.... All positive institutions of
divine appointment, are means of cultivating moral vir-
tue. Be the rites themselves what they will, their being
enjoined by God, renders them proper trials of our obe-

* Note on Matt. iii. 16.

t Centur. Magdeb. cent, i. 1. i. e. iv. p. 113.

38 CONCERNING THE NATURE

dience to him, and renders our observance of them the
means of cherishing a sense of his authority, and of
improving a principle of subjection to it. A principle
of subjection to the authority of God, is one of the
firmest supports of all goodness and virtue ; and posi-
tive institutions are the most direct means of cultivating
it, for the observance of them proceeds solely from the
principle of obedience ; but in every moral virtue, other
principles are conjoined with this. All the rites ap-
pointed by God, are likewise direct and very powerful
means of improving many particular virtuous affections,
all the affections which are naturally exercised in per-
forming them. Neglect of the means demonstrates, in
every case, indifference about the end. Disregard to
external worship and positive institutions, shows the
want of all concern for moral improvement. But un-
concern for moral improvement is not the defect of a
single virtue, is not a single vice ; it is a corruption and
degeneracy of the xvhole soul, and therefore must appear
highly detestable to every person of sound and unbiassed
judgment, . . .It is not they who reckon a regard to po-
sitive institutions essential to a good and unblemished
character, that judge weakly, but they who reckon that
regard of no importance. Vain are their pretensions to
enlargement of sentiment, and elevation above prejudice ;
their minds are so contracted, that they can admit only
a partial idea of the nature of positive duties ; they con-
sider but the mere matter of them ; they comprehend
not their moral principles, their sublime end, or their
important signification."*

As the leading ideas in the preceding paragraphs are
the grand principles of legitimate reasoning on the doc-
trine of positive institutions ; as it is on these principles
that our most eminent Protestant authors proceed,
when exploding the superstitions of Popery ; and as it

* Sermons, vol. i. p. 312—314, 316, 317, 320, edit, 2ncl.

OF POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 39

is our intention to examine Pasdobaptism on these very
principles ; the reader is desired to keep them in mind,
while perusing the following pages. It has been justly
remarked by Bp. Taylor, that " men are easy enough to
consent to a general rule ; but they will not suffer their
own case to be concerned in it."* This observation is,
doubtless, founded in fact, and it expresses an affecting
truth. While, therefore, we consider the forementioned
authors as having verified the remark by practising in-
fant sprinkling, we shall endeavour to avoid a similar
inconsistency.

* Ductor Dubitant. b. ii. chap. iii. p. 303.

40 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

CHAPTER II.

Concejiiing the Sigiujication of the J'erm.s, Baptize and

Baptism.

[N^. B. To prevent mistakes, the reader is desired to
observe, that many of the following quotations are to
be considered as concessions made by these learned au-
thors ; no inconsiderable part of them asserting, not-
withstanding what they here say, that the word baptism
signifies pouring and sprinkling, as well as immersion.]

WiTSius. — " It cannot be denied, that the native
signification of the word ^a'^retv, and /5a7rT/^e/v, is to plunge,
to dip. So that it is, doubtless, more than e-TrnroXa^eiVj
which is to swim lightly on the surface ; but less than
^vveivy which is to go down to the bottom and be de-
stroyed. . . .Yet I have observed, that the word Kara^vai^
is frequently used by the ancients, with reference to bap-
tism." CEcon. Feed, 1. iv. c. xvi. § 13.

2. Salmasius. — " Baptism is immersion ; and was ad-
ministered, in ancient times, according to the force and
meaning of the word. Now it is only rhantism, or
sprinkling ; not immersion, or dipping." De Caesarie
Virorum, p. 669-

3. Gurtlerus. — " To baptize, among the Greeks, is
undoubtedly to immerse, to dip ; and baptism, is immer-
sion, dipping. BaiTTiaixo^ ev UvevfxaTi dyia), baptism in the
Hall) Spirit, is immersion into the pure waters of the
Holy Spirit, or a rich and abundant communication of
his gifts ; for he on whom the Holy Spirit is poured out,
is as it were immersed into him. . . .'Qaimaix.og ev -nvpi,
baptism injirc, is a figurative expression, and signifies
casting into a flame, which, like water, flows far and
wide; such as the flame that consumed Jerusalem. . . .

BAPTIZE AXD BAPTISM. 41

The thing commanded by our Lord is baptism, immer-
sion into water." Institut. Theol. cap. xxxiii. § 108,
109, 110, llo.

4. Danaeus. — " BaTmafxoi, baptism, is derived airo
Tov (3a7tre(jBai, Or jSa'^Ti^eadai : the former of which pro-
perly signifies to dye ; the latter, to immerse^ especially
in water. But, as that which emerges out of the water
appears to be washed, and fair, and clean ; so the term
baptism is frequently used in the holy scripture, for wash-
ing and cleansing." In Leigh's Critica Sacra, under the
word, BaTTTia-fxog, edit. 2nd.

5. Gomarus. — " BaTrr^a/xo^- and BaTrr^cr^a, signify the
act of baptizing: that is, either plunging alone; or im-
mersion, and the consequent washing." Opera, Disputat.
Theolog. Disput. xxxii. § 5.

6. Buddeus. — " The words ^aTrn^eiv and {3a7rTicr[xofj
are not to be interpreted of aspersion, but always of
immersion." Theolog. Dogmat. 1. v. c. i. § 5.

7. Dr. Bentley. — " BaTrT/o-jOtouf, baptisms, dippings
— BaTTTia-ov creavrov ei$ SaXacrcrav, dip yourself in the sea."
Remarks on Disc, on Free Thinking, part ii. p. 56, 57,
edit. 6.

8. Bp, Reynolds. — " The Spirit under the gospel is
compared to water ; and that not a little measure, to
sprinkle, or bedew, but to baptize the faithful in, (Matt,
iii. 1 1 ; Acts i. 5,) and that not in a font, or vessel, which
grows less and less, but in a spring, or living river,
(Johnvii. 39.). . . .There are two words which signify suf-
fering of afflictions, and they are both applied unto
Christ, (Matt. xx. 22.) Are ye able to drink of the cup
that I shall drink of, or be baptized with that baptism
that I am baptized with ? He that drinketh hath the
water in him; he that is dipped or plunged, hath the
water about him : so it notes the universality of the wrath
which Christ suffered." Works, p. 226, 407.

9. Calvin. — " The word baptize, signifies to im-
merse; and the rite of immersion was observed by

42 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

the ancient church." Institut. Christ. Relig. 1. iv.
c. XV. § 19.

10. Beza. — " Christ commanded us to be baptized;
by ^vhich word it is certain immersion is signified ....
BaTTTi^eaGai, in this place, is more than "xepviTrreiv ; be-
cause that seems to respect the whole body, this only the
hands. Nor does iSaTrri'Cetv signify to wash, except by
consequence: for it properly signifies to immerse for the
sake of dyeing .... To be baptized in water, signifies no
other than to be immersed in water, which is the exter-
nal ceremony of baptism .... Ba7rT;^&) differs from the
verb ^vvai, which signifies, to plunge in the deep and to
drown; as appears from that verse of an ancient oracle,
AcTKos PaTTTi^vj, "^vvai ^e toi ov Oeixi^ ea-Ti : in which these tw^o
terms are distinguished, as expressing different ideas."
Epistola II. ad Thom. Tilium, (apud Spanhem. Dub.
Evang. pars iii. Dub. 24.) Annotat. in Marc. vii. 4.
Acts xix. 3; Matt. iii. 11.

11. Meisnerus. — ^" Bann^eiv and jSaTrreiv, are ge-
nerally found used for plunging and a total immer-
sion." Apud Spanhem. Dub. Evangel, pars iii. Dub.
xxiv. § 2.

12. Danish Catechism. — " What is Christian dip-
ping? Water in conjunction with the word and command
of Christ. What is that command which is in conjunc-
tion with water? ' Go teach all nations,' and so on,
(Matt, xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15, 16.) What is implied
in these words? A command to the dipper and the
dipped, with a promise of salvation to those that believe.
How is this Christian dipping to be administered ? The
person must be deep-dipped in water, or overwhelmed
rith it, ' in the name of God the Father,' and so on."
N. B. The gentleman who favoured me with this ex-
tract, observes ; that (SaTrni^io is translated, by the Ger-
mans, ieuff; by the Dutch, doop; by the Danes and
Swedes, dobe; all which signify, to dip.

13. Spanhemius. — " Bami^d)/ and /oaitTeiv, are gene-

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 43

rally found used for plunging, or a total dipping." Dub.
Evang. pars iii. Dub. xxiv. § 2.

14. Vitringa. — " The act of baptizing, is the im-
mersion of believers in water. This expresses the force
of the word. Thus also it was performed by Christ and
his apostles." Aphorismi Sanct. Theolog. aphoris. 884.

15. Beckmanus. — " Baptism, according to the force
of its etymology, is immersion, and washing, or dipping."
Exercit. Theolog. exercit. xvii. p. 257.

1 6. Bucanus. — ^" Baptism, that is, immersion, dipping,
and, by consequence, washing. Baptistery, a vat, or large
vessel of wood, or stone, in which we are immersed, for
the sake of washing. Baptist, one that immerses, or
dips." Institut. Theolog. loc. xlvii. quaest. i. p. 605.

17. Bp. Patrick. — "I may say of him [Mr. John
Smith] in Antoninus's praise, he was hKaioa-wy} ^efSafj.-
fxevog eig (SaQog, DIPPED into Justice, as it were, over
head and ears; he had not a slight superficial tincture,
but was dyed and coloured quite through with it."
Funeral Serm. for Mr. J. Smith of Cambridge, sub-
joined to his Select Discourses, p. 509-

18. Zanchius. — " Baptism is a Greek word, and
signifies two things; first, and properly, immersion in
water : for the proper signification of BairTi^a, is to
immerse, to plunge under, to overwhelm in water. . . .
And this signification properly agrees with our baptism,
and has a resemblance of the thing signified." Opera,
tom. vi. p. 217. Genev. I6l9- N. B. Mr. De Courcy
tells us, that the opinion of Zanchius ' is worth a thou-
sand others.'" Rejoinder, p. 261.

19. Hoornbeekius. — " We do not deny that the
word baptism bears the sense of immersion; or that, in
the first examples of persons baptized, they went into
the water and were immersed; or that this rite should
be observed where it may be done conveniently and
without endangering health." Socin, Confut. 1. iii. c. ii.
sect. i. tom. iii. p. 268.

44

SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

20. Stapferus. — " By baptism we understand that
rite of the New Testament church, commanded by Christ,
in which behevers, by being immersed in water, testify
their communion with the church." Institut. Theolog.
Polem. torn. i. cap. iii. § 1635.

21. Burmannus. — ^' BairTia-ixo^ and /3a7rT<<r/Aa, if you
consider their etymology, properly signify immersion.
' And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight-
way out of the water,' (Matt. iii. 16. Compare Acts viii.
38.)" Synops. Theolog. loc. xliii. cap. vi. § 2.

22. Roell. — " Baptism, from (SaTrru, signifies immer-
sion." Exphcat. Epist. ad Ephesios, ad cap. iv.5.

23. Mr. John Trapp. — " 'Are ye able to — be
baptized with the baptism;' or plunged over head and
ears in the deep waters of affliction ?" Comment, on
Matt. XX. 22.

24. Limborch. — " Baptism is that rite, or ceremony,
of the new covenant, whereby the faithful, by immer-
sion into water, as by a sacred pledge, are assured of the
favour of God, remission of sins, and eternal life; and
by which they engage themselves to an amendment of
life, and an obedience to the divine commands." Com-
plete Syst. Div. b. v. chap. xxii. sect. i. Mr. Jones's
translation.

25. H. Altingius. — " The word baptism pro-
perly signifies immersion ; improperly, by a metonymy
of the end, washing." Loci Commun. pars. i. loc. xii.
p. 198.

26. Hospinianus. — " Christ commanded us to be
baptized ; by which word it is certain immersion is sig-
nified." Hist. Sacram. 1. ii. c. i. p. 30.

27. Casaubonus. — " This was the rite of baptiz-
ing, that persons were plunged into the water; which
the very word (3aTrTi^€tv, to baptize, sufficiently declares ;
which, as it does not signify Iweiv, to sink to the bottom
a?icl perish, so, doubtless, it is not eTrnroXa^erj, to suim on
the surface. For these three words, ini'7ro\a<^eiv, (SaTTTi^eiv,

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 45

and ^vv€iv, are of different significations. Whence we
understand it was not without reason, that some long
ago insisted on the immersion of the whole body in the
ceremony of baptism ; for they urge the word jSaTrri^eiv,
to baptize." Annotat. in Matt. iii. 6.

28. Diodati. — " Baptized; viz. plunged into water
.... In baptism, being dipped in water according to the
ancient ceremony, it is a sacred figure unto us, that sin
ought to be drowned in us, by God's Spirit. Annotat.
on Matt. iii. 6; Rom. vi. 4.

29. Calmet. — " Generally people [speaking of the
Jews] dipped themselves entirely under the water ; and
this is the most simple and natural notion of the word
baptism." Diet, of Bible, art. Baptism.

30. Luther. — " The term baptism, is a Greek word.
It may be rendered a dipping, when we dip something
in water, that it may be entirely covered with water.
And though that custom be quite abolished among the
generality (for neither do they entirely dip children, but
only sprinkle them with a little water,) nevertheless
they ought to be wholly immersed, and presently to
be drawn out again ; for the etymology of the word
seems to require it. The Germans call baptism taitff',
from depth, which they call tieff, in their language; as if
it were proper those should be deeply immersed, who are
baptized. And, truly, if you consider what baptism
signifies, you shall see the same thing required : for it
signifies, that the old man and our nativity, that is full
of sins, which is entirely of flesh and blood, may be
overwhelmed by divine grace. The manner of baptism,
therefore, should correspond to the signification of bap-
tism, that it may show a certain and plain sign of it."
In Dr. Du Veil, on Acts viii. 38.

31. Schelhornius, when explaining 1 Cor. xv. 21,
and understanding the word baptized in a metaphorical
sense, as expressive of being overwhelmed in calamities,
says ; " The word ^aitn^eaBai, which probably signifies

46 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

to be immersed, or plunged under water; though not so
frequently used by profane authors in a metaphorical
sense, is nevertheless not unusual."* Biblioth. Bremens.
class, vii. p. 638.

32. Mr. Selden. — " In England, of late years, I
ever thought the parson baptized his own fingers, rather
than the child." Works, vol. vi. col. 2008.

33. Keckermannus. — " We cannot deny, that the
first institution of baptism consisted in immersion, and
not sprinkling; which is quite evident from Rom. vi.
3, 4." System. Theolog. 1. iii. c. viii. p. 369-

34. Dr. Tovverson. — "The third thing to be enquired
concerning the outward visible sign of baptism is, how
it ought to be applied ; whether by an immersion, or
an aspersion, or effusion ; — a more material question

* In confirmation of which he produces the following autho-
rities, which I will give in his own words. " Heliodorus, 1. ii.
c. iii. iEthiopic. Cnemon itaque cum omnino dolori ilium succu-
buisse et calamitate suhmersum (o-vfAfopa ^(^aTcha-i^evov) esse intellex-
isset, metueretque, ne sibi aliquid mali conscisceret. L. iv. c. xx.
O vos, qui adestis, Charicli quidem et postea lugere licebit. Nos vero
non mergainur {a-viABaTcli'i^oy.eOa) hujus dolore, neque inconsiderate
illius lacrymis, tanquam aquae impetu auferamur, occasionem negli-
gentes. L. v. C. xvi. Eire*S>; o-e ra avfAQe^'fiKola e^aivJi%ev, quoniam te
casus tui obruebant ac demergebant. Ita et eo sensu venit (L, ii.
c. xxvii.) ejusdem autoris verbum ^vOi^ea-Ocu. TlXetovi kKv^uh KaKoiv /3e/3u-

Bio-f^evoi, majore fluctu ffirumnarum obruti- Libanius, (In Parent.

Juliani, cap. cxlviii. p. 369.) Ea enim, quam ob Julianum sentimus,
tristitia, animam submergens {^aTcl tC,e(ra) mentemque obfuscans,
tenebras quasdam oculis quoque ofFundit, nee multum ab iis, qui in

tenebris nunc versantur, distamus. Plutarchus : (De Puerorum

Educatione, cap. xiii.) Sicut enim plantae quidem mediocribus aquis
nutriuiitur, plurimis vero sufFocantur: ad eundem modum anima
quidem mediocribus augetur laboribus, sed immoderatis (/3a7r7<^e7ow)
submergitur. Ita et Poeta anonymus: (Anthol. Gr. 1. ii. c. xlvii.)
BaTcliC^iaOou ad somnum transfert

BflMr7*^€7aj S'^Trvw yalovi re Oavala,

Vides heic /3a9r7*^eo-6at ru vTcvo) esse per nietaphoram somno sepeliri,
quam phrasin etiam alicubi in Heliodoro legisse memini.'' Ut supra,
p. 638, 639, 640.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 47

[this] than it is commonly deemed by us, who have been
accustomed to baptize by a bare effusion, or sprinkling
of water upon the party. For in things which depend
for their force upon the mere will and pleasure of him
who instituted them, there ought, no doubt, great re-
gard to be had to the commands of him who did so; as
without which there is no reason to presume we shall
receive the benefit of that ceremony, to which he hath
been pleased to annex it. Now, what the command of
Christ was in this particular, cannot well be doubted of
by those who shall consider the words of Christ, (Matt,
xxviii. 19,) concerning it, and the practice of those
times, whether in the baptism of John, or of our Saviour.
For the words of Christ are, that they should baptize,
or dip, those whom they made disciples to him (for so,
no doubt, the word (BaTnL^eLv properly signifies;) and
which is more, and not without its weight, that they
should baptize them into the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : thereby
intimating such a washing, as should receive the party
baptized within the very body of the water, which they
were to baptize him with. Though if there could be
any doubt concerning the signification of the words in
themselves, yet would that doubt be removed by con-
sidering the practice of those times, whether in the bap-
tism of John, or of our Saviour. For such as was the
practice of those times in baptizing, such in reason
are we to think our Saviour's command to have been
concerning it, especially when the words themselves in-
cline that way; there being not otherwise any means,
either for those, or future times, to discover his in-
tention concerning it.' Of the Sacram. of Bap. part
iii. p. 53, 54, 55.

S5. Dan. Grade. — '* The word baptism generally
denotes immersion, for the sake of washing or cleans-
ing." In Thesaur. Theolog. Philolog. tom. ii. p. 560.

36. H. Clignetus. — " Baptism is so called from

48 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

immersion, or plunging into ; because in the primitive
times those that were baptized were entirely immersed
in water." In Thesaur. Disputat. Sedan, torn. i. p. 769,
770. Genev. 1661.

^7. Dr. Dan. Scott. — "The verb (3a7rTi^u expresses
the form of admitting a proselyte into the Christian
church, which tradition assures us was by a trine im-
mersion, or plunging under water. But of late asper-
sion, or sprinkling, is admitted by the church of Eng-
land instead of immersion, or dipping."* New Version
of St. Matt. Gospel. Note on Matt, xxviii. 19-

38. Bossuet. — "To baptize signifies to plunge, as is
granted by all the world." In Mr. Stennett, against
Mr. Russen, p. 174.

39- Suicerus. — " He is said (3a7rreiv v^piav, to baptize
a bucket, who draws water out of a well or a river; which
cannot be done except the bucket be entirely plunged
under the water. Wool and clothes are said to be
^aTtrea-Sai, baptized, when they are dipped; because they
are quite immersed in the dyeing fat, that they may im-
bibe the colour. BaTrri^o), to baptize, hath properly the
same signification. — BaTrn^eiv eavrov eig Qakaaa-av, in the
ancient poet, is to plunge himself into the sea. — From the
proper signification of the verb, baptize, baptism properly

* To fix the signification of ^airh'^u, he produces a number of
passages from the following Greek authors: Joseph. Antiq. Jud.
1. iv. c. iv. § 6, p. 207; 1. xv. c. iii. § 3, p. 745. De Bell. Jud. 1. i.
c.xxii. § 2, p. 1 10; 1. i. c. xxvii § 1 ; 1. ii. c. xviii. § 4, p. 19S; 1. ii.
c. XX. § 1; 1. iii. c. ix. § 3, p. 251; I. iii. c. x. § 9, p. 259. Strab.
Geogr. 1. i. p.44, B; 1. xii. p. 809, D; 1. xvi, p. IIOS. Lucian.Ver.
Hist. 1. ii. p. 393, A. Plutarch. Quaest. Nat. torn. ii. p. 914, C. Orph.
Argonaut, v. 510. Soph. Aj. v. 354. In the same learned author's
Append, ad Thesaur. Graec. Ling, under the verb ^a.ivn%u, he quotes
passages from the following Greek writers: Polyb. Hist. 1. i. p. 73,
ult. 545, 10, f ; 1. iii. p. 31 1, ult. Joseph. Antiq. 1. ix. c. x. § 2. Vita,
§ 3. Diod. Sicul. Bibl.l. i. p. 23, 12. Strab. Geogr. 1. i. p. 421, C;
I. xiv. p. 982, D. Athen. Deipn. 1. v. p. 221, c. 472, D. Lucian.
Bacch. p. 853, A. Plat. Euthydem. i. 277, C Diod. Sicul. 1. i.
p. 47, 4. Joseph. De Bell. I. iv. c. iii. § 3.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 49

denotes immersion, or dipping into." Thesaurus Eccles.

sub voce BaTTTtaixa.

40. Venema. — " The word ^aitri'i^eiv, to baptize, is no
where used in the scripture for sprinkling; no not in
Mark vii. 4, otherwise than appears to some." Insti-
tut. Hist. Eccles. Vet. et Nov. Test. torn. iii. secul. i.
§ 138.

41. Magdeburg Centuriators. — " The word /SaTrr^^w,
to baptize, which signifies immersion into water, proves
that the administrator of baptism immersed, or washed,
the persons baptized in water." Cent. i. 1. ii. c. iv.
p. 382.

42. Anonymous. — " The word baptize doth certainly
signify immersio7i, absolute and total immersion, in Jose-
phus and other Greek writers. But this word is in
some degree equivocal ; and there are some eminent
Greek scholars who have asserted, that immersion is not
necessarily included in baptism. The examples pro-
duced, however, do not exactly serve the cause of those
who think that a few drops of water sprinkled on the
forehead of the child, constitute the essence of baptism.
In the Septuagint it is said, that Nebuchadnezzar was
baptized with the dew of heaven: and in a poem attributed
to Homer (called) The battle of the Frogs and Mice, it
is said, that a lake was baptized with the blood of a
wounded combatant. (E^airrero ^' ai[xari XifJ-VYj Tropipvpefp.)
A question hath arisen, in what sense the word baptize
can be used in this passage. Doth it signify immersion,
properly so called? Certainly not: neither can it sig-
nify a partial sprinkling. A body wholly surrounded
with a mist ; wholly made humid with dew ; or a piece
of water so tinged with and discoloured by blood, that
if it had been a solid body and dipped into it, it could
not have received a more sanguine appearance, is a very
different thing from that partial application which in
modern times is supposed sufficient to constitute full and
explicit baptism. The accommodation of the word

VOL. I. E

50 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

baptism to the instances we have referred to, is not un-
natural, though highly metaphorical ; and may be re-
solved into a trope or figure of speech, in which, though
the primary idea is maintained, yet the mode of expres-
sion is altered ; and the word itself is to be understood
rather allusively than really; rather relatively than abso-
lutely. If a body had been baptized or immersed, it
could not have been more wet than Nebuchadnezzar's;
if a lake had been dipped in blood, it could not have
put on a more bloody appearance. Hitherto the Anti-
Paedobaptists seem to have had the best of the argu-
ment, on the mode of administering the ordinance. The
most explicit authorities are on their side. Their
opponents have chiefly availed themselves of inferences,
analogy, and doubtful construction." Monthly Review,
for May 1784, p. 396.

43. G. J. Vossius. — " BaTrr/^e^v, to baptize, signifies
to plunge. It certainly therefore signifies more than
eTrnroXa^eiv, which is, to swi??i lightly Oil the top; and less
than Ivveiv, which is, to sink to the bottom, so as to be
destroyed." Disputat. de Bap. disp. i. thes. i. p. 25.
Amstelod. 1648.

44. Mr. l)e Courcy. — " It is readily allowed, that
dipping is one of the included ideas in the original word
[/SaTTTf^w] — We never denied, that dipping is not ex-
cluded from the signification of the original word." Re-
joinder, p. 139, 143.

45. Turrettinus. — " The word baptism is of Greek
origin, and is derived from the verb (SaTrrco; which sig-
nifies to clip, and to dye: (SaTm^eiv, to baptize; to dip
into, to immerse. Plut. de Superstit. (BaiTTiaov o-e eig
QaXaaaav, plunge your self into the sea : and, in the life of
Theseus, he recites a Sibylline verse concerning the Athe-
nians, which better agrees to the church :

KaKO(; /SaTTTi^yj, ^vvai ^e rot ov Befxig eari.

Mergeris uter aquis, sed non submergeris unquam.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 51

Hence it appears, that jSanTi'^ei.v is more than eitiTcoXai^eiv,
which is to swim lightly on the surface; and less than
§yve/y, which is to go cJown to the bottom ; that is, to strike
the bottom so as to be destroyed." Institut. loc. xix.
qusest. xi. § 4.

4(3. Dr. Owen. — " Though the original and natural
signification of the word [/SaTTTi^w] imports, to dip, to
plunge, to dye; yet it also signifies to wash or cleanse."
In Dr. Ridgley's Bod. Div. quest, clxvi. p. 608, note.

47. Bas. Faber. — " Baptism, is immersion, wash-
ing." Thesau. Erudit. Scholast. Lips. 1717.

48. Eras. Schmidius. — " Bocureiv, is to dye, to im-
merse in water; also to wash, or to immerse for the
sake of washing or cleansing." Annotat. in Matt. iii. 6.
Norimb. 1658.

49. Mr. Daniel Rogers. — " None, of old, were
wont to be sprinkled ; and I confess myself uncon-
vinced by demonstration of scripture for infants' sprink-
ling. It ought to be the church's part to cleave to the
institution, which is dipping ; and he betrays the church,
whose officer he is, to a disorderly error, if he cleave not
to the institution, which is to dip. That the minister is
to dip in water, as the meetest act, the word (3a7rri^co notes
it: for the Greeks wanted not other words to express
any other act besides dipping, if the institution could
bear it. What resemblance of the burial or the resur-
rection of Christ is in sprinkling? All antiquity and
scripture confirm that way. To dip, therefore, is ea?-
ceedi?ig 77iaterial to the ordinance ; which was the usage
of old, without exception of countries, hot or cold." In
Dr. Russel's Just Vind. of Doc. and Prac. of John, &c.
Epist. Dedicat. p. 5.

50. Dr. Hammond. — " The word here used, /3aTr-
ri^ea-Bai, (as it differs from viTcreaGai, verse 3,) signifies
not only the washing of the whole body, (as when it is
said of Eupolis, that being taken and thrown into the
sea, eiSa-TTTi^eTo, he was immersed all over, and so the

E 2

52 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

baptisms of cups, &c., in the end of this verse, is put-
ting into the water all over, rinsing them,) but washing
any part as the hands here, by way of immersion in
water, as that is opposed to affusion or pouring water
on them." Annotations, on Mark vii. 4.

51. Ikenius. — " The Greek word l3a7rTicr[/.og denotes
the immersion of a thing, or a person, into something ;
either with a view to expiation, or for washing and
cleansing. Here also [Matt. iii. 11, compared with
Luke iii. 16.] the baptism of Jire, or that which is
performed in fire, must signify according to the same
simplicity of the letter, an immission, or immersion,
into fire for a similar end: and this the rather, be-
cause here, to baptize in the Spirit, and injire, are not
only connected, but also opposed to being baptized in
water ; and, therefore, the connection of the discourse,
and the laws of opposition demand, that after whatever
manner these two phrases denote baptism in water, and
in the Spirit, to be performed, such must that be which is
performed in fire. . . .The Jewish rites of purification were
different; for either they were performed by an immersion
of the whole body, which the Jews call nS»Di3, and the
Greeks, PaTTTio-fxov, baptism; or by the washing of some
parts, as the hands, or the feet, v.hich is called by the
G reeks, €Kvi\pii; or by sprinkling ; which, in G reek, is deno-
minated pavTia-jxog, rhantism."" Dissert. Philolog. Theoiog.
dissert, xix. p. 325. Antiq. Hebraica?, parsi. c. xviii. §9.

52. Deylingius. — " The word (SaTrri^ea-Sai, as used
by Greek authors, signifies immersion and overwhelm-
ing. Thus we read in Plutarch, (de Superstit. tom. ii.

op. f. 166,) iSaTTTiaov aeavTOV €ig BaXacraav, (lip yourself
in the sea: like as Naaman, (in 2 Kings v. 14,) who
' baptized himself seven times in Jordan,' ^vhich was an
immersion of the whole body. So Strabo, (lib. xiv. p. 458,)
when speaking about the soldiers of Alexander the
Great, marching in the winter season between Climax, a
mountain in Pamphylia, and the sea, says : They were

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. ^3

immersed, jSaim^ofx^vovg, up to the waist. The same
author, (Hb. xii. p. 391,) speaking of Tatta, a marsh,
situate between Galatia and Cappadocia, says : The
water rises, navri to? (Banria-BevTi. eig avTO, SO as to over-
whelm any thing. Diodorus Siculus, (Hb. i. c. xxxvi.)
when speaking of the Nile overflowing its banks, says:
* Many of the land animals perish, liro rov iroTafxov
TrepiXyjcpQevTa '^lacpdetpeadai fSawrt^ofxeva, being overtaken and
overwhelmed by the flood.' In Josephus, (Antiq. Jud.
lib. XV. cap. iii.) ^airn'i^ovTeg, persons baptizing, are per-
sons plunging down. It has the same signification
in the gospels, and in the writings of the apostles : if
you except Luke xi. 38, where (BairTil^ea-Qai seems to be
used concerning washing the hands, which is done by
sprinkling." Observat. Sac. pars iii. observ. xxvi. § 2.
Lips. 1715.

53. Le Clerc. "' At that time came John the Bap-
tizer.' He has been called the Baptizer, rather than
Baptist, because the latter word is a proper name in the
modern languages ; whereas in this place it is an appel-
lative, to signify a man that plunged in water those who
testified an acknowledgment of his divine mission, and
were desirous of leading a new life — * He shall baptize
you in the Holy Spirit.' As I plunge you in water, he
shall plunge you, so to speak, in the Holy Spirit." Re-
marques sur Nouv. Test, a Matt. iii. 1.

54. Danzius. — " BaTrna-fJiog, /5a7rr;a-/Aa, and ^airricng,
denote plunging, or dipping; also washing, or a bath."
De Bap, Proselyt. Judaic. § 1, in Ugolini Thesauro An-
tiq. Sac. tom. xxii. p. 883.

55. Reiskius. — " To be baptized signifies, in its pri-
mary sense, to be immersed. Hence vavg apairTiarog, a
ship unbaptized, is a vessel not immersed in the waves ;
and, in Gregory Thaumaturgus, a person immersed in
error, is called /3e^a7rTza-/x,evo$- ; and he who rescues such
persons from their dangerous mistakes, is said rovg (Sair-
T<^o/xevovf avi[Atxo-6a(, to lift Up or dra'H' out the parties

S4 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

that were so baptized." Dissertat. de Bap. Judaeorum,
cap. i. § 1.

56. Heideggerus. — " The words ^aTrna-ixa and (Sarr-
ria-[xoi, baptism, (from fBaTrreiv, to plunge, to immerse,)
properly signify immersion." Corpus Theolog. Christ,
loc. XXV. § 21.

57' J. J. Wetstenius. — " To baptize, is to plunge, to
dip. The body, or part of the body, being under water,
is said to be baptized." Comment, ad Matt. iii. 6.

58. Dr. Doddridge. — " I have, indeed, a most
dreadful baptism to be baptized with, and know that I
shall shortly be bathed as it were in blood, and plunged
in the most overwhelming distress." Paraphrase on
Luke xii. 50.

59- Zepperus. — " If we consider the proper meaning
of the term, the word baptism signifies plunging into
water, or the very act of dipping and washing. It ap-
pears, therefore, from the very signification and etymo-
logy of the term, what was the custom of administering
baptism in the beginning ; whereas we now, for baptism,
rather have rhantism, or sprinkling." In Leigh's Crit.
Sac. under the word fSaTrria-fxc^. Lond. 1646.

60. Mr. Poole's Continuators. — " To be baptized, is
to be dipped in water; metaphorically, to be plunged in
afflictions. I am, saith Christ, to be baptized with
blood, overwhelmed with sufferings and afflictions."
Annotations on Matt. xx. 22, edit. 1688.

61 . Walaeus. — " The external form of baptism is im-
mersion into water, in the name of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Enchiridium, p. 425.

62. Articles of Smalcald. — " Baj)tism is no other
than the word of God, Avith plunging into water accord-
ing to his appointment and command." Kromayeri
Epitom. Lib. Concord. Christ, p. 107.

63. Anonymous. — "■ That the letter of the scripture
is in favour of the Baptists (or, as they are still absurdly
called Anabaptists,) cannot without evasion and equivo-

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 55

cation be denied." London Review, for June 1776,
p. 489.

64. Gerhardus. — " 'QairrLo-^og and (BaTnia-fxa, from
/SaTTTi^eiv, to baptize, to immerse, to dip, and that pro-
perly, into water : it has a likeness to the words jSvOi^a
and /3a6vvco, each of which signifies to plunge down
into the deep. Plutarch, (SaTma-ov aeavTOV eig BaXaaraav,
plunge yourself into the sea. The same biographer, in
the life of Galba, speaks metaphorically of being baptized,
or immersed in debt : /3e/3a7z-Tf o-/Aevof ocpeiX'^fxaai. In his
Morals, he speaks of being baptized, or oppressed, bi/ an
accumidation of affairs: /SaTrn^ea-Sai vtto tccv Ttpaji/.arm.
In his life of Phocion, of being baptized i?i, or plunged
under immoderate labours : (SaTTTi^ea-Sai roig itovoig vTrep-
[SaXkova-i. Aphrod. 1, i. probl. has the following expres-
sions ; (SePaTTTiaiJievog tco aix/fxaTi, plunged down in the
body. In this acceptation of immersing, it is used
(2 Kings V. 14,) ' Then went he down and dipped (e/3a7r-
Tia-aro) himself seven times in Jordan' .... But because
those who are immersed in water, and emerge out of it,
appear washed and clean, therefore ^airnaij^og and ^a-n-
Ti^eiv are consequentially used for any kind of ablution,
whether it be performed by merely sprinkling, or pour-
ing, or by a particular dipping. BtxTrn^eiv is derived from
^(XTTTeiv, which signifies, in general, to dip, to wash, to
dye, to immerse." Loc. Theolog. tom. iv. De Bap,
p. 224.

65. Alstedius. — " BaTrn^eiv, to baptize, signifies only
to immerse; not to wash, except by consequence." Lexi-
con Theologicum, cap. xii. p. 221,

66. Mr. Wilson. — " To baptize, to dip into water,
or to plunge one into the water." Christian Dictionary,
edit. 1678.

67. Mr. Bailey. — " Baptism, in strictness of speech,
is that kind of ablution, or washing, which consists in
dipping; and when applied to the Christian institution
so called, it was used by the primitive Christians in no

66 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

Other sense than that of dipping ; as the learned Grotius
and Casaubon well observe. But as new customs in-
troduce new significations of words, in process of time
it admitted the idea of sprinkling, as in the case of clini-
cal baptism." Dictionary, Dr. Scott's edit. 1772.

68. Mr. Leigh. — " BaTTTi^co. The word baptize,
though it be derived from jSaTz-Tw, to dip, or plunge into
the water, and signifieth primarily such a kind of wash-
ing as is used in bucks, where linen is plunged and
dipped ; yet it is taken more largely for any kind of
washing, rinsing, or cleansing, even where there is no
dipping at all, (as Matt. iii. 11. and so on.). . . .The na-
tive and proper signification of it is, to dip into water,
or to plunge under water, (John iii. 22, 23; Matt. iii. 16;
Acts viii. 38.)" Critica Sacra.

69- Schoettgenius. — " Ban-r/^w, from (BaTrxia; pro-
perly, to plunge, to immerse ; to cleanse, to wash."
Lex. in Nov. Test. Krebsii, edit. 1765.

70. Mr. Parkhurst. — " BaTmi^a, from fSocTma, to dip,
immerse, or plunge in water. To baptize, to immerse
in, or] wash with water. Figuratively, to be baptized,
immersed, or plunged in a flood, or sea, as it were, of
grievous afflictions and sufferings. "

71. Schrevelius. — " BaTTTi^w, to baptize, to plunge,
to wash." Cantab. 1685.

72. Pasor. — " BaTTTi^co, to baptize, to immerse, to
wash." Lips. 1735.

73. Trommius. — " BaTTTi^co, to baptize ; to immerse,
to dip." Concordantiae Graecas, sub voce.

74. Mintert. — BaTrr/^cc, to baptize; properly, indeed,
it signifies to plunge, to immerse, to dip into water : but
because it is common to plunge or dip a thing that it
may be washed, hence also it signifies to wash, to wash
away. . . .BaTrr/cr^of, baptism : immersion, dipping into ;
washing, washing away. Properly, and according to its
etymology, it denotes that washing which is performed
by immersion."

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 57

75. Scapula. — '' BaTrn^a, to baptize; to dip, or im-
merse; as we immerse any thing for the purpose of
dyeing, or cleansing in water. Also to dip, to plunge,
to overwhelm in water. Likewise to wash away, to
wash." Lond. 1652.

76. Hedericus. — " BaTrr/^w, to baptize; to plunge,
to immerse, to overwhelm in water; to wash away, to
wash .... BaTz-T^a/xa, baptism ; immersion, dipping into."
Lond. 1778.

77. Constantinus. — " BaTrr/cr/xo^, baptism ; the act
of dyeing, that is, of plunging." Edit. 1592.

78. Mr. Robertson. — " BaTTTi^a, to baptize; to im-
merse, to wash." Thesaurus Graec.

79. Mr. William Young. — " Baptize; to dip all
over, to wash, to baptize." Latin-English Dictionary.

80. Stockius. — " BaTTTKTfxa, baptism. Generally,
and in virtue of its etymology, it signifies immersion, or
dipping into. Particularly and properly, it denotes the
immersion or dipping of a thing into water, that it may
be cleansed or washed." Jenas, 1735.

81. Stephanus. — ^' BaTin^co, to plunge, or immerse.
To plunge ; that is, to plunge under, or overwhelm in
water. To cleanse, to wash." Thesaur. Grasc. Ling.
1572.

82. Schwarzius. " BaTrr;^©, to baptize; to plunge,
to overwhelm, to dip into.* To wash, by plunging,

* To authenticate this^ as the native and primary meaning of
the ternij he produces the following authorities. "Polyb. iii. c. 72.
MoX<5 ecci; xasv [Aa^uv ot Tre^ot ^airTi^oy-evoi ^le^aivov, vix transibant pedites
ad mammas usque mersi. Idem, v. c. 47. Ai^to* iit" avruv ^aitrt^oiJi.evQt
Km Kara^vvovreq €v TOi? TfXy.a(Tiv, ipsi a se ipsis mergebantur et deprime-
bantur in paludibus. Dio. xxxviii, p. 84. Uavrikui; ^ounriC.oyraiy ora-
nino merguntur. Idem, xxxvii. extr. p. 64, XeijAav toiovtoi; e^aifvYn
Tijv %(ypav anaa-ccv KaTeo-%ey, wr*— ra tiXoia, ra, ev rco Ti^epi'bi — ^cx.TCTKr^rivai,
tanta tempestas subito per totam regionem extitit, ut navigia in Ti-
beri mergerentur. Idem. 1. p. 49'3. Uui jitev av ovx ^w' avrov rov TtXri^ovq
T(Bj/ Kwnuv ^aTiTKrSreifj j quomodo non ipsa remorum rnultitudiiiej suhmcr-
gaturP Adde p. 502, 505. Porphyrius de Styge, p. 282. Oravh

^S SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

(Luke xi. 38 ; Matt. vii. 4.) Sometimes to sprinkle,
to besprinkle, to pour upon.* To purify and conse-
crate to God, by plunging. (Matt. iii. 6, 11, 13, 14,
and elsewhere.). . . . Ba7z-T/o-T>;$-, the Baptist, who sustained
the singular and sacred office, of plunging men desirous

f%wv TO v^up ajAccprccv ^€, oXiyov irpo^a^ ^a.iiri'^erai jwe%p< /cf^aXvj?. Quum
autem accusatus ingreditur lacum, secure, si peccati sit expers,
transit, niersus usque ad genua. Sin peccarit, paulum progressus
suhmergitur iisque ad caput. Diodorus Siculus, i, p. 33. Tav Se
X€p<raiu> Byjpiuv ru TCoKka, jocev lito rov •norajAov icepiX'/jfGevra ^ta(p6eiperai. ^octt-
Tj^ejweva, Ttva 8e e<? rovt; (/.ereccpovi; eKfevjovra. tottou? Siao-w^erai, Animalium
terrestrium multa a flumine Nilo correpta mergendo perduntur : alia
in editos locos fugientia servantur. Adde Strabon. vi. p. 421. Jo-
seph, Bell. Jud. p. 259, init. Activum quoque in significatione pas-
siva est apud Joseph. Antiq. ix. c. x. § 2. Oa-ov ovita |WeXXovTo? /SawTi^ejv
rov (TKafovq, quum navis mergeretur tantum, quantum nondum coepe-
rat.'' — I will here add another passage from Diod. Siculus, 1. i. p. 67,
as I find it quoted and translated by Dr. Sam. Chandler : " Tou? 8e
iSiWTaj dia Tvji/ €K rovToiv evitopiav ov BAIITIZQTSI ran; €t<Tfopai(;. The
people were not oppressed with taxes." Defence of Prime Minister
of Joseph, p. ii. p. 388.

f His only authorities for the two latter of these ideas, are the
following: " .^schyl. Prometh. Vinct, p. 53. Ai^ktov ev (npayaia-i
Pa\pa.a-a ^icpoi;, ancipitem gladium csedibus tingens. Apud Platon. in
Conviv. p.316. Aristophanes de se dicit, /cat yap km avro; eifxt rav
xOei; /3e/3aTrTio-jM.e)/wv. Etenim ego quoque sum ex iis qui heri multum
biberunt." Whether these passages do not confirm the idea of
plunging and overwhelming, rather than that of sprinkling, or pouring,
for which they were produced, let the learned judge. Respecting the
latter of them. Dr. Daniel Scott says : " Plato uses this verh
[/SatzTTi^w] of a person who had drunk freely, drenched himself in
liquor." Note on Matt, xxviii. 19. — So Justin Martyr and Chry-
sostom speak of being baptized in wine ; and Clemens Alexandrinus,
of being baptized in sleep. Apud Suicerum, Thesaur. Eccles. tom. i.
J). 623. And as the word baptized, in tliese connections, expresses
the notion of being as it were buried in sleep, and overwhelmed in
wine ; so those corresponding adjectives, ebrius, drunk, and drunken,
are allusively used to signify soaked, dipped , drenched. Thus Mar-
tial : " Lana sanguine conchaj ebria." Thus Jehovah : " I will
make mine arrows drunk with blood." (Dent, xxxii. 42.) And
Shakespeare thus : " Then let tlie earth be drunken with our
blood." See Ainsworth and Johnson under the words.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 59

of salvation, that they might know themselves to be de-
voted to God." Comment. Crit. et Philolosf. Ling.
Grasc. See also Martini Lexicon Philologicum, sub
voce, Baptismus. Riisenii Summa Theolog. loc. xvii.
§ 26. Glossarium Vetus, sub voce BaTrn^co. Damm.
Nov. Lex. Grasc. sub voce BaTrrco. Dr. Macknight's
Harm, part ii. p. 9,79, edit. 2nd. Petavii Theol.
Dogmat. 1. ii, de Poenitent. c. i. § 11. Mr. S. Davies's
Sermons, vol. ii. p. 169- edit. 5rd.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. It will be alloAved, I think, by every
competent and impartial judge, that many of the authors
from whose writings these quotations are made, may be
justly numbered among the first literary characters that
any age has produced. Now, as all these concessions,
declarations, and reasonings, proceeded from persons
that practised pouring or sprinkling in the administra-
tion of the ordinance under consideration; so there is
the highest reason to conclude, that nothing but the
force of evidence, and a conscientious regard to truth,
could have induced them thus to speak; for it is mani-
fest, that such language has the appearance of support-
ing a contrary practice.

To the foregoing quotations from Pasdobaptists,
whom candour itself must suppose inclined to make as
few concessions to the Baptists as the evidence of stub-
born facts would permit, we will add the attestations
of others, that may be justly considered as impartial
spectators of our controversy about the right manner of
administering baptism. The authors to whom I advert,
belong to the denomination of people called Quakers;
and their language is as follows.

1. Robert Barclay.—" BaTrn^w signifies immergo ;
that is, to plunge and dip in ; and that was the proper
use of water baptism among the Jews, and also by John
and the primitive Christians, who used it. Whereas our

60 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

adversaries, for the most part, only sprinkle a little
water upon the forehead, which doth not at all answer
to the word baptism : so that if our adversaries will stick
to the word, they must alter their method of sprinkling."
Apology, proposition xii. § 10.

2. John Gratton. — " John did baptize into water;
and it was a baptism, a real dipping, or plunging into
water, and so a real baptism was John's." Life of John
Gratton, p. 231.

3. William Dell. — Speaking of baptism, he calls it,
" the plunging of a man in cold water." Select Works,
p. 389, edit. 1773.

4. Thomas EUwood. — " They [the apostles, at the
feast of Pentecost] were now baptized with the Holy
Ghost indeed ; and that in the strict and proper sense of
the word baptize; which signifies to dip, plunge, or put
under.'' Sacred Hist, of the N. Test, part ii. p. 307.

5. Samuel Fothergill. — " By which [baptism of the
Holy Spirit,] I understand such a thorough immersion
into his holy nature, as to know him, the only begotten
Son of God, to conform the soul to his own image."
Remarks on Address to People called Quakers, p. 27.

6. Joseph Phipps. — The baptism of the Holy
Spirit is " effected by spiritual immersion. . . .The prac-
tice of sprinkling infants, under the name of baptism, hath
neither precept nor precedent in the New Testament."
Dissertations on Bap. and Communion, p. 25, 30.

7. William Penn. — " I cannot see why the bishop
[of Cork, in answer to whom he wrote,] should assume
the power of unchristianing us, for not practising of that
which he himself practises so unscripturally, and that
according to the sentiments of a considerable part of
Christendom; having not one text of scripture to prove
that sprinkling in the face was the water baptism, — in
the first times. — Then it was in the river Jordan; now
in a basin.'' Defence of Gospel Truths, against the
Bishop of Cork, p. 82, 83.

BAPTIZE A.ND BAPTISM. 61

8. George Whitehead. — " Sprinkhng infants, I deny
to be baptism, either in a proper or scripture sense.
For sprinkling is rhantism, and not baptism; coming of
pavTi^co, i. e. aspergo, to sprinkle, or to besprinkle, (Heb.
ix, 13, 19, compared with Heb. x. 22; fiavTi(T[j.o^, a
besprinkling, (and chap. xii. 24, and 1 Pet. i. 2.) But
/SaTTT/^o?, is to baptize, to plunge under water, to over-
whelm. Wherefore I would not have these men offended
at the word rhantism, it being as much English as the
word baptism. And also ^auriaiKovg is translated wash-
ing; i.e. of cups, pots, brazen vessels, and tables,
(Mark vii. 4.) Now if washing here should be taken in
the common sense, cleanly people use not to do it only
by sprinkling some drops of water upon them, but by
washing them clean; so that rhantism can be neither
baptism, nor washing, in a true or proper sense." Truth
Prevalent, chap. ix. p. 116.

9- Elizabeth Bathurst. — " Sprinkling infants; this
they [the Quakers] utterly deny, as a thing by men im-
posed, and never by God or Christ instituted." Life
and Writings of Elizabeth Bathurst, chap. v. p. 44.

10. Thomas Lawson. — " Such as rhantize, or
sprinkle infants, have no command from Christ, nor
example among the apostles, nor the first primitive
Christians, for so doing .... The ceremony of John's
ministration, according to divine institution, was by dip-
ping, plunging, or overwhelming their bodies in water ;
as Scapula and Stephens, two great masters in the Greek
tongue testify; as also Grotius, Pasor, Vossius, Min-
ceus, Leigh, Casaubon, Bucer, Bullinger, Zanchy, Span-
hemius, Rogers, Taylor, Hammond, Calvin, Piscator,
Aquinas, Scotus .... As for sprinkling, the Greeks call
it rhantismos, which I render rhantism: for it is as
proper to call sprinkling rhantism, as to call dipping
baptism. This linguists cannot be ignorant of, that dip-
ping and sprinkling are expressed by several words,
both in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. It is very evident,

62 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

\i sprinkling had been of divine institution, the Greeks
had their rhantismos; but as dipping was the institu-
tion, they used haptisjnos; so maintained the purity and
propriety of the language. . . .To sprinkle young or old,
and call it baptism, is very incongruous; yea, as impro-
per as to call a horse a cow; for baptism signifies dip-
ping. However, rhantism hath entered into, and among
the professors of Christianity ; and, to gain the more
ACCEPTANCE, it is Called baptism.'" Baptismalogia,
p. 117, 118, 119.

11. Anthony Purver. — ^'^ Baptized is but a Greek
word used in English, and signifying plunged." Note
on 1 Cor. XV. 29- — Such is the harmonious and united
testimony of these our impartial Friends : nor do I sup-
pose that any sensible person of the same denomina-
tion would for a moment scruple to subscribe the pre-
ceding declarations.

Reflect. II. By the numerous quotations here pro-
duced from the most learned Pasdobaptists, we are ex-
pressly taught, that immersion is the radical and obvious
meaning of the term baptism. No. 1 — 82 ;■ — that the
Danes, the Swedes, the Germans, and the Dutch, ren-
der the word (SairTii^w by expressions that signify to dip,
No. 12 ; — that it has no other signification in INlark vii.
4, No. 10, 40, 50, 82 ; — that the idea of immersion is
retained when the term is used metaphorically of the
Holy Spirit, No. 3, 8, 51, 53; of sufferings, No. 6, 8,
23, 58, 60, 70 ; and of other things. No. 42, 64, 82 ;—
that jSaiTTi^eiv is of a middle signification, between eTinro-
Xa^etv, to sxvim on the surface, and Iweiv^ to go dawn to the
bottom, No. 1, 10, 27, 43, 45, 64; — that the word bap-
tism is no where used in scripture to signify sprinkling,
No. 40; — that it signifies immersion only, not washing,
except by consequence, No. 65 ; — that the Greeks wanted
not other words to have expressed a different action, if
the institution would have borne it, No. 49; — that the
manner of baptizing should correspond to the significa-

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 63

tion of the ordinance, No. 30; — that all antiquity and
scripture confirm the idea of plunging, No. 49; — that
sprinkling is rhantism, rather than baptism. No. 2, 59 ; —
that new customs introduce new significations of words,
No. 67; — that our opponents chiefly avail themselves
of inferences, of analogy, and of doubtful construction,
No. 42; — and that the Baptists have the advantage in
point of argument. No. 42, 63.

Let us now review the testimonies of our impartial
friends the Quakers. They assert, that the word in
question signifies immersion. No. 1 — 11; — that the first
administrator practised accordingly, No. 2, 7, 10; — that
if sprinkling had been the institution, the Greeks had
their rhantismos, but that dipping being appointed, baptis-
mos was used in divine law, No. 10; — that sprinkling is
neither baptism, nor washing, No. 8; — that there is
neither precept nor precedent for sprinkling, No. 6, 7,
10; that the contrast between baptism and the rite
which is now practised, is like that between the waves
of Jordan, and the water in a portable basin, No. 7 ;
that sprinkling of infants is a human invention, No. 9,
10; and that sprinkling is called baptism, to keep it
in countenance, No. 10. — Such is the import of what
the most learned Peedobaptists assert, and of what the
impartial Quakers affirm, concerning the term in dis-
pute; which, whether it be in our favour, I leave the
reader to judge.

Reflect. III. Werenfelsius has well observed, in his
excellent dissertation De Scopo Interpretis, that " some
interpreters do not search the scripture so much for the
meaning of the Holy Spirit, as for praise and honour ;
others, not so much for the sense of scripture, as for
their own opinion ; and others, not so much for the true
meaning of scripture, as for one that is useful or agree-
able."* Now as our enquiry here is concerning the
sense of a term, an important enacting term of divine

* Opuscula Theolog. p. 373, 374.

64 SIGNIFICATIOX OF THE TERMS,

law; and as the partiality and pride, so justly con-
demned by Werenfelsius, are too common to all theolo-
gical writers; to avoid the appearance of predilection
for a particular sense of the word in dispute, we will
have recourse to the observations and rules of our op-
posers themselves, respecting the true meaning of in-
spired writers, and the expounding of laws. The fol-
lowing extracts may perhaps be useful to direct us in
the present case, and are therefore submitted to the
reader's consideration.

First, then, Buddeus. — " It is necessary, doubtless,
that he who desires to be understood when he writes or
speaks, should intend to convey only 0)ie meaning;
which, if we obtain, we have the true and genuine

sense,"* Chamier: "There is but one genuine sense

of a text."t ^^- Owen : " If it [the scripture] have

not every-where one proper determinate sense, it hath
none at all." [J; Schelhornius : "The true sense of scrip-
ture, is not every sense the words willbear."§ Weren-
felsius : " The true meaning of scripture, is not every
sense the words will bear, and perhaps may excite in
the reader's mind ; nor yet every sense that is true in it-
self, but that which was really intended by the holy

writer." II Anonymous: " Laws being directed to the

unlearned, as well as the learned, ought to be construed
in their 7nost obvious meaning, and not explained away
by subtle distinctions; and no law is to suffer a figura-
tive interpretation, where the proper sense of the words
is as commodious, and equally fitted to the subject of
the statute."^— —Dr. Sherlock : "When the words of
the law are capable of different senses, and reason is for
one sense, and the other sense against reason, there it is
fit that a plain and necessary reason should expound

* Theolog. Dogmat l.i. c.ii. §24. f Panstrat. torn, i,

l.xiv. c.x, § 18. X On Heb.iii. 15, vol. ii. p. 155.

§ Bib. Bremens. class, vi. p. 468. || Opuscula, p. 3*2.

^ Encyclopaed. Britan. vol. vi. article Law, p. 41.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 65

the law. But when the law is not capable of such dif-
ferent senses, or there is no such reason as makes one
sense absurd and the other necessary, the law must be
expounded according to the most plain and obvious signi-
fication of the words, though it should condemn that
which we think there may be some reason for, or at
least no reason against; for otherwise it is an easy matter

to expound away all the laws of God." * Bp. Taylor:

" In all things ^here the precept is given in the pro-
per style of laws, he that takes the Jirst sense is the
likeliest to be well guided .... In the interpretation of
the laws of Christ, the strict sense is to be followed." f

Dr. Jonath. Edwards: " In words which are capable

of two senses, the natural and proper is the primary;
and therefore ought, in the first place and chiefly, to be

regarded." J Dr. Horsley : " It is a principle with

me, that the true sense of any phrase in the New Testa-
ment, is what may be called its standing sense; that
which will be the first to occur to common peo[)le of

every country and in every age."§ Vitringa: " This is

accounted by all a constant and undoubted rule of ap-
proved interpretation ; that the ordinary and most usual
signification of words must not be deserted, except for

sufficient reasons."]] Dr. Waterland: " Since words

are designed to convey some meaning, if we take the
liberty of playing upon words after the meaning is fixed
and certain, there can be no security against equivoca-
tion and wile, in any laws, or any engagements what-
ever. All the ends and uses of speech will hereby be
perverted."^ Dr. WiUiam Sherlock : "In expound-
ing scripture, we must confine ourselves to the plain and

* Preeerv. against Pop. vol. ii. Appendix, p. 11.
t Duct. Dub. b. i. ciiap. i. p. 26 j b. ii. chap. iii. p. 328.
% Preserv. against Socinianism, part iii. p. .52.
§ Reply to Dr. Priestley, lett. iv. p. 23.
II De Synag. Vet. 1. i. pars i. c.iii. p. 110.
^ Supplem. to Case of Arian Subscrlp. p. 9, 10.
VOL. I. Y

^^ SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

natural signihcsition of the words . . .They [the Socinians]
take and challenge to themselves a liberty of putting any
sense upon the words of scripture which they can pos-
sibly bear, or are ever used in .... If we believe nothing
but what the scripture does plainly and expressly teach,
according to the most proper and usual acceptation of
the words; if we believe amiss, it is none of our fault,
unless just reverence to scripture be a fault. . . .It is
impossible to prove, that that is not the sense of scrip-
ture, which is the natui'al interpretation of the words of
any one text, and is not contradicted by any other text
.... Can they [the Socinians] prove, that the words do
not signify what we say they do? Or, that this is not
the most easy and obvious sense of the words, and what
every man would take to be the natural signification of
them, who did not think himself concerned to try his
skill to force some other sense on them? When the
words are plain, and the sense plain and obvious, nothing
can tempt any man to reject the plain sense of the words,
for some obscure, laboured, and artificial interpretations,
but a dislike of the doctrine which the plain and obvious

sense of the words teaches."* Dr. Doddridge: " I am

more and more convinced, that the vulgar sense of the
New Testament, that is, the sense in which an honest
man of plain sense would take it, on hisj^?'6'^ reading
the original, or any good translation, is almost every
where the true general sense of any passage .... I chose
to follow the plainest and most obvious and common
interpretation; which, indeed, I generally think the best
.... As it is certain that ap)^>; has not always that signi-
fication, [for which some contend] I judge it safe to give
what is more commonly the sense of it."f — Once more:
— Mr. Alsop says, " No cogent reason can be as-
signed, why we should depart from the plain, ordinary,

* Scripture Proofs of our Saviour's Div. p. 64, 65, 130, 131, 132.
f Fam. Exp. Note on Matt, xviii. 17 ; 2 Cor. Tiii, \ ; Rev. iii. 14.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 67

primary acceptation of the word Christ, for a figurative,

improper and secondary acceptation."*' Were I to

produce all the passages of this kind, from learned
Pa?dobaptists, with which observation has furnished me,
I should fill several more pages:! but I forbear, con-
sidering these as quite sufficient.

The leading idea of the foregoing paragraph is not
a merely speculative principle: it is considered and
treated, by great numbers of learned P^dobaptists, as
of the highest importance. In all controversies, where
an appeal is made to divine revelation, every one is
ready to avail himself, as much as possible, of the pri-
mary, obvious, and most common sense of inspired lan-
guage, both as to single terms and complete proposi-
tions. A sensible disputant is never willing to waive
this advantage; nor, so far as I have observed, will he
deliberately violate this principle, except when maintain-
iBg such hypotheses as he knows would be injured, if
not subverted by it. Of the latter, Socinians are ex-
tremely culpable; and, indeed, we need not wonder at
it : for the very life of their cause consists in explain-
ing some of the most capital terms of scripture, in an
improper and a secondary, a far-fetched and an arbi-
trary sense. They make exceptions to the clearest evi-
dence of scripture testimony ; insisting, that this or the
other emphatical term, on which the argument very
much depends, may be understood in a sense extremely
difi:"erent from its natural and obvious meaning : and
then, without any reason, besides the support of their own
hypothesis, they argue and infer any thing that suits
their purpose. Thus deserting at every turn the radical
and common acceptation of the most important scrip-

* Antisozzoj p. 35. f See, among others. Dr. Owen, On

the Nature of a Gosp. Church, p. 142. Ikenii Dissertat, Philolog.
Theolog. p. 69, 361. Jos. Flacaei Opera, torn. ii. p. 91, 255, 777",
875. Francof. 1703, Luther, De Servo Arbitrio, p. 115, 184. Ar-
gent, 1707.

F a

68 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

tural expressions, they are never at a loss for an evasion.
Against this conduct their numerous opponents have
made very loud complaints; of which I will produce a
few examples. " Their whole design and endeavour,"
says Dr. Owen, " is to put in exceptions against the
obvious sense and interpretation of the words ; not fixing
on any determinate exposition of [the passage in ques-
tion] themselves, such as they will abide by, in oppo-
sition unto any other sense of the place. Now this is a
most sophistical way of arguing upon testimonies, and
suited to make controversies endless. Whose wit is so
barren, as not to be able to raise one exception or other,
against the plainest and most evident testimony? So
the Socinians deal with us, in all the testimonies we
produce to prove the deity and satisfaction of Christ.
They suppose it enough to evade their force, if they can
but pretend that the words are capable oi another sense;
although they will not abide by it, that this or that is
their sense: for if they would do so, when that is over-
thrown, the truth would be established. But every testi-
mony of the scripture hath one determinate sense. When
1;his is contended about, it is equal those at difference
do express their apprehensions of the mind of the Holy
S})irit, in the word which they will abide by. When
this is done, let it be examined and tried, whether of the
two senses pretended unto, doth best comply with the
signification and use of the words, the context or scope
of the place, other scripture testimonies, and the analogy
of faith. . . .The words 77iai/ have another sense; there-
fore [say the Socinians] nothing from them can be con-
cluded ; whereby they have left nothing stable, or un-
shaken in Christian religion .... How will they prove
that [eyevero] may be rendered by fuit^ was ? They tell
you, it is so in two other places in the New Testament.
But doth that prove that it may so much as be so ren-
dered here? The proper sense and common usage of it
is, ^vas made; and because it is once or twice used in a

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 69

peculiar sense, mai/ it be so rendered here (John i. 14,)
where nothing requires that it be turned aside from its
most usual acceptation?. . . .The various signification of a
word, used absolutely in any other place, is sufficient for
these men to confute its necessary signification in any

context."* Dr. John Edwards: "Certainly, never

men made such ill use of grammar and criticism as these
[Socinians] do ; for they make use of them only to de-
prave the true sense of the holy writ. To avoid and
put by the force of some plain and express places, how
do they stickle, how do they tug ! To lexicons, dictiona-
ries, and glossaries they resort, and enquire into and pick
up all possible senses of the words and phrases which
they meet with in scripture, but what are most agreeable
to the matter and scope of the places they are con-
cerned in. If a word have any other meaning in any
author whatsoever, they make this a sufficient warrant
to depart from the true and genuine sense of the

place. "f Volkelius having asserted that, by the term

Godhead (Col. ii. 8,) "neither the nature of God, nor
of Christ, but the knowledge of the divine will, and
the manner of worshipping God, may be, and therefore
ynust be understood ;" Mr. Alsop replies, " The reader
is now satisfied why it must be so. It may be so, and
therefore necessarily it must be so:" and, in a similar
case, he says: " From may be in the premises, to must

be in the conclusion, is a high leap.";]: Once more :

Dr. Horsley says, " It is the particular happiness of
the Unitarian writers, that they are never found at a
loss for an expedient.":]:

Farther: When Protestant Paedobaptists are dispu-
ting with Roman Catholics about the meaning of that

* Nature of Gospel Church, p. 144, Mystery of the Gospel
vindicated, p. 160, 218 5 see also p. 228, 275, 303. Exposit. of
Heb. vol. iii. p, 468. f Discourse concerning Truth and

Error, p. 301. % Antisozzo, p. 37, 44. § Reply to

Dr. Priestley, lett, v. p. 30.

70 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

capital term justificatioji, they constantly maintain the
necessity of abiding by its primary, obvious, and most
common acceptation, which is forensic; in opposition to
any real or pretended secondary sense, for which the
Papists earnestly plead. Of this I will give the follow-
ing instances. Turrettinus: " Proper li/ the verb justify,
is forensic ; and signifies, to absolve any one in judgment,
or to account anddeclarejust . . . .The Roman Catholics
do not deny, that the word Justification, and the verb Jus-
tify, are frequently used in a forensic sense; yet they will
not allow this to be the constant sense of the terms, but
maintain that they often signify the real production, ac-
quisition, and increase of righteousness; and that this
acceptation of the words takes place in a particular
manner, with reference to the justification of man before
God.... But though the word justification, in some
passages of scripture, depart from its proper significa-
tion, and take a sense that is not forensic; it does not
follow that we do ill by taking it in a judicial sense,
because its proper sense is to be regarded in those places

which are the seat of the doctrine."* Buddeus: '' It

may be demonstrated, that the forensic sense of the
word justijication, is the constant and perpetual signifi-
cation of it in holy scripture. Yet were it very clearly
shown, that in one or two places the word is used in a
different sense, our cause would not be injured; for it
would still be a fact, that the forensic sense is more
usual, and chiefly perspicuous in the sacred writings. f"

Dr. Owen, when endeavouring to vindicate the

forensic sense of the word Justify, against the exceptions
of a learned man, makes the following preliminary ob-
servation: " I shall premise that which I judge not an
unreasonable demand ; namely, that if the signification
of the word in any, or all the places which he mentions,
should seem doubtful unto any, (as it doth not unto me)

* Institut. loc. xvi. qutest. i. § 4, 5, 9.

f Theolog. Dogmat 1. iv. c, iv. § 11, p. 953.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 71

that the uncertainty of a very few places should not
make us question the proper signification of a word,
whose sense is determined in so many, wherein it is
clear and unquestionable."*

Once more : Our learned Paedobaptist brethren ap-
ply the same principle to the interpretation of Greek par-
ticles. Thus Dr. Doddridge: "It seems desirable, where
it can be done, to interpret the 'particles in their most
usual sense."'!' — — Mr. James Hervey, when disputing
the signification of a Greek particle with Mr. J. Wes-
ley, says: "I am ready to grant, that places may be
found where the preposition ev must be understood ac-
cording to your sense. But then every one knows that
this is not the native, obvious, literal meaning ; rather a
meaning swayed, influenced, moulded by the preceding
or following word. . . . He will not allow the Greek pre-
position ev to signify i7i ; though I can prove it to have
been in peaceful possession of this signification for more
than two thousand years. "|

Reflect. IV. If we examine the present prevailing
practice of pouring, or sprinkling, upon those principles,
rules, and reasonings, which the most eminent Paedo-
baptists have laid before us in the preceding quotations;
or if we pay any regard to the decision of those who
have no interest in this dispute, and may therefore be
justly considered as quite impartial ; we must conclude,
that neither sprinkling, nor pouring, is warranted by the
word baptism. For our learned opponents themselves
assure us, without so much as one exception occurring
to observation in the course of my reading, that the
primary meaning of the term in dispute, is immersion ;
and many distinguished characters among them unite in

* Doct. of Justif. chap. iv. Vid, Gomari Opera, pars ii, p. 92.
Walsei Enchirid. Relig. p. 337, 338. Mastricht. Theolog. I. vi.
c. vi, § 19. Witsii (Econ. Faed. l.iii. c. viii. § 5—14.

f Note, on Mark ix. 49.

+ Letters to Mr. J. Wesley, lett. ii. p. 26; lett. x. p. 232.

72 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

directing us, to interpret words and laws agreeably to
the primary, obvious, and most usual sense of the terms.
Now Pfedobaptism, as practised in these northern parts
of Europe, is not agreeable to the native, obvious, and
common acceptation of the word baptism. It adopts a
supposed secondary, remote, and obscure sense of the
term. It represents our divine Legislator as having more
meanings than one, under the same enacting term, of the
same law, and at the same time ; for so far as I have
observed, none deny that immersion is warranted by that
commanding word. It confronts an established prin-
ciple upon which, among other things, the great doc-
trine of justification is defended against the Papists ; a
principle on which every confutation of Socinian error
must proceed. And it opposes the grand rule of all in-
terpretation, that the ordinarij arid most usual significa-
tio7i of words must not be deserted, except for cogent
reasons; which rule is no other than the language of
reason, of observation, and common sense. Pa?dobap-
tism, however, has nothing to plead for departing from
this rule but — its oivn e.vistence.

Reflect. V. Dr. Addington has justly observed,
that " if there are two translations of a word, one of
which is certainly true, and the other may be false, it is
easy to say which the wise and candid would prefer."*
Now, on the authorities here produced — authorities of
commentators, of critics, and of lexicographers the most
respectable — we may venture to assert, that the word
baptism certainly signifies immersion, whatever meaning
it may have besides ; consequently, both candour and
prudence require us to embrace that acceptation in pre-
ference to any other. But supposing, without granting,
that the word under consideration is occasionally used
by inspired writers, by the Septuagint translators, or by
Greek classics, to signify washing, where there is no im-
mersion, or even to denote sprinkling ; vet Avhile it is al-

* Christian Minister's Rcas. p. 34.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 73

lowed by so many of the first characters for sacred cri-
ticism, that its primary and obvious meaning is immer-
sion ; there is no reason to depart from it in the ad-
ministration of a divine ordinance; except it can be
proved, that the design of the institution will not com-
port with it, or that the practice of the apostles was a
departure from it; concerning both which, we shall hear
the verdict of learned men in subsequent chapters.
Nay, if the numerous authors produced be not under a
gross mistake, in fixing the natural and primary meaning
of the term baptism; though many incontestable in-
stances could be brought, that /SaTrri^ix), in certain con-
nections, signifies to wash, without including the idea
of dipping ; and that on some occasions it also signifies
to pour, and to sprinkle; yet immersion would still be
the grand ruling idea. Surely, then, we ought not
hastily, or for trivial reasons, to desert the original, the
natural and proper sense of a term which was chosen
by the unerring Spirit, when a new branch of holy wor-
ship was appointed ; especially seeing that very term
was intended to direct the church in all future ages, how
the worship should be performed.

It should be well observed, that when our Lord after
his resurrection says. Go — baptize; he does not men-
tion baptism by way of allusion, or incidentally. No,
he speaks the language of legislation: he delivers divine
LAW. He mentions and appoints baptism as an ordi-
nance of God, and as a branch of human duty. Where
then must we expect precision in the use of terms, if not
on such an occasion? Can it be supposed, without im-
peaching the wisdom or the goodness of Christ, that he
enacted a law relating to his own worship, the principal
term in which is obscure and ambiguous ? Can it be
imagined that he intended an ambiguity so great in the
term baptism, which prescribes the duty to be performed,
as equally to warrant the use of immersion, of pouring,
or of sprinkling, which are three different actions? We

I

^74 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

may safely challenge our opposers to produce an instance

of this kind out of the Mosaic ritual Does Jehovah,

"when giving his positive laws, make use of a term that
properly signifies dipping 1 He means as he speaks, and
requires immersion, in contradistinction to pouring and
sprinkling. Does he, on the other hand, employ a word
which, properly understood, signifies joowri/?o- ? Or does
he choose an expression, the radical idea of which is no
other than sprinkling^. He still means as he speaks,
and enjoins what he mentions, in distinction from every
other action.

That dipping, pouring, and sprinkling, denote three
different actions, in the language of divine law, as
well as in the estimate of common sense, we have
many examples in the writings of IMoses. The follow-
ing are selected for the reader's notice. " And the
priest shall dip, j3aipei, (Septuag.) his finger in the
blood, and sprinkle, Trpoapavei, of the blood seven
times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary.
And the priest shall — — pour, cK-x^eei, all the blood of
the bullock at the bottom of the altar."* " Moses
took the anointing oil — and he sprinkled, eppavev,
thereof upon the altar seven times, — and he poured,
eirex^e, of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head." " Moses
SPRINKLED, Trpoae'x^ee, the blood upon the altar round
about — and he washed, e-n-Xwev, the inwards and the
legs in water. I' He dipt, efSaxpe, his finger in the blood
— and poured out, e^ej^eev, the blood at the bottom of
the altar. — And Aaron's sons presented unto him the
blood, which he sprinkled, Trpoaeyj^ev, round about
upon the altar — And he did wash, eTrAyve, the inwards. 'J
*' As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar
wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip
them, ^a\\'iL avra, and the living bird, in the blood of
the bird that was killed And he shall sprinkle,

* Levit.iv. 6, 7; see v. 17, 18. f Chap. viii. 11, l^, 19,21.
+ Chap. ix. 9, 12, 14.

BAPTIZE AND liAPTISM. 15

Tiepippavu, upon him that is to be cleansed from the le-
prosy seven times And he that is to be cleansed shall

WASH, TtXvvei, his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and
WASH HIMSELF, Xovaerai, in water, that he may be
clean.* And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash,

irXvvei, his clothes, and bathe himself, Xova-eTai, in
water." See the following verse.'j" — So in the New
Testament, washing the feet is distinguished from bathing
the whole body, washing a part of the body from being
baptized, and baptism from washing ; as appears by the
following instances. " He that is washed (or has been
bathing, o XeXov{x€vo$,) needeth not, save to wash his
FEET, TTo^a^ vi^aa-Sai.'' " He took them the same hour
of the night and washed, eXovaev, their stripes; and
was baptized, e^aTma-B'q, he and all his straightway."
" Arise and be baptized, (SaTTTia-ai, and wash away,
uTToXova-ai, thy sins.";]: By which it appears, that as
tasting, in the language of scripture, is distinguished
from drinking ;^ so are washing the feet, from bathing
the whole body, and washing a part of the body, from
being baptized. So that ancient patron of Paedobaptism,
Cyprian, expressly distinguishes between washing and
spri?ikling, when professedly pleading for the latter, in
what he thought a case of necessity. In his letter to
Magnus he intimates that some doubted, whether those
who received the clinical baptism, " were to be accounted
legitimate Christians ; eo quod aqua salutari non loti
sint, sed perfusi, because they were not washed, but
sprinkled, with the salutary water." || Whence it appears,
that in Cyprian's time sprinkling was quite a novel
practice ; that it was used only in favour of those who
were confined by illness ; and that baptismal washing,

* Lev. chap, xiv, 6, 7, 8.

f Chap.xv,5,63 seealso. Numb, xix.4,7, 18, 19j Deut. xxi. 6,7-
\ Job xiii. 10. See Dr. Doddridge in loc. ; Acts xvi. 33, and
xxii. 16. § Matt, xxvii. 34, (| Epist. Ixxvi.

76 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

in the language of Cyprian, is no other than plunging.
Mr. Cleaveland also has very lately distinguished be-
tween dipping, sprinkling, and washing, in the follow-
ing manner : " We dip our hand in water, though not
all over, to baptize a person by sprijikling, or to wash
our face."* With what reason or shadow of propriety,
then, can any one pretend that the term baptism, is
equally expressive of these different actions ?

Were the leading term in any human law to have an
ambiguity in it equal to that for which our brethren
plead, with regard to the word baptism ; such law would
certainly be considered as betraying either the weakness
or wickedness of the legislator ; and be condemned as
opening a door to perpetual chicane and painful uncer-
tainty. Far be it, then, from us to suppose, that our
gracious and omniscient Lord should give a law re-
lating to divine worship, and obligatory on the most
illiterate of his real disciples, which may be fairly con-
strued to mean, this, that, or the other action — a law,
which is calculated to excite and perpetuate contention
among his wisest and sincerest followers — a law, in re-
spect of its triple meaning, that would disgrace a British
parliament, as being involved in the dark ambiguity of
a pagan oracle. It must, therefore, be at our peril, if
we indulge a wanton fancy in the interpretation of that
law which is now before us. For, as Mr. Charnock ob-
serves, " It is a part of God's sovereignty to be the in-
terpreter, as well as the maker, of his own laws ; as it is
a right inherent in the legislative power among men.
So that it is an invasion of his right to fasten a sense
upon his declared will, which doth not tiaturally JIow
from the words. For to put any interpretation, accord-
ing to our pleasure, upon divine as well as human laws,
contrary to their true intent, is a virtual usurpation of
this power ; because if laws may be interpreted accord-

* Infant Baptism from Heaven, p. 63. Salem, 1/84.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 77

ing to our humours, the power of the law would be
more in the interpreter than in the legislator."*

Were the same licence of interpretation used in con-
struing the law of the sacred supper, as numbers practise
on the term baptism ; we should probably soon behold
an obsolete and superstitious custom revived : the cus-
tom, I mean, of employing a reed, a glass tube, or some-
thing similar, by which to suck the wine out of the cup.f
When our Lord instituted the holy supper, his order
concerning the wine was ; n^ere e^ avrov Travre^, " drink
ye all of it," (Matt. xxvi. 27.) Now none will dispute,
that TT/ere is from tt/i/o) ; or that the natural and proper
signification of it is, to drink ; in the full and most pro-
per sense, to drink. Nay, it will be allowed, I sup-
pose, that if TTivw does not signify that precise idea, there
is never a word in the Greek Testament that can express
it. Yet the learned lexicographer Schwarzius tells us,
that it signifies not only. to drink; but also to suck, to
imbibe^ to admit, to receive, for which he refers to
Heb. vi. 7.

Our brethren ought not to forget, that the principal
terms of a law, and especially of a law relating to divine
worship, should be understood in their natural, obvious,
primary sense ; from which it is dangerous to depart,
except some glaring absurdity would follow. This re-
mark is perfectly agreeable to the doctrine of Sir William
Blackstone, who lays it down as a rule of legal interpre-
tation ; " that the words of a law are generally to be un-
derstood in their usual and most known signification ;
not so much regarding the propriety of grammar, as
their general and popular use :" — but, " where words
bear either none, or a very absurd signification, if lite-
rally understood, we must a little deviate from the re-
ceived sense of them.":]: This, we may venture to say,

* Of Man's Enmity to God, p. 98. f Hospiniani Hist. Sac.

L iv. c. ii. p. 248. Venem, Hist. Eccles. torn. vi. p. 193,
X Commentaries^ vol. i. Introduct, sect. ii.

7"S SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

is a rule of good sense, as we\[ as of legal knowledge ;
and should be constantly regarded in our interpretation
of laws, whether divine or human. Whereas, if we
wantonly depart from it, almost any hypothesis may be
supported ; for by taking such a liberty, there is no word
in any language that might not have the whole of its
natural and primary sense expounded away.

Reflect. VI. While our brethren maintain that the
term baptism, when relating to the institution so called,
means any thing short of immersion ; it behoves them
to inform us, which of our English words is competent
to express its adequate idea. 1 have observed, indeed,
that they seldom fix upon any particular term and abide
by it, as answering to the word baptism ; but rather
choose to use, washing, pouring, or sprinkling, just as
their cause requires. Now, as those three expressions,
in their native signification, denote three different ac-
tions, it looks as if they were fearful of being embar-
rassed, were they to select one of them and uniformly to
employ it, in preference to the other two. As they do
not pretend our divine Lawgiver meant, that washing,
pouring, and sprinkling, should all be performed on the
same person to constitute baptism ; so, w hile they be-
lieve that any action short of immersion is warranted by
his command, they ought, as fair disputants, to tell us
what that action is, and by what name we should call it.
(See the quotations from Dr. Owen, Reflect, iii. p. 68, 69.)
At present, however, we can only ask. Is it ivasking?
If so, we may consider that word as a proper translation
of it,* and a complete substitute for it, wherever the or-
dinance before us is mentioned by the sacred writers.^

* Baptism is the Greek word, with an English termination j con-
cerning which ]Mr. Lewis says, " Oiir last translators were directed
by the king to retain the old ecclesiastical words," of which baptism
was one. Hist, of Eng. Translations, p. 317, 326, edit. 2nd,

f It is an old rule, Definitiones debent cum delinito reciprocari :
that is, A definition and the thing defined should be convertible.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 79

Let US make the experiment on a few passages. We
will take, for instance, the words of Ananias to Saul,
(Acts xxii. 16,) which must be read thus: " Arise and
be WASHED, and wash away thy sins :" and those of
Paul, (Rom. vi. 3, and Gal. iii. 27,) " Know ye not, that
so many of us as were washed into Jesus Christ, were
WASHED into his death ? As many of us as have been
WASHED into Christ, have put on Christ." — Is it pouring?
Then we must read (Mark i. 9, and Acts ii. 38, 41,) thus ;
" Jesus came from Nazareth of Gahlee, and was poured
of John in (e;^-, into) Jordan." — "Repent and be pour-
ed every one of you." — " Then they that gladly received
his word, were poured." — Is it sprinkling? Then we
must read (John iii. 23 ; Rom. vi. 4 ; Col. ii. 12,) thus :
" John also was sprinkling in Enon near to Salim,
BECAUSE there WAS MUCH WATER there : and they
came and were sprinkled." — " Therefore we are bu-
ried with him by sprinkling into death." — " Bu-
ried with him by sprinkling." These few examples
may suffice to show, what an awkward appearance the
noble sense and masculine diction of inspiration wear,
when expressed according to this hypothesis. Whereas,
if instead of washing, pouring, or sprinkling, you employ
the word immersion, the preceding passages will make
a very different figure, and read thus : " Arise and be
immersed, and wash away thy sins." — " Know ye not,
that so many of us as were immersed into Jesus Christ,
were immersed into his death ?"^ — " As many of us as
have been immersed into Christ, have put on Christ."
— "Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was im-
mersed of John in (or into) Jordan." — " Repent and
be immersed every one of you." — " Then they that
gladly received his word were immersed." — " John
also was immersing in Enon near to Salim, because
there was much water there : and they came and were
immersed." — "Therefore we are buried with him
by immersion into death." — " Buried with him by

80. SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

IMMERSION." Here we have, if I mistake not, both
dignity of sentiment, and propriety of language. Hence it
appears, that the word /SairTi^co is connected with such
particles (ev and ei^) as forbid our concluding that either
wash, pour, or sprinkle, is a proper substitute for it.
The form of expression adopted by evangelists and apos-
tles, is always, if I mistake not, baptizing in or into
something. Thus, for example, ev or eig, in or into
Jordan ;* ev, in water, in the Holy Spirit ;t e/$-, into the
name,| into ]Moses,§ into Christ, || into his death. ^ Eig,
in the case of baptism, cannot be rendered to ox towards;
because it would be absurd to say, that John baptized
to or towards Jordan ; nor in regard to this affair can ev
be translated with or hi/ ; because it would be awkward
to say, John baptized with or by Jordan ; besides, eig,
which is used of the same administration, cannot be so
rendered. Baptism, therefore, being always expressed
as performed in, or into something, must be immersion,
and not pouring, or sprinkling ; for persons cannot be
sprinkled or poured into water, though they may be
plunged into it.

Let us now apply the same terms to the different
metaphorical baptisms of which we read in the New
Testament. There we have, the baptism of sufferings,
of the Spirit and oijire, of the cloud and the sea. Ac-
cording to our brethren, the passages to which I refer
must be read, either thus : " I have a washing to be
WASHED WITH, and how am I straitened till it be ac-
complished."— " He shall wash you with (rather in, ev,)
the Holy Spirit and in fire." — " And were all m'ashed
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea."** Or thus :
" I have a pouring to be poured with, and how am
I straitened till it be accompHshed !" — " He shall pour

* Matt. iii. 6j Mark i. 9. f Matt, iii 11.

* Matt, xxviii. 19. § I Cor. x. 2. || Gal. iii. 27.
% Rom. vi. 3. See Mr. M'Leans Nature and Import of Bap^

tism, p. 6. ** Luke xii. 50; Matt. iii. 11 ; 1 Cor. x. 2.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 81

you in the Holy Spirit and in fire." — " And were all
POURED unto Moses, in the cloud and in the sea." — Or
thus : " I have a sprinkling to be sprinkled with,
and how am I straitened till it be accompHshed !" — " He
shall SPRINKLE you in the Holy Spirit and in fire." —
"And were all sprinkled unto Moses, in the cloud
and in the sea." According to us, the manner of read-
ing these passages will be this : " I have an immer-
sion to be immersed with, and how am I straitened till
it be accompHshed !" — " He shall immerse you in the
Holy Spirit and in fire." — " And were all immersed
unto Moses, in the cloud and in the sea." In regard to
Luke xii. 50, if you render the word baptism by the term
washing, you not only sink the vigorous idea, but convey
a sentiment foreign to the text. For the term washing
plainly suggests the notion of cleansing; whereas it is
manifest, that our Lord here speaks of himself person-
ally— of himself, not as to be cleansed from sin, hut pu-
nished for it; or, as the apostle asserts, made a curse
FOR us. To adopt the word pouri7?g, would exceedingly
dilute and impoverish the marvellous meaning, if not to ren-
der the passage absolutely unintelligible ; and, from using
the term sprinkling, common sense turns abhorrent ;
as it would render the emphatical and admirable text
quite ridiculous. For who can seriously imagine that
our Lord intended to represent his most bitter sufferings
by the act of sprinkling a few drops of water on a per-
son ? No ; he designed to express his being " baptized,
or plunged, into death," as Bugenhagius interprets the
passage.* So that, though the term baptism is here used
by way of allusion ; and, though I am far from thinking
that the allusive sense of a word should be the rule of
interpreting the same expression in a positive divine law ;
yet, as all pertinent metaphors have a literal and proper
sense for their foundation, we may conclude, that if it

* In Biblioth. Bremens. class, ii. p.6G5.
VOL. I. &

82 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

be possible for any word, when used metaphorically, to
express the idea of immersion, plunging, overwhelm-
ing, we have it here in the term baptism. The same
observations will apply to a similar text, (Matt. xx. 22,)
" Are ye able to be baptized with the baptism that 1 am
baptized with?" which Dr. Doddridge thus paraphrases:
" Are you able to be baptized with the baptism, and
pliaiged into that sea of sufferings with which I am
shortly to be baptized, and, as it were, overwJielmed for a
time ?" — In respect of the two other passages, whether
our sense of the word in question, or that of Paedobap-
tists, be more emphatical, and the language more agree-
able, my reader will determine.

Farther : If it be lawful to administer the ordinance
before us by pouring or sprinkling, equally as by immer-
sion ; it must be, because that diversity of administra-
tion is warranted, either by the command of our divine
Lawgiver, or by the practice of his apostles. But if so,
is it not very surprising that the sacred penmen of the
New Testament, when recording precepts and facts for
our direction in this affair, have never used a term, the
natural and primary meaning of which is pouring, or
sprinkling ? This is the more surprising, as, in other
cases, apparently of much less consequence to the purity
of divine worship, they frequently employ such words as
are adapted to express those ideas without any ambi-
guity. \i pouring, for instance, be a legitimate way of
performing the rite, what can be the reason that /5aAAcy,
€K')(eco, €7ri')(^ecit}, eKyvvoo, KUTay^eco, Trp&a^^ew, or 7rpoa')(ya-ig, (all
which are found in the apostolic writings,) are never used
in the New Testament, concerning the administration of
baptism ? Or, if sprinkling be a proper mode of pro-
ceeding, how comes it that pavn^co, pavnaixog, or some
other term of the same signification, does not appear in
any command or precedent, relating to the subject of
this controversy ? Why should those Greek words I
have just mentioned, and all others of a similar meaning,

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. S3

(whether used by Pagan classics, or the Septuagint trans-
lators) be excluded from precepts and examples of the
institution before us ; M'hile (Sairri'i^oi, ^aTTTia-ixa, and (Sarr-
Tia-f/.o^, are appropriated to that service, if pouring or
sprinkling had been at all intended by our Lord, or ever
practised by his apostles ? See No. 49. — It must not
be supposed, as Jos. Placaeus has justly observed in
another case, that this was done by inspired writers
without design : * and on our principles the reason is
plain. The great Legislator intended that his followers
should be immersed, " in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit :" in pursuance there-
fore of this design, such words are used concerning the
ordinance, as naturally and properly convey that idea. —
We have, I think, as much reason to conclude that jSoctt-
T/^w and pavri^w are terms of opposite significations, as
that PaTTTia-T'/jpiov and irepippavryiptov denote things intended
for opposite uses. The former of these names, it is well
known, was applied by ancient Christians to the baptis-
mal font ; because candidates for communion were im-
mersed in it : the latter, it is equally clear, was appro-
priated by Pagan Greeks to the vessel which contained
their holy water ; because thence the idolatrous priest
sprinkled the consecrated element upon each worshipper.f
What then would the learned say, were any one pretend-
ing to an acquaintance with Christian and Greek anti-
quities, designedly to confound the two latter expres-
sions, as if they were convertible terms ? Be the just
censure what it might, I cannot help thinking it is due
to those who confound the two former, by labouring to
prove them equivalent, in regard to the ordinance before
us. Though our brethren maintain the lawfulness of
pouring and sprinkling, they cannot produce one in-
stance from the divine rubric of this institution, of any

* Opera, torn. ii. p. 267.

t Suiceri Thesaurus Eccles, torn. i. p. 659, Dr. Potter's Anti-
quities of Greece, vol. i. chap. iv. p. 195,

6 2

84 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

word being used which primarily and plainly expresses
either of those actions. — It is very remarkable, that
while few or none of our learned opponents dare deny,
that the term baptism conveys the idea of immersion;
and while none of them, so far as I have observed,
venture to assert, that it never means any thing besides
pouring or sprinkling ; yet, in their practice, pouring, or
sprinkling, is constantly used. Thus what is allowed by
learned men in general to be the radical idea of a capi-
tal term in divine law, is entirely kept out of sight ;
while a presumed secondary sense, is the only thing that
appears in their mode of proceeding.

Dr. Addington, indeed, says : " We have not met
with one text, in the whole Bible, that requires the im-
mersion of the whole body." * Just so, I remember,
Socinus declared, that he could not find one text which
requires either immersion or sprinkling. The people
called Quakers adopt similar language. Nor could the
whole Council of Trent meet with so much as one text
that enjoins those whom they call the laity, to partake of
wine at the Lord's table.f " So hard a thing is it,"
says Mr. Reeves, "to find any text plain enough for
some men!" J But though Dr. Addington has not met
with one text, which he considers as requiring immer-
sion, many of those learned authors with whose lan-
guage the reader has been entertained, seem to be of a
different opinion: and if the native signification of the
term baptism, be immersion, the action so called must
be required, wherever divine law enjoins the administra-
tion of baptism. This must be the case, except it can
be proved, that the leading terms of a law should be
understood in a real, or supposed, secondary sense. Has,
then. Dr. Addington met with any text which requires
pouring, or sprinkling, in opposition to immersion ? Has
he found any passage of sacred writ, that eiijoins pour-

* Christian Minister's Reasons, p. 176". f Sess.xxi. cap. i.

+ Apologies, vol. i. Prefe^ce, p. 84, edit. 1709.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 85

ing or sprinkling water on the face^ in contradistinction
to plunging the whole body ? He will not, I think, dare
to assert either the one or the other. But if immersion
be not required, in contradistinction to pouring and
sprinkling; and if pouring or sprinkling be not required,
in opposition to immersion ; we should consider it as a
favour, if this opponent would inform us what is re-
quired. For the question relates to the wziw^o/' Christ:
it regards the meaning of a divine law: nor can we
forbear thinking, that something is required, really and
in earnest required, which is called baptism; or else our
Protestant principles would exclaim against us, for per-
forming any thing under that name as a branch of holy
worship. While, therefore, any of our opposers deny
that immersion is required, they are obliged to prove,
either, that their own mode of proceeding has the sanc-
tion of a divine requisition, exclusively of ours ; or, that
the most High has, for once, consulted the honour of
the human will, by leaving the manner of performing a
positive rite of religion entirely at the option of his wor-
shippers. The former will be an arduous task ; the latter
is pregnant with impious absurdity.

Reflect. VII. While the Paedobaptists maintain that
our great Lawgiver intended any thing less than dipping
the subject of the ordinance, whether it be washing, pour-
ing, or sprinkling ; it is necessary for them to consider,
whether his design was, that water should be applied, in
any of these ways, to the whole body, or to some particu-
lar part. If the former, why do they not comply with
his requisition? Why make such a partial application of
the element? If the latter, what part must it be ? Some
pour water on the back part of the head, and call it bap-
tism.* Others have washed the face, pronounced the
prescribed form of words, and thought the institution
was rightly administered.f What, if others were to

* Bp. Burnet's Second Letter of his Travels, p. 85.

f Mr. Neale's Hist. Purit, vol. i. p. .S43, .544, octav. edit.

ii6 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

wash the hands of a candidate, call it baptism, and
plead, that washing the hands was a religious rite ap-
pointed by Jehovah ? * Nay, what if some should wash
the feet, pronounce it baptism, and appeal to John
xiii. 10, in justification of their conduct ?t I leave the
reader to consider, whether a minister has not as good a
warrant from the New Testament thus to proceed, as to
pour water upon, or to sprinkle the Jace ; and then to
conclude, that the party is duly baptized. — It has been
the opinion of some, that a child is baptized, on what-
ever part of his body the water may fall ::}: and we may
justly demand. By what law of Christ, or by what ex-
ample of the apostles, is any one authorized to apply
water to the face, or the head ; rather than to the hands,
the feet, or any other part of the body ? It should never
be forgotten, that the institution about which we treat,
is of a positive kind ; and that we are not at liberty to
perform it as we please, but are bound to observe the
law of administration enacted by our divine Sovereign.
See chap. i.

In opposition to this partial application of water, it
may be farther observed, that when Jehovah appointed
circumcision, he expressly mentioned the part on which
it should be performed. When also he commanded a
topical application of the sacrificial blood and the anoint-
ing oil, he did not fail to describe the parts intended : §
and such was the obligation of his directions in refe-

* Deut. xxi. 6". f The pedilavium practised in early

times, was actually considered by some, in the beginning of the
fourth century, as a proper substitute for baptism 3 on which ac-
count, washing of the feet by the bishop was forbidden by the Coun-
cil of Eliberis. See Dr. Gill, on John xiii. 15. — The church of Milan
practised washing of the feet, " because Adam was supplanted by
the devil, and the serpent's poison was cast upon his feet; there-
fore men were washed in that part for greater sanctification, that he
might have no power to supplant them any farther." Mr. Bing-
ham's Orig. Ecclesiast. b. xii. chap. iv. § 10.

X Venem. Hist. Eccles, tom. vi. p. 19'2. § Lev. xiv. 14, 17 .

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 87

rence to these affairs, that if Abraham had circumcised a
■finger, instead oi ^Sx'^ foreskin ; or had the blood and the
oil been applied to any other parts of the body, than
those that were specified; guilt would have been con-
tracted, and the anger of the Lord incurred. So, on
the other hand, when God enjoined the priests or the
people to hathe, had they only sprinkled \\\&face, poured
water on the hands, or washed the feet, they would have
been equally culpable. Now, baptism being a positive
institution, as well as those ancient rites, what reason
can be assigned, if water should be applied only to a
particular part of the body, why that part was not men-
tioned, either in the institution of the ordinance, or in
some apostolic example of its administration ? yet I do
not remember to have observed, that any of our op-
ponents pretend that it is.

Reflect. VIII. That extraordinary communication
of spiritual gifts and of divine influence, which the dis-
ciples of Christ received at the feast of Pentecost,
being called the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy
Spirit being represented as poured out, doadi falling upon,
those first ministers in the Messiah's kingdom; our bre-
thren have often pleaded these facts in opposition to us,
and in favour of their own practice. In answer to which,
I would propose the following things to consideration.

The word baptism is here manifestly used in an im-
proper and allusive sense ; for there is no more literal
propriety in speaking of the Holy Spirit being poured, or
sprinkled, upon those first disciples of our ascended
Lord, than in representing them as immersed in the Holy
Spirit. Must we, then, expound the principal term of
a divine law, which is to be literally understood, by a
merely allusive expression ? so expound it, as to depart
from, its native, primary, and obvious meaning? It has
been common for learned men to examine the propriety
of metaphorical and allusive terms, upon the foundation
of their literal and primary meaning; but never, that I

88 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

have observed, to consider an allusive application of
them, as the standard of their literal sense. Yet this is
the case here. For our dispute is about the meaning of
the term baptism, in a propei^ literal sense, and as oc-
curring in divine law : to determine which, our brethren
appeal to an impropei^ and an allusive sense of the
word as used with reference to a supernatural fact. This,
we think, is very extraordinary. For if the command
to baptize need any explanation from subsequent facts,
it seems natural for us to have recourse — not to the
language of metaphor, nor to any expression that is
merely allusive, — but, to apostolic practice in the admi-
nistration of baptism ; because, by making allusive ex-
pressions the rule of interpreting literal commands, any
divine law may soon be explained away. — For instance :
Had the mode of interpretation adopted by our oppo-
nents been approved and applied by the ancient He-
brews to the command of circumcision, they might have
evaded the painful rite. They would, it is likely, have
reasoned thus : " The law of circumcision is plainly
symbolical; and the chief moral instruction suggested
by it, is the circumcision of the heart. But that is not
the mutilating, or the impairing, of natural power: it
is no other than the superinducing of mental purity, by
an alteration of moral qualities. If, then, there be a
just correspondence, as doubtless there is, between the
rite itself and its principal moral design, the praeputium
should not be cut off, but some way or other purified.''''
Thus the order of Jehovah miiiht have been evaded
under a fair pretext, and the divine rite essentially
altered. I cannot help thinking, therefore, that when
our brethren, in the case before us, make such appeals
to miraculous agency and metaphorical expression, they
tacitly confess that the obvious meaning of the word
baptism, and primitive practice, atford their cause but
little assistance.

Again: As it is not uncommon for us to speak of

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 89

being immersed in debt, in business, or in care; and of
being plunged in grief, or in ruin ; so we are never con-
sidered as using these metaphorical expressions with
elegance, or with propriety, except so far as the analo-
gical sense, in which we employ them, points to their
literal and primary meaning. The following rules, among
various others, have in this case been given. " It ought
to be remembered, that all figurative ways of using words
or phrases suppose a natural and literal meaning."*
" The figurative sense must have a relation to that
which is proper; and the more intimate the relation,
the figure is the more happy — The proper sense of
the word ought to bear some proportion to the figura-
tive sense, and not soar much above it, nor sink much
below it — To draw consequences from a figure of
speech, as if the word were to be understood literally,
is a gross absurdity."']' — Pertinent, on this occasion, is
the language of Chrysostom, who speaks of " being
BAPTIZED, or immersed, in cares innumerable;" i^vpiaig
l3a7fTi^o[xevo^ (ppovTicriv. and again, to the same effect, Itto
TrXrjSo^ (ppovTi'^av rov vow (3el3a7rTicr[xevov e'^ovreg. So Basil
the Great, describing a person who stands immovably
against the storms of temptation and persecution, calls
him ajSaTTTia-Tog ^^x^, '' a soul unbaptized, or not over-
whelmed."J See No. 31, 82. — Now here the very term
in question is used in a metaphorical way; yet so used,
as plainly to retain its obvious and primary meaning.
But how disagreeably would it sound, seriously to say of
a man that owes but a few pence, He is immersed in debt?
or, of one whose heart is broken with sorrow, He is
sprinkled with grief? The most illiterate would be struck
with such a glaring impropriety. When, therefore, we

* Dr. Reid's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, p, 74.

f Encyclopaed. Britan. under the article Figure of Speech. See
also Dr. Ward's System of Oratory, vol. i. p. 386.

X Apud Schelhorniumj Biblioth. Brem. class, vii. p. 638. Vid.
Suiceri Thesaur, Eccles. torn, i. p. 693.

90 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

consider this metaphorical use of the term baptism, as
expressive of that divine energy, and that assemblage of
wonderful gifts, which were granted in the primitive
times to fit the apostles for their arduous work ; the
analogical sense of the word baptism, will appear much
more elegant and much more emphatical on our prin-
ciples, than on those of our opposers. Dr. Ward has
observed, that " we say, floods of fire, and clouds of
smoke, for large quantities;"* so when the scripture
speaks of being baptized with, or in, the Holy Spirit, the
great abundance of his gifts and graces must be intended.
One of our English authors has used the words, '^dipped
in scandal." t Now thus to represent a person is much
more expressive of that opprobrium under which he lies,
than if it were said : His character is greatly aspersed;
or, infamy is poured upon him ; because it immediately
leads us to think of his being overwhelmed with re-
proachful charges. — Dr. Owen speaks of " being bap-
tized into the spirit of the gospel." J As it is plain that
the word baptized cannot here mejn poured, or sprink-
led ; (for what sense is there in representing a person as
poured, or sprinkled, into any thing?) so it is equally
plain, that the author's words more strongly express the
sanctifying power of the gospel on the human heart, than
if he had talked of the spirit of the gospel being poured
or sprinkled upon a professor of religion. — Thus, in
the present case, we have a much stronger idea of that
sacred influence, and of those heavenly donatives, with
^^ hich the apostles were indulged at the feast of Pente-
cost, by retaining the primary meaning of the word in
question ; than by thinking of some possible, but remote
sense of the term. For as the analogical signification of
the same word, when used of our Lord's unparalleled suf-
ferings, would be so diluted as to become ridiculous, or

* Ut supra, p. 404.

t Notes on Mr. Pope's Dunciad, p. 123, edit. 1729,

X Discourse on the Holy Spirit, b. iv, chap. i. p. 334.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 91

unintelligible, were we to consider the allusion as made to
the act of pouring, or of sprinkling, a few drops of water
upon any person ; so, in regard to the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, we must either abide by the natural sense of the
term, or greatly impoverish the scriptural notion of that
wonderful fact. Though all true believers are partakers
of a divine influence, yet they are not all baptized in the
Holy Spirit. For as those afflictions which are common
to the disciples of Christ, are not the baptism of suffer-
ings ; so neither are those communications of divine in-
fluence, which are common to real saints, the baptism of
the Holy Spirit.

Farther: Our brethren themselves I think will allow,
that a person may be so surrounded with subtle effluvia;
that a liquid may be so poured, or it may so distil upon
him, that he may be as if immersed in it. A certain
writer, when speaking about the different applications
of electricity for the cure of diseases, says: "The first
is the electrical bath; so called, because it surrounds
the patient with an atmosphere of the electrical fluid,
in which he is plunged, and receives positive electricity."*
This philosophical document reminds me of the sacred
historian's language, where narrating the fact under
consideration. Thus he speaks: "And when the day
of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled

ALL THE HOUSE WHERE THEY WERE SITTING. And

there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of
fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost.^" Now if the language of
medical electricity be just, it cannot be absurd, nay, it
seems highly rational, to understand this language of
inspiration as expressive of that idea for which we con-
tend. Was the Holy Spirit poured out, did the Holy
Spirit fall upon the apostles and others at that memo-

* Monthly Review, vol. Ixxii. p. 486. f Acts ii. 1,2,3,4.

92 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

rable time? it was in such a manner, and to such a
degree, that they were hke a patient in the electric bath,
as if immersed in it. Did our opposers thus consider
the term pour, in this connection, we should not object;
because the primary and evident meaning of the word
baptism would be still preserved in their explanation of
its allusive sense. But to suppose that the pouring a
veri/ small quantity of water, or the falling of a few
(hops on the face of a person, is a just emblem of that
metaphorical baptism, is quite incongruous; as it ener-
vates and almost annihilates that grand idea which the
scripture gives of the marvellous fact. See No. 42.

Once more: We have the pleasure to find that va-
rious authors, who were not under the influence of
Antipeedobaptist sentiments, express themselves agree-
ably to our view of the case. Cyril of Jerusalem,
about the middle of tht: fourth century, speaks thus:
" As he, 0 ev'^vvccv ev Toig voacrt, who is plunged in water
and baptized, is encompassed by the water on every
side ; so are they that are wholly baptized by the

Spirit."* Casaubon : "BaTrr/^e/v, is to immerse;

and in this sense the apostles are truly said to be bap-
tized; for the house in which this was done was filled
with the Holy Ghost, so that the apostles seemed to

be plunged into it, as into a fishpool."t Grotius:

" To be baptized here, is not to be slightly sprinkled,
but to have the Holy Spirit abundantly poured upon

them. "I Cor. a Lapide, Menochius, and Tirinus:

"A copious effusion of the Holy Spirit, is called the

baptism of the Holy Spirit." § Witsius : "A very

great communication of the fiery or purifying Spirit,

is called baptism, because of its abundance." ||

Dr. Doddridge: "He [Christ] shall baptize you with

* In Dr. Gill's Exposit. on Acts i. 5.

t In Dr. Gill's Ancient Mode of Baptizing, p. 22, 23.

X Apud Poli Synopsin, ad Act. i. 5. § Ibid.

II Misccl. Sao. toni. ii. p. 535.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 93

a most plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit."* — —
Mr. Leigh : " Baptized; that is, drown you all over,
dip you into the ocean of his grace; opposite to the

sprinkling which was in the law."')' Bp. Hopkins:

" Those that are baptized with the Spirit, are as it
were plunged into that heavenly flame, whose search-
ing energy devours all their dross, tin, and base alloy. ":|:
See No. 3, 8, 51, 53. — To all which I may add, As
the baptism of water was administered, ev llan, iisr
water ; § in Jordan ; |1 and in Enon ; % so the New
Testament uniformly represents the recipients of this
heavenly baptism, as baptized ev Ttvevixan ayiw, in the
Holy Spirit;** which unavoidably leads us to the
proper and primary sense of the word baptism, rather
than to any supposed secondary meaning that can be
imagined.

Reflect. IX. In opposition to all these authorities
and all this reasoning, Mr. John Horsey is of opinion,
that the word baptism is '•' an equivocal, open, general
term;" that nothing is determined by it farther "than
this, that water should be applied to the subject in some
form or other; " that " the mode of use," is " only the
ceremonial part of a positive institute; just as, in the
supper of our Lord, the time of day, the number and
posture of communicants, the quality and quantity of
bread and wine, are circumstances not accounted es-
sential by any party of Christians;" that "sprinkling,

* Paraphrase on Matt, iii, 11. f Annotat. onMatt, iii. 11.

+ Works, p. 519. § Matt. iii. 11 j Mark i. 83 John i.26,

31, 33. So Montanusj so the Vulgate, Syriae, Arabic, and Ethi-
opia versions; and so Le Cene, Simon, and others in their French
versions, together with Wetham's English translation, published at
Douay, render Matt. iii. 11, with whom Tindal's translation, Cran-
mer's Bible, and the Bishops' Bible, as they are usually called,
agree. — N. B. What is here said respecting the French versions,
and our old English translations, depends on the observation of
a friend. |1 Matt. iii. 6j Mark i. 9. ^ John iii. 23.

** Matt, iii 11 3 Mark i. 83 Luke iii. I63 John i. 333 Acts i.
5, and xi. 16.

94 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

pouring, and plunging, are perfectly equivalent, equally
valid; and, that if our Lord had designed to confine his
followers to a particular mode, exclusive of all others,"
he would hardly have used " an open general term,
{f3a7rri^ci})'' but "a word decided and limited in its im-
port." He adds, "the Greek language would have
furnished him with terms indisputably precise and exact.
Of this kind have been reckoned, and I think properly,

Kara/Sydi^ci), KaTaTrovTi^o), Kara^vvx Or Kara^vixi, not tO say

Ivirrca and fSvdi^w.'''* Mr. Edward Williams, when ad-
verting to the same subject, says: '"As the most eminent
critics, commentators, and lexicographers are divided in
their verdict, respecting the acceptation of the term
baptizo, and consequently the intention of our Saviour's
command to baptize; and as the practice of the disciples,
whence we should gather in what sense they understood
it, is attended with considerable difficulty, when reduced
to any one invariable method — we should vary it ac-
cording to circumstances, and in proportion as demon-
strable evidence is wanting, refer the mode to the
private judgment of the person or persons concerned." f
Such are the views and such is the lan^uase of Messrs.
Williams and Horsey: to whom 1 may say, as the
Athenians to Paul, "You bring certain strange things to
our ears, we would know therefore what these things
mean."

The word baptizo, then, is ati ecpuivocal, open, general
term ; so equivocal and so obscure, that the most learned
authors are divided about its meaning, in our Lord's
command to baptize. This, however, is mere assertion ;
and, indeed, I should be sorry to see it proved, because
it would greatly impeach the legislative character of
Jesus Christ. For, as Baron Montesquieu observes,
*' The style [of laws] should be plain and simple; a

* Infant Baptism Stated and Defended, p. 15, 16, 17, edit. '2iui.
f Notes on Mr. ]Maurice's Social Relig. p. 131,

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 95

direct expression being always better understood than an
indirect one .... It is an essential article that the words
of the laws should [be adapted to] excite in every body
the same ideas,... The laws ought not to be subde;
they are designed for people of common understanding,
not as an art of logic, but as the plain reason of a father
of a family."* Now can it be supposed that our Lord
would give a positive law of divine w^orship — a law that
is obligatory on the most illiterate of his real disciples,
in the very first stage of their Christian profession; and
yet express it in such ambiguous language, that the most
wise and eminent of his followers cannot now under-
stand it ? Love to his character and zeal for his cause
forbid the thought ! That ambiguity of which our
brethren speak, must, if real, have arisen in our great
Legislator's conduct, either from incapacity, from inad-
vertency, or from design. Not the jirst ; for he was
undoubtedly able clearly to have expressed his own
meaning. Not the second; for no incogitancy could
befal Him, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. Not the last; for it would ill become One
wdio declared himself possessed of all authority in hea'ven
and in earth, to give a law of perpetual obligation, with
an intention that nobody now should understand it. —
A litde to illustrate this, it may be observed, that his
order to baptize, is a law ; a law of equal force with
that of the holy supper. This law extends its obliging
power to all that are taught ; so taught, as to be his
disciples. For them to neglect or transgress it, there-
fore, must be a sin ; and all sin exposes to punishment.
If, then, the grand enacting term of this law be so equi-
vocal, that no one can tell with certainty what it means,
we may suppose it probable that, in ten thousand in-
stances, a transgression of it has proceeded, not from
any thing wrong in the hearts of our Lord's disci ples^
but from the designed obscurity of the law itself. Now
* Spirit of Laws, b.xxix. chap.xvi.

96 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

a law designedly obscure is fitted for nothing so much
as to multiply crimes and punishments. Such a law is
unjust and cruel; consequently, could not proceed from
our divine Sovereign.

Again : According to Mr. Williams's view of the
case, we may safely conclude, that the law of baptism
is now obsolete ; nay, in regard to us, that it never was
promulged. The former, because when the enacting
terms of a statute become unintelligible, it is high time
to consider the law as antiquated. For to what purpose
is a law considered as obligatory, when the most learned,
sagacious, and impartial cannot understand it ? Here
we are landed at downright Quakerism, so far as bap-
tism is concerned in it. With regard to the latter, let
the following things be observed. It is generally agreed,
if I mistake not, that no positive law is obligatory till
promulged ; in other words, it is not a law. For what
is meant by the term law, but a rule of action prescribed
by sovereign authority? It cannot, however, be a rule
of action, any farther than it is made known. Agreeable
to this is the following language of Sir William Black-
stone : " A bare resolution, confined in the breast of the
legislator, without manifesting itself by some external
sign, can never be properly a law. It is requisite that
this resolution be notified to the people who are to obey
it."* See Chap. I. No. 12. — Now if any law, requiring
a single act of obedience, as in the case before us, do
not specify the act intended in such a manner as to be
understood by those who read and study it without par-
tiality, it is absurd to talk of its promulgation. For
what is meant by promulging a law, but publicly making
known the commanding will of the legislator, with re-
gard to this or the other afifair ? Yet this, according
to INIessrs. llorsev and Williams, has not been done,
respecting the law of baptism ; for the principal word
in that law is an equivocal, open, general term, and so

* Comment, vol. i. Introduct. sect. ii.

BAPTIZE AXD BAPTISM. P7

obscure^ that the most eminent authors are divided about
its meaning. Nor does the apostohc practice explain it.
Our Lord, indeed, gave a command to baptize; by which
it is universally understood, that he designed the per-
formance of a single action; for nobody supposes, that
sprinkling, pouring, and plunging, must all be united
to constitute baptism. But what particular action he
meant by the Greek verb, is quite as uncertain as what
the Psalmist intended by the Hebrew term, Selah. All
we can learn is this : As the latter seems to contain a
direction to those concerned in the sacred music, to
perform that music in some way or other; so, the for-
mer denotes an application of water to the subject,
" in some form or other;'' for, on the authority of Mr.
Horsey, nothing farther is determined by it. Such is
the ne plus ultra of its meaning ! The trumpet gives an
uncertain sound, and who shall prepare himself to the
battle? It follows, therefore, on the principles opposed,
that the law of baptism has not, with regard to us, been
promulged. We have been used to think that the laws
of Christ were equally determinate, fixed, and plain,
with the gospel of Christ ; and Paul informs us, that the
gospel which he preached was not yea andnay, but always
affirmative and always the same. Not so the law of
baptism, if our opposers be right ; for it is this, that, and
the other, but nothing determinate, nothing certain.

The principal enacting word in a positive law of the
New Testament, an equivocal term; and so obscure, that
the most eminent writei^s are divided about its meaning!
Strange, indeed. For, fond as our brethren are of this
idea, were either of them the legislator in a civil state,
and to act a similar part, he would soon be accounted
either a fool or a tyrant. But I am persuaded, that his
wisdom, his rectitude, and his benevolence, would all re-
volt at the thought of such a procedure. Admitting this
representation of our Lord's conduct in his legislative
capacity to be just and fair, mankind may think thera-

VOL. T. H

98 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

selves happy that he has not, in this respect, had more
imitators anipng the petty sovereigns of the earth.
Britons, at least, would quickly be disposed to execrate
the measures of parliament, were the three estates to
adopt the idea and act upon it. How often and how
justly have the canons and decrees of the Council of
Trent been severely censured for their studied ambiguity !
Thus Bp. Stillingfleet, concerning that matter : " This
was one of the great arts of that council, to draw up
their decrees in such terms as should leave room enough
for eternal wranglings among themselves ; provided they
agreed in doing the business effectually against the here-
tics, as they were pleased to call them."* Thus We-

renfelsius : " Integrity was wanting in the fathers of the
Trent synod, when they studiously left ambiguity and
obscurity in a great part of their canons and decrees." t
Whether, in thus acting, they had the supposed ambi-
guity of our Lord's canon concerning baptism in their
eye, we dare not assert ; but every one must allow, if
Messrs. Horsey and Williams be right, that they might
have pleaded the most venerable example for such a
conduct.

BaTTTt^ci), an equivocal, open, general term; a term
which, with equal facility, admits the idea of plunging
in Jordan, of pouring from the palm of the hand, and
of sprinlvling from the ends of the fingers ! Our author
might as well have asserted, that its derivative, (SaTrna-Ty]-
piov, equally signifies a bath, large as King Solomon's
brazen sea ; a font, small as those in our modern-built
parish churches ; and a basin, precisely of the same di-
mensions with those he commonly uses when sprinkling
infants. But what would learning, what would impar-
tiality have said, had he made such an assertion ?

A capital word in positive divine law, an equivocal term

* Preservative against Popery, vol. ii. Appendix, p. 103.
f Opuscula^ p. 580.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 99

— a term, so ambiguous aiid so obscure, that the tnost
learned and upright do not with certainty knoxv what it
means! Then we have need of an infallible judge ; and
were there one at Rome, it would be worth our while to
visit his holiness, that we might have the obscurity all
removed. For while the Legislator considers himself
as having fairly promulged his law, whether we view its
enacting terms as equivocal or univocal, it will prove
a serious fact, that they who neglect or transgress it will
not be held innocent. With the idea of ambiguity, how-
ever, some of our brethren seem delighted. But so
were not the ancient Athenians : for Abp. Potter in-
forms us, that it was considered as criminal, for any
person among them to propose a law in ambiguous
terms.* I have heard, indeed, that some of our petti-
fogging lawyers boast the great uncertainty of our Eng-
lish law, with regard to the issue of numerous causes.
Nor do I wonder at it. But that such worthy charac-
ters, as Messrs. Horsey and Williams, should seek a
refuge for their cause in the supposed uncertainty of
divine law, is truly amazing ! Were they disputing with
Roman Catholics, or discussing almost any subject of a
theological kind, except that of infant sprinkling, they
would labour to establish against every opposer, the
certainty, the precision, and the sufficiency of divine law
and apostolic example. This at least has been the
common practice of Protestants. For instance : Tur-
rettinus (de Baptismo) speaks to the following effect :
It is not lawful to suppose that Christ, in a very im-
portant affair of Christianity, w^ould so express himself,
that he could not be understood by any mortal. f — ■ —
Dr. Ridgley: " In order to our yielding obedience, it is
necessary that God should signify to us, in xvhat instances
he will be obeyed, and the manner haw it is to be perform-

■'t Antiquities of Greece, vol. i. chap. xxv. edit. 1697-
f Institut. loc.xix. quaest.xviii. §.4. '

11 '1

100 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

ed; otherwise it would rather be fultillinfj of our own will

than his."* Dr. Owen: ''The sole reason why he

[the apostle] did make use of it [the word surety] was,
that from the nature and notion of it among men in
other cases, we may understand the signification of it,
what he intends by it — It is not for us to charge the
apostle with such obscurity, and expressing his mind

in such uncouth terms. "| Mr. Benjamin Bennet :

*' It is a reproach to the lawgiver, blasphemy against
him, to suppose that any of his upright sincere subjects,
cannot find out the meaning of his laws, with all their
care and diligence, even in the necessary essential
points of their faith and obedience." J — • — Mr. Brad-
bury: "The words [of our Lord, Matt, xxviii. 19,]
ought to be taken in their plain and natural sense,
because they are a lasting form to the end of time.
For Christ to give us expressions that people cannot
understand, would be only to abuse them. It is un-
worthy of Him who is the light of the world, in whose

mouth there was no guile [Such] is the plain and

natural sense of the words; and therefore to twine and
torture them with conjectures and maybes, is making
Christ, not a teacher, but a barbarian, by not uttering
words that are easy to be understood." § Anony-
mous: "A confusion in terms would at length produce
entirely the same effect, as the confusion of languages;
vague and equivocal expressions would render the most
accurate notions liable to continual contradictions, and
expose truth itself to perpetual cavils. As the first
intention of words is to make known our ideas to each
other, the principal merit of every language [and of
every discourse] must consist in the clearness and pre-
cision of its terms." II Bp. Taylor: "It is certain

* Body of Div. quest, xci, xcii. p. 491.

f On Heb. vii. 9.1, 26, vol. iii. p. -222, 256.

+ Irenicura, p. 60. § Duty and Doct. of Bap. p. 150, 173.

II Monthly Review, vol. Ixxiv. p. 537, 538.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 101

God put no disguises upon his own commandments,
and the words are meant plainly and heartily ; and the
farther you remove from their Jirst sense, the more

you have lost the purpose of your rule."* Samuel

Fothergill, one of the people called Quakers : " Thoii
[Mr. Pilkinton] concludest, that water baptism may be
properly administered in any decent and conveiiient manner
whatsoever. Pray, who must be judge of this decency
and convenience? Any thing subjected to human de-
cision, with respect to decency and convenience, wants,
in my judgment, those characters of divine institution
which become the religion of the holy Jesus; which is,
* not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God.'-f" Hence it appears, that the plea of our
brethren for a latitude of administration, from the sup-
posed ambiguity of the law, is not only contrary to the
avowed sentiments of Protestants in other cases, but an
encouragement to those who entirely reject the ordi-
nance. See Reflect. III. and Chap. I. No. 4, 8, 12, 13,
20. Reflect. II, III.

The following quotation, mutatis mutandis, will here
apply with peculiar force. Thus, then, Mr. Vincent
Alsop: ^' I cannot imagine what greater reproach he
[Dr. Goodman] could throw upon these famous [Thirty-
nine] Articles and their worthy compilers, than to suggest
that they were calculated for all meridians and latitudes;
as if the Church did imitate Ao^iag, the Delphian
Apollo, whose oracles wore two faces under one hood,
and were penned like those amphilogies, that cheated
Croesus and Pyrrhus into their destruction; or as if,
like Janus, they looked, itpoaaca Kai oiria-a-io, backwards
and forwards; and like the untouched needle, stood
indifferently to be interpreted through the two and thirty
points of the compass. The Papists do never more

* Ductor Dubitant. b. i. chap, i, p, 26. Vid. Chaniieium, Pan-
strat. torn. i. 1. xv. c. iv. § 16" 3 c, ix. § 2.

t Remarks on an Address to the People called Quakers, p. 6, 7,

1031 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

maliciously reproach the scripture, than when they call
it a Lesbian rule, a nose of wa.v, a leaden dogger, a
pair of seanans trowsers, a moveable dial, you may
make it what o'clock you please ; and yet they never
arrived at that height of blasphemy, as to say it was
industriousli/ so penned by the amanuenses of the Holy
Ghost. I dare not entertain so little charity for an
assembly of holy and learned men, convened upon so
solemn an occasion, that they would play leger-de-main,
and contrive us a system of divinity which should be
msirumentum pads non veritatis. The conventicle of
Trent, indeed, acted like themselves, that is, a pack of
jugglers, who, when they were gravelled and knew not
how to hush the noise and importunate clamour of
the bickering factions, the craftier leading men found
out a temper, as they called it, to skin over that wound
which they could not heal, and durst not search. And
what was the success of these carnal policies? only this,
both parties retained their differing opinions, believed
just as they did before; and yet their opinions were
directly contrary to one another, though both supposed
to agree with the decree of the council .... If the trum-
pet gives an uncertain sound, it is all one as if it were
not sounded. That which is every thing and every
where, is nothing and no where. That which has no
determinate sense, has no sense; and that is very near
akin to nonsense. The Jews indeed have a tradition,
that the manna was what every man's appetite could
relish; and such a religion would these men invent
as should be most flexible .... Strange it is, that reli-
gion, of all things in the world, should be unfixed,
and like Delos or O-Brazile, float up and down in
various and uncertain conjectures!"* Perfectly similar
are the animadversions of Dr. Edwards on Bp. Burnet's
Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles ; for, among other
things, he says: " He hath made the articles of our

* Sober Enquiry, p. 60, 61,

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 103

church a nose of wax, and accordingly he bends and
wrests them which way he pleases .... According to
this learned prelate, we do not know the meaning of a
great part of our articles, and consequently they are
of no use, for what is unintelligible is so. . . .This way
of dealing with the articles seems to me to be a very
severe reflection on our first reformers, the pious and
learned compilers of these articles, as if they were not
able to write or dictate sense; or could not speak
grammatically, and so as to be understood; or as if
they purposely designed obscurity, and that in some of
the most considerable points of our religion; as if they
studied to perplex men's minds and ensnare their con-
sciences .... If the words and expressions be voted
doubtful and of uncertain signification, the thing itself,
the matter couched in them, will soon be insignificant
and vain."*

But why should the word baptism be esteemed so
equivocal and so obscure? Is it because, in different
connections, it is used in various acceptations; such as
immersion, washing, pouring, and sprinkling? For the
sake of argument, and for that only, we admit the
reality of those various acceptations. But is that a
sufficient reason for pronouncing the word equivocal,
and for considering the sense of it in divine law as
uncertain? If so, we shall find comparatively but few
terms in any language that are not equivocal and
of dubious meaning. The reader needs only to dip
into a Hebrew or a Greek Lexicon; into Ains worth's
Latin, or Johnson's English Dictionary, to be con-
vinced of this. The following instances, which have
some affinity with the subject of our dispute, may
serve as a specimen.

Sii3 is the word most commonly used, to signify the act
of circumcising ; and if that idea be not expressed by it,

* Discourse concerning Truth and Error, p, 425, 429.

104 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

we may safely conclude there is never a term in the He-
brew language which can express it. Yet besides that
sense, and its prepositional acceptations, which are vari-
ous, it has the general signification of cutting off, cutting
down, and cutting to pieces. So it is used in Psalm Iviii. 7 ;
xc. 6; cxviii. 10, 11, 12, and in other places. Soj is
another word sometimes used for the same action : but,
besides its being equally various in its acceptation, as a
verb, it is the name of an ant, or of some little insect,
that is very sagacious and provident ; and is supposed
to cut or nibble grains of corn to fit them for being
stowed up in the earth. — On these two Hebrew roots the
learned Gussetius has the following remark : " Though
they do not occur in the conjugation Kal, except in the
sacramental or typical signification of circumcising ; yet
this is not to be considered as their primary sense, but
only as a species of their general signification of cutting;
which, therefore, is their proper meaning. The genuine,
general signification is to be fetched from Psalm xc. 6,
and cxviii. 10."* — ^Sny is used for the foreskin, but its
general and leading idea is, as Dr. Taylor informs us, a
superjiuous incumbrance ; and ]Mr. Julius Bate says its
primary meaning is, the top, or protuberance. Mr. Bate
farther observes, "So we render, to circumcise; but there
is no circum in the Hebrew. It is to cut ofi' the top, or
protuberance ; for so Siy, which was cut off", signifies."'!' —
'' The words ^lo Mul, and Vdj Namal,''' says Quenstedius,
" do not necessarily signify such an amputation of the
foreskin that no part of it remains ; and therefore it may
be true circumcision if the extremity of it be cut otf. —
The scripture says, ' Ye shall circumcise the flesh of
your foreskin.' Had the whole prteputium been strictly
to be understood, it would have been said, either, all the

* Comment. Ebraicse, sub Rad. Sio.

t See Dr. Taylor's Heb. Concord. Rad. 1165, 1414. Mr. Bate's
Critica Hob. p. ai5j 453, 454 Albert! Port. Ling, {^a^c■l. sub Rad.SiQ.

BAPTIZE AND IJAPTISM, 105

Jicsh of your foreskin ; or, the Jiesh of your whole fore-
skin:'*

Now had there been any controversy among the
Jews, in the latter times of their civil state, about the
manner of performing circumcision, they might, on the
principles of our opposers, have reasoned thus : " The
forementioned words of our law are equivocal, open, ge-
neral terms ; by which nothing is determined, but that a
superfluous incumbrance (the top, or protuberance, of
something pertaining to the subject) should be, in some
form or other, cut, or cut off. We may therefore cut,
or pare, the nails of our fingers, or of our toes, instead
of circumcising the foreskin. For the cutting required,
is merely the ceremonial part of a positive institute ; and
therefore only a circumstance, like that of number, of
time, of gesture, or of place, in various other affairs. If
a sharp instrument be but applied to any part of our
bodies, so as to make an incision,* or an amputation of
something belonging to our own persons, it is perfectly
equivalent, equally valid, with cutting off the pn^putium. —
Besides, the latter is harsh, severe, and indecent, especi-
ally with regard to adult persons : it shocks our feehngs,
and exposes us to a thousand reproaches amongst our
Gentile neighbours. We have indeed our doubts, whe-
ther it was originally practised in that rigid sense for
which some of our brethren plead. But were it incon-
testably proved, that our father Abraham actually cir-
cumcised his foreskin, and that his immediate descend-
ants followed his example, there are, we conceive suffi-
cient reasons for our adopting a different method. The

X Antiq. Bib, Ecclesiast. pars. i. c. iii. p. 270. Witteberg. 1699.
See Ainsworth's Latin Diet, under the words Circumcido, and Cir-
cumcisus, for the various acceptations of those Latin terms.

f The learned Vander Waeyen informs us, that circumcision, as
performed by the Arabians and some others, is only an incision
made in the praeputium, which afterwards is entirely healed. Varia
Sacra, p. 332, 333.

106 SIGNIFICATION OF THE "I'ERMS,

faith and obedience of the renowned Abraham, we all
know, were tried in a singular manner on various occa-
sions; and, perhaps, the blessed God might give him
some intimation of his will respecting the rite in question,
which, not being intended for general obligation, was
not recorded by the inspired writer. But it is the lan-
guage of God as penned by Moses, that is the rule of
our conduct ; and it is plain that the words are of an
equivocal, open, general meaning, and far from being
confined to the circumcising of the prseputium. It
should be carefully remembered also, that our great pro-
genitor and his immediate offspring, lived in times when
civilization, and a sense of delicacy were far from having
arrived at their present stage of refinement : nor had
our venerable fathers much intercourse with the na-
tions around them. Now it is evident, that what was
considered as decent, or not much disgustful, in a rude
uncultivated age, may become, in a course of time,
quite the reverse. This we apprehend is a fact in the
case before us. So that were we to insist on performing
the ceremony in that sanguinary and painful manner,
for which some few contend, it would be an insuperable
bar to the polished Greeks and Romans around us be-
coming proselytes to our divine religion, and an occasion
perhaps of their final ruin. But who can imagine that
the God of Israel would be pleased with such scrupulo-
sity, as tended to continue the Heathens in their ido-
latry ? a scrupulosity too, about that which is no where
precisely and iticontrovertibly required. We remember
with pleasure, nor can we forget that condescending de-
claration of God, recorded by one of our minor pro-
phets : ' I desired mercy and not sacrifice ; and the
knowledge of God, more than burnt offeriniis.' To en-
force the rite in a manner so disgusting to the delicacy
and ease of our polite neighbours, who may be at any
time inclined to forsake their old superstitions, and to
shelter themselves under the wings of the Schechina,

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 107

would be like putting new wine into old bottles, and
greatly retard the progress of our holy religion." Thus,
on the principles of our brethren, and in their language,
mutatis mutandis, might the Jews have reasoned away a
divine command.

Again : Were our opposers to apply their principles
and reasonings concerning the word baptism to one of
those Greek verbs that were used by our Lord in the
institution of his last supper, many of them would be
presented with a new discovery, both of the nature and
the design of the ordinance ; for, when contemplating
its administration, they would soon behold, with Roman
Catholics and some others, the officiating minister wear-
ing the character of spriest, and offering a sacrifice to
God. The original word, to which I advert, is the verb
TTQieiv ; which signifies to do, as plainly as (3a7iTi(^eiv signi-
fies to dip. Uoieiv, however, in different connections,
admits a great number of acceptations ; no fewer, even
in the New Testament, according to Mr. Parkhurst, than
twenty-si.v : and among others, like facere, to which it
answers, it undoubtedly signifies, in some passages of
the Greek classics and of the Septuagint version, to offer,
or present aji oblation to God. On this remote sense of
the term, the propriety of talking about a priest at the
Lord's table ; about his offering the bread and wine ;
about an altar, and a sacrifice, chiefly depends : just as
the practice of pouring or sprinkling, instead of immer-
sion, depends on a supposed secondary sense of the word
jSaTTTi^eiv. But let us hear Dr, Brett on the subject.

" There is yet," says he, " a more evident proof to
be found in the scripture, even in the very words of the
institution, to prove that we are required to offer the
bread and wine to God, when we celebrate the holy
eucharist, ' This do in remembrance of me.' Dr. Hickes,
in his Christian Priesthood, p. 58, &c., proves, by a
great many instances, that the word iroieiv, to do, also
signifi.es to offer, and is very frequently used both by

108 SIGNlFICATtON OF THE TERMS,

profane authors, and by the Greek translators of the Old
Testament in that sense ; and so also is the Latin word
facere, I will transcribe a few of those instances, and
those who desire more may consult Dr. Hickes's book.
Herodotus, hb. i. cap. cxxxii. says : * Without one of
the Magi it is not lawful for them, Ttoma-Oai, to offer a
sacrifice.' And in the Septuagint translation of the Old
Testament, which all the learned know is followed by
the writers of the New Testament, even where they cite
the words and speeches of our Saviour, it is so used ; as
Exod. xxix. ^6, ' Thou shalt oifer, Ttoirjaeig, a bullock :'
verse 38, ' This is that which, Troivjaeig, thou shalt offer
upon the altar :' verse 39, ' The one lamb, Troivjcreig, thou
shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb, Troiyjueigf
thou shalt offer in the evening.' So likewise Exod. x. 25.
In all which places the word, which is translated offer,
and which in this last text is translated sacrifice, and
^^hich in these and many other places will bear no other
sense, is the very word which in the institution of the
eucharist is translated do. And even our English trans-
lators have sometimes used the word do in this sacrifi-
cial sense ; as particularly Lev. iv. 20. Here our English
translation is, ' And he shall do with the bullock, as he
did with the bullock for a sin oftering, so shall he do
with this.' Here indeed they have put in the Mord
zvith, without any authority : the Greek is, he shall do
the bullock, as he did the bullock, so shall he do this :
where do plainly signifies offer. . . .That the words of
the institution, tovto Troiene, do this, are to be understood
in this sacrificial sense, is manifest from the command
concerning the cup, which is, ' This do ye, as oft as you
drink it, in remembrance of me.' For except we under-
stand the words in such a sense, they will be a plain
tautology. But translate it, as I have showed the words
will very probably bear, Offer this : make an oblation
or libation of this, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance
of ME, and the sense is very good. . . .A priest therefore

BAPTIZE ANT> BAPTISM. 109

is necessary and essential to the due administration of
this sacrament."* — On this reasoning Dr. Doddridge
remarks : " Because the word iroieiv signifies, in some
few instances, to sacrifice^ Dr. Brett would render it,
[rovTo TTomre] sacrifice this ; whence he infers, that the
eucharist is a sacrifice.'' 'f But though Dr. Doddridge
very justly considers the argument of Dr. Brett as
quite inconclusive, I may be permitted to observe ; that
he has proved the sacrificial sense of the term mieiv, in
certain connections, by far better evidence than I have
ever yet seen produced by our opposers, in favour of
that secondary sense of the word (SaTrn^eiv, on which
their constant practice proceeds. The reasoning of Dr.
Brett may therefore teach them the necessity of abiding
by the natural and obvious meaning of the term in dis-
pute; for it is impossible, I think, to confute him on
any other ground.

Farther: To show the impropriety of our brethren's
conduct when reasoning on the word before us, we will
suppose our Lord to have used the term vitttw, which, in
its primary acceptation, signifies a partial application of
water to a person, by washing his hands. Now had this
been our Legislator's commanding term, its native and
most common signification would undoubtedly have been
pleaded against an immersion of the whole body. But, on
the principle of interpretation adopted by our opposers, the
argument might easily have been evaded. For we might
have replied, N/tttw is an equivocal, open, general term.
It signifies not only to wash the hands, but also the feet
and the face. Nay, it is manifestly used to express an
entire plunging. For thus it is written : Every vessel of
wood shall be rinsed, vi(f>'^(7eTai, in water, (Lev. xv. 12.)
Agreeably to which, Mr. Parkhurst says, it signifies,
(in John ix. 7, 11, 15,) to wash the whole body; and
so Schwarzius understands it. So equivocal is the

* True Scrip. Account of the Eucharist, p. 81, 3-i, S3, 131.
f Note on 1 Cor. xi. 24.

110 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

term, and of such various application, that the Sep-
tuagint uses it, as Mintert observes, to express the idea
of training down, or of sending a shoiver, (Job. xx. 23.)
— Again: We will suppose our Lord to have expressed
his law in Latin, and that he used the word perfundoy
instead of the Greek jBairri'i^o:. We|will farther suppose,
that the primary meaning of the Latin verb is pleaded
against us. In this case we might have replied, It not
only signifies to sprinkle and to pour, but also to bathe :
in proof of which, we appeal to Ainsworth, and to the
authorities produced by him.*

We will indulge imagination and suppose, on the
contrary, that our Lord had caused his law of baptism
to be written in modern English; and that, instead of
the word iSairTi^a, we had found the term bathe or dip;
even this would have been liable to similar objections.
Our opposers might still have recurred to their old
exception : It is an equivocal, open, general term ; and
signifies to sprinkle, to wet, or bedew, as well as to plunge.
In confirmation of which they might have said : " As
to the word bathe, it is frequently used by our correctest
writers and speakers, in such connections where plunging
cannot possibly be intended. Nothing, for instance, is
more common among us than to say, Such an one's
cheeks are bathed in tears ; when we only mean, that the
tears trickle plentifully down his cheeks: by which the
idea of sprinkling is conveyed, rather than that of plung-
ing. To bathe, signifies also to supple or soften by the
outward application of warm liquors, as Dr. Johnson
informs us : for which he produces the authority of Mr.
Dryden, who says, Fll bathe your wounds in tears for
my offence. Still the word bathe is rather in favour of
sprinkling than of immersion." — As to the term dip, they
might have said: " It is plain the word is often used
where a total immersion cannot be designed. So we
read that Jonathan ' put forth the end of the rod which

* To which maybe added, Virg. Ge(»rg. I, 194. Mu. VIII 589.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. Ill

was in his hand, and dipped it, e/3aif/ev avro, in a honey-
comb.'* Again, ' Send Lazarus that he may dip, /3ai|/>7,
the tip of his finger in water.' t It is also common for
us to speak oi dipping a pen in the ink. Sometimes also
the word is used allusively, in a sense equally foreign
from the idea of an entire immersion. For example,
thus : I have just dipped into the works of such an
author. Now this, far from signifying that I feel my
mind, as it were, immersed in the author's writings, only
means, as Johnson tells us, that I have entered slightly
into them. Nay, sometimes, when the term dip is used
with reference to a liquid, it means no more than to
moisten, to wet, as the same celebrated author informs
us ; who confirms that sense of the word, by appealing
to the following lines of our famous English classic,
Milton :

' And tho' not mortal, yet a cold shudd'ring dew
Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove
Speaks thunder.'

Evident proofs, they might have added, that the words
dip and bathe, as well as (BaTno) and /SaTrr;^©, are equi-
vocal, open, general terms ; which do not determine any
thing farther, than that water should be applied to the
subject in some form or other." — On such principles,
and by such reasonings, the natural and primary mean-
ing of any word, in any law, or in any language, might
be quickly explained away. Were this principle of in-
terpretation universally admitted and applied, no law
upon earth could riiaintain its authority, or obtain its end.
The obligation of laws, and obedience to lawgivers,
would be little more than empty names. Nor could any
doctrine, or any fact, contained in the Bible, stand its
ground against the operation of this principle. For by
rejecting the natural sense of inspired terms, whenever
we find it uncompliant with our inclination ; and by
adopting a secondary, uncommon, or allusive acceptation

* 1 Sam. xiv. 17. Septuag. f Luke xvi. 24.

11$ SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

of them, as often as we find occasion ; it is an easy
thing for the most ungodly person to manufacture a
creed, as well as ritual, entirely to his own liking,
out of those materials which the scripture furnishes, let
the real meaning of prophets and apostles be what it
may. Yes, he must be a dull genius who cannot, by
proceeding on this principle, frame a theological system
to suit his own taste, in such a manner as to leave but
little room for the subjecting of his understanding, his
conscience, and his will to divine authority; or so as to
have but little occasion for the practice of that self-denial,
which is represented by our Lord as a distinguishing
mark of true godliness. For, grant but the liberty of
taking the principal words of a law, of a narrative, or of
a doctrine, in a secondary and remote sense, where me-
taphor and allusion are out of the question, and a per-
son of genius might safely engage to evade any law, to
subvert any doctrine, and essentially to misrepresent any
fact, contained in the Bible. — My acquaintance, indeed,
with languages, ancient or modern, is very contracted ;
but yet I may venture to conclude, on the groundi of
analogy, that there are few terms in any language which
are not as liable to an improper, allusive, and secondary
acceptation, as the word baptism. Why, then, in the
name of common sense and of common impartiality —
why should that emphatical and enacting term /3a7rT<^co,
be singled out as remarkably equivocal? Why repre-
sented as obscure to such a degree, " that the most
eminent critics, commentators, and lexicographers are
divided in their verdict about" — what? Its primary
meaning? far from it. Here we think ]\Ir. Williams is
under a gross mistake; for, on the authority of those
numerous testimonies which have been laid before the
reader, we may safely assert, that there is hardly any
verb in the Greek Testament, about the natural, obvious,
primary meaning of which, the most eminent authors
appear to be less divided. I do not, indeed, recollect so

BAPTIZE AXD D APT ISM. 113

much as one learned writer, in the whole course of my
reading, who denies that the primary sense of the term
is to dip: and as to the different acceptations for which
our opposers plead, we may ask, with Mr. Locke,
" What words are there not used with great latitude,
and with some deviation from their strict and proper
significations?"*

The manner of using water, when baptism is admi-
nistered, is a mere circumstance, according to Mr. Hor-
sey; for he compares it with various particulars in the
administration of the holy supper, that are entirely cir-
cumstantial. This, if I mistake not, neither agrees with
his own principles; with the doctrine of positive insti-
tutes, as contained in scripture and acknowledged by
Protestants; nor with common sense. — Not with his own-
principles. For when he baptizes a child, in what does he
consider the act of baptizing to consist? In taking the
infant in his arms? he never imagined it. In pro-
nouncing the solemn form of words? by no means; for
then he must consider himself as baptizing the subject
without any water at all. In putting his fingers into the
water? no such thing; for still no water is applied. In
. verbal addresses to God for a blessing upon the child, or
in exhortations to the parents ? far from it ; because the
same consequence would follow. In what, then, but
the very act of sprinkling, or of pouring, in the name of
the Father, and so on ? But how can that, in which
the very act of baptizing consists, be a mere circwn-
stance of baptism ? Let a man's notions of baptism be
what they may, he always considers, and cannot but
consider, the act of applying water to a person, or of
plunging him into water, not as a circumstance of bap-
tism, but as baptism itself. If any of our Paedobap-

tist brethren still hesitate, let them ask their own con-
sciences, whether they consider themselves as performing

* Essay on Human Understanding, b.ii. chap, xxxii. § 1.
VOL. 1. I

1

114 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

a circumstance no way essential to baptism, when, " in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit," they apply water to a child? The answer,
doubtless, will be in the negative. With equal reason,
therefore, might Mr. Horsey have told us, that eating
bread and drinking wine at the Lord's table, are circum-
stances of receiving the sacred supper, or that wali^ing
is a circumstance of local motion ; as that plunging,
pouring, or sprinkling, is a circumstance of baptism :
for no minister of Christ can consider his performance
of sprinkling, of pouring, or of plunging, in the sub-
limest of all names, as any thing but the very act of
baptizing.

Not with the doctrine of positive institutes, as con-
tained in scripture and acknowledged by Protestants.
If there be any force or propriety in what our opponent
says, it must be on supposition that what he represents
as a circumstance, is not enjoined by our divine Lord ;
for whatever he requires cannot be indifferent, and there-
fore is not a circumstance. Had the time of day, the
number and posture of communicants, or the quahty
and quantity of bread and wine, been appointed by the
great Lawgiver, with reference to his holy supper, not
one of those particulars would have been a circum-
stance: for, it is manifest, the^i would all have been
so many parts of one institution; nor would it have
been lawful to vary from them. Many particulars of a
similar nature were appointed by Jehovah in the ordi-
nance of the ancient passover: but, being appointed,
they were of divine obligation, even though the minuti<2
of the institution extended to "the time of day" when
that festival should commence. — The Roman Catholics,
like our author in the present case, would fain persuade
us, that a participation of wine at the Lord's table is a
mere circumstance; but they have been constantly told
by Protestants, that it is an essential part of the institu-
tion: yet not more so, than the use of water, in bap-

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 115

tism, let " the mode of use" be whatever it ma3\ Be-
sides, our opponent here begs the question in dispute
between us, respecting the term baptism. — Again : Omit-
ting various divine appointments which might be men-
tioned on this occasion, how multifarious were the rites en-
joined for the cleansing of an Israelitish leper, as particula-
rized in Leviticus the fourteenth ! They are too numerous
to be given in detail; but every reader of the heavenly
statute may soon perceive, that, according to Mr. Horsey,
many of them were such ceremonial parts of one positive
institute, as may be called circumstances: for there is
no reason to doubt but the original words there used
are as equivocal as the term baptism. — As to the avowed
sentiments of Protestatits, relating to the doctrine of
positive institutions, I would refer my reader to the pre-
ceding chapter, No, 2, 6, 10, 11, 15, 16, QO. Reflect.
II, III, V, VI, VII.

Not with common sense. For if the manner of using
water be a circumstance of baptism, what in the world
can baptism itself he} The circumstances of a thing are
always considered as different from the thing itself
They attend, they accompany, or, if you please, they
stajid about a thing ; but they are never considered as
THE thing. I should be glad to know, on these pre-
mises, what baptism, real, identical baptism is. It is
not sprinkling of water; it is not pouring of water; nor
is it plunging into water: for these are only so many
modes of using water; and the mode of use is no more
of the absence of baptism, than the number of commu-
nicants at the Lord's table is of the essence of the sacred
supper. Now as, according to Mr. Horsey, the man-
ner of using water is only a circumstance of baptism;
as the word /SaTTTf^w is an equivocal, open, general term;;
and as, according to Mr. Wilhams, the most eminent
authors are divided in their verdict about what our Lord
meant by it; all we can learn concerning the ordinance
is this: baptism is an unknown something, which has. a

I 2

116 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

connection with water,* and was'practised by the apostles
in obedience to Jesus Christ; for on the authority of
Mr. Horsey, whether you sprinkle, or pour, or plunge,
in the name of the eternal Trinity, it is only a circum-
stance, and not baptism itself. — Sprinkling, pouring, or
plunging, as much a circumstance of baptism, as the
7iumber of communicants at the holy table is of the
sacred supper ! One step [farther,; and baptism itself
(whatever the equivocal word means) will be esteemed a
circumstance of something else, and its obligation con-
fined, as by the Quakers, to the ministry of John. Far
be it that I should imagine Messrs. Williams and Horsey
intended to relax the obligation of this positive rite; but
whether their manner of speaking has not a tendency so
to do, I leave the reader to judge.

It may, perhaps, be objected, " Baptism signifies
washing ; which may be performed by plunging, pour-
ing, or sprinkling: and it is in this view that the dif-
ferent modes of proceeding are called circumstances.'''
That washing is the native, primary, and obvious mean-
ing of the term, we do not believe, nor can we admit,
except for the sake of argument. Let it be granted, how-
ever, that baptism is no other than washing. What
follows ? That these three different ways of solemnly
using water are mere circumstatices of washing? nothing
less. Because whether one or another of these various
modes be adopted, it is the washing itself, and not a
circumstance of it; or else there is nothing in the whole
solemnity that has the least appearance of any such
thing. Nor can our opposers themselves deny it. For
whether they pour water on the head, or sprinkle the
face, it is all the washing they pretend to perform. Con-
sequently, on their own principles, it is not a circum-
stance; nor can they without absurdity consider it in

* Mr.Horsey's words are, " connection with a river j" but his
practice, I presume, is in connection with a basin. See his Ser-
mon, p. 19,

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 117

that light, while they are obliged to acknowledge, thai
the circumstances of a thing are always different from
the thing itself. — That various particulars relating to
baptism are merely circumstantial, we readily allow.
For instance: the age of the candidate, provided he
make a credible profession of repentance and faith. —
The t'mie of administration : it may be in the morning,
at noon, in the evening, or at midnight, as in the case of
the Philippian jailor. — The place: it may be in a river,
a pond, or a baptistery. — The number of spectators:
they may be many or few. These, and other things of
a similar kind, we look upon as indifferent; as, properly
speaking, circumstances : because, not being included in
the law of baptism, they make no part of the institu-
tion. These may greatly vary, while the qualifications
of the candidates, the whole form of administration, and
the gracious purposes to be answered by the ordinance,
are essentially the same. But it is quite otherwise, as
to the solemn use of water. For if that be omitted,
baptism itself is wanting: if used contrary to divine
order and primitive example, the ordinance is corrupted,
so corrupted, as not to deserve its original name. See
Chap. I. No. 15, and Reflect. V. — These things being
duly regarded, it will appear surprising that so many of
our opposers inadvertently speak of immersion, pouring,
and sprinkling, as if they'were mere circumstances of the
appointment under dispute: an idea, so contrary to
scripture, to fact, and to common sense, that it may be
considered as the last refuge of a desperate cause.

Spj^inkling, pouring, and plunging, are perfectly
EQUIVALENT, EQUALLY VALID, says Mr. Horscy.
" Those that are baptized, are either plunged into the
water, or water is poured upon them, or they are sprinkled
with water : now which soever of these three ways is ob-
served, we ought to believe baptism to be valid," says
the Council of Trent.* If plunging, pouring, and

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, part ii. Of Bap, § If.

118 SIGNIFICATIOX OF THE TERMS,

sprinkling, be equally valid, it must be because they are
equally enjoined by divine law. But they are three
different actions, as before proved, and as all the world
will acknowledge, in reference to any other affair. How
then shall a single term, understood in its proper and
primary sense, equally respect three different actions?
yet an equal respect they must have from a single term
of positive divine law, to render them " perfectly equiva-
lent, equally valid." Before Mr. Horsey pretends to
evince, that the word ^aTrn^a has this plenitude of signi-
fication, vve wish him to prove, that any term, in any
language, either does or can equally and naturally sig-
nify three different actions. A word that has three senses,
equally proper and natural to it, is indeed equivocal;
nor has it, properly speaking, any determinate sense at
all. It is a mere term without an idea, and deserves to
be banished from the language to which it belongs. See
Reflect. III. — There have been many disputes concern-
ing what is the proper and true sense of a word; but
none, that I have read, about the number of true and
proper senses which the same word bears, in the same
connection. Disputes also have been multiplied, about
the real meaning of such or such a clause in divine and
human law; but theologians and civilians have seldom
taken it into their heads lo contend, whether the legis-
lator had thi^ee meanings, or only one, in any enacting
clause. It is pleasing, however, for us to reflect, that
phmging is valid ; for so it is, by the confession of IVIr.
Horsey, and by that of the whole Council of Trent,
whatever becomes of sprinkling or pouring.- — But though
Mr. Horsey assures us, that plunging is perfectly equiva-
lent, equally valid, with pouring or sprinkling ; and though
he has done it in emphatical capitals, yet he quickly
insinuates, that there is great severity in plunging; that
it must be often inconsistent with the mild genius of the
Christian religion; and that it is liarsh, painful, and ter-
rifying.^' He repents, alas ! he repents of his honest

' ' * Infant. Bap. Stated, p. 20.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 119

concession. He no sooner grants us the sanction of his
opinion, than he resumes it with eagerness, by endea-
vouring to deprive us of all its authority. But does this
worthy author imagine that plunging is valid, independent
of divine authority? Or, that Jesus Christ would exert
his authority to sanction a rite that is inconsistent with
his own religion? This, I confess, appears to me as in-
compatible and unaccountable, as our great Legislator
having three meanings in the same enacting term of his
positive law.

Sprinkling, pouring, and pltmging, perfectly equiva-
lent, equally valid I As, by plunging, Mr. Horsey means
an immersion of the whole body ; and as we have no reason
to think, that he is for sprinkling or pouring water all
over the human frame; so, by his not mentioning any
particular part, on which the water should be poured or
sprinkled, we are led to conclude that, in his opinion, it
is quite indifferent on what part the water may fall.
Here, then, the administrator has full scope for his in-
clination to operate; and he may sprinkle any part,
from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, just
as his sovereign will directs. How contrary this to the
whole analogy of positive divine law in the Old Testa-
ment ! If Mr. Horsey be right, the law of baptism is a
leaden rule, that will bend and take any form; rather,
it is no law — it is no rule; and with regard to the use of
water, every one may do that which seems right in- his
own eyes. But as it is absurd to suppose, that the pri-
mary sense of the same word will equally apply to three
different objects ; so it must be incongruous for any to
imagine, that the same enacting clause or term of a
law, can equally require three different actions, and at
the same time be completely satisfied with any one of
them. Before Mr. Horsey had inadvertently fixed an
imputation of this kind on a positive law of Jesus Christ,
he should have well considered, whether the whole his-
tory of legislation (sacred, civil, or ecclesiastical) could

120 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

have furnished him with a single instance of such a fact.
That many tyrants and fools have given laws to secular
kingdoms, and have even presumed to legislate for Jesus
Christ himself, is a fact ; that some of their laws have
been marked with tyrannical subtlety, and others with
egregious folly, is also a fact; but that any of them
ever were so crafty, as to contrive a law which, by a
single enacting term, equally required three different acts
of obedience; and yet were so compliant, as to feel
themselves perfectly satisfied with having any one of
those acts performed, 1 do not believe.

Vary the mode of administration according to cir-
cumstances!— Refer the manner of 'performance to the
■private judgment of the person or persons concerned!
Strange positions, from the pen of a Protestant Dissen-
ter ! How inimical to the grand principle of Noncon-
formity, and to that of the Reformation ! Surely, no
law of either God or man was ever so condescending to
the will of the subject, as the law of baptism. It is
reported, indeed, that those who sit as judges in the
court of Inquisition, may interpret the laws against
heretics, if there be any thing doubtful in them, accord-
ing to their own pleasure.* Nor do I wonder at it.
But that a Protestant, and a Protestant Dissenting
brother, should first pronounce the divine law of baptism
obscure, and then assure us that we may understand and
act upon it, vvith regard to the use of water, just as we
phase, is very amazing ! Mr. Williams, I presume, did
not recollect the manner in which our great Legislator
introduces the sovereign mandate, nor the words that
immediately follow- it. " All authority (e^ova-ia) is
given unto me in heaven and in earth" — introduces the
law under consideration. " Teaching them to observe

ALL things whatsoever I HAVE COMMANDED

you" — are the immediately following words. If ever
our Lord expressed himself in the high legislative tone,

* Venema Hist. Eccles. sccul. xiii. § 317-

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISiM. 121

if ever he spake like one who in earnest demands an im-
plicit and punctual obedience, it was on this occasion.
Can it then be supposed, that the Lord Redeemer as-
sumed such an air of divine majesty, and such a style of
divine authority, in giving a law of religious worship,
when he intended that his followers should administer
the rite just as they pleased? We may say with Chil-
lingworth, in another case, " He that can believe it,
let him."

Vajy the mode of administration according to cir-
cumstances! Refer the mariner of performance to the
private judgment of the administrator, or of the candi-
date! Incidental circumstances, then, or the caprice of
those concerned, must be the rule of proceeding. On
this principle, who can set bounds to that variety of ad-
ministration whichi may be lawfully'] practised ? The
Council of Trent is^of opinion that water should be ap-
plied, not to any part of the body, but to the head, be-
cause it is the seat of sensation.* Mr. Cleaveland

thinks \k\eface is the most proper part, because it is al-
ways naked, 'f Deylingius is confident that sprinkling

may be performed, once or thrice, on the head, i\\e fore-
head, or the breast.'\, r-The^Eunomians, it is reported,

" baptized only the upper parts of the body as far as the
breast ; and this they did in a very preposterous way, as
Epiphanius relates, tov; tro^ag ava, km rvjv Ke(paXYjv Karcti,
with their heels upwards, and their head downwai^d.
Which sort of men are called Histopedes, ox Pederectiy^
Now here is variety, great variety ; yet Mr. Williams's
principle will admit of a much larger latitude in the
course of baptismal practice. It has indeed no other
bounds than the caprice and fancies of men are pleased
to affix. They only can say. Hitherto shalt thou go, and

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, part ii. Of Sac. of Bap. § 18.

f Infant Bap. from Heaven, p. 88, 89.

X De Prudent. Past, pars iii. c. iii. § 2.5.

§ Bingham's Origines Ecclesiast. b. xi. chap. xi. § 4.

122 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

no farther. Were an adult, therefore, or any parent on
the behalf of his child, to request of Mr. Williams an
application of baptismal water in any of these ways, he
could not refuse without confronting his own principle.
Or, were any one to prefer the use of water in imitation
of the ancient episcopal unction ; which was applied to
the forehead, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth,
and the breast ; he could not decline it without depart-
ing from his own rule.* Nor could Mr. Horsey, be-
cause it would be an application of water " in some
form or other;" which is all, according to him, that the
word (SaiTTii^co determines : " the mode of use" being as
much a circumstance, as the number of communicants
at the Lord's table is of the holy supper. It is ob-
served by the laborious and learned Chamier, " That
no man in his senses will believe that to be the true reli-
gion, the law of which is no more fixed and certain, than
the rule of conduct contained in these lines :

" Cilm fueris Romse, Romano vivito more :
Cum fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi."f

But, whatever this great opposer of papal usurpation
and superstition might think about a rule of true re/i-
gion, Messrs. Horsey and Williams have given what
they consider as a rule of true baptism, w\nc\\ has little
more fixedness or certainty in it, than that in the Latin
distich, which the learned Frenchman holds in such
contempt. For it is plain, that the application " of wa-
ter ill some form or otlier" will readily comply with the
custom of any age, or of any country; and referring
" the mode to the private J udgme?2t of the persons con-
cerned,'' will politely oblige any inclination. This re-
minds me of what Cardinal Cusanus affirms. " The
scripture," says he, " is fitted to the time, and variably
understood : so that at one time, it is expounded ac-
cording to the current fashion of the church ; and when

* Bingham's Origines Ecclesiast. b.xii chap. ii. § -l.
f I'anstrat. torn. i. 1. ii. c. xiv. § [)>.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 123

that fashion is changed, the sense of scripture is also
changed .... No wonder if the practice of the church do
take the scripture, one time one way, and another time
another ; for the sense of it keeps pace with the prac-
tice."*— Were these our Dissenting brethren, however,
to enter the hsts of controversy with a sensible Roman
Catholic, they would soon find themselves obliged, either
to proceed on different principles, and speak in a different
manner, or, in various articles, to give up the Protestant
cause.

Were my judgment of the term baptism to be formed
on those documents which Messrs. Horsey and Williams
have given us, I should be ready to say : It is the
strangest and most unaccountable word in the world,
when used respecting a divine institution. For, though
I never heard that learned men were much at a loss to
fix its meaning, when found in the Greek classics, in
Josephus, or in ancient ecclesiastical authors ; though
cold bathing was abundantly practised by many nations
in former times ; and though, in our own country, it is
frequently used by both sexes, for medical purposes and
for amusement, without any suspicion of danger or of
indecency ; yet we no sooner consider the term as making
a part of divine law, and as prescribing an act of Chris-
tian worship, than all is darkness, as to its meaning, and
all is terror, if considered as enjoining immersion. — If,
when used in this connection, you desire iojij: its mean-
ing, commentators, critics, and lexicographers are search-
ed in vain. It is a mere Proteus, or a chameleon ; for
it w^ill assume almost any appearance. In general, how-
ever, it is quite complaisant ; altering its colour, or
shape, just as you please. If you prefer sprinkling, it
is your devoted servant ; and you may sprinkle the head
or breast, the hands or the feet, for it makes no objec-
tion. Have you a predilection for pouring ? still it is at
your service : for whether you pour much or little, on

* In Mr. Clarkson's Pract. Divinity of Papists, p. 379.

124 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

the face or the neck, on the fingers or the toes, it will
sanction your deed. Are you for washing, such washing
as cleanses from exterior pollution ? you may dip a
towel in the basin, instead of ycur fingers, and apply it
to the face or the hands, or to any part of the body you
please : for it will be quite satisfied if you do but apply
the water in some form or other ^ and you are at your
option. Nay, if you happen to he fond of water, and
to prefer plunging, this good-natured word will stamp
legality on the act ; for plunging is perfectly equivalent,
equally valid, with pouring and sprinkling. But here,
alas ! its complaisance takes leave of the plungers. For
though it will sturdily defend the perfect validity of their
practice against every opposer ; yet they must shift for
themselves as well as they can, if their conduct happen
to be suspected of severity, of harshness, or of any thing
terrifying. While, therefore, I cannot but admire the
versatility of this identical word, baptism, I am con-
strained to lament, that it is not quite so impartial in its
regards as one might have imagined ; for its beautifully
varying aspect is chiefly turned towards our opponents.

Once more : Mr. Horsey is of opinion, that if our
Lord had intended to confine his followers to the prac-
tice of immersion, he would probably " have used a
word that is decided and limited in its import f ' and
he thinks, that ^vQi'l^a or KarafSvOi^w, Ivtttco, Kara^ww or
KUTo^vco, or, finally, KaTanovTi^co, would have been " in-
disputably precise and exact," for such a purpose. Let
us enquire, therefore, into the opinion of lexicographers,
concerning the import of these expressions ; and we will
begin with the famous Henry Stephens. " BvGi^o}, to
cast into a gulf, (the deep, or the sea,) to plunge down:
KarapvOi^w signifies the same, and is more commonly

used." Pasor : (Schoettgenii edit.) "To plunge

down, to cast into the deep, (1 Tim. vi. 9; 2 IVIaccab.

xii. 4 ; Luke V. 7.)" Hedericus : " To plunge; from

/SvOoi, a whirlpool, a bottomless pit, or the deep. Kara-

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 125

(3v9i^a, to cast into a gulf, or the deep, to plunge down ;
to throw down, to ruin." See also Mintert, Schwarzius,

Leigh, and Parkhurst, under the word BvBi^co. He-

dericus : " Avtttw, to go under, or into, water; to
plunge." Schrevelius : " To go under, or into, wa-
ter ; from which the English terms, dip and dive, seem

to have been derived." H. Stephens : " Kara^vva, or

Kara^vco, to enter within, or into a more interior place ;

to enter into a gulf, or the deep." Hedericus : " To

go into a more interior place, to enter into a gulf, or
the deep ; to hide one's self, to lie hid ; to be ashamed,
to blush; to plunge down, to plunge under; to fall

down; to put on." Pasor : " To plunge, to destroy,

to descend, (Amos ix. 3; Ezek. xxvi. 13; Exod. xv. 5.)
KaTa'^v(Ti$, a descent ; a cave in which idolaters worship-
ped their gods, (1 Kings xv. 13.)" H. Stephens:

" Hovti^o), to plunge into the sea : KaraTrovTi^co is most
frequently used, and signifies to plunge down into the

sea, to plunge under." Hedericus : " To plunge

down into the sea, to plunge under, (Matt, xviii. 6.)
KaraTrovTiarv]^, is one who plunges others into the sea ; a
pirate, who, after making his capture, plunges the men

under the water." Schwarzius : " To plunge down."

See Mintert and Parkhurst, under the word, KaTaTrovTi^a.
— Such, according to these learned authors, are the sig-
nifications of the words before us : on which I would
make the following remarks.

These chosen terms are far from being so univocal
and precise in their import, in comparison with the word
(SaTTTi^co, as Mr. Horsey represents them to be; for several
of them have secondary senses, more distant from their
primary acceptation, than sprinkling is from plunging.
This, in a particular manner, is the case with Kara^wco or
Kara^vw. The natural sense of ^vtttco, and a secondary
acceptation of others, nearly coincide with the acknow-
ledged primary meaning of ^airri^o}', as the reader may
easily observe. Were these terms perfectly well adapted

126 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

precisely to express a total immersion, without any dis-
agreeable idea attending it, as our opponent supposes,
it might be expected, that one or another of them would
have been frequently employed by the seventy transla-
tors, in their version of the Mosaic institutes. But it
does not appear, by the Concordance of Trommius, that
any one of these verbs is ever used by them, to express
those bathings which are so frequently mentioned in the
Hebrew ritual. No; for as vitttw is their usual word to
enjoin washing the hands and the feet^ and as ttAvvw is
their term for washing of garments, so Aouw is the verb
they use for bathing the ichole body. Of this, the fol-
lowing passage is a remarkable instance : " Whomso-
ever he toucheth that hath the issue, (and hath not
rinsed, vevi-urai, his hands in water,) he shall wash, irXwei,
his clothes, and bathe himself, Xova-erai ro a-co[xa, in water."f
Perfectly agreeable to which, is the observation of Dr.
Duport : "The grammarians remark a difference be-
tween Xoveiv, and irXweiv, and viTneiv ; that Xoveiv is spoken
of the whole body, TrXweiv of garments and clothes, and
viTTTeiv of the hands.":}: Aovco and fSaTTTi^a are used by
the Seventy as equivalent. For thus it is written : " Go,
and wash, Xova-ai, in Jordan seven times. — Then went he
down, and dipped himself, e^aTrriaaTo, seven times in
Jordan, according to the saying of the m.an of God."§
As to l3vQt^(o, KaralSvBi^cc, and '^vTTTco, according to Trom-
mius, they are not so much as once used in the Septua-
gint ; and as to KaTa^wco and Ka.Ta'7rovTi(^co, though used
by the Seventy, yet in a sense quite foreign to the nature
of a positive rite. For instance : " Pharaoh's chariots
and his host hath he cast into the sea : his chosen cap-
tains also are drowned {KareiroByiaav ; but other copies

* Sometimes also the face, both in the Seventy and in the New
Testament. Sec Gen. xliii. 31, and Matt. vi. I7.

t Lev. XV. 11 J see also verse 5, 8, 13, 21, "22, 9.7 ; chap. xvi.
26, 285 and xvii. 15 j Numb. xix. 7, 8, 19.

X In Mr. Parkhurst's Greek Lexicon, under the verb Aokw. \id.
Mintert, sub voce Ncstto). § 2 Kings v. 10, 14.

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 127

read, KareirovTiaev ;) in the Red Sea. The depths have
covered them : they sank into the bottom, Karelvaav et^
(3v6ov, as a stone."*' — " Why wilt thou swallow up,
KaraTrovri^eig, the inheritance of the Lord ? Far be it,
that I should swallow up, Kara'^ovna, or destroy."'}'
So, in the New Testament, KaraTrovTi'^co is used only in
the sense of sinking in the deep, and of drowning. Thus,
for instance, concerning Peter, when walking on the sea :
" He was afraid ; and beginning to sink, AcaraTrovT/^eo-fia;,
he cried, saying, Lord, save me ! " — " It were better for
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned, AraraTrovT/o-^Tj, in the depth of the
sea.":j: Bv^/^ct) is used likewise in the Apocrypha, and
in the New Testament, for sinking in the deep, and for
drowning. — Thus an apocryphal author : " When they
were gone forth into the deep, they drowned, e(3v6ia-av,
no less than two hundred of them."§ — Thus an evan-
gelist : " They came and filled both the ships, so that
they began to sink, (3v6i^ea-6ai avra.'' \\ — Thus the apostle
Paul: " They that will be rich, fall into temptation and
a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which
DROWN, l3v6i^ova-i, men in destruction and perdition."^
— And thus Clemens Romanus: " Pharaoh and his host,
and all the rulers of Egypt — were drowned, e^vQia-Qfja-av,
in the bottom of the Red Sea, and perished."** Hence
it appears, that all those Greek verbs which are selected
by Mr. Horsey, except Ivirro), manifestly convey the
idea of danger, of injury, or of destruction to the subject
upon which an agent performs the action that is naturally
expressed by them ; yet of these terms, he thinks it pro-
bable that our Lord would have chosen one or another,
had he designed to confine his followers to the practice
of immersion ! As if no word could be decidedly for

* Exod. XV. 4, 5. t 2 Sam. xx. 19, 10. See Ps. Iv. 9;

Septuag. liv, 9 5 Lament, ii. 2, 5 j and many other places.

+ Matt, xiv. 30, and xviii. 6. § 2 Maccab. xii. 4.

II Luke V. 7. 5[ 1 Tim. vi. 9.
** Epist, ad Corinth. § 51,

1

128 SIGXIIICATION OF THE TERMS,

dipping, if it did not, in its primary acceptation, denote
sinking in the deep, or drowniiig! With much greater
critical propriety might he have mentioned kova, than
any of the words proposed ; because that is the verb
which, above all others, the seventy translators adopted,
to signify the bathing of the whole body. Yet here, alas !
the old exception would have recurred ; for Xova signifies
to wash ; and washing, they would have said, may be
performed by pouring or sprinkling. From what the
learned assert, concerning the native and obvious ac-
ceptation of pavTi^cc, eKyea, /SaTrr/^w, and most of the
terms Mr. Horsey has mentioned, there seems to be
much the same difference between them, as there is
between sprinkling, pouring, dipping, and drowning, in
our own language.

But what would IVIr. Horsey and others have said,
had any of his chosen terms, except Ivktw, been used
by our Lord to express that immersion about which
we contend? They would soon, I suppose, have ex-
claimed : " What, will nothing satisfy our opposers,
but plunging a candidate for the appointed rite into
a gulf, or the sea! Nothing short of what will put
life itself into the most imminent danger! Must we
always go to the sea, or to some abyss of water, to
administer the ordinance! Severe, harsh, terrifying!
The very thought shocks our feelings and plunges us
in horror. Impossible, that the law of our gracious
and condescending Lord should be rightly understood
by these dismal and cruel plungers. It muM have

another meaning; for common sense requires it," •

Here a secondary and remote acceptation of the word
in question (suppose Karalwo}, or Kara^vw,) would have
been sought. In which case, two copies of the Sep-
tuagint version of Psalm cxix. 136, would have fur-
nished them with an instance much to their purpose :
for there the word KaT^^va-av is used to express a copious
jiow and fall of tears; which might have been very

BAPTIZE AND BAPTISM. 129

happily applied to prove, that the term, among other
acceptations, means to sprinkle* Nay, they might
have pleaded the use of the word by the author of
the ApostoHcal Constitutions, Basil the Great, Chry-
sostom, Theophylact, Damascene, and other ecclesias-
tical Greek writers, as tantamount to the term f3a7i:Ti^a.'\
For, as no one doubts but they had a tolerable ac-
quaintance with their own language; as nobody dreams
of their administering baptism, by plunging people into
the depths of the sea; and as Mr. Horsey thinks he
has proved that the word baptize signifies to sprinkle;
so it follows, by an easy consequence, that the verb
Kara^vvoo, stubborn and terrifying as it may appear,
would have been quite as pliable and obliging to our
opponents as the term jSaTTTi^co. There is reason to
think, however, that it would be a much easier task
for any one to prove, that /SaTrrii^cc signifies, in certain
connections, to sink in the deep, or to drown and destroy;
than that it is ever used by Greek authors to express
the idea of pouring or of sprinkling a few drops of water
on the head or the face. See No. 52, 55, 64, and the
note subjoined to No. 82. — Agreeable to which is
the language of Damascene, and of Tertullian. By
the former, Noah's flood is called a baptism; and by the
latter, the baptism of the world.'^

Mr. Horsey, when pleading the want of a word
more decidedly expressive of plunging than fSaTrn^io is,
reminds me of an evasion sometimes used by Arian
subscribers to the Thirty-nine Articles of the English
church. " Had the compilers, or imposers," they say,
" intended to have been more determinate upon any
point, they ought to have been more explicit and par-

* See Bos's Septuagint.

f See No. 1 of this Chap. Suiceri Thesaur. Eccles. sub voce,
kua^vw; and Spanhemii Dub. Evang. pars.iii. dub. xxiv. p. 70.

% Apud Suicerum, Thesaur. Eccles. torn. i. p. 623.
VOL. I. K:

130 SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS,

ticular.'''* Now, as it is not so much a want of pre-
cision in the Articles and Liturgy of the national esta-
blishment which occasioned this exception, as a dislike
to the doctrines they contain; so I suspect, that it is
not so much a defect of meaning in the word (SaTTTi^o},
to signify immersion, as a disapprobation of that ve}y
immersion, which was the reason of our opponent's
remark. It may, on our part, with reason be asked,
if our Lord intended, and if the apostles practised
pouring or sprinkling, why was not such or such a word
used, which, in its obvious and primary acceptation,
signifies to pour or to sprinkle? But it is quite foreign
to the purpose, and proves nothing so much as the
want of better arguments, to think of another word to
express the idea of immersion, when that is the radical
and obvious meaning of the term fSaTm^a. The fol-
lowing observation of Mr. Alsop will therefore apply,
mutatis mutandis, to the case before us. " If Xvrpov,
avTiXvTpov, and avTiXvrpov virep, will not evince a proper
price paid by way of ransom for another, we must
despair of ever expressing truth with that clearness,
but it shall be liable to misconstruction, by the possi-
bility of another meaning: and it is in vain to seek
a remedy against that evil for which there is no help
in nature." t

Reflect. X. Before I conclude this chapter, I will
present the reader with a pertinent quotation from Dr.
Waterland. " In all manner of controversy which
depends upon interpretation of dead writings, he that
undertakes to prove a point, or to establish a doc-
trine, lies under this disadvantage ; that, as long as
there appears any possibility of a different interpretation,
an adversary may still demur and demand farther
evidence. Now, considering the great latitude and am-

* In Dr. Waterland's Supplem. to Case of Arian Subscrip. p. 34,
f Antisozzoj p. 644.

BAPTIZE AXD J5APTTSM. l^l

biguity of words and phrases, in all languages, (if a
man M'ould search into all the senses they are possibly
capable of,) and that even the most full and e.rpress
may be often eluded by having recourse to tropes and
figures, or to some other artificial turn of wit or criti-
cism ; I say, considering this, there may be always
something or other plausibly urged against any thing
almost whatever."* — Now, though every person of
reading and observation must acknowledoe this remark
to be just, yet we may venture to affirm, that if the
preceding authorities produced from the Quakers, whose
hypothesis is not afi^ected by any particrdar sense of the
term in dispute — from the most learned Pagdobaptists
themselves, whose cause is deeply interested in the
meaning of the word — and, by some of our opposers,
from Greek authors,'}' — do not sufficiently warrant our
sense of the word under consideration, we may justly
challenge our brethren to fix and authenticate the
meaning of any expression in the original scriptures,
against any opponent whatever. Nay, if the term bap-
tism do not determinately signify that the ordinance
should be administered by immersing the subject in
water, we should be glad of information what other
expression could have conveyed that idea, without being
liable to similar exceptions with those against which we
now contend. It may therefore be safely concluded,
that if there be nothing in the design of the ordinance,
nor in the apostolic practice, inconsistent with the
notion of dipping, we do not deserve reproach for
insisting, that baptism and i?nmersion are terms equi-
valent.

* Eight Sermons, Pref. p. 4, 5, edit. 2nd.

f To the authorities produced from Greek authors. No. 31, 45,
52, 55, 64, and 82, a multitude of others might be added j as the
reader may see by consulting Dr. Gale's Reflections upon Dr. Wall's
Hist, of Inf. Bap. lett. iii.

K 'J

132 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

CHAPTER III.

The Design of Baptism ; or the Facts and Blessings re-
presented by it, both in regard to our Lord and his
Disciples.

WiTsius. — " Our Lord would be baptized, that
he might conciliate authority to the baptism of John;
that he might manifest himself to be equally the head of
those who are baptized, as of those who are circum-
cised; that he has communion with both, and came that
of both he might make one; that by his own example,
he might commend and sanctify our baptism equally
as other sacraments to which he submitted; that men
might not be loth 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; that by the use of this
sacrament, the " promises of the covenant, which was
between himself and the Father, might be confirmed to
him, concerning the entire expiation of those offences
which he took on himself, the justification and sanc-
tification of those persons whom he represented,
and concerning a glorious resurrection, by which he
should soon emerge out of the waters of tribulation,
(Psalm ex. 7;) and, finally, 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
.... Immersion into the water is to be considered by
us, as exhibiting that dreadful abyss of divine justice,
in which Christ for our sins, which he took on himself.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 133

was for a time as it were absorbed; as in David, his
type, he complains, (Psalm Ixix. 3.) More particularly,
seeing such an immersion deprives a person of light,
and of other things pertaining to this world, it excel-
lently represents the death of Christ, while his con-
tinuance under water, however short, denotes the burial
of Christ, and the lowest degree of his humiliation;
when, being laid in a sepulchre that was sealed and
guarded by the Roman soldiers, he was considered as
entirely cut off. Emersion out of the water, exhibits an
image of his resurrection, or of the victory which, being
dead, he obtained over death in his own dark domains,
that is, the grave. All these things the apostle inti-
mates, (Rom. vi. 3, 4.) Besides, baptism also repre-
sents those befieftts, both present and future, which
believers obtain in Christ. Among the present benefits,
the principal is, communion with the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ; and, which is consequent
upon it, the mortification and burial of our old, and
resurrection of the new man, in virtue of the blood and
Spirit of Christ. For immersion into the water, repre-
sents the death of the old man, in such a manner as
shows, that he can neither stand in judgment to our
condemnation, nor exercise dominion in our bodies,
that we should obey his lusts. In respect of the former,
the death of the old man pertains to our justification;
in regard to the latter, it belongs to our sanctification.
The continuance under the water, represents the burial
of the body of sin, by which all hope of its revival is
cut off; so that it shall never be able afterwards,
either to condemn the elect, or to reign over them."
Miscel. Sac. tom. ii. exercit xv. § 63. Q^con. Feed.
1. iv. c. xvi. § 25 — 9,9.

2. Dr. Robert Newton. — " Baptism was usually
performed by immersion, or dipping the whole body
under water, to represent the death, and burial, and re-
surrection of Christ together; and therewith to signify

134 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

the person's own dying to sin, the destruction of its
power, and his resurrection to new Hfe. St. Paul plainly
refers to this custom, (Rom. vi. 4.)" Pract. Exposit. ot
Catechism, p. 297, 298.

3. A. H. Frankius. — " The baptism of Christ repre-
sented his sufferings, (Matt. xx. 22,) and his coming
up out of the water, his resurrection from the dead."
Programmata, program, xiv. p. 343, 344.

4. INIr. Rich. Baxter. — " In our baptism, we are
dipped under the water, as signifying our covenant pro-
fession, that as he was buried for sin, we are dead and
buried to sin. . . .They [your lusts] are dead and buried
with him, for so your baptism signifieth ; in which you
are put under the water, to signify and profess, that
your old man is dead and buried. . , .We are raised to
hohness by his Spirit, as we rise out of the water in
baptism — (Col. ii. 11, 12, 13, where note,) — that the
putting of the body under the water did signify our
burial with Christ, and the death, or putting off of our
sins. And though we now use a less quantity of water,
yet it is to signify the same thing, or else we should
destroy the being of the sacrament: so also our rising
out of the water signifieth our risins; and being quick-
ened together with him. Note also, that it is not only
an engagement to this hereafter^ but a thing presently
done. They were in baptism buried with Christ; and
put off the body of sin, and were quickened with him :
and this doth all suppose their oxvn present profession to
put off the body of sin, and their consent to be baptized
on these terms." Paraphrase on the New Test, at Rom.
vi. 4; Col, ii. 12; 1 Pet. iii. 21. Disput. of Right to
Sacram. p. 58.

5. M. Saurin. — " Paul says, ' We are buried with

I him by baptism into death;' that is, the ceremony of

wholly immersing us in water, when we were baptized,

signified, that we died to sin; and that of raising us

again from our immersion signified, that we would no

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 135

more return to those disorderly practices, in which we
lived before our conversion to Christianity." Sermons,
vol. iii. p. 171. Mr. Robinson's Translat.

6. Dr. T. Goodwin. — " The eminent thing signified
and represented in baptism, is, not simply the blood of
Christ, as it washeth us from sin ; but there is a farther
representation therein of Christ's death, burial, and re-
surrection, in the baptized's being first buried under
water, and then rising out of it; and this is not in a
bare conformity unto Christ, but in a representation of
a communion with Christ, in that his death and resur-
rection. Therefore it is said, ' We are buried with
him in baptism;' and, 'Wherein you are risen with
him.' It is not simply said, like as he was buried and
rose, but with him. So that our communion and oneness
with him in his resurrection, is represented to us therein,
and not only our conformity or likeness unto him therein.
And so baptism representeth this to us, that Christ hav-
ing once in himself sustained the persons of all the elect,
in his burial and resurrection; that now, upon the party
himself who is baptized, is personally, particularly, and
apparently reacted the same part again in his baptism;
thereby showing what his communion with Christ before
was, in what was then done to Christ; that he then was
buried with Christ, and rose with him; and upon that
ground is now, in this outward sign of baptism, (as in a
show, or representation) both buried and also riseth
again." Christ set forth, sect. iii. chap. vii. p. 82, 83.

7. Turrettinus. — " The passage of the Israelites
through the Red Sea, wonderfully agrees M-ith our bap-
tism, and represents the grace it was designed to ex-
press. For as, in baptism, when performed in the pri-
mitive manner, by immersion and emersion, descending
into the water, and again going out of it, of which descent
and ascent we have an example in the eunuch, (Acts
viii. 38, 39;) yea, and what is more, as by this rite,
when persons are immersed in water, they are over-

136 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

whelmed, and as it were buried, and in a manner
buried 'together with Christ;' and again, when they
emerge, seem to be raised out of the grave, and are said
to rise again with Christ, (Rom. vi. 4, 5; Col. ii. 12;)
so in the Mosaic baptism, we have an immersion, and an
emersion; that, when they descended into the depths of
the sea; this, when they went out and came to the oppo-
site shore. The former, was an image of death; the lat-
ter, of a resurrection. For, passing through the bottom
of the sea, were they not near to death? And escaping
to the opposite shore, were they not as if revived from the
dead ? .... As in former times, the persons to be bap-
tized were immersed in the water, continued under the
water, and emerged out of it, (Matt. iii. 16; Acts viii.
38;) so the old man died in them and was buried, and
the new man arose, (Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12.) As now,
persons to be baptized, are sprinkled with water; so
they are sprinkled with the blood and Spirit of Christ,
to the washing away of sin, (Acts xxii. 16; Ephes. v.
26, 27; Heb. ix. 14.)"* Disputat. de Bap. Nubis et
Maris, § 24. Institut. Theolog. tom. iii. loc. xix.
quaest. xi. § 14.

8. Bp. Patrick.- — "They [the primitive Christians]
put off their old clothes, and stripped themselves of their
garments ; then they were immersed all over, and buried
in the water, which notably signified the ' putting off the
body of the sins of the flesh,' as the apostle speaks, and
their entering into a state of death or mortification after
the similitude of Christ; according to the same apostle's
language elsewhere, ' We are baptized into his death —
We are buried with him in baptism.' — Though we by
going into the water profess that we are willing to take
up the cross and die for Christ's sake; yet, on God's

* "I should think that man's reasoning very weak," says Mr.
Bradbury, "who would pretend to prove sprinkling from [those
words,] ' your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.' This is
mere jingling upon words." Duty and Doct. of Bap. p, 153,

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 137

part, this action of going into and coming out of the
water again, did signify that he would bring such per-
sons to live again," at the general resurrection. Dis-
course of the Lord's Supper, p. 421, 422, 436, edit. 5th.
9- Mr. Polhill. — " Where baptism is in the right
use, there is a seal of union with Christ. . . .They have
the power of his death in mortification, and the power
of his resurrection in a divine life: the one, is notably
adumbrated in the baptismal immersion into the M^ater;
the other, in the eduction out of it." Mystical Union,
chap. vii. p. 202, 203.

10. Mr. Scudder. — " Baptism — doth lively repre-
sent the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, to-
gether with your crucifying the affections and lusts;
being dead and buried with him unto sin, and rising
with him to newness of life, and to hope of glory.
(Rom. vi. 3,4, 5; Col. ii. 11, 12, 13.)" Daily Walk,
chap. V. p. 95.

11. Gerhardus. — "As plunging may signify that we
are baptized with Christ into his death, (Rom. vi. 3;)
and that our old man is drowned in baptism, (Rom.
vi. 6;) so aspersion may signify that we are sprinkled in
baptism with the blood of Christ, and cleansed from all
sin, (1 Pet. i. 2; 1 John i. 8.)" Loci Theolog. tom. iv.
De Circumcis. § 96.

12. Botsaccus. — " Baptism is a sepulchre: 'We
are buried with Christ, by baptism into death,' (Rom.
vi. 4.)" Promptuarium Allegoriarum, § 1295.

13. Mr. Marshall. — " Baptism signifieth the appli-
cation of Christ's resurrection to us, as well as his death;
we are raised up with him in it to newness of life, as
well as buried with him, (Rom. vi. 4, 5, 10, 11.)"
Gospel Mystery of Sanct. direct, iii. p. 50.

14. Mr. iVlexander Ross. — " Immersion into the
water, represents to us the death and burial of Christ,
and therefore our mortification : likewise the very emer-
sion out of the purifying w'ater, is a shadow of the re-

138 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

surrection of Christ, and of our spiritual quickening."
Annotat. in Wollebii Compend. Theolog. 1. i. c. xxiii.
p. 150.

15. Chamierus. — " They who are baptized repre-
sent the death of Christ, and at the same time their own,
(Rom. vi. 3, 4.)" Panstrat. torn. iii. 1. xxvi. c. xix. § 12.

16. Buddeus. — " Immersion, which was used in for-
mer times, was a symbol and an image of the death
and burial of Christ ; and at the same time it informs
us, that the remains of sin, which are called the oldvian,
should be mortified." Dogmat. Theolog. 1. v. c. i. <§ 8.

17. Dr. Whitby. — '"Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism,' plunging us under the water, into a
conformity to his death, which put his body under the
earth; 'that like as Christ was raised up from the dead,
by the glorious power of the Father, even so we also,'
thus dead in baptism, 'should' rise with him, and 'walk
in newness of life.' " Paraphrase on Rom. vi. 4.

18. Bp. Hall. — " Ye are, in baptism, buried to-
gether with Christ, in respect of the mortification of
your sins, represented by lying under the water; and in
the same baptism, ye rise up wdth him in newness of
life, represented by your rising up out of the water
again, through that faith of yours which is grounded
upon the mighty power of God, who hath raised him
from the dead," Hard Texts, on Col. ii. 12, edit. 1633.

19- Pictetus. — " That immersion into, and emersion
out of the water, practised by the ancients, signify the
death of the old, and the resurrection of the new man,
(Rom. vi.; Col. ii.)" Theolog. Christ. 1 xiv. c. iv. § 13.
20. Bp. Davenant. — " In baptism, the burial of the
body of sin, or of the old Adam, is represented, when
the person to be baptized is put down into the water; as
a resurrection, when he is brought out of it.'' Expos.
Epist. ad Coloss. in cap. ii. 12.

21. Dr. Boys. — "The dipping in holy baptism has
three parts : the putting into the water, the continuance

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 139

in the water, and the coming out of the water. The
putting into the water, doth ratify the mortification of
sin by the power of Christ's death, as Paul, (Rom. vi. 3,)
' Know ye not that all we which have been baptized into
Jesus Christ, have been baptized into his death, and
that our old man is crucified with him?' The continu-
ance in the water, notes the burial of sin ; to wit, a con-
tinual increase of mortification by the power of Christ's
death and burial, (Rom. vi. 4.) The coming out of the
water, figured our spiritual resurrection and vivifica-
tion to newness of life, by the power of Christ's re-
surrection, (Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12.)" Works, p. 294,
edit. 1629.

22. Mastricht. — " As in the baptismal washing,
especially when performed by immersion, we are plunged
in water, abide in it a little while, and then emerge; so
Christ was immersed for us in death, continued under
its dominion the space of three days, and then emerged
by his resurrection. .. .As in the baptismal washing,
especially when performed by immersion, we are planted
in water; so we are planted both in the blood and body
of Christ, when we are baptized into his mystical body,
(1 Cor. xii. 13;) and as we, in a manner, put on water,
so also do we put on Christ, (Gal. iii. 27.) Again: As
Christ, by that baptism of his own blood, (Matt. xx. 22,)
died, was buried, and rose again ; so we are planted
in him, spiritually die with him to sin, are buried and
rise again, (Rom. vi. 3 — 6. Col. ii. 1 1, 12, 13.) Further:
As by water the body is cleansed, (1 Pet. iii. 21,) so by
the blood and Spirit of Christ the soul is purified, (1 John
i. 7.) Finally: As in baptism we emerge out of a
sepulchre of water, and pass, as it were, into a new life ;^
so also being delivered from every kind of death, we shall
be saved to eternal life, (Mark xvi. 16.)" Theoret. Pract.
Theolog. 1. vii. c. iv. § 10.

23. Grotius. — "' Buried with him by baptism.' Not
only the word baptism, but the very form of it, intimates

140 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

this. For an immersion of the whole body in water, so
that it is no longer beheld, bears an image of that burial
which is given to the dead. So Col. ii. 12. . . .There
was in baptism, as administered in former times, an
image both of a burial and of a resurrection; which, in
respect of Christ, was external ; in regard to Christians,
internal, (Rom. vi. 4.)" In Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12.

24. Mr. Burkitt. — " 'We are buried with him by
baptism into death.' The apostle alludes, no doubt, to
the ancient manner and way of baptizing persons in
those hot countries, which was by immersion, or putting
them under water for a time, and then raising them up
again out of the water; which rite had also a mystical
signification, representing the burial of our old man, sin
in us, and our resurrection to newness of life." Expos.
Notes on Rom. vi. 4.

25. Vitringa. — " To be immersed in water, and to
be under water, represent the death and burial of our
old man, in virtue of the death of Christ. To be washed
with water, denotes our being justified and sanctified.
To emerge out of the water, signifies our being saved
from death, in virtue of Christ's death; our being re-
generated to a lively hope; and our being raised again
to a new life, that shall never cease." Aphorismi Sanct.
Theolog. aphor. 89 1 .

26. Confession of Sueveland. — " As touching bap-
tism we confess, that which the scripture doth in divers
places teach thereof, that we by it are buried into the
death of Christ, made one body, and do put on Christ."
Chapter xvii. in Harmony of Confess, p. 410. Cam-
bridge, 1586.

27. Bucanus. — Our Lord was baptized of John " to
signify that he was sent to be baptized, that is, plunged
in death; and that he might wash away our sins with
his own blood .... Immersion into water, or aspersion,
plainly denotes the sprinkling of the blood of Christ for
the remission of sins, and the imputation of righteous-

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 141

ness: and the continuance under water, however short,
the death and burial of our native corruption, (in virtue
of our Lord's death and burial,) that is, the mortifica-
tion of the old Adam, which is the first part of our re-
generation ; but emersion, the rising of the new man, or
quickening and newness of life; and so, analogically,
our future resurrection is, as it were, presented to view.
(Rom. vi. 3, 4, and iv. 5, 13.)" Institut. Theolog.
loc. xlvii. p. 621, 631.

28. Zanchius. — " Baptism is a sign of the morti-
fication and burial of the old man .... For immersion
into the water, which was used of old, represented this
mortification, death, and burial; in which infants remain,
as it were, under the water, when baptized. I speak
agreeably to the ancient practice of the church. The
apostle, therefore, says : ' We are crucified with Christ,
and buried, by baptism into death.'" Opera, tom. iv.
p: 437, 438.

29- Limborch. — " Baptism is a figure and mark of
our spiritual burial. For by that immersion into water,
and continuance under the water, which represent a
burial, baptized persons express their being buried to
sin." Comment, in Epist. ad Rom. ad cap. vi. 4.

30. Castalio. — •" 'Else what shall they do who are
baptized for the dead?' — That you may understand
this place of Paul, consider the manner and nature of
baptism, as described, (Rom. vi.) in these words : ' As
many of us as have been baptized into Jesus Christ,
were baptized into his death.' And a little after, ' For
if we have been planted together in the likeness of his
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.'
This, therefore, is the argument of Paul; when Chris-
tians are baptized, they are baptized for this purpose,
that they may die with Christ, and then rise again." In
1 Cor. XV. 29-

31. Schoettgenius. — " The apostle forms a com-
parison between baptism and death. He that is bap-

142 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

tized, is entirely under water, and no longer seems to
live. When, therefore, we Christians are baptized, it is
into the death of Christ; namely, that we should be-
come imitators of his death. Baptism obligeth us to
become like our Lord in his death and resurrection."
Horas HebraicEe, ad Rom. vi. 4, p. 515.

32. Hoornbeekius. — '* The apostle, speaking of what
was notorious and certain, says: ' Know ye not, that
so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were
baptized into his death?' (Rom.vi, 3,) referring to what
is performed in baptism; namely, the entrance into
water, and the going out of it. For he immediately
adds: 'Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism.'
And, (Col. ii. 12,) ' Buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him.' As, in respect of Christ,
his death was followed by his resurrection from the
dead, so our conformity to him consists in dying and
rising again with him. This is clearly presented to our
view and sealed, by that immersion and emersion which
are in baptism." Theolog, Pract. 1. ix. c. xxii. tom. ii.
p. 388.

33. Tilenus. — " The ceremony in baptism is three-
fold ; immersion into the water, a continuance under the
water, and a rising out of the water. . . .The internal and
essential form of baptism is no other than that analo-
gical proportion of the signs, already explained, with the
things signified. For as it is a property of water to
wash a^ay the filth of the body, so it represents the
power of Christ's blood in the cleansing from sin. Thus
immersion into the water declares, by the most agree-
able analogy, the mortification of the old man; and
emersion out of the water, the vivification of the new
man . . . .The same plunging into the water exhibits to our
view that dreadful abyss of divine justice, in which Christ,
on account of our sins, was for a time in a manner swal-
lowed up. Abiding under the water, however short the
time, denotes his descent to hell; that is, as we have

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 143

elsewhere declared, the lowest degree of abasement, when,
in a sealed and guarded sepulchre, he was considered as
one entirely cut off. Emersion out of the water, pre-
sents us with an image of that victory which he, though
dead, obtained over death, even in his own pavilion;
that is, the sepulchre. Thus, therefore, it is right that
we who are baptized into his death, and buried with him,
should also rise again with him, and walk in newness of
life. (Rom. vi. 3, 4; Col. ii. 12.)" Syntag. Disputat.
pars ii. disp. xli. § 15, 32, 34.

34. Stapferus " The apostle explains the sacra-
ment of baptism, by communion with the death and re-
surrection of Christ, (Rom. vi. 3, 4; Col. ii. 12.)" In-
stitut. Theolog. Polem. torn. i. cap. iii. § 1638.

S5. Burmannus. — " The external rite, in baptism,
having the image, as well of overwhelming and suffoca-
tion, as of washing, bears also a twofold figure : and it
signifies, partly, the death and burial of Christ, and our
communion with them; — partly, the washing away of
sin, by the blood and Spirit of Christ, or the justifica-
tion and sanctification of a sinner. (Rom. vi. 4; 1 Pet.
iii. 20; Acts ii. 38; Tit. iii. 5.)" Synops. Theolog. torn. ii.
loc. xliii. c. viii. § 3.

36. Roell. — " The signification of baptism is taught,
(Rom. vi.) namely, that it is a sign and seal of the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ, and of our commu-
nion with them. For he that is immersed in water,
which has the power of suffocating, is considered as in a
state of death; and likewise, as long as he continues
immersed, he is there buried. But when he rises out of
the water, he rises, as it were, from a state of death, and
begins to live afresh. Of what kind this newness of life
is, baptism also at the same time distinctly represents.
For as w^ater has the power of washing and purifying, it
sif^nifies that, in virtue of our Lord's death, the person
baptized is cleansed from sin, and that he ought to live
a new and a pure life without the pollution of sin. . . .

144 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

When persons are baptized in faith, they are buried with
Christ; to signify that they are no longer under the
curse. They rise with Christ, or rather they are raised;
as they that are baptized, after immersion into water,
rise again out of the water, when they repent and so rise
again from a death in sin. Thus also they rise again
to a new life and are quickened: they live with Christ
here in grace, and shall for ever live in glory." Explicat.
Epist. ad Ephes. in cap. iv. 5. Exegesis Epist. ad
Coloss. in cap. ii. 13.

57' Lampe. — " Water, in the sacrament of baptism,
represents the passive obedience and death of Christ,
and the communion of believers with them." Prolegom.
in Joan. 1. i, c. ii. § 23.

38. Abp. Leighton. — " That baptism doth apply and
seal to the believer his interest in the death and resur-
rection of Christ, the apostle St. Paul teaches to the full,
(Rom. vi. 4,) ' We are buried with him by baptism into
death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.' Where the dipping into water is
referred to, as representing our dying with Christ; and
the return thence, as expressive of our rising with him."
Comment upon 1 Pet. iii. % 1 .

39. Braunius. — " By baptism we are plunged under
the water, and, as it were, buried; but we do not con-
tinue in a state of death, for we immediately rise again
from thence : to signify that we, through the merits of
Christ, and with Christ, mortify the old man, are buried
with Christ, and with him arise to newness of life. ' We
are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as
Christ was raised from the dead, to the glory of the
Father, so we also should walk in newness of life,' (Rom.
vi. 4, 5.)" Doct. Feed, pars iv. cap. xxi. § 11.

40. Dr. JNIanton. — " ' We are buried with him in
baptism into his death:' the like expression you have,
(Col. ii. 12,) ' Buried with him in baptism, wherein also

BLESSINGS KEPRESENTTPID BV IT. 145

ye are risen with him.' The putting the baptized person
into the Avater, denoteth and proclaimeth the burial of
Christ, and we by submitting to it are baptized [buried]
with him, or profess to be dead to sin; for none but the
dead are buried : so that it sio;nifieth Christ's death for
sin, and our dying unto sin." Sermon on Rom.vi. 4.

41. Church of England. — "As we be buried with
Christ by our baptism into death, so let us daily die to
sin, mortifying and killing the evil motions thereof. And
as Christ was raised up from death by the glory of the
Father, so let us rise to a new life, and walk continually
therein." Homily of the Resurrec.

42. H. Altingius. — '' As in ancient times the persons
to be baptized were immersed into water, continued
under water, and emerged out of the water, (Matt, iii, 16;
Acts viii. 38;) so the old man in them died and was
buried, and the new man rose again, (Rom. vi. 4; Col.
ii. 12.) As, now, the persons to be baptized are sprinkled
with water, so they are sprinkled with the blood and
Spirit of Christ, to the washing away of sin, (Acts xxii.
16; Ephes. v. 25,9.6; Heb. ix. 14.)" Loci Commun.
pars. i. loc. xii. p. 200. Explicat. Catechis. Palat.
parsii. quasst. Ixix. p. 311, 312.

43. Wolfius. — " Immersion into water, in former
times, and a short continuance under the water, prac-
tised by the ancient church, afforded the representation
of a burial in baptism." Curae, ad Rom. vi. 4.

44. G. J. Vossius. — " In our baptism, by a con-
tinuance under water, the burial of the body of sin, or
the old Adam, is represented. The similitude consists
in this : That as a corpse is overwhelmed and pressed by
the earth; so, in baptism, a man is overwhelmed with
water; and as a man is pressed with water, so the power
of sin should be pressed in us and enervated, that it
may no longer drive us whither it pleases, or hinder our
salvation." Disputat. de Bap. disp. iii. thes. 4.

45. Dr. Cave. — " i\.s in immersion there are in a

VOL. I. L

146 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

manner three several acts, the putting the person into
water, his abiding there for a Httle time, and his rising
up again ; so by these were represented Christ's death,
burial, and resurrection ; and in conformity thereunto,
our dying unto sin, the destruction of its power, and our
resurrection to a new course of hfe. By the person's
being put into water, was lively represented the putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh, and being washed
from the filth and pollution of them. By his abode
under it, which was a kind of burial in the water, his
entering into a new state of death or mortification, like
as Christ remained for some time under the state or
power of death. Therefore, ' as many as are baptized
into Christ,' are said to be ' baptized unto his death,'
and to be ' buried with him by baptism into death;' that
the ' old man being crucified with him, the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth he might not serve
sin ;' for that ' he that is dead is freed from sin,' as the
apostle clearly explains the meaning of this rite. And
then by his emersion, or rising up out of the water, was
signified his entering upon a new course of life, differing
from that he lived before ; ' that like as Christ was raised
up by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life.' " Primitive Christianity, part i.
chap. X, p. 204, edit. 6th.

46. Luther. — " That the minister dippeth a child
into the water, signifieth death ; that he again bringeth
him out of it, signifieth life. So Paul explains it,
(Rom. vi.) .... Being moved by this reason, I would have
those that are to be baptized, to be entirely immersed,
as the word imports and the mystery signifies." In Dr.
Du Veil, on Acts viii. 38. Vid. Lutheri Catechis.
Minor.

47. Bp. Fowler. — " Christians being plunged into
the water in baptism, signifies their obliging themselves,
in a spiritual sense, to die and be buried with Jesus
Christ, (which death and burial consist, in an utter re-

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 147

nouncing and forsaking of all their sins,) that so, an-,
swerably to his resurrection, they may live a holy and
godly life." Design of Christianity, sect. i. chap. viii.
p. 79, edit. 4th.

48. Dr. Sam. Clarke.' — " ' We are buried with Christ
by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life,' (Rom. vi. 4.)
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 em-
blem of the dying and rising again, referred to by St.
Paul, in the abovementioned similitude." Exposition
of the Church Catechism, p. S94. edit. 6th.

49- Cajetan. — " ' We are buried with him by bap-
tism into death.' By our burying he declares our death,
from the ceremony of baptism ; because he who is bap-
tized, is put under the water, and by this bears a like-
ness of him that is buried, who is put under the earth.
Now because none are buried but dead men, from this
very thing, that we are buried in baptism, we are assi-
milated to Christ when he was buried." In Mr. Hen.
Laurence's Treatise of Bap. p. 71, 72.

50. Cornelius a Lapide. — " We are baptized into a
similitude of the death of Christ. For they who are
put under the water, allegorically represent Christ dead
and buried." In Mr. Hen, Laurence's Treatise of Bap.
p. 73, 74.

51. Dr. Hammond. — " It is a thing that every
Christian knows, that the immersion in baptism refers
to the death of Christ ; the putting the person into the
water, denotes and proclaims the death and burial of
Christ." On Rom. vi. 3.

52. Bp. Nicholson. — " The ancient manner in bap-
tism, the putting of the person baptized under the water,
and then taking him out again, did well set forth these
two acts ; the first his dying, the second his rising again

L 2

148 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

.... Into the grave with Christ, we went not ; for our
bodies were not, nor could be buried with his : but in
our baptism, by a kind of analogy or resemblance, while
our bodies are under the water, we may be said to be
buried with him." In Mr. Davye's Bapt. of Adult Be-
liev. p. 1 14.

53. Heideggerus. — " Baptism signifies the death and
burial, both of Christ and of believers, in the aboHtion of
the old man, as well initial, in this life, as perfect, in
laying down the body of the sins of the flesh ; the resur-
rection and vivification, first of Christ, then of ourselves ;
the obedience of Christ, even to death, which has the
power of justifying and of delivering from death ; rege-
nerating grace, and the Spirit, purifying our hearts ; our
union with Christ, and the communion of believers with
him ; and lastly, a resurrection to life." Historia Patri-
arch, torn. i. p. 565.

54. Momma. — " As baptism represents the death
and burial of our Lord, so also his resurrection, and
seals our communion with him. Paul therefore teaches,
(Col. ii. 12,) that ' we are buried with him by baptism.'
For the baptismal water, so far as it suffocates, is a ma-
nifest emblem of death ; as it covers, of a burial ; as it
purifies, of a resurrection." De Statu Eccles. tom. ii.
c. V. § 199.

55. Rigaltius. — " Dipping into the baptismal water,
denotes the person to be deeply tinctured with the
Christian faith; his being overwhelmed, signifies his
cleansing from moral stains and filth ; and his rising up
out of the water, his resurrection." In Mr. Stennett
against Mr. Russen, p. 71.

56. Anonymous. — " The apostle seems here (Rom.
vi. 4,) to allude to the manner of baptism ; indicating
that this, as well as the words made use of at the time,
signified a kind of death : for the body being wholly im-
mersed in water at baptism, so that it no longer appear-
ed, represented its being buried .... And the body rising

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. l49

from the water, after it had been wholly immersed in it,
so as to be, as it were, buried under it, was in some de-
gree a figure, or representation, of Christ's rising from
the grave." Illustration of the Bible, on Rom. vi. 4.

57. Dr. Wells.—" St. Paul here alludes (Rom. vi. 4,)
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 ; as his rising up
out of the water did typify his resurrection to newness
of life." On Rom. vi. 4.

58. Mr. Hardy. — " ' Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism.' He alludes to the rite of immersing,
which bears an image of our Lord's burial. ' That like
as Christ was raised.' For the rising again of the body
out of the water, bore an image of that fact." Annotat.
in Rom. vi. 4.

59' Dr. Barrow. — " The action is baptizing^ or im-
mersing in water. The object thereof, those persons of
any nation, whom his ministers can by their instruction
and persuasion render disciples ; that is, such as do sin-
cerely believe the truth of his doctrine, and seriously
resolve to obey his commandments. . . .The mersion
also in water, and the emersion thence, doth figure our
death to the former [worldly defilements,] and receiving
[reviving] to a new life." Works, vol. i. p. 518, 520,
edit. 1722.

60. Dr. John Edwards. — " Some of the fathers
hold, that the apostle's argument in the text (1 Cor.
XV. 29,) is of this sort : If there shall be no rising 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 ? For those that were proselytes
to the Christian religion, were interpreted to make an
open profession of these, in their being plunged into the
baptismal water, and in being there overwhelmed and
buried, as it were, in the consecrated element. The immer-
sion into] the water, was thought to signify the death of

150 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

Christ ; and their coming out, denoted his rising again,
and did no less represent their own future resurrection.
On which account, the minister's putting in of the Chris-
tian converts into the sacred waters, and his taking them
out thence, are styled by St. Chrysostom, ' The sign
and pledge of descending into the state of the dead, and
of a return from thence.' And thus because the wash-
ing and plunging of the newly admitted Christians was
a visible proof and emblem, first of Christ's, and then
of their resurrection from the grave ; the forementioned
fathers have been induced to believe, that this passage
of our apostle, which I am speaking of, hath a particular
respect to that, and is to be interpreted by it. Nay, this
seems to agree exactly with the language and tenour of
our apostle himself, who may be thought to be the
best interpreter of his own words : ' Know ye not,' saith
he, ' that so many of us as have been baptized into
Christ were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism,' &c. (Rom. vi. 3, 4.)" En-
quiry into four Remarkable Texts, p. 143, 144.

61. Peter Martyr. — " As Christ, by baptism, hath
drawn us with him into his death and burial ; so he
hath drawn us out unto life. This doth the dipping
into the water, and the issuing forth again, signify, \\hen
we are baptized." Oration concerning the Resurrec-
tion of Christ, subjoined to Comm. Places, p. 11,
edit. 1574.

62. E. Spanhemius. — " As immersion signifies the
death of the old man, and emersion the life of the new
man ; so sprinkhng signifies and seals the sprinkling of
the blood of Christ, (1 Pet. i. 2.)"' Disputat. Syntag.
Disp. de Bap. § 21.

63. Cocceius. — " ' We are buried with him by bap-
tism into death,' (Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5.) We are baptized
into death, by which the servitude of sin is laid aside ;
and thus a seal of our communion with him is bestowed
on us, that we may be considered as buried with him.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 151

.... In baptism there is a resemblance of our Lord's
death." Summa Doct. de Feed. c. vi. § 209-

64. Bp. Taylor. — " ' We are buried with him in
baptism,' saith the apostle. * In aqua tanquam in se-
pulchre caput immergentibus vetus homo sepelitur et
submergitur, deinde nobis emergentibus novus resurgit
inde.' — So S. Chrysostom : ' The old man is buried
and drowned in the immersion under water; and when
the baptized person is lifted up from the water, it repre-
sents the resurrection of the new man to newness of
life.' In this case, therefore, the contrary custom [of
pouring, or sprinkling,] not only being against an eccle-
siastical law, [of the church of England] but against the
analogy and mysterious signification of the sacrament,
is NOT TO BE COMPLIED WITH ; unless in such cases
that can be of themselves sufficient to justify a liberty
in a ritual and ceremony, that is, a case of necessity."
Ductor Dubitantium, b. iii. c. iv. rule xv. p. 645.

65. Sir Norton Knatchbull, — " The proper end of
baptism ought not to be understood, as if it were a sign
of the washing away of sin — but, properly, it is the sign
of a resurrection, by faith in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, of which baptism is a very lively and expressive
figure; as was also the ark of Noah, out of which he re-
turned, as it were out of a sepulchre to a new life. . . .
And so was the whale's belly, out of which Jonah arose,
after a three davs' burial : and the cloud and the Red
Sea, in which the people of Israel are said to have been
baptized ; that is, not washed, but buried. For all these
were types of the same thing with baptism ; not of the
washing away of sin, i. e. the putting off thejilth of the

Jlesh, but of the death and resurrection of Christ, and
at the same time of ours. To this truth, apostles,
fathers, schoolmen, and almost all interpreters, give their
suffrage. The thing is indeed so manifest, that there is
no need of testimonies to confirm it : but because there
are not a few that otherwise teach, it will not be super-

159. DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

fluous, (that I may not seem to speak without proper
authority) out of innumerable testimonies to produce a
few. We begin with St. Paul. ' Know ye not that so
many as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death ? Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from
the dead by the Father of glory, even so we also should
walk in newness of life,' (Rom. vi. 3, 4, and Col. ii. 12 ;
as also 1 Cor. xv. 29.) ' P21se what shall they do who
are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?'
As if he had said, If there be no resurrection, to what
purpose are we baptized ? In vain does the church use
the sign of baptism, if the dead rise not. Similar testi-
monies frequently occur in the fathers. For instance :
' That believing on his death, by his baptism ye may be
rendered partakers of his resurrection.' Ignat. Ep. ad
Tral. — ' Baptism was given,' or appointed, ' to set forth
the death of our Lord.' Ep. ad Philadel. in the name of
Ignat. — ' In baptism we perform the signs of his pas-
sion and resurrection.' Just. Mart. — ' We know one
saving ba|)tism, seeing there is but one death for the
world, and one resurrection from the dead, of which
baptism is a type.' Basil. Mag. — ' Hear Paul speaking
aloud. They passed through the sea, and were all bap-
tized in the cloud and in the sea. He calls their passage
through the sea, baptism; for it was an escape from
death accomplished by water.' Basil. Seleuc. — ' To be
baptized and plunged, then to return and emerge, are a
sign of our descent to Hades, and of an ascent from it.'
Chrysost. — ' Baptism is a pledge and figure of the resur-
rection.' Ambros. — ' Baptism is an earnest of the re-
surrection.' Lactan. — ' Dipping bears the resemblance
of death, and of a burial.' Bern. — I might accumulate
innumerable testimonies; but these, I think, are abund-
antly sufficient to prove, that baptism is properly a type
of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ; — and also
of all believers that are baptized into the faith of him.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 153

from a death in sin to newness of life ; which if they do
in this world, they have a most firm hope, that after death
they shall, with Christ, arise to glory." Animadvers. in
Lib. Nov. Test, ad 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21, p. 178, 179, 180.
Oxon. 1677-

66. Bp. Hoadly. — " This latter expression [buried
with Christ and rising with him] made use of by St.
Paul, with relation to baptism, is taken from the custom
of immersion in the first days, and from that particular
manner of baptizing proselytes ; by which they were first
covered with water, and in a state, as it were, of death
and inactivity, and then arose out of it into a sort of new
state of life and action. And if baptism had been then
performed as it is now amongst us, we should never
have so much as heard of this form of expression, of
dying and rising again in this rite." Works, vol. iii.
p. 890.

67. Dr. Scott. — " Those phrases, ' buried with
Christ,' and ' risen with Christ,' are only the sense and
signification of that eastern custom in baptism, viz. of
plunging the baptized person under water, and raising
him up again — and the significancy of them, the apostle
here (Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5,) plainly tells us, wholly refers
to the death, and burial, and resurrection of Christ ; and
therefore the plunging under water must necessarily re-
fer to Christ's death and burial, and the raising up again
to his resurrection." Works, vol. i. 446, edit. 1718.

68. Anonymous. — "The water [of baptism] sym-
bolically expresses, by immersing into it, the death of
Christ, or — being baptized — into his death, (Rom. vi. 3;)
emersing out of it, his resurrection, and our rising with
him unto righteousness — the whole body of sin, with
all its members, dying with him to sin by immersion,
and by emersion rising with him to newness of life."
Cure of Deism, vol. i. chap. iv. p. 120, 121, 124.

69 Mr. Doutrin. — " What did this dipping in [in
the administration of baptism] signify? By the dipping

154 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

in, and remaining for a little space under, and rising up
out of the water, was signified the communion of be-
lievers with Christ, in his death, burial, and resurrec-
tion. (See Rom. vi. 3,6.)" Scheme of Div. Truths,
chap. xxii. quest. 25.

70. Dr. Balguy. — " Baptism represents to our
view a purification from sin. The apostle indeed carried
his idea farther, and considered the act of immersion
in water as signifying a burial; the termination of our
sinful life: and the risino; again from the water as a
new birth; as an entrance, that is, on a Hfe of piety and
virtue." Discourses on Various Subjects, p. 302.

71. Dr. Towerson. — " One other particular there
is, wherein I have said the water of baptism to have
been intended as a sign; and that is in respect of that
manner of application, which was sometime used, I
mean the dipping or plunging the party baptized in it.
A signification which St. Paul will not suffer those
to forget, who have been acquainted with his Epis-
tles. For with reference to that manner of baptizing,
we find him afiirming, (Rom. vi. 4,) that we are
' buried with Christ by baptism into death; that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.'
And again, (verse 5,) that ' if we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also
in the likeness of his resurrection.' To the same pur-
pose, or rather yet more clearly, doth that apostle dis-
course, where he tells us, (Col. ii. 12,) that as we are
' buried with Christ in baptism,' so we do ' therein rise
also with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead.' For what
is this but to say, That as the design of baptism was to
oblige men to conform so far to Christ's death and resur-
rection, as to die unto sin, and live again unto righte-
ousness; so it was performed by the ceremony ot im-
mersion, that the person immersed might, by that very

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 155

ceremony, which was no obscure image of a sepulture,
be minded of the precedent death; as, in like manner,
by his coming again out of the water, of his rising from
that death to life, after the example of the Institutor
thereof?. . . .The thin^ signified bv the sacrament of
baptism, cannot otherwise be well represented, than by
an immersion; or, at least, by some more general way
of purification, than that of eftusion, or sprinkling.
For though the pouring, or sprinkling of a little water
upon the face, may suffice to represent an internal
washing, which seems to be the general end of Christ's
making use of the sacrament of baptism; yet can it
not be thought to represent such an eyitire washing, as
that of new-born infants was, and as baptism may seem
to have been intended for, because represented as the
lover of regeneration: That, though it do [not] require
an immersion, yet requiring such a general washing at
least, as may extend to the whole body; as other than
which cannot answer its type, nor yet that general,
though internal purgation, which baptism was intended
to represent. The same is to be said yet more upon the
account of our conforming to the death and resurrection
of Christ, which we learn from St. Paul, to have been
the design of baptism to signify. For though that
might, and was well enough represented, by the bap-
tized person's being buried in baptism, and then rising
out of it, yet can it not be said to be so, or at least
but very imperfectly, by the pouring out, or sprinkling
the baptismal water on him. But, therefore, as there
is so much the more reason to represent the rite of
immersion, as the only legitimate rite of baptism,
because the only one that can answer the ends of
its institution, and those things which were to be signi-
fied by it; so, especially if (as is well known, and un-
doubtedly of great force,) the general practice of the
primitive church was agreeable thereto, and the prac-
tice of the Greek church to this very day. For who

156 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

can think either the one or the other Mould have been
so tenacious of so troublesome a rite, were it not that
they were well assured, as they of the primitive church
might very well be, of its being the only instituted
AND legitimate ONE?" Of the Sacram. of Bap.
part. iii. p. 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 5S.

72. Bengehus. — " He that is baptized puts on Christ,
the second Adam; he is baptized, I say, into a whole
Christ, and therefore also into his death: and it is
like as if, in that very moment, Christ suffered, died,
and was buried for such a man; and such a man suf-
fered, died, and was buried with Christ." Gnomon, ad
Rom. vi. 3.

73. Bochartus. — " The plunging performed in bap-
tism, signifies a death to sin; and the emersion, a new
life." Opera, tom. i. p. 1029, edit. 1682.

74. Daille. — " In the primitive church, the greater
part of those that were baptized, being persons of
age, were unclothed, and then plunged into the water,
whence they immediately came forth;— whereby they
testified that they did put oflf the body of sin, the
habit of the first Adam, and buried it in the saving
waters of Jesus Christ, as in its mystical grave, and
came forth thence risen up to a new life." Sermons on
Epist. to Coloss. chap. ii. 12, p. '245.

75. Venema. — " It is generally agreed among di-
vines, that the communion of a believer with Christ
and the effects of his obedience, by which the guilt,
the pollution, and the punishment of sin are taken
away, and so the remission of sin, sanctification, and
glorification are conferred, are presented to view in
baptism; yet they do not sufficiently show the way
and manner in which that representation is made,
and frequently speak with but little consistency. If,
in baptism, the appearance of nothing but zvashing
offered itself to our consideration, the thing would be
easy. For seeing we are delivered from sin by the

BLESSINGS REPRKSENTED BY IT. 157

obedience of Christ, that would be readily understood
by every one, as the cause of our purification, and as
represented by water, in which there is a cleansing
virtue ; especially, as the scripture usually comprehends
it under the emblem of water. But washing is neither
the only idea, nor, as I think, the principal one, of this
sacrament; but more truly that of suffocating, and of
bringing death on the flesh, an effect which water pro-
duces, seems here to be intended : as well, because the
apostle asserts it in express words, (Rom. vi. 3, 4; Col.
ii. 12,) as that baptism is elsewhere compared to the
deluge and the Red Sea, (1 Pet. iii. 21; 1 Cor. x. 1, 2.)
Why? Because in the former passage Peter calls bap-
tism avTiTVTiov, the antitype of the water of the deluge;
which word there, in a special and peculiar sense,
denotes a parallel; by which is declared, that the de-
luge and baptism depict the same spiritual thing, and
in a mystical representation answer one another: and,
lastly, because the apostle (1 Pet. iii. 21,) seems to
derive the idea of washing, from that power of killing
which there is in water. For the death of sin, and of
the flesh, really and properly consists in the washing
away of spiritual filth; and therefore is rightly com-
prehended under the appearance of putting to death.
When, therefore, Peter had compared baptism to the
deluge, and so had attributed to it the power of cleans-
ing; he immediately beholds in it crapKog uTroOea-iv pvirov,
a putting off the Jilth of the Jlesh. Farther: That the
idea of washing is not the first and the principal signi-
fication of baptism, plainly appears from the rite of
immersion; in which way it used to be administered
by the apostles and first Christians; for that leads us
to think, not so much of washing, as oi putting to death.
Once more: The phrase, laver of regeneratio7i, which
is used by Paul, (Tit. iii. 5,) does not so properly signify
washing, as renovation from death.

" Let us try, then, in this way to unfold the mystery.

158 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

The water, as is manifest, both from the immersion
of Christ, and the comparison with the deluge and the
Red Sea, denotes what is called, the punishhig justice
of God; by which a sinner is not acquitted, without
the public sanctification of Jehovah's name, which is
usually denominated the wrath of God. Into this justice
Christ was immersed. He took it on himself, when
he was perfected by sufferings and put to death; by
which he not only bore, but placated the wrath of God.
So that, being freed from the sins which were laid upon
him, he rested in the sepulchre in peace; for the curse
was then taken from the earth. But he obtained a
more excellent sign of sin being expiated, and of justice
being satisfied, in his resurrection from the dead ; when
he was not only justified, but also obtained the whole
promised glory, which is his most complete emersion.
This is the baptism of Christ, concerning which he
speaks, (Matt. xx. 22;) and this was represented by the
baptism of water, that was administered to him by John.
This is the righteousness of Christ, accomplished by his
obedience and death ; by which, being released from a
charge of guilt, he received a right to the promised
blessings. Hence, farther, a judgment must be formed
concerning the baptism of believers ; seeing their com-
munion, not only with the righteousness of Christ, but
also with the manner of obtaining it, is, in a certain
way, signified and sealed; in which the mystery of
baptism consists.

" That this may a little more plainly appear, it must
be maintained, that the aforesaid communion with Christ
consists both in the imputation of his righteousness, as
it is usually called in the schools, and in a real com-
munication of it. The former, for the sake of Christ's
righteousness, confers justification by the gracious sen-
tence of God, and implies that believers were compre-
hended in their Sponsor; so that whatever Christ suf-
fered, they may be esteemed as having underwent.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 159

According to this benign interpretation, they are them-
selves reputed as immersed in the justice of God; and,
in Christ, they also possess a right of acceptance in a
more excellent manner than if they themselves had
obtained it: which great mystery of our faith is first
of all presented to view in baptism, and is made sure to
believers by a seal and pledge. . . .This, if I may so
speak, is our imputative immersion in the justice of God,
and emersion out of it; our death and resurrection,
which baptism exhibits to view." Dissertat. Sac. L ii.
c. xiv. §9, 10, 11, 12. — See also Dr. Watts's Hymns,
b. i. No. 122. Mr. Marchant's Exposit. of New Test,
on Col. ii. 12. Vander Waeyen Varia Sacra, in Gal. iii.
27, p. 84. H. Hulsii Comment, in Israel. Pris, Praerog.
p. 801. Mr. T. Bradbury's Duty and Doct. of Bap.
p. 83. Hist, of Popery, vol. i. p. 19^.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. Baptism being a gracious appointment
of God, it must have an important meaning; and as it
is a positive ordinance, the whole of its design must
be fixed by divine institution : for we have no more au-
thority to invent a signification for any rite of holy wor-
ship than vve have to appoint the rite itself. The design
of baptism, therefore, must be learned from the New Tes-
tament, and from such parts of that sacred volume as
have an immediate reference to it. See Chap. I. No. 2,
16, 20.

Were we divested of partiality and prepossession,
there is reason to conclude, that it would not be very dif-
ficult to discover the chief design of our Lord in his
positive appointments. The following words of Dr.
Owen are here worthy of notice. " This was a great
part of the imperfection of legal institutions, that they
taught the things which they signified and represented
obscurely, and the mind of God in them was not learned
but with much difficulty, . . .But all the ordinances and

l60 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

institutions of the gospel do give light into, and exhibit
the things themselves unto the minds and faith of be-
livers. Hereon they discern the reasons and grounds of
their use and benefit ; whence our whole Avorship is
called our reasonable service, (Rom. xii. 1.)"*

That positive ordinances derive all their utility from
divine institution, and that it is of great importance to
know and comply wth the revealed intention of God in
their appointment, Paedobaptists have abundantly taught.
Thus Dr. Hunter, for instance : " Positive and arbitrary
institutions derive all their value and use, from a right
understanding of their meaning and the design of their

author.''^ Dr. Owen : " There is nothing in religion

that hath any efficacy for compassing an end, but it hath
it from God's appointment of it to that purpose. . . . God
may in his wisdom appoint and accept of ordinances
and duties unto one end, which he will refuse and reject
when they are applied unto another. . . .To do a thing
appointed unto an end, w ithout aiming at that end, is no
better than the not doing it at all ; in some cases much
worse.":}: Mr. Baxter: "We must not take liberty,
upon our own fancies, to add new ends to God's ordi-
nances :"§ nay, he represents the annexing of a new
design to the ordinance before us, as the inventing of a
new baptism. || To these declarations we cordially assent
without the least hesitation.

Reflect. II. These learned authors are almost una-
nimous in considering baptism as principally intended,
by the great Legislator, to represent the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ; the communion his people
have with him in those momentous facts; and their in-
terest in the blessings thence resulting. To confirm and
illustrate which, they agree in applying the declarations

* On Heb. vii. 11, voJ. iii, p. 17 1. f Sacred Biography,

vol iii. p. 215. X Mortification of Sin, chap. iii. On Heb. x.

5— 10,and on Heb.ii.l. § Plain Scrip. Proof, p. 301, edit. 4th.

II Disputations of Right to Sac, p. 162.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. l6l

of Paul, recorded in Rom. vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12. Now,
if such be the chief design of the ordinance ; if these
passages of holy writ be pertinently applied; and if there
be any correspondence between the sign and the things
that are signified by it, immersion must be the mode of
administration. Nay, supposing our purification from
sin by the blood of Christ were the first and princi-
pal thing intended and suggested by baptism, yet the
same consequence would naturally follow; for that
purification must be either partial, or complete. Not the
former, our opposers themselves being judges: it must,
therefore, be the latter. Of perfect purification, then,
baptism is either an expressive emblem, or it is not. If
not, why such a ritual service appointed in preference
to any other that might have exhibited the blessing in
a far more striking point of light ? To this reasoning
Pasdobaptist authors give attestation. Thus, for exam-
ple, Stapferus : " Between an arbitrary sign and the
thing signified, there may be an agreement, or similitude;
which is the reason of one sign being chosen rather
than another. And by how much the more a sign is
fitted to excite certain thoughts, and to represent the
thing signified, by so much the better, or more use-
ful, it is. Whence it follows, that the illustration of an
invisible thing, depends on the likeness there is be-
tween the SIGN and the spiritual object to he repre-
sented in the mind.''''* Mr. Blake : "They [sacraments]

are analogical signs, such as carry analogy and pro-
portion with the thing signified ; they have ever an
aptness in them for resemblance. That of Austin is fa-
mous : ' If sacraments carry no resemblance of the things
whereof they are sacraments, they are no sacraments

at all."'t Jacob. Laurentius : "In all sacraments

there ought to be some similitude, or analogy, between

* Institut. 'JCheolog. Polem. torn. i. cap. iii. § 1625.
f Covenant sealed^ p, 45.
VOL. 1. M

}6^ DESIGN' OF BAPTISM, OR THE

the sign and the thing signified."*— — Mastricht: "Si-
mihtude and analogy, between the sign and the thing
signified, are necessarily supposed in every sacrament. "t
— Charaiferus, when handling this particular, and having
produced the saying of Austin that is mentioned by Mr.
BJake, iiTunediately adds: "In which all divines have
acquiesced, as in an oracle." J— If in baptism, then, there
be an expressive emblem of perfect purification from
sin, immersion must be the mode of administration ; be-
cause nothing short of that represents a total washing.
I may here venture an appeal to the common sense of
mankind ; whether pouring or sprinkling a little water
on the face, or an immersion of the ivhole body, be better
adapted to excite the idea of an entire cleansing. See
No. 71.

Reflect. III. Dr. Addington tells us, that "the sup-
position of Paid's alluding here (Rom. vi. 3, 4,) to the
mode of immersion in baptism, as bearing a resemblance
to the burial and resurrection of Christ, is entirely
founded on a mistaken interpretation of the passage.
Without referring in the least to that, or any other mode
of administering the ordinance, Paul gives us an account
of the nature and design of it ; as figuring, not any
scenes through which our Redeemer passed, but that
great change on the heart of the true Christian convert,,
which is effected by the washing of regeneration. "§ If,,
then, the apostle gives " us an account of the nature'^ of
baptism as well as of its design, he must speak of bap-
tism itself; which cannot but include the mode of adr
ministration. This he does when representing it under
the notion of a burial with Christ. — Yet were we, in
opposition to these numerous and respectable authors,
to understand the passage as referring only to the digsign
of the ordinance, immersion would still be the })roper

* Dialog. Eucharist, cap. iv. § 51. f Theologia, 1. vii.

c. iii. § 8. X Panstrat. torn. iv. 1. i. c. xi. § 29.

§ Christian Minist. Keas. p. 44, 45.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. l63

mode of administration. For supposing, though far
froim granting, that Paul means only to give an account
of the ordinance, as figuring that great change on the
heart of a real convert ; yet, while it is allowed that he
speaks of this important change under the notion of a
death, a burial, and a resurrection; and while it is main-
tained that baptism is a Jigure of that change, we are
naturally led to conclude, that immersion is the only
suitable mode. What^^7/?'e, what ixsemhlance is there,
of a death, a burial, and a resurrection, in sprinkling a
few drops of water on the face of a person ? or, if there
be any similitude between the act and the things intended,
it is of that kind which Dr. Addington himself describes,
when he says : " A strong imagination, or a prejudiced
mind, may find an object, and then point out a resemblance
in many particulars; but no reader of judgment and cau-
tion will strain so obscure an allusion." * See Chap. II.
No. 1, 33, 36, 71, 75.— Mr. Henry having given a view of
the passage similar to that of Dr. Addington, Mr. Jenkins
replies: "A Quaker would thank him for the remark,
that our conformity to Christ lies not in the sign, but in
the thing siguified ; and prove from his own nords, that
this text does not intend water-baptism, but some in-
ward work so expressed; as also, that the Lord's supper
means no external ordinance, but an inward conformity
to Christ's death." f — The people called Quakers, when
commenting on the passage before us, express themselves
in the following manner. William Dell: " You see,
that the same baptism of the Spirit that makes us die
with Christ, doth also quicken us into his resurrection,
and deprives us of our own life; not that we may re-
main dead, but that it may communicate to us a better

life than our own, even the life of Christ himself "J

John Gratton : " Can any man conclude, that Paul
here speaks of water-baptism ? Is it not plainly said,

* Ut supra, p. 37. f Inconsistency of Infant Sprinkling

with Christian Bap. p. 98. + Select Works, p. 404, 405.

iM 2

164 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

into Christ? Not into water, but into Christ, into

death."* -Robert Barclay considers Rom. vi. 3, 4;

Gal. iii. 27 ; and Col. ii. 12, as expressing the effects of
what he calls the baptism of the Spirit, t So nearly
does the sense of the passage, according to Dr. Ad-
dington, coincide with that of the Quakers. We may
therefore conclude, that whether baptism was intended
to represent a purification from sin, by the blood of
Christ; or the death of the old, and the quickening of
the new man, by the Spirit of God; or the death, burial,
and resurrection of our divine Sponsor ; immersion is
the only proper way of its administration. By this mode
of proceeding, all those ideas are fully and strongly
expressed ; which cannot be affirmed of pouring or
sprinkling, because neither the one nor the other is
adapted to the allusions in the sacred text. Besides, it
is highly probable, as Bp. Hoadly has well observed,
that if pouring or sprinkling had been practised in the
apostolic times, " we should never have so much as
heard of dying, and rising again,'''' in baptism. See
No. 66.

Reflect. IV. Witsius has observed, that there is
little or no analogy between wafers, which are used in
the holy supper by Roman Catholics, and the bread
which our Lord appointed for that purpose.;}: It has
also been maintained, that real bread should not only be
used, but broken, at the Lord's table, to preserve and
exhibit the intended analogy. With reference to this,
Heidegger says : " Between the breaking of bread and
the criicifiiion of the body of Christ, there is an analogy,
or likeness; which analogy sufficiently demonstrates the
necessity of break'ing the bread in the sacred supper." §
So, likewise, various eminent Paedobaptists have pleaded
for the baptismal immersion, to prevent the gracious

* Life of John Gratton, p. 171, edit. 1720.

f Apology, proposition xii. § 4. | CEcon. 1. iv. c. xvii. § 7 •

§ Corp. Theolog;. loc. xxv. § 83.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. l65

design of our Lord in the ordinance from being obscured
and lost. Thus Wolfius: " There have been some
learned Christians, who were of opinion, that the rite
of plunging should be recalled into practice, lest the mys-
tical signification of baptism sJwuld he entirely lost.'"*
Sir Norton KnatchbuU observes, that the true and genuine
reason of baptism being appointed " is almost lost,'' by
the change of immersion into pouring or sprinkling.'!"
The very famous Buddeus, after having given a sum-
mary view of the arguments for immersion, from Zelt-
nerus, adds : " He who accurately considers these things,
will be of opinion, that they are by no means to be
blamed, who, though they do not reject sprinkling, yet
wish that immersion had never been deserted; or, if pos-
sible, that it might be restored : among whom is Spenerus,
nay, Luther himself. . . .That all doubts and scruples
may be removed, the advice of Zeltnerus, a very
learned divine of Altorf, should certainly be received ;
who persuades to the use of a larger affusion, that by so
doing the want of immersion may be compensated.";); —
Now, reader, what think you of these declarations from
the pens of Psedobaptists, whose characters are high in
the learned world, and in the Protestant churches ?
Could they have spoken more strongly in our favour,
without pronouncing pouring and sprinkling a mere nul-
lity? What but evidence of the strongest kind could in-
duce persons of such a character implicitly to condemn
their OMn practice, as insufficient to answer the design of
baptism? The Papists, indeed, may as well pretend that
the bread, or the wine, used alone at the Lord's table,
fully represents the design of the ordinance, as for any
to say that the intention of baptism is completely an-
swered by pouring or sprinkling a few drops of water on
any part of the body; and as well might Franciscus
(a Sancta Clara) reconcile the Thirty-nine Articles to

* Curse^ ad Rom. vi. 4. f Annotat. ad iPet, iii.21.

X Theolog. Dogmat. ]. V. c.i, § v. p. 1055.

}66 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OU Till:

the canons of the Council of Trent,* as any of our
brethren accommodate Rom. vi. 3, 4, and Col. ii. 12, to
their own practice. Dr. Nichols, in defiance of com-
mon sense, when defending the custom of kneeling at
the Lord's table, asserts, that the Dissenters themselves,
" by their posture of sitting, no more represent a feast,
than we [of the church of England] do by kneeling :"" '\
and it is with equal propriety pretended by some, that a
death, a burial, and a resurrection, are exhibited to view,
as well by pouring or sprinkling, as by immersion.

Hence it is that some of those learned Psedobaptists,
produced in the preceding pages, finding it hard, if not
impossible, to reconcile the obvious and genuine mean-
ing of Rom. vi. 3, 4, and Col. ii. 12, with the natural
import of their own practice, manifestly speak, as if the
ordinance of baptism represented one thing in the apos-
tolic times, and another now. See No. 7, 42. — What can
be the reason of this ? If there be only one baptism, as
the apostle asserts ; and if that institution be not altered
since the time of Paul, it must have the very same sig-
nification, and that in the same degree; because it must
represent the same objects, with an equal perspicuity,
and in the same way, as when administered by that am-
bassador of Christ. It must be entirely the same,
whether practised in Judea, or in Britain ; in the first,
or in the eighteenth century. How lamentable it is to
think, that such great men as H. Alting, F. Turrettin,
and various others, should sacrifice thus to the love of
hypothesis !

Reflect. V. Some of these eminent Paedobaptists,
far from viewing the metaphorical baptism of which the
apostle speaks, (1 Cor. x. 2,) as militating against the
necessity of immersion; represent it as conveying the
same leading idea with Rom. vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12; which
latter passages are undoubtedly much in our favour.

* See Dr. Waterland's Importance of Doct. of Trinity, p. 211.
f In Mr, Peirce's Vindicat. of Dissenter?^ part iii, p,206.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. l67

See No. 7, 65, 75.— To the opinion of Turrettin, Knatch-
bull, and Venema, on 1 Cor. x. 2, we may add the sen-
timents of several others, whose characters are high in
the learned world. Grotius, on the passage, expresses
himself thus : " The cloud hung over the heads of the
Israelites ; and so the water is over those that are bap-
tized. The sea surrounded them on each side; and so
the water encompasses those that are baptized." — Wit-
sius, when remarking on the text, speaks to this effect :
" 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 even in the external
sign. The sea is water, and a cloud differs but little
from water. The cloud hung over their heads ; and so
the water is over those that are baptized .... The sea sur-
rounded them on each side; and so the water, in regard
to those that are baptized.'"^ — Braunius, in perfect agree-
ment with No. 7, 65, 75, says: "The Israelites are said
to be baptized in the cloud afid in the sea; and it repre-
sented a death, and a resurrection ( 1 Pet. iii. 2 1 ; Rom. vi.
3, 4.t)" — Still more fully Mr. Gataker : "The going
down of the IsraeHtes into the bottom and middle of the
sea^ and their coming up from thence to dry ground, have
a great agreement with the rite of Christian baptism, as
it was administered in the first times : seeing the persons
to be baptized went down into the water, and again
came up out of it; of which going down and coming up,
express mention is made in the baptism of the Ethiopiah
eunuch, (Acts viii. 38, 39.) Nay, farther, as in the
Christian rite, when persons are baptized, they are over-
whelmed, and) as it were, buried in water, and seem in a
manner to be buried with Christ; and again, when they
emerge, they arise as out of a sepulchre, and are repre-

* (Econ. Foed. l.iv. ex. § 11. Vid.ejusdemMiscell. Sac. torn. ii.
p. 529. t Doctfina Foed. loc. xviii. ex. § 7.

168 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, OR THE

sented as risen again with Christ, (Rom. vi. 4, 5 ; Col.ii.
12 ;) so the Israelites might seem, when passing through
the waters of the sea, that were higher than their heads,
to be overwhelmed, and, as it were, buried; and again
to emerge and arise, when they escaped to the oppo-
site shore."* Mr. Poole's Continuators: "Others

most probably think, that the apostle useth this term
[baptism] in regard of the great analogy betwixt bap-
tism, as it was then used; the persons going down
into the waters, and being dipped in them, and the Is-
raehtes going down into the sea, the great receptacle of
water : though the waters at that time were gathered on
heaps, on either side of them, yet they seemed buried in
the water, as persons in that age were when they were
baptized." Dr. Hammond : The cloud was " a con-
cave body over their heads, and so coming down to the
ground like wings inclosing and encompassing them on
every side — and dry ground being left them in the midst
of the channel, and the sea encompassing them on every
side, before them, behind them, on the right hand, and
on the left, and so the cloud environed them in like

manner; the sea environed them also." Dr. Whitby:

" They were covered tvith the sea on both sides, (Exod.
xiv. 22.) So that both the cloud and the sea had some
resemblance to our being covered with water in baptism.
Their going into the sea, resembled the ancient rite of
going into the water; and their coming out of it, their

rising up out of the water." Hulsius : " Baptism, and

indeed immersion in the sea, continued for a time; but

they were baptized longer under the cloud. "f Bp.

Patrick: "God, by the covering of the cloud, took them
under his wings and protection, owning them for his
people; and they, passing through the heart of the sea,
the waters enclosing them round about, did profess to
trust in God, and there to drown all the thoughts of

* Adversar. Miscel. cap. iv.

f Coniiment. in Israel. Prise. I'rcerog. dissert, ii. § "25.

BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY IT. 1 69

Ecrypt, which sometimes they feared, and sometimes they
loved over much."* — — Mr. Burkitt: " The Israelites
are here said to be baptised in the cloud, and in the sea:
that is, the cloud which overshadowed them, did some-
times bedew and sprinkle them; and the Red Sea,
through which they passed, had its waters gathered into
two heaps, one on the right hand, and the other on the
left, betwixt which the Israelites passed, and in their
passage seemed to be buried in the waters; as persons
in that age were put under the water, when they M'ere
baptized: and thus were Israel baptized in the cloud
and in the sea."

Other learned Paedobaptists there are, who, when
commenting on the text, do not seem to have the least
suspicion of its beipg inimical to the necessity of immer-
sion. For instance: Camero, on the passage, says:
" How were the Israelites baptized in the cloud and in the
sea? for they were neither dipped in the sea, nor w-etted

by the cloud." Bengelius: "They were baptized in the

cloud, inasmuch as they were under it; and in the sea,
seeing they passed through il : but neither the cloud nor
the sea wetted, much less immersed them, (though some
conjecture, from Psalm Ixviii. 9, and cv. 39, that a mira-
culous rain fell from the cloud,) nor is the appellation,
baptism, extant in the narrative of Moses. Neverthe-
less, Paul very agreeably denominates it thus, because a
cloud and the sea are both of a watery nature; there-
fore Paul says nothing of the fiery pillar: and because
the cloud and the sea withdrew the fathers from sight
and returned them, almost in a similar manner as the

water does those that are baptized." 1[ Marckius : " The

Israelites were covered with the cloud from above under
the conduct of Moses, so that they were as if immersed
in those heavenly waters : and this was intended, not to
prefigure the future external baptism of water in the

* Discourse of the Lord's Supper, p. 417^418.
f Gnomon^ in loc.

170 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, ETC.

Christian church, as many, both ancients and moderns,
have rashly thought; but to intimate the same grace of
Christ which baptism now seals to us.*" See Chap. IV.
No. 20. — Now, either these learned authors were ex-
tremely inadvertent, or they were very generous to their
opponents, in giving up an argument well adapted to
defend their own practice; or our opposers proceed on
a gross mistake, when they plead this passage against
us. Besides, as every one sees the term baptized is here
used merely by way of allusion; and as the allusive
acceptation of a word should never be made the standard
of its literal and proper sense; it must be very incon-
gruous to produce this passage in favour of sprinkling,
and shows great poverty of argument in defence of the
common practice. See Chap. II. Reflect. VIII.

Reflect. VI. If then so many of the most eminent
Paedobaptists agree, that the term baptism, properly
speaking, signifies immersion; and if, to so great a de-
gree, they farther unite in declaring, that the principal
facts represented by the ordinance are, the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ, as the substitute of his chosen
people; their communion with him in those facts, and
their interest in the blessings procured by them; we have
reason to conclude, on their own principles and con-
cessions, that there neither is, nor can be, any valid plea
for pouring or sprinkling, as a proper mode of adminis-
tration. This must be the case, except it should appear
on farther enquiry, that the apostles and first Christians
did not practise what the name of the ordinance is
allowed to imply, and the design of the institution seems
to require. We must therefore consider, in the follow-
ing chapter, what some of the most learned Paedobap-
tists have to say on that part of the subject.

* Bib. Exercitat. exercit.viii. § 12.

PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, &C. 171

CHAPTER IV.

The Practice of John the Baptist, of the Apostles, and
of the Church in succeeding Ages, in regard to the
Manner of administei^ing the Ordinance of Baptism.

\_N. B. Candour demands we should here acknow-
ledge, that though these numerous and learned authors
have expressed themselves in the following manner ; yet
many of them insist upon it as highly probable, that the
apostles did sometimes administer baptism by pouring
or sprinkling.]

WiTsius. — " It is certain that both John the Bap-
tist, and the disciples of Christ, ordinarily practised im-
mersion; whose example was followed by the ancient
church, as Vossius hath shown, by producing many tes-
timonies from the Greek and Latin writers. Disp. I.
de Baptismo, thes. vi., and also Hoornbeek, de Bap-
tismo Veterum, sect, iv." (Econ. Foed. 1. iv. c. xvi. § 13.

2. L'Enfant. — " ' In the water — in the Holy Ghost.'
These w-ords do very well express the ceremony of bap-
tism, which was at first performed by plunging the
whole body in water, as also the copious effusion of
the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost." Note on
Matt. iii. 11. Eng. translat.

3. Anonymous.—" If we have regard to the man-
ner in which the idea of baptism is naturally adapted to
the situation of a guilty creature, zealous to express his
abhorrence of sin ; or to the general practice of the
Jewish, as well as other eastern nations ; to the example
of our Lord, and of his disciples; and to the most
plain and obvious construction of the Greek language ;
we shall be inclined to believe that infant sprinkling is
not an institution of Christianity, but a deviation from
the original ritCj which was performed by dipping, or

172 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

plunging into water.... The arguments by which the
Pgedobaptists support their practice and doctrine, appear
to us to be so forced and violent, that we are of opinion,
nothing but the general prevalence of infant sprinkling
could have so long supported it." English Review, for
Nov. 1783, p. 351.

4. Gurtlerus. — " The action in this element of wa-
ter, is immersion ; which rite continued for a long time
in the Christian church, until, in a very late age, it was
changed into sprinkling : of M'hich an example is hardly
to be found in ancient history, except what relates to the
clinics, or sick persons, who, when confined to their beds,
were to be initiated by the sign of the covenant of grace.
Hence baptized persons are said to have ' descended
into the water,' and to be ' buried with Christ into death,'
(Matt. iii. 16; Acts viii. 38; Rom. vi. 4;) for they
who are immersed in water are covered with it, and as it
were buried in it, until they arise out of it." Institut.
Theolog. cap. xxxiii. § 117, 118.

5. Bp. Davenant. — '' In the ancient church, they
not only sprinkled, but immersed those whom they bap-
tized." Expos. Epist. ad Colos. in cap. ii. 12.

6. Pictetus. — " As to the manner of administering
baptism, it was usual in ancient times for the whole
body to be immersed in water; as appears from Matt. iii.
6, 16; John iii. 23; and yVcts viii. 38. This rite might
be used in those warm countries ; and it must be con-
fessed, that such a rite most happily represented that
grace by which our sins are, as it were, drowned, and we
raised again from the abyss of sin." Theolog. Christ.
1. xiv. c. iv. § 17. Genev. 1696.

7. Dr. Robert Newton. — " It must be confessed, that
in the primitive times, and in those hot countries where
the gospel was first [jreached, baptism for the most part
■was administered by dipping or plunging the person
baptized into water. . . .This ceremony of washing with
water was the usual way among the Jews of receiving

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 173

proselytes — and from thence it was introduced by our
Saviour into his church." Pract. Exposit. of Catechism,
p. 294, Q95.

8. Piscator. — " 'T'^ara TroXXa, signifies ma7iy rivers;
as vhffip, in the singular number, denoted the river Jor-
dan. This is mentioned to signify the ceremony of bap-
tism which John used ; that is, immersing the whole
body of a person standing in the river. Whence Christ,
being, baptized of John in Jordan, is said to ascend out
of the water^ (Matt, iii.) The same manner was ob-
served by Philip, (Acts viii. 38.)" Ad Job. iii. 23, in
Mr. Henry Lawrence's Treatise of Bap. chap. v. p. 64.

9. Abp. Seeker. — " Burying, as it were, the person
baptized in the water, and raising him out of it again,
without question, was anciently the more usual method :
on account of which St. Paul speaks of baptism, as re-
presenting both the death, and burial, and resurrection
of Christ, and what is grounded on them, our being dead
and buried to sin, renouncing it, and being acquitted of
it ; and our rising again to walk in newness of life."
Lectures on the Catechism, lect. xxxv.

10. Mastricht — " The sign representing, or the ele-
ment in baptism, is water ; — the sign applying, is wash-
ing,— whether it be performed by immersion, (Matt. iii.
6, 16; John iii. 23; Acts viii. 38,) which only was
used by the apostles and primitive churches ; because it
is not only more agreeable in the warm eastern countries,
but also more significant, (Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5 ;) or whe-
ther it be performed by sprinkling, which is not destitute
of its foundation and analogy, (1 Pet. i. 2 ; Heb. x. 22;
compare Isa. Hi. 15, and Ezek. xxxvi. 25,) and is more
agreeable in these countries." Theologia, 1. vii. c. iv. § Q.

11. 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
.... Here we perceive how baptism was administered
among the ancients ; for they immersed the whole body

174' PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

ro water. Now it is the prevailing practice for a minis-
ter only to sprinkle the body or the head. In Joan. iii. 23 ;
Comment, in Act. viii. 38.

12. Spanhemius. — "To be baptized is denominated
by Paul, a being buried, according to the ancient man-
ner of baptizing. For immersion is a kind of burial ;
and emersion, a resurrection, to which the apostle alludes.
Col. ii. 12. So Christ, being baptized, went up out of
the watery (Matt. iii. 16.) The same is related concern-
ing the Ethiopian eunuch, (Acts viii. 38.)" Dubiorum
Evang. pars. iii. dub. xxiv. § 2.

13. Vitringa. — "The act of baptizing, is the im-
mersion of believers in water. This expresses the force
of the word. Thus also it was performed by Christ and
the apostles." Aphorismi Sanct. Theolog. aph. 884.

14. Bp. Patrick. — " They [the primitive Christians]
put oif their old clothes, and stript themselves of their
garments ; then they were immersed all over, and buried
in the water." Discourse of the Lord's Supper, p, 421.

15. Marloratus. — " From these words (John iii. 23,)
it may be gathered, that baptism was performed by John
and Christ, by plunging of the whole body." Comment,
ad Joan. iii. 23.

16. Mr. Stackhouse. — " The observation of the
Greek church, in relation to this matter [the baptism of

jj Christ] is this : That he who ascended out of the water,

must first descend down into it ; and consequently, that
baptism is to be performed, not by sprinkling, but by
"washing the body. And indeed, he must be strangely
ignorant of the Jewish rites of baptism who seems to
doubt of this ; since, to the due performance of it, they
required the immersion of the whole body to such a de-
gree of nicety, that if any dirt VAas upon it, that hindered
. the water from coming to the part, they thought the ce-
remony not rightly done. The Christians, no doubt,
took this rite from the Jews, and followed them in their
manner of performing it. Accordingly, several authors

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 175

bave shown, that we read no where in scripture of any
one's being baptized, but by immersion ; and from the
acts of councils and ancient rituals have proved, that
this manner of immersion continued (as much as pos-
sible) to be used for thirteen hundred years after Christ.
But it is much to be questioned, whether the prevalence
of custom, and the over fondness of parents, will, in
these cold climates especially, ever suffer it to be re^-
stored." History of the Bib. b. viii. chap. i. p. 1234,
1235, Note. See also Dr. Whitby, on Matt. iii. \6.

17. Mr. Burkitt. — " Observe the manner of the
administration of baptism to the eunuch ; he went down
into the water, and was baptized by Philip. In those
hot countries it was usual so to do, and we do nol op-
pose the lawfulness of dipping in some cases,, but the
necessity of dipping in all cases." Expos. Notes., oro
Acts viii. 38.

18. Mr. John Wesley. — " Mary Welsh, aged eleven'
days, was baptized according to the custom of the first
church, and the rule of the church of England, by im-
mersion. The child was ill then, but recovered fromi
that hour ' Buried with him ; alluding to the an-
cient manner of baptizing by immersion." Extract of
Mr. J. Wesley's Journal, from his embarking for Georgia,
p. 11, edit 2nd; Note on Rom. vi. 4.

IS. Confession of Helvetia. — " Baptism was insti-
tuted and consecrated by God ; and the first that bap-
tized was John, who dipped Christ in the water, in Jor-
dan. ' Harmony of Confess, p. 3^5.

20., Zanchius. — " The ancient church used to im-
merse those that were baptized. Thus Christ went
down into Jordan and was baptized; as also others that
were baptized by John. Of this thing, and of immer-
sion, the passage of the people through the midst of the
sea was a type; concerning which the apostle speaks,
1 Cor. X. 2. 'They were baptized.,' says he, ' in the
sea.'" Opera, tom. vi. p, 217.

176 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

21. Hoornbeekius. — " We do not deny that, in
the first examples of persons baptized, they went into
the water and were immersed." Socin. Confut. 1. iii.
c. ii. sect. i. tom. iii. p. 268.

22. Daille. — " It was a custom heretofore in the
ancient church, to plunge those they baptized over head
and ears in the water. . . .This is still the practice, both
of the Greek and the Russian church, even at this very
day." Right Use of the Fathers, b. ii. p. 148.

25. Salmasius. — " The ancients did not baptize
otherwise than by immersion, either once, or thrice."
Apud Witsium, (Econ. Feed. 1. iv. c. xvi. § 13.

24. jMr. Bower. — " Baptism by immersion, was un-
doubtedly the apostolical practice, and was never dis-
pensed with by the church, except in case of sickness,
or when a sufficient quantity of water could not be had.
In both these cases baptism by aspersion, or sprinkling,
was allowed, but in no other." Hist of the Popes, vol. ii.
p. 110, Note. See also p. 121, Note.

25. Mr. Poole's Continuators. — " A great part of
those who went out to hear John were baptized, that is,
dipped in Jordan. .. .It is true, the first baptisms of
which we read in holy writ, were by dippings of the per-
sons baptized. It was in a hot country, where it might
be at any time without the danger of persons' lives ;
where it may be, we judge it reasonable, and most resem-
bling our burial with Christ by baptism iuto death : but
we cannot think it necessary, for God loveth mercy rather
than sacrifice ; and the thing signified by baptism, viz.
the washing away the soufs sins with the blood of Christ,
is in Scripture expressed to us by pouring and sprinkling,

(Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; Heb. xii. 14; 1 Pet. i. 2) It is

from this (John iii. 23,) apparent, that both Christ
and John baptized by dipping the body in water ; else
they need not have sought places where had been a
great plenty of water. . . .He [Paul] seems here (Rom.
vi. 4,) to allude to the manner of baptizing in those

THE CHITRCH IN FO LLOM' I XC; AGf.S. 177

warm eastern countries, which was to dip, or plunge the
party baptized ; and, as it were, to bury him for a while
under water. See the Uke phrase, Col. ii. 12." An-
notations on Matt. iii. 6, and xxviii. 19, 20; John iii. 2 1 ;
Rom. vi. 4.

26. Ravaneilas. — " In the first institution of bap-
tism, when adult persons were chiefly baptized, and that
in a warm country, immersion was used ; as appears
from Matt. iii. 16 ; Acts viii. 36, 38, 39 ; Rom. vi. 4, 5.
But in the present age, in which infants are generally
baptized, and that in cold countries, aspersion is prac-
tised, according to the law of charity, yet without any
injury to the nature of the sacrament." Bibliotheca,
sub voce, Baptismus. Genev. 1652.

27. Marckius. — " The action to be performed in
the administration of baptism, is washing the body with
water; which we think is rightly done, I. by immersion.

(1) As in that act there is the greatest washing of the
whole body. To signify which, the word is therefore

(2) most frequently used. (3) It was commonly prac-
tised by John the Baptist, the disciples of Christ,
(Matt. iii. 6, 16; John iii. 23; Acts viii. 38,) and the
first Christians; and (4) to which reference is had,
Rom. vi. 3, 4; Gal. iii. 27; Col. ii. 12." Compend,
Theolog. Christ, cap. xxx. § 11. Vid. ejusdem Bib.
Exercitat.j exercit. xxvii. § 2, 3.

28. Mosheim. — " The exhortations of this respec-
table messenger [John the Baptist] were not without
effect; and those who, moved by his solemn admo-
nitions, had formed the resolution of correcting their
evil dispositions and amending their lives, were initiated
into the kingdom of the Redeemer by the ceremony of
immersion, or baptism, (Matt. iii. 6; John i. 22). . . .
The sacrament of baptism was administered in this [the
second] century, without the public assemblies, in places
appointed and prepared for that purpose, and was per-
formed by immersion of the whole body in the baptismal

VOL. I. TV

178 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

font. . . .Those adult persons, that desire to be baptized
[among the collegiants] receive the sacrament of bap-
tism, according to the ancient and primitive manner of
celebrating that institution, even by immersion.'' Eccles.
Hist. cent. i. part i. chap. iii. § 3 ; cent. ii. part ii.
chap. iv. § 8 ; and cent. xvii. sect. ii. partii. chap, vii, § 1.

29. Bp. Taylor. — " The custom of the ancient
churches was not sprinkling, but immersion ; in pursu-
ance of the sense of the word [baptize] in the com-
mandment, and the example of our blessed Saviour.
Now this was of so sacred account in their esteem, that
they did not account it lawful to receive him into the
clergy, who had been only sprinkled in his baptism, as
we learn from the Epistle of Cornelius to Fabius of
Antioch, apud Euseb. lib. vi. cap. xliii." Ductor Du-
bitantium, b. iii. chap. iv. rule xv. p. 644.

30. CHgnetus. — " In the primitive times, persons
baptized were entirely immersed in water. Thus Christ
was baptized, as we are informed Matt. iii. 16, where it
is said that Christ ' went up out of the water ;' for
a coming out, supposes a going in. To which form of
baptizing Paul seems to have referred, (Rom. vi. 4 ;
Col. ii. 12,) where he says, that ' we are buried with
Christ by baptism :' for a death and burial are better
expressed by immersion, than by sprinkling." In The-
saur. Disputat. Sedan, tom. i. p. 769, 770.

31. Mr. Doutrin. — " How is this [baptismal] water
administered to the baptized ? Formerly it was done by
dipping quite in; but in our climate only by sprinkling."
Scheme of Div. Truths, chap. xxii. quest. 24.

32. Mr. David ]\Iartin. — " As baptism was per-
formed by immersion, or plunging the entire person in a
great depth of water, Jesus Christ has here (Mark x. 38,)
used this expression in the same sense as the prophets
have mentioned gulplis and great waters, metaphorically
to represent great afflictions." Note sur Marc. x. 38.

33. Dr. Priestley. — '' This rite appears to have

\

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 179

been generally, though probably not always, performed
by dipping the whole body in water .... It is certain
that in very early times there is no particular mention
made of any person being baptized by sprinkling only,
or a partial application of water to the body." Hist.
Corrupt, vol. ii. p. 66, 67.

34. Burmannus.— " Immersion w^as used by the
Jews, the apostles, and the primitive church, especially
in warm countries. To this various forms of speaking
used by the apostles refer, (Rom. vi. 3, 4; Col. ii. 12;
Gal. iii. 27.) But in the west, and colder parts of the
world, sprinkhng prevailed." Synops. Theolog. torn. ii.
loc. xliii. c. vi. § 9-

35. Mr. John Trapp. — " There were, saith one,
many ceremonies in baptism used in the primitive church;
viz. putting off old clothes, drenching in water, so as to
be buried in it, putting on new clothes at their coming
out, to which Paul alludeth in these words." Commen-
tary on Col. ii. 12.

36. Grotius. — " That baptism used to be performed
by immersion, and not by pouring, appears both from
the proper signification of the word, and the places cho-
sen for the administration of the rite, (John iii. 23 ;
Acts viii. 38;) and also from the many allusions of the
apostles, which cannot be referred to sprinkling, (Rom. vi.
3, 4 ; Col. ii. 12.)" Apud Polum, Synops. ad Matt. iii. 6.

37. Castalio and Camerarius. — ''And were baptized;
that is, they were immersed in water." Apud Poll
Synopsin, ad Matt. iii. 6.

38. Beza. — " Ve have put on Christ — This phrase
seems to proceed from the ancient custom of plunging
the adult, in baptism." Annotat. ad Gal. iii. 27.

39. Mr. Bingham. — " The ancients thought that
immersion, or burying under water, did more lively re-
present the death, and burial, and resurrection of Christ,
as well as our own death unto sin, and rising again unto
righteousness; and the divesting or unclothing of the

N %

180 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

person to be baptized, did also represent the putting off
the body of sin, in order to put on the new man, which
is created in 7is!'hteous??ess and true holiness .... Persons
thus divested, or unclothed, were usuall}' baptized by
immersion, or dipping of their whole bodies under water
. . . .There are a great many passages in the epistles of
St. Paul, which plainly refer to this custom ; as this was
the original apostolical practice, so it continued to be
the universal practice of the church for many ages, upon
the same symbolical reasons as it was first used by the
apostles. .. .It appears from Epiphanius and others,
that almost all heretics, who retained any baptism, re-
tained immersion also.... The only heretics against
whom this charge [of not baptizing by a total immersion]
is brought, were the Eunomians, a branch of the Arians."
Origin. Eccles. b. xi. chap. xi. § 1, 4.

40. Buddeus. — " Concerning baptism, it is particu-
larly to be observed, that in the apostolic church it was
performed by immersion into water : which, not now to
mention other things, is manifest from this : The apostle
seeks an image, in this immersion, of the death and bu-
rial of Christ, and of mortifying the old man and raising
up of the new, (Rom. vi. 3, 4.) There are, indeed,
some authors who think otherwise, and contend that
sprinkling was practised in the apostolic church : to
convince us of which. Dr. Lightfoot has left no stone
unturned. But what may be said in answer to his ar-
guments, has already appeared in my Institut. Theolog.
Dogmat. 1. v. c. i. § 5." Ecclesia Apostolica, cap. vii.
p. 825, 826.

41. Heidanus. — "That John the Baptist and the
apostles immersed, there is no doubt, (Matt. iii. 6, ]();
John iii. 23 ; Acts viii. 38;) whose example the ancient
church followed, as is most evident from the testimo-
nies of the fathers." Corp. Theol. Christ, loc. xiv.
tom.ii. p. 475.

42. Mr. Twells. — "'Therefore we are buried with

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOMING AGES. 181

him' by being plunged into a sort of death. [So the
author of the New Text and Version of the New Testa-
ment renders Rom. vi. 4.] What blundering expli-
cation is here ! He should rather have said, by being
plunged into a sort of grave, viz. the waters of baptism."
Critical Examination, part. i. p, 98.

43. Menochius and Estius. — " The apostle, in
Rom. vi. 4, alludes to the rite of immersion, when the
body is, as it were, buried, and in a little while drawn
out again, as from a sepulchre." Apud Poli, Synops.
ad Rom. vi. 4.

44. Lampe. — " ' Because there was much water
there.' That plenty of water was necessary to the ad-
ministration of baptism by immersion, to a very great
multitude of people, is readily acknowledged." Com-
ment, in Evangel, secund Joan, ad cap. iii. 9,3.

45. Limborch. — " Baptism, then, consists in wash-
ing, or rather immersing the whole body into water,
as was customary in the primitive times. . . .The apostle
alludes to the manner of baptizing, not as practised at
this day, which is performed by sprinkling af water;
but as administered of old, in the primitive church,
by immersing the whole body in water, a short con-
tinuance in the water, and a speedy emersion out of
the water." Complete Syst. of Divin. B. V. chap, xxvii.
sect. i. Comment, in Epist. ad R.jm. in cap. vi. 4.

46. Sir Thomas Ridley. — ^"The rites of baptism, in
the primitive times, were performed in rivers and foun-
tains; and this manner of baptizing the ancient church
entertained from the example of Christ, who was bap-
tized of John in Jordan." In Thomas Lawson's Bap-
tismalogia, p. 105.

47. Mr. John Claude. — ■" In his baptism, he [Christ]
is plunged in the water." Essay on Compos, of Serm.
vol. i. p. 272.

48. H. Altingius. — " This baptismal washing, in
warm countries and ancient times, was performed by

18a PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

immersion into water, a continuance under the water,
and an emersion out of the water; as the practice of
John the Baptist, (Matt. iii. 6, 16; John iii. 23;) of
Christ's apostles, (John iii. 22, and iv. 1, 2;) and of
PhiHp, (Acts viii. 38;) and also the signification of
these rites teach, (Rom. vi. 4.)" Loci Commun. pars i.
loc. xii. p. 199.

49* Hospinianus. — " John the Baptist baptized
Christ in Jordan, and Philip baptized the eunuch in a
river, (Acts viii.) Lydia also, together with her house-
hold, seems to have been baptized in a river, near to
Philippi, at which prayers were usually made, (Acts
xvi.)" De Temphs, 1. ii. c. iv. p. 80.

50. Curcellasus. " Baptism was performed by

plunging the whole body into water, and not by sprink-
ling a few drops, as is now the practice. For 'John
was baptizing in iEnon, near to Salim, because there
was much water; and they came and were baptized,'
(John iii. 23.) Nor did the disciples that were sent out
by Christ administer baptism afterwards in any other
way: and this is more agreeable to the signification
of the ordinance, (Rom. vi. 4). I am therefore of opi-
nion, that we should endeavour to restore and introduce
this primitive rite of immersing, if it may be done
without oftbnce to the weak; otherwise it seems better
to tolerate this abuse, than to raise a disturbance in the
church about it ... . They are now ridiculed who desire
to be baptized, not by sprinkling, but as it was per-
formed by the ancient church, by an immersion of the
whole body into water." Relig. Christ. Institut. 1. v.
c. ii. et apud Heidegg. Libert. Christ, a Lege Cib.
Vet. c. xiv. § 3.

51. Wolfius. — "That baptismal immersion was
practised in the first ages of the Christian church,
many have shown from the writings of the ancients. . . .
Some learned Christians therefore have judged, that the
same rite of immersion should be recalled into practice

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 183

at this day, lest the mystical signification of the ordi-
nance should be lost,... Here the apostle alludes to
immersion in baptism, practised of old." Curae, ad
Rom. vi. 4, et Col. ii. 12.

52. G.J. Vossius. — "That John the Baptist ana
the apostles immersed persons whom they baptized,
there is no doubt. For thus we read : ' And they were
baptized in Jordan. . . .And Jesus, when he was bap-
tized, went up straightway out of the water,' (Matt. iii.
6, 16. It is also written, (John iii. 23:) 'John also
was baptizing in Mnon, near to Salim, because there
was much water there.' And (Acts viii. 38,) it is said :
* They went down both into the water, both Philip
and the eunuch.' And that the ancient church followed
these examples, is very clearly evinced by innumer-
able testimonies of the Fathers." Disputat. de Bap.
disp. i. § 6.

53. Sir Peter King.— "'To me it seems evident,
that their [the primitive Christians'] usual custom was,
to immerse, or dip, the whole body." Enquiry into the
Constitut. of Prim. Church, part. ii. chap. iv. § 5.

54. Abp. Tillotson. — "Anciently, those who were
baptized, put off their garments, which signified the
putting oflf the body of sin; and were immersed and
buried in the water, to represent their death to sin;
and then did rise up again out of the water, to signify
their entrance upon a new life. And to these cus-
toms the apostle alludes, Rom. vi. 2 — 6; Gal. iii. 27."
Works, vol. i. serm. vii. p. 179, edit. 8vo.

55. Frid. Spanhemius, F. — " This rite of immersion,
and of bringing out of the baptismal water, was common
and promiscuous in the apostolic age. Whence the
apostle alludes to it, as a rite common to all Christians,
Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12." Disputat. De Bap. pro
Mortuis, p. 16, annexed by Dr. Du Veil, to his Literal
Exposition of the Acts.

56. Bp. Pearce. — " I think the most probable

184 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

meaning of the phrase [baptized for the dead,] is to be
fetched from Matt. xx. 22; Luke xii. 50; and Mark
X, 38; in all which|places /SaTTTi^ea-Gai signifies to die a
violent death, by the hands of persecutors. It seems
to have been a metaphor taken from the custom of
those days in baptizing; for the person baptized went
down under the water, and was (as it were) buried
under it. Hence, St. Paul says, (in Rom. vi. 4, and
Col. ii. 12,) that they 'were buried with Christ by bap-
tism.' So that this custom probably gave occasion to
our Saviour to express his being to suffer death by the
hands of the Jews, in the phrase of a baptism that he
was to be baptized with. And St. Paul seems to have
taken up the same phrase with a little variation, but
still with the same meaning." Note on 1 Cor. xv. 29-

67. Abp. Usher. — " Some there are that stand
strictly for the particular action of diving or dipping
the baptized under water, as the only action which
the institution of the sacrament will bear ; and our
church allows no other, except in case of the child's
weakness ; and there is expressed in our Saviour's bap-
tism, both the descending into the water, and the
rising up." Sum and Subs, of the Christ. Relig. p. 413,
edit. 6th.

58. Momma. — "They were wont to go down into
the water. Philip and the eunuch ' went down into the
water,' (Acts viii. 38; compare verse 39.) Christ also,
being baptized, went up from the water, (Matt. iii. 16;)
therefore, he went down into the water to be baptized."
De Statu Eccles. torn. ii. c. v. § 193.

59- Theod. Hasaeus. — "Though, in the time of the
apostles, the custom was not known which prevailed
in the following ages; namely, that persons, immediately
after their baptism, were clothed M'ith white garments
which they wore for a week afterward, and thence were
called, Albati, Candidafi ; yet seeing they were entirely
immeri:ed in water, they could not be baptiz;ul without

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. ^^

putting off, and again putting on, their clothes." Biblioth,
Bremens. class, iv. p. 1042, 1043.

60. Mr. Rich. Baxter. — " We grant that baptism
then, [in the primitive times] was by washing the whole
body; and did not the differences of our cold country,
as to that hot one, teach us to remember, ' I will have
mercy and not sacrifice,' it should be so here. . . .It is
commonly confessed by us to the Anabaptists, as our
commentators declare, that in the apostles' times, the
baptized were dipped over head in the water, and that
this signified their profession, both of believing the
burial and resurrection of Christ; and of their own
present renouncing the world and flesh, or dying to sin
and living to Christ, or rising again to newness of life,
or being buried and risen again with Christ, as the
apostle expoundeth, in the forecited texts of Col. iii.
[Col. ii.] and Rom. vi. And though (as is before
said) we have thought it lawful to disuse the manner
of dipping and to use less water, yet we presume not to
change the use and signification of it. . . .For my part,
I may say as Mr. Blake, that I never saw a child
sprinkled; but all that I have seen baptized had water
poured on them, and so were washed." Paraphrase on
the New Test, at Matt. iii. 6. Disputations of Right to
Sacram. p. 70. Plain Script. Proof, p. 134.

61. Bp. Burnet. — "They [the primitive ministers of
the gospel] led them into the water, and with no other
garments but what might cover nature ; they at first laid
them down in the water, as a man is laid in a grave,
and then they said those words : ' I baptize thee in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' Then they
raised them up again, and clean garments were put on
them ; from whence came the phrases of being ' baptized
into Christ's death;' of our being 'buried with him by
baptism into death;' of our being 'risen with Christ,'
and of our ' putting on the Lord Jesus Christ ;' of ' put-
ting off the old man,' and ' putting on the new,' (Rom.

186 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

vi. 3,4, 5; Col. ii. 12; Col. iii. 1,, 10; Rom. xiii. 14.)
After baptism was thus performed, the baptized per-
son was to be farther instructed in all the specialities
of the Christian religion, and in all the rules of life
that Christ had prescribed." Expos. Thirty-nine Arti-
cles, p. 374, 375.

69, Braunius. — " Christ went down into Jordan, to
be baptized by John, (Matt, iii.) The same thing seems
to be intimated by the apostle, when he speaks of being
'buried by baptism,' (Col. ii. 12; Rom. vi. 3, 4; Gal.
iii. 27.)" Doctrina Feed. pars. iv. cap. xxi. § 8.

63. Mr. De Courcy. — " I grant, that the word
[baptize] signifies to dip, and that the ordinance might
have been administered by immersion in the ancient
church." Rejoinder, p. 265, 266.

64. Mr. Weemse. — "When [in the primitive times]
they were baptized, they went down into the water, and
were baptized all over the body." Exposit. of Laws of
Moses, b. i. chap. xliv.

65. Mr. T. Wilson. — " Baptism was performed in
the primitive times by immersion." Arclvdsolog. Diet,
article. Baptism.

66. Assembly of Divines. — "'Were baptized.'
Washed by dipping in Jordan, (as Mark vii. 4 ; Heb.
ix. 10.), . . .' Buried with him by baptism,' (See Col. ii.
12.) In this phrase the apostle seemeth to allude to
the ancient manner of baptism, which was to dip the
parties baptized, and, as it were, to bury them under the
water for a while, and then to draw them out of it, and
lift them up, to represent the burial of our old man,
and our resurrection to newness of life." Annotations
on Matt. iii. 6, and Rom. vi. 4.

67. Mr. Joseph Mede. — "There was no such
thing as sprinkling, or pavTia-[xo^, used in baptism in the
apostles' days, nor many ages after them." Discourse
on Tit. iii. 5. Works, p. 63, edit. 1677.

68. Dr. Cave. — " The party to be baptized was

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 18/

wholly immerged, or put under water, which was the
almost constant and universal custom of those times ;
whereby they did more notably and significantly express
the three great ends and effects of baptism." Pri-
mitive Christianity, part i. chap. x. p. 203.

69- Dr. Towerson. — ■" What the practice of those
[primitive] times was. . , .will need no other proof than
resorting to rivers, and other such like receptacles of
waters, for the performance of that ceremony, and that
too, ' because there was much water there.' For so the
scripture doth not only affirm concerning the baptism of
John, (Matt. iii. 5, 6, 13 ; John iii. 23 ;) but both inti-
mate concerning that which our Saviour administered
in Judea (because making John's baptism and his to be
so far forth of the same sort, John iii. 22, 23,) and ex-
pressly affirm concerning the baptism of the eunuch,
which is the only Christian baptism the scripture is
any thing particular in the description of. The words
of St. Luke (Acts viii. 38,) being, that 'both Phihp and
the eunuch went down into a certain water,' which they
met with in their journey, in order to the baptizing of
the latter. For what need would there have been either
of the Baptist's resorting to great confluxes of water, or
of Philip and the eunuch's going down into this, were it
not that the baptism both of the one and the other,
was to be performed by an immersion ? A very little
water, as we know it doth with us, sufficing for an
effusion, or sprinkling." Of the Sacram of Bap. part iii.
p. 55, 56.

70. Bossuet. — " The baptism of St. John the Bap-
tist, which served for a preparative to that of Jesus
Christ, was performed by plunging. .. .When Jesus
Christ came to St. John, to raise baptism to a more
marvellous efficacy in receiving it, the scripture says,
that 'he went up out of the water' of Jordan, (Matt. iii.
16; Mark i. 10.). . . .In fine, we read not in the scrip-
ture that baptism was otherwise administered ; and we

188 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

are able to make it appear by the acts of councils, and
by the ancient rituals, that for thirteen hundred
YEARS baptism was thus administered throughout the
whole churchy as far as was possible." In Mr. Stennett
against Russen, p. 175, 176.

7 1 . Mr. Chambers. — " In the primitive times this
ceremony was performed by immersion ; as it is to this
day in the oriental churches, according to the original
signification of the word." Cyclopaedia, article. Bap-
tism, edit. 7th.

72. Mr. George Whitefield. — " 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 our own church allows, and insists upon it, that
children should be immersed in water, unless those that
bring the children to be baptized assure the minister that
they cannot bear the plunging." Eighteen Sermons,
p. 297.

'7^. Dr. Doddridge. — '' And after Jesus was bap-
tized, as soon as he 'ascended out of the water' to the
bank of Jordan .... And John was also at that time
baptizing at iEnon, which was a place near Salim, a
town on the east side of Jordan; and he particularly
chose that place, because there was a great quantity of
water there, which made it very convenient for his pur-
pose. Nothing, surely, can be more evident, than that
TToAAa vha-TOi^ many waters, signifies a large quantity of
water ; it being sometimes used for the Euphrates, (Jer.
li. IS. Septuag.) To which I suppose there may be
an allusion. Rev. xvii. 1. Compare Ezek. xliii. 2, and
Rev. i. 15, xiv. 2, xix. 6; where 'the voice of many wa-
ters' does plainly signify the roaring of a high sea*. , . .
Considering how frequently bathing was used in those

* Dr. Bentley has given the following criticism on the words €©•*
T^'v i'baTiiv Tuv vro'hKuv, (Rev. xvii. 1.) Upon the many waters; "upon
the vast, wide, and spacious waters : for it is known, that -sroKvi is

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWIKG AGES. 189

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 [Philip and the
eunuch] went dow?i to the ivater, 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 so desert a
country ; a precaution absolutely necessary for travellers
in those parts, and never omitted by them. (See Dn
Shaw's Travels, Pref. p. 4.) .... ' Buried with him in bap-
tism.' It seems the part of candour to confess, that here
[Rom. vi. 4,] is an allusion to the manner of baptizing
by immersion, as most usual in those early times ; but
that Avill not prove this particular cicumstance essential
to the ordinance .... They who practise baptism by im-
mersion, are by no means to be condemned on that ac-
count; since, on the whole, that mode of baptism is evi-
dently favoured by scripture examples, though not re-
quired by express precept." Fam. Expos, on Matt. iii.
16; John iii. 23; Acts viii. 38; Rom. vi. 4. Lectures,
proposit. cliii. corol. 1.

74. M. Jurieu. — " The ancients used to plunge
persons into the water, calling on the adorable Trinity."
In Dr. Gale's Reflect, on Dr. Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap.
p. 193.

75. Mr. Le Clerc. — " The manner of baptizing at
that time, by plunging into the water those whom they
baptized, was an image of the burial of Jesus Christ."
In Dr. Gale's Reflect, p. 193.

76. Venema. — "It is without controversy, that bap-
tism in the primitive church was administered by immer-
sion into water, and not by sprinkling; seeing John is

often applied to continued quantity, as well as to discontinued ; to
magnitude and dimensions, as well as to number." Sermon upon
Popery, p. 6. Camb. 1715.

190 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

said to have baptized in Jordan, and where there was
much water, as Christ also did by his disciples in the
neighbourhood of those places, (Matt. iii. and John iii.)
Philip also going down into the water baptized the
eunuch, (Acts viii.) To which also the apostle refers,
Rom. vi Nor is there any necessity to have re-
course to the idea of sprinkling in our interpretation of
Acts ii. 41, where three thousand souls are said to be
added to Christ by baptism ; seeing it might be per-
formed by immersion, equally as by aspersion, espe-
cially as they are not said to have been baptized at the
same time.... The essential act of baptizing, in the
second century, consisted, not in sprinkling, but in im-
mersion into water, in the name of each Person in the
Trinity. Concerning immersion the words and phrases
that are used sufficiently testify; and tnat it was per-
formed in a river, a pool, or a fountain .... To the essen-
tial rites of baptism, in the third century, pertained im-
mersion, and not aspersion ; except in cases of necessity,
and it was accounted a /?«//'- perfect baptism. . . .Immer-
sion, in the fourth century, was one of those acts that
were considered as essential to baptism; — nevertheless,
aspersion was used in the last moments of life, on such
as were called clinics, and also where there was not a
sufficient quantity of water. . . .Beveridge, on the fiftieth
Apostolical Canon, asserts, that the ceremony of sprink-
ling began to be used instead of immersion, about the
time of Pope Gregory, in the sixth century; but without
producing any testimony in favour of his assertion ; and
it is undoubtedly a mistake. Martene declares, (in his
Antiq. Eccles. Rit. 1. i. p. i. c. i.) that in all the ritual
books, or pontifical MSS. ancient or modern, that he
had seen, immersion, is required ; except by the Ceno-
manensian, and that of a more modern date, in which
pouring on the head is mentioned. In the council of Ra-
venna also, held in tlie year thirteen hundred and eleven,
both immersion and pouring are left to the determina-

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 191

tion of the administrator: and the council of Nismes, in
the year one thousand two hundred and eighty-four,
permitted pouring, if a vessel could not be had; therefore
only in case of necessity. . . .The council of Celichith,
in the beginning of the ninth century, forbade the pour-
ing of water on the heads of infants, and commanded
that they should be immersed in the font. . . . Baptism was
administered by immersion, in the twelfth century . . . .In
the thirteenth century, baptism was administered by im-
mersion, thrice repeated; yet so, that one immersion
was esteemed sufficient, as appears from Augerius de
Montfaucon. That was a singular synodal appointment
under John de Zurich, bishop of Utrecht, in the year
one thousand two hundred and ninety one, which runs
thus : " We appoint, that the head be put three times
in the water, unless the child be weak, or sickly, or the
season cold; then water may be poured, by the hand of
the priest, on the head of the child, lest, by plunging, or
coldness, or weakness, the child should be injured and
die." Hist. Eccles. secul. i. § 138; secul. ii. § 100;
secul.iii. § 51; secul, iv. § 1 10; secul. vi. § 251 ; secul.
viii. §206; secul. xii. "§45; secul, xiii. § 164.

Ill . Altmannus. — " In the primitive church, per-
sons to be baptized were not sprinkled, but entirely im-
mersed in water; which was performed according to the
example of John the Baptist. Hence all those allusions :
seeing, by im.mersion, they plainly signified a burial; by
the following emersion out of the water, a resurrection ;
and agreeably to these ideas are those passages of scrip-
ture to be explained which refer to this rite. (See Rom.
vi. 3,4,5; Col. ii. 12, and Gal. iii. 27.)" Meletem.
Philolog. rit. torn. iii. exercit. in 1 Cor, xv. 29, § 8.

78. Magdeburg Centuriators. — "The Son of God
was dipped in the water of Jordan, by the hand of John
the Baptist .... Phihp baptized the eunuch in a river,
(Acts viii. 38.) It seems also, that Lydia and her house-
hold at Philippi were baptized in a river, at which prayers

192 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

were usually made, (Acts xvi. 13, l6.)" Cent. i. 1. i.
c. iv. p. 118; 1. ii. c. vi. p. 381.

79. Dr. Hammond. — John baptized "in a river,
in Jordan, (Mark i. 5;) in a confluence of much watery
(John iii. 23;) because, as it is added, there was much
water there: and therefore as the Jews, writing in Greek,
call those lakes wherein they wash themselves KoXviJ.(3vj6pai ;
so, in the Christian church, the (BairriaTfipiov, or vessel
which contained the baptismal water, is oft called,
f<oXv[x(3vi6pa, a swimming or diving place." Annotations
on Matt. iii. 1 .

80. Chamierus. — " Immersion of the whole body
was used from the beginning, which expresses the force
of the word baptize; whence John baptized in a river.
It was afterwards changed into sprinkling, though it is
uncertain when or by whom it commenced." Panstrat.
Cathol. t. iv. 1. V. c. ii. § 6.

81. Bp. Fell. — "The primitive fashion of immer-
sion under the water, representing our death, and eleva-
tion again out of it, our resurrection, or regeneration."
On the Epistles of Paul. Note on Rom. vi. 4.

82. Dutch Annotators.— " ' Because there was much
water there.' Because they that were baptized by John,
went into the water with their whole bodies. (See Matt,
iii. 16; Actsviii. 38.). . . .The apostle seems here [Rom.
vi. 3,] to allude to the manner of baptizing, much used
in those warm eastern countries ; where men were wholly
dipped into the water, and remained a little while under
water, and afterwards rose up out of the water: to show
that their dipping into and remaining in the water, is a
representation of Christ's death and burial; and the
rising up out of the water, of his resurrection." On
John iii. 23, and Rom. vi. 3.

83. Bp. Stillingfleet. — " Rites and customs aposto-
lical are altered; therefore men do not think that apos-
tolical practice doth bind: for if it did, there could be
no alteration of things agreeable thereunto. Now let

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOM'INO AGES. 193^

any one consider but these few particulars, and judge
how far the pleaders for a divine right of apostoHcal
practice do loolv upon themselves as bound now to ob-
serve them : as dipping in baptism, the use of love-
feasts, community of goods, the holy kiss, by TertuUian
called ' signaculum orationis:'* yet none look upon

* 1 will here subjoin a quotation from that spirited writer, Mr.
Vincent Alsop : " The feasts of love and the holy kiss," he replies,
in his answer to Dr. Goodman, " were not at all institutions of the
apostles. All that the apostle determined about them was, that
supposing in their civil congresses and converses they salute each
other, they should be sure to avoid all levity, wantonness, all ap-
pearance of evil : for religion teaches us not only to worship God,
but to regulate our civil actions in subordination to the great ends of
holiness, the adorning of the gospel, and thereby the glorifying of
our God and Saviour. I say the same concerning the feast of love.
The apostle made it no ordinance, either temporary or perpetual ;
but finding that such a civil custom had obtained among them — he
cautions them against gluttony, dmnkenness, all excess and riot, to
which such feasts, through the power of corruption in some, and the
remainders of corruption in the best, were obnoxious: which is
evident from iCor. xi. "21. The apostle Paul, (iTim. ii.8,) com-
mands that men pray every where lifting up holy hands: can any
rational creature imagine, that he has thereby made it a duty as oft
as we pray to elevate our hands? That was none of his design to
that age, or the present : but under a ceremonial phrase he wraps
up an evangelical duty. As if he had said. Be sure you cleanse your
hearts J and if you do lift up your hands, let them be no umbrage
for unholy souls.

" Concerning deaconesses, I can find no such order or constitu-
tion of the apostles. It is true, they used in their travels and other
occasions the services and assistances of holy women, who cheer-
fully administered to their necessities, and are thence called Iicckovm,
and said haKoveiv. But how childish is it to conclude an order or
institution from so slippery a thing as an etymology ? The angels
are called X«Tovpyi/ca meviJi.ara,, ministering spirits, (Heb. i. 14.) Will
any from hence infer that they read the liturgy ? Magistrates are
styled Xeirovpyoi rov @eov, and liaKovoi ©eov, (Rom. xiii. 4, 6j) and yet
it is no part of their office to read divine service.. ... In a word, the
duty of saluting with a holy kiss j the order of all our feasts of love
to God's glory ; the ministering in our respective places to the
necessities of the saints, are as much in force as ever, unless holi-
ness be grown out of fashion." Sober Enquiry, p. 285, 286.
VOL. I. ©

I

194 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

themselves as bound to observe them now, and yet all
acknowledge them to have been the practice of the apos-
tles," Irenicum, part ii. chap. vi. p. 345.

84. H. Hulsius. — " Some interpret 1 Cor. xv. 29,
concerning the baptism of dimes, or persons confined
to their beds; but this baptism changed dipping into
sprinkling, and was not practised in the time of Paul."
Comment, in Israel. Pris. p. 819-

85. Deyiingius. — " It is manifest, that while the
apostles lived, the ordinance of baptism was adminis-
tered, not out of a vessel, or a baptistery, which are the
marks of later times; but out of rivers and pools: and
that, not by sprinkling, but by immersion. . . .So long
as the apostles lived, as many believe, immersion only
was used; to which afterwards, perhaps, they added a
kind of pouring, such as the Greeks practise at this day,
having performed the trine immersion." Observat. Sac.
pars ii. observ. xliv. § 3 ; par iii. obs. xxvi. § 2.

8G. Heideggerus. — " Plunging, or immersion, was
most commonly used by John the Baptist and by the
apostles. . . .It is of no importance whether baptism be
performed by immersion into water, as of old in the
warm eastern countries, and even at this day; or by
sprinkling, which was afterward introduced in colder
climates." Corpus Theolog. Christ, loc. xxv. § 35.

87. Mr. Edward Leigh. — " The ceremony used in
baptism, is either dipping, or sprinkling: dipping is the
more ancient. At first, they went down into the rivers;
afterwards they were dipped in the fonts. . . .Zanchius
and Mr. Perkins prefer (in persons of age and hot coun-
tries, where it may be safe) the ceremony of immersion
under the water, before that of sprinkling, or laying on
the water, as holding more analogy to that of Paul,
Rom. vi. 4." Body of Div. b. viii. chap. viii. p. 665.

88. Mr. Hardy. — "'They were baptized;' that is,
they were immersed in water. That this rite was com-
monly performed by plunging, and not by pouring, is

THE CUUIUH IK FOLLOM'ING A(iKS. 19-5

indicated both by the proper meaning of the word, and
by the passages relating to the ordinance; for the custom
of sprinkhng seems to have prevailed somewhat later, in
favour of those who desired to give up themselves to
Christ, or to be baptized, when lying ill of disease;
whom others called clinics. . . .In baptism: The allusion
is to the ancient custom of baptizing, M-hen the body was
immersed in water; and therefore putting off the clothes
was required : whence those phrases, putting off the old,
and putting on the new man, had their origin. This rite
was a figure and an imag;e, both of a burial and a resur-
rection; as well of Christ, which were conspicuous, as
of what is internal, in Christians. (Rom.vi.4.)" An-
notat. in Matt. iii. 6; Col. ii. 12.

89- Mr. Locke. — " We Christians, who by baptism
were admitted into the kingdom and church of Christ,
were baptized into a similitude of his death: We did
own some kind of death, by being buried under water,
which being buried with him, i. e. in conformity to his
burial, as a confession of our being dead, was to signify,
that as Christ was raised up from the dead, into a
glorious life with his Father, even so we, being raised
from our typical death and burial in baptism, should lead
a new sort of life." Paraphrase on Rom, vi. 4.

90. J. J. Wetstenius. — "John baptized in the river
Jordan, in ^non, ' because there was much water,'
(John iii. 23;) and Christ, when he was baptized, 'went
down into the water ^ (Matt. iii. 16.) And Christians,
in baptism, are said to put off their clothes, (Gal. iii. 27;)
to be washed, (Tit. iii. 5 ;) and to be buried under the
water, (Rom.vi.4:) all which are expressive, not of
sprinkling, but of dipping." Comment, ad Matt. iiL 6.

9 1 . Roell. — " It is certain that immersion into water,
and emersion out of it, were practised — in Christian
baptism, in the beginning." Exegesis Epist. ad Col. iij
cap. ii. 12.

92. Mr. Walker. — *' Mr. Rogers was for retrieving

o 2

196 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

the use of dipping, as witnessed to by antiquity, ap-
proved by scripture, required by the church, (as then it
was, except in case of weakness,) and symbolical with
the things signified in baptism : Which I could wish as
well and as heartily as he, in order to making of peace
in the church, if that would do it. If I may speak my
thoughts, I believe the ministers of the nation would be
glad if the people would desire, or be but willing, to
have their infants dipped, without fear of being de-
stroyed." In Dr. Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii.
chap. ix. p. 475.

93- Dr. Whitby. — " It being so expressly declared
here, [Rom. vi. 4,] and Colos. ii. 12, that we are ' buried
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 im-
mersion being religiously observed by all Christians
FOR THIRTEEN CENTURIES, and approved by our
church, and the change of it into sprinkling, even with-
out any allowance from the Author of this institution, or
any licence from any council of the church, being that
which the Romanist still urgeth 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.

94. Bp. Nicholson. — " The sacrament of baptism
was anciently administered by plunging into the water,
in the western as well as the eastern part of the church;

and that the Gothic word (Mark i. 8, and

Luke iii. 7, 12,) the German word Tauffe9i, the Danish
word Dobe, and the Belgic Doope/i, do as clearly make
out that practice, as the Greek word /3a7rT/^w." In
Dr. Gale's Reflect, on Dr. Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap.
p. 121,192.

95. Quenstedius. — " It is highly probable, if not
certain, that John the Baptist and the apostles immersed

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES, 197

the persons to be baptized into water. For thus we read,
(Matt. iii. 6, 16,) ' And they were baptized in Jordan.
When Jesus Mas baptized, he immediately came up'
(or, as Grotius renders it, he had scarcely ascended)
* out of the water.' Our Saviour, therefore, when he was
baptized, first went down into the river, was plunged
into the water, and afterwards came up out of it. . . .
That immersion into the water was practised by John,
is gathered also from that reason of the evangelist,
(John iii. 23,) ' John was baptizing in iEnon near to
Salim, because there was much water there'. . . .With
St. Paul, to be baptized is to be buried, (Rom. vi. 3, 4.)
Immersion is, as it were, a burial ; emersion, a resurrec-
tion ; to which the aposde alludes. Col. ii. 12. It is
written, (Acts viii. 38, 39,) that Philip went down with
the eunuch iiito the water, and there baptized him ; and
it is added, that, the ordinance being administered, they
both came up out of the water .... Both the eastern and
the western churches were very observant of the rite of
immersion, for a great number of years. . . .Nor is there
any instance among the more ancient writers, that I
have observed, of baptism being administered by a
simple aspersion." Antiq. Bib. pars. i. c. iv. sect. ii.
num. i. § 1, 2, 4.

96. Dr. Wall. — " Their [the primitive Christians']
general and ordinary way was to baptize by immersion,
or dipping the person, whether it were an infant, or
grown man or woman, into the water. This is so plain
and clear by an infinite number of passages, that as one
cannot but pity the weak endeavours of such Psedobap-
tists as would maintain the negative of it ; so also we
ought to disown and show a dishke of the profane
SCOFFS which some people give to the English Anti-
pasdobaptists, merely for their use of dipping. It is
one thing to maintain, that that circumstance is not ab-
solutely necessary to the essence of baptism ; and an-

198 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

Other, to go about to represent it as ridiculous and foolish,
or as shameful and indecent; when it was, in all proba-
bility, the way by which our blessed Saviour, and for
certain was the most usual and ordinary way by which
the ancient Christians did receive their baptism. . . .It
is a great want of prudence, as well as of honesty, to re-
fuse to grant to an adversary what is certainly true, and
may be proved so. It creates a jealousy of all the rest,
that one says .... It is plain that the ordinary and gene-
ral practice of St. John, the apostles, and primitive
church, was to baptize by putting the person into the
water, or causing him to go into the water. Neither
do I know of any Protestant w ho has denied it ; and
but very few men of learning that have denied, that
where it can be used with safety of health, it is the most
fitting way. . . .John iii. ^3; Mark i. 5; Acts viii. 38,
are iindeniable proof s that the baptized person went or-
dinarily into the water, and sometimes the baptist too.
We should not know by 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; which allusion is not so proper, if we conceive
them to have gone into the water only up to the arm-
pits, &c. as it is if their whole body was immersed.
The other, the custom of the near succeeding times ....
As for sprinkling, I say as Mr. Blake, at its first coming

up in England, Let them defend it that use it They

[who are inclined to Presbyterianism] are hardly pre-
vailed on to leave off that scandalous custom of
having their children, though never so well, baptized
out of a basin, or porringer, in abed-chamber; hardly
persuaded to bring them to church ; much farther from
having them dipped, though never so able to endure it."
Hist, of Inf. Bap. part ii. chap. ii. p. 462, 463. De-

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. \99

fence of Hist. Inf. Bap. p. 129, 131, 140, 147.* —
See also Dr. Robertson's Hist. Emp. Charles V. vol iii.
p. 78. CEderi Cateches. R^coviens. Profligat. p. 98.
Milton's Parad. Lost, b. xii. 1. 438, 441, 442. Ency-
clopasd. Britan. art. Baptism, vol. ii. p. 995. Thesaur.
Theolog. Philolog. torn. ii. p. 569. Leydeckeri Idea
Theolog. I. vii. c. v. § 7. Petavii Theol. Dogmat.
1. ii. de Pcenitent. c. i. § 11. Episcopii Respons. ad
Quest. XXXV. Dr. Grabe's Unity of the Church, and
Expediency of Forms of Prayer, Preface. Cajetani
Annotat. ad Matt. iii. 16. Cases to Recover Dissen-
ters, vol. iii. p. 31. Diet, of the Bible, (three vols,
octavo) vol. ii. p. 709- Brandt's Hist. Reform, b. xlviii.
vol. iv. p. 56. Mr. Ostervald's Grounds and Principles
of Christ. Relig. p. 31 1, edit. 6th. Scheuchzeri Physica
Sacra, tab. dclxiv.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. Here we have a great number of the
most respectable characters for solid learning, and many
of them for eminent piety. They appear to testify what
they know and what they believe concerning an ancient
fact; a fact, in an acquaintance with which, the purity
of a divine institution, and obedience to the will of our
Lord are not a little involved. The principal question
on which they are cited to give their opinion, is : Whe-
ther John the Baptist, and the apostles of Christ, admi-

* The anonymous author of a book entitled, Le Baptfeme Re-
tabli, gives us the following remarkable anecdote respecting im-
mersion, as performed by one of the Roman pontiffs, " Pope Be-
nedict XIII. having occasion, more than once, to baptize adult per-
sons, and among others, nine Jews and Turks at one time ; he in-
structed them himself, and after that he immersed them. With a
view to every thing being performed in its natural and proper or-
der, he made use of the ancient rituals ] which so much displeased
the cardinals, that not one of them would assist at the ceremony.
This is what I myself, as well as others, have read under the article
Rome, in the public newspapers." Le Bap. Retab. part ii. p. 92, 93.

200 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OB"

nistered baptism by immersion ? A question this, w hich
regards both fact and right. Because, in whatever man-
ner those venerable men, and hghts of the world, per-
formed that institution, we are bound to believe it was
right; for they had too much knowledge and too much
integrity to administer this branch of holy worship in a
wrong way. Besides, they were not ignorant that their
practice, in this respect, was to be viewed as a pattern,
and to be considered as law, by the succeeding disciples
of Christ. The character and profession of those au-
thors, who appear to give their thoughts on this impor-
tant subject, leave no room for suspicion that they
were biassed in favour of the Baptists : because partiality
itself must confess, that if their judgment was under the
influence of predilection, it most probably lay on the
contrary side. JNIany of them also are beyond the reach
of suspicion, in regard to their knowledge of ecclesias-
tical antiquity.

Let us now see what our impartial friends, the
Quakers, have to say on this part of the subject.

1. Thomas Lawson. — " John the Baptist, that is,
John the dipper; so called because he was authorized to
baptize in water, . . . Such as j^katiti.ze, or sprinkle infants,
have no command from Christ, nor example among the
apostles, nor the first primitive Christians for so doing
. . . .See ihe'siuthor of jim}itis)?i, that is, sprinkling; not
Christ, nor the apostles, but Cyprian ; not in the days
of Christ, but some two hundred and thirty years after."
Baptismalogia, p. 7, 75, 117.

2. Thomas Ellwood. — " Philip went down with
him [the eunuch] into the water, and baptized him ;
which was no sooner done, and they come up out of the
water again, but the Spirit of the Lord caught away
Philip." Sacred Hist, of the New Test, part ii. p. 335.

3. John Gratton. — " Down into the water he [Jesus]
goes, and fulfilled John's dispensation, or that righteous-
ness required by it, and having fulfilled it, he ncnt up

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 201

Straightway out of the water." Life of John Gratton,
p. 150. See Chap. II. Reflect. I. No. 1, 7. — Such is the
language of those who have no perceivable interest in
the decision of this dispute.

On a brief review of the preceding quotations from
learned Paedobaptist authors, it appears, that immersion
was practised by John the Baptist, by the apostles of
Christ, and by the primitive Christians, No. 1 — 94;
— that our Lord himself was immersed by the venerable
John, No. 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 19, 20, 26, 27, 29, 30,
37, 41, 46, 47, 52, 57, 58, 62, 70, 73, 76, 78, 90, 95,
96; — that some of them expressly assert, and many of
them implicitly allow, that the scripture no where speaks
of any being baptized, but by immersion, No. 10, 16,
23, 31, 36, 50, 67, 69, 71, 76, 80, 83, 85 ;— that the
practice of immersion gave occasion for some very sin-
gular and emphatical phrases to be used by the apostles.
No. 9, 12, 18, 30, 34, 36, 40, 45, 54, 55, 61, 66, 73,
82, 88, 89 ; — that the baptism of the three thousand
affords no objection to the universal practice of immer-
sion in those times, No. 76; — that plunging was the
general and almost universal practice, for a long course
of ages. No. 4, 70, 76, 93 ;~that the churches of Hel-
vetia acknowledge, and the church of England, in com-
mon cases, requires immersion. No. 19, 57, 93 ; — that
one of these authors knew of no Protestant, who had
denied immersion to have been the general practice of
apostolic times ; and of but very few learned men, who
denied its being the fittest, if a regard to health do not
forbid. No. 96 ; — that the custom of sprinkling is abso-
lutely indefensible, ibid. ; — that they who ridicule the
practice of immersion deserve censure, ibid.; — that
sprinkling of infants is not an institution of Christ,
No. 3, 67; — that it is uncertain when, and by whom,
sprinkling was introduced. No. 80; — and, that a resto-
ration of the primitive practice is very desirable. No. 50,
51, 92, 93. See Chap. III. Reflect. IV.— Such is the

202 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

verdict which these Pasdobaptists give on the cause be-
fore us.

Reflect. II. Now is it not strange, strange to asto-
nishment, that so many eminent men should thus agree
in bearing testimony to immersion, as the apostohc ex-
ample ; when it is notorious that their own practice was
very different? Just so the Papists acknowledge, that
the apostolic church communicated at the Lord's table in
both kinds ; while they themselves unite in a contrary prac-
tice. Thus Toletus, for instance : " It was an ancient
custom in the church, from the times of the apostles, to
communicate under both species. About this there is
no controversy. This ancient custom is manifest from

the words of Paul, 1 Cor. x. and xi."- Salmero :

" No one denies that the Corinthians communicated
under both species; yet we deny that custom to have
the force of a divine precept."* At what these veterans
in the cause of superstition may say, we have httle
reason indeed to be surprised; but is it not a won-
derful phenomenon in the religious world, that such a
number of the most learned Lutherans, Calvinists, and
Arminians, abroad; together with English Episcopa-
lians, Presbyterians, and Independents; should all unite
in one attestation, respecting the primitive mode of ad-
ministering this ordinance; even while they opposed the
Baptists, for considering immersion as absolutely neces-
sary to a compliance with the divine command ; and
while they greatly differed among themselves, in respect
of several particulars relating to the subjects and the
design of baptism ? To what can this remarkable agree-
ment with us, as to the primitive mode of proceeding,
be ascribed ? And what is the reason of their differing
so much among themselves ? The true reason, I take to
be this : When they unite in declaring their views of
the apostolic pattern, they have clear, strong, indubi-
table evidence, arising from the meaning of the name

Apiul Laurentiumj Dialog. Eucharist, c. ii. § 62, 63.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. i:i03

u'hich the ordinance bears, and the inspired narrative of
the first Christian churches. Each of them feels the
ground on which he treads. Hence their union ; and
here they agree with us. — On the other hand, when
they differ among themselves, about the foundation of
an infant's claim on the ordinance ; concerning the de-
gree of necessity and the utility of Psedobaptism ; about
sponsors, the sign of the cross, and so on; they argue
on general principles and moral considerations. This
kind of argumentation is quite foreign to the nature of
positive rites; and yet, by a long train of deductions from
such principles, they infer their various rules of pro-
ceeding in the administration of baptism. Hence they
differ among themselves. Nor need we wonder. For
as moral considerations are exceedingly various, and as
the application of each to practice may be greatly diver-
sified; so, according to the complexion of the principle
adopted as the foundation of an argument, will the
natural inference be, whether it regard the mode or the
subject of any ordinance. Whenever ideas, therefore,
of moral fitness, of expediency, or of necessity, usurp
the place of divine precepts and apostolic examples, re-
lating to positive institutions of the Christian church;
the most learned and the best of men will always differ
in their conclusions, and that in proportion as their
notions of what is fitness, expediency, or necessity, vary.
For it is notorious, that while one esteems this or the
other thing extremely proper and highly useful to the
cause of religion ; another despises it as absurd, or de-
tests it as injurious. But when our divine Lord, ad-
dressing his disciples in a positive command, says, * It
shall be so;' or when, speaking by an apostolic ex-
ample, he declares, ' It is thus ;' all our own reason-
ings about fitness, expediency, or utility, must hide their
impertinent heads. The finest powers of reason have
nothing to do, in this case, but only to consider the natu-
ral, the obvious import of his language, and then submit.

204 PRACTICK OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

To reason any farther here, is only to seek a plausible
excuse for rebellion against the sovereign majesty of
Him who is king in Zion.

Reflect. III. It is, I think, a good rule which Dr.
Owen gives, relating to divine institutions, when he says:
" That which is Jirst in any kind, gives the measure of
what follows in the same kind."* — With Dr. Owen,
Abp. Tillotson perfectly agrees. He expresses himself
thus: " This is reasonable, that \hQ first in every kind
should be the rule and pattern of the rest, and of all that
follow after, because it is likely to be the most perfect.
In process of time, the best institutions are apt to de-
cline, and, by insensible degrees, to swerve and depart
from their first state; and therefore it is a good rule to
preserve things from corruption and degeneracy, often
to look back to i\\Q first institution, and by that to cor-
rect those imperfections which almost unavoidably creep
in with time."'!" — To the judgment of these two eminent
authors, I will add the suffrage of Mr. Henry, who
speaks with a professed regard to baptism in the follow-
ing manner: "When a question was put to our Lord
Jesus, by the Pharisees, concerning marriage, he refers
them to the institution and original law, (Matt. xix.
3, 4,) to teach us to go by the same rule in other ordi-
nances. Run up the stream of the observation (which
in a long course sometimes contracts filth) to the
spring of the institution, and see what it was from the
beginning.'" '\, — These directions perfectly coincide with
that maxim of unerring wisdom, to which Mr. Henry
adverts : From the be<^imiino- it was not so. A maxim
this of such importance, that whoever can is ready to
avail himself of it. For, as Mr. lilake justly observes,
"If we can but say. From the bcginni)ig\it ivas not

* Enquiry into Orig, Nat. and Constitut, of Churches, Pref. p. 54.
t Works, vol. ii. p, 170, fol. 172'2.
t Treatise on Bap. p. 18.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 205

SO — we have sufficient."* — To which I will add the suf-
rage of Dr. Ridgley : " The example of our Saviour
and his apostles ought to be a rule to the churches in
all succeeding ages."']' Consequently, if at the begin-
ning of the Christian church baptism was immersion, as
appears by the foregoing testimonies, it ought to be so
now.;|: This must be the case, except there be evidence
of our sovereign Lord having repealed his first order,
and altered the original plan of proceeding : but no such
pretence is made by our brethren. — Perfectly agreeable
to this, is the following language of a learned Pasdobap-
tist in opposition to the church of Rome. " If so then,
[in the apostolic times] why not now? Does not that
reason still hold good ? Who hath made this change ?
Who hath sown these new tares in the church? How
crept in this false doctrine? How grew up this corrupt
absurd practice ? Certainly, from no other than that abo-
minable root, which gives being to the whole body of
Popery, viz. pride and usurpation." §

It must, indeed, be acknowledged, that though the
numerous and learned authors just produced, consider
immersion as practised by the apostles; yet many of
them think it highly probable, that pouring or sprink-
ling was used on some occasions, in those primitive
times. A supposition this, too much like that of the
Roman Catholics, when they speak to the following
effect: "Though, wine was commonlij used by those
who partook of the holy supper, in the apostolic age ;
yet a participation of that element is not essential to the
ordinance : nor is it demonstrable that the apostles

* Covenant Sealed, p. 111. Vid. Vitring, De Synag. Vet. Prole-
gom. p. 75. t Body of Div. quest. 168, 169, 170. Vid,

Dr. Owen, on Church Government, p. 62, 92.

X Id esse verum quodcunque prius : id esse adulterum, quod-
cunque posterius, says Tertullian. That is. Whatever was first, is
true : Whatever was introduced afterwards, is a corruption,

§ Hist, of Popery, vol. i. p. 160,

206 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

always used it when they celebrated the death of their
Lord. Nay, the contrary seems rather to be implied,
■when they call the administration of that solemn ap-
pointment, Breaking of bread." — Mr. Payne has
justly observed, with regard to the holy supper, that it
•would have been very strange had the apostles acted
contrary to its institution in the course of their practice,
and in so short a time after its first appointment : *
which observation may be applied to the subject before
us, — But we answ^er more directly, by asking : Whether
the apostles and their associates did not administer
baptism in obedience to divine law ? Whether the com-
manding terms in every law^, divine or human, should
not be understood in their most commonly received
sense ; except there be some intimation of a different
acceptation being intended ? Whether the primary and
most common meaning of the word baptism, be not im-
mersion ? And, whether the act of solemnly immersing
a person does not more fully express the great design of
the ordinance, than pouring or sprinkling ? Now, if
learning and impartiality unite in demanding an affirm-
ative answer to these queries, as appears from quo-
tations already produced ; there is not the least reason
to doubt, but the apostles always practised immersion.

Very few of our opposers, if I mistake not, have
dared absolutely to deny, either the lawfulness of im-
mersion, or that the apostles ever used it. But if lawful,
it must be so in virtue of a divine command, or of some
authentic example ; because it is a positive rite, and
when performed by us, it is as a religious duty. If, then,
a divine precept require immersion, by what authority is
pouring or sprinkling at all used? for that plunging,
pouring, and sprinkling, are three different actions, will
not admit of a doubt. Or, does our Lord, in the same
enacting term of the same law, warrant all those different
modes of proceeding, and compliment the human will

* Preservative against Popery, title vii. p. 111.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 207

with a liberty of choosing that which is most agreeable ?
Were that the case, it would be a strange law indeed,
when considered as enacted by our divine Sovereign !
Have we any instance of this kind in the sacred records?
Nay, the majesty of a human legislator would be dis-
graced by such a conduct, — On the other hand, if pour-
ing or sprinkling be naturally inferible from our Lord's
command (and he must be of a perverse turn, who
pleads for an inference confessedly unnatural;) and if
the apostles, or the primitive church, ever practised the
one or the other ; it is hard to imagine how they came
to use immersion at all : either of the former, considered
simply in itself, being more easy, and more agreeable to
human feelings, both in regard to the administrator and
the candidate. So, had Abraham and his male posterity
been left at their option to circumcise either O-Jinger, or
the foreskin, we might have safely concluded, without
express information, which they would have preferred —
so preferred, as never to have practised the other. It is
far more natural therefore to conclude, that immersion
was changed into sprinkl'mg, than that sprinkling was
laid aside for immersion : and of this Pgedobaptists
themselves will furnish us with sufficient evidence in a
following chapter.

Farther : Had the apostles practised pouring or
sprinkling, a basin, or something similar, must have been
frequently used on the solemn occasion. Is it not then
a wonder that the sacred historians, when recording so
many instances of the ordinance being administered, no
where mention such a domestic utensil, nor any thing
like it, as employed by the administrator? Our brethren
perhaps may say : " This was a trifling circumstance,
and not worthy of particular notice." We find, however,
that when our Lord M'ashed the feet of his disciples, as
he made use of a basin, it is expressly mentioned.*' Now
that pedilavium being a single instance, not intended as

* John xiii. b; see Exod. xii. 9.9,, and xxiv. 6.

208 TRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

an ordinance of divine \vorship, nor yet, in a literal
sense, as a binding example on the followers of Christ;
it is quite unaccountable that the inspired historic pen
should so expressly mark the use of a basin on that
occasion, and yet pass over in silence its very frequent
service at the administration of baptism : for its use must
have been frequent indeed, had the mode of proceeding
adopted by our opposers been then practised. Besides,
there would have been the greatest propriety in men-
tioning a circumstance of this kind, had pouring or
sprinkling been the mode of administration ; because it
would have been a plain intimation, that the term
baptism was not to be understood in its primary and
obvious, but in a secondary and remote acceptation. Of
what importance was it for us to know, that our Lord
poured water into a basin, before he performed the con-
descending act; in comparison with an explicit account
of something similar, if any thing similar there had been,
prior to the administration of baptism, and preparatory
to it ? How comes it that these expressions, or others
equivalent : " Peter, or Paul, or Philip (for instance)
poured water into a basin, and baptized such a one, are
entirely unknown to the New Testament? How came
the inspired page to speak, not of basins, but of ?ivers ;
not of a litt/e, but of much zvater; not of bringing water
to the candidate, but of his going to, and into the water;
not oi wetting, but oi burying ; when the administration
and the design of the ordinance are described ? Were
one of our opponents to publish a history ot his own
practice, in regard to baptism, he must either use dif-
ferent language from that of inspiration, respecting this
matter ; or expose himself to a violent suspicion of
having deserted the cause he once espoused. His cha-
racter would certainly appear problematical among his
brethren, and his conduct bear a dispiite, whatever he
might intend. If therefore the sacred historians prac-
tised aspersion, their conduct as writers was extremely

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 20.9

remarkable : for though, on that supposition, they set
the example which our opposers follow, as to the mode
of administration ; yet, in their narrations, they adopt
such expressions, and mention such circumstances re-
lating to baptism, as would make a very singular figure
from the pen of an English Paedobaptist, when de-
scribing his own conduct and vievvs in reference to that
institution. Were my reader to peruse a narrative of
baptismal practice, penned by a foreigner, or by any
anonymous author, of whom he had no knowledge but
what was obtained from his writings; — were he to find
him speak of choosing a place for the administration of
baptism, in preference to others, because there was much
water there — of his baptizing in a river — of going down
with the candidate into, and coming up out of the water;
— were he to find him reminding baptized persons of
their having been buried and inised with Christ in
baptism ; and were he to observe, that the author
always uses a word for the ordinance, which, in its
primary acceptation, signifies intmersion, but never talks
of bringing water to the candidate, or of using a basin,
as preparatory to the administration ; he would, 1 pre-
sume, be ready to say : " This author, whoever he be,
writes like a Baptist. He speaks the language of one
that considers baptism as nothing short of immersion.
If, however, contrary to all appearances, he practise
aspersion, and intended to inform the public of that par-
ticular, he has chosen a very singular method in which
to do it, and has expressed himself in the most awkward
manner imaginable." Now, supposing the apostles to
have practised pouring, or sprinkling, it is highly reason-
able for us to conclude, that the inspired penmen in-
tended to inform us of it. But if so, how comes it that
a serious and uniform adoption of their expressions, by
an unknown author, respecting the administration and
meaning of the sacred rite, is enough to raise an imme-
diate suspicion that he approves of immersion? And
VOL. 1. p

210 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

how comes it, that our present opposers never talk of
going to a place where there is much water, of going into
the water, and of coming up out of the water, when they
speak of performing the solemn service? A similarity
of practice, in other cases, usually produces a similarity
oilanguage, when that practice is narrated. This, there-
fore, is a presumptive evidence, that the apostolic prac-
tice was different from theirs. For while they avoid
the use of this remarkable apostolic language, it looks as
if they were conscious that it would not properly express
the facts to which it should be applied.

To illustrate the point and confirm the argument,
it may be observed, that when Justin Martyr describes
the manner of proceeding in his time, he speaks cf the
candidates being " brought to a place of water,'' * that
they might be baptized. A kind of language this which
is not at all used, that I recollect, by Paedobaptists in
our country. The ancient apologist, however, saw rea-
son for such expressions. Was it, then, because he de-
signed to inform the Roman emperor how baptism was
practised in those times? Undoubtedly; and we have
equal grounds to conclude, that the apostles intended
to inform posterity how baptism was administered by
John, and by themselves. Is this phraseology of Justin
like that of the New Testament in similar cases ? None,
wdth any appearance of reason, can deny it ; and hence
it has been inferred, that religious practice, in this re-
spect, was the same in the second as it was in the first
century. What then has been the opinion of learned
men concerning the mode of administration, as intimated
in these remarkable words of the martyr? They have,
I think, universally understood him, as meaning to con-
vey the idea of immersion. Mr. Reeves, for instance, in
his Note on this very passage, has the following words .
" It is evident, from this place of Justin, and that of

* Mr. Reeves's Apologies, vol. i, p. 105. Vid. Buddei Theol.
Dogmat, 1. V. c. i. § 5.

TUT. CIHTRCH TN FOLLOMTNG AGES. 211

Tertullian (De Cor. Mil. c. iii.) that ponds and livurs
were the only baptisteries or fonts the church had for
the first two hundred years.'"* — But whether the apos-
tles and Justin administered the ordinance by plunging
or sprinkling, one thing is plain ; Various remarkable
expressions, found in the writings of those ancients re-
lative to baptism, are seldom, if ever, used in the same
connection by our opposers, though common enough
aaiong such as practise immersion. This reminds me
of what is reported concerning some Popish priests in
Scotland, who imagined that the New Testament was-
composed by Martin Luther.f A wild imagination,
doubtless. It may be supposed to have arisen, how-
ever, from that similarity of sentiment and of expression,
which they perceived to exist, between the apostolic
writings and those of the great reformer. Now, as it is
natural for persons to make use of language that is agree-
able to their own religious practice ; and as the obvious
meaning, not only of Justin's expressions, but of inspired
phraseology, relating to baptism, is much more agreeable
to the practice of plunging, than to that of pouring or
sprinkhng a little water upon the face ; I cannot but
think, that both the apologist and the apostles constantly
practised immersion.

That the principle of reasoning adopted in the two
preceding paragraphs is not peculiar to us, appears by
the following extract from Dr. Waterland ; which, mu-
tatis mutandis, will apply in the present case. '' The
Arians never use any expressions like to some which
they subscribe to. They will never say from the press,
or from the pulpit, or in common conversation, that Fa-
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God ; that they are
coequal, coeternal, and so on. They allow of these ex-
pressions as often as they subscribe, but never else. . . .

* Mr. Reeves's Apologies, vol. i. p. 105. Vid. Buddei Theol.
Dogmat. 1. V. c.i. § 5.

f Mr. Clarkson's Practical Div. of Papists, p. 79-

P 2

212 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

Should any man of them, in a treatise or sermon, throw
out any such shocking assertions, (shocking, I mean, to
them,) he would be looked upon as a deserter by the
party, and a betrayer of the cause which he had under-
taken to defend."*

Reflect. IV. It has been sometimes objected, that
there is no mention of any change of raiment at the ad-
ministration of baptism ; which must have taken place,
and would probably have been mentioned, had immer-
sion been the common practice. Various learned and
eminent Paedobaptists have taught us, however, that in
the apostolic writings there are plain allusions to such
change of raiment. See No. 54, 59, 61. — But suppo-
sing no such allusive expressions to have been used, yet
as the inspired writers inform us, that John baptized our
Lord in, or into Jordan; that Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water, and that the latter was baptized;
we should not have wanted any farther information re-
specting that affair. Who can doubt whether the Syrian
leper changed his garments, when, according to the
order of the man of God, he dipped himself seven times
in Jordan, though the sacred historian is silent as to
that particular? Nor is any mention made of changing
the raiment, that I recollect, either in the laws or in the
history of legal i)urification by bathing, among the an-
cient Israelites ; yet that mode of purification often
occurs in the Old Testament.'!"

Reflect. V. To favour the cause of sprinkling, some
Paedobaptists have given such a representation of the
manner in which John performed the sacred rite, as is
quite ludicrous. Dr. Guise, for instance, when speak-
ing of the multitude baptized by our Lord's harbinger,
says : " It seems therefore to me, that the people stood
in ranks near to, or just within the edge of the river;
and John, passing along before them, cast water upon

* Case of Arian Subscription, p. 33.

t See Mr. Martin's Letters to Mr. Horsey, p. 145, 146.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 213

their heads or faces, with his hands, or some proper
instrument ; by which means he might easily baptize
many thousands in a day." * Of this Mr. J. Wesley
has been the humble transcriber ; f and Mr. Arch. Hall
gives Dr. Guise's Note the sanction of his express appro-
bation.!— ^^^- Horsey also adopts the same view of the
fact, when he says : " I presume, that the multitude
stood i?2 rmiks at the brink, or just within the edge of
the river, while the administrator sprinkled or poured
the running water upon them."§ — Very different, how-
ever, is the following language of that eminent and
learned Lutheran, Buddeus : " Though a great multi-
tude was baptized by John, yet thence it does not follow
that they could not be baptized by immersion ; seeing
nothing hinders but they might be baptized separately,
one by one." II — That so grave an author as Dr. Guise
should give such a puerile and farcical turn to the con-
duct of him who came in the spirit and power of Elijah,
when administerin": a solemn ordinance of divine wor-
ship, is matter of wonder. Nor can I account for its
being approved by others, but on a supposition, that
they feel themselves embarrassed, when attempting to
reconcile their own practice with the natural and obvious
meaning of what the evangelists have said concerning
John's administration of the rite. If, however, the credit
of sprinkling cannot be supported without burlesquing
the sacred history, and exposing in this manner one of
the most exalted human characters to the ridicule of
infidels, it ought for ever to sink in obHvion. But what
will not the love of hypothesis do, when cherished by
any writer ! To justify my censure, let the following
things be considered.

This account of the fact represents him who was
more than a prophet, as less than a man — represents

* Note on Matt. Hi, 6. f Ibid, Compare No. 18.

+ Gospel Worship, vol,i, p. 271. § Inf. Bap, Stated and

Defended, p. 20. || Theolog. Dogmat, 1, v. c, i. § 5,

214 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

him, who was all severity in his manners, and all solem-
nity in his ministry, as acting the part of a playful boy.
Accordino; to these authors, there was not half the solem-
nity in John's baptism, which there is in that annual
festival of the Romish church, which is called The Bene-
diction of Horses. Concerning the latter. Dr. Middle-
ton says: " It is always celebrated with much solemnity
in the month of January, when all the inhabitants of
the city and neighbourhood send up their horses, asses,
and so on, to the convent of St. Anthony, near St. Mary
the Great; where a priest in his surplice at the church-
door sprinkles with his brush all the animals singly, as
they are presented to him, and receives from each owner
a gratuity proportionable to his zeal and ability. Amongst
the rest, I had my own horses blest at the expense of
about eighteen- pence of our money; as ^vell to satisfy
my own curiosity, as to humour the coachman."* —
Whether Dr. Guise, and those who follow him in this
particular, imagine the son of Zacharias to have used
his naked hand, a scoop, a squirt, a brush, or a bunch
of hyssop, I cannot say; though the last, I thini-:,is most
likely, on the principle of Mr. Horsey 's reasoning.^ This,
however, is clear: The priest of superstition in his white

* In Conformity of Ancient and Modern Cerem. Pref. p. 5, 6,
f Mr. Gay has mentioned another instrument that is well fitted
to sprinkle a multitude expeditiously. These are his words :
" When dext'rous damsels twirl the sprinkling mop."
See Dr. Johnson's Diet, under the verb sprinkle. Whether this
was the instrument used by John, we leave our opposers to judge.
But how strange it is to hear of casting water on tlie head or face
with an instrument ! It leads one to think, rather of a pagan priest,
than of the Messiah's harbinger — of ancient heathenism, rather than
Christian baptism. For an account of the aspergilla, or instruments
of sprinkling, used in the riles of paganism, Lomeierus De Vet.
Gent. Lustrat. Syntag. cap. xxxv. may be consulted; but whither
the reader must have recourse for intelligence concerning the asper-
giUurn of John, or of any apostle, I confess myself entirely ignorant ;
because the only authors that mention it, have not condescended to
give us (he leajt description of it.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 215

surplice, appears to act with more care and more solem-
nity, than the servant of God in his hairy garment. The
former, though paid for his labour at so much per head,
cautiously sprinkles the cattle one by one: the latter,
though mortified to secular gain, burning with zeal for
God, and full of love to the souls of men, being all in a
hurry to finish his business, casts luater^ on half a dozen
or half a score at a time. Of this haste, it may be sup-
posed, the consequence was, that the water was very
unequally divided among the candidates. How many
deep the ranks were, our authors indeed have not in-
formed us; but according to them there must have been
more than o?ie rank, because they speak in the plural.
It is plain, therefore, that the front rankj must have had
the most copious application of the liquid element:
while many individuals, we may justly suppose, that
were farther distant from the administrator, had little or
none at all. This presumed conduct of John, considered
in one view, presents us with a mercenary drudge in the
service of God, who cares not how slovenly the solemni-
ties of holy worship are performed, provided they do but
appear in full tale: in another, with a wanton boy, who
makes himself sport by squirting water upon all that are
near him : in every view, not only with something quite
inimical to the character of John, but also to the solemn
and gracious import of that ordinance which he adminis-
tered. But, as the learned Chamier observes, " there
is nothing so extraordinary, nothing so unusual, nothing
so obscure, that is not urged by one or another against
a divine appointment."* — Dr. Hammond informs us,
that the manner of immersing proselytes among the Jews
" is said to be, that they should sit in water up to the
neck,'' and in that situation, " learn some of the precepts
of the law, both hard and easy.f" Now, after such a
representation of John's baptism, who could have ima-

* Panstrat. torn. iv. l.viii. c. vi. §38. f Note on Matt. iii. 1.

216 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

gined these very authors to consider it as originating in
the proselyte bathing ; yet so it is !

The people stood in ranks, near to, or just within
tJie edge of the river; and John, passing before them cast
water upon their heads or faces. But had this been a
fact, there is reason to think it would have been men-
tioned : because, when our Lord miraculously fed five
thousand men with a few loaves and fishes, we are ex-
pressly told that the hungry multitude were seated in
ranks.* As John was the first administrator of bap-
tism, and as his example, in the use of water, was to be
a pattern for the church in following ages ; it was appa-
rently of much more importance for us to have been in-
formed, had it been a fact, that the people were baptized
when standing in ranks, than it was to be told in what
position the five thousand were placed, when they par-
took of miraculous food. Because the former concerned
a standing ordinance of New Testament worship : the
latter, it is plain, was an extraordinary and transient fact.
Yet the sacred historians have not said a word about
the people standing in ranks when John baptized them,
though sitting in ranks be so plainly mentioned respect-
ing the miracle. It may be observed also in regard to
the latter case, that a great multitude vvere to be served
by a few disciples, and to be fed when the day was far
advanced. Expedition, therefore, was highly necessary,
that the people might be refreshed, and afterward go to
their own habitations. In reference to this afiair, the
idea of ejcpedition forces itself upon us; but not at all,
in regard to John's baptizing a multitude, farther than
was consistent with deep solemnity; for it is no where
said, that he baptized them all in a day. What then
would serious readers have thought, if Dr. Guise had
represented Jesus Christ as giving his disciples the broken
loaves and the divided fishes to fling among the ranks,
and leave the hungry thousands to scramble for them ?

* Mark vi, 40.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 217

I cannot help supposing, that they would have execrated
the representation as a vile impeachment of our Lord's
conduct, and as worthy of a Woolston, rather than a
Guise. My reader will apply this to the case before us.
Again : Do any of our opponents imagine that our
Lord, standing in one of these ranks, was baptized by
having a little water cast upon him in this random way?
Or, do they suppose that John baptized him in a singu-
lar manner? Few, I think, will assert the former; and
as to the latter, there is no appearance of evidence.
For, are we informed that the people of Judea and of
Jerusalem were all baptized by John in the river Jordan'i .
We are assured by the same authority, that Jesus came
from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John
in Jordan* Such is the testimony of Matthew and of
Mark; with which the language of sacred history in the
Old Testament, as given by the Seventy, may be com-
pared. Of Naaman, it is written: " Then went he down
and dipped himself, ePaTrna-aTo, seven times in Jordan."'}"
With equal reason therefore might we suppose, that the
Syrian general went only to the biHnk, or just within the
edge of Jordan, and there cast'water upon his head or his
face ; as adopt the imagination of these authors, respect-
ing the manner of John's proceeding. When the Seventy
interpreters express the idea of coming to Jordan, their
words are, ewf rov lop^avov : '\, when they convey the no-
tion of standing by Jordan, they use the terms, em rov
hp'^avov : § and when they represent a person standing
upon the brink, or Just within the edge ofjordati, their
language is, eiri rov '/eiXovg rov lof^avov.^ But when the
evangelists mention Jordan, in connection with John's
baptizing, they represent him as performing the rite, ev
Tw lop^avYj, IN Jordan; or as baptizing, eig rov lop^avvjv,
INTO Jordan.^ As coming to the brink of Jordan, and

* Mark i. 5, 9 5 Matt. iii. 6. f 2 Kings v. 14.

X 9. Sam. xix. 15 ; 2 Kings vi. '2, and vii. 1.5.

§ ^2Kingsii.7. || SKings ii. 13. ^ Matt. iii. 6 j Mark i. 9.

218 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

being in that river, manifestly denote different situations;
so they are plainly distinguished in the Septuagint. " When
ye are come to the brink, ctt* jxcpovg, of the water of
Jordan, ye shall stand still, ev lop^avvj, in Jordan."*
So, in the history of the Ethiopian eunuch, it is written,
" As they went on their way, they came to a certain
water, €7r/ T/ v^ap-^' which is an approach to the brink:
but when the act of baptizing was to be performed,
*' they went down both into the water, eig to v^cop, both
Philip and the eunuch ;"'f which, doubtless, expresses an
idea somewhat different from the eunuch standing o?i the
brink, or just within the edge of the water, that Philip
might cast a few drops upon his head or his face.

Or, if the sacred historians designed to inform us,
that our Lord accompanied John into Jordan, that he
might be baptized by having a little water, not cast in
his face, but poured upon his head; how comes it that
none of them says a word about that memorable, so-
lemn, and significant ^ow7*i;/o'.^ It is manifest they were
not so sparing in their narratives on other occasions,
though of much less importance to our instruction, and
to the purity of a divine institution. Is om\.mer\i poured
on the head of our Lord, once and again? it is expressly
mentioned by those very evangelists who represent him
as baptized in Jordan.^ Yet none can doubt that it
was of much greater moment for us to know, in ^^hat
manner he was baptized; than it was precisely to be
informed, how two godly women applied their costly
ointment to his sacred person.

The peojjle stood in ranks, near to, or Just within the
edge of the river ; and John, passing before them, cast
water upon their heads or faces. Such, according to
these authors, was the truly primitive mode of proceed-
ing ! But if any of our opposers really believe this,
why do they not imitate an example of such antiquity
and so well recommended? Why, when calleil to admi-

* Jobh.iii. 8. t Acts viii.3G,38. + Matt.xxvi. 7; Mark xiv.3.

THE CHURCH IN FOLl. OWING AGES, 219

nister baptism, do they not go to a river, or some col-
lection of water, place the candidate on the brink, and
then, standing in the liquid element, cast some of it
upon his head or his fiice ? This would be a compliance
with what these authors consider as original practice. —
It may be observed, however, that their own representa-
tion of John's proceedings does not give us a very
strong idea of his baptizing infants. For mere infants
could not stand in ranks, either on the brink, or just
within the edge of Jordan. Were they then laid in
ranks ? our opposers, I think, will not assert it. They,
it may be presumed, if present for the purpose of being
baptized, must have been held in the arms; of which,
nevertheless, there is no mention. Nor could the ad-
ministrator take them into his arms one by one; for
that, according to this representation, his expedition
in baptizing multitudes would not permit. If, therefore,
he sprinkled infants along with adults, it must have
been while they were in the arms of their parents, or of
their friends; of which there is no intimation, or shadow
of probability. It is to be feared, therefore, that this
remarkable anecdote of primitive sprinkling, of which
some Paedobaptists are so fond, has a tendency to ex-
clude infants from a share in the rite. However, be
that as it may, for any of our Protestant Dissenting bre-
thren to fix the idea of original example in opposition
to us, and never to imitate that example, has but an
awkward look; as it is too much like the conduct of
Roman Catholics, respecting the holy supper. Who-
ever believes the divine mission of John, cannot have
any just reason to be ashamed of doing as he did, in
regard to the use of baptismal water. Yet were I in-
formed that Mr. Horsey, for instance, frequently goes
into a river, merely to sprinkle an infant, or an adult;
I should certainly impeach, either the credibiHtif of my
information, or the intellects of the administrator. Nor
would a consideration of all I have read in Mr. Hor-

220 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

sey's Discourse, concerning John's being the son of a
priest, concerning legal pur ificatioiis, and running water ^
at all relieve my anxiety about the punctuality of my
informant, or the sanity of my friend. Because, when
John baptized, it was, not as the son of a priest, but as
the forerunner of Christ; not as influenced by Jewish
customs, but as feeling the force of divine authority. Be-
sides, vvere it granted that mere water was ever sprinl^led
with a view to legal purification, which nevertheless can-
not be proved ; it would be as hard to evince, that the
Jewish priests w ent into a river to sprinkle the running
water, as it would be to demonstrate that they purified
any person by plunging him in water. Nor, among
all the laws of ceremonial purification, do I recollect
one, that enjoined pouring water on the head, or sprink-
ling it on \X\Q face: much less, that the officiating priest
should thus apply the liquid element, when standing on
the brink, or just within the edge of a stream.

It may perhaps be said : John chose a river for the
purpose of sprinkling, not only because it was running
water, but also on account of the nndtitude that came
to his baptism; and therefore his example in entering
a river does not, in common cases, oblige. So the Ro-
man Catholics tell us, that in primitive times, when the
sacred supper was administered to a small number of
communicants, they might all partake of the cup without
inconvenience ; but afterward, when communicants be-
came numerous, it was necessary to make an alteration
in that particular.^ — The futility of this plea will farther
appear, if it be considered, that a basin, or a pail, would
have contained a sufficient quantity of water for the
sprinkhng of great numbers. See No. 60. — Besides,
we are informed, that w hen Philip baptized a single in-
dividual, both he and the candidate ivent into the water.
Were Mr. Horsey, therefore, to act upon that represen-
tation of John's baptism which he has given, I cannot
help thinking, that serious Picdobaptist spectators would

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 221

find themselves in a predicament not much different
from that of the poet :

" To laugh were want of goodness and of grace ;
And to be grave exceeds all power of face."

If our Lord's harbinger discovered no more solem-
nity and caution in hearing a profession of repentance
made by the candidates, and in declaring by what au-
thority and for what purposes they were to be baptized,
than these our opponents represent him as having when
he used the water; there was, we may venture to conclude,
but little appearance of his baptism being /row heaven^
or of much devotion subsisting in his heart. The love
of hypothesis must surely be very great, when it impels
godly and sensible men to seek refuge for their cause in
such extravagant fancies as these. But, as Mr. Alsop
observes, " when men are pressed with express scripture,
and yet are resolved (cost what will) to adhere to their
own conclusions, it is advisable to cast about, to turn
their thoughts into all shapes imaginable, to hunt for the
extremest possibilities. If a word, a phrase, an expres-
sion, is but capable of another sense, let it be probable
or improbable, true or false, agreeable to the scope of
the place, or alien, all is a case; something must be
said, that they may not seem to say nothing: and if
they can say. It is possible it may he othei^wise, (as who
cannot ?) though they do not believe themselves, they
hug themselves for their ready wit, and applaud them-
selves for grave respondents." *

Reflect. VI. The baptism of the three thousand '\
has been frequently pleaded, as a presumptive evidence
in favour of pouring, or of sprinkling. The Roman
Catholics also imagine, that they find a warrant in the
same fact, for persons who do not bear the ministerial
character to administer baptism, when a supposed ne-
cessity urges ; because they conclude that the apostles

* Antisozzo, p. 549, 550. f Acts ii. 41.

222 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

could not baptize so great a number in so short a
time.*^ Agreeable to which is the following language of
Mr. Ferdinando Shaw : " IVIany learned men are of
opinion, that the believers, the brethren, lay-christians,
assisted the apostles in baptizing them ; without which it
is hard to be conceived how it could be done in so
short a time." t One very learned, sagacious, and im-
partial writer, already quoted, (No. 76,) frankly acknow-
ledges, that the passage is far from affording an argu-
ment against immersion ; to whom I will now add a
few more Picdobaptists. Thus then, Mr. Marchant :
" The only question is, how^ such a multitude of con-
verts could be baptized in one day? To which some
reply, that this rite of initiation into the Christian church
was then performed by way of sprinkling, as it is
among us: but whoever looks into history will find,
that the form of baptism among the Jews was plung-
ing the whole body under water ; and that in confor-
mity to them, the primitive Christians did, and the
eastern church even to this day does administer that
sacrament in this manner. There is no necessity, there-
fore, for us to suppose, that all those proselytes to
the Christian faith were baptized in one day. St.
Luke delivers in the gross, what might possibly be

transacted at several times.":}: Buddeus : "When

those three thousand persons that were brought to re-
pentance in one day, by the preaching of Peter, were to
be baptized, they were led to another place ; and might
be baptized, [i. e. immersed] by the apostles, by others
in company with them, and also by the seventy disciples.
For though I.uke has not mentioned this, yet we cannot
thence infer that it is not a fact, seeing many circum-
stances are frequently omitted for the sake of brevity." §

* Forbesii Instruct. Hist. Theol. 1. x. c. xiii. § 13.

f Valid, of Bap. by Dissent. Ministers, p. 92, edit. 2nd.

■^ Exposit. in loc. § Theolog. Dogmat. 1. v. c. i. § 5.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 223

Bp. Wilson: " The same day, i. e. at that time,

on account of that sermon ; though they might not all
be baptized in one day, but were at that time con-
verted."* Bp. Taylor: "Aquinas supposes the

apostles did so, [that is, used sprinkhng instead of im-
mersion,] when the three thousand, and when the five
thousand, were at once converted and baptized. But
this is but a conjecture, and hath no tradition and no

record to warrant it."t Bossuet : " It appears not,

that the three thousand and the five thousand, men-
tioned in the Acts of the Apostles, who were converted
at the first sermons of St. Peter, were baptized any
other way [than by immersion ;] and the great numbers
of those converts is no proof that they were baptized by
sprinkling, as some have conjectured. For, besides that
nothing obliges us to say that they were all baptized on
the same day ; it is certain that St. John the Baptist, who
baptized no less numbers, seeing all Judea flocked to
him, baptized no other way than by dipping : and his
example shows us, that to baptize a great number of
people those places were chosenwhere there was abund-
ance of water. Add to this, that the baths and purifi-
cations of the ancients rendered this ceremony easy and
familiar at that time." J

People who are but little accustomed to cold bathing,
either for amusement, for medical purposes, or with re-
ligious views, may wonder how such multitudes could
be accommodated, if they were immersed in water; but
when it is considered that this was done at Jerusalem,
where immersion was quite familiar, and must, by the
laws of Judaism, be daily practised, not only there, but
in all parts of the country, their amazement will cease.
For, as Bp. Patrick observes, " There are so many wash-
ings prescribed [in the law of Moses,] that it is reason-

* Note in loc. f Duct Dub. b. ill. chap, iv, p. 644,

X In Mr. Stennett's Answer to Mr, Russen, p, 175, 176.

224 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

able to believe, there were not only at Jerusalem, and in
all other cities, but in every village, several bathing
places contrived for these legal purifications, that men
might, without much labour, be capable to fulfil these
precepts." * Thus also D'Outreinius : " Whoever con-
siders the number of unclean persons, who daily had
need of washing, and he who reads the Talmudic Trea-
tises concerning purifications, and collections of water
convenient for those purposes, will be easily persuaded,
that Bethesda and other pools at Jerusalem subserved
that design. "f

Again : We are informed by the sacred historian,
that when king Solomon dedicated his magnificent tem-
ple, he offered two and twenty thousand o.ven, and a hun-
dred and twenty thousand sheep. Now, supposing a
Deist were to question the truth of this historical fact,
on account of the great number of animals that were
ofliered ; it would soon be replied by our opponents
themselves : " A great number of priests were employed ;
nor was the work performed in one day.";j: Why then
may not a similar answer suffice in the present case ?
All the Jewish males were enjoined, by divine law, to
appear before the Lord in Jerusalem three times in a
year. Now it may be asked, How could that metro-
polis contain such multitudes as came up from all parts
of the country, at each of their grand festivals ? Though
far from thinking this difficulty insurmountable, yet I
am persuaded, that it is full as easy to account for the
three thousand being immersed in one day, as it is to
conceive how such a prodigious concourse of strangers
were accommodated with lodgings, in the city and
suburbs of Jerusalem. But as, in the one case, there is
no necessity of supposing that the strangers were turned
into the fields to sleep with cattle ; § so, in the other,

* On Lev. xv. 12. f Kiblioth. Breinens. class, i. p. 614.

+ See Mr. Martin's Letters to Mr. Horsey, p. 150, l.'il.
§ See Dr. Jennings's Jewish Antiq. vol. ii. p. 169, 1/0.

THE CHURCH IN" FOLLOWING AGES. 225

there is no occasion to imagine that plunging was con-
verted into sprinkHng.

Farther: Were the method of arguing adopted by
our opposers with reference to this passage legitimate,
and their inference vahd, it might be rendered highly
probable, that the first instance of circumcision was per-
formed, not by cutting off the foreskin, but by making a
slight incision in that pellicle. For Moses assures us,
that Abraham circumcised himself and his son Ishmael,
tocfether with all the males that were born in his house
and bought with his money, on the very same day that
he received the divine order.* We are also informed
by the sacred historian, that long before Abraham
received the command of circumcision, lie had three
hundred and eighteen male servants, who were born in
his own house, and able to bear arms ;'\ consequently, it
is highly probable the whole number of males that were
born in his house, and then living, vvas four hundred
or upwards ; besides those that were bought with his
money, concerning the number of whom we have no in-
formation. Nor is there any reason to think that his
household was diminished, but rather increased, when he
obeyed the heavenly mandate under consideration. Now
if we may estimate the time required for circumcising
four or five hundred persons, by the time spent, exclu-
sive of devotional exercises, when the modern Jews per-
form the same rite upon an infant; we may safely con-
sider the difficulty as much greater in the case of Abra-
ham's circumcising his numerous household in one day,
than that which attends the immersion of three thousand.
For, by an instance of circumcision which the author
saw performed, he cannot help thinking that the time
employed in merely cutting off the foreskin, and taking
care of the part wdth a view to its healing, would have
sufficed for the solemn immersion of at least four

* Gen. xvii. 23, 24. f Gen. xiv. 14.

VOL. I. Q,

226 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

persons.* It must indeed be admitted, as exceedingly
probable, that the precautions used by Abraham to abate
the pain and to heal the part, were different from those
of the modern Jews in similar cases ; but some care,
doubtless, must have been immediately necessary, sup-
posing the prasputium of each to have been cut off,
especially with regard to grown persons in that hot
country. But how to account for one man doing all
this in a single day, I do not perceive. The difficulty
will increase if it be admitted, as I think it ought, that
Abraham set the first example in his own person, for,
as there is no intimation of any thing miraculous on that
occasion, the soreness and the pain must greatly incom-
mode him, while performing the rite upon others. On
the principle of reasoning here opposed, we might there-
fore infer, that the venerable patriarch did not cut off,
but only made a trnfting incision in the part specified.
But, whatever difficulties may attend speculation upon
the fact, I have not heard that any of the Jews ever
doubted whether their great progenitor performed a real
circumcision upon the males of his very numerous
household ; nor that they ever declined an imitation of
the original example, on account of any inconveniences
which attended it. See Chap. II. Reflect. IX. — It may
perhaps be said ; There is no necessity to conclude, that
the hoary patriarch himself circumcised all the males of
his numerous family; because he might be said to do
what was performed by his order. To which it may be
replied; The record of the fact expressly marks both
the performer and the time ; nor will it, I conceive, ad-
mit of such an interpretation ; for it is written, " Abra-
nam took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his
house, and all that were bought with his money, every
male among the men of Abraham's house, and circum-
cised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as

* See Leo Modena's Hist, of the Rites and Customs of the Jews,
part iv. chap. viii.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWINCr AGES. 227

God had said unto him." Now it is plain, that this
language ascribes to Abraham the whole performance of
the rite, exclusive of any assistant ; for it was the pa-
triarch himself who took Ishmael, and every male in his
house, and circumcised them. That all this was per-
formed by Abraham in one day, we have no doubt;
because the fact rests upon divine testimony : but that
speculation when employed upon it is embarrassed, ex-
cept we admit of a trifling incision instead of circum-
cision, must I think be acknowledged. When our op-
posers, therefore, have clearly accounted for the aged
patriarch's circumcising four or five hundred persons in
one day, they will not be much at a loss to conceive of
twelve apostles, and seventy disciples, immersing three
thousand in the same space of time.

That three thousand should be solemnly immersed
at such a place as Jerusalem, and at a time when, as the
sacred historian remarks, the disciples had favour with all
the people, even supposing them all to have been baptized
in one day, is not half so strange as various accounts
relating to facts of the same nature, that we find in the
page of history. Thus, for example, Mr. Marchant:
"Peter [and his companions in the ministry] baptizing in
one day three thousand persons by immersion, need not
be wondered at; since we read in the authentic life of
Gregory, the apostle of the Armenians, that he baptized
twelve thousand together, by immersion, in the river
Euphrates: which Isaac, the patriarch of that nation,

confirms in his first invective." *■ Mr. Bingham : "Pal-

ladius observes, in the hfe of St. Chrysostom, that at
Constantinople three thousand persons were baptized at

once, upon one of [their] greater festivals." f Dr. J.

^ G.King: "Wolodimer, a Russian prince, was baptized
by the name of Basilius; and it is said tweiity thousand
of his subjects were baptized the same day." J Mr.

* Exposit. on Matt.iii 7- f OriginesEccles. b. xi. chap.vi. §9.
X Rites and Cerem. of Greek Church, p. 4.

Q 2

228 PRACTICE OF THE ATOSTLES, AND OF

John Fox informs us, that Austin, the monk, " baptized
and christened ten thousand Saxons, or Angles, in the
West river, that is called Swale, beside York, on a
Christmas day."* Dr. Robertson: "A single clergy-
man baptized in one day above Jive thousand Mexicans,
and did not desist till he was so exhausted by fatigue,
that he was unable to lift up his hands."'!' — Nay, Sal-
mero asserts, (with what credibility the reader will judge,)
that " Francis Xavier, among the Indians, baptized
Jifteen thousand in one day." Upon which the learned
Chamier pertinently asks, " Could fifteen thousand be
baptized by one person; and might not three thousand
be baptized by many? "J — Respecting the administration
of baptism, Dr. Doddridge says: I think " the office was
generally assigned to inferiors, as requiring no extraor-
dinary abilities, and as being attended with some trouble
and inconvenience, especially where immersion was used,
as I suppose it often, though not constantly, was." >§ That
persons much inferior to the apostles in office and gifts
were sometimes employed by them to baptize those who
professed faith, we have no doubt: but that it was be-
cause of any trouble or inconvenience which attended the
administration, we do not believe; nay, we consider such
an idea as unworthy the character of those laborious
and self-denying ambassadors of Christ.

Our opponents, however, seem to forget that the prin-
cipal difficulty, in regard to time, does not lie in such a
multitude being baptized, whether by plunging or other-
wise; but in their making a satisfactory profession of
repentance and faith. For the three thousand were
adults; and our opposers agree, that all adults, pre-
vious to baptism, should make such a profession. It is

* Acts and Mon. under A.D. 602.
•f Hist, of South America, vol. ii. p. 3S4, quarto,
X Panstrat. torn. iv. 1. V. c. xiv. §39.

§ Note on 1 Cor. i. 16. Vid. Turrett. Institut. loc. xix. quaest.
xiv. § 11.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 229

much easier to conceive of their being immersed in the
course of a day, by such a number of administrators,
and with such conveniences as were then at Jerusalem;
than it is to imagine how those administrators could
receive a profession of faith in the Son of God, from
each of the candidates, in an equal space of time. I may
here venture an appeal to Pasdobaptist ministers. Whe-
ther, when adults apply for baptism, they do not spend
more time in hearing a declaration of the grounds of
their faith and hope, than they themselves would think
necessary for the solemn immersion of such candidates,
a river, a pond, or a baptistery being at hand? The pas-
sage before us, therefore, might be adduced with much
more appearance of argument, in opposition to the neces-
sity of personally professing faith previous to baptism,
than it can in favour'of pouring or sprinkling. — But why
should our opposers raise an objection, which, as Mr.
Martin observes, if it have any force, militates against
the idea of pouring, as well as of plunging ? For, as but
one person could be baptized at once, and as the same
form of words must have been used at the baptism of
each, the difference in respect of time between their
being plunged, and having- water poured or sprinkled
upon them, must be considered as very small. Besides,
according to another branch of that hypothesis which we
oppose, it seems as if many of these three thousand must
have had their children sprinkled in the same sj:)ace of
time; which will greatly increase the number, and more
than counterbalance the extra time required for immer-
sion.— Should it be objected, There is no occasion for
supposing that the children of those believers were bap-
tized on the same day: it may be replied, Neither does
Luke say that the three thousand were baptized, but
added to the church, the same day. Besides, an objec-
tion of that kind would be a departure from their usual
way of stating the matter; for they have often told us,
that infants were baptized along ivith their parents ; and

230 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

it is full as likely that those children whose parents were
among the three thousand should be baptized at the same
time, as that the jailor's infants, if he had any, should
have their sweet repose disturbed by being baptized at
midnight. Yet this their argument, from the latter of
these facts, implies. — I will add a remark of Mr. Ditton's :
" If the evidence be good," says he, *' by all the laws of
human nature, I do not care for ten thousand difficul-
ties, if they were ever so insuperable, provided they are
not such as infer simple impossibility, or palpable ab-
surdity."*

Once more : Supposing it appeared with indisputable
evidence, that the three thousand were baptized by pour-
ing or sprinkling; yet, according to Protestant Paedo-
baptists, it would not prove the lawfulness of such an
administration in common practice, except it appeared
to agree with divine law, or to have been the appoint-
ment of Christ. For this was undoubtedly an extraor-
dinary case; and learned Paedobaptists assure us, when
disputing with Roman Catholics about the sacred sup-
per, That a scriptural example in an extraordinary in-
stance, must not be considered as the rule of general
conduct. — Thus Mr. Steele: " The relation of an exam-
ple in an extraordinary case, [is not] sufficient to cancel

a direct precept and clear example with it. "t Chem-

nitius thus: " A general rule must not be taken from
extraordinary examples; — for that should be derived

from the institution of the sacraments." J JNIr. Payne,

in answer to an argument of the Papists for communion
in one kind, which is drawn from supposed instances of
such a practice in the ancient church, thus reasons:
" What will this signify, [could it be proved] to the
justifying the constant and pubHc communions in one
kind, when there are no such particular or extraordinary

* Discourse on the Resurrection of Christ, part iii. sect. Ixix.
-)- Morning Exercise against Popery, ]). 774.
X Exam. Concil. Trident, p. 216. Vid. p.327.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 231

reasons for it?. . . .The doing this, is as if the Jews, be-
cause whilst they were in the wilderness they could not
so well observe the precept of circumcision, and so were
at that time, for a particular reason, excused from it,
should ever after have omitted it as unnecessary. This,
sure, had been making too bold with a positive precept,
although there might be a particular case, or instance,
wherein it was not so exactly to be observed .... David's
eating the show-bread, which it was not lawful but for
the priests ordinarily to eat, is approved by our Saviour;
not upon the account of tradition, or the judgment of
the high-priest, but the extreme hunger which he and
his companions were then pressed with, and which made
it lawful for them to eat of the hallowed bread, when
there was no other to be procured. But did this make
it lawful afterwards for the high-priest, or the Sanhe-
drim, to have made the holy bread always common to
others when there was no such necessity?"*

Reflection VII. If the numerous and learned au-
thors, in the beginning of this chapter, be not under a
gross mistake, with regard to apostolic practice, my
reader has reason to be surprised, offended, shocked, at
the following reflection Avhich is cast on immersion ;
because he cannot but perceive it to fall on some of the
most venerable and excellent persons that ever appeared
in the world. " To baptize naked, or neM to naked,
(which is SUPPOSED, and generally practised in im-
mersion) is against the law of modesty ; and to do such
a thing in public solemn assemblies, is so far from being
tolerable, that it is abominable, to every chaste soul :
and especially to baptize women in this manner." f —
When, in perusing the treatise, I came to these words, I
paused, I was astonished, I was almost confounded.
What, thought I, is this the language of the amiable and

* Preserv. against Popery, title vii. p, 124, 149.

t Mr. Matt. Henry's Treatise on Baptism, p. 138, 139.

232 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

excellent Mr, Henry ? Does immersion SUPPOSE
the subject of the ordinance naked, or next to naked?
Is this PRACTISED, GENERALLY practised, prac-
tised in PUBLIC SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES, and that upon
WOMEN too ? Where have you been, ye sons of
sensuality ! that you have not crowded around our bap-
tisteries, when we have immersed any of the fair sex ?
How many fine opportunities have you missed, of feast-
ing your lascivious eyes, and exulting in the wonderful
sight ! And what are you about, ye infidels ; ye who
laugh at every thing sacred, and take a malignant
pleasure in exposing Christianity to ridicule ! what, I
again ask, are ye about, that you have not published our
praise for gratifying your enmity to the religion of Jesus
Christ ! For on the word of an author, who has long
been held in a high degree of esteem by the religious
public, vve have often committed the most enormous
outrage — I will not say, on the solemnities of religion^
because you do not regard them — but, on the laws of
decorum, and on the modest feelings of the tender sex ;
even while professing to act by the authority and ex-
ample of Christ. What, are ye silent, all silent on such
an interesting occasion ; while the pen of a Christian
minister, of a sacred expositor, and of a Protestant Dis-
senting Brother, is thus officiously employed? This,
ah! this — but I forbear; and shall only add a salutary
prohibition, a gentle reprehension, and a candid extenu-
ation. Thou shalt not bear false witness
AGAINST thy NEIGHBOUR; is the prohibition of
Jehovah, the God of Israel. " We ought to disown
and show a dislike of the profane scoffs which
some people give to the English Antipaedobaptists,
merely for their use of dipping;" is the reprehension
of Dr. Wall, the Episcopalian. See No. 96. — I wot that
THROUGH IGNORANCE ye did it ; is the extenuation of
Peter the apostle, when the most unjustifiable conduct
\Aas un(l(n- hi^ notice.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING ACES. 233

I will now subjoin the remark of a Paedobaptist
writer upon this passage of Mr. Henry. " This calumny
against immersion," says one of the Monthly Reviewers,
" might possibly have had some grounds in the practice
of a few enthusiasts in the last age. Mr. Baxter uses
almost the same words, when speaking of the indecency,
as well as the danger, of administering baptism by im-
mersion, as Mr. Henry ; and indeed the latter appears
to have copied from him. The reflection, however,
should by no means be extended to the general practice
of the Antipaedobaptists, especially those of modern
times. We almost question if it ever had a foundation :

we are certain it hath none at present."* It has,

indeed, been supposed by many of the learned, and there
seems to be some evidence of it, that the ancients did
sometimes administer the ordinance to persons of both
sexes, in pur is naturalibus : against this, however, the
famous Voetius has entered his protest, as a mistake of
the moderns, and a misrepresentation of ancient prac-
tice.f But, admitting the fact, all whom I have ob-
served agree, that a becoming decorum was constantly
observed, as far as the nature of the case would permit.
Thus, for instance, Dr. Wall : " They took great care for
preserving the modesty of any woman that was to be
baptized. There was none but women came near, or in
sight, till she was undressed, and her body in the water :
then the priest came, and putting her head also under
water, used the form of words. Then he departed,
and the women took her out of the water, and clothed
her again in white garments. J"

Those who have read the writings of Dr. Featley,
and of Messrs. Baxter, Wills, Russen, Burkitt, and

* Monthly Review, for Sep. 1784, p. 237.

f Apud. Witsium, OEcon. 1 iv. e. xvi, § 14.

+ Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii. chap. ix. § 3. Vid. Vossium, Dis-
putat. de Bap. disput. i. thes, vi. vii. viii., and Mr. Bingham's
Origines Ecclesiast. b, xi. chap, xi. § 1,2^3,

.234 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, AND OF

various others, in vindication of Paedobaptism, cannot
be ignorant, that the Baptists have been frequently
treated in the most illiberal manner. I will here present
the reader with an extract from the famous Mr. Baxter,
and leave the impartial to judge, whether it be the
language of calm reason, of authenticated fact, and of
Christian charity ; or the clamour of prejudice, the dis-
tortion of misrepresentation, and the raving of a per-
secuting temper. Thus, then, Mr. Baxter : " My sixth
argument shall be against the usual manner of their
baptizing, as it is by dipping over head in a river, or
other cold water. . . .That which is a plain breach of the
sixth commandment, Thou shall not kill, is no ordinance
of God, but a most heinous sin. But the ordinary
practice of baptizing over head in cold water, as neces-
sary, is a plain breach of the sixth commandment.
Therefore it is no ordinance of Cod, but an heinous sin.
And as Mr. Cradock in his book of Gospel Liberty
shows, the magistrate ought to restrain it, to save the
lives of his subjects. . . .That this is flat murder, and
no better, being ordinarily and generally used, is un-
deniable to any understanding man .... And I know
not what trick a covetous landlord can find out to get
his tenants to die apace, that he may have new fines and
heriots, likelier than to encourage such preachers, that
he may get them all to turn Anabaptists. I wish that
this device be not it that countenanceth these men. And
covetous physicians, methinks, should not be much
against them. Catarrhs and obstructions, which are the
two great fountains of most mortal diseases in man's
body, could scarce have a more notable means to pro-
duce them where they are not, or to increase them where
they are. Apoplexies, lethargies, palsies, and all coma-
tous diseases, would be promoted by it. So would
cepbalalgies, hemicranies, phthises, debility of the
stomach, crudities, and almost all fevers, dysenteries,
diarrlia'as, colics, iliac passions, convulsions, spasms,

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 235

tremors, and so on. All hepatic, splenetic, pulmoniac
persons, and hypocondriacs, would soon have enough
of it. In a word, it is good for nothing but to despatch
men out of the world that are burdensome, and to ranken
churchyards....! conclude, if murder be a sin, then
dipping ordinarily in cold water over head, in England,
is a sin : and if those that would make it men's religion
to murder themselves, and urge it on their consciences
as their duty, are not to be suffered in a common
wealth, any more than highway murderers ; then judge
how these Anabaptists, that teach the necessity of
such dipping, are to be suffered .... My seventh argu-
ment is also against another wickedness in their man-
ner of baptizing, which is their dipping persons naked,
as is very usual with many of them ; or nea:t to naked,
as is usual with the modestest that I have heard of . . . .
If the minister must go into the water with the party,
it will certainly tend to his death, though they may escape
that go in but once. . . .Would not vain young men
come to a baptizing to see the nakedness of maids, and
make a mere jest and sport of it?"* — Were this repre-
sentation just, we should have no reason to wonder if
his following words expressed a fact: " I am still more
confirmed, that a visible judgment of God doth still
follow Anabaptistry, wherever it comes. f" Compare
Chap. III. No. 4, and No. 60, of this Chapter. — It was
not without reason, I perceive, that Mr. Baxter made
the following acknowledgment : "I confess my style is
naturally keen'''^ I am a little suspicious also, that Dr.
Owen had some cause for speaking of his writings as
follows. " I verily believe, that if a man who had
nothing else to do, should gather into one heap all the
expressions which in his late books, Confessions and
Apologies, have a lovely aspect towards himself, as to
ability, diligence, sincerity, on the one hand ; with all

* Plain Scripture Proof, p. 134 — 137.

t Ut supra^ p,88. + Ibid. p. 246.

236 PRACTICE OF TJIE APOSTLES, AND OF

those which are full of reiproach and contempt towards
others, on the other ; the view of them could not but a
little startle a man of so great modesty, and of such
eminency in the mortification of pride, as Mr. Baxter
is.*" — Hence we learn, that Baptists are not the only
persons who have felt the weight of Mr. Baxter's hand ;
so that, if a recollection of others having suffered under
his keen resentment can afford relief, the poor Baptists
may take some comfort : and it is an old saying,

Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.

Besides, there is a precept of Horace which occurs to
remembrance, and is of use in the present exigence.
Amara lento temperet risu, is the advice to which I
refer ; and under the influence of this direction, vve are
led to say : Poor man ! He seem.s to be afflicted with a
violent hydrophobia ! for he cannot think of any person
being immersed in cold water, but he starts, he is con-
vulsed, he is ready to die with fear. Immersion, you
must know, is like Pandora's box, and pregnant with
a great part of those diseases which Milton's angel pre-
sented to the view of our first father. A compassionate
regard, therefore, to the lives of his fellow creatures,
compels Mr. Baxter to solicit the aid of magistrates
against this destructive plunging, and to cry out in the
spirit of an exclamation once heard in the Jewish tem-
temple : ' Ye men of Israel, help!' or Baptist ministers
will depopulate your country. Know you not, that these
plunging teachers are shrewdly suspected of being pen-
sioned by avaricious landlords, to destroy the lives of
your liege subjects? Exert your power; apprehend the
delinquents ; appoint an Auto da Fe ; let the venal dip-
pers be baptized in blood, and thus put a salutary stop
to their pestiferous practice." — What a pity it is, that
the celebrated History of Cold Bathing, by Sir John

* Of the Death of Christ, p. 5, subjoined to his Mystery of the
Gospel vindicated.

THE CHURCH IN FOLLOWING AGES. 237

Floyer, was not published half a century sooner ! It
might, perhaps, have preserved this good man from
a multitude of painful paroxysms, occasioned by the
thought of immersion in cold water. — Were I seriously
to put a query on these assertions of Mr. Baxter, it
should be, with a little variation, in the words of David :
" What shall be given unto thee, or what be done unto
thee, thou false pen?" Were the temper which dic-
tated the preceding caricatura to receive its just reproof,
it might be in the laniTuage of Michael : " The Lord
rebuke thee ! "

Before I dismiss this extraordinary language of Mr.
Baxter, it is proper to be observed, that the charge of
shocking indecency, which he lays with such confidence
against the Baptists of those times, was not suffered by
them to pass without animadversion. No, he was chal-
lenged to make it good : it was denied, it was confuted
by them. With a view to which Dr. Wall says : " The
English Antipeedobaptists need not have made so great
an outcry against Mr. Baxter, for his saying that they
baptized naked; for if they had, it had been no more
than the primitive Christians did."* But surely they
had reason to complain of misrepresentation ; such mis-
representation, as tended to bring the greatest odium
upon their sentiment and practice. Besides, however
ancient the practice charged upon them w^as, its antiquity
could not have justified their conduct; except it had
been derived from divine command, or apostolic exam-
ple, neither of which appears. — Whether Mr. Henry, in
the passage already marked, proceeds on the authority
of Mr. Baxter, in regard to that outrage on decency
with which we are charged, or what induced him to
record such things, is not for me to determine; but I
cannot forbear wondering that Mr. Robins should publish
the obnoxious sentence ; as it appears from his own de-
claration,t that he has very much abridged the treatise.

* Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii, chap. ix. § 3. f Advertisement, p. 7,

238 PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES, ETC.

He hopes, indeed, that very few expressions will be
found in the work, that are " offetisive to serious and
candid readers of any denomination :"* but whether the
expressions to which I advert be not Justly offensive;
whether the offence given to many of his brethren, who,
I trust, have some degree of candour and seriousness,
be not owing to his labours, as the editor ; and whether
both candour and seriousness do not oblige him to imitate
the following confession of Mr. Baxter, I leave to my
reader's judgment. " Upon the review of my argu-
ments, upon the controversy about infant baptism," says
the famous Nonconformist, " I find that 1 have used
too many provoking words, for M'hich I am heartily
sorry, and desire pardon of God and him,"'f i.e. of
Mr. Tombes.

Now, as it appears by the concessions, declarations,
and reasonings of so many learned Paedobaptists them-
selves, that the natural and proper idea of the term
baptism, the design of the institution, and the example
of the apostles, are all in favour of immersion, and all
agree with our practice ; we do not, we cannot want any
thing more to justify our conduct, either before God or
man. This must be the case, except the united testimony
of such a cloud of witnesses, and the reasons of it, can
be confronted with superior evidence. We have, how-
ever, a few more testimonies and concessions to review,
relating to this branch of the subject.

* Ut supra, p. 8.

f Ii| Mr. Crosby's Hist. Bap. vol. iii, Pref. p. 55.

PRESENT PRACTICE, ETC. 239

CHAPTER V.

The present Practice of the Greek and Oriental Churches,
in regard to the Mode of Administration.

Hasselquist. — "The Greeks christen their children
immediately after their birth, or within a few days at
least, dipping them in warm water ; and in this respect
they are much wiser than their brethren the Russians,
who dip them into rivers in the coldest winter." Tra-
vels, p. 394.

2. Anonymous. — " The Muscovite priests plunge
the child three times over head and ears in water."
Encyclopasd. Britan. vol. ix. p. 6910.

3. Venema. — " In pronouncing the baptismal form
of words, the Greeks use the third person, saying, ' Let
the servant of Christ be baptized, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ;' and
immerse the whole man in water." Hist. Eccles.
tom. vi. p. 660.

4. Deylingius. — " The Greeks retain the rite of im-
mersion to this day ; as Jeremiah the patriarch of Con-
stantinople declares." De Prudent. Pastoral, pars. iii.
c. iii. § 9,6.

5. Mr. Millar. — " In baptism they [the Muscovites]
dip their children in cold water." Propagation of Christ,
vol. ii. chap. vi. p. 115.

6. Buddeus." — " That the Greeks defend immersion
is manifest, and has been frequently observed by learned
men ; which Ludolphus informs us is the practice of the
Ethiopians." Theolog. Dogmat. 1. v. c. i. § 5.

7. Witsius. — " That immersion may be practised in
cold countries, without any great danger of health and
life, the Muscovites prove by their own example ; who

240 PRESENT PRACTICE OF THE

entirely immerse their infants three times in water, not
believing that baptism can be otherwise rightly adminis-
tered. Nor do they ever use warm water, except for
those that are weak or sickly." CEcon. Feed. 1. iv.
c. xvi. § 13.

8. Sir Paul Ricaut. — " The modern Greek church
defines baptism to be, ' A cleansing, or taking away of
original sin, by thrice dipping or plunging into the wa-
ter ;' the priest saying at every dipping, ' In the name
of the Father, Amen ; and of the Son, Amen ; and of
the Holy Ghost, Amen.' This thrice dipping, or plung-
ing into the water, this church holds to be as necessary
to the form of baptism, as water to the matter." Pre-
sent State of the Greek Church, p. 163.

9. Dr. J. G. King. — " The Greek church uniformly
practises the trine immersion, undoubtedly the most
primitive manner." Rites and Cerem. of the Greek
Church in Russia, p. IQQ-

10. Dr. Wall. — ''AH the Christians in Asia, all in
Africa, and about one third part of Europe, are of the
last sort, [i. e. practise immersion ;] in which third part
of Europe are comprehended the Christians of Grascia,
Thracia, Servia, Bulgaria, Rascia, Walachia, Moldavia,
Russia Nigra, and so on ; and even the Muscovites,
who, if coldness of the country will excuse, might plead
for a dispensation with the most reason of any. Hist, of
Inf. Bap. partii. chap. ix. p. 477.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. As it appears from the preceding chapter,
that immersion was the general and almost universal
practice for a long course of ages ; and, as various of
those learned authors assert, for thirteen centuries;
so it is manifest from these quotations, that it has been
uninterruptedly continued as the general mode of pro-
ceeding, in all the Greek and oriental churches. Now
these churches, as Dr. Wall informs us, comprehend

GREEK AND ORIENTAL CHURCHES. ^41

" very near one half the Christians in the world."* Nay,
Dr. King tells us, that they have '' a greater extent than
the Latin, with all the branches which are sprung from
it."t Consequently, though we are far from considering
the numbers that adopt a sentiment, or a practice, as
the criterion of truth, or of right; yet we may confi-
dently assert, that our practice of immersion, as essential
to the ordinance, is neither that novel, not yet that sin-
gular thing, which many of our opponents are very de-
sirous of makino; their neighbours believe it to be. Nor
can I forbear to wonder at their inadvertency, when they
act in this manner : and as to ministers of the Eno-lish
establishment, it requires an uncommon degree of igno-
rance, of prejudice, of prevarication, or of assurance, for
any of them to treat immersion as a novel, an indecent,
or an unjustifiable practice ; because the rubric of their
liturgy, that rubric which they have solemnly professed
to believe and approve, even that very rubric which they
have engaged to treat as the Imv of their proceedings, in
the administration of baptism, as well as in other cases,
expressly requires it ; except the sponsors inform the
priest, that the child cannot well bear to be dipped.
To which the catechism of the same establishment
plainly adverts, when it instructs the catechumen to say;
" Water, wherein the person is baptized." For the idea
of pouring, or of sprinkling, cannot be applied here
without rendering the language absurd. " Upon the
review of the Common Prayer-book at the restoration,"
says Dr. Wall, " the church of England did not think fit
(however prevalent the custom of sprinkling was) to
forego their maxim ; That it is most Jitting to dip chil-
dren that are well able to bear it. But they leave it
wholly to the judgment of the godfathers and those that

* See Vol. II. Chap. V. No 7, of this work,
f Rites and Cerem. of the Greek Church, p. 3.
VOL. T. R

Sl4i2! PRESENT PRACTICE OF THE

bring the child, whether the child may well endure dip-
ping or not. The difference is only this : By the rubric,
as it stood before, the priest was to dip, unless there
w ere an averment or allegation of weakness : now he is
not to dip, unless there be an averment or certifying of
strength sufficient to endure it."* Agreeable to this, is
the former confession of Helvetia: " Baptism, according
to the institution of our Lord, is the font of regeneration;
in which holy font we do therefore dip our infants."t
The confession of Saxony, thus: " Baptism is an entire
action ; to wit, a dipping, and the pronouncing of those
words, ' I baptize thee in the name,' and so on."f

Reflect. II. In respect of the tnne immersion, prac-
tised by the Greek Church and the eastern Christians,
though it be undoubtedly of great antiquity ; and though
it appear to have originated in a strong but misapplied
regard to that capital article of the Christian creed, the
doctrine of the Holy Trinity; yet as there is no intima-
tion in the New Testament, that it was either enjoined
by Christ, or practised by his apostles, we cannot agree
with Dr. King, when he calls it, " the most primitive
manner." See No. y. — An apostle indeed mentions the
doctrine of baptisms ; but, as a Pasdobaptist author ob-
serves, " That the trine immersion was the occasion of
the expression, there is no ground to believe, because so
much later than that time.";|; It was, however, practised
even here, in the time of Edward the Sixth ; for, accord-
ing to his first Common Prayer-book, " the minister is
to dip the child in the water thrice; first dipping the
right side ; secondly, the left ; the third time, dipping
the face towards the font.'"<^

* Hist. Inf. Bap. part. ii. chap. ix. p. 473.
t Harmony of Confessions, p. 397, 404,
X Cure of Deism, vol.i. chap, iv, p. 131, 132.
§ Encyclopaedia Britan, article, Baptism.

GREEK AND ORIENTAL CHURCHES. 243

Mr. Henry, when pleading the cause of aspersion,
says : " I believe that immersion, yea trine immersion,
or plunging the person baptized three times, was com-
monly used in very early ages ; and that, as far as Po-
pery prevailed, a great deal of stress was laid upon
it."* Would this ingenious author, then, persuade us
that immersion, whether once or thrice, originated in
Popery, and that it was peculiar to such professors
of Christianity as acknowledged the Papal authority?
If so, he labours to possess his readers of a gross mis-
take. For as to immersion, it appears, I think with suf-
ficient evidence, by quotations already produced from
the most eminent Paedobaptists, that it has the sanction
of divine authority in the apostolic practice. And as
to the trine immersion, it is manifest from Tertullian,
that it was commonly used, long before the supremacy
of the bishop of Rome was either claimed by himself,
or acknowledged by others ; yet the term Popery signi-
fies a system of religious principles and practices, in
which an acknowledgment of that supremacy makes a
distinguishing and capital figure. " By Popery, says that
excellent polemical author, Stapferus, we understand
that religion which considers the Pope as the visible and
principal head of the church ; — whence also it has its
name."'!' Besides, it appears that the Greek and oriental
churches, which include one half of the Christian world,
have always practised immersion ; and that, for a long
course of ages, the trine immersion has been their gene-
ral custom : yet they never acknowledged the Papal
power; nor, so far as I have observed, was their profes-
sion of Christianity ever called Popery. How unfair
then is the insinuation contained in these words; "As
far as Popery prevailed !" As if the Papists in former

* Treatise on Bap. p. 137.
f Institut. Theolog. Polem. cap. xiv. § 1.
R 2

5244 PRESENT PRACTICE, ETC.

times had been the only persons that pleaded for the
baptismal plunging ; and as if our practice had been de-
rived from them ! That an author of Mr. Henry's
learning, reading, and character should insinuate such
things, is amazing. We are indeed so far from having
derived immersion from Popery, that quite the reverse
is a fact ; for learned Paedobaptists themselves assure
us, that pouring and sprinkling, as a common practice,
have an exclusive claim to the honour of such an origi-
nal. See Chap. VII. No. 21, 23, and Reflect. V.

DESIGN OF BAPTISM, ETC. 245

CHAPTER VI.

The Desigti of Baptism more fully e.vpressed hy Immer-
sion, than by Pouring or Sprinkling.

WiTSius. — " It must not be dissembled, that there
is in immersion a greater fruitfulness of signification,
and a more perfect correspondence between the sign
and the thing signified ; as we shall show, when we
come to that part of our subject." (Econ. Feed. 1. iv.
c.xvi. § 13.

2. Alstedius. — " The rite of immersion, which is
intimated by the very word baptism, certainly bears a
greater analogy to the thing signified." Lexicon Theo-
logicum, cap. xii. p. 223.

3. Mr. John Rogers. — " I dare not deny my judg-
ment to teach thus far for dipping, above the other
forms of sprinkhng or pouring; that were it as orderly
in our church, and used, and no offence to weak souls, I
would sooner be induced to dip one that was never be-
fore baptized, than to sprinkle one ; for to me it would
be more significant, and full, and pregnant with former
practices." In Mr. Crosby's Hist. Bap. vol. iii. Pref.
p. 53.

4. Heideggerus. — " Though the rite of immersion
be more ancient, and on account of its more fully re-
presenting a death and burial, more expressive, (Rom.
vi. 4;) yet it appears, from what has been said, that
aspersion makes no alteration in the essence and mystery
of baptism." Corpus Theolog. loc. xxv. § 35.

5. Estius.— -" Though the ceremony of immersion
was anciently more common, as appears from the una-
nimous language of the fathers, as often as they speak
about baptism ; and in a more expressive manner re-

246 DESIGN OF BAPTISM

presents the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord,
and of us ; — whence St. Thomas affirms, that the rite
of dipping is more commendable ; yet there have
been many reasons, for which it was sometimes con-
venient to alter immersion into some other kindred
ceremony. Hence, therefore, the ceremony of pourings
as a medium between dipping and sprinkling, was much
used ; which custom, Bonaventure says, was in his time
much observed in the French churches and some others;
though he confesses that the ceremony of immersioa
was the more common, the more fit, and the more safe,
as S. Thomas teaches." Apud Knatchbul. Animadvers.
in Lib. Nov. Test. p. 181.

6. Dr. Clarke. — " Li 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, Rom. vi. 4." Expos, of Church
Catechism, p. 294.

7. Mr. W. Perkins. — " A question may be made,
whether washing of the body in baptism must be by
dipping, or by sprinkling ? Answer: In hot countries, and
in the baptism of men in years, dipping was used, and
that by the apostles; and to this Paul alludes, Rom. vi.
3: and dipping doth more fully represent our spiritual
washing than sprinkling." Works, vol. ii. p. 256.

8. Pictetus. — " It was usual in ancient times
for the whole body to be immersed in water — and it
must be confessed, that such a rite most happily repre-
sented that grace by which our sins are, as it were,
drowned, and we raised again from the abyss of sin."
Theolog. Christ. 1. xiv. c. iv. § 17.

9. Mastricht. — " Immersion was used by the
apostles and primitive churches, because it is not only
more agreeable in the warm eastern countries, but also
more significant, (Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5.)" Theologia, 1. vii.
G. iv. §9.

BEST EXPRESSED BY IMMKRSfON. 247

10. H. Altingius. — After briefly stating the argu-
ments for plunging, and for sprinkling, he adds: "We
confess, first, that immersion was the prior rite ; because
it was first used by John the Baptist and the apostles.
Secondly, it is also more expressive, on account of the
distinct acts, (Rom. vi.)" Thelog. Problem. Nov.
loc. xiv. prob. xi. p. 657.

11. M. Morus. — "Baptism was formerly cele-
brated by plunging the whole body in water, and
not by casting a few drops of water on the forehead;
that representing death and the resurrection much bet-
ter than this." In Mr. Stennett's Answer to Mr.
Russen, p. 149.

12. Vossius. — " All the particulars that we have
mentioned, concerning the signification of baptism, will
appear with sufficient perspicuity in the rite of immer-
sion; but not equally so if mere sprinkling be used. It
should not be supposed, however, that all analogy is
destroyed by it." Disputat. de Bap. disp. iii. § 10.

1 3. Daille, speaking of a twofold effect of baptism,
says: " In the primitive church, this double eftect of
baptism was more clearly represented in the external
action of the sacrament [by immersion] than it is at
this day." Serm. on Epist. to Coloss. on chap, ii. 12,
p. 245.

14. Buddeus. — "Though immersion is to be pre-
ferred, yet baptism administered by sprinkling, or pour-
ing, is not therefore to be accounted unlawful .... Immer-
sion, which was used in former times, as we have before
declared, was a symbol and an image of the death and
burial of Christ: by which we are taught, that the re-
mains of sin, which are called the old man, should also
be put to death ; that is, as Paul elsewhere speaks, our

Jlesh, with its affections and lusts, should be crucified.
For in that way, we, as it were, die and are buried with
Christ; which Paul expressly shows, Rom. vi. 4. An
emersion out of the water follows, (Matt, iii, 16,) which

248 DESIGN OF BAPTISM

exhibits a most beautiful imao;e of the resurrection of
Christ; and at the same time it affords matter of in-
struction concerning that spiritual resurrection, which
is effected by daily renovation, (Rom. vi. 4.) Now
though all these things are a little more clearly exhibited
by immersion, than by pouring or sprinkling; yet, never-
theless, in the latter some likeness of them is beheld :
seeing, even by pouring, especially if it be performed by
a remarkably large quantity of water, the infant is in a
manner covered and buried in water; like as it emerges
thence, when the water poured upon it is all run off."
Theolog. Dogmat. 1. v. c.i. §5, 8.

15. Dr. Cave. — " The party to be baptized was
wholly immerged, or put under water; whereby they
did more notably and significantly express the three
great ends and effects of baptism." Primitive Christi-
anity, part i, chap. x. p. 203.

16. Dr. Wall.- — " I had the disadvantage [in de-
fending the common practice] to plead for a way of
baptism, of which the best I could say was. That it is
sufficient for the essence of baptism ; but could not deny
the other (except in the case of danger of health) to be
the fittest. . . .The immersion of the person, whether
infant or adult, in the posture of one that is buried and
raised up again, is much more solemn, and expresses
the design of the sacrament and the mystery of the
spiritual washing much better, than pouring a small
quantity of water on the face. And that pouring of
water, is much better than sprinkling, or dropping a
drop of water on it. If it be done in the church, in, or
at the font, and the congregation do join in the prayers
there used; it is much more solemn than in a bed-
chamber, out of a basin, or pipkin, a tea-cup, or a punch-
bowl ; and a bed chamber is perhaps not quite so scan-
dalous as a kitchen or stable, to which things look as if
they would bring it at last. . . .We have reason to give
God thanks, that the present orders and rubrics of our

BEST EXPRESSED BY IiMMERSiOX. 249

church are all calculated for the reforming of these
abuses, and preserving the dignity of this holy sacra-
ment; and that there wants nothing but the due execu-
tion of them, and our conscientious performing of that
which Me solemnly promised before God and the bishop,
when we had the charge of souls committed to us, that
we ivoulcl conform to the Liturgy of the church of Eng-
lajid, as it is now by law established . . . ,1 know that
some mid wives and nurses do, on the christening day,
(which they think is observed, not so much for the sacra-
ment itself, as for their showing their pride, art, and
finery,) dress the child's head so, that the face of it being
hid deep under the lace and trimming which stands up
so high on each side, the minister cannot come at the
face to pour water on it, so as that it ma}' run off again ;
but what water he pours, will run in among the head-
cloths, which really is likely to do the child more hurt
than dipping would have done." Defence of Hist. Inf.
Bap. p. 404—408.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. From these quotations we learn, that
immersion, compared with pouring or sprinkling, has the
honour of priority, in respect of time, No. 4, 10, 14; — •
that it is more significant, No. 1- — 16; — that it is more
safe, or certain of being right, No. 5 ; — and that one of
these learned authors, who had well studied the subject,
felt by painful experience the disadvantage under which
a Paedobaptist labours, and the arduous task he has to
perform, when he undertakes to defend any mode of
administration short of dipping; because the best he
can say of it is, that the essence of baptism is not want-
ing. No. 16. SeeChap.III.Reflect.lv.

Reflect. II. I can hardly forbear supposing that
the attentive reader anticipates my reflections here, and
is ready to exclaim : What ! practise a mode of adminis-
tering baptism, that is rejected by one half of the world ;

250 DESIGN OF BAPTISM

while you cannot but acknowledge, that antiquity, signi-
ficancy, and safety of being right, may be all fairly
pleaded against it ? As if they professedly imitated the
Roman Catholics, in regard to the invocation of saints!
For Chemnitius tells us, " Many among the Papists
acknowledge, that it is better, more agreeable to rule,
more certain, and more safe, to invocate God himself
in the name of Christ, than to address prayer to saints."*
Strange that there should be such charms in a reli-
gious custom, which is a confessed variation from the
examples of apostles, of martyrs, of Christians almost
universally for the long time of thirteen hundred years,
and of so great a part of those who bear the character
of Christians at this day ! Strange, indeed, that any
who are the friends of Christ, should confessedly im-
poverish the significancy of a sacred rite; and then
labour, and strive, and toil, in order to prove that they
have not annihilated the essence of it! Very singular
conduct this, relating to an ordinance of God, a branch
of divine worship, and a mean of human happiness!
But is it commendable, is it justifiable, is it rational,
that the professed followers of Jesus Christ should study
to find out the exact boundaries of essence, in a positive
institution; that they may be able to determine with
precision, how far they may vary from the natural im-
port of our Lord's command, his own example, and the
practice of his ambassadors, without intrenching on what
is essential to the appointment? Let candour, let com-
mon sense determine. Dr. Mayo has well observed,
that " all great errors and evils in the Christian church
had small beginnings; we are, therefore, not to make
light of those things in religion, which yet may not be
of the essence thereof.'" t

How much is the conduct of these authors like that
of the Roman Catholics in another case! The latter,
we know, administer the Lord's supper to the people in

* Exam.Concil Trident, p. 613. f Aix)loe:y and Shield, p. 166.

BEST EXPRESSED BY IMMERSION. 251

one kind ; — even while they cannot but acknowledge that
Christ appointed the use of wine, as well as of bread ;
that the apostles administered both kinds; that the
church for many centuries received the sacred supper
in both kinds; and that the representation of our Lord's
death is more complete, by the administration of both
kinds; — after all these concessions pretending, that they
do not intrench on the essence of the ordinance, by ad-
ministering the bread only! But, strange as their pro-
cedure is, it must be with an ill grace that any of the
writers here produced object against that mutilation of
the holy supper. For though they do not explicitly
avow, they seem entirely to approve the reasoning of
Bellarmine, when he speaks in the following manner:
*' Though more grace and advantage be received by par-
taking of both kinds, than only of one, it is not there-
fore necessary that all should communicate of both spe-
cies; because of two evils, the less ought always to be
chosen. Now, it is a less evil that some persons should
want a benefit which is not necessary, than that the
sacrament should be exposed to the evident danger of
being irreverently used."* It is danger of irreverence,
we see, that is pleaded by Papists for their mutilation of
the holy supper: it is also datiger of indecency, or of
health, which urges Paedobaptists to lay aside immer-
sion, as the reader may learn from the following chapter.
How lamentable to reflect, that, respecting the adminis-
tration of positive appointments, there should be such a
coalition between the subjects of the triple crown and
professed Protestants !

Besides, the best evidence yet produced, that pour-
ing or sprinkling contains the essence of baptism, has
always been treated, by a very large part of the Chris-
tian world, as extremely doubtful. In proof of this
assertion, I appeal to the authorities produced. Chap.
IV. and V. and to those which follow in the next. —

* Apud Chamierum, Panstrat. torn. iv. 1. ix, ex. § 6.

252 DESIGN OF BAPTISM, ETC.

Being taught, therefore, by so many respectable Pa3do-
baptists, that the radical idea of the term baptism, the chief
design of the ordinance, the apostolic example, the pre-
sent practice of one half of the Christian world, and the
emphasis of signification, are all in favour of immersion;
we must stand acquitted of blame, and our conduct in
regard to dipping deserve imitation. It cannot indeed
be otherwise, except it should hereafter appear, that sub-
stantial reasons may be assigned for altering the prac-
tice of immersion to that of pouring, or of sprinkling :
and substantial they must be to answer so important
an end, in the face of all these concessions and all this
evidence. It would be the height of precipitancy, and
little short of religious madness to desert, without the
most cogent reasons, a practice thus recommended, for
one that appears in such embarrassment. What those
reasons are, that have been thought sufficient by many
of the most learned Paedobaptists; what their force, and
what regard they deserve, must be considered in the fol-
lowing chapter.

REASONS, RISE, AND PREV^ALENCE, ETC. Q53

CHAPTER VII.

The Reasons, Rise, and Prevaleiice of Pouring, or
SprinkUng, instead of Immersion.

Deylingius. — "So long as the apostles lived,
as many believe, immersion only was used:* to which
afterward, perhaps, they added a kind of affusion, such
as the Greeks practise at this day, after having per-
formed the trine immersion. At length, after the
apostles were dead, the baptism of cHnics was known;
when disease, or extreme necessity in any other respect,
forbade immersion, sprinkling and pouring began to be
introduced ; which in a course of time were retained,
plunging being neglected. For in following times, when
adult persons were very seldom baptized, infants were
initiated into the Christian church by pouring and by
sprinkling." Observat. Sac. pars. iii. observ, xxvi. <§ 2.

2. Salmasius : — "The clinics only, because they
were confined to their beds, were baptized in a manner
of which they were capable ; not in the entire laver, as
those who plunge the head under water, but the whole
body had water poured upon it. As Cypr. iv. epist. vii.
Thus Novatus, when sick, received baptism ; being
{TfepiyvBei?) besprinkled, not (^jBaTTTia-Oeii) baptized. Euseb.
vi. Hist. cap. xliii." Apud Witsium, CEcon. Foed. 1. iv.
c. xvi. § 13.

3. Mr. Formey. — " Putting off their clothes, they
were dipped three times in water ; but when they ad-
ministered baptism to the cliniques, i. e. to those who

* Of this opinion is Mr, Picart, who says : " Baptism by ab-
lution^ or aspersion^ was not known in the first century of the
church, when immersion was only used ; and it is said it continued
so till St, Gregory's time." Relig. Cerem. vol. ii. p. 82.

&.

254 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

were confined to their beds from illness, they made use
only of simple sprinkling." Abridg. Eccles. Hist. vol. i.
p. 33.

4. Turrettinus. — " Immersion was used in former
times and in warm climates, as we are taught by the
practice of John the Baptist, (Matt. iii. 6, 16;) of Christ's
apostles, (John iii. 22, and iv. 1,2;) and of Philip, (Acts
viii. 38.) But now, especially in cold countries, when
the church began to extend itself towards the north,
plunging {KaraTrovTKTjj.og) was changed into sprinkling, and
aspersion only is used." Institut. Loc. xix. quaest. xi.

5. Mr. W. Perkins. — " The ancient custom of bap-
tizing was to dip ; and, as it were, to dive all the body
of the baptized in the water, as may appear in Paul,
Rom. vi. and the councils of Laodicea and Neocaesarea;
but now, especially in cold countries, the church useth
only to sprinkle the baptized, by reason of children's
weakness ; for very few of ripe years are now-a-days
baptized. We need not much to marvel at this alter-
ation, seeing charity and necessity may dispense with
ceremonies, and mitigate in equity the sharpness of
them." Works, vol. i. p. 74, edit. 1608.

6. Dr. Manton. — "You will say, If the rite [of
immersion] hath this signification, [Christ's death for
sin, and our death to sin] why is it not retained ? I
answer, Christianity lieth not in ceremonies : the prin-
cipal thing in baptism is the washing away of sin,
(Acts xxii. 16;) that may be done by pouring on of
water, as well as dipping." Serm. on Rom. vi. 4.

7. Wala^us. — "In warm countries, the ancients
practised an immersion of the whole body; but in
colder climates, they generally used aspersion : because,
a ceremony that is free ought always to give way to
charity." Enchiridium, de Bap. p. 425.

8. Pamehus. — "Whereas the sick, by reason of
their illness, could not be immersed or plunged (which,

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 255

properly speaking, is to be baptized,) they had the salu-
tary water poured upon them, or were sprinkled with it.
For the same reason, I think, the custom of sprinkling
now used, first began to be observed by the western
church ; namely, on account of the tenderness of in-
fants, seeing the baptism of adults was now very seldom
practised." Apud Forbesium, Instruct. Hist. Theolog.
1. X. c. V. § 57.

9' Hoornbeekius. — " In the eastern churches bap-
tism was more anciently administered by immersing the
body in water. Afterward, first in the western churches,
on account of the coldness of the countries, bathing
being less in use than in the east, and the tender age of
those that were baptized, dipping or sprinkling was
admitted." Miscell. Sac. 1. i. c. xvii. sect. iv. § 1.

10. Grotius. — "The custom of pouring or sprink-
ling seems to have prevailed in favour of those that were
dangerously ill, and were desirous of giving up them-
selves to Christ ; whom others called clinics. See the
Epistle of Cyprian to Magnus." Apud Poli Synopsin,
ad Matt. iii. 6.

11. H. Altingius. — "The baptismal washing, in
warm countries and ancient times, was performed by
immersion ; but now, especially in cold countries, it is
performed by only sprinkling .... The cause of the
alteration is, that immersion, which was used in the
warm eastern and southern countries, is less convenient
in the cold western and northern climates ; where there
is danger of health from immersion, especially of infants.
And therefore that rule is here in force ; ' I will have
mercy and not sacrifice.' " Loci Commun. pars i. loc. xii.
p. 198, 199. Theolog. Problem. Nov. loc. xiv. prob. xi,
p. (y57.

12. E. Spanhemius. — " In these northern and colder
countries, out of regard to the tender age of infants, we
use aspersion in the place of immersion ; which, of old,
w as usually practised, either in open rivers or in private

256 REASONS, RISE, AND PR J':^'A LENCE

baptisteries, and vessels filled with water." Disputat.
Syntag. Disp. de Bap. § 16.

13. Quenstedius. — "When occasion was but seldom
given of baptizing adults, and very frequently of bap-
tizing infants, the church consulted their weakness ;
whence, by little and little, aspersion was introduced, till
at length, immersion being laid aside, it prevailed. Of
which change there was a threefold reason ; the tender-
ness of infants — shame, especially in regard to female
catechumens — and because, even in the very act of bap-
tizing, 7iatura cur sum suum tenet; sicut contigit magnis
impp. in oriente Constantino Copronymo cognominato,
et in occidente Wenceslao ; qui cum immergerentur,
aquam baptis7nalem macularunt.'"* Antiq. Bib. c. iv.
sect. ii. num. i. §4. p. 319.

14. Riissenius. — " Though in warm countries im-
mersion was practised in former times, yet now, especially
in colder climates, aspersion may be rightly used."
Summa Theolog. loc. xvii. § 31.

15. Keckermannus. — "Though the term baptism
properly signifies immersion, and though also in the
ancient church, through the eastern countries, when
baptism was administered, it was, not by sprinkling,, but
by immersion ; yet in the colder parts of Christendom,
aspersion is used instead of immersion, on account of
infants : because charity and necessity may dispense
with ceremonies, and temper them with gentleness, so
far as may be done without injuring tbe analogy."
System. Theolog. 1. iii. c. viii.

16. Piscator. — " Whether the whole body be dipped,
and that thrice, or once; or whether water be only poured

* Had any Baptist assigned such a reason for immersion's being
laid aside, he would, 1 suspect, have been charged with gross in-
delicacy, and loaded with censure, by many of our opposcrsj even
though they could not have disproved the fact. Tliis, however,
proceeds from an eminent Lutheran, who was no friend fo the
Baptists. Sec Hist, of I'opory, vol. i. p. 141.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. SL51

or sprinkled on the party ; this ought to be free to the
churches, according to the difference of countries."
Aphorismi Doct. Christ, loc. xxiv. aph. 9.

17. Mr. Rich. Baxter. — "We grant that baptism
then [in the primitive times] was by washing the whole
body ; and did not the difference of our cold country, as
to that hot one, teach us to remember, ' I will have mercy
and not sacrifice,' it should be so here." Paraphrase
on the New Test, at Matt. iii. 6.

18. Bp. Burnet. — "The danger of dipping in cold
climates, may be a very good reason for changing the
form of baptism to sprinkhng." Exposition of Thirty-
nine Articles, p. 436.

19. Venema. — "Sprinkling was used in the last
moments of life, on such as were called clinics; and
also where there was not a sufficient quantity of water."
Hist. Eccles. torn. iv. secul. iv. § 110.

20. Dr. Towerson. — "The first mention we find of
aspersion in the baptism of the elder sort, was in the
case of the dimci, or men who received baptism upon
their sick beds; and that baptism is represented by S.
Cyprian as legitimate, upon the account of the neces-
sity that compelled it, and the presumption there was of
God's gracious acceptation thereof because of it. By
which means the lawfulness of any other baptism than
by an immersion will be found to lie in the necessity
there may sometimes be of aiiother manner of adminis-
tration of it." Of the Sacram. of Bap. part iii. p. 59, 60.

21. Sir John Floyer. — "The church of Rome hath
drawn short compendiums of both sacraments. In the
eucharist, they use only the wafer, and instead of immer-
sion they introduced aspersion .... I have now given what
testimony I could find in our English authors, to prove
the practice of immersion from the time the Britons
and Saxons were baptized, till king James's days; when
the people grew peevish with all ancient ceremonies,
and through the love of novelty, and the niceness of

VOL. T. s

258 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

parents, and the pretence of modesty, they laid aside
immersion; which never was abrogated by any canon,
but is still recommended by the present rubric of our
church, which orders the child to be dipped discreetly
and warily." Hist, of Cold Bathing, p. 15, 61.

22. Dr. R. Wetham. — " The word baptism signifies
a washing, particularly when it is done by immersion, or
by dipping, or plunging a thing under water, which was
formerly the ordinary way of administrating the sacra-
ment of baptism. But the church, which cannot change
the least article of the Christian faith, is not so tied up
in matters of discipline and ceremonies. Not only the
Catholic church, but also the pretended Reformed
churches, have altered this primitive custom in giving
the sacrament of baptism, and now allow of baptism by
pouring or sprinkling water on the person baptized. Nay,
many of their ministers do it now-a-days by filliping a
wet finger and thumb over a child's head, or by shaking
a wet finger or two over the child, which it is hard
enough to call a baptizing in any sense." Annotations
on the New Test, at Matt. iii. 6.

23. Dr. Wall. — " In the case of sickness, weakness,
haste, want of quantity of water, or such like extraor-
dinary occasions, baptism by aft'usion of water on the
face, was by the ancients counted sufficient baptism. I
shall out of the many proofs of it produce two or three
of the most ancient. Anno Dom. two hundred and fifty
one, Novatian was, by one party of the clergy and people
of Rome, chosen bishop of that church, in a schismatical
way, and in opposition to Cornelius, who had been be-
fore chosen by the major part, and was already ordained.
Cornelius does in a letter to Fabius, bishop of Antioch,
vindicate his right, showing that Novatian came not
canonically to his orders of priesthood, much less was
capable of being chosen bishop ; for that ' all the clergy
and a great many of the laity, were against his being
ordained presbyter, because it was not lawful (they

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 259

said) for any one that had been baptized in his bed in
time of sickness, [rov ev kKivt} ^la voaov '7Tepiyy6evroL\ as he
had been, to be admitted to any office of the clergy'. . . .
France seems to have been the first country in the world
where baptism by affusion was used ordinarily to persons
in health, and in the public w^ay of administering it. . , .
It being allowed to weak children [in the reign of queen
Elizabeth] to be baptized by aspersion, many fond ladies
and gentlewomen first, and then by degrees the com-
mon people, would obtain the favour of the priest to
have their children pass for weak children, too tender to
endure dipping in the water. Especially, as Mr. Walker
observes, ' if some instance really were, or were but
fancied or framed, of some child's taking hurt by it'. . . .
Calvin had not only given his dictate in his Institutions,
that ' the difference is of no moment, whether he that is
baptized be dipped all over, and if so, whether thrice or
once; or whether he be only wetted by the water poured
on him :' but he had also drawn up for the use of his
church at Geneva, and afterwards published to the
world, A Form of administering the Sacraments; where,
when he comes to order the act of baptizing, he Avords
it thus: 'Then the minister of baptism pours water on
the infant,' saying, ' I baptize thee,' and so on. There
had been — some synods in some dioceses of France,
that had spoken of affusion without mentioning immer-
sion at all, that being the common practice; but for an
office or liturgy of any church, this is, I believe, the
first in the world that prescribes aspersion absolutely
.... And for sprinkling, properly called, it seems it was,
at sixteen hundred and forty-five, just then beginning,
and used by very few. It must have begun in the dis-
orderly times after forty-one. . . . But then came The
Directory, and says: ' Baptism is to be administered,
not in private places, or privately ; but in the place of
public worship, and in the face of the congregation,' and

s 2

260 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

SO on. ' And not in the places where fonts, in the time
of Popery, were unfitly and superstitiously placed.' So,
they reformed the font into a basin. This learned
Assembly could not remember, that fonts to baptize in,
had been always used by the primitive Christians, long
before the beginning of Popery, and ever since churches
were built; but that sprinkHng, for the common use of
baptizing, w as really introduced (in France first, and then
in other Popish countries,) in times of Popery. And that
accordingly, all those countries in which the

USURPED POWER OF THE PoPE IS, OR HAS FOR-
MERLY BEEN OWNED, HAVE LEFT OFF DIPPING
OF CHILDREN IN THE FONT: BUT THAT ALL OTHER
COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, WHICH HAD NEVER
REGARDED HIS AUTHORITY, DO STILL USE IT; AND
THAT BASINS, EXCEPT IN CASE OF NECESSITY,
WERE NEVER USED BY PaPISTS, OR ANY OTHER

Christians whatsoever, TILL BY THEM-
SELVES. . .What has been said of this custom of pour-
ing or sprinkling water in the ordinary use of baptism, is
to be understood only in reference to these western parts
of Europe; for it is used ordinarily no where else. The
Greek church, in all the branches of it, does still use
immersion; and they hardly count a child, except in
case of sickness, well baptized without it: and so do
all other Christians in the world, except the Latins.
That which I hinted before, is a rule that does not fail
in any particular that I know of; viz. All the nations of
Christians, that do now, or formerly did submit to the
authority of the bishop of Rome, do ordinarily baptize
their infants by pouring, or sprinkling. And though the
English received not this custom till after the decay of
Popery, yet they have since received it from such neigh-
bour nations as had begun it in the time of the Pope s
power. But all other Christians in the world, who never
owned the Pope's usurped power, do, and ever did,

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 26l
DIP THEIR INFANTS IN THE ORDINARY USE." Hist.

of Inf. Bap. part ii. chap. ix. p. 463, 467, 470, 471,
472, 477.

24. Anonymous. — " The custom of sprinkling chil-
dren, instead of dipping them in the font, which at first
was allowed in case of the weakness or sickness of the
infant, has so far prevailed, that immersion is at length
quite excluded. What principally tended to confirm
the practice of affusion or sprinkling was, that several of
our Protestant divines, flying into Germany and Switzer-
land during the bloody reign of queen Mary, and return-
ing home when queen Elizabeth came to the crown,
brought back with them a great zeal for the Protestant
churches beyond sea, where they had been sheltered and
received ; and having observed that, at Geneva, and
some other places, baptism was administered by sprink-
ling, they thought they could not do the church of
England a greater piece of service than by introducing a
practice dictated by so great an oracle as Calvin. This,
together with the coldness of our northern climate, was
what contributed to banish entirely the practice of dip-
ping infants in the font." Encyclopsed. Britan. article,
Baptism, vol. ii. p. 996.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. By the quotations here produced from
eminent Pasdobaptists, vve are taught, that the most an-
cient instance on ecclesiastical record, which is yet ad-
duced, of pouring or sprinkling, is that of Novatian, in
the year two hundred and fifty-one, No. 23 ;■ — that the
reason of it, both then and afterwards, was not any real,
nor even, pretended command or example, in the New
Testament ; but a supposed necessity, arising, either
from bodily disease, a want of water for immersion, or
some other similar circumstance. No. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10,
16, 20; — that even then, the water was applied by pour-
ing upon or sprinkhngj not the face, but the whole body,

262 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

No. 2 ; — that it was considered as an imperfect admi-
nistration of the ordinance; so imperfect, as rendered
the subject of it inehgible to the ministerial office, and
was denominated sprinklings not baptizi?ig, No. 2, 23; —
that pouring, or sprinkling, as a common practice, ori-
ginated in the apostate church of Rome, and that the
Protestant churches thence derived it, No. 21,' 23; —
that this mode of proceeding commenced among the
English in the time of Queen Elizabeth, but that im-
mersion was the prevailing practice till the reign of
James I., No. 2 1, 23 ; — that the reasons of this alteration
in England were, the love of novelty, niceness of parents,
pretence of modesty, and a high regard for the character
of Calvin, No. 21, 23, 24; — that Calvin's form of ad-
ministering the sacraments was probably the first in the
world, that prescribed pouring absolutely. No. 23; — that
sprinkling, strictly so called, did not commence in Eng-
land, till the year sixteen hundred and forty-five, and
was then used by very few, ibid. ; — that the assembly of
divines at Westminster, converted the font into a basin ;
and that basins, unless in case of necessity, had never
been used by Papists, or any other Christians whatever,
till by the members of that assembly, ibid.; — that Ro-
man Catholics ridicule some of the Protestant ministers,
for using only a few drops of water, No. 22 ; — that the
reasons assigned for this novel mode of proceeding are,
coldness of climate. No. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, H, 12, 14, 15,
17, 18; — tenderness of infants, No. 5, 8, 13; — Christi-
anity's not consisting in ceremonies, No. 6; — that sacred
maxim, " God will have mercy and not sacrifice," No. 1 1 ,
12; — the authority of the church to alter ceremonial
appointments, No. 22 ; — and (most delicately to crown
the whole) because, in the very act of baptizing, it was
observed that natura cursum simm tenets No. 1 3 ; —
finally, that all the Christians in the world, who never
owned the Pope's usurped power, now do, and ever did,
dip their children in the common course of their prac-

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 263

tice, No. 9,3. Such is the information which these learned
authors give.

Reflect. II. According to this representation, the
practice of pouring and sprinkling makes but a poor
figure in the eyes of a consistent Protestant ; for, if this
be a just account, it had no existence till many corrup-
tions had taken deep root in the church ; it originated
in dangerous error ; was fostered by the mother of abo-
minations; and under the powerful influence of her au-
thority and her example, it became the general custom
in all those parts of the world to which her tyranny ever
extended; but no where else. It seems to have
been under the combined operation of different errors
that the practice took its rise. For though, as Mr.
Henry justly observes, "Many in the primitive times,
upon a mistaken apprehension of the unpardonableness
of sin committed after baptism, deferred it long, some
even till the dying moment;"* yet they imagined the
ordinance necessary to their salvation. When, therefore,
they were seized with affliction, confined to their beds,
and apprehensive of death, the expedient of pouring, or
of sprinkling, was devised in the pressing emergency, as
a happy succedaneum for immersion. That laborious
and learned enquirer, Dr. Wall, could find no instance,
of the kind, prior to the case of Novatian ; which case
is thus described in Eusebius : " He fell into a grievous
distemper, and it being supposed that he would die im-
mediately, he received baptism, being besprinkled with
water on the bed whereon he lay, if that can be termed
baptism."'!' On which passage Valesius observes: " This
word, Trepi-xvdeig, Rufinus very well renders perfusus, be-
sprinkled. For people which were sick and baptized in
their beds, could not be dipped in water by the priest,
but were sprinkled with water by him. This baptism
was thought imperfect, and not solemn, for several rea-

* Treatise on Baptism^ p, 27.

f Eccles. Hist, b, vi. chap.xliii, Cambridge., 1683.

264 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

sons. Also they who M^ere thus baptized, were called
ever afterwards, clinici; and, by the twelfth canon of
the Council of NeocJEsarea, these clinici v.ere prohibited
priesthood/' Yea, so imperfect was this baptism es-
teemed, that Bp. Taylor tells us: " It was a formal and
solemn question, made by Magnus to Cyprian, Whether
they are to be esteemed right Christians who were only
sprinkled with water, and not washed or dipped? He
[Cyprian] answers, that the baptism was good, when it
was done in the case of necessity ; God pardoning, and
necessity compeUing. And this," adds the bishop, " is
the sense and law of the church of Enojand: not that it
be indifferent, but that all infants be dipped, except in
cases of sickness, and then sprinkling is permitted."* —
Now, that this clinical baptism had no existence in the
apostolic times, we are led to conclude, not only by
considering the erroneous foundation on which it rests,
and the total silence of the New Testament concerning
it, but also by the testimony of some learned Paedo-
baptists. Witness Altmannus, who says, " It has not
yet been proved, that the baptism of clinics was used in
the time of the apostles; nor, certainly, can any passages
be produced from the apostolic writings, nor from those
of the first fathers, from which it may be concluded that
it is a rite of such great antiquity."! See Chap. IV.
No. 84.

It is worthy to be remarked, that a gross mistake
about the necessity of baptism, not only introduced
sprinkHng instead of immersion ; but, in some instances,
has operated so far as entirely to exclude water from
any concern in the ordinance. The following examples
have occurred to observation, in the course of my read-
ing. Nicephorus informs us, that a certain Jew, per-
forming a journey in company with Christians, and
being suddenly seized with a dangerous illness, earnestly

* Ductor Dubitantium, b.iii. chap. iv. rule 15.
t Meletem, Philoloe:. Critic, tom.iii. ]>. 131.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 9.65

desired baptism at the hands of his fellow travellers.
They, not having a priest in their company, and being
destitute of water, were at first reluctant; but, he con-
juring them not to deny him the favour, they yielded to
his request. On which, taking off his clothes, they
sprinkled him thrice with sand instead of water; adding,
that they "baptized him, in the name of the Father,"
and so on.* — Deylingius furnishes another example of
a singular kind. He tells us, that near the beginning of
the Reformation, a certain midwife in Thuringia, under
the fair pretext of necessity, baptized some sickly chil-
dren without water, merely by pronouncing these words;
" I baptize thee in the name," and so on. The same
learned author, from Seckendorf, mentions others who
taught that baptism might be administered without wa-
ter.f — To BAPTIZE by sprinkling a few drops of water;
to BAPTIZE by sprinkling of sand, without any water;
to BAPTIZE by merely pronouncing a form of words;
what misnomers they are ! and what an improvement on
the institution of Christ! I will here add the foUowino;
words of Dr. Wiilett: "We condemn the foolish and
ungodly practices and inventions of heretics, that either
exclude water altogether, as the Manichees, with others;
or do use any other element, as the Jacobites, that, in-
stead of water, burned them that were to be baptized
with an hot iron; or as the Ethiopians, which are called
Abissines, that used fire instead of w^ater ; misconstruing
the words of the gospel, (Matt. iii. 1 l.)"J

* Apud Centur. Magdeburg, cent. ii. c. vi, p, 82.

f De Prudentia Pastoral, pars. iii. c.iii. § 20.

X Synopsis Papismi, p. 562. Our brethren who practise Free
Communion frequently plead, that those persons whose claim to
the holy supper is under dispute, consider themselves as really bap-
tized, and on that ground should be admitted to the Lord's table.
This reminds me of what Vasques, a Popish casuist, says : " If any
man think that to be a relic of a saint, which indeed is not so, he is
not frustrate of the merit of his devotion." Thus thfit veteran in
siiperstition, as quoted by Mr. Clarkson, Prac. Div. of Papists,

9,66 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

Reflect. III. The reasons assigned by these Paedo-
baptists for pouring or sprinkling, may be compared
with the arguments of Roman Catholics, in defence of
withholding the cup from the people; the answers re-
turned by Protestants to their futile reasonings ; and
these, with the replies that Baptists make to the rea-
sonings in favour of sprinkling. Do the Roman
Catholics argue, That the whole essence of the Lord^s
supper is contained in one kind ? So do Protestant
Psedobaptists, that the entire essence of baptism is re-
tained in pouring or sprinkling. — Do the former main-
tain, that they who have the thing sigmjied, need not
contend about the sig7i ? So do many of the latter. —
Do the votaries of Rome tell us, there is no spiritual
benefit enjoyed by receiving both bread and wine, which
is not possessed by those who partake only of the bread ?
So do our Protestant brethren argue, in reference to
pouring and sprinkling, compared with immersion. — Do
the subjects of the triple crown endeavour to persuade
the Reformed, that there were various types andjigures of
the holy supper, in the Old Testament, which favour the
receiving it in one kind ? Do they plead for this end the
paschal lamb, the manna, the show-bread, and the sacri-
fices, the flesh of which was to be eaten, but their blood
not to be drunk ? So Paedobaptists endeavour to per-
suade us, that some typical rites, and that various allu-
sive expressions in the Old Testament, (such as, I will
pour water on him that is thirsty — He shall sprinkle
many nations* with others of a similar kind,) are in

p, 189. But would our bretlien receive a candidate for commu-
nion, who sincerely believes he has been baptized, merely because
he was sprinkled with sand, as, in the case of this Jew ; or on ac-
count of some zealous midwife having pronounced over him a so-
lemn form of words ; or because he has been marked with a hot
iron ? Let them consider of it, take advice, and speak their minds,
(Judges xix. 30.)

* Mr, Henry's Treatise on Bap. ji. 140,

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 267

favour of sprinkling. — Have Protestants united in re-
plying to the first of these arguments : It is not a fact,
that the whole essence of the Lord's supper is contained
in the species of bread ? So do we assert, that the en-
tire essence of baptism is not retained in pouring or
sprinkling; because an immersion of the whole body,
is as really a distinct act from applying a few drops of
water to the face only, as eating bread is distinct from
the drinking of wine. — Do the Reformed answer to the
second ; This is the ready way to cast off all sacraments
and ordinances at once ? So do we ; for if the servants
of Christ may administer baptism in either of the dif-
ferent ways, because the candidate is considered as hav-
ing the blessings to which it refers, they are at liberty,
for the same reason, to neglect or use any ordinance
just as they please. — Do the opposers of Papal corrup-
tions reply to the third ; That supposing an equal de-
gree of benefit to result from each mode of administra-
tion, yet there is not, there cannot be the same degree
of humble obedience to Jesus Christ, who appointed the
sacred supper? So do we, in regard to the different
ways of administering baptism. Do the friends of the
Protestant cause agree, in respect to the fourth argu-
ment; That none of the things mentioned were types
or figures of the LorcTs supper, and therefore the ana-
logical reasoning has no force ? We also maintain, that
none of the purifications practised in the ancient Jewish
church, (whether by dipping, washing, or sprinkling,)
were types or figures of baptism. Besides, we have the
authority of a learned and famous Peedobaptist, when
we assert, That among all the various rites of purifica-
tion prescribed to the chosen tribes, " the sprinkling of
mere water was not appointed ; for it was either mixed
with blood or ashes."* Consequently, no allusion to
any of those ancient rites, whether it be found in the Old
or in the New Testament, can be a proper direction for

* Lainpe, Comment, in Evang Joan. ad. cap. iii. 5.

268 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

US in the administration of baptism. See Chap. I.
No. 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 20. Reflect. II. III.

Again : When Protestant writers oppose that muti-
lation of a divine appointment, which is practised by
those of the Romish communion at the Lord's table,
they do not fail to show, that the declared will of God is
the rule of duty ; and that the institution of the ordi-
nance, the example of the apostles, the end of the ap-
pointment, and the practice of the church for thirteen
hundred years, are all against that partial administration,
and all in favour of the Reformed.* Now, are not these
the very principles on which the Baptists proceed, in all
their disputes with Paedobaptists about the right manner
of performing baptism ? Nay, does it not appear from
the preceding chapters, and from the pens of our oppo-
nents themselves, that these principles are just, and
supported by facts, relating to the controversy about
baptism, as well as to that concerning the holy supper ?

Farther : Do some of the learned Catholics acknow-
ledge, that receiving the Lord's supper in both kinds, is
more complete and more e.vpressive; and that the present
practice of their church, is a departure from the institu-
tion, from apostolic example, and from the general cus-
tom of Christians for many ages ? Do certain of their
learned writers express an ardent wish to have the pri-
mitive practice restored among themPf All this, it
appears, have some of our learned opposers done, in re-
gard to the administration of baptism. How far the
following reflection upon a concession of Cassander,
concerning communion in one kind, may be fairly ap-
plied to any of the Paedobaptists, I leave my reader to
judge. " Behold," says my author, " behold here an

* See Morning Exercise against Popery, serm. xxii. Dr. Wil-
let's Synoj)s. Papismi, controv. xiii. q. viii. p. 640 — G47 j and Mr.
Leigh's Bod. Div. b. viii. chap. ix.

t Dr. V/illct, ut supra, p. 642. Morning Excr. against Po-
pcryj p. 772.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 269

acknowledgment so plain and so full, that I wonder with
what countenance men can resist so manifest a truth,
and withhold it in unrighteousness ! And yet here they
muster up the best strength they have, and will not yield
an inch of what they have once established, be it right or
wrong." *

Once more: Do not Protestant Pasdobaptists urge
the 7iecessity of adhering, strictly adhering to the original
institution, in administering the holy supper ; the ab-
surdity and iniquity of departing from it, on account
of any supposed inconvenience; and the danger of
practising any thing in religious worship that is not
warranted by the word of God? Hear a specimen of
what they say, and see whither the reasoning tends;
for it proceeds on principles that are common to every
positive institution of true religion. — Thus Dr. Clarke:,
" In things of external appointment, and mere positive
institution, where we cannot, as in matters of natural
and moral duty, argue concerning the natural reason
and ground of the obligation, and the original necessity
of the thing itself, we have nothing to do but to obey
the positive command. God is infinitely better able
than we to judge of the propriety and usefulness of
the things he institutes; and it becomes us to obey
with humility and reverence." f — " The command of
Christ," says the judicious Turrettin, "ought not to be
violated under any pretence whatever; and in what way
soever the thing signified may be received, the sign ap-
pointed by Christ is always to be retained." :{: — "There
is in the church," says Heidegger, " no more power of
changing the rites of the sacraments appointed by
Christ, than there is power of changing his word and
law. For as his word contains a sign audible, so those
rites contain a visible sign of his divine will."§ — "It

* Morning Exercise, p. 772. f Expos. Church Cat.

p. 305, 306. X Institut. loc. xix. quaest, xxv. § 22.

§ In Dr. Du Veil, on Acts viii. 38.

270 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

is a universal axiom," says the learned and eminent
Chamier, " that the sacrament be celebrated according
to its first institution."* — ''There being, in this whole
institution, the greatest simplicity and unity of design
that can be," says Bp. Taylor; " the same form of M^ords,
a single sacrament, the same address, no difference in
the sanction, no variety, or signs of variety, in the
appendages, in the parallel places, or in any discourse
concerning it; to suppose here a difference will so
intricate the whole affair, that either men may imagine
and dream of variety when they please, and be or not
be obliged as they list; or else if there be a difference
intended in it by our Lawgiver, it will be as good as none
at all, he having left no mark of the distinction, no
shadow of different commandments, under several re-
presentations."')" — "All reasoning upon this head," says
Bp. Burnet, "is an arguing against the institution; as if
Christ and his apostles had not well enough considered
it, but that twelve hundred years after them, a conse-
quence should be observed, that till then had not been
thought of, which made it reasonable to alter the
manner of it ... . He who instituted it, knew best what
was most fitting and most reasonable; and we must
choose rather to acquiesce in his commands, than in
our own reasonings.":}; — "The institution, with the
elements, makes the sacrament; and so the only rule
and balance for them [the elements] must needs be their
institution. This being the ground of this ordinance,
no man or angel may violate it under a fearful curse.
And indeed, if men's will or wisdom might alter and
change the revelation of God, nothing would abide
firm in rehgion. It is true, the laws of men may be
corrected and annulled, because they foresee not their
inconveniences; but our Saviour, certainly, when he

* Panstrat. torn. iv. 1. i. c. xiii. § 1.

f Ductor Dubitant. b. iii. chap. vi. p. 412.

+ Expos, xxxix Art, p. 436, AAJ.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 271

appointed this ordinance, well knew what was neces-
sary and useful for his church to the end of the world.
And for this reason the apostle Paul, when some dis-
orders were broken into the church of Corinth, in the
use of the Lord's supper, recalls them to the insti-
tution, and endeavours by that straight rule to rectify
their irregularities, (1 Cor, xi. 23.) By which place it is
evident, that there is no such way to obviate any
mistake, which in after-times creeps upon God's own
ordinance, as by going back to the spring, by consi-
dering the institution: insomuch as the same apostle,
for their violating Christ's institution in their adminis-
tration of this ordinance, saith. This is not to eat the
Lord's supper.'''* — • — Dr. Erskine, when answering an
objection against frequently receiving the sacred supper,
says : " Whatever danger there is, God foresaw it, but
yet did not see meet to guard against it, by enjoining
us to communicate seldom. Shall we then pretend to
be wiser than God? Have we found out better means
for securing the honour of his institutions, than the
means prescribed and practised by those who were
under the infallible guidance of his Spirit? Have not
attempts of this kind proved the source of the worst
corruptions in Popery? Reason has no power to dis-
pense with, or to derogate from the positive laws of
God, on pretence of doing them a service. It is blas-
phemous presumption, though it may put on a cloak of
humility, to judge that a sufficient reason to hinder thee
from frequent communicating, which our Lord did not
judge a sufficient reason to hinder him from commanding it.
If thou thus judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law,
but a judge "f — Once more : The church of England says,
" Before all other things this we must be sure of espe-
cially, that this supper be in such wise done and minis-
tered as our Lord and Saviour did and commanded to

* Morning Exercise against Popery, p. 764, 765.
t Theolog. Dissert, p. ^89,

272 REASONS, KISE, AND PREVALENCE

be done, as his holy apostles used it, and the good
fathers in the primitive church frequented it. For, as
that worthy man S. Ambrose saith, ' He is unworthy of
the Lord, that otherwise doth celebrate that mystery,
than it was delivered by him.' Neither can he be devout,
that otherwise doth presume than it was given by the
Author."* — Quotations of this kind might be greatly
multiplied; but I forbear, and appeal* to the reader.
Whether these be not the very principles on which u e
proceed ; nay, whether these be not some of those very
arguments, mutatis mutandis, that are used by us against
pouring and sprinkling? If, then, this way of arguing
be valid from the pens of Protestants, against a mutila-
tion of the holy supper; it must be equally so from the
pen of a Baptist, in relation to the substitution of pour-
ing, or sprinkhng, instead of immersion. For if these
arguments have any force, they will equally apply to
every positive institution that is not administered accord-
ing to its original form. We may, therefore, adopt the
following observation of Dr. Owen, respecting the cause
of Nonconformity : " We find as yet no arrows shot
against us, but such as are gathered up in the fields, shot
at them that use them, out of the Roman quiver."f

Nor are Roman Catholics insensible of that advan-
tage which Paedobaptist Protestants give them, in regard
to this affair; for thus Bossuet reasons : "Though these
are incontestable truths, [namely, that baptism is im-
mersion, and that immersion was practised by the
apostles;] yet neither we, nor those of the pretended
Reformed religion, hearken to the Anabaptists, who hold
mersion to be essential and indisjiensable; nor have
either they or we feared to change this dipping, as I may
say, of the whole body, into a bare aspersion, or infu-
sion on one part of it. No other reason of this altera-

* Homily on the Sacram. part i.

t Enquiry into the Orig and Insfitut. of Churches, Pref. j). 52.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 273

tion can be rendered, than that this dipping is not of
the substance of baptism; and those of the pretended
Reformed rehgion agreeing with us in this, the first
"principle we have laid down is incontestable. The se-
cond principle is, That to distinguish in a sacrament,
what does or does not belong to the substance of it, we
must consider the essential efficacy of the sacrament.
Thus, although the word of Jesus Christ, baptize, as
has been said, signifies dip, it has been thought, that
the efficacy of the sacrament was not annexed to the
quantity of water;* so that baptism by infusion and
sprinkling, or by mersion, appearing in reality to have
the same efficacy, both the one and the other mode
are judged good. Now seeing, as we have said, we
cannot find in the eucharist any essential efficacy of
the body, distinguished from that of the blood ; the
grace of the one and of the other, as to the sum and
substance of it, cannot but be the same. It signifies
nothing to say. The representation of the death of our
Lord, is more e.vpress in the two kinds. I grant it; and
in like manner the new birth of a believer, is more de-
press in immersion, than in bare infusion, or aspersion.
For the believer being plunged in the water of baptism,
is ' buried with Jesus Christ,' as the apostle expresses it,
(Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12;) and coming out of the water,
quits the tomb with his Saviour, and more perfectly re-
presents the mystery of Jesus Christ, who regenerates
him. Mersion, in which water is applied to the whole
body and to all its parts, also more perfectly signifies,
that a man is more fully and entirely washed from his

* So says Mr. Henry : " In sacraments, it is the truth, and not
the quantity of the outward element, that is to be insisted upon."
Here he inadvertently coincides with Bossuet. In another place,
however, he says : " Strict conformity to the scripture rule, without
the superadded inventions of men, is the true beauty of Christian
ordinances." This is the language of a sound Protestant, and wor-
thy of himself. See his Treatise on Bap. p. 139, 149.
VOL. I. T

274 REASOXS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

defilements ; and yet, baptism performed by immersion,
or plunging, is not better than that which is administered
by simple infusion, and on one part only. It is sufficient,
that the expression of the mystery of Jesus Christ, and
of the efficacy of grace, is found in substance in the sa-
crament, and the utmost exactness of representation is
not required in it. Thus, in the eucharist, the expression
of the death of our Lord, being in substance found in
it, when that body which was delivered up for us is
given to us; and the expression of the grace of the
sacrament being also found in it, when the image of our
spiritual nourishment is given us, under the species of
bread; the blood, which only adds to it a more express
signification, is not absolutely necessary." *

The same artful defender of Papal superstition, in
another of his books, expresses himself thus: " Baptism
by immersion, which is as clearly established in the scrip-
ture, as communion under the two kinds can possibly
be, has nevertheless been changed into pouring, with as
much ease and as little dispute, as communion under
one kind has been established ; for there is the same
reason why one should be preserved as the other. It is
a fact most firmly believed by the Reformed, (though
some of them at this time wrangle about it,) that baptism
was instituted to be administered by plunging the body
entirely; that Jesus Christ received it in this manner;
that it was thus performed by his apostles ; that the
scriptures are acquainted with no other baptism ; that
antiquity understood and practised it in this manner;
and that to baptize, is to plunge; — these facts, I say, are
unanimously acknowledged by all the Reformed tea-
chers; by the Reformers themselves; by those who best
understood the Greek language, and the ancient customs
of both Jews and Christians; by Luther, by IMelanc-
thon, by Calvin, by Casaubon, by Grotius, with all the
rest, and since their time by Jurieu, the most ready to

* In Mr. Stennett against Mr. Russen^ p. 176 — 178.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 9.15

contradict of all their ministers. Luther has even re-
marked, that this sacrament is called Tauf^ in German,
on account of the depth ; because they plunged deeply
in the water those whom they baptized. If then there be
in the world a fact absolutely certain, it is this. Yet it is
no less certain, that with all these authors, baptism with-
out immersion is considered as lawful; and that the
church properly retains the custom of pouring. . . .There
is, then, the same foundation for continuing the commu-
nion under one kind, as to continue baptism by pouring;
and the church, in supporting these two customs, which
tradition proves are equally indifferent, has not done
any thing unusual; but maintained, against troublesome
persons, that authority upon which the faith of the igno
rant rests."* — I am reminded here of a remark made
by Mr. James Owen, concerning Episcopacy; which,
with a slight alteration, will apply to the case before us.
These are his words : "Our English Episcopacy hath
scarce one argument for its defence, but what will indif-
ferently serve the Popish prelacy." f

Our English Episcopalians also do not fail to argue
on the same topic, when defending their hierarchy, and
various rites, against the objections of Paedobaptist
Dissenters. Thus, for example, Bp, Burnet, after hav-
ing mentioned several things which he thought for his
purpose, proceeds : " To these instances another may be
added, that must needs press all that differ from us, one
body only excepted, very much. We know that the
first ritual of baptism, was by going into the waters,
and being laid as dead all along in them ; and then the
persons baptized were raised up again, and so they came
out of them. This is not only mentioned by St. Paul, but
in two different places he gives a mystical signification
of this rite, that it signified our being hurled with Christ
in baptism, and our being raised up with him to a 7ieiv

* Hist, des Eglises Protest, torn. ii. p. 469, 470.
f Plea for Scrip. Ordinat. p. \7 , 171 •

276 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

life; so that the phrases, of rising ivith Christ, and
of putting on Christ, as oft as they occur, do plainly
relate to this: and yet, partly out of modesty, partly
in regard to the tenderness of infants, and the coldness of
these climates, since such a manner might endanger their
lives, and we know that God ' loves mercy better than
sacrifice,' this form of baptizing is as little used by those
[Pasdobaptists] who separate from us, as by ourselves
....From all these things this inference seems just,
That according to the practices of those who divide from
us, the church must be supposed to have an authority
to adjust the forms of our religion, in those parts of
them that are merely ritual, to the taste, to the exi-
gencies, and conveniences of the several ages and cli-
mates."*— The right reverend prelate here speaks out.
He talks like one who heartily believes, that " the church
hath power to decree rites or ceremonies." This will
do almost as well, so far as the ritual part of religion is
concerned, as the claim of infallibility, of a dispensing
power, and the pretence of unwritten apostolic tradition,
which are advanced by the partisans of another com-
munion. Such, however, is the bishop's avowal; and
such, he insists upon it, is the implicit language of those
Dissenters who practise pouring or sprinkhng instead of
immersion. What a pity but the church, under the
ancient Jewish economy, had been acquainted with this
doctrine of taste, of eaigence, and of convenience, rela-
ting to the ceremonial part of divine worship ! What a
pity but the hoary Abraham had u ell understood it, when
he received an order to circumcise himself and his male
posterity ! for had he known and approved of it, he
would certainly have performed the rite on a ditierent
part from that which Jehovah specified. What shall I
say ? This doctrine of taste, of exigence, and of conve-

* Four Discourses to the Clergy, p, ^81, 282. Compare this
with what he says, Exposit. of Thirty-nine Art. p. 436, 437, as
quoted before, p. 301.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. ^11

nience is of such extensive application, that it would
have saved the venerable ancients a world of trouble,
and screened them from a thousand reproaches of their
Gentile neighbours, had it been duly improved; be-
cause, as God is " in one mind," it cannot be doubted,
that " he loved mercy better than sacrifice" in those
early times as well as now.

But let us hear another learned Episcopalian or two
in reference to the same subject. Thus, then, Mr.
Evans, when defending a kneelino; gesture at the Lord's
table. " There is a confessed variation allowed of, and
practised by the generality of Dissenters, both Presby-
terians and Independents, from the institution and prac-
tice of Christ and his apostles, in the other sacrament
of baptism ; for they have changed immersion or dip-
ping, into aspersion or sprinkling, and pouring water on
the face. Baptism by immersion or dipping, is suitable
to the institution of our Lord and the practice of his
apostles, and was by them ordained and used to repre-
sent our burial with Christ, a death unto sin, and a new
birth unto righteousness, as St. Paul explains that rite,
(Matt. iii. 16, and xxviii. 19; Rom. vi. 4, 6, 11 ; Col.
ii. 12.) Now, it is very strange that kneeling at the
Lord's supper (though a ditFerent gesture from that
which was used at the first institution) should become a
stumbling-block in the way of weak and tender consci-
ences, and that it is more unpassable than the Alps; and
yet they can with ease and cheerfulness pass by as great
or a greater change in the sacrament of baptism, and
christen as we do, without the least murmur or com-
plaint. Sitting, kneeling, or standing, were none or
them instituted or used to signify and represent any
thing essential to the Lard's supper, as dipping all over
was : why cannot kneeling then be without any wrong
to the conscience, as safely and innocentl}/^ used as
sprinkling? How comes a gnat (to use our Saviour's
proverb) to be harder to swallow than a camel? Or

278 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

why should not the peace and unity of the church, and
charity to the public, prevail with them to kneel at the
Lord's supper, as much, or rather more, as mercy and
tenderness to the infant's body, to sprinkle or pour water

on the face, contrary to the first institution?"* Thus

also Dr. Whitby: " If, notwithstanding the evidence
produced, that baptism by immersion is suitable both to
the institution of our Lord and his apostles; and was by
them ordained to represent our burial with Christ, and
so our dying unto sin, and our conformity to his resur-
rection by newness of life, as the apostle doth clearly
maintain the meaning of this rite; I say, if, notwith-
standing this, all our [Paedobaptist] Dissenters do agree
to sprinkle the baptized infant, why may they not as
well submit to the significant ceremonies imposed by
our church? For, since it is as lawful to add unto
Christ's institutions a significant ceremony, as to dimi-
nish a significant cereaiony which He or his apostles
instituted, and use another in its stead, which they never
did institute; what reason can they have to do the latter,
and yet refuse submission to the former ? And why
should not the peace and union of the church be as pre-
vailing with them to perform the one, as is their mercy

to the infant's body to neglect the other ?"'{" Hence

the reader may plainly perceive, how much the practice
of aspersion is calculated to embarrass Protestants, in
their disputes with Papists; and Nonconformists, in their
controversies with Episcopalians.

Reflect. IV. Admitting the tenderness of infants to
be a sufficient reason for not immersing them, what is the
natural inference? That they should be sprinkled, or
have water poured upon them? By no means; but that
our divine Legislator does not require them to be bap-
tized. For, as our opposers themselves have proved,

* Cases to Recover Dissenters, vol. iii. p. 105, 106, edit. 3rd.
f Protestant Reconciler, p. 289. See also Bp. Stillingfleet's
Irenicum, part ii. p. 345.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMLRSIOX. Q79

we must insist that baptism is immersion. Consequently,
were it evinced that infants cannot bear plunging, without
the hazard of health and of life, it would only be a pre-
sumptive argument against their claim to the ordinance:
and the greater the danger the stronger the presumption;
for our opponents inform us, that a natural incapacity
will always excuse,* — That it is better to omit a positive
ordinance than to perform it contrary to divine appoint-
ment, Pjedobaptists themselves assure us. Thus the
famous Buddeus: " Persons who cannot drink wine,
had better entirely abstain from the sacred supper than

receive it under one species only."'f Deylingius :

''It is better entirely to abstain from using the holy
supper, than receive it contrary to the appointment of

Christ." J Mr. Blake: "Omissions seem better to

me, than a prohibited, or a disorderly proceeding, ex-
pressly against a command, or ordinance of Jesus Christ.
The ark had better stayed where it was, than a new cart
should have carried it in that disorder to the place ap-
pointed for it. Better that Saul and Uzziah had let
sacrifice alone, than any to whom it did not appertain

should have undertaken it I never saw sufficient

reason given, that a man should break an express rule,
rather than omit a duty of mere positive institution.
Jeroboam must rather have no sacrifice, than that Dan
and Bethel should be the place for it."§ Mr. Brad-
bury: " It is better, I think, to leave such a duty [as
baptism] undone, than not to have it well done. God
never expects it either from you or me, when he has
thrown a bar in our way, that we should break it, or
leap over it." || To which I may add, Better that the
Israelites had entirely omitted circumcision while in the

* Morning Exercise against Popery, p. 771.
f Theolog, Moral, pars. iii. c, iii. § 77-
J De Prudent. Pastoral, pars iii. c. v. § 16.
§ Covenant Sealed, p. 255, 256.
I) Duty and Doct; of Bap. p. 21.

280 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

wilderness, than to have circumcised a finger instead of
the foreskin. So in the present case ; better omit bap-
tism entirely, than practise pouring or sprinkling.

But whether, in these colder climates, and in coi^-
mon cases, there be any reason to consider health as
endangered by the practice of immersion, let Paedobap-
tists themselves declare. That learned physician, Sir
John Floyer, gives his opinion on the subject without
reserve, both in a theological and medical point of light.
Among many other things, he says : " I do here appeal
to you, [the dean and canons, residentiaries of the cathe-
dral church of Litchfield,] as persons well versed in the
ancient history, and canons, and ceremonies of the
church of England ; and therefore are sufficient witnesses
of the matter of fact which I design to prove ; viz. That
immersion continued in the church of England till about
the year sixteen hundred. And from hence I shall
infer, That if God and the church thought that prac-
tice innocent for sixteen hundred years, it must be ac-
counted an unreasonable nicety in this present age,
to scruple either immersion or cold bathing, as dan-
gerous practices. Had any prejudice usually happened
to infants by the trine immersion, that custom could
not have continued so long in this kingdom. We must
always acknowledge, that He that made our bodies,
would never command any practice prejudicial to our
health ; but, on the contrary, he best knows what
will be most for the preservation of our health, and
does frequently take great care both of our bodies and
souls, in the same command."* — This eminent phy-
sician endeavours to show, as Dr. Wall observes, " by
reasons taken from the nature of our bodies, from the
rules of medicine, from modern experience, and from
ancient history, that washing or dipping infants in cold
water, is, generally speaking, not only safe, but very use-
ful; and that though no such rite as baptism had been

* Hist of Cold Bathing, p. 11, 51.

OF SPRINIvLIXG INSTEAD OF IMMERSION". 281

instituted, yet reason and experience would have directed
people to use cold bathing, both of themselves and their
children ; and that it has in all former ages so directed
them. For — he shows, that all civilized nations, the
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and so on, made frequent
use of it, and gave great commendations of it; and that
nature itself has taught this custom to many barbarous
nations; the old Germans, Highlanders, Irish, Japanese,
Tartars, and even the Samoiedes, who live in the coldest
climate that is inhabited .... He prognosticates that the
old modes in physic and religion will in time prevail,
when people have had more experience in cold baths;
and that the approbation of physicians would bring in

the old use of immersion in baptism."* Dr. Cheyne

thus: "I cannot forbear recommending cold bathing;
and I cannot sufficiently admire how it should ever have
come into such disuse, especially among Christians,
when commanded by the greatest Lawgiver that ever was,
under the direction of God's Holy Spirit, to his chosen
people, and perpetuated to us in the immersion at bap-
tism, by the same Spirit; who with infinite wisdom in
this, as in every thing else that regards the temporal and
eternal felicity of his creatures, combines their duty with
their happiness."'}' — ^To the decided opinion of these
medical authors, relating to the salutary tendency of cold
bathing, we may add the suffrage of that great philo-
sopher. Lord Bacon, who speaks as follows: " It is
strange that the use of bathing, as a part of diet,^ is left.
With the Roman and Grecians it was as usual as eating
or sleeping; and so it is amongst the Turks at this day." J

Thus also Dr. Franklin: "Damp, but not wet hnen,

may possibly give colds; but no one catches cold by
bathing, and no clothes can be wetter than water itself." §

* Hist, of Inf. Bap, part ii. chap. ix. p. 476, 477-

t Essay on Health, p. 100, 101.

J In Dr. Stennett's Answer to Dr. Addington, part i. p. 34.

§ Letters and Papers on Various Subjects, p. 460.

28^ REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

— To all which I will subjoin the following attestation
of a nameless opponent: " A child may, with as much
propriety, and commonly with equal safety to its health,
be baptized by immersion as an adult."* See Chap. V.
No. 7.

But supposing there were both difficulty and danger
attending the performance of our Lord's positive com-
mand, Pagdopabtists would still assure us, that we must
submit without repining, and without hesitation. Thus,
for example, Dr. Sherlock: " If an express law may be
disobeyed, as often as men fancy they see reason to do
what the law forbids, this overthrows the whole autho-
rity of making laws, and makes every subject a judge
whether the laws of a sovereign prince should be obeyed
or not. At this rate, he has the greatest authority who
has the best reason; and since every man believes his
own reason to be best, every man is the sovereign lord
of his own actions. It is to be presumed, that no prince
makes a law, but what he apprehends some reason for ;
and to oppose any man's private reason against a law,
is to set up a private man's reason against the public
reason of government : and yet it is much worse to oppose
our reason against a divine law ; which is to oppose the
reason of creatures against the reason of God : unless
we will say, that God makes laws without reason; and
those who can believe that, may as easily imagine, that
those laws which he makes without reason, should be
obeyed without reason also; and then, to be sure, all
their reasons cannot repeal a law, nor justify them in
the breach of it. It becomes every creature to believe
the will of God to be the highest reason; and therefore,
when God has declared his will by an express law, while
his law continues in force, it is an impudoit thing to urge
our reasons against the obligations of it; especially,
when the matter of the law is such, [as it is in positive
institutions] that whatever reasons may be pretended on

* Simple Truth, or A Pica for Infants, p. 9,.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 283

one side or other, it must be acknowledged to be wholly
at the will and pleasure of the lawgiver which side he
will choose. . . .That no reason or aro;uments can absolve
us from our obedience to an express law till it be re-
pealed, appears from this; that our obligation to obedi-
ence does not depend merely upon the reason of the law,
but upon the authoriti/ oi i\\Q lawgiver; and therefore,
though the reason of the law should cease, yet while it
is enforced by the same authority it obliges still."* —
PuffendorfF shows, and I suppose it is generally agreed,
that laws do not oblige because they are good, but be-
cause the legislator has a right to command; and that
no objection arises to the express words of a law, on
account of the requisition seeming to be hard in some
particular instances. f — Mr. Charnock says, " They
must be evasions past understanding, that can hold water
against a divine order. . . .God never gave power to any
man to change his ordinances, or to dispense with

them." J " Surely it is enough," says Abp. Seeker,

" that He is Lord and King of the whole earth, and
that all his deahngs with the works of his hands are just
and reasonable. Our business is to obey, and trust him

with the consequences." § " No circumstances of

prudence or conveniency," says Dr. Hunter, " can ever
be with propriety urged as a dispensation with a clearly
commanded duty. .. .Observe the delicacy, and the
danger of admitting a latitude and a liberty in sacred
things. In what concerns the conduct of human life,
in our intercourse one with another as the citizens of
this world, many things must be left to be governed by
occasions and discretion ; but in what relates to the im-
mediate worship of God, and where the mind of the
Lord has been clearly made known, to assume and

* Preservative against Popery, title vii. p. 21.
f Law of Nature and Nations, b. i. chap, vi, § 1, 17} b.v.
chap. i. § 24. % Works, vol. ii. p. 763, 773, first edit.

§ Lectures on the Catechism, lect, ii.

284 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

exercise a dispensing power is criminal and hazard-
ous. The tabernacle must be constructed, to the mi-
nutest pin and loop, according to the pattern delivered
in the mount. If Uzzah presume to put forth his hand
to support the tottering ark, it is at his peril. A holy
and a jealous God will be served only by the persons,
and in the maner which he himself has appointed. . . .
When the great Jehovah condescends to become a lesis-
lator, the utmost extent of possibility lying open to his
View, provision is made from the beginning for every case
that can happen.""* — A Deistical writer having objected
against circumcision, on account of the pain and danger
attending it. Dr. Waterland replies : " The presumption
which the author goes upon is, that he is wise enough to
direct the counsels of heaven, and to pass an unerring
judgment upon all the works and ways of God. It is a
fact that God did require circumcision : and who art
thou that repUest against God? Even Mr, Bayle might
teach this author, that when we are certain God does such
or such a thing, it is blasphemy to say it is useless. God
has his own reasons. This writer might be certain of
the fact, if any historical fact whatever can be made
certain."! "Surely," says Mr. Towgood, "the su-
preme Bishop and only Head of his church, well knew
what institutions were most for its edification, and what
ceremonies and rites would best promote the order and
decency of its worship; and either by himself, or by his
inspired apostles, has left a perfect plan of both. For
any weak uninspired men, therefore, to rise up in after
ages, and fancy they can improve the scheme of worship
which Christ hath left ; that they can add greatly to its
beauty, its splendour and perfection, by some ceremonies
of their own, is, to be sure, a rude invasion of Christ's
throne, which every sober Christian ought highly to

* Sacred Biography, vol. iii. j). 93, 94, 362, 363, 435.
f Scripture Vindicated, part i. p. 63, 64.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 285

detest. " * — Remarkable, and quite in point, is the
declaratioii_of Dr. Owen : " That divine revelation is the
only foundation, the only law, and the only rule of all
rehgious worship that is pleasing to God, or accepted
by him, is a maxim of the last importance in divinity.
This maxim teaches, that every thing appointed by God
in his worship, however absurd, or difficult, or unprofit-
able, it may seem to reason, is to be regarded and per-
formed with the deepest reverence and submission, on
account of that supreme authority whicH appointed and
required it."'j' — ^To these testimonies I will add that
of Bernard: " Non attendit verus obediens, quale sit
quod praecipitur; hoc solo contentus quia pr^ci-

PITUR."

Mr. Henry has observed, that circumcision was " a
painful and bloody rite." J So the wife of Moses con-
sidered it; but yet Abraham and his posterity were bound
to observe it, on the peril of Jehovah's keen displeasure.
Concerning that sanguinary ceremony, Paedobaptists
have spoken their minds very freely. M. Saurin, for
instance, tells us: "The command of circumcision did,
without doubt, frighten those who first received it; it
was dangerous to grown persons in hot countries : but
for an old man to receive the token of circumcision in so
advanced an age, was in all appearance to be put out of
the condition of seeing himself a father. . . .The pain
which circumcision produced was extremely sensible,
especially to grown people ; this we may infer from the
example of the Shechemites."§ Quenstedius : " Cir-
cumcision was a work full of pain, as Philo asserts ;
which appears by the history of the Shechemites,
(Gen. xxxiv. 25.) Hence Zipporah, having circumcised
her son, said to Moses, ' A bloody husband art thou to

* Dissent. Gent. Letters, lett. Hi. p. 10, 11.

f Theologoumena, 1. iv. c. iii. digress, iii. p. 326.

X Treatise on Bap. p. 12.

§ Uisscrtat. upon the Old Test. vol. i. p. 141, 143.

286 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

me ' . . . . As if she had said, This rite of thy nation forces
me to shed blood, (Exod.iv. 25.)"* Bucanus: "Cir-
cumcision could not be performed without putting the

infant to most exquisite pain/'f Sir John Chardin :

" I have heard from divers renegadoes in the East who
had been circumcised, some at thirty, some at forty
years of age, that the circumcision had occasioned them
a great deal of pain, and that they were obliged to keep
their bed upon it, at least twenty or twenty-two days." J
Mr. Findlay : " IMaimonides having said. Circum-
cision luas a 7ite of such a nature^ that no person would
perform it upon himself or his children, but on account of
i^eligion; gives the reason of his judgment: For it is
not a slight hurt of the leg, or burning of the arm, but a
thins; MOST HARSH and uneasy. . . .So likewise Philo
speaks of circumcision, as an operation attended with
grievous anguish. .. .It may even seem to have been
hazardous to life : for Lightfoot, in his Exercitations
upon 1 Cor. vii. 19, produces some passages from Rab-
binical writings, in which mention is made of a man
whose brethren had died of circumcision. Nay, one
from the Jerusalem Talmud itself, where R. Nathan
says, ' There was a woman in Cesarea of Cappadocia,
who had lost three sons successively by it.'"§ Now,
can any thing like this be asserted with propriety con-
cerning the baptismal immersion ? Yet Abraham, who
first received the command, readily obeyed ; for he cir-
cumcised himself and his son Ishmael, together with all
the males that were born in his house, or bought with his
money, on the very day he received the divine order. |j

* Antiq. Bib. pars. i. c. iii. p. 269, 270.

f Theolog. Loc. loc. xlvi. § 31.

X In Mr. Harmer's Observations, vol. ii. p. 498, 499.

§ Vindicat. of the Sacretl Books, p. 2/8, Note. Vid. Gussetii
Comment. Ebr. sub rad. '^o } and Scheuchseri Physica Sacra, p. 93,
450. Aug. Vindilic. 1731.

11 Gen. xvij. 23, 24.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMEUSION. 287

In regard to the supposed indecency of plunging,
about which a hideous outcry is often raised, as if that
of itself were a sufficient conviction of our practice pro-
ceeding on a gross mistake, we answer with Mr. Baxter,
in another case; " It is God's way, and then no incon-
venience will disgrace it."* Some of the Romish ca-
suists have told us, indeed, that it is no sin to break a
divine law, if it be very difficult to keep ; if we should
be thought fools for observing it ; or if the observance
of it would be accounted ridiculous :f but we dare not
place much dependence on their determination. Be-
sides, whatever of this kind is objected by our brethren,
would have applied with incomparably greater force
against the ancient rite of circumcision. But let us hear
what Pasdobaptists themselves have said concerning this
particular. Calvin : " This command, ' Ye shall cir-
cumcise the flesh of your foreskin,' might at first sight

appear extremely absurd and ridiculous. "| Witsius

having described the painful rite, expresses himself thus:
" On account of which ceremony, the Jews were con-
temptuously, and by way of reproach, called ApeUce,
and Recutiti, because they wanted that pellicle or little
skin. But it pleased God, to confound all carnal wis-
dom, and to try the faith and obedience of his people,
to appoint a rite for the seal of his covenant, at which
they might blush, and be almost ashamed of performing
it : like as he founded our whole salvation in a fact,
which seems no less shameful to the flesh, namely, the

cross of Christ." § Heideggerus: " God, according

to his unsearchable wisdom, appointed a rite so much to
be blushed at, to be a type of what was yet more shame-
ful, namely, the cross of Christ. " || Buddeus : " The

* Disputat. of Right to Sacram, p. 32.

f In Mr. Clarkson's Pract. Div. of Papists, p. 385, 386,

\ In Gen. xvii. 11.

§ CEcon. Foed. l.iv. c. viii. § 2. .^gyptiaca, 1. iii, c. vi, § 4,

II Corp. Theolog. loc, xii. § 86.

288 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

rite of circumcision, considered in itself, was contempti-
ble, and almost shameful."* F. Fabricius : "Cir-
cumcision, I confess, considered externally, that is,
without a divine institution, and without the design and
signification of that institution, might seem to be an
exceedingly ridiculous and shameful rite."t — Nay, were
not some other appointments of Jehovah, under the
Jewish economy, such as the customs of our country,
and present prevailing notions of the rational, the decent,
and the useful, would lead many persons to consider as
puerile, indelicate, and unprofitable ? Such, if I mis-
take not, were several of those laws which related to
ceremonial impurity; and yet the posterity of Abraham,
of both sexes, were obliged to regard them with strict
punctuality. It must, therefore, be at our peril to pro-
nounce that indecent which God requires. J — But why
such complaints of indelicacy against the baptismal
plunging, as performed in public assemblies ? What
immodesty is there in the solemn immersion of candi-
dates for baptism, when properly clothed, anymore than
in the public and promiscuous bathing of both sexes, at
Bath, Southampton, or any other place of a similar
kind?§ As to the baptizing of persons that are not
properly clothed, it has our cordial disapprobation.

Farther : For any of our opposers to imagine that
pouring, or sprinkling, is lawful, without being necessary;
or that it is necessary noio and in these countries, though
not so in the apostolic times and in the eastern parts, is
unbecoming the character of any Protestant. Remark-
able are the words, and forcible is the argument of Dr.
Willet, w hen he says : " If it be not necessary to receive
[the Lord's supper] in one kind, it is not to be done at
all. For, either it is agreeable to the institution of

* Theolog. Dogmat. 1. iv. c. i, § 15,

f Christologia, dissert, xi. § 16.

+ Vid. Pfeifferi Dub. Vexat. p. 310. Lips. 1G85.

§ Sec Dr.StenncU's Alls, to Dr.Addiiigfon^part i. p. 31, 3*2, Note.

OF SPRIXK-LTNG INSTEAD OF I M IM F.USTON. 289

Christ, to receive in one kind, or disagreeable. If it be
agreeable and prescribed, it is of necessity to be observed :
if it be not prescribed, it is of necessity not to be used
at all.*' This \\\\\ apply, with all its force, to the sub-
ject before us. — The celebrated Montesquieu's reasoning
will also apply in the present case. " It is in the nature
of human laws, to be subject to all the accidents which
can happen, and to vary in proportion as the will of
man changes ; on the contrary, by the nature of the laws
of religion, they are never to vary. Human laws ap-
point for some good; those of religion for the best: good
may have another object, because there are many kinds
of good; but the best is but one: it cannot, therefore,
change. We may change [human] laws, because they
are reputed no more than good ; but the institutions of
religion are always supposed to be the best."'|' — Thus
Mr. Arch. Hall : " All that concerns the glory of God,
[and the honour of his church] is unerringly and unalter-
ably settled in the word of God, which is 'not yea and
nay.' It does not accommodate its doctrines to succeed-
ing periods of time, nor to the changing tempers, hu-
mours, or fashions of place ; like its divine Author, it is
' the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' ";}:

Latomus having represented the first Christian
churches as in a rude, uncultivated state, while the peo-
ple received both kinds at the Lord's table, but as omit-
ting the wine in following ages, when they were better
taught and more polished — Chamier exclaims, " Shall
I be silent ? or shall I refute him ? For, verily, the
absurdity is of such a magnitude, that every one may
see it, and euard against its influence, without mv assist-
ance."§ — One of our Dissenting Brethren also, when

* Synopsis Papismi, p. 643. f Spirit of Laws,

b, xxvi. chap. ii. + Gospel Church, p. 52.

§ Panstrat. tom.iv. 1. viii. ex. §^4, 25.
VOL. T. U

290 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

engaged in the Popish controversy, says : " Let us con-
sider; Things necessary — at one time, and not at another?
Necessary in our days, and not so in the days of the
apostles ? Necessary to Christians of later ages, and
not so to the primitive Christians ? Sure, this cannot
be true: I always thought that to be the Christian faith,
which was once, and at once delivered to the saints, by
Christ and his apostles."* — Again : For any to prac-
tise aspersion, on a presumption that it includes the
whole essence of baptism, and to avoid supposed in-
decency, even while they acknowledge that immersion
was appointed by Christ and used by the apostles ; is to
impeach the wisdom of our divine Lawgiver, by impli-
citly saying, that he did not well consider to w hat a pitch
the refined and virtuous delicacy of his disciples would
arise in our modern times. " As if," says Mr. Bing-
ham, " Christ himself could not have foreseen any dan-
gers that might happen, or given as prudent orders as
the Pope concerning his own institution." f It is to
proceed on the same foundation with the Council of
Constance, when forbidding the use of the sacred cup
to the people : for that prohibition was founded on a
supposition, that communicants receive the entire body
and blood of Christ, under the species of bread ; and
it was intended to preclude certain dangers and scandals,
supposed to arise from the ancient practice. J The mem-

* Mr. Smyth's Serm. at Salters' Hall, on the Church of Rome's
Claim oflnfallib. p. 30, 31.

f Origines Eccles. b.xv. chap.iil. §34.

X Vid. Caranzse Sum. Concil. p. 389. Lovan. 1681. Venem.
Hist. Eccles. tom.vi. p. 193. The learned Chemnitius, when ex-
ploding the futile reasons of Roman Catholics for withholding the
cup from the people, among other things observes : " Their argu-
ments reproach the Author of the sacrament himself, who instituted
it so that it cannot be observed in the church without danger of
scandal. . . . The church is now become exceedingly delicate." Exam.
Concil. Trident, p. 308, 309.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMFRSION. 291

bers of that council, it seems, discovered something as
dangerous and as offensive, in administering both species
at the holy table, as others do in the baptismal immer-
sion ; and they were equally unwilling to acknowledge
that the substance of the sacred supper was at all im-
paired by their innovation. But would any authority
on earth bear, without marks of displeasure, to be treated
in a similar manner? We will suppose, for example,
that a subject, or a servant, neglects the law of a ma-
gistrate, or the command of a master; we will farther
suppose him called to account for his disobedience, and
that in his own vindication he says, " I considered the
precise performance of the order as of little importance,
provided it were but substantially observed. I have,
therefore, substituted something in its room, that will do
quite as well, without being attended with such incon-
veniences as would have been inseparable from a punc-
tual compliance." Would this be thought a modest
excuse, or a just vindication ? It may be answ^ered, in
that obsolete phrase of our biblical version, I trow not.

Once more : As the primitive immersion has been
laid aside for pouring or sprinkling, upon a supposi-
tion of its being dangerous and indecent; so kneeling
at the Lord's table has been substituted for a table ges-
ture, and is defended under a fair pretext, that the latter
is a bold and saucy posture. Dr. Nichols, when vindi-
cating the practice of his own communion, and when
showing that various of our festal customs are improper
to be used at the holy table, has the following words.
" Now since these customs at other feasts are not
admitted here, why may not sitting, for the same
reason, be changed, as too bold and saucy a posture, far
from a becoming humility and modesty, when we are
so immediately in the presence of God?" — To which
Mr. Peirce repHes: "Say you so? Do you think the
posture the apostles used, with our Saviour's appro-

u 2

29S REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

bation, was too bold and saucy, or not sufficiently
humble and modest? Do not you see whom you injure
by these reproaches ? Truly, not so much the Dissenters,
as the apostles, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
himself."* — So when Teriphyllius, a Cyprian bishop,
having occasion before Spiridion to cite those words of
our Lord, " Take up thy bed and walk," used the term
(jKiixTTo^a, as being in his opinion more elegant than the
word Kpaj3/3aTov; Spiridion, with becoming resentment,
replied, " Art thou better than He who said Kpa(3f3aTov,
that thou shouldst be ashamed to use his words? "t
The reader will apply these particulars to the case
before us.

Reflect. V. From the preceding reflections it ap-
pears, I think, with superior evidence, that the sacred
maxim, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice," must be
misapplied when urged against us. For if it will apply
so as to justify sprinkling in a cold country, when im-
mersion was intended by our Lord, submitted to by
him, commanded by him, and practised by the apostles,
it would certainly have applied much more strongly in
many cases under the former economy; for the maxim
is founded in moral truth, which is the same in all ages
and in every nation. That God loves mercy better than
sacrifice, was always a fact, since man transgressed and
ceremonial obedience was required : nor did our Lord
give the least intimation, by his application of that
important saying, of any thing contained in it being
peculiar to gospel times. The Christian dispensation
is indeed much superior to that of the ancient Hebrews:
but that superiority is far from consisting in our having
more liberty to neglect, alter, or transgress the divine
appointments than they had. For as Mr. Reeves ob-

* Vindication of Dissenters, part iii. p. 204.
t Sozom. Hist. Eccles, l.i. c. i.

or SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 293

serves, "When God says that he ' will have mercy and
not sacrifice,' it is not to be understod as if God would
have any of his laws broken; but as our Saviour ex-
plains it, ' These ought ye to have done, and not to
leave the other undone.' "*" — Bellarmine, when vindi-
cating a mutilated administration of the holy supper,
argues upon a supposition of the gospel "church having
a greater liberty than the church under the law ; though
she have no power to alter things of a moral, but only
such as are of a positive nature."']' How lamentable
and how shameful, to think of eminent Protestants
adopting the principle, and arguing upon it, in favour
of pouring and sprinkling! For I am persuaded, that
none of them ever considered the Jewish church as
authorized by these words, " I will have mercy and
not sacrifice," to alter any divine appointment. Shall
Christians, then, make more free with divine authority
than Jews, because they live under a better dispen-
sation? far be it! That would represent the Holy One
of God as the minister of sin — would be contrary to
scripture and reason, to conscience and common sense.
The disciples of Christ are as much obliged to regard
the positive laws of the New Testament with strict
punctuality, as the Jews were to observe their divine
ritual contained in the books of Moses. Nay, our supe-
rior privileges are so many additional motives to per-
petual obedience. Whenever any one therefore is in-
clined to substitute aspersion for plunging, on a sup-
position of the latter being burdensome or indelicate,
upon the foundation of those condescending words, " I
will have mercy and not sacrifice; " he should recollect
that command of God to Abraham, " Ye shall circum-
cise the flesh of your foreskin;" and see how far the

* SeeChap. I. No.3.

t In Morning Exercise against Popery, p. 777-

294 REASONS, RISK, AND PREVALENCE

gracious declaration would have applied there, before
he ventures to alter a positive appointment of Christ on
that ground.

Here also the argument used by Protestant Pasdo-
baptists in opposition to immersion, is like that of the
Papists against communion in both kinds. For thus
we find Salmero argues : " If it had not been lawful
from the beginning of the church to communicate under
one species, either very many must have been entirely
deprived of communion, or obliged to that which they
could not perform ; as is manifest with regard to those
who have not plenty of wine, which is the case with
many in the northern parts of the world ; in respect of
those who are abstemious, and of those also that are not
able to drink wine without a nausea being excited ....
Seeing, therefore, that the yoke of our Lord is easy, and
his burden light, it should not be believed that he re-
quires what is impossible, or that he obliges to commu-
nicate under both kinds."* — That Mr. Horsey took the
hint from Salmero I dare not assert, nor do I believe ;
but be that as it may, he has learned to argue against
plunging as a grievous hardship, and that from the same
text which is pleaded by the Papal veteran for com-
munion in one kind. For he says, " Christ's yoke is
easy, and his burden light. His commandments are not
grievous : ''f and hence, among other things, he infers
that immersion is not the proper mode of proceeding.

This brings to remembrance a good-natured rule

which Popish casuists have given for the interpretation
of divine laws, with a view to relieve scrupulous con-
sciences. The rule to which I advert, as produced by
Mr. Clarkson, is this: Persons " must persuade them-
selves that they sin not, though they break the law in a

* Apud Chamierum, Panstrat. torn. iv. 1. ix. c. iv. § 25.
t Inf. Bap. Defend, p. 20.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. S.9S

strict sense, if they observe it according to some com-
plaisant interpretation. A benign sense is rather to be
put upon any precept, than that which is strict; for the
precepts of God and the church are not against that
pleasantness which a scrupulous interpretation takes
away." On which Mr. Clarkson makes the following
remark : " That a person may be the better pleased, he
may make the interpretation himself, and so make it as
benign as he desires, and as favourable as his incUnation
and interest would have it. For though in other courts
the interpretation belongs to him who makes the law,
yet, according to their St. Antonius, in the court of con-
science it belongs to every one to do it for his own
practice."*

Were it allowable to prosecute the hint which some
of these learned authors give, (No. 5, 7, 15;) that is for
charity and necessity to erect a court of chancery, to sit
in judgment on the equity of God's commands, and
either mitigate their severity, or dispense with them, as
we think proper ; something indeed might then be done,
that would effectually obviate those shivering apprehen-
sions, and that painful modest feeling, which the word
baptize might otherwise excite in the breasts of some.
Nor would the relief afforded by such a court, be con-
fined to the frighful idea of plunging ; for it would
extend its benign influence to every other case, in which
our sovereign wills happen to clash with positive laws ;
because the uniform language of its decrees would be
that of Peter to Christ, Spare thyself. While
however the validity of such a court of equity remains
doubtful, it will be our wisdom when the Most High
speaks, not to reason and object, but to adore and
obey.

How strange it is that Protestant authors should

* Pract. Div. of Papists, p. 384, 385.

2y6 REASONS, RISK, AND PREVALENCE

ever talk of dispensing with divine laws, or of mitigating
their severity ! Not much more detestable, though a
little more blunt, is the well-known saying ascribed to
Alphonso, "Si ego adfuissem, melius ordinassem." But
let the learned Vossius assert, if he please, " That we

are compelled " By what ? not the appointment of

Christ ; not the design of the ordinance ; nor yet by
apostolic practice; but by something which he calls
the law of charity, and of necessity, " to retain sprink-
Ung in our churches :"'* we had much rather adhere to
that excellent maxim of Turrettin, " The appointment
of God is to us the highest law, the supreme necessity. "f
With sincerity and zeal may we adopt the language of
Dr. Cotton Mather, and say, " Let a precept be never
so difficult to obey, or never so distasteful to flesh and
blood, yet if I see it is God's command, my soul says,
It is good; let 77ie obey it till I die.'' '^ — Dr. Wither-
spoon has remarked, that, " when men will not conform
their practice to the principles of pure and undefiled
religion, they scarce ever fail to endeavour to accommo-
date religion to their own practice." §— Mr. Henry also
has justly observed, that " in sacraments, where there
is appointed something of an outward sign, the inven-
tions of men have been too fruitful of additions, [and of
alterations too,] for which they have pleaded a great deal
of dece?ici/ and significancy : while the ordinance itself
hath been thereby miserably obscured and corrupted." ||
— To which I will add the following remark of Dr. Os-
wald : '* To take advantage of dark surmises, or doubtful
reasoning, to elude obligations of any kind, is always
looked upon as an indication of a dishonest heart. "^

* Disputat. de Bap. disp. i. § 9.
f Institut. Theolog. loc. xix. quaest. xiv. § 14.
X Life, by Dr. Jennings, p. 118. § Treatise on Rege-

neration, p. 178. II Treatise on Baptism, p. 153.

^ Aj)pcal to Common Sense, p. 21.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. '^^1

Reflect. VI. Suffer me now to reason and remon-
strate in the language of Mr. Charnock ; after which I
will conclude this part of my subject with the ingenuous
confession of a learned foreigner, and the declaration of
Dr. Wall. " The wisdom of God is aflTonted and in-
vaded," says the famous Charnock, " by introducing
new rules and modes of worship, different from divine
institutions. Is not this a manifest reflection on this
perfection of God, as though he had not been wise
enough to provide for his own honour, and model his
own service ; but stood in need of our directions, and
the capricios of our brains ? Some have observed, that
it is a greater sin, in worship, to do what we should not,
than to omit Avhat we should perform. The one seems
to be out of weakness, because of the high exactness of
the law ; and the other out of impudence, accusing the
wisdom of God of imperfection, and controlling it in its
institutions. — Whence should this proceed, but from
a partial atheism, and a mean conceit of the divine
wisdom ? As though God had not understanding
enough to prescribe the form of his own worship ; and
not wisdom enough to support it, without the crutches
of human prudence. . . .The laws of God, who is summa
ratio, are purely founded upon the truest reason, though
every one of them may not be so clear to us. Therefore,
they that make [any] alteration in his precepts, either
dogmatically or practically, control his wisdom and

charge him with folly Hence it is that sinners are

called fools in scripture. It is certainly inexcusable
folly, to contradict undeniable and infallible wisdom.
If infinite prudence hath framed the law, why is not
every part of it observed ? If it were not made
with the best wisdom, why is any thing of it ob-
served?"*

* Works, vol. i. p. 401. On Man's Enmity to God, p. 112, 113.

2^8 REASONS, RISE, AND PREVALENCE

The ingenuous confession to which I refer, is that of
M. de la Roque, and it is as follows. " The greatest
part of them [the Protestants] hitherto baptize only by
sprinkling: but it is certainly an abuse; and this practice
which they have retained from the Romish church,
without a due examination of it, as well as many other
things which they still retain, renders their baptism very
defective. It corrupts both the institution and ancient
usage of it, and the relation it ought to have to faith,
repentance, and regeneration. Monsieur Bossuet's re-
mark, that dipping was in use for thirteen hundred years,
deserves our serious consideration, and our acknowledg-
ment thereupon, that we have not sufficiently examined
all that we have retained from the Romish church; that
seeing her most learned prelates now inform us, that it was
SHE who first abolished a usage authorized by so many
strong reasons, and by so many ages, that she has done very
ill on this occasion, and that we are obliged to return to
the ancient practice of the church, and to the institution
of Jesus Christ. I do not say, that baptism by aspersion
is null; that is not my opinion: but it must be confessed,
if sprinkling destroys not the substance of baptism, yet
it alters it, and in some sort corrupts it; it is a defect
which spoils its lawful form."*

The declaration of Dr. Wall is as follows : " Since
the time that dipping of infants has been generally left
off, many learned men -in several countries have endea-
voured to retrieve the use of it; but more in England
than any where else in proportion." Then, after having
mentioned Sotus, Mr. Mede, Bp. Taylor, Sir Norton
Knatchbull, Dr. Towerson, and Dr. Whitby, as being
all desirous of having immersion restored to common
use, he adds: " These, and possibly many more, have
openly declared their thoughts concerning the present

* In Mr. Stcnnctt's answer to Mr. Russen, p. 185, 186.

OF SPRINKLING INSTEAD OF IMMERSION. 299

custom. And abundance of others have so largely and
industriously proved that a total immersion was, as Dr.
Cave says, ' the almost constant and universal custom of
the primitive times,' that they have sufficiently intimated
their inclinations to be for it now. So that no man in
this nation, who is dissatisfied with the other way, or
does wish, or is but wiUing, that his child should be
baptized by dipping, need in the least to doubt, but that
any minister in this church would, according to the pre-
sent direction of the rubric, readily comply with his de-
sire, and, as Mr. Walker says, be glad of it." *

* Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii. chap. ix. p. 473— 476.— The desire
of many learned men in the church of England to have immersion
restored, reminds me of another particular in that establishment j
concerning which Mr, Bingham, who was a true son of the church,
speaks as follows :

"The church of England [in her Office for Ash- Wednesday]
has for two hundred years wished for the restoration of this [primi-
tive] discipline, and yet it is but an ineffective wish : for nothing
is done towards introducing it, but rather things are gone back-
ward, and there is less discipline for these last sixty years, since the
times of the unhappy confusions, than there was before." Origines
Eccles, b.xv, chap. ix. § 8.

Thus Mr. Hervey, when adverting to the subject of discipline,
as practised in his own church : " The grosser kind of simony seems
to be practised by a certain court, styled spiritual or ecclesiastical ;
which thunders out excommunications and curses, debars poor crea-
tures from religious privileges, and causes them to be ' buried with
the burial of an ass 3' unless they pacify their pious indignation by
a little filthy lucre,"

Again : " This is the language of that same spiritual judicature :
' If thou wilt lug out a few crowns or guineas from thy purse, all
shall be wellj heaven shall smile, and the church open her arms.
Whereas, if thou art refractory in this particular 3 and unwilling,
or unable, to comply with our pecuniary demands 3 thou art cut
Oiff from the means of grace. Thou shalt no longer hear that word
of the gospel, by which the spirit of faith cometh. Nor any more
be partaker of that sacramental ordinance, which is a sign and seal
of spiritual benefits.' "

Again : " Is not this a most infamous traffic, whereby sacred

300 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

things are bought and sold ? In the present state of affairs, what
can be a nearer approach to the sin of the mercenary magician ?
What can be a more indelible blot on the purity and discipline of
any church ?

' Pudet haec opprobria nobis
Et did potuisse, et non potuisse refelli.'"

See Theron and Aspasio.

Mr. Bissetj thus : " I have returned several of my charge, for
scandalous immoralities, to the spiritual court j but nothing was
done, only some money was squeezed out of them." Plain Eng-
lish, p. 28. Dublin, 1705.

An observation of Dr. Owen, respecting pluralities, will here
apply. ** An evil this, like that of mathematical prognostications
at Rome, always condemned, and always retained.'' Gospel Church
and its Government, p. 107-

PART II.

THE SUBJECTS

BAPTISM.

[ 303 ]

CHAPTER I.

Neither Eayress Precept, nor Plain Example, for
Pcedobaptism, in the New Testament.

Bp. Burnet. — " There is no express precept, or rule,
given in the New Testament for baptism of infants."
Exposit. of Thirty-nine Articles, art. xxvii.

2. Dr. Wall. — " Among all the persons that are
recorded as baptized by the apostles, there is no express
mention of any infant. . . .There is no express mention
indeed of any children baptized by him," i. e. John the
Baptist. Hist. Inf. Bap. Introduct. p. 1, 55.

3. Mr. Fuller. — " We do freely confess, that there
is neither express precept, nor precedent, in the New
Testament, for the baptizing of infants. . . .There were
many things which Jesus did, which are not written;
among which, for aught appears to the contrary, the
baptizing of these infants [Luke xviii. 15, 16, 17,] might
be one of them." Infant's Advocate, p. 71, 150.

4. Mr. Marshall. — " I grant, that in so many words
it is not found in the New Testament, that they should
be baptized ; no express example where children were
baptized .... Express command there is, that they [the
apostles] should teach the heathen, and the Jews, and
make them disciples, and then baptize them .... It is
said indeed that they taught and baptized, and no ex-
press mention of any other .... Both John and Christ's
disciples and apostles did teach before they baptized,
because then no other were capable of baptism." In
Mr. Tombes's Examen, p. 110, l6l; and Antipsedobap-
tism, part ii. p. 84.

5. Luther. — " It cannot he proved by the sacred
scripture that infant baptism was instituted by Christ,

304 so PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

or begun by the first Christians after the apostles." In
A. R.'s Vanity of Inf. Bap. part ii. p. 8.

6. Mr. Baxter. — " If there can be no example given
in scripture, of any one that was baptized without the
profession of a saving faith, nor any precept for so
doing, then must we not baptize any without it. But
the antecedent is true; therefore so is the consequent
... .In a word, I know of no one word in scripture,
that giveth us the least intimation that ever man was
baptized without the profession of a saving faith, or
that giveth the least encouragement to baptize any upon
another's faith." Disputat. of Right to Sac. p. 149, 151.

7. Mr. Obad. Wills. — " Christ did many things that
were not recorded, and so did the apostles; whereof this
was one, for aught we know, the baptizing infants ....
Calvin, in his fourth book of Institutes, chap. xvi. con-
fesseth, that it is no where expressly mentioned by the
evangelists, that any one child was by the apostles bap-
tized." To the same purpose are Staphilus, Melancthon,
and Zuinglius quoted. Inf. Bap. Asserted and Vindi-
cated, part ii. p. 37, 40, 199, 200.

8. Vitringa. — " That some in the ancient church
long ago doubted, and that others now doubt, whether
infants ought to be baptized, proceeds principally, I think,
from hence; It is not related as a fact, in the Gospels,
and in the Acts of the primitive church, that infants
were baptized by Christ, or by the apostles." Observat.
Sac. 1. ii. c. vi. § 2.

9. Mr. Samuel Palmer. — " There is nothing in the
words of the institution, nor in any after accounts of the
administration of this rite, respecting the baptism of
infants; there is not a single precept for, nor example
of, this practice through the whole New Testament."
Answer to Dr. Priestley's Address on the Lord's Sup. p. 7.

10. Stapferus. — " There is not any express com-
mand in the holy scripture concerning the baptism of
infants." Theolog. Polem. cap. iii. § 1647.

FOR Py=F.DOBAPTISM. 305

1 1 . Limborch. — " There is no express command for
it in scripture; nay, all those passages wherein baptism
is commanded, do immediately relate to adult persons,
since they are ordered to be instructed, and faith is pre-
requisite as a necessary qualification, which [things] are
peculiar to the adult. . . .There is no instance that can be
produced, from whence it may indisputably be inferred,
that any child was baptized by the apostles. . . .The
necessity of Paedobaptism was never asserted by any
council before that of Carthage, held in the year four
hundred and eighteen .... We own that there is no pre-
cept, nor undoubted instance, in scripture, of infant bap-
tism; but this is not enough to render it unlawful."
Complete Syst. Div. b. v. chap. xxii. sect. ii.

12. M. De la Roque. — "As to the baptism of in-
fants, I confess there is nothing formal and express in
the gospel, to justify the necessity of it; and the pas-
sages that are produced, do at most only prove that it
is permitted, or rather, that it is not forbidden to bap-
tize them. If all the Anabaptists only held to this,
without condemning this practice as criminal and sacri-
legious, they would have reason on their side, and would
say nothing but what is founded on such principles as
are common to all Protestants." In Mr. Stennett's
Answer to Mr. Russen, p. .188.

13. Magdeburg Centuriators. — " Examples prove
that adults, both Jews and Gentiles, were baptized.
Concerning the baptism of infants, there are indeed no
examples of which we read." Cent. i. 1. ii. c. vi. p. 381.

14. Erasmus. — "Paul does not seem in Rom.
V. 14, to treat about infants. . . .It was not yet the cus-
tom for infants to be baptized." Annotat. ad Rom.
V. 14. Ba-s. 1534.

15. Mr. Leigh. — " The baptism of infants may be
named a tradition, because it is not expressly delivered
in scripture that the apostles did baptize infants, nor any
express precept there found that they should so do ;

VOL. T. X

306 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

yet is not this so received by bare and naked tradition,
but that we find the scripture to deUver unto us the
ground of it." Body of Div. b. i. chap. viii. p. 93, 94.

16. Dr. Freeman. — " The traditions of the whole
CathoHc church — confirm us in many of our doctrines;
which, though they may be gathered out of scripture,
yet are not laid down there in so many words : such as
infant baptism, and of episcopal authority above presby-
ters." Preservative against Popery, title iii. p. 19-

17. Mr. T. Boston.—" It is plain that he [Peter, in
Acts ii. 38,] requires their repentance antecedently to
baptism, as necessary to qualify them for the right and
due reception thereof. And there is no example of
baptism recorded in the scriptures, where any were bap-
tized but such as appeared to have a saving interest in
Christ." Works, p. 384.

18. Mr. Cawdrey. — "The scriptures are not clear,
that infant baptism was an apostolical practice .... We
have not in scripture either precept or example of
children baptized." In Mr. Crosby's Hist, of Bap.
vol. iii. pref. p. 53. Mr. Tombes's Antipa^dobaptism,
partii. p. 84.

19. Dr. Field. — " The baptism of infants — is there-
fore named a tradition, because it is not expressly deli-
vered in scripture, that the apostles did baptize infants;
nor any express precept there found, that they should
do so." On the Church, p. 375.

20. Bp. Prideaux. — " Pasdobaptism, and the change
of the Jewish sabbath into the Lord's day, rest on no
other divine right than Episcopacy." Fascicul. Contro-
vers. loc. iv. sect. iii. p. 210.

21. Bp. Sanderson. — "The baptism of infants, and
the sprinkling of water in baptism, instead of immersing
the whole body, must be exterminated from the church
— according to their principle; i.e. that nothing can be
lawfully performed, much less required, in the affairs of
religion, which is not either commanded by God in the

FOR P/EDO BAPTISM. 307

scripture, or at least recommended by a laudable ex-
ample." De Obligat. Conscient. prajlect. iv. §17,18.

22. Bp. Stillingfieet. — "Whether baptism shall be
administered to infants, or no, is not set down in express
words, but left to be gathered by analogy and conse-
quences." Irenicum, part ii. chap. iv. p. 178.

23. Dr. Towerson. — "That which seems to stick
much with the adversaries of infant baptism, and is ac-
cordingly urged at all times against the friends or asser-
ters of it, is, the want of an express command, or direc-
tion, for the administering of baptism to them. Which
objection seems to be the more reasonable, because bap-
tism, as well as other sacraments, receiving all its force
from institution, they may seem to have no right to, or
benefit by it, who appear not by the institution of that
sacrament to be entitled to it; but rather, by the quali-
fications it requires, to be excluded from it." Of the
Sacram. of Bap. part xi. p. 349, 350.

24. Mr. Walker. — " Where authority from the scrip-
ture fails, there the custom of the church is to be held
as a law .... It doth not follow, that our Saviour gave
no precept for the baptizing of infants, because no such
precept is particularly expressed in the scripture; for
our Saviour spake many things to his disciples concern-
ing the kingdom of God, both before his passion and
also after his resurrection, which are not written in the
scriptures; and who can say, but that among those
many unwritten sayings of his, there might be an express
precept for infant baptism?"* Modest Plea for Inf.
Bap. p. 221,368.

25. Anonymous. — " As to the seed of the church,
the children of Christians, at what age, under what cir-
cumstances, in what mode, or whether they were bap-
tized at all, are particulars the New Testament does
not expressly mention .... We may safely conclude,

* Just so Andradius, in defence of Popish traditions. Vid.
Chemnitii Exam. Concil. Trident, p. 21.

X 2

308 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

whatever the apostle Paul might do, who baptized
households among the Gentiles, yet the other apostles,
and the church at Jerusalem did not baptize in-
fants ; for this reason, because they still continued to
circumcise, — which [circumcision] initiated into the law
of Moses; and they could not initiate their infants both
into Moses and into Christ. But after the destruction
of Jerusalem, which evidently proved the Mosaic eco-
nomy to be at an end, circumcision subsided by degrees,
and infant baptism took place of it. Thus infant bap-
tism came into the church, in the very manner our Lord
foretold his kingdom should come, without observation;
neither lo here, nor there." Simple Truth, p. 5, 2 1.

26. Heideggerus. — "Though there be neither ex-
press precept, nor example, for infant baptism, yet that
it is implicitly contained in the scripture, sufficiently ap-
pears from what we have said. Nor was it necessary
that it should be expressly enjoined. Nay, it is quite
sufficient that it was not forbidden by Christ." Corp.
Theolog. loc. XXV. § 55.

27. Witsius. — " We do not indeed deny that there
is no express and special command of God, or of Christ,
concerning infant baptism ; yet there are general com-
mands, from which a particular one is deduced." fficon.
1. iv. c. xvi. §41.

28. Anonymous. — " I do not remember any pas-
sage in the New Testament, which says expressly, that
infants should be baptized ; and, as I am informed by
better judges, the evidences for this practice from anti-
quity, though very early, do not fully come up to the
times of the apostles." In Mr. Richards's Hist, of
Antichrist, p. 19.

29- (Ecolampadius. — "No passage in the holy
scripture has occurred to our observation as yet, which,
as far as the slenderness of our capacity can discern,
should persuade us to profess Pa^dobaptism." Apud
Schyn Hist. Mennonit. p. 1 68, 169.

FOR P.liDOBAPTISM. 309

30. Cellarius. — " Infant baptism is neither com-
manded in the sacred scripture, nor is it contirmed by
apostolic examples." Apud Schyn, ut supra.

31. Staphilus. — " It is not expressed in holy scrip-
ture, that young children should be baptized." In T.
Lawson's Baptismalogia, p. 1 15. — N. B. Mr. Lawson,
who Mas one of the people called Quakers, has produced
Zuinglius and Melancthon, as expressing themselves to
the same effect. He also tells us the Oxford divines,
in a convocation held one thousand six hundred and
forty-seven, acknowledged, " that without the consenta-
neous judgment of the universal church, they should be
at a loss, when they are called upon for proof, in the
point of infant baptism." Ut supra, p. 113, 1 15, 1 16.
Vid. Chemnitium, Exam. Concil. Trident, p. 69- Cha-
mierum, Panstrat. torn. i. 1. ix. c. x. §40.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. As these Paedobaptists unanimously
agree that there is neither express precept, nor plain ex-
ample for infant baptism in the New Testament ; so it
appears from one or another of them, that the passages
usually produced for it only prove that it is permitted,
or not forbidden, No. 12; — that all those places where
baptism is commanded regard none but adults No. 1 1 ;
— that Paedobaptism must be supported by analogy and
illation. No. 22, 27; — that there is no instance from which
it may be incontrovertibly inferred, that any child was
baptized by the apostles, No. 1 1 ; — that infant baptism
rests on the same foundation as diocesan Episcopacy,
No. 20 ; — that Paedobaptism is properly denominated a
tradition, No. 15, 16; — that though Paul baptized cer-
tain households, it is doubtful whether he ever practised
Paedobaptism; and very certain that the other apos-
tles did not baptize infants ; because a supposition of
their so doing would infer a gross absurdity. No. 14,
25; — that umvritten truth (or weak surmise) and tradi-

310 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

tion, are a succedaneum for express precept and plain
example, No. 3, 7, 24, 31 ; and that persons have need
of great penetration to find a warrant in scripture for
the avowal of Pasdobaptism, No. 29.

Such concessions are our opponents obliged to
make, in reference to this affair ! With propriety, there-
fore, I may here demand and remonstrate, in the re-
markable words of Mr. Baxter: ''What man dare go
in a way which hath neither precept nor example to
warrant it, from a way that hath a full current of both?
....Who knows what will please God but himself?
And hath he not told us what he expecteth from us?
Can that be obedience which hath no command for it? Is
not this to supererogate, and to be righteous over-
much ? Is it not also to accuse God's ordinances of in-
sufficiency, as well as his word, as if they were not
sufficient either to please him, or help our on n graces ?
O the pride of man's heart, that instead of being a law-
obeyer, will be a law-maker; and instead of being true
worshippers, they will be worship-makers ! , . . . For my
part, I will not fear that God will be angry with me
for doing no more than he hath commanded me, and for
sticking close to the rule of his word in matter of wor-
ship; but I should tremble to add or diminish."*

Let us now see what our impartial friends the Qua-
kers have to say on this part of the subject.

1. Robert Barclay. — " As to the baptism of in-
fants, it is a mere human tradition, for which neither
precept nor practice is to be found in all the scripture."
Apology, proposition xii.

2. Samuel Fothergill. — " I do not find in any part
of the holy scripture, either precept or example for the
j)ractice of sprinkling infants. . . .If any such proof, or
plain declaration, could be produced in support of sprink-
ling infants, it would have been long ere now produced,

* Plain Scrip. Proof, j). 'li, 303.

FOR P.iLDOCAPTISM. 311

by those who have continued the practice of that cere-
mony. The present advocates for it would not be re-
duced to the necessity of 'presumptive arguments, and
uncertain consequences; such as the supposition, that
there were children in the household of Lydia, the
gaoler of Philppi, and Stephanas. . . .The sprinkling of
infants is utterly destitute of any proof of divine institu-
tion." Remarks on an Address, p. 5, 6, 30.

3. Joseph Phipps. — " The practice of sprinkling
infants under the name of baptism, hath neither precept
nor precedent in the New Testament. For want of
real instances, rnere suppositions are offered in support
of it. Because it is said, in the case of Lydia, that
'she was baptized and her household;' and by the
apostle, ' I baptized also the household of Stephanas ; '
it is supposed there might be infants, or little children,
in those households: from whence it is inferred such
were baptized." Dissertations on Bap. and Communion,
p. 30.

4. Elizabeth Bathurst. — " Infant baptism, or sprink-
ling infants, this they [the Quakers] utterly deny, as a
thing by men imposed, and never by God or Christ in-
stituted; neither is there any scripture precept or prece-
dent for it. Indeed how should there, since it was not
taken up. nor innovated for above two hundred years after
Christ died ? . . . . Yet we grant the baptism of those that
were adult, or come to age, and had faith to entitle them
to it. This was the baptism of John." Testimony and
Writings, p. 44, 45, edit. 4th.

5. Thomas Lawson. — " Sprinkling of infants is a
case unprecedented in the primitive church; an irrepti-
tious custom, sprung up in the night of apostasy, after
the falling away from the primitive order. . . .Such as
rhantize, or sprinkle infants, have no command from
Christ, nor example among the apostles, nor the first
primitive Christians for so doing." Baptisraalogia,
p. 69, 117.

3\Q NO PUECKPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

6. Richard Claridge.— .'' As for the baptism of in-
fants, it ought not to be retained in the church, there
being neither precept nor example for it in the scripture."
Life and Posthumous Works, p. 179-

7. George Whitehead. — " As to dipping or sprinlv-
hng infants, or young children, we find no precept or
precedent in holy scripture for the practice thereof. . . .
What great hypocrisy and insincerity are these persons
justly chargeable with, in the sight of God, angels, and
men, in their not practising that baptism they have
pleaded for from the practice of the apostles ! but in-
stead thereof rhantism, or sprinkling of infants, to make
them thereby members of Christ, and of his church mi-
litant, who are neither capable of teaching, nor of con-
fession of faith. If these men believe what they them-
selves write, argue, and urge on this subject, for the ne-
cessity of baptizing only believers when taught, by what
authority do tliey in practice so easily dispense with this,
and evade and change it into their rhantizing, or sprink-
ling and crossing infants on the face ; and yet so de-
murely profess and tell the people, the holy scripture is
their onlj/ rule of faith and practice? when they can,
contrary to their own demure pretences, practisa un-
scriptural traditions, both human and Popish." The
Rector Examined, p. 23. Truth Prevalent, p. 125, 126.

8. William Penn. — There is "not one text of scrip-
ture to prove that sprinkling in the face was the water
baptism, or that children were the subjects of water bap-
tism, in the first times." Defence of Gospel Truths,
against the Bishop of Cork, p. 82.

Such being the concessions of our learned opposers,
and such the harmonious testimony of impartial Friends,
1 am reminded of the following apostolic declarations,
which may be here applied; "We gave no such com-
mandment— We have no such custom."* The apos-
tles, it seems, gave no command for the ba[)tizing of in-

* Acts XV, '24 ; 1 Cor. xi. 16.

FOR P.EDOBAPTISM. 313

fants; and therefore a precept cannot be found. They
had no such custom, and therefore an example of it is
not recorded in the history of their practice.

Reflect. II. As it is evident by the confession of our
opposers, that nothing exphcit is contained in the New
Testament relating to infant baptism; and as Pa?do-
baptists have taught us, that positive institutions cannot
be inferred by remote consequences from general princi-
ples, but require an express appointment;* it might
have been expected, had consistency prevailed, that
Paedobaptism would have made as little appearance in
the practice of Protestants, as it does in the writings of
the apostles. For it is generally maintained by the Re-
formed, when contending with Papists; and by Non-
conformists, when disputing with English Episcopalians;
that it is the safest way to take things as we find them
in the records of inspiration, and to perform nothing, as
a part of religious worship, which is not commanded or
exemplified in the New Testament. — Thus Mr. Alsop,
for instance : " I never liked either the addition of offi-
cers to those Christ has commanded to govern his
church, nor the addition of canons to those by which he
has appointed his church to be governed : I always
thought it safest, to leave the doctrine, worship, and go-
vernment of Christ as we found them. We may be
chidden for adding, or subtracting, but never for being
no wiser than the gospel : and when we have done our
best, and chopped and changed, we shall hardly ever

make better than those Christ made for us."'!' Mr.

Polhill: "The pattern of Christ and the apostles is
more to me than all the human wisdom in the world." :|;

Mr. White : " As Protestants, we have only to bear

the Bible in our hands; to expatiate on its importance
and its truth; to teach what it reveals with sincerity;

* See Part I. Chap. I. No. 4, 8, 12, 13, 20, Reflect. II. III.
f Antisozzo, p. 156, 157. + Discourse on Schism, p. 74.

\

314 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

and to enforce what it commands with earnestness.'*
Dr. Owen : " It is not safe for us to venture on du-
ties not exempHfied [in the scripture;] nor can any in-
stance of a necessary duty be given, of whose perform-
ance we have not an example in the scripture. . . . It
[an enthusiastic affection for Christ] is no way directed,
warranted, approved by any command, promise, or rule
of the scripture. As it is without precedent, so it is
without precept ; and hereby, whether we w ill or no, all
our graces and duties must be tried, as unto any accept-
ation with God. Whatever pretends to exceed the di-
rection of the word, may be safely rejected ; cannot
safely be admitted."'}' — Now^ if these declarations be
founded in truth, what becomes of Pasdobaptism ? It
must be consigned over to that obscurity in which it was
left by the sacred writers.

Reflect. III. That the testimony of scripture, in
favour of any religious tenet or practice, is of great im-
portance, none but Infidels will deny : for even the
Papists themselves, notwithstanding their two great re-
sources of confidence, tradition and infallibility, are ne-
ver willing to waive the advantage of pleading it in their
own defence, if it can be done with the least appearance
of reason. That the sacred writino;s are our onlv rule
of doctrine and worship, was the grand principle of the
Reformation ; and happy would it have been, if each
concerned in that excellent work had uniformly acted
under its influence. On this foundation, and in many
cases, Protestant writers have successfully opposed the
Papal system. Nor is any thing more frequent with
them, when engaged in that controversy, than a recur-
rence to this capital principle, and an adoption of Chil-
lingworth's maxim: The Bible only is the reli-
gion OF Protestants. Here, that excellent saying
of Basil is {)leaded : " It is a manifest mistake, in regard

* Sermons before the Universityj p. 4/2.
f On the Person of Christ, p. 134, 170.

FOR p.4:dobaptism. 315

to faith, and a clear evidence of pride, either to reject any
of those things which the scripture contains; or to intro-
duce any thing that is not written in the sacred page."*
That of Ambrose also is held in esteem; "Where the
scripture is silent, who shall speak ?" f — Nor is Ter-
tullian's maxim in less repute : " The scripture for-
bids what it does not mention." J — Here they tell us,
that " we ought to respect the silence of the scrip-
ture ;"§ and they lay it down as a general rule, that
" no one need be ashamed of not knowing what God
has not revealed;" because, "he that would go farther,
gives up his wisdom and endangers his safety." || They
farther assure us, " that divine revelation is the only
foundation, the only rule, and the only law, of all re-
ligious worship that is pleasing to God, or accepted by
him;" and that, "when once a person maintains it
allowable to pass over the limits of the divine com-
mand, there is nothing to hinder him from running the
most extravagant lengths."^ They assure us " that
will-worship was always condemned of God, and that
it is profane to present to God what he does not re-
quire, or to perform worship which he did not ap-
point." ** — They tell us that " we ought not to worship
God with any other external worship, than what himself
hath commanded and appointed us in his holy word."ff
— " The scripture," say they, " hath set us our bounds
for worship, to which we must not add, and from which
we ought not to diminish; for whosoever doth either the

* In Bp. Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying, sect. v. No, xi. p. 97.

f In Morning Exercise against Popery^ p. 214.

X De Monog. cap. iv.

§ Mr. Claude's Essay on Comp. of a Serm. vol.i. p. 316.

II Dr. Ellis's Knowledge of Divine Things from Revelation,
p, 434, edit. 2nd.

^ Dr. Owen's Theologoumena, 1. iv. digress, iii. § 8 j 1. v. c.xv.
§ 2. See also his Exposit. of Heb. vol.ii. p. 68^ 133.

** Christ. Schotanus, apud Lomeieruni, De Vet. Gent. Lust,
cap. xiv. ff Bp. Hopkins's Works, p. 107,

316

NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

one or the other, must needs accuse the rule either of
defect in things necessary, or of superfluity in things
unnecessary: which is a high affront to the wisdom of
Ciod, who, as he is the object, so is he the prescriber of
that worship which he will accept and reward."*- — They
insist, that he who "shall appoint with what God shall
be worshipped, must appoint what that is by which he
shall be pleased ;" that "by nothing can he be wor-
shipped, but by what himself hath declared that he is
well pleased with;" that " to worship God, is an act
of obedience and of duty, and therefore must suppose
a commandment — and is not of our choice, save only
that we must choose to obey ; " consequently, that " he
that says God is rightly worshipped, by an act or cere-
mony, concerning which himself hath no way expressed
his pleasure, is superstitious, or a will-worshipper." f
They " admire that ever mortal man should dare, in
God's worship, to meddle any farther than the Lord
himself hath commanded.";]: They tell us, that " no-
thing is lawful in the worship of God, but what we
have precept or precedent for; which, whoso denies,
opens a door to all idolatry and superstition, and will-
worship in the world." § They say, " From the words
of our Saviour, ' In vain do they worship me, teaching
for doctrines, (viz. about worship,) the commandments
of men,' we clearly demonstrate that it is unlawful to
worshij) God with any rites, however indifferent in
themselves, if they are not prescribed by God." || They
entreat us " to consider, that what God hath thought
needless to appoint, men ought not to make, or pretend
to be necessary or important, or even useful. What
he commands not in his worship, he virtually forbids."^

* Bp. Hopkins's Works, p. 107,

f Bp. Taylor's Ductor. Dub. b. ii. chap. iii. p. 347, 348.

X Mr. Marshal, in Jerubbaal, p. 484.

§ Mr. Collin^s, in Jerubbaal, p. 487-

II Mr. Peirce's Vindicat. of Dissenters, part i. p. 16.

^ Dr. Mayo's Apology and Shield, p. 44.

FOR p.i:dobaptism. 317

They inform us, that *' a practice [in religious worship]
not being enjoined, is forbidden; — being disallowed, is
reprobated;"* that, "the declared will of God being
the most certain and happy rule of man's practice,
especially in those duties which have no foundation,
save in divine revelation; it is the greatest arrogance
and affront to the wisdom and will of our Lawgiver,
to contradict him therein;"']' that "to prescribe any
thing [in religious worship] which God hath not com-
manded, though he hath not forbidden it, is such an
invasion of his prerogative, that he hath punished it by
a remarkable judgment, (Lev. x. 1 ;)";j: that "in reli-
gious matters, and es[)ecially in the worship of God, it
is not only sinful to go contra statutum, but to go supra
statutum ; " or that, " to speak home in the case, in
religious matters, acting supra statutum, is all one with
acting contra statutum: therein God's not requiring
being equivalent to forbidding; and doing more than he
commandeth, to doing contrary to it." § They insist,
that " works not required by the law, are no less an
abomination to God, than sins against the law." || " To
serve God," they assure us, " is to do every thing under
this contemplation, that what we do is the will of God.
His will must be not only the rule of what we do, but
the very reason why we do it; else our doings are
not his servings."^ They tell us, " that the silence
of scripture" is a sufficient ground of rejecting the
sign of the cross, exorcism, and similar appendages of
baptism in the church of Rome ; because those things
" not being written in the sacred volume, are there-

* Bp. Kurd's Introduct. to Stud, of Proph. p. 393, edit. 1st.

f Morning Exercise against Popery, p. 760.

X Mr. Charnock On Man's Enmity to God, p. 97.

§ Vanity of Human Inventions, p. 23, 24.

II Dr. Owen on Justification, chap, xiv, p. 494.

5F Mr. Caryl on Job. xxxvi. 11.

318 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

fore condemned."*' — Once more: They commend the
renowned Waldenses, for declaring and maintaining,
soire hundreds of years ago, that " nothing is to be
admitted in religion but what only is commanded in
the word of God."f

Reflect. IV. Such being the grounds of those argu-
ments, and the tenour of that reasoning, which are used
against the unscriptural ceremonies of the Romish
church; what should hinder a fair application of the
same principles and the same arguments to Paedo-
baptism, if there be neither precept nor precedent for
it in the sacred volume? No Protestant, I presume,
will question the propriety of Chillingworth's remark,
or the justness of that inference to which it leads,
when, reasoning against the Papal infallibility, he says:
''That our Saviour designed the bishop of Rome to
this office, and yet would not say so, nor cause it to be
written — ad Rei memoriam — by any of the evangelists or
apostles, so much as once; but leave it to be drawn out
of uncertain principles, by thirteen or fourteen more
uncertain consequences; he that can believe it, let
him." J — Is then the infallibility of the Roman pontiff,
so strange and so incredible to Protestants, because it
is not once mentioned by Christ or his apostles; and
shall any of our Brethren charge us with gross ignorance
or strong prejudice, for opposing infant baptism, while
they themselves allow that it is not so much as once
expressly mentioned in all the New Testament? Were
the Papal infallibility a fact, it must be considered as
a positive grant of our divine Lord, resulting merely
from his own sovereign pleasure; and, consequently,
it would be impossible for us to know any thing about
it farther than revealed in the Bible. And is not Pa^-
dobaptism, in this respect, a similar case? JMay not

* Mastricht Theoloe;. 1. vii. c.iv.§ 19. Turret. I nstitut. Theolog.
loc. xix. quaest. xviii. § 3, 4. f In Jerubbal, p. 162.

X Relig. of Protest, part i. chap. ii. § 22.

FOR P.EDOBAPTISM. 319

we therefore, with a little alteration, adopt the lan-
guage of Mr. Chillingworth ? Yes, we will thus take
up his idea : That our Saviour designed infants should
be baptized, and yet would not say so, nor cause it to
be written so much as otzce by evangehsts or apostles ;
though they often mention baptism, as appointed, as
practised, as important; but leave the claim of infants
on that ordinance to be made out by the long labour of
inferential proof — by a consideration of proselyte bap-
tism, Jewish circumcision, the Abrahamic covenant, and
such passages of scripture where baptism is either not
mentioned at all, or mentioned only in reference to
adults; he that can believe it, let him. — Or, shall we
renounce this Protestant principle of the famous Chil-
lingworth, and follow the example of Mr. Fisher the
Jesuit? who, when vindicating the worship of images,
says : " In the scripture there is no express practice, nor
precept, of worshipping the image of Christ ; yet there
be principles which, the light of nature supposed, con-
vince adoration to be lawful."* — The following ap-
peal of Dr. Mayo will also apply, mutatis mutandis, in
all its force : " Had our Lord and his apostles, who es-
teemed not their lives dear unto them to promote the
good of souls, thought parochial, diocesan, and metro-
politan districts necessary, or even important and useful,
judge you whether they would not have given at least
one instruction or command concerning them." f

Reflect. V. Is it not strange, is it not absolutely un-
accountable, if our Lord intended infants should be
baptized, and if they actually were baptized by the
apostles, that it should not be so much as once expressly
recorded in all the New Testament? Baptism itself is
frequently mentioned — mentioned, as an appointment
of Christ, as a duty to be performed, as an ordinance

* In Popery confuted by Papists, p. 127. Vid. Chemnitium,
Exam. Concil. Trident, p. 562.
f Apology and Shield, p. 21.

320 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

often administered, as a motive to holiness, and also by
way of allusion ; yet, though all these occasions of ex-
pressly mentioning infants as entitled to baptism, or as
partakers of it, repeatedly occurred, the sacred writers
have united in observing a profound silence with regard
to both the one and the other. Admitting the baptism
of infants to be from heaven, the silence of inspired
authors on this head is the more surprising, because
they were far from being backward expressly to mention
children on other occasions of much less importance to
the purity of Christian worship, the conduct of believing
parents, and the edification of our Lord's disciples. For
instance : Do infants fall a sacrifice to envy and cruelty,
by the sanguinary edict of an Egyptian tyrant, or the
bloody order of an infamous Herod ? they are expressly
mentioned.* Do children partake with their parents,
once and again, of miraculous food ? it is expressly re-
corded, a first and a second time.t Are little children
presented to Christ for his healing touch, or his heavenly
blessing? we are expressly informed of it by three evan-
gehsts.;]: Did children along with their parents attend
Paul, when taking leave of his Christian friends in the
city of Tyre? they also are expressly mentioned. § Now
though the particular mention of children in all these
cases was pertinent, they being concerned in the several
transactions recorded ; yet, as none of these instances
refers to a positive ordinance of divine worship, of which
kind baptism is ; we may safely conclude, that if Christ
had warranted, and if the apostles had practised infant
baptism, it was of much greater importance to the
church of God for the sacred writers to have expressly
mentioned it, than for them to have been so particular in
the cases here adduced. It is observable also, that the
explicit mention of children in these passages has little

* Actsvii. 19; Mutt, ii. 16. f Matt. xiv. 21, and xv. 38.

X Matt. xix. 13; Mark X. 13; Luke xviii. 15.
§ Acts xxi. 5.

FOR P^DO BAPTISM. 3^1

or no tendency to establish any doctrine, to enforce any
duty, or to prevent any dispute among the disciples of
Christ; whereas a plain information of our Lord's havin:^
commanded children to be baptized, or of the apostles'
baptizing infants, might have answered those important
purposes. But infants are not expressly said to be bap-
tized, our opponents themselves being judges ; conse-
quently, we may conclude, that infants were not then
concerned in any such transaction.

Again : Remarkable are the words of Luke, with
which he introduces his evangelical narrative, and his
apostolic history : " Forasmuch as many have taken in
hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us — it seemed
good to me also, having had perfect understanding in all
things from the very first, to WTite unto thee in order,
most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the
certainty of those things wherein thou hast been in-
structed. . . .The former treatise have I made, O Theo-
philus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach."
From an exordium of this kind to each of his inspired
narratives, the reader may justly suppose, that an article
of such importance as Peedobaptism has long been
esteemed by miUions, would not have been entirely
omitted by him, had our Lord enjoined, or had the
apostles practised such a rite. Yes, had it been the
custom of those times to baptize infants, it might be
justly expected the sacred historian would have expressly
mentioned it once and again, with some of its lead-
ing circumstances. Considering his conduct with re-
gard to other affairs, in which he omits, or mentions
children, we certainly had reason to expect it.^ — To the
instances already produced from his writings, I will here
add one or two more. Does Luke, for example, inform
us, when describing the outrageous conduct of Saul, that
he "committed men and women to prison," without
mentioning children ? Relating the triumphs of divine

VOL. I. Y

322 NO PRECEPTj NOR PRECEDENT,

truth, he also tells us, that when the Samaritans be-
heved, they " were baptized, both men and women ;" but
says not a word of infants.^' If then we justly infer,
that little children, along with their parents, were not the
objects of Saul's persecuting rage, because they are not
mentioned as such in the history of his cruelty ; why
may we not for the same reason conclude, that infants,
together with their parents, were not the subjects of
baptism, as administered by Phihp? It was, undoubt-
edly, as much the business of Luke to relate, with
explicit precision, what Philip did in the course of his
evangelical ministry, as it was to narrate the persecuting
conduct of a blind bigot, who endeavoured to extermi-
nate the Christian cause ; and a plain account of the
former was of incomparably more importance to suc-
ceeding generations, than the most accurate inform-
ation respecting the latter. For Philip's beneficent
labours, in preaching and baptizing, are an example
which the ministers of Christ are obliged to imitate ;
but every one is bound to detest the persecuting con-
duct of Saul. Must we then consider the historian,
when mentioning men and luonien in verse the third,
as meaning adults only; but, in verse the twelfth, where
he uses the very same words, as intending parents and
their infant offspring? Nothing but the rage of hypo-
thesis can suggest the thought. If, then, common sense
and common honesty unite in affixing the same ideas to
the same words in each of those places, the conse-
quence is obvious; for, either no infants were baptized
in those days, or Philip departed from the usual prac-
tice. To prove the latter, w ill be an arduous task ; to
grant the former, is giving up the cause. — This reason-
ing, if I mistake not, is perfectly agreeable to the follow-
ing rule of bishop Taylor: " If that which is omitted in
the discourse be pertinent and material to the enquiry,
then it is a very good probability that that is not true

* Acts viii. 3, 12 j compare chap. xxii. 4.

FOR P.EDOBAPTISM. 323

that is not affirmed .... The reason is, every thing is to
be suspected false that does not derive from that foun-
tain whence men justly expect it, and from whence it
ought to flow. If you speak of any thing that re-
lates to God, you must look for it there where God
hath manifested himself; that is, in the scriptures. . . .
We cannot say, because a thing is not in scripture,
therefore it is not at all; but therefore it is nothing
of divine religion."* Conformable to this rule is the
reasoning of that learned author, Vitringa, in oppo-
sition to Episcopacy. " Certainly," says he, " if we
were disposed to judge impartially, laying aside all pre-
judices and predilections, we should scarcely be induced
to believe, that neither Luke in the Acts, nor Paul, nor
yet any of the apostles in their epistles, should not have
made the least mention of any bishop superior to pres-
byters, if there had really been any such pre-eminence,
or dignity, or peculiar office, or singular title of one of
the presbyters, instituted or knovvn in their time. For
they were obliged frequently to speak, and actually did
speak about the churches, and concerning the govern-
ment of the churches. Now seeing they often wrote
concerning all other offices, but are entirely silent about
what was afterwards called Episcopacy ; it is to us an
evidence, that in their time the name of such an office
or dignity was not in use."f Or shall we say with Bel-
larmine, "Things that are generally known, and daily
practised, do not use to be written?";]: But this would
be to insult common sense.

Once more: Supposing the divine authority of in-
fant baptism, it will readily be allowed, that it was of
unspeakably more importance for us to have been plainly
informed of an apostle baptizing some little child, than
to be expressly told that Paul circumcised Timothy. Of

* Ductor Dubitantium, b. ii. chap, iii, p. 383, 384.
f De Vet. Synag. p. 479, 480. % In Preserv. against Popery,

title vii, p. 85.

y 2

324 NO PilECEPr, NOR PRECEDENT,

the former, however, Luke says not a word; though of
the latter he is most explicit.* Did many Jewish
Christians in the apostolic churches circumcise their
children ? of that also we have the most plain informa-
tion from the pen of our divine historian.'}" This last
particular is very remarkable. For who, on Paedobap-
tist principles, can possibly account for the perfect
silence of Luke, respecting the baptism oi m^m'iis', while
he so plainly informs us, that the Jewish believers in
general circumcised their offspring, even after the obliga-
tion of that rite had entirely ceased ? If, as our opposers
imagine, all the ministers and members of the aposto-
lic churches were Pa^dobaptists, baptism, for an ob-
vious reason, must have been much oftener adminis-
tered to infants than circumcision, fond as the Jewish con-
verts were of the latter. Shall an ordinance, then, of the
New Testament, which is to continue to the end of time
— an ordinance, that was very frequently performed and
of great importance, be quite overlooked by an histo-
rian, who knew he was writing for the direction of the
church in all future ages; while he so expressly men-
tions children as partakers of a rite which had been an-
tiquated for many years? What! shall he plainly men-
tion a practice which was then the fruit of ignorance,
and of bigotry to an obsolete system; while he quite
overlooks a still more common practice, that was matter
of indispensable duty to every Christian parent on the
behalf of his infant ottspring? Plainly mention a pre-
vailing faidt among the primitive Jewish converts, re-
specting their male children; but omit their duty and
^e\Y obedience, in regard to both male and female infants
respecting baptism? Not over-kind, surely, would he
in this case be to the character of those ancient Chris-
tians, nor over-scrupulous in his examples for the use
of posterity ! This, though not naturally impossible,
exceeds the utmost bounds of probability; and, there-
fore, should be rejected as an absurdity. — The language
* Acts xvi. 3. t Acts xxi. 21. See No. ^5.

FOR P.EDOliAi'TJSM. 39,5

of archbishop Wake, in opposition to an idle opinion
concerning the apostles' composing a creed which goes
under their name, will here apply, " It is not likely, that
had any such thing as this been done by the apostles,
St. Luke would have passed it by without taking the
least notice of it."*

Our opponents insist, that the writers of the New
Testament were all Paedobaptists. But either this is a
great mistake, or those venerable authors must have had
a very low idea of their own practice — much lower than
Cyprian or Austin, or any of our zealous opposers in
the present age. For while those infallible writers men-
tion children on various occasions, where baptism is not
concerned; they relate the baptizing of great numbers,
in different parts of the world, without once mentioning
infants as parties in that affair. Nay, they relate the
baptizing of believers, in different places, with as little
notice of infants, as if no infant had belonged to any
whom they did baptize; yet, strange to conceive, the
hypothesis of our opposers manifestly implies that in-
fant baptism was then a very common practice ! For it
implies, that the baptism of children always accom-
panied that of their parents; and that the future offspring
of such converted parents were made partakers of the
sacred rite. On this principle, what a prodigious num-
ber of children must have been baptized, before the
canon of scripture was completed ! Yet all passed over
in profound silence by the sacred writers ! — Now as this
is an example which no ecclesiastical historian, allowed
to have been a Paedopabtist, has chosen to imitate;
and as it is an example which could not have been imi-
tated, when recording the transactions of later times,
without omitting facts that were essential to a good
narrative; so there is ground to believe, that the inspired
historians had really no facts to relate, concerning the
baptism of infants; which is a sufficient reason for their

* Apostolical Fathers, Introduct. p. 103, 104, edit. 2d.

3^6 NOR PECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

saying nothing about it. For, surely, they were not infe-
rior to later historians, either as to spiritual wisdom, or
holy zeal, or historic fidelity ; nor could they be igno-
rant that the immortal productions of their pens were to
be considered by all the disciples of Christ, not only as
a mirror of past facts, but also as the law of divine
worship, and the rule of religious practice, to the end
of time. — We may, therefore, confidently say with Mr.
Baxter : " 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 [and all
other Pasdobaptists,] 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 [or they] can."* — The learned
and laborious Dupin tells us, agreeably enough to his
own principles; That the apostles did not give them-
selves the trouble of regulating what related to the cere-
monies of Christian worship; but that their successors
in the ministry settled those affairs. t This, though ini-
mical to the creed of a consistent Protestant, is in my
opinion true, as to infant baptism. For it does not ap-
pear that the apostles either did or said any thing re-
lating to that ceremony, but that it was invented in a
succeeding period, with a number of other things that
were equally foreign to the language of the New Testa-
ment, and to the practice of apostolic churches.

The following words of an Episcopalian author,
concerning the Congregational Pasdobaptists, shall con-
clude this reflection : " If I had seen it my duty to
accede to the church order of the Inde})endents, I know
not but their principles would have led me from them
again to join with the Baptists. How they who, main-
taining infant baptism, press scripture precedent so
strongly upon me, answer the Baptists, who, in this

* Disput. of Right to Sacram. p. 156.

f Hist. Ecrlcs. Writers, vo\ i. p. IS], edit. 2ik1.

FOR P.EDOBAPTISM. $&7

point, press it as strongly upon themselves, is not my
concern,"*

* Apologia, p. 108. Leaving- our Independent brethren to solve
the difficulty here suggested as well as they can, I w^ould observe j
That as this worthy author informs us he made the subscription
required of candidates for orders in the national establishment,
" REALLY ex animo," so we may take it for granted, he cordially
approves of that article in the national creed, which says ; " The
church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies." This being the
case, it is no wonder that he does not feel himself much embar-
rassed by the thought of departing from scriptural precedents ; be-
cause, whoever has authority to decree new rites or ceremonies in re-
ligious worship, must possess a plenitude of power to lay old ones
aside, by whomsoever they were appointed. " They who may in-
stitute new worship," says Mr. Alsop, " may destroy the old wor-
ship. For Cujus est instituere, ejus est destituere; the same autho-
rity that can make a law, can repeal a law." Sober Enquiry, p. 282.
I have observed, however, that this author, in his Messiah, talks in
a different strain, and treats the language of inspiration with due
respect. For, speaking of real converts, he says : " One, thus saitlf
the Lord, has the force of a thousand arguments. They desire no
farther proof of a doctrine, no other warrant for their practice, no
other reason for any dispensation, than Thus the Lord has said, this
he requires, and this is his appointment. Thus their wills are brought
into subjection ; and they so understand, as to believe and obey,''
vol i. p. 224, 225. This is the language of Protestantism j this, I
will venture to say, is the language of Nonconformity ; and exceed-
ingly different from that irreverent manner, in which he has treated
" scripture precedents," when defending his own conformity. Yet
how he can reconcile these things, " is not my concern."

But, though Mr. Newton, in his Apologia, does not consider
himself as obliged by scriptural precedents; and though he ex-
pressly says, '*' I thought the example of our Lord pleaded as much
for circuvi-cision as for baptism;" yet, while he abides by this ac-
knowledgment, " I am BOUND, by my subscription, to the form and
rubric of the Common Prayer j" it might be expected that he
would never publicly sprinkle an infant, and call the ceremony
baptism, unless the sponsors informed him that the child could not
bear immersion. For a Protestant minister to think himself at li-
berty to desert scriptural precedents, while he confesses himself
bound to the rubric of a hturgy] and yet notoriously contradict
that very rubric, by constantly sprinkling infants instead of im-
mersing them J are things that grate upon my understanding.
Apologia, p. 108, 109, 124. See Part I. Chap. VI. No. 16.

328 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

Reflect. VI. That the argument here employed is
neither novel nor inconclusive, will appear by adverting
to the conduct of Protestants in general, when disputing
with Roman Catholics, and that in a great variety of
cases. For instance : Do the Popish writers assert,
that Peter was the bishop of Rome for a course of years,
and mention many particulars of his conduct there?
"All these things," replies Mr. Millar, "seem to be
false, and without foundation ; as appears from the
silence of Luke, the inspired writer of the Acts of the
Apostles, who recorded many things concerning Peter
.... Peter himself speaks not one m ord of what the
Papists allege. If he had founded the Roman church,
why does he no where make mention of it?"*- — Thus
also the learned Buddeus: " If Peter had been at Rome
when Paul wrote his epistle to the church there, who
can believe that he would have omitted him among
others whom he salutes bv name ? Or, if he had been
there before, who can believe that Paul would have-
made no mention of him in any part of that epistle?
especially seeing various occasions offered for him to
have done so."'f — Is the supremacy of Peter, or that of the
Pope, the subject in question ? Chamier says : " If Christ
appointed Peter to obtain both temporal and spiritual
power, what is the reason that he does not so much as
once carefully, explicitly, and most emphatically express
it? Had it been a fact, he would have expressed it.
But he has not expressed it; therefore it was not his in-
tention that Peter should have it.'":|: — Is it the Papal in-
faUibiUtij? Abp. Tillotson says : " There is not the least
intimation in scripture of this privilege conferred upon the
Roman church; nor do the apostles, in all their epistles,

* Propagat. of Christianity, vol. i. chap. iii. p. 2/8. Vid. Turret,
Institut. loc. xxviii. q. xviii. § 4 ; and Dr. Doddridge's Note on
Rom. xvi. 15, f Ecclesia .Apostolica, p. 714,

+ Panstrat. toni, ii. 1. xv. c. xv. § 2. ^'id.Dr. Doddridge's Note
on 1 Car. ^i^•, 2^.

FOR P.EIJOBAPTISM. 39,9

ever so much as give the least directions to Christians,
to appeal to the bishop of Rome for a determination of
the many differences, which even in those times hap-
pened among them. And it is strange they should be
so silent in this matter, when there were so many occa-
sions to speak of it, if our Saviour had plainly appointed
such an infallible judge of controversies."* — Is it the in-
vocation of saints? Dr. Hughes declares: "That the
very silence of scripture is enough to condemn the pray-
ing to saints."'!' Dr. Doddridge: " Dr. Whitby justly

observes, that it is very remarkable that Paul, who so
often and so earnestly entreats the intercession of his
Christian friends, should never speak of the intercession
of the Virgin Mary, or of departed saints, if he be-
lieved it a duty to seek it.":j: — Is it confession to a
priest? Bp. Stratford says : " We find no such sort of
confession required by Christ or his apostles." § — Is it
confirmation? Chemnitius opposes it by saying: "The
Popish sacrament of confirmation was neither ap-
pointed nor dispensed, either by Christ or by the apos-
tles; because it is not mentioned in scripture." || — Is it e.v-
treme unction ? The same author declares against it, by
observing: " That there is neither precept nor precedent
for it in the scripture, except so far as relates to the
miraculous gift of healing." ^ — Is it their clerical celi-
bacy ? Mr. Wharton considers the silence of scripture,
as the " greatest of all" arguments against it.** Thus
Protestants, at every turn, against the Papists.

We will now produce an instance or two of similar
conduct among Protestant Dissenters, when disputing
with Episcopalians about the hierarchy and rites of the

* Preserv. against Popery, title iii. p. 231.

f Sermon at Salters' Hall, on Veneration of Saints, p. 37.

X Note on Col. iv. 3. See also his Note on chap. li. 18.

§ Preserv. against Popery, title i. p. 21.

II Exam. Concil. Trid. p. 250, ^ Ibid. p. 205.

** Preserv. against Popery, title i. p. 281.

NO PRECEPT, NOR, PRECEDENT,

church of England. Is diocesan Episcopacy the subject
of debate, or of animadversion? Dr. Doddridge sa3's:
" The late learned, moderate, and pious Dr. Edmund
Calamy observes, that if the apostles had been used, as
some assert, to ordain diocesan bishops in their last visit-
ation, this had been a proper time [when Paul took his
leave of the Ephesian elders] to do it ; or that, if Timo-
thy had been already ordained bishop of Ephesus, Paul,
instead of calling them all bishops, would surely have
given some hint to enforce Timothy's authority among
them .... Ignatius would have talked in a very different

style and manner on this head."* Mr. James Owen,

thus : " How comes it to pass, when the apostle (Eph.
iv. 1 1,) reckons up the several sorts of ministers which
Christ had appointed in his church, that he makes no
mention of superior bishops, if they be so necessary as
some W'ould have us believe ?.... It is unaccountable
that St. Paul should write an epistle to the Ephesians,
— and not mention their pretended bishop, Timothy, in
the whole epistle .... It is a certain evidence he was nei-
ther bishop there, nor resident there. "t — Is it the sign
of the cross, as an attendant on baptism ? JNIr. Arch.
Hall says: " The reader will give me leave to quote the
words of Mr. Thomas Bradbury on this point: ' If,' says
that excellent person, ' Christ had thought that washing
with water was not sufficient without the sign of the
cross, he ivoiild have told us so.' ":j: — Thus also Noncon-
formists reason in various other cases ; and thus the
most eminent writers in all cases, where the silence of
sacred, of ecclesiastical, or of profane authors, can be
fairly pleaded against any hypothesis ; concerning which
no person of reading and of observ^ation is ignorant.

* Note, on Acts xx. 25. Vld. his Note on Ephes. iv. 11 ; and
Lectures, proposit. cl. p. 494.

f Plea for Scrip. Ordination, p. 16, 17,^2. Vid. Turrett. loc.
xxviii. q. xxi. § 9. J Gospel Worship, vol. i. p. 326.

Vid. Turrett. Institut. lor. xix. (|. xviii. § 3.

FOR P/EDOBAPTISM. 331

Again : That Protestants of different communions
unite in considering negative arguments of this kind as
conclusive, may still farther appear by the following in-
stances. Turrettinus : " The silence of scripture ought,

with us, to have great weight."* Bp. Porteus: " Our

divine Lawgiver showed his wisdom equally in what he
enjoined, and what he left unnoticed .... He knew ex-
actly— where to be silent, and where to speak."'!'

Dr. Owen : " The scripture is so absolutely the rule,
measure, and boundary of our faith and knowledge in
spiritual things, as that what it conceals is instructive,
as well as what it expresseth." :]: — ■ — Dr. Doddridge:
"To be willing to continue ignorant of what our great
Master has thought fit to conceal, is no inconsiderable
part of Christian learning." § Anonymous: "Pro-
testant divines have ever thought this a sufficient con-
vincing argument, against the fooleries of the Papists;
That Christ hath no where commanded them; therefore
they may justly reject them as unlawful." || -Anony-
mous: "To demand more than — perpetual silence in
these cases is unreasonable; because no satisfactory
account can be given of it but this. That the worship we
speak of, ivas indeed no part of their religioti.'" ^

In opposition, however, to this capital principle of
Protestantism, Mr. Cleaveland says : " It belongs to
them [the Baptists] to produce an e^ipress and positive
precept, or command, for the exclusion of infant-mem-
bership under the New Testament administration of
the covenant; and till they can produce such a precept,
they act without any warrant or authority from the
word of God in refusing to baptize the children of
covenanting parents."** Mr. Reeves: " Circumci-

* Ut supra^ quaest. xxvii. § 19. Vid. q. xxix. § 6> 75 q. xxx.
§ 6, 7. f Sermons, p. 421, edit. 4th.

+ On Heb. vii. 1, 2, 3, vol. iii. p. 116.

§ Note on John viii. 6. || Jerubbaal, p, 16'3.

^ Discourse concerning the Worship of the blessed Virgin,
}). 37, 38. ** Infant Baptism from Heaven, p. 39.

332 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

sion being changed into baptism without any change
of time, that must continue upon the old foot, without
some eiyress command to the contrary; and therefore
there was no occasion for any particular express precept

in the gospel for baptizing infants."* Dr. Taylor:

" We may not say, The apostles did not [baptize infants;]
therefore we may not. But thus, they were not for-
bidden to do it; there is no law against it; therefore it

may be done."t ^^^- ^^ Courcy: "Since I find

infant baptism not forbidden by any e.vpress pi^ohibition,
I rather think it virtually enjoined by the very silence
of scripture.":];

Reflecting on these doughty arguments in defence
of infant baptism, I am reminded of one that is quite
similar, which is used to prove the divine right of
tithes; or to "establish," as Mr. Adair expresses it,
"the most delicious part of the Jewish law."§ — "We
need," says the author of The Snake in the Grass, no
new com.mandment for [tithes] in the gospel, if they
are not forbidden and abrogated by Christ." — To which
friend Wyeth replies: " If they are not expressly com-
manded to be continued under the gospel, they are not
of force ; that law being temporary, by which they were
commanded, and now expired. It was adapted to the
economy of the Jews; m.ade to answer that dispen-
sation, , . .So that an express abrogation of tithes, in
the gospel, was no more necessary than an express re-
peal of an act of parliament which was but temporary,
and would expire of course at the end of that term for
which it was appointed." |1

The intelligent reader will easily perceive, that this

* Apologies, vol. i. Preface, p. 17, 18.

f In Mr. Leigli's Body of Divinity, b. viii. chap. viii. p. 671.

+ Rejoinder, p. 88. See also Cases to Recover Dissenters,
vol. ii. p. 441. Dr. Lightfoot's Horee Heb. on Matt. iii. 6, cum
multis aliis. § History of the American Indians, p. 463.

II Switch for the Snake, p. 419, 4-20.

FOR PiEDOBAPTISM. 333

reasoning applies with all its force to the case before
us. For that interest which the infant offspring of
Abraham's descendants had in the Jewish church, be-
ing part of a temporary and less perfect economy,
must in the very nature of the case be temporary ; nor
could it, without a new divine charter, have an exist-
ence under the gospel dispensation, any more than the
divine right of tithes. To produce a new charter, how-
ever, our Brethren do not pretend. As well, there-
fore, may persons who are manifestly unregenerate plead
their title to full communion with any particular church,
on the ground of ancient privilege granted by Jehovah
to the carnal Israelites, provided they were not guilty
of some flagitious evil, or ceremonially unclean ; as any
contend that infants must be members of the church
now, because they were so under the former economy.
With equal reason may the professed members of a
national church argue from the want of an express pro-
hibition lying against an ecclesiastical constitution of
that kind, as any of our opponents require an explicit
declaration that the church-membership of infants is
now at an end. Such membership is indeed the very
basis of national churches; but quite inconsistent with
churches of the congregational form. — An apostle has
taught us, that the ancient " priesthood being changed,
there is made of necessity a change also of the law."*
That is, as Dr. Owen explains it, " the whole ' law of
commandments contained in ordinances ; ' or the whole
law of Moses, so far as it was the rule of worship and
obedience unto the church; for that law it is that
followeth the fates of the priesthood." We may, there-
fore, adopt the sacred writer's principle of reasoning, and
say; The constitution of the visible church being mani-
festly and essentially altered, the law relating to quali-
fications for communion in it, must of necessity be
changed. Consequently, no valid inference can be

* Heb. vii, 12.

334 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

drawn from the membership of infants under the former
dispensation, to a similarity of external privilege under
the new covenant.

I shall take the liberty of once more adverting to
the article of tithes. The Snake in the Grass having
asserted, that "there are plain intimations in the gospel "
of tithes being continued; Mr. Wyeth, having in his
hand a convenient Switch, gives him the following lash :
^^Intimations! — Is it come to that? Must the world be
decimated by intimations? Does God's right, God's
due, God's tithes, depend upon intimations at last?"* —
Excuse me, reader, if I should express my suspicions,
that the divine right of tithes, and the jus divinmn of
infant baptism, depend upon similar intimations. Or,
if you please, they are both, in regard to substantial
evidence, like the doctrine of purgatory; which, ac-
cording to Peter a Soto, though not demonstrated in
scripture, is nevertheless insinuated there, t We will
venture to assert, however, with Dr. Ridgley : ''As for
the [positive] ordinances, our attendance on them de-
pends on a divine command,'' % or an apostolic example;
and not on intimations, or insinuations. — There is ano-
ther particular, or two, in which a likeness appears
between the divine right of tithes, and that of infant
baptism. For as those who earnestly plead the former
are compelled to confess, that the apostolic ministers did
not act upon it; so the most strenuous patrons of the
latter are obliged to acknowledge, that the apostles have
not plainly told us, either of our Lord appointing, or of
themselves performing it. . . .As our opposers imagine
satisfactory reasons may be given, why the apostles, who
are supposed to have baptized vast numbers of children,
said nothing expressly about our Lord's command for
that purpose, nor concerning their practice of it; so

* Switch for the Snake, p. 417.

f Apud Chemnitium, Exam. Concil. Trident, p. 562.

X Bod. of Div. quest, ox, p. 509.

FOR p^:dobaptism. 335

those who feel their interest in decimating the property
of their neighbours, can easily assign sufficient causes
why the primitive ministers waived that lucrative pri-
vilege : * while they maintain on solid grounds the
antiquity of paying tithes, as prior to the Mosaic system
— prior to circumcision 'f — and, were it not for what some
of our learned opposers have said, 1 should have boldly
added, prior to the proselyte baptism. But I am aware
that antediluvian, and almost paradisiacal antiquity, is
claimed for that rabbinical rite.

That our opponents may see whose weapons they
use, when attacking us after the manner of Mr. Cleave-
land and others, I will transcribe a few lines from a
nameless Roman Catholic author. The writer to whom
I advert, when addressing Protestants, defies their oppo-
sition in the following words. " You cannot show one
positive argument against the invocation of saints, either
from scripture or from fathers ; not one against the doc-
trine of the real presence, transubstantiation, veneration
of images upon account of their representations ; not
one against the number of sacraments; not one to
prove communion under both kinds to be indispensable;
or that children dying without baptism are saved. In a
word, you cannot show one positive argument against
any one doctrine of our church, if you state it right : , all
you can say, is, It does not appear to us out of scripture;
it does not appear to us from antiquity. Show us, you
say, your authentic records, your deeds of gift., your
revelation, and we will believe : as if an uninterrupted
possession were not sufficient.":}: — I will now present the
reader with this Popish objection, as expressed by Mr.
West, and with part of the answer which he returns.
Thus then my author: Cavil: " We have brought never

* See Mr. Bingham's Orig. Eccles. b. v. chap, v, § 2.
t Gen. xiv. 20 j Heb, vii. 4, 6, 9.

X Vindicat, of Bishop of Condom's Exp. of Doct. of Cath.
Church, p. Ill, 112.

336 NO PRECEPT, NOR PECEDENT,

a positive scripture, that says, There is no such place as
'purgatory; and a huge outcry is on such occasions taken
up against our negative way of arguing against a doctrine
that they positively profess. . . .Truly, on their part it
lies to have given us positive and express scripture for
purgatory, that would impose it on us as a positive
article of faith. . . .It seems absurd to provoke to posi-
tive express scripture against every chimera that may
come into men's heads a thousand years after the scrip-
tures were writ; for so, if any man should assert, espe-
cially if many should agree to it, that Mahomet is a true
prophet, or that the moon was a mill-stone, or whatever
else can be supposed more unlikely; I am bound to sub-
scribe to it, except I can bring particular, positive, ex-
press scripture against it."* — Thus also Mr. Vincent
Alsop: "Amongst all the crafty devices of the devil to
induce our grand-mother Eve to eat of the tree of know-
ledge ; and of all the weak excuses of Eve for eating of
that tree, I wonder this was not thought on; That it
was not contrary to any express law of God. For (Gen.
ii. 16, 17,) ' God commanded the man, saying, Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat.' But it seems the devil had not learnt the sophistry
to evade the precept, because the express law was given
to the man, and not to the woman.... \i had been
impossible that all negatives should be expressed, Thou
shalt not stand upon thy head; Thou shalt not wear a
fooVs coat ; Thou shalt not play at dice, or cards, in the
worship of God : but thus [l)y pleading the want of an
express prohibition] he [Dr. Goodman] thinks he has
made good provision for a safe conformity to the cere-
monies; because it is not said, Thou shalt not use the
cross in baptism; Thou shalt not use cream, oil, spittle;
Thou shalt not conjure out the devil. At Mhich back-
door came in all the superstitious fopperies of Rome.
* Morning Exercise against Popery, p, 830.

FOR P/EDO BAPTISM. ^^7

And with this passport we may travel all over the world;
from Rome to the Porte, from thence amongst the
Tartars and Chinese, and conform to all; for perhaps
we shall not meet with one constitution that contradicts
an express law of scripture."*

Reflect. VII. Many were the positive rites ordained
by Jehovah, in the ancient Jewish church ; some of
which were intended for the people at large, and others
for particular characters among them. There is not,
however, that I remember, a single instance of any
ritual service designed for persons of a particular de-
scription ; and of those persons, whether priests, Levites,
or others, being under a necessity of inferring their in-
terest in that service by a chain of reasoning from re-
mote principles. No, the persons whose duty it was to
regard the rite, were plainly described, as well as the
manner of performing it ; so that the most ignorant
among them, as far as we can perceive, were at no loss
in that respect. Nor have we any reason to think that
the positive laws of the New Testament are less easy
to be understood, than those of the Jewish economy.
Dr. Owen, however, seems to have been of this opinion
when he said, ^' Every thing in scripture is so plain
as that the meanest believer may understand all that
belongs unto his duty, or is necessary unto his hap-
piness. . . .There can be no instance given of any ob-
scure place or passage in the scripture, concerning
which a man may rationally suppose or conjecture, that
there is any doctrinal truth requiring our obedience con-
tained in it, which is not elsewhere explained."!

Thus also *Mr. W. Bennet: "What is the rule of all
instituted worship? — The revealed will of God only;
who hath given us a full discovery thereof, in all things

* Sober Enquiry, p. 345, 346.

f Ways and Means of Understand, Mind of God, p. 176, 185.
VOL. T. Z

338 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

necessary for our faith and practice, by his written
word." *

To imagine, therefore, that the first positive rite of
rehgious worship in the Christian church, is left in so
vague a state as Pasdobaptism supposes, is not only
contrary to the analogy of divine proceedings in similar
cases, but renders it morally impossible for the bulk of
Christians to discern the real grounds on which the or-
dinance is administered. For, doubtless, a great majo-
rity of those who profess Christianity, are quite incapa-
ble of entering into several subjects, the discussion of
which is found so necessary by learned men, in order to
establish the right of infants to baptism. On this plan
of proceeding, a plain unlettered man, with the New
Testament only in his hand, though sincerely desirous
of learning from his Lord what baptism is, and to
whom it belongs, is not furnished with sufficient docu-
ments to form a conclusion. No ; he must study the
records of Moses, and well understand the covenant
made with Abraham, as the father of the Jewish nation.
Stranger still ! he must, according to the opinion of
many, become a disciple of those who are the humble
pupils of Jewish rabbles — of those learned authors who,
being well versed in the writings of Maimonides, and in
the volumes of the Talmud, imagine themselves to have
imported into the Christian church a great stock of intel-
ligence concerning the mind of Christ, relative to the
proper subjects of baptism. For it is thence only he is
able to learn, that the children of proselytes were bap-
tized along with their parents, when admitted mem-
bers of the Jewish church; and thence also he must
infer, that our Lord condescended to borrow of his ene-
mies an important ordinance of religious worship for
his own disciples. — Nor is this all: He must study the
antiquated rite of circumcision ; he must know to whom

* View of Relig. Worship, quest, vjii. See Preface, p. I — 6.

FOR P^DOBAPTISM. 339

it belonged, and the reasons why : then he must com-
pare it with baptism, in this, that, and the other par-
ticular; after which he must draw a genuine inference,
respecting the point in hand. — Nor has he yet performed
the arduous task. For, as the New Testament says
nothing expressly about the object of his enquiry, he
must sift the meaning of several passages in sacred writ
that say not a word about it, in order to find that in-
fants, of a certain description, are entitled to baptism.
For instance: He must consider 1 Cor. vii. 14, in a
very particular manner. Here he must settle what is
meant by the word sanctified, and by the term holi/. He
must accurately distinguish between the holiness attri-
buted to the child, and the sanctification ascribed to the
unbelieving parent; so as to give the infant a right,
which the parent has not, in a positive institution of
Jesus Christ. — When all this is duly performed, he must
fortify his mind against the objections to which this fine^
spun theory is liable. He must enquire, for example,
so as to satisfy his own conscience, Why, when our
Lord gave commision to teach and baptize ; why, when
his apostles required a profession of faith from those
Avhom they did baptize, no exception was made in fa-
vour of infants: and, by a train of reasoning, he must
at last infer, that, so far as appears, they meant what
they never said, nor ever did.* Such is the round-
about logical labour which the ploughman has to per-
form, if he would not pin his faith on the sleeve of the
learned.

But if, on the other hand, we consider positive pre-
cepts and apostolic examples as the onli^ rule of adminis-
tering baptism ; if we consider evangelists and apostles as
recording, plainly recording, all that our Lord meant us
to know concerning this institution; the labour of the

* So the Papists are justly charged by Mr. Hurst, with repre-
senting Peter as thinking one thing, and writing another. Morning
Exercise against Popery, p. 55.

Z 2

340 NO PRECEPT, NOH PKECKDEXT,

most illiterate, who can read his own language, is both
short and easy. For the New Testament being the only
book that he wants to give him a complete idea of bap-
tism, he has nothing to do but to open that sacred volume ;
consult a few express commands and plain examples;
consider the natural and proper sense of the words; and
then, without the aid of commentators, or the help of
critical acumen, he may safely decide on the question
before him : because, our opponents themselves being
judges, we have in that code of divine law and history
of apostolic practice, both express commands and ex-
press examples for baptizing such as profess faith in
Jesus Christ, but none else.

When these things are duly considered, we shall not
w'onder that learned and eminent Pasdobaptists have ex-
pressed themselves as follows. Lord Brooke, for in-
stance, has made the ensuing acknowledgment : " To
those that hold we may go no farther than scripture, for
doctrine or discipline, it may be very easy to err in this
point now in hand [i. e. infant baptism;] since the scrip-
ture seems not to have clearly determined this parti-
cular."* Mr. Baxter: "If the very baptism of in-
fants itself, be so dark in the scripture, that the contro-
versy is thereby become so hard as we find it; then, to
prove not only their baptism, but a new distinct end of
their baptism, will be a hard task indeed." f N. B. This
acknowledgment is contained in his book, entitled, Plain
Scripture Proof of Infants' Church-membership and

Baptism. Dr. Wall: "At what age the children of

Christians should be baptized, whether in infancy, or to
stay till the age of reason, is not so clearly delivered,
but that it admits of a dispute that has considerable per-
plexities in it-":|: Mr. Henry: " There are difficulties

in this controversy, which may puzzle the minds of well-

* On Episcopacy, sect, ii. chap, vii. p. 97-

f Plain Scrip. Proof, p. 301,

X Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii. chap. xi. p. 547.

FOR p.i:dobaptism. 341

meaning Christians."* Dr. Isaac Watts : "Though

there be no such express and plain commands or examples
of it [infant baptism] written in scripture, as we might have
expected; yet there are several inferences to be drawn
from what is written, which afford a just and reasonable
encouragement to this practice, and guard it from the
censure of superstition and will-worship. "f Anony-
mous: "In the controversy about infant baptism, the
enquiry ought not to be, Whether Christ hath com-
manded infants to be baptized ? but. Whether he hath

excluded them from baptism?" J Thus also the very

learned and excellent Vitringa : " He, in my opinion,
that would argue prudently against the Anabaptists,
should not state the point in controversy thus; Whether
infants born of Christian parents, ought necessarily to
be baptized ? but, Whether it be lawful, according to
the Christian discipline, to baptize them ? Or, what evil
is there in the ceremony of baptizing infants ?"§ — These
extracts remind me of a remarkable interview between
Saul and Samuel. The former, when recent from his
expedition against Amalek, said; " I have performed the
commandment of the Lord." To which the venerable
prophet replied, " What meaneth then this bleating of
the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen
which I hear?" II So, in the present case, these respect-
able authors would fain persuade us that they perform
the will of the Lord when they sprinkle infants. But if
so, we may ask, What mean these concessions and cau-
tions which we hear? Do they not betray a conviction of
some capital defect in the foundation upon which Pae-
dobaptists proceed ? Yes, the two last of these learned
authors especially, were keenly sensible that Pasdobap-

* Treatise on Bap. p. 70.

f Berry Street Sermons, vol. ii. p, 180, 185.

\ Cases to Recover Dissenters, vol. ii. p. 405.

§ Observat. Sac. tom.i. l.ii, c.vii. § 9.

II 1 Sam. XV. 13, 14.

542 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

tism is tender ground ; and that whoever walks upon it
had need be careful how he treads.

Reflect. VIII, We are taught by various learned
pens, that the practice of John, surnamed the Baptist,
and the qualifications required of those persons for whom
our Lord intended the ordinance, unite in excluding in-
fants from a participation of it. Riissenius, for instance,
in answer to this objection ; " John admitted no one to
baptism, except he confessed his sins ; " replies as follows :
" His business was with adults, that were to be baptized
and called to the Christian church ; but it does not
thence follow, that the same thing should have place in

respect of infants who are already in the church."*

Anonymous : " The baptism [of John] belongs not pro-
perly to infants : for, first, it is a baptism of repentance,
of which infants are not capable ; secondly, it is for
remission of sins, which therefore imply actual sins,
whereas infants are only guilty of original sin, and that

is but one."t Turrettin ; " John admitted none to

baptism, but those who confessed their sins ; because

his business was to baptize the adult." J Dr. Whitby:

" It is not to be wondered at, that infants were not bap-
tized during John's ministry; because the baptism then
used by John and Christ's disciples, was only the bap-
tism of repentance, and faith in the Messiah which was
for to come, of both which infants were incapable." §

Thomas Lawson : " Faith and repentance were

the qualifications of such as were admitted to John's
baptism." || Thus that impartial Friend.

That the qualifications required of those for whom
our Lord intended the ordinance, do not agree to an
infantile state, appears from the declarations of many
others. The celebrated Cocceius, for instance, informs
us; " That sacraments, properly speaking, were insti-

* Sum. Theolog. loc. xvii. p.719. \ Nonconformists'

Advocate, i).4S. } Institut. loc.xix. qua>st. xxii. § 14.

§ Aniiotat. on Matt. xix. 13^ 14. || IJaptismalogia, p. 108.

FOR P.^LDOBAPTISM. 343

tuted for believers, and given to them, (Rom. iv. 1 1 ;)
that is, for those ' who hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness.'"* The language of Limborch is remarkably

strong. " The subject of baptism," says that learned
Arminian, " to whom it is to be administered, is a be-
liever; one who is endued with a true faith in Jesus
Christ, and touched with a serious repentance for his past

offences." t Meierus thus: " None have a title to

baptism, but such as profess faith and the true religion." J
Doutrin : " To whom ought baptism to be admi-
nistered ? Only to believers, or those that may be con-
sidered as such, (Matt, xxviii. 19; Acts viii. 37.) "§

Turrettin : " Faith, devotion, and an internal exercise of
the mind, are required to the efficacy of a sacrament;
because the scripture expressly asserts it, (Mark xvi. 16;
1 Cor. xi. 27; Acts ii. 37, 38;) because without faith it
is impossible to please God, (Heb. xi. 6 ;) and because
the promise, as contained in the sacraments, and faith,

are correlates." || Calvin: " From the sacrament of

baptism, as from all others, we obtain nothing except so

far as we receive it in faith." ^ Dr. Doddridge : " I

think that illumination as well as regeneration, in the
most important and scriptural sense of the words, were
regularly to precede the administration of that ordi-
nance," i. e. baptism.** Mr. Jonathan Edwards:

" That baptism, by which the primitive converts were
admitted into the church, was used as an exhibition
and token of their being visibly regenerated, dead to
sin — as is evident by Rom. vi. throughout. . . .He [the
apostle] does not mean only that their baptism laid them
under special obligations to these things, and was a mark
and token of their engagement to be thus hereafter;
but was designed as a mark, token, and exhibition of
their being visibly thus already. . . .There are some du-

* Sum. Doct. de Foed. c.vi. §209. f Syst, Div. b.v.

chap. xxii. §2. X Biblioth. Brem. class iv. p. 169.

§ Schemeof Div. Truths,, p. 260. y Institut. loc.xix. q.viii.

§ 12. 5[ Institut. 1. iv. c.xv. | 15. ** Note on Heb.vi. 4.

344 NO niECEPT, NOIi PRLCEDENT,

ties of worship that imply a profession of God's covenant ;
whose very nature and design is an exhibition of those
vital active principles and inward exercises, wherein the
condition of the covenant of grace [consists.] Such
are the Christian sacraments; whose very design is to
make and confirm a profession of compliance with that
covenant, and whose very nature is to exhibit or ex-
press those uniting acts of the soul."* Venema:

" Faith and repentance — are pre-required in baptism.
He who presents himself as a candidate for baptism,
professes, by that very act, to be a Christian; declares
himself to have passed into the discipline of Christ.
Hence Philip said, ' If thou believest with all thy heart,
thou mayest,' (Acts viii. 37.) The command of Peter
was, ' Repent and be baptized,' (Acts ii. 38;) the effect
of which was, that they who gladly and sincerely be-
lieved his gospel were baptized .... In baptism, there-
fore, we have a sign and testimony of joresent rege-
neration; and in regard to the person baptized, a public

demonstration of it."'!" Mr. Thomas Boston gives

us, not only his own views of the subject, but those
also of Mr. Rutherford and of Ursinus, in the following
words. " The sacraments are not converting, but con-
firming ordinances; they are appointed for the use and
benefit of God's children, not of others; they are given
to believers, as beUevers, as Rutherford expresseth it,
so that none other are capable of the same before the
Lord. . . .Ursin, upon that question, Who oiigiit to come
to the supper? tells us, the sacraments are appointed for
the faithful and converted only, to seal the promise

of the gospel to them, and confirm their faith." ;j:

Dr. Goodwin : " Baptism supposeth regeneration sure
in itself first. Sacraments are never administered for
to begin or work grace; you su[)pose children to believe
before you baptize them. Read all the Acts, still it is

* Enquiry into Qualif. for full Coinnmn. p. 20, 114, 115.

f Dissertat. J^ac. 1. ii. c. xiv. § 4. + Works, p. 334,385.

FOR P.EDOBAPTISM. 345

said, They believed and were baptized. I could give you

a multitude of places for it." * " There are, or may

be, innumerable persons baptized externally with water,"
says Hoornbeekius, "who yet are not real Christians;
neither were they rightly baptized, because they were
unbelievers; nor can they be justly said to have baptism,
not that which Christ appointed .... Without faith,
water baptism cannot by any means be lawful; for the
command is, believe, first; then also, and not otherwise,
be baptized. ' He that beheveth and is baptized,' (Mark
xvi. 16.) ' Then they that gladly received his word were
baptized,' (Acts ii. 41.) 'If thou believest with all thy
heart, thou mayest be baptized,' (Acts viii. 37; xvi.
31, 33.)"t " A profession of faith," says Dr. Water-
land, " was from the beginning always required of persons
before baptism. We have plain examples of, and allu-
sions to, something of that kind, even in scripture itself,
(Acts viii. 1^2, 37; 1 Pet. iii. 21.) Upon these instances
the Christian church proceeded.";]: " Faith and re-
pentance were the great things required," says Dr.
Watts, "of those that were admitted to baptism. This
was the practice of John, this the practice of the
apostles, in the history of their ministry, (Matt. iii. ; Acts
ii. 38, xix. 4, and viii. 37.). .. .Those who are bap-
tized, are professed Christians; they are avowed disciples
of Christ."§ Anonymous: "Sacraments are admi-
nistered only to those, who either have faith, or pretend

to have it." jj Once more: Dr. Erskine says, "I

have fully shown, that the seals of the covenant are,
under the New Testament, peculiar to the inwardly
pious." ^ — That these authors had any intention to
impeach the propriety of infant baptism, is not pre-

* Works, vol. i. part i. p. 200. f Socin. Confut.

torn. iii. p. 384, 389. | Eight Serm. p. 317, edit. 2nd.

§ Berry Street Serm. vol. ii. p. 177^ 178.
II In Mr. Baxter's Disput. of Right to Sac. p. 245.
^ Theolog. Dissertations, p. 82.

346 NO PRECEPT, XOR PRECEDENT,

tended ; but whether the natural import of their language
be quite consistent with it, the reader will judge.

Reflect. IX. Some of these authors imagine that
Paedobaptism is lawful, though it be not commanded.
But here they seem to forget that baptism is a positive
rite, and that when practised it is as an act of divine
worship. A precept therefore, or an example, must be
necessary to warrant the performance of it ; and conse-
quently to authorize its administration to any description
of persons whatever. Whether infants only ; whether
all infants, or only some; and if the latter, whether none
but the children of church-members, or of all that ap-
pear to be converted ; or, finally, whether those persons
only who profess faith in Jesus Christ, should be bap-
tized ; are things which lie entirely at the sovereign
pleasure of the great Institutor. His will, which is
always perfectly wise and good, is the sole determiner
here. Now as we cannot know his divine pleasure
unless it be revealed ; as every intimation of his plea-
sure is attended with divine authority ; and as the whole
of his revealed will is contained in scripture ; if the
sacred page exhibit no command for Paedobaptism, nor
any example of it, the lawfulness of baptizing infants
must be a mere surmise — a conjecture without proba-
bility. For, not to urge the common arguments against
Popish superstition; and, waiving that excellent maxim
of Ambrose before mentioned, "Who shall speak where
the scripture is silent?" I would only demand, Mhether
the performance of a religious rite, in the name of
Jehovah, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, can
be lawful, if the divine Majesty have not appointed it?
It is clear, ]\Ir. James Owen thought it was not ; because
in a similar case he says, " It is a plain profanation of
God's holy name, and of a great and holy ordinance, by
lying and taking God's name in vain."* So Chem-
nitius, having informed us that the unction used in the

* Validity of Difscnting Ministry, p. 143.

FOR P.^DOBAPTISM. 347

Popish sacrament of confirmation, is performed in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, says, " If
the divine name be employed without the injunction of
God, it is an offence against the second command ;
which offence is the more aggravated, in proportion as
the effects attributed to that which has neither the com-
mand nor the promise of God, are supposed to be the
more excellent." * — Or is the name of Him who is a
consuming fire so cheap, that we may borrow its most
venerable sanction to dignify and adorn our own inven-
tions? Surely, if the performance of any thing either
does or can require the most explicit divine authority, it
must be that which, if performed at all, should be ex-
pressly done in the name of the great Supreme. A
requisition to administer baptism in that most holy
name, implies the strongest prohibition of performing it
in any manner, or on any subject, different from what is
required by the law of administration. In this case,
may and must are the same thing ; agreeably to the fol-
lowing words of Mr. Baxter : " We enquire whether we
either must., or may, baptize such ; and suppose that the
licet and the oportet do here go together : so that what
we may do, we must do, supposing our own call ; as, no
doubt, what we must do, we may do."'}" — Thus also
Dr. Owen : " What men have a right to do in the
church by God's institution, that they have a command
to do." J If then the law of proceeding, in this
case made and provided, require that infants should
partake of the institution ; we undoubtedly must act a
condemnable part in withholding it from them. If, on
the contrary, that divine rubric, that sacred canon, con-
line all that is said of it to such as profess faith in the
Son of God ; our opponents, for the same reason, must be
highly culpable : because their practice restrains it al-

* Exam. Concil. Trident, p. 248, 253.
f Disputat. on Right to Sacrani. p. 42.
+ On Fleb. vii. 4, 5, 6 j vol. iii. p, 127.

348 NO i'RECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

most entirely to such as lie under a natural incapacity
of professing repentance and faith. Nor do we imagine
any of them will say, with some of the Popish casuists,
That a practice is innocent, because it is customary. *

We are frequently charged with being extremely
fond of getting people into the water ; but whether it be
really so, I leave the impartial to judge. We, however,
may say this for ourselves, that we never immerse a
person in the sublimest of all names, without his con-
sent; no, nor yet without his eTpUcit request : whereas,
those who lodge the complaint against us are well aware,
that it would in general be very absurd for them to ask
the consent of those whom they sprinkle in the same
glorious name, because they are certain it could not be
granted. Besides, they consider the consent of a parent,
or of a proxy, as quite sufficient, though the subject of
the ordinance be ever so reluctant

Farther : Positive laws imply their negative. A
command from undoubted authority to perform an
action in such a manner, and on such a subject, must
be considered as prohibiting a different manner, and a
different subject. So, for instance, when God com-
manded Abraham to circumcise his male posterity, on
tlie eighth day ; there was no necessity that a prohi-
bition should be annexed, relating to any similar cere-
mony which might have been performed on females;
nor to expressly forbid the circumcision of a finger,
instead of the foreskin ; nor to say in so many words. It
shall not be performed on the seventh day ; those po-
sitive precepts, " Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your
foreskin — he that is eight days old shall be circumcised,"
plainly implying the forementioned prohibitions. So
when Jehovah commanded the Israelites to take a lamb,
a male of the first year, for the paschal feast, there was
no need to forbid the choice of a ewe lamb, nor yet a
ram of the second or third year. So likewise, when

* See ]Mr. Clarkson'? Pract. Div. of Pivpists, p. 377, 378.

FOR P.ED0J3APTISM. 349

Paul, speaking of the sacred supper, says, '' Let a man
EXAMINE HIMSELF, and SO let him eat," there was no
necessity of adding. Those who cannot examine them-
selves ought not to eat. — Thus in regard to the ordinance
before us. Our Lord having given a commission to
baptize those that are taught, without saying any thing
elsewhere, by way of precept or of example, concerning
such being included in that commission as are not in-
structed ; there was no necessity for him to prohibit the
baptizing those who are not taught ; much less to forbid
the baptizing of infants, that cannot be taught, in order
to render the baptism of them unlawful. We may
safely conclude, therefore, that though negative argu-
ments in various cases have no force ; yet, in positive
worship and ritual duty, they are, they must be valid.
Otherwise, it will be impossible to vindicate the divine
conduct in punishing the sons of Aaron, for offering
strange jire ; or Uzzah, for touching the ark ; seeing
neither the one nor the other of these particulars was
expressly forbidden.

Remarkably strong to our purpose, are the words of
Dr. Owen, on Heb. i. 5 : " An argument taken nega-
tively," says he, "from the authority of the scripture,
in matters of faith, or what relates to the worship of
God, is valid and effectual, and here consecrated for
ever to the use of the church by the apostle." And on
those words : Our Lord sprang out of Judah ; of which
tribe Moses spake nothing conceiiiing the priesthood ;
the same excellent author says : " This silence of Moses
in this matter, the apostle takes to be a sufficient argu-
ment to prove that the legal priesthood did not belong,
nor could be transferred unto, the tribe of Judah. And
the grounds hereof are resolved into this general maxim :
That whatever is not revealed and appointed in the
worship of God, by God himself, is to be considered as
nothing, yea, as that which is to be rejected. And such
he conceived to be the evidence of this maxim, that he

350 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

chose rather to argue from the silence of Moses in
general, than from the particular prohibition, that none,
who was not of the posterity of Aaron, should approach
unto the priestly office. So God himself comdemneth
some instances of false worship on this ground, That he
never appoiiited them ; that they never came into his
heart; and thence aggravates the sin of the people,
rather than from the particular prohibition of them,
(Jer. vii. 31.)"

That it may still farther appear we are not led by
mere hypothesis thus to reason and thus to conclude,
I will present my reader with an extract from another
learned Pgedobaptist and an able writer, who adopts
the principle on which we argue in the present case,
and considers it as applicable to laws and duties in
general. " Since office, or duty," says Heineccius,
" means an action conformable to law, it is plain that
duty cannot be conceived without a law ; that he does
not perform a duty who imposes on himself what no
law commands ; that an action ceases to be duty, when
the law, or the reason of the law ceases ; and that when
a law extends to certain persons only, of two persons
who do the same action, the one performs his duty, and
the other acts contrary to his duty."* — To all which
I may add, unless the principle of reasoning here adopted
be just, the arguments of Protestants against unscriptural
ceremonies in the Romish communion, will almost uni-
versally fail of proving the several points for which they
were produced.

Reflect. X. Mr. Edward Williams, convinced there
is no express precept, nor plain example for infant bap-
tism in the New Testament, endeavours to evade the
force of our arguments in the following manner: " What-
ever there may be in the ordinance of baptism of a
positive consideration, there is nothing relative to the sub-
jects of it so merely positive as to be independent on all

* System of Universal Law, b. i. chap. v. § 121.

FOR P.EDOBAPTISM. 351

moral grounds; — nay farther, whatever relates to the
qualifications of the subjects, is of a nature entirely
moral ; and to say otherwise must imply a contradiction.
Baptism, therefore, is an ordinance of a mived nature,
partly positive and partly moral. As far as this, or any
such ordinance, partakes of a moral nature, the reason
and design of the law, or if you please the spirit of it, is
our rule of duty — and only so far as it partakes of a
positive nature is the letter of the law our rule. As
what relates to the qualification of the subjects is of
moral consideration, we are necessitated to seek in them
the reason and intention of the command ; but infants
partaking of the great primary qualification, which the
evident design of the ordinance requires, ought to be
baptized ; and it must imply a breach of duty in a
minister to decline it. To argue on this principle —
Baptism is a positive rite, and therefore ought to be ea:-
press, full, and circumstantial — is, on the principles,
concessions, and practice of Antipaedobaptists, demon-
strably fallacious. For the law of baptism is evidently,
in fact, not circumstantial and determinate ; and there-
fore is not, cannot be an institution entirely positive."*

Baptism then, according to Mr. Williams, is of a
micved nature; an ordinance, partly moral and partly
positive. This, to me, is a new idea ; for, of all the
writers quoted in this work, of all the authors I have
perused, not one occurs to remembrance who has thus
represented baptism. Nor do I suppose Mr. Maurice's
annotator would have adopted the singular notion, if he
had not felt himself embarrassed by the want of both
precept and precedent for infant baptism. If, however,
the evidence produced be valid, the novelty of his notion
is not material. His principal reason in favour of the
position is; " Whatever belongs to the qualifications of
the subjects is entirely moral." But will this prove that
baptism is not, strictly speaking, a positive institute?

* Notes on Mr. Maurice's Social Religion, p. 68, 69.

352 NO PRECEPT, ^OR PRECEDENTj

Will it not apply with all its force to the Lord's supper?
On this principle, we have no ordinance entirely positive
under the new economy ; because it is plain the qualifi-
cations for that appointment are chiefly of the moral
kind. Many are those theological writers who have
more or less treated on positive institutions ; some of
whose books I have seen and perused with care : but I
do not recollect any author, who so defines or describes
a religious appointment merely positive, as to exclude
every idea of what is moral from the qualifications of its
proper subjects. To constitute any branch of religious
duty purely positive, it is enough that the rite itself, the
manner of performing it, the qualifications of the sub-
ject, the end to be answered by it, and the term of its
continuance, depend entirely on the sovereign pleasure
of our divine Legislator. The nature of the qualifica-
tions, whether moral or not, makes no part of those
cinteria by which the definition of a positive rite should
be directed. Consequently, baptism is a positive insti-
tute; and therefore, by his own acknowledgment, the
lettei' of the law must be the rule of its administration,
both as to mode and subject.*

Whatever belongs to the qualijications of the subjects
is ENTIRELY moral. Agreed: it must be allowed, how-
ever, that those qualifications are absolutely depend-
ant on the sovereign pleasure of God. But how should
an infant, of a few days or of a month old, be a par-
taker of such qualifications, to render it a proper sub-
ject of baptism ? Or, supposing such qualifications to
exist, by what means are they to be discovered? What
is there discernible, that can with propriety be called
morale in one that is not capable of moral agency ?
Morality, in all its branches, is nothing but the dis-
charge of moral obligation ; or, a conformity of heart and
of life to the rule of duty. Of this, it is manifest, mere
infants are naturally incapable. On whatever ground,
* See Part I. Chap. I. No. 1—20.

FOR P.EDOBAPTlSM. 353

therefore, Mr. Williams fixes the right of infants to bap-
tism, I do not see how it either is or can be of a moral
nature. Parents may have the requisite moral qualifi-
cations for the ordinance; but I cannot conceive how
their new-born offspring, for whom our author pleads as
proper subjects of the rite, should' be so qualified ; and
yet he maintains, that "whatever belongs to the quahfi-
cations of the subjects is entirely moral." This re-
spectable annotator is here guilty, if I may so express it,
oi \og\<i2i\ felo-de-se ; for his argument subverts the cause
it was intended to serve, and proves the reverse of what
he designed.

Infants partake of the great primary qualification
which the design of the ordinance requires, and therefore
should he baptized. Infants — what, in general ? Of all
mankind ? He will not, I presume, assert it. Or if he
did, his argument would be equally feeble. I take it
for granted, however, that he means the infants of pro-
fessed believers. But there is no more of a moral tem-
per, or of a moral conduct, in the mere infant of a real
Christian, than there is in that of a Jew, or of a Turk.
Besides, Mr. Williams himself has opposed the notion
of hereditary grace.* If then the infants he means be
descended from parents of a certain description, their
qualifications must be derived from those parents, who-
ever they be ; consequently, not from any thing moral
in themselves. But our author's position requires that
the infants themselves possess moral qualifications, to
render them the subjects of baptism. What that " great
primary qualification" is which infants have, he has
not informed us ; nor will I indulge conjecture : but I
may venture to say, that it is not their being taught;
that it is not repentance; that it is noi faith; that it is
not a py^ofession of the one or the other. Consequently,
whatever it be, it is not that which John the Baptist re-
quired ; it is not that which the evangelist Philip required ;

* See Part II. Chap. IV. Sect. IV. § ii. No. 11.
VOL. I. 2 A

354 NO PRECEPT, JVOll PRECEDENT,

nor is it that which our Lord in his commission ap-
pointed ; and if so, it is not the primitive qualification,
whatever else it may be.

Our annotator speaks with a decisive tone when he
adds; The laiv of haptism is evidently and in fact not
circumstantial and determinate, and therefore cannot be
an institution entirely positive. The law of baptism.
Then some specific action, called baptism, is absolutely
and in earnest required by it ; contrary to what he
maintains in another place, on which we have already
animadverted. This divine law, however, is 7iot ciixum-
stantial — is not determinate. In one of his notes, to
which I have just adverted, he would fain persuade us,
that the meaning of our Lord, in his enacting term bap-
tize, is not now understood with precision, even by the
most eminent authors; and therefore he is of opinion,
that persons concerned in the administration should have
it performed according to their own mind ; which, to be
sure, is the way for every one to be pleased, whether
Jesus Christ be obeyed or not. Now he tells us, with
an air of assurance, that this law of the Lord is, " not
circumstantial and determinate,^' with regard to the sub-
jects of the institution. According to him, therefore,
nothing is plain, determinate, or certain, relating to
either the mode or the subject. Aristotle is reported to
have said, of some of his works, " That they were Edita
quasi non edita; so published as not to be made public,
by reason of their obscurity."* Just such, according to
our author, is the promulgation of the heavenly statute
under consideration. But what a representation this, of
a positive divine law! If Mr. Williams be right, one
might almost as well study John viii. 6, 8, to know
what our Lord wrote on the ground, as endeavour to
penetrate his meaning in the law of baptism. When I
consider the language of our annotator on another occa-
sion, I do not see how he can steadily believe any thing

* History of Popery, vol, ii. p, 468.

FOR P/EDOBAPTISM. 355

at all relating to this positive institute. For he declares,
in the passage to which I refer, That " nothing should
be considered as an established principle of faith, which
is not in some part of scripture delivered with per-
spicidfi/.''^' The baptismal command, therefore, being
so indeterminate and so obscure, in regard to both mode
and subject, he ought, on his own principle, to be silent
about it. How much more agreeable is the language of
Mr. Vincent Alsop, when he says ; " The law of Christ
was as perfect as his discoveries. He has told us as
fully and clearly what we should do, as what we should
believe. He that may invade the royal office, upon pre-
tence there are not laws enow, [or not sufficiently clear,]
for the government [or worship] of the church; may,
with equal appearance of reason, invade the prophetic
office too, upon pretence there are not revelations now
for its instruction." t — Though I take it for granted that
Mr. Williams is not a stranger to the Popish controversy,
relating to positive ordinances of holy worship, yet I
cannot help thinking that he quite overlooked it, when
penning his notes concerning baptism ; because that
want of perspicuity and of precision, which he charges
on a positive law, is much more becoming the creed of a
Papist, than that of a Protestant Dissenter.

That the law of baptism is neither circumstantial,
nor determinate, in favour of the present prevailing
custom, is cheerfully granted ; for it says nothing at all
about pouring or sprinkling wat^r upon infants : nor does
the history of baptismal practice in the apostolic churches.
But is this any proof that the law itself is not explicit,
either as to mode or subject? Mr. Maurice's annota-
tor seems to have assumed, as a principle. That infaiits
are to be baptized: but applying this principle to the law
of baptism, he soon perceives a disagreement between
them. Then, instead of renouncing the principle as
false, he impeaches the law as obscure. Take but the

* Notes on Social Keligion, p. 368. f Sober Enquiry, p. 42.

2 A 2

356 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

commanding terms* of the heavenly statute in their
natural, primary, obvious meaning; and I appeal to im-
partiality, whether the law of baptism be not as plain as
that of the holy supper. If indeed our Lord intended
infants to be baptized, and if he designed to publish that
intention by his evangelists,']' the law of baptism might
well be considered as vague and obscure. But this, we
contend, is not the case; as it is inconsistent with the
nature of a positive institution, impeaches the legislative
character of Jesus Christ, and enervates the arguments
of Protestants against Papal superstition. See Part I.
Chap. I. No. 4,8, 12, 13,20. Reflect. II. III.

Farther: That neither infants nor adults have any
thing to do with baptism as a religious rite, except in
virtue of divine institution, will be acknowledged. If,
therefore, infants, Jure divino, be entitled to baptism,
it must be because the institution itself gives them that
right, of which it makes an essential part. Now, of
what nature the institution is, and to whom it relates,
cannot be known, unless by the formula of it, ^j: or by the
practice of the apostles. But that neither the right of
infants to the ordinance, nor their participation of it, is
plainly mentioned, either in the words of the institution, or
in the history of apostolic practice, is readily granted by
our opposers. Must we then suppose that an essential
part, nay, according to modern custom, the prijicipal
part of the institution was passed over in silence by evan-
gelists and apostles, and left in obscurity for posterity to
infer by a train of consequences? Chamier, I remem-
ber, when opposing the pretended necessity of mixing
the eucharistical wine with water, and when pleading the
silence of the New Testament, says : " No one main-
tains the necessity of mixing wine with water on the
ground of divine institution; unless the evangelists and
Paul were traitors, who passed over in silence a part of

* MaSijTeKO-aTe and j9aTO-T»^ovTe?. f Matt, xxviii. 19 j

Mark xvi. 15, 16. t Ibid.

FOR P^DOBAPTISM. 357

the institution so useful and so important,"* Now is
any thing said concerning infants, in the baptismal ap-
pointment, any more than about water, in the institu-
tion of the holy supper? Supposing it should t^e objected,
" There was no occasion for children to be mentioned in
the divine command, because it was then common for them
to partake of the proselyte baptism." It would be easy
to answer, There is abundantly more ground to conclude,
that it was customary among the ancient Jews, in their
convivial entertainments, to mix the wine with water,
than any one has to assert, that the proselyte baptism was
of so early a date; as will appear in its proper place. If,
therefore, the institution of baptism comprehend infants,
why may not our Lord's appointment of the sacred sup-
per include that mixture for which the Papists plead ?
Consequently, supposing infants to have been compre-
hended by our Lord in his baptismal institution, and
admitting the observation of Chamier to be just; the
severity of his remark will equally apply to such evange-
lists as professedly recorded the divine appointment of
baptism, as to that particular for which it was designed.
That Christ, in his institution, should order infants to be
baptized, and the evangelists not be inclined to mention
it ; or that, with a full intention to inform us of it, they
should use such language as they do, in recording the
appointment, are to me alike incredible.

Mr. Williams farther says : " Should any ask me
why, as a Christian minister, I baptize an infant ? I can
truly answer, that I have the very same reason for doing
it that John the Baptist had for baptizing penitent sin-
ners, in Jordan and Enon ; the same reason that Jesus,
by the ministry of his apostles, had for baptizing a still
greater multitude; and, finally, the same reason that our
Baptist brethren have, or ought to have, and which they
profess to have, in the general tenour of their practice.

* Panstrat. torn. iv. 1. vi, c. iii, §. 23.

358 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

for baptizing adults."* But why distinguish between
penitent sinners, and those adults of whom he speaks ?
for Mr. WilHams either knows, or might have known,
that we do not baptize adults because of their age, but
because they profess repentance. Or does he mean to
distinguish between penitent r/rM^^ and penitent infants?
— Again : Why did not the annotator inform us, what
that "very same reason" is, of which he speaks? Had he
done this, we might, perhaps, have concluded with some
degree of precision, whether there be that identity of
reason for him to baptize an infant, as there was for
John, and for the apostles, to baptize penitent sinners.
That reason, however, is not specified, nor is there any
thing but mere assertion; on which account we cannot
forbear to hesitate. It is indeed extremely singular,
that he should speak of " the very same reason — the
same — the same;''' and yet leave us entirely to conjec-
ture what that reason is. It brings to remembrance the
following words of an old Nonconformist, when con-
tending with Papists: '■'Jure Z)ii?mc»," saith the Canonist,
" by divine right; but the Canonist who saith it, hath the
wit to let us seek the text."t — Pleasing it is to think,
that, in the judgment of this opponent, we baptize per-
sons on " the very same reason," or ground, as that
upon which the harbinger of Christ and all the apostles
proceeded, when administering the sacred rite: but we
have our suspicions whether Mr. Williams "can truly"
say this, with regard to his pouring or sprinkling water
upon any infant. John, it appears, received a com-
mission from heaven to baptize those who made a credi-
ble profession of repentance; and this we consider as
"the reason" of his baptizing penitent sinners. But
has our opposer a divine command for baptizing an in-
fant that cannot repent? John, it is plain, frowned upon
some who came for his baptism, because they gave no

* Notes on Social Relig. p. 68.

t Morning Exercise against Popery, p. 71.

FOR P^DOBAPTISM. 359

evidence of repentance. Does Mr. Williams reject any
infants for that "very reason?" — The apostles received
an express order to " teach all nations," by preaching
" the gospel to every creature;" and to baptize those that
were taught — so taught as to believe in Jesus Christ.
This we consider as "the very reason" of their bap-
tismal conduct. But has our Paedobaptist Brother any
divine injunction to baptize those who cannot be taught,
by either preaching or conversation, and who are equally
incapable of believing? The Baptists profess to act on
the united ground of divine precept and apostolic exam-
ple, in baptizing those, and only those, who make a
credible declaration of repentance and faith, without
regard to age or any other circumstance. But is this
"the very reason," or the single ground, on which Mr.
"WiUiams proceeds, when he baptizes an infant?

Farther : Why, in the name of consistency, why
should this opponent speak with such assurance of
having " the very same reason" for baptizing an infant,
which John and the apostles had for baptizing a multi-
tude of penitent sinners ? while it is clear, from his own
confession, that he does not know what our Lord meant
by his command to baptize. Nay, so sensible is he of
his own ignorance in this respect, and so suspicious that
a want of certainty is now become universal; that he
thinks it quite reasonable for the parties concerned, to
use the water as they may think proper. See Part I.
Chap. IL Reflect. IX. — His reasoning admits, indeed,
that the apostles perfectly understood the mind of our
Lord, in his commanding term, baptize; and as they
were fully disposed to perform his will, we may safely
conclude that they administered the ordinance to one
and another ; for " the very same reason." But as
every mode of using water cannot be baptism, any more
than it can be sprinkling; as that only can be real bap-
tism which our Lord appointed, in distinction from
every other action ; and as Mr. Williams acknow-

360 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

ledges his ignorance of what the Lawgiver intended by
the enacting word baptize; he must act upon a con-
jecture extremely shrewd and uncommonly happy, if at
any time he really baptize an infant for " the veiy same
reason" that John or the apostles baptized multitudes
of penitent sinners. The very same form of vvords
might, indeed, be used by him; whether, with John, he
plunged a penitent in Jordan, or sprinkled a few drops of
water on the face of an infant; but surely he could not
act upon " the very same reason" in both cases. This,
I think, must be allowed; except he can prove, that a
commission to immerse penitents, is equally an order to
sprinkle infants. But, besides the absurdity of any one
making such an attempt, it is a task to which this op-
poser cannot pretend; because, by so doing, he would
endeavour to fix the sense of a word which is considered
by him as indeterminable : for he insists that the most
eminent authors are divided about our Lord's mean-
ing in the term baptize; and therefore proposes that
people should please themselves, with regard to the mode
of administration. If Mr. Williams, however, should
at any time write professedly against the Baptists, it may
be expected, (unless he give up this point,) that his grand
reason for sprinkling infants, will be the veiy same which
is given by us for immersing penitent sinners; and then
the author of a certain Apology for clerical conformity
will have an humble imitator.*

* In the Apologia, to which I refer, the following: uncommon
and surprising positions are contained. "My ?^r^Ai a.nCi principal
reason [for ministerial conformity] is. The regard I owe to the
honour and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Head and Law-
giver of his church. ... It jeems to me, that I could no more offi-
ciate as a minister among any people who insist upon other terms
of communion than those which our Lord has a})pointed, faith
and holiness, than I cculd subscribe to the dogmas of the Council
of Trent. . . . My second reason for not being a Dissenter is, Be-
cause I highly value the right (f private judgment, and my liberty as
a moil and as a Christian. . . .1 cannot become a Dis-entcr till I am

FOR P.'EDOBAPTISM. 36l

Reflect. XI. I will present the reader with an
extract from a celebrated Roman Catholic author, ex-
pressing the opinion that Papists have concerning the
mode of reasoning used by Protestants in favour of Pse-
dobaptism. The writer to whom I refer is Bossuet, the
bishop of Meaux, and his language is as follows : " As
for infants, those of the pretended Reformed religion
indeed say, their baptism is founded on the scripture;
but they produce no passage express to that purpose, but
argue from very remote, not to say very doubtful, and
even very false consequences. It is certain, that all the
proofs they bring from the scripture on this subject,

weary of my liberty," Apologia, p. 61, 116, 119, 121. — If these
be solid reasons for clerical conformity, those ministers that were
ejected in the year sixteen hundred and sixty-two must be consi-
dered as a set of maniacs. Being loth, however, to impeach the
intellects of two thousand persons, who suffered so much for the
sake of a good conscience, I cannot forbear suspecting, that these
positions are an insult upon the understandings of Dissenters, and
that sensible Episcopalians themselves must despise them ; for it is
on these and similar principles Dissenters have always proceeded
in justifying their Nonconformity, When our Apologist says, " We
[conforming clergy] are not so much at the mercy of our hearers
for our subsistence, as the Dissenting ministers are," we perfectly
understand him. We have been frequently told of this, by those
who have defended civil establishments of religion; and we freely
acknowledge, that secular prudence is very apparent iu many who
act upon the principle thus avowed. But when we find a pious
Episcopalian author seizing the grand principles of our Protestant
Dissent, in order to found a vindication of his own Conformity
upon them, we are surprised, and cannot forbear thinking of those
doughty champions for Popery, Jacob, de Graffiis, and Father Mum-
ford the Jesuit: the former of whom found image-worship en-
joined in the second command; and the latter discovered a convincing
proof of clerical celibacy in those words of Paul, A bishop must be
the husband of one wife. See Preserv, from Popery, title i. p, 341.
vol. ii. Gen, Discourses against Popery, p. 140. — Nor can we avoid
considering the conduct of this Apologist as unprecedented in the
Nonconformist controversy— as betraying an uncommon degree of
rage for hypothesis, and of predilection for paradox. See Apologia,
p. 136.

369 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

have no force at all; and those that might have some
strength, are destroyed by themselves. . . .The proofs
that are drawn from the necessity of baptism, to compel
men to allow it to infants, are destroyed by our Re-
formed gentlemen ; and these that follow are substituted
in their room, as they are noted in their catechism, in
their confession of faith, and in their prayers ; namely,
that the children of believers are born in the covenant,
according to this promise, * I will be thy God, and the
God of thy offspring to a thousand generations.' From
whence they conclude, that since the virtue and sub-
stance of baptism belongs to infants, it would be in-
jurious to them to deny them the sign, which is inferior
to it. By a like reason, they will find themselves forced
to give the communion together with baptism ; for they
who are in the covenant, are incorporated with Jesus
Christ: the infants of believers are in the covenant;
therefore, they are incorporated with Jesus Christ.
And having by this means, according to them, the
virtue and substance of the communion; they ought
to say, as they do of baptism, that the sign of it cannot
without injury be refused them."*

Reflect. XII. To the tenour of this reasoning: it is
often objected; That there is no express command to
baptize believers. With an air of confidence, in refer-
ence to this affair. Dr. Addington asks and answers ;
" Is there no express command of Christ to baptize
believers? Not 0}?e in all the New Testament."'}" If,
by an express command, he mean these very words.
Baptize believers, it is allowed ; but what is that to the
purpose, while the ideas conveyed by those terms, are
as plainly and strongly expressed, as if the identical
words had been repeatedly used? Nor will Dr. Ad-
dington deny this. With equal reason, therefore, does
cardinal Bellarmine object the want of these express

* In Mr. Stennett against Mr. Russen, p. ISO, 182, 183.
f Summary of Cliristian Minister's Reasons, p. 24.

FOR P^DOBAPTISM. 363

words, the imputed righteousness of Christ, against the
Protestant doctrine of justification; or Socinus oppose
the atonement, because the term satisfaction is not
syllabically used concerning that capital fact. — But let
us reflect on a passage or two. Does not Christ say,
"Preach the gospel to every creature: he that be-
LiEVETH and is baptized shall be saved?" Is it not the
language of his evangelist, " If thou believest with all
thy heart, thou mayest " be baptized? Now can any
person thus believe the gospel, without being a believer?
Or will this opponent aver, that neither of these pas-
sages erijoins the administration of baptism to believers?
Let him produce a text from the New Testament, that
is equally express for the baptism of infants, and we
will immediately give up the argument. — Besides, Dr.
Addington well knows that we connect the want of a
plain example, with the want of an express command
for infant baptism. To have done our objection justice,
he ought, therefore, to have put the question thus : Is
there no e.vpress command of Christ, nor any plain apos-
tolic example, for baptizing believers? and then he
would have been far from teaching his catechumen to
answer; "Not one in all the New Testament." Such
a negative, to such a question, would have been an
outrage on the common faith of the whole Christian
world; and yet, if you substitute the term infants, for
the word believers, Pasdobaptists themselves must an-
swer in the negative.

It is farther objected; That there is neither precept
nor example for baptizing the children of Christian pa-
rents when they are grown up; and that on the same
principles, applied in similar arguments, we must neither
observe the Lord's day j nor admit women to the holy
table. Thus, Dr. Mayo, for instance: "They [the
Baptists] have not a single precedent in scripture — of
their subjects of baptism, the children of Christian
parents, whose baptism w-as delayed till they were of

364 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

adult years, to make a profession of their faith." * But
if this objection have any weight, it must He with equal
force against the continuance of baptism among Chris-
tians, or the administration of it to any description of
subjects; except in reference to such persons as are
converted from Judaism, Mohammedanism, or Pa-
ganism : and it was, if I mistake not, first employed by
Socinus for that purpose. f To which the learned Hoorn-
beek replies; "That such as were educated in the
Christian religion, and were never alienated from it, are
not expressly mentioned in the New Testament as bap-
tized ; does not arise from hence, That such never were
baptized, nor ought so to have been : but because the
apostolic writings contain the history of the Jirst times,
when Christianity was recent." J This answer applies
to the case before us. Our opposers, therefore, should
be cautious how they urge such an objection against us,
lest inadvertently they give up to the arguments of
Socinus, of Emlyn, and of others, the continuance of
baptism, except in extraordinary cases. — But is it not
enough, that we have both an express command, and
plain examples, for baptizing those who are taught^ who
are made disciples, and profess faith in the Son of God?
Nay, I appeal to Dr. Mayo himself, who on another
occasion declares ; " It is sufficient for my purpose, that
our practice can be found in the New Testament." §
It is but grateful to acknowledge, how much we are
obliged to this author for presenting us with such a
shield, to prevent the dart of his own objection from
piercing our cause. — It seems, indeed, hard to conceive
why our Brethren should lay such a stress upon this
particular, as if it were decisively against us, unless it be
the want of more cogent objections. For it is manifest,
that the idea of carnal descent, from parents of any de-

* Apology and Shield, p. 82. f De Baptismo, cap. x.

X Socin. Confut. torn. iii. i).279. See Dr. Doddridge's Lectures,
p. 510, oil. § Ut supra, p, 7^, 79.

FOR PyEDO BAPTISM. 365

scription, makes no part of the institution, or law of
baptism ; and consequently should have no influence
upon our practice. No; whether the candidate be de-
scended from real, or from barely nominal Christians ;
whether his parents be Jews, Turks, or Pagans ; nay,
whether he be old or young ; it is, properly speaking, a
mere circumstance; provided he make a credible profes-
sion of faith — equally a circumstance, with learning or
illiteracy, riches or poverty. The character of parents,
and family relations, have nothing to do in the new
economy, which is entirely spiritual — are of no avail in
that kingdom which " is not of this world;" the subjects
of which " are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." If the can-
didate give evidence of his being a disciple of Christ, it
is all the institution demands, and all that apostolic
practice required. Such being the true state of the
case, why should our opposers insist on a scriptural pre-
cedent for baptizing the adult offspring of Christians?
Why call for an example of that which makes no part
of the institution, but is merely circumstantial? We
sometimes baptize persons of sixty or seventy years of
age. As well, therefore, might it be objected, that there
is no instance in sacred writ of any person so far ad-
vanced in years being baptized by the apostles. How
far the following observation of Dr. Owen will here
apply, is left with my reader. "It is merely from a
spirit of contention that some call on us, or others, to
produce express testimony, or institution, for every cir-
cumstance in the practice of religious duties in the
church; and on a supposed failure herein, to conclude,
that they have power themselves to institute and ordain
such ceremonies as they think meet, under a pretence of
their being circumstances of worship."*

As to the Lord's day, our opponents themselves al-
low, that we have not only apostolical examples of as-

* Enquiry into the Orig. and Nat. of Churches, p. 14.

366 NO PRECEPT, NOR PRECEDENT,

sembling on the first day of the week for the solemni-
ties of public devotion, but plain intimations that this
was the common practice of the primitive churches;*
and therefore, the objector himself being judge, there is
no force in what is alleged. Besides, there is something
of a moral nature in the observation of a sabbath; but
not so in the administration of baptism. In regard to
the supposed want of an explicit warrant for admitting
women to the holy table, we reply by demanding ; Does
not Paul, when he says, " Let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat," enjoin a reception of the sacred
supper ? Does not the term avGpwTrog, there used, often
stand as a name of our species, without regard to sex?
Have we not the authority of lexicographers, t and,
which is incomparably more, the sanction of common
sense, for understanding it thus in that passage ? When
the sexes are distinguished and opposed, the word for a
ma}2 is not avOpomog, but avrip.'^ This distinction is very
strongly marked in that celebrated saying of Thales, as
given in his Life, by Diogenes Laertius.§ The Grecian
sage was thankful to Fortune, " that he was avBpaTrog,

* Acts XX. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 1, ^,

f Mr. Parkhurst says : " AvS-ptyiro? is a name of the species, with-
out respect to sex."' Mintert : '' Homo, in genere, sive mas sit,

sive foemina." Schwarzius : "Homo, i, e. human&. natur^ prae-

ditus, habens ea quae horainis natura postulat." " Saepissime,"

says the learned Schaubius, " in scriptur^ sacrd JUii pro utroque
sexu occurrunt, ut 1 Joh. ii. 1 ; iii. 7, 18 3 v. 12. 28. Imo pro tota
posteritate et prole, vid. Ps, ciii. I75 Prov. xiii, 22 . . . . Etenim,
tam a Graecis, quam in jure Romano, pronunciatio sermonis in mas-
culino sexu, ad utrumque sexum plerumque porrigit; et semper sexus
masculinus foemininum continet." Bib. Bremens. class iv. p. 722,723.
Vid. Bezam, in 1 Cor. xiii. 11. Stockium, Interpres Graecus, cap. ii.
§ 28. So the words, d*in, Homo, and Man, are frequently used for
one of the human species, without regard to sex.

X See, amongst a multitude of instances, 1 Cor. xi, 3 — 12.

§ Lib. i. cap. i. § 7. Lips. 1759. Thus Mr. Blackwall :
" AvBpwTtoi — is generally, in the best writers, used to include both
sexes, all the human race. Herodotus uses it foryrvvj." Sacred Clas-
sics, vol. i. part i. chap. ii. § 9.

FOR P^DOBAPTISM. 367

one of the human species, and not a beast ; that he was
avT?/?, a man, and not a woman ; that he was born a
Greek, and not a barbarian. Besides, when the apostle
delivered to the church at Corinth what he had received
of the Lord, did he not deliver a command — a command
to the whole church, consisting of women as well as
men ? When he farther says, " We, being many, are
one bread, and one body ; for we all are partakers of
that one bread ;" does he not speak of women, as well
as of men ? * Again : Are there any prerequisites for
the holy supper, of which women are not equally capa-
ble as men? And are not male and female one in
Christ? When we oppose the baptism of infants, it is
not because of their tender age ; but because they nei-
ther do nor can profess faith in the Son of God. When-
ever we meet with such as are denominated by the apos-
tle, TeKva 71 KTxa, faithful, OX believing children, 'f whoever
may be their parents, or whatever may be their age, we
have no objection to baptize them. A credible profes-
sion of repentance and faith being all we desire, in refer-
ence to this affair, either of old or young.

* 1 Cor. X. 17, and xi. 28. Compare Acts i. 13, 14, with
Acts ii. 42, 47. t Tit. i. 6.

368 NO EVIDENCE OF P.EDOBAPTISM

CHAPTER II.

No Evidence of Padobaptism, before the latter End of the
Second, or the Beginning of the Third Century.

Salmasius and Suicerus. — '' In the two first cen-
turies no one was baptized, except, being instructed in
the faith, and acquainted with the doctrine of Christ, he
was able to profess himself a behever; because of those
words, ' He that beheveth and is baptized.' First,
therefore, he was to beheve. Thence the order of cate-
chumens in the church. Then, also, it was the constant
custom to give the Lord's supper to those catechumens,
immediately after their baptism." Epist. ad Justum
Pacium, apud Van Dale Hist. Baptism. Suiceri Thesaur.
Eccles. sub voce Hwa^ig, torn. ii. p. 1136.

2. Ludovicus Vives. — " No one in former times
was admitted to the sacred baptistery, except he was of
age, understood what the mystical water meant, desired
to be washed in it, and expressed that desire more than
once. Of which practice we have yet a resemblance in
our baptism of infants ; for an infant of only a day or
two old, is yet asked, ' Whether he will be baptized r'
and this question is asked three times. In whose name
the sponsors answer, 'He does desire it.'" Annot. in
Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. i. c. xxvii.

3. M. Formey. — " They baptized from this time,
[the latter end of the second century,] infants as well as
adults." Abridg. Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. ^"3.

4. Curcellasus. — " The baptism of infants, in the two
first centuries after Christ, was altogether unknown; but
in the third and fourth was allowed by some few. In
the fifth, and following ages, it was generally received
. . . .The custom of baptizing infants did not begin be-
fore the third a^e after Christ was born. In the former

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 369

ages no trace of it appears — and it was introduced with-
out the command of Christ." Institut. ReHo;. Christ.
1. i. c. xii. Dissert. Secund. de Pecc. Orig. § 56.

5. M. De la Roque. — " The primitive church did
not baptize infants; and the learned Grotius proves it
in his Annotations on the Gospel. Even the practice
of the Romish church is an evident token of it ; for with
them baptism must be desired before they enter into the
church, and it is the godfather that asks it in the name of
the child. A formal and express profession of faith
must be made, which the godfather also makes in the
child's name; a promise must be made, to renounce
the world and the pomps of it, the flesh, and the devil;
all which is done by the godfather in the name of the
child. Is not this a visible sign, that formerly it was the
persons themselves, who in their own name desired bap-
tism, made a profession of their faith, and renounced
their past hfe, to consecrate themselves to the Lord Jesus
Christ for the time to come?" In Mr. Stennett's An-
swer to Mr. Russen, p. 188, 189-

6. Mr. Chambers. — " It appears, that in the primi-
tive times none were baptized but adults." Cyclo-
paedia, article Baptism.

7. Johannes Bohemius. — " Baptism of old w^as ad-
ministered to none (unless upon urgent necessity) but
to such as were before instructed in the faith and cate-
chized. But when it came to be judged necessary to
everlasting life, it was ordained that infants should be
baptized, and that they should have godfathers and god-
mothers, who should be sureties for infants, and should
renounce the devil in their behalf." In Thomas Law-
son's Baptismalogia, p. 88.

8. Rigaltius. — " In the Acts of the Apostles we
read, that both men and ivomen were baptized, when they
believed the gospel preached by Philip, without any
mention being made of infants. From the apostolic
age, therefore, to the time of TertuUian, the matter is

VOL. r. 2 b

370 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

doubtful. Some there were, from that saying of our
Lord, ' Suffer Httle children to come to me,' (to whom,
nevertheless, our Lord did not command water to be
ministered,) who took occasion to baptize new born in-
fants. And as if they had been transacting some secu-
lar affair with God, they offered sponsors or sureties to
Christ, who engaged that they should not depart from
the Christian faith when adult ; which practice displeased
Tertullian." In Mr. Stennett's Answer to Mr. Russen,
p. 74, 75.

9. Dr. Holland. — " In the first plantation of Chris-
tianity amongst 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 Dr.
Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii. chap. ii. p. 281.

10. Cattenburgh. — " Though it cannot be unanswer-
ably proved, that infant baptism was practised from the
beginning of Christianity; yet its original is to be de-
rived much higher than those learned men, Episcopius
and Limborch, have admitted."* Spicileg. Theol. Christ,
p. 1059.

11. Wolfgangus Capito. — " In the first times of the
church no one was baptized, nor received into the holy
communion of Christians, till after he had given himself
up entirely to the word and authority of Christ." A pud
Schyn Hist. Mennonit. p. 170.

12. Venema. — "It is indeed certain, that Pasdo-
baptism was practised in the second century; yet so,
that it was not the custom of the church, nor the gene-
ral practice; much less was it generally esteemed neces-
sary that infants should be baptized. . . .Tertullian has
no where mentioned Ptedobaptism among the tradi-

* Episcopius denies that any tradition can be produced for
Paedobaptism, till a little before the Milevitan Council, A. D. 418 j
and maintains, that it was not practised in Asia till near the time of
that council. Institut. l.iv. c. xiv. — Mr. Brandt speaks to the same
effect. Hist. Reform. Annotat. on b. ii. vol. i. p. 9.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 371

tions of the church, nor even among the customs of the
church that were publicly received and usually observed;
nay, he plainly intimates, that in his time it was yet a
doubtful affair. For in his book, De Baptismo, (cap. xviii.)
he dissuades from baptizing infants, and proves by cer-
tain reasons, that the delay of it to a more mature age is
to be preferred; which he certainly would not have done,
if it had been a tradition and a public custom of the
church, seeing he was very tenacious of traditions; nor,
had it been a tradition, would he have failed to mention
it. It is manifest, therefore, that nothing was then deter-
mined concerning the time of baptism; nay, he judged
it safer that unmarried persons should defer their bap-
tism .... Nothing can be affirmed with certainty, con-
cerning the custom of the church before Tertullian; see-
ing there is not any where in more ancient writers, that
I know of, undoubted mention of infant baptism. Justin
Martyr, in his Second Apology, when describing bap-
tism, mentions only that of adults. Irensaus alone
(Contra Hasres. 1. ii. c. xxii.) may be considered as re-
ferring to Paedobaptism, when he says; ' Christ passed
through all the ages of man, that he might save all by
himself; all I say,' thus he proceeds, ' who by him are
regenerated to God, infants, and little ones, and chil-
dren, and youths, and persons advanced in age.' For
the word, regenerated, is Avont to be used concerning
baptism ; and in that sense I freely admit it may be here
understood. Yet I do not consider it as undoubtedly
so, seeing it is not always used in that sense, especially
if no mention of baptism precede or follow ; which is
the case here : and here, to be regenerated by Christ, may
be explained by sanctified, that is, saved by Christ. The
sense, therefore, may be; That Christ's passing through
all the ages of man, intended to signify, by his own ex-
ample, that he came to save men of every age, and also
to sanctify or save infants. I conclude, therefore, that
Paedobaptism cannot be certainly proved to have been

S B 2

372 NO EVIDENCE OF P.EDOBAPTISM

practised before the times of Tertullian ; and that there
were persons in his age who desired their infants might be
baptized, especially when they were afraid of their dying
without baptism : which opinion TertuUian opposed,
and by so doing, he intimates that Paedobaptism began to
prevail. These are the things that may be affirmed with
apparent certainty, concerning the antiquity of infant
baptism, after the times of the apostles ; for more are
maintained without solid foundation," Hist. Ecclcs. torn,
iii. secul. ii. ^ 108, 109.

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I, It is well observed by Limborch, '•' That
many, when they enquire after the opinions of ancient
writers, ascribe to them, not what they really taught,
but what they wish them to have taught. Hence
different opinions are attributed to them, according
to the various prejudices that are entertained by the
enquirers."* This, there is reason to think, is a fact;
and therefore it is to the honour of our cause, that the
writers produced have made such declarations. For
though, as Dr. Bishop remarks, " the scriptures are the
only rule of faith, — we are apt to enquire how the earliest
authors understood and explained them ; what opinions
they held and professed, as the true and necessary doc-
trines [and practices] of Christianity; and what they
denied and condemned." '(' We farther observe, uith
the celeltrated Mr. Claude; "That the scripture is the
only rule of our faith; that we do not acknowledge any
other authority able to decide the disputed points in
religion, than that of the word of God; and that if we
sometimes dispute by the fathers, it is but by uay of
condescension to [our opposers,] to act upon their own
principle, and not to submit our consciences to the
word of men."];

* Liber Sentent. Inquisit. Tholos. Prsef. p. 3.

f Eight Sermons, Serm. iv. p, 132.

J Defence of the Refornaation, part iii. p. 81,8'2,

BEFORE THE SECOND OK THIRD CENTURY. 373

That most of these authors were well versed in the
ancient monuments of the Christian church, few of my
readers acquainted with their characters will deny; and
heing Pasdobaptists, they were under no influence, from
their avowed hypothesis, to make such declarations as
these before us. Consequently, we must consider these
learned men, as led by plain historical evidence, and by
a commendable regard for truth, to express their views
of the case in this remarkable manner. Now such con-
cessions, from writers whose literary abilities cannot be
questioned, and who are entirely free from suspicion of
intending to sink the reputation of Paedobaptism, afford
a strong presumption in our favour, so far as ecclesias-
tical antiquity is concerned in the dispute. Nay, I may
venture to add, concessions of this kind from the pens
of such men as Salmasius and Suicerus, of Rigaltius
and Venema, must rebuke that haughty confidence with
which we are sometimes treated, even by juvenile oppo-
nents; as if the highest and purest ecclesiastical anti-
quity were quite against us, and as if no man of learn-
ing and of impartiality would risk a denial of it. But
Mhether our opposers be hoary with learned age, or
bloom with precipitate youth, it must, I think, be con-
fessed, that these authorities have sufficient force to ac-
quit us from the charge of ignorance, and of partiality
to a favourite opinion, because we maintain, That the
first two centuries knew either nothing at all, or very
little, of infant baptism.

To the foregoing quotations I would here subjoin
the attestation of Mr. Lawson, and of an ecclesiastical
writer in the ninth century. — Thus Thomas Lawson, an
impartial Friend: "See the author of rhantism, that is,
sprinkling; not Christ, nor the apostles, but Cyprian; not
in the days of Christ, but some two hundred and thirty,
years after. . . .Augustine, the son of the virtuous Mo-
nica, being instructed in the faith, was not baptized till
about the thirtieth year of his age. — Ambrose, born of

374 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

Christian parents, remained instructed in Christian prin-
ciples, and was unbaptized till he was chosen bishop
of Milan. — Jerome, born of Christian parents, vvas
baptized when about thirty years old. — Nectarius was
made bishop of Constantinople before he was bap-
tized.... It seems the doctrine of Fidus, concerning
dipping, or sprinkling of children, w^as new^, and seem-
ed strange to Cyprian ; seeing he could not ratify, nor
confirm the same, without the sentence and advice of
sixty-six bishops. Had it been commanded by Christ,
practised by the apostles, and continued in matter and
manner to Cyprian's days, there had not been a ne-
cessity for the concourse of so many bishops concerning

the same." * The ecclesiastical writer to whom I

refer, is Walafridus Strabo, who speaks as follows : " It
should be observed, that, in the primitive times, the
grace of baptism was usually given to those oiilij who
were arrived at such maturity of body and mind, that
they could understand what were the benefits of bap-
tism ; what was to be confessed and believed; and,
finally, what was to be observed by those that are rege-
nerated in Christ."'!' ^^ ^^is paslage the remark of

Colomesius, as quoted by a nameless writer, is as fol-
lows: " Hence with reason you may infer, that adults
only are the proper subjects of baptism.":]: Perfectly
conformable to which is a canon of the Council of Paris,
in the year eight hundred and twenty-nine, as produced
by the same anonymous author. Thus it reads: "In
the beginning of the holy church of God, no one was
admitted to baj)tism, unless he had before been in-
structed in the sacrament of faith and of baptism ;
which is proved by the words of Paul, Rom. vi. 3, 4."§

Reflect. II. One of these learned men supposes,
indeed, that a passage in Irena^us may be understood,

* Baptlsmalogia, p. 75, 80, 81, 86, 87. f Apud Vossium,

Thes. Theolog. p. 4'^29. + En Le Bapt^me Retabli, part ii. p. 3,

§ Ibul. p. 1()6, lt;7.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 375

as referring to infant baptism; yet candidly confesses
it admits of a doubt, whether the ancient father had
any such practice in view : nay, he asserts, that there is
no certainty of Pasdobaptism being practised before the
time of Tertullian. See No. 12. — Le Clerc, however,
seems confident that the quotation from Irenasus, to
which we advert, has no relation to baptism. " We see
nothing here," says he, "concerning baptism; nor is
there any thing relating to it in the immediately preced-
ing or following words." * — A writer in one of our pe-
riodical pubHcations, when reviewing a pamphlet of Mr.
John Carter's, in defence of infant baptism, says; "The
authorities produced [by Mr. Carter] are J. Martyr and
Irenaeus, in the second century; called by the author
Xhejirst century after the apostles, in order, we sup-
pose, to give it a more ancient look .... With respect to
the testimony of Justin, it requires very considerable in-
genuity to make it, in any view, an argument in favour
of infant baptism. There is a passage in Irenaeus more
to the purpose: but the passage is equivocal; and no-
thing can with certainty be decided from it, in favour of
that species of infant baptism which is generally con-
tended for by the Pasdobaptists of modern times." f Be-
sides, if these expressions, " Who by him are regene-
rated to God," signify the same as being baptized, they
convey the idea of our Lord's baptizing persons of diffe-
rent ages. But this was far from being a fact; for
" Jesus himself baptized not." Of this the ancient
writer could not be ignorant ; and therefore it is
not likely that he should in such a connection, substi-
tute the term regenerated for the word baptized. It is
also worthy of observation, that th^ supposition against
which we contend, represents our Lord as coming into
the world to save those only who are baptized ; an ima-

* Hist. Eccles. secul. ii. ann. 180, § 33, p. 778.
t Monthly Review for May 1784, p. 394, 395.

376

NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPllSM

gination which is abhorrent from truth, and ought not,
without the clearest evidence, to be charged on the
venerable ancient.

Perfectly agreeable to this is the language of Mr.
Hebden, who, having produced the words of Irenaeus,
proceeds thus : " This has been often cited against the
Antipaedobaptists. . . .It is one of the passages usually
quoted to support the practice of baptizing infants from
ancient testimonies ; baptism being, say these learned
Paedobaptists. often called regeneration by the ancients,
and Irenaeus here speaking of infants and little ones as,
together with persons of other ages, regenerated or bap-
tized. But, though baptism may be here alluded to, it
does not seem to be directly intended. The all whom
Christ came to save, are said to be regenerated to God.
Can this be meant of baptism? Are none saved but
such as are baptized ? Or, are all who are baptized
saved by Christ? That must be the case, according to
Irenaeus, if regeneration was here put for baptism; for
he evidently intimates, that all whom Chribt came to
save are regenerated ; and that all vvho are regenerated
to Cod are saved. A plain proof this, supposing the
passage to be genuine, that Irenieus did not believe uni-
versal redemption, in the modern Arminian sense, and
that he had no notion of the baptismal regeneration
since devised, . . .1 cannot help questioning whether the
passage of Irenaeus is so clear and full in favour of Pae-
dobaptism as learned men suppose."*

Incompetent, however, as the testimony of Irenaeus
is in favour of Pasdobaptism, Dr. Wall will have it
speak directly in point, saying : " This is the tirst ex-
press mention we have met with of infants baptized."')'
Eccpress mention ! Then the terms baptized and rege-
nerated, must be })erfectly equivalent, in the works of
Irenaeus, and the ecclesiastical authors of those times.

* Baptismal Regeneration disprovefl. Appendix^ p. 55.
■j- Hist. Inf. Ba[). pari i. rhnp. iii. p. 16.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 377

But this cannot be proved, as the learned and impartial
Venema acknowledges. See No. 12. — Yet, while we
insist that this is far from being an express testimony, or
indeed any testimony at all in favour of infant baptism ;
we may venture to conclude, that it is the first passage
in ecclesiastical antiquity, which Dr. Wall considered as
having any appearance of being directly to his purpose,
and the very best he could find to support his hypo-
thesis. But if it had been a divine appointment, and
Customary in the church from the apostohc age, is it not
strange, is it not quite unaccountable, that such ambi-
guous words as those of Irenaeus should be considered
by our opponents, as the most explicit of any on record,
in proof that Peedobaptism was practised so early as the
year one hundred and eighty? What! is there nothing
in those monuments of Christian antiquity, which go
under the name of Barnabas, of Clemens Romanus, of
Ilermas, of Ignatius, and of Polycarp, as much to the
purpose as this passage of the celebrated bishop of
Lyons ? Is there nothing in the writings of Justin Mar-
tyr, of Athenagoras, or of Theophilus Antiochenus,
(which are all considered by learned men as prior to
those of Irenteus) that is equally plain, and equally
favourable to the antiquity of Peedobaptism ? Strange,
indeed, supposing infant baptism to have been derived
from the apostles, and to have been generally practised
in the times of those authors, that none of them should
speak of it with as much clearness and precision as
the venerable Ireneeus in those equivocal words before
us ! That confidence with which the passage under
consideration has been often produced against us, re-
minds me of another, that is quoted from the same
father by the Papists, in favour of invocating the vir-
gin Mary. Thus, then, the ancient author, as translated
by Dr. Clagett : " As Eve was seduced and forsook
God, so Mary was induced to obey God, that the virgin
]\Iary might be a comforter of the virgin Eve ; and that

378 NO EVIDENCE OF PiEDOBAPTISM

as mankind was, through a virgin, bound over to death,
so they should be released through a virgin : one thing
being thus rightly balanced against another, the disobe-
dience of a virgin by the obedience of a virgin." Dr.
Clagett observes, that " Fevardentius triumphs in this
testimony, as if he had found here the primitive church,
and all antiquity, for the invocation of the blessed
virgm. *

Dr. Wall has produced a passage from Clemens
Alexandrinus, who wrote a little before Tertullian, by
which he seems to think it apparent, that the Alexan-
drian catechist considered the apostles as having bap-
tized infants. The words of that ancient author, as
quoted and rendered by Dr. Wall, are these : " If any
one be by trade a fisherman, he would do well to think
of an apostle, and the cJiUdren taken out of the water."f
— If, however, we would not be led by the sound of
these words, rather than their sense, it seems necessary
we should advert to the title and scope of the work, in
which the passage is found; concerning which, let us
hear a learned Paedobaptist. Dupin, when describing
the works of Clement, and speaking of that book from
which the quotation is made, says : " The second book,
entitled the Pedagogue, is a discourse entirely of mo-
rality. It is divided into three books. In the first,
he shows what it is to be a pedagogue, that is to say, a
conductor, pastor, or director of men. He proves that
this quality chiefly and properly belongs only to the
Word incarnate. He says, that it is the part of the pe-
dagogue to regulate the manners, conduct the actions,
and cure the passions. . . .That he equally informs men
and women, the learned and the ignorant, because all
men stand in need of instruction, being all children in
one sense. Yet, however, that we must not think that
the doctrine of the Christians is childish and contempti-

* Preservative against Popery, title vi. p. 194.
f Defence of Hist. Inf. Bap. Appendix, p. 8, y.

'ii^i

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 379

ble; but that, on the contrary, the quality of cJiildren,
which they receive in baptism, renders them perfect in
the knovvledo;e of divine things."*

From this account of the work, we are naturally led
to suppose that Clement, when addressing, or speaking
of Christian converts, would frequently call them chil-
dren; and, that this is a fact, appears by those extracts
which Mr. Barker has made from the book, which he
seems to have carefully read with a view to this particu-
lar. The design of this ancient book, as concisely re-
presented by him, and part of his quotations from it, are
as follow : "The catechist of Alexandria here describes
the persons he was to teach, what they were to be
taught, and how they were to be admitted into the
church. Paed. i. 5. ' Ilai^ay(>)yia, instruction, is guiding
of children^ (irai'^av ayayr}) as the name shows : it remains
to see whom the scripture calls children, and then to set a
master (irai^ayayog) over them. We then are the chil-
dren— who are in the state of disciples. — Unless ye be
converted, and become as these children, ye shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven; not figuring a new
birth, (avayevvrjcrig,) but commending the innocence of
children' .... Representing the innocence of the mind
by childhood, he calls us children, (jrai^ag,) young, little
ones, (yrjTnovg,) SOUS, — and a new people .... He figura-
ratively calls us young ones, who are not enslaved to sin,
— pure, leaping to the Father only, — running to the
truth, and swift to salvation ; — such — our divine Guide
of the young (TrwAo^a/xvyy^-) takes care of . . . . The Lord
plainly shows who are meant by children: when a ques-
tion arose among the apostles, which of them should
be the greatest, Jesus set a child among them, saying:
Whoever shall humble himself as this [little^ child, the
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven .... Those are
truly children, who know God only as their father, are
pure, meek, (yyjTrm,) and sincere. . . . He commands us to
* Hist. Eccles. Writers, vol. i. p. 62, 63.

380 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

be without care of things here, — and cleave only to the
Father: — he who fulfils this command, is truly a little
one, (vyjmo^,) and a child (iraii) of God. . . .The Lord is
called a. perfect man, as being perfect in righteousness; —
but we are little ones (vyjttioi') perfected (jeXeiovixeSa) when
Me become of the church, and receive Christ as our head*
.... A person is not called vriinog, because foolish, — but
as meek and mild (vyjttio^, Yjniog) — a little one is meek, — •
without guile, — which is the foundation of truth :— the
new minds of little ones were once foolish, now newly
wise. . . . He calls the Lord himself a child, — ' Shall not
the instruction of this child be perfect, — who guides us
children (irai'^ai) who are his (vy^Triovi) little ones?'

" Far from confining the words, irai^eg and vYjitioi, to
infants, he [Clement] calls all children, whom he, as a
teacher (irai^aywyoi), is to instruct; as having before been
ignorant, now become sensible, yet still meek, teachable,
and unprejudiced; judging it the perfection of a man to
imitate the innocence and teachableness of children.
But those who are in a course of instruction for baptism,
are what he especially calls children (jrai^eg and vyittloi ;)
for when baptized they become perfect, reXeioi. — Paed.
iii. 10. 'The Lord taught his disciples to catch men, as
lishes out of the water. — Pa?d. iii. 11. If any be a
fisher, let him remember the apostle, and the children
(Tiaibiav) drawn out of the water.' — Those are baptized,
who believe and seek Christ. The children (vr,iTioi and
Trai'^io) here said to be baptized, whom Wall supposes to
be infants, are, as appears above, all, of whatever age,
who being meek and teachable, seek Christ the true
teacher (o irai^aycoyci), and submit to him."f

It is worthy of remark, that the frequent use of these
familiar terms, children and little children, here applied

* Just so Pixul opposes TrajSta to TfXfiOf, (1 Cor. xiv. 20.)
f Duty and Benefits of Bap. p. 73, 74,75- Note : The edition
of Clement's works, from which tlie ((uotations are made, is that of
Dr. Totter, j). 101, 106, 107, 108, 109, 112, '285, 289.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 381

by Clement to such as were under a course of instruc-
tion, of whatever age they might be, seems to have been
derived from the example of Paul, and of John, in their
epistles. For the words, v^irioi and irailia, so frequently
used by the Alexandrian catechist, are applied by those
apostles in various places, to young or feeble converts.*
The term reKvta, little children, is also abundantly used
in the same acceptation. f So the word Trai^aycoyov^,
pedagogues, instructors of children, is used by Paul for
such as succeeded him in preaching the gospel among
the Corinthians.^ — To which I may add an observation
of the learned Mr. Bingham: "The Christians were
wont to please themselves with the artificial name pis-
ciculi,Jishes; to denote, as TertuUian [who was cotem-
porary with Clement] words it, that they were regenerate,
or born again into Christ's religion by water, and could
not be saved but by continuing therein. And this name
was the rather chosen by them, because the initial letters
of our Saviour's names and titles in Greek, Ivjo-ovg Xpiarog,

Qeov 'Tiog, 'Ecar-^p, JesUS ChRIST, THE SoN OF GoD,

OUR Saviour, technically put together, make up the
name IXOTS; which signifies a Jish, and is alluded to
both by Tertullian and Optatus."§ — While it appears,
therefore, that the title, the phraseology, and the design
of Clement's performance, unite in leading us to con-
sider the term irai'^icov, as expressive of young converts
to Christianity, and not of infants; there cannot be the
least ground for concluding, that the celebrated cate-
chist had any thought of infant baptism, when he spake
of '^ irai^iav, children, drawn out of the water;" but of
solemnly immersing such as had been instructed in the
doctrine of Christ. And, indeed, as Dr. Wall is the
only one of our learned opponents, whom I have ob-

* See 1 Cor. iii. 1 ; Ephes,iv.l43 Heb.v.l3,14j iJohnii. 13,18.
f See Matt. xi. 25 3 Luke x, 21 j iJohnii, Ij xii. 28 3 iii.7, 18;
iv. 4 j V.21 ; and Dr. Doddridge's Note on 1 Pet. ii. 2.

X 1 Cor. iv. 15. § Origines Eccles. b, i. chap, i, § 2.

382 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

served, that has produced the passage against us in the
course of this controversy, there is reason to think, that
few of them ever considered it as proving any thing at
all in iheir favour.

Reflect. III. As I humbly conceive it must be al-
lowed by all competent and impartial judges, that Ter-
tullian is the first author who speaks expressly of infant
baptism; and as it is equally clear that he opposes it;
so, we may justly presume, it was then a novel practice,
was just commencing, and approved by very few. Had
it been otherwise, there is no reason to imagine that the
celebrated African father would have treated it as he
did; not only because he was very tenacious of ecclesi-
astical traditions, as Venema has well observed. No. 12;
but also because he mentions with approbation various
religious rites as practised by the church, which in his
own view had no pretence to scripture authority. His
opposition to infant baptism is expressed in the follow-
ing manner, as the passage is translated by Dupin:
" What necessity is there to expose godfathers to the
hazard of answering for those whom they hold at the
fonts? since they may be prevented by death, from be-
ing able to perform those promises which they have
made for the children, or else may be disappointed by
their evil inclinations. Jesus Christ says, indeed,
'Hinder not little children from coming to me;' but
that they should come to him as soon as they are ad-
vanced in years, as soon as they have learned their reli-
gion, when they may be taught whither they are going,
when they are become Christians, when they begin to be
able to know Jesus Christ. What is there that should
compel this innocent age to receive baptism? And since
they are not yet allowed the disposal of temporal goods, is
it reasonable that they should be entrusted with the con-
cerns of heaven? For the same reason it is proper to
make those who are not married wait for some time, by
reason of the temptations they have to undergo till they

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 383

are married, or have attained to the gift of continency.
Those who shall duly consider the great weight and mo-
ment of this divine sacrament, will rather be afraid of
making too much haste to receive it, than to defer it for
some time, that so they may be the better capable of
receiving it more worthily/'* The treatise of Tertullian,
(De Baptismo,) from which this is extracted, is sup-
posed by learned men to have been written about the
year two hundred and four.^ Again he says; " Bap-
tism is the seal of faith; which faith is begun and
adorned by the faith of repentance. We are not, there-
fore, washed that we may leave off sinning, but because
we have already done it, and are already purified in
heart." :j; Sentiments and assertions these, that cannot
be reconciled with the baptism of infants. — On the for-
mer of these passages Rigaltius makes the following
remark : " Tertullian thought that one vvho has no
understanding of the Christian faith, should not be
admitted to baptism ; and that he does not want the re-
mission of sins, who is not yet capable of deceit, or of
any fault." § Vossius, when adverting to the same pas-
sage, says, " Some reply. The discourse of Tertullian
regards the infants of infidels. To us it seems more
probable, that he treats concerning the children of be-
lievers." || To this we readily agree, and here subjoin
the following acknowledgment of Mr. Baxter: "Again
I will confess, that the words of TertuUian and Nazian-
zen show, that it was long before all were agreed of
the very time, or of the necessity, of baptizing infants
before any use of reason, in case they were like to live
to maturity."^

* Hist. Eccles. Writers, cent. iii. p. 80,

t Vid. J. Fabrieium, Hist. Biblioth, Fab rician. torn, i, p. 157.

X Opera, De Poenitenti&,, p. 144. § Observat. de TertuU.

p. 72. Lutet. 1634. || Disputat. de Bap, disput. xiv. §12.

See Dr. Whitby's Note on Matt, xix. 13, 14.

^ In Dr, Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap. part. i. p. 23. See Dr. Dod-
dridge's Lectures, p. 522,

384 NO EVIDENCE OF P.EDOBAPTISM

That Tertullian had a high regard for traditional
rites in the affairs of rehgion, is plain beyond a doubt,
from what he says when professedly handling that sub-
ject. His words, as given us by an eminent P£edo-
baptist, are as follow: "Let us try, then, whether no
tradition ought to be allowed that is not written; and I
shall freely grant that this need not to be allowed, if the
contrary be not evinced by the examples of several other
customs, which without the authority of any scripture
are approved, only on the account that they were first
delivered, and have ever since been used. Now, to
begin with baptism — When we are taken up out of the
water, we taste a mixture of milk and honey; and from
that day we abstain a ^^hole week from bathing our-
selves, which otherwise we use every day. The sacra-
ment of the eucharist, which our Lord celebrated at
meal-time, and ordered all to take, we receive in our
assemblies before day; and never but from the hands of
the pastor. We give oblations every year for (or in
commemoration of) the dead, on the day of their mar-
tyrdom. . . .At every setting out, or entry on business;
whenever we come in, or go out from any place; when we
dress for a journey; when we go into a bath; when we
go to meat; when the candles are brought in; when
we lie down, or sit down; and whatever business we
have, we make on our foreheads the sign of the cross.
If you search in the scriptures for any command for
these and such like usages, you shall find none. Tradi-
tion will be urged to you, as the ground of them ; custom,
as the confirmer of them; and our religion teaches to
observe them."* Hence it appears, with superior evi-
dence, that this ancient author considered infant baptism
as a novel invention — as a practice that was neither en-
joined by divine command, nor warranted by a})Ostolic
example, nor yet recommended by the poor pretence of
tradition, nor even countenanced by prevailing custom.

* In Dr. Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap, partii. chap, ix, p. 4S0, 481.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR TlUllD CENTURY. 385

While, it is very observable, tradition and custom are
actually pleaded by him, in favour of certain rites (and
one of them an appendage of baptism) A^hich Protestants
have generally agreed to reject, as manifestly super-
stitious.

It seems apparent also, from Tertullian, that the use
of sponsors is of as high antiquity as the practice of
infant baptism. For as this famous African father is
the first that expressly mentions the former, so Deylin-
gius tells us, that he is the first who says any thing about
the latter;* with whom Mr. Towgood agrees. f Of
these sponsors, Deylingius informs us, there were three
sorts; namely, for infants who could not answer for
themselves, by reason of their tender age; for such
adults as were incapable of answering, on account of
great affliction; and for all adults in general. ;|: Nor
have we sufficient reason to suppose, that sponsors were
first used at the administration of Peedobaptism : no,
the learned Mosheim is express to the contrary. His
words are these: "Adult persons were prepared for
baptism by abstinence, prayer, and other pious exer-
cises. It was to answer for them that sponsors, or god-
fathers, were first instituted, though they were afterwards
admitted also in the baptism of infants." § Sponsors
were used for adults in the following ages also, as
learned writers inform us : || nay, the church of Eng-
land still requires godfathers and godmothers in the
administration of baptism to those who are able to
answer for themselves. For thus the rubric: " When
any such persons as are of riper years are to be bap-
tized. . . .if they shall be found fit, then the godfathers

* De Pastoral, Prudenti^^ pars iii. c. iii. § 29.

f Dissent. Gent. Letters, let. ii. p. 6,

X Ut supra. See Bingham's Orig. Eccles. b. xi. chap, viii,

§ Ecclesiastical Hist, vol, i, p. 17 !_, 172. || Magdeb.Centur.

cent. vii. c. vi. p. 73. Fox's Acts and Mon. vol. i. A. D. 636j p. 123.
Forbesii Instruct, Hist. Theolog. 1.x. c. v. §22
VOL. I. 2 C

386 NO EVIDENCE OF P.EDOBAPTISM

QLwd godmothers (the people being assembled upon the Sun-
day or holy day appointed) shall be ready to present them
at the font, . . .Then shall the priest take each person to
be baptized by the right hand, and placing him conve-
niently by the font, according to his direction, shall asic
the godfathers and godmothers the name; and then shall
dip him in the water, or pour water upon him."* — As
to infants, Dr. Wall assures us ; " There is no time, or
age, of the church, in which there is any appearance
that infants were ordinarily baptized without sponsors,
or godfathers."'!' — Bucanus tells us, when writing in
favour of sponsors, that " as a midwife is used to facili-
tate the birth in carnal generation; so in the spiritual
generation of baptism some one is employed who acts
in the place of a midwife, and of a pedagogue in those
things which pertain to the end of baptism and to the
Christian life." J What an admirable proof is this of
the utility of sponsors! Few, I suppose, however,
have had the honour conferred on a girl mentioned by
Moschus, for whom two angels were sureties at her
baptism. §

The Baptists have often been charged with Anabap-
tism ; a sentiment and practice which they detest, as
much as any of their opposers. It may be observed,
however, that, were \he^ inclined to vindicate Anabap-
tism, Tertullian might be challenged as an evidence of
its high antiquity. For though he says there is but one
baptism, and that it should not be repeated, yet he ex-
cepts the baptism of heretics; " who," he adds, "are not
able to give it, because they have it not; and there-
fore it is, that we have a rule among us to rebaptize
them." II

* Baptism of such as are of Riper Years.

f Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii. chap. ix. p. 477.

% Institut. Theolog. loc. xlvii. §47,

§ In Dupin's Eccles Hist. cent. vii. p. 20.

II In Dupin's Hist. Eccles. Writers, cent. iii. p. 80.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 387

Reflect. IV. It is common for our opponents, when
defending the antiquity of infant baptism, to produce
various passages from Origen, who flourished in the for-
mer part of the third century ; some of which passages,
it must be allowed, are plain and express to the point.
It ought, however, to be observed, that those quotations
are made, not from the Greek of that celebrated father,
but from such Latin versions of his works as are very
corrupt, and consequently render it quite uncertain what
was his opinion in reference to that affair. That the
works of Origen have been greatly injured by his trans-
lators, the most learned Peedobaptists declare. — Gro-
tius, for instance, when speaking of that celebrated
ancient with regard to infant baptism, says: "Some
things ascribed to him, were penned by an uncertain
author ; and some things are interpolated .... What
Origen thought about the final puTiishment of the wicked,
is difficult from his writings to be asserted ; all things

are so interpolated by Rufinus."* The Magdeburg

Centuriators inform us, that Origen's Homilies on Paul's
Epistle to the Romans, " were translated by Rufinus ; ■
who rather altered and corrupted than faithfully trans-
lated, as Erasmus intimates in the censure he passed

upon them."f Scultetus asserts, "That Rufinus, the

translator of many of Origen's books, used so great
a liberty, that he retrenched, added, and altered such
things as appeared to him necessary to be cashiered,
added, or changed. So that the reader is often uncer-
tain, whether he peruses Origen or Rufinus ; seeing the
Greek works of Origen are not now extant, by which
the Latin version might be corrected and amended." '^

■ Vossius, having produced a passage from Origen's

Homilies upon the Romans, in favour of infant bap-

* Apud Poli. Synops. ad Matt. xix. 14 j xxv, 46.
t Cent. iii. ex. p. ISO. + Medull. Theolog. Patrum,

p. 124. Francf. 1634.

2 c 2

388 NO EVIDENCE OF P.EDOBAPTISM

tism, adds : " But concerning Origen we say the less,
because the things which might be quoted are not extant
in the Greek."* The learned Vitringa, when hand-
ling the same subject, makes a similar acknowledg-
ment, and blames Rufinus-f M. Daille is very ex-
plicit on this point; his language is; "Certainly, Ru-
finus — hath so filthily mangled, and so licentiously
confounded the writings of Origen, Eusebius, and others,
which he hath translated into Latin, that you will
hardly find a page in his translations where he hath
not either cut off, or added, or at least altered some-
thing." J— ^Dupin says, "We have none of the
Scholia [written by Origen] remaining, nor have \\e
hardly any of the Homilies in Greek ; and those which
we have in Latin, are translated by Rufinus and others
with so much liberty, that it is a difficult matter to
discern what is Origen's own, from what has been foisted
in by the interpreter. . . .The liberty which Rufinus has
given himself is still more evident, by what he has
written in the prologue to his version of the Commen-
tary upon the Epistle to the Romans ; which, he says,
he has abridged by above the half. St. Hierom's ver-
sions are not more exact; and the most faulty of all is
that of an ancient translator, who has interpreted the
Commentaries upon St. Matthew. . . .Having only the
jl version of the greatest part of the Homilies, we cannot
' be certain whether that which relates to doctrine and

discipline be Origen's own, or Rufinus's."§ Mr.

Western, speaking of Rufinus as a translator of Euse-
bius, passes the following severe censure upon him. He
" hath ventured on downright forgery, and pretended to

I * Thes, Theolog. de Paedobap. pars ii. thes. viii. p. 433.

t Obs. Sac. l.ii. c. vi. § 9.

X Right Use of the Fathers, book i. chap. iv. p. 40, 41. Vid.
ejusdem Disputat. de Cult. Relig. Objecto, l.i. c. viii. p. 49.

§ Hist. Ec.cles. Writ. cent. iii. p. 100; see cent. iv. p. 4 ; cent. v.
p. 108.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 389

translate from Eusebius what Eusebius never wrote." *

Mr. Twells: "We are not sure that Origen ever

really spake of Hermas's Pastor, as of a writing inspired
by God. For this saying is extant only in his Com-
mentary on the Romans, the Greek of which is lost,
and the Latin a miserable version, in which the original
is mterpolated as well as contracted by Rufinus the in-
terpreter." ^ Mr. Peirce: "As for what our author

[Dr. Nichols] refers to in Origen, we cannot tell whether

it be Origen's or Rufinus's testimony.":]: Quenste-

dius : " Rufinus translated many of Origen's books, but
in translating (as he himself acknowledges in his pre-
faces, and for which Jerome reproves him,) he has used
so great a liberty, that he retrenched, added, and altered
whatever he considered as deserving to be cashiered,
added, or changed : so that the reader is frequently

uncertain whether he read Origen or Rufinus." §

Huetius, when speaking of Origen's remains in ge-
neral, has the following remark : " They are very im-
perfect and much abused, or else changed and de-
formed by abominable translations. "|| Rivetus, when

speaking of a certain work that goes under the name
of Origen, says : " Concerning the Homihes on various
passages in the Gospel according to Matthew, it appears
to Erasmus, that they are not Origen's ; but were pen-
ned by some Latin author, the remains of which have

been impudently corrupted by Rufinus."^ Once

more : Chamier says, " All the learned know, that Ru-
finus used but little integrity in translating authors."**

* Enquiry into Reject. Christ. Miracles^ p. 209.

f Critical Exam, of New Text and Version^ part iii. p. 81.

X Vindicat. of Dissent, part iii. p. 240.

§ Dialog, de Patriis lUust, Doct. Script. Virorum, p. 632.

II In Dr. Gale's Reflect, p. 522. % Critici Sacri, 1. ii.

c. xiii. p. 205. * * Panstrat. t. iv. 1. vii. c. ix. § 30. Vid. torn. i.

1. iv c. viii. §2; tom.ii. l.xx. c. v. §14. See also Mr. Clarkson
on Liturgies, p. 141. J. Fabricii Hist. Biblioth. Fabrician. tom.i.
p. 85, 86. Venemse Hist. Eccles, secul. iii, § 3. Bp. Bull's Def. Fid.

390 NO EVIDENCE OF PyEDOBAPTISM

Such, in the opinion of the best judges, being the
character of Origen's translators, we have sufficient rea-
son to except against all testimonies produced from the
ancient versions of his writings, in favour of P^edobap-
tism. And, indeed, were there not a great poverty of
evidence in support of that practice, for about two hun-
dred and fifty years, it is hardly to be supposed that our
Brethren would ever subpoena witnesses, whose veracity
is thus impeached, in order to prove any part of their
hypothesis. We have reason also to wonder at the in-
advertency of Dr. Addington, who, speaking of Rufmus,
tells us that he " lived in the third century;" and that
his " knmvkdge or integrity have never been
DOUBTED."* Palpable, gross mistakes !

There is, ho\vever, one passage in the Greek of Ori-
gen, sometimes quoted by our opponents; and it is this,
as produced and rendered by Dr. Wall. *' One may
enquire. When it is that the angels here spoken of are
set over those little ones, showed, or signified, by
our Saviour? Whether they take the care and manage-
ment of them from the time when they, by the washing
of regeneration, whereby they were new born, do ' as
new born babes desire the sincere milk of the
WORD,' and are no longer subject to any evil power?
Or from their birth, accordins; to the foreknowledge of
God, and his predestinating of them?" and so on.f
That the persons here intended by Origen, were not in-
fants in a literal sense, but such as were iieidij born
again, is plain from his describing them in the language
of inspiration, as "desiring the sincere milk of the word."
Dr. W^all, therefore, might well acknowledge, that the

Nic. sect. ii. cap. ix. Chemnitii Exam. Concil. Trident, p. 629, 630.
Mr. Altham, Preserv. against Popery, title i. p. 190. Abp. Wake,
Preservative against Popery, title iv. p. 197. Di". Doddridge's Lec-
tures, |). 519. ]Mr. Jones's Catholic Doct. of Trinity, chap. i. § xiv.
p. 9. Hist, of Popery, vol. ii. p. 147.

* C hrislinn Min. Reasons, p. 163. f Hist. Inf Bap. part i. p. 33.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 391

latter part of the passage does " very much puzzle the
cause," for which Psedobaptists produce the quotation;
" and make it doubtful whether Origen be to be there
understood, of infants in age, or of such Christian men
as are endued with the innocence and simplicity of in-
fants."* If, indeed, the language of this learned an-
cient had been, as it is partially represented by Sir Peter
King, of which Dr. Wall intimates his disapprobation ;t
or if the representation of it which Dr. Addington has
lately given, had been candid and fair, J it would have
been clearly in favour of Pgedobaptism. But as neither
of these is the case, we may venture to affirm, that no sub-
stantial evidence for infant baptism from the works of
Origen has been yet produced; and that there is no proof
of its being a common practice, for two centuries and a
half after the Christian a^ra commenced. To indulge con-
jectures of its being far more ancient, is to imitate the
conduct of Bellarmine, who says, concerning another
affair; "Although there is no express testimony amongst
the ancients, to prove, that they at any time offered
sacrifice without some one or more communicating with
the priests ; yet it may be gathered by conjecture'"' \

I will conclude this reflection with some remarks
on the following extract from Dr. Doddridge. " Ter-
tullian is known to have declared against infant baptism,
except in case of danger. Gregory Nazianzen advises
to defer it till three years old. Basil blames his audi-
tors for delaying it, which implies, there were then many
unbaptized persons among them ; but these might not,
perhaps, have been the children of Christian parents. . . .
It is indeed surprising, that nothing more express is to
be met with in antiquity upon this subject; but it is to
be remembered, that when infant baptism is first appa-
rently mentioned, we read of no remonstrance made

* Hist. Inf. Bap, part i, p. S"?, 33. f Enquiry into Constitut.

of Prim. Church, part ii. p. 46. % Christ. Min. Reas. p. 162.

§ In Popery Confuted by Papists, p. 81.

392 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

against it as an innovation."* Surprising indeed! had
it been the appointment of Christ, the practice of the
apostles, and a constant custom in the Christian church;
all which the doctrine of P^edobaptism now supposes.
On this occasion our opposers may well wonder, and
have reason to be disgusted with their own h^^pothesis.
Dr. Doddridge, however, wishes to persuade us, that
P£edobaptism was an apostolic practice; because " we
read of no remonstrance made against it as an innovation,"
when it is first plainly mentioned. Rut is not TertuUian
the first author who apparently mentions infant baptism?
and uas not he, by the doctor's own confession, against
it ? But supposiug we had not read of the least remon-
strance against Pasdobaptism, when it was first men-
tioned, what then; That it was practised from the be-
ginning? by no means. For if so, infant communion
must be received as of divine appointment; because we
read of no remonstrance being made against it as an
innovation, when first apparently mentioned by Cyprian.
See Chap. V. — Nay, were there not man}^ innovations
in the second and third centuries, against which we read
of no remonstrance being made at their first appear-
ance? Were the reason assigned by this respectable au-
thor for the primitive antiquity of infant baptism, to be
admitted by Protestants, the Papists would ask no more
to justify a great number of their superstitions. It is
indeed one of their arguments in favour of antiscriptural
customs; for thus they reason, in defence of communion
in one kind. " Seeing men, tenacious of religion, are
easily disturbed by an alteration of things pertaining to
it; if through a course of twelve hundred years the holy
supper had been administered in the church under both
kinds, without its being declared lawful to communicate
under one only; immediately, upon this custom being
changed, the greatest disturbances and disputes would
have arisen in the church about the alteration. Con-

* Lectures, p. 522.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CEIS'TURY. 393

cerning which, whereas in history there is no mention,
we receive it as an undoubted conjecture, that the prac-
tice was never considered as ?iew, but ahvays used from
the beginning, and fixed in the minds of believers as
lawful."* — To which the learned Chamier answers:
" Disturbances are excited about such alterations, either
when they are made, or afterwards. That all changes
in jeligious affairs excite commotions when they are
made, may be safely denied. For long before the advent
of Christ many changes were made in the Jewish reli-
gion— and yet without any tumult."'f — The argument
of Dr. Doddridge is also used by our English Conform-
ists in favour of Episcopacy, Thus, for instance, Mr.
Reeves: " I would ask a conscientious Dissenter,
whether in his heart he can believe that the primitive
saints and martyrs would invade the Episcopal power of
their own heads?. . . .And if they did, whether it was
possible for the invaders to prevail in so short a time over
Christendom, and without opposition, or one word of
complaint from the degraded presbyters against the usurp-
ing prelates? For usurpations of this sacred kind, we
know with a witness, never come in without remarkable
clamours and convulsions; are seldom perfectly forgotten,
and the revolution skinned over without a scar. That
bishops, therefore, should obtain wherever the gospel did,
so soon and with such universal silence, cannot be ac-
counted for any other way, than that the gospel and the
episcopate came in upon the same divine title.":): — I will
here add the following short quotation from Chilling-
worth: "If any man ask, How could it [corruption in
the church of Rome] become universal in so short a
time? Let him tell me how the — communicating of in-
fants became so universal, and then he shall acknow-
ledge, what was done in some, was possible in others." §

* Salmero, apud Chaniieruin, Panstrat, torn, iv, 1. ix. c. iv. § 18.
t Ibid. § 10. X Apologies, vol.i. Preface, p. 31, 32,

§ Relig. of Protestants, part i. chap. v. § 91.

394 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

So happily have these Pasdobaptists answered Dr. Dod-
dridge, and secured our inference against the exceptions
of Protestant opposers, whether they be EpiscopaUans
or Nonconformists !

Reflect. V. As it appears, from this and the preced-
ing chapter, that the New Testament contains neither ex-
press precept for, nor plain example of infant baptism, and
that no substantial evidence can be produced from ecclesi-
astical authors, of its being a prevailing custom, till about
the middle of the third century; we may with great pro-
priety (iniitatis mutandis) adopt and apply to Peedobap-
tism, the reasonings of Protestants against the peculiari-
ties of Popery. The following may serve as a specimen.
Turrettin, when opposing the superstitious appendages of
baptism, as practised in the Papal communion, argues
not only from the silence of scripture, but also from that
" of the most ancient Christian writers. Because, in the
genuine books of undoubted and pure antiquity, nothing
occurs relating to those things. .. .Whence," he adds,
" there is no reason for us to imagine that the}' were
used in those first times. Nay, a solid argument is
thence drawn, that no such things were then practised :
because it cannot be doubted, had they been then in use,
but the fathers would have mentioned them; like as, in
the following ages, they were not silent about things that
were frequently added to the legitimate and apostolic rite
of baptism."* — Mr. Neal, when opposing the supremacy
of the Roman pontiff, says ; " Had our Lord appointed
a vicar-general on earth, we might expect to meet, not
only with his name in scripture, but with the time and
manner of his instalment, and with the deed of convey-
ance to his successors, in the most plain and significant
words ; or, at least, that it should be read in every page
of antiquity. But if the most ancient fathers of the
church consent in any thing, it is in a general silence
about this matter. The whole stress of the evidence is.

Institut. loc.xix. q. xviii. § 6.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 395

therefore, laid upon — obscure and metaphorical passages
of scripture. ... If we lay these things together, and con-
sider the silence of the scripture records and genuine
remains of antiquity, about a supreme visible head,- — it
will am.ount to a demonstration, that the hierarchy of

the church of Rome is built upon the sand."* Dr.

Harris: " There is scarce any thing in which the church
of Rome puts in a stronger claim, or makes a louder
boast, than the sense of antiquity and the judgment of
the ancient fathers ; though in points peculiar to Popery,
and in which they differ from the Protestants, scarce any

thing is less fair, or more unjust. "f Dr. Hughes :

" If antiquity be of any consequence in determining
matters of religion, the earliest must be the best; and
this is clearly against the church of Rome, in the affair

now before us.":j: Bp. Burnet: " The silence of the

first and purest ages, about these things which are con-
troverted among us, is evidence enough that they were
not known to them ; especially, since in their Apologies,
which they wrote to the heathens for their religion and
worship, wherein they give an abstract of their doctrines,
and a rubric of their worship, they never once mention
these great evils for which we now accuse that [Romish]

church." § Mr. Bingham : " The silence of all ancient

authors is good evidence in this case; [that is, the religi-
ous use of images.] .... Of images or pictures there is not
a syllable ; which is at least a good negative argument,

that there was no such thing in their churches." ||

Dr. Owen: " No instance can be given, or hath been,
for the space of two hundred years, or until the end of
the second century, of any one person who had the care
of more churches than one committed unto him, or did

* Serm, at Salters' Hall, on Suprem. of Bishop of Rome, p. 9, 30.

f Do. at Do. on Transubstan. p. 31.

X Do. at Do. on Venerat. of Saints, p, 30, 31,

§ Preserv, against Popery, title i. p. 125.

II Orig. Eccles, b. viii. chap. viii. § 6.

396 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

take the charge of them upon himself."* Dr. Good-
man : " For about two hundred years we find not one word
of this kind of confession which we enquire for . ... If this
business had been of such consequence as is pretended,
it is strange that those holy men, Ignatius, Clemens, and
Justin Martyr, should not have any mention of it."f

Ottius: '^As they [the primitive Christians] had no

temples, no altars, so neither had they any incense;
which is inferred from the silence of those tim.es. I do
not mean a kind of uncertain silence, on which no argu-
ment can be formed ; but such as, in cases to be disputed,
may serve for a substantial reason.":};

Again : Our learned opposers have taught us to
consider ecclesiastical terms and religious rites, which
are not found in scripture, as coming into use about the
time when they are first mentioned by one or another of
the ancient writers. Is our enquiry, for example. In
what age baptism obtained the name of a sacrament?
Gomarus replies, Tertullian is the first who gives it that
appellatinn.§ — Is it the consecration of baptismal waterl
Tertullian is the most ancient author produced that men-
tions it. II — Is it concerning the time when, in reference
to baptism, the use of sponsors commenced ? Deylin-
gius and others assure us, Tertullian is the first who
says any thing of it.^ — Is it the imposH'wn of hands, as
an attendant on the administration of baptism ? Mr.
Peirce tells us, Tertullian is " the most ancient author
who mentions that rite. , . .We make no doubt it began
about the time of Tertullian, and was at first annexed to
baptism."*"* — Is it that unction which was used in the

* Enquiry into Orig. Nat. of Churches, Preface, p. 24.
•\ Preserv. against Popery, title viii. p. 10.
J Biblioth. Bremens. class, ii. p. 539.
§ Opera, disputat. xxxi. § 3.
II Bingham's Orig. Eccles. b. xi. chap. x. § 1.
^ De Prudent. Pastoral, par. iii. c, iii, § 29. Dissent. Gent,
Letters, lett. ii.

** Vindication of Dissenters, part iii. p. 172, 1/5.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 397

ancient rite of confirmation? Mr, Bingham answers,
" There being no author before Tertullian who mentions
the material unction, as used in confirmation, it is most
probable it was a ceremony first begun about his time,
to represent the unction of the Holy Ghost."* Thus
also Quenstedius : " That before the time of Tertullian
this rite was not used in the church appears from hence,
neither Justin Martyr, nor any other author of a former
age, makes mention of it. Tertullian first of all, there-
fore, speaks of the unction." f — Is it the custom of
making prayers and oblations for the dead ? Chemnitius
replies, " Tertullian is the first of the fathers who men-
tions it." J — Is it the white garment usually worn for a
iew days, while recent from the baptismal font ? Quen-
stedius tells us, "that none of the fathers who flourished
in the three first centuries make mention of it. . . .The
custom, therefore, seems to have been introduced in the
fourth century." § — Is it the custom of those that were
newly baptized carrying lighted tapers in their hands,
when going to public worship ? Quenstedius informs
us, that " Justin Martyr, in his Second Apology, and
Tertullian, De Baptismo, make no mention of any such
thing, though they very accurately describe the baptismal
rites; "II and therefore it must be considered as of a
later date. — Once more : Is it that prostitution of a
sacred rite, the baptizing of bells? Mr. Bingham replies,
" The first notice we have of this is in the capitulars of
Charles the Great, where it is only mentioned to be
censured."^

The substance of this reasoning may be thus ex-
pressed, and applied to our present purpose. Infant

* Orig. Eccles. b. xii. chap. iii. § 2.

t Antiq. Bib. p. 338. % Exam. Concil, Trident, p. 536.

§ Ut supra, p. 343. || Ibid. p. 344.

5f Orig. Eccles. b. xi. chap. iv. § 2. Vid. Vander Waeyen,
(Varia Sacra, p. 616,) who considers some of these rites as having
an earlier date, and as being derived from the Pagans.

398 NO EVIDENCE OF P.EDOBAPTISM

baptism, for which our Brethren contend, is not men-
tioned in scripture. They are obhged, therefore, to lay
the whole stress of their argument on obscure passages
of sacred writ. But had the matter in dispute been
appointed by Jesus Christ, and practised by the apostles,
there is reason to think the writers of the New Testa-
ment would have recorded it in a clear and explicit
manner; consequently, it is unreasonable to believe
and practise any such thing. — Again : The earliest
Christian antiquity must be the best. But Pasdobap-
tism does not occur in the genuine writings of the
highest and purest antiquity. It cannot be doubted,
however, that if it had been practised in those times, the
fathers would have mentioned it, as well as other things
of much less importance. We have, therefore, abundant
reason to conclude, that those ancient authors knew
nothing of it. — Once more : Learned men in general
conclude, that the commencement of any practice in the
Christian church is to be fixed about the time of its
being first mentioned by ancient writers. But the prac-
tice of infant baptism is not mentioned by any eccle-
siastical author before TertuUian ; and even by him, like
the baptism of bells, in the capitulars of Charles the
Great, it is mentioned with a mark of censure ; though
he informs us of several unscriptural rites annexed to
baptism, without the least sign of disapprobation.

That we are able to plead something more than the
mere silence of primitive fathers, will appear, I think,
from the following paragraphs. The learned Basnage,
when proving against Baronius, that unction and the
imposition of hands were not connected with baptism
in primitive times, produces a passage from Justin
Martyr, which I will here give a little more at large, in
the translation of Mr. Reeves : " I shall now lay before
you, (says Justin to the Roman emperor) the manner of
dedicating ourselves to God, through Christ, upon our
conversion ; for should I omit this I might seem not to

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY, 399

deal sincerely in this account of the Christian religion.
As many, therefore, as are persuaded and believe that the
things taught and said by us are true, and moreover take
upon them to live accordingly, are taught to pray, and
ask of God with fasting the forgiveness of their former
sins ; we praying together, and fasting for and with
them ; and then, and not till then, they are brought to a
place of water, and there regenerated, after the same
manner with ourselves ; for they are washed in the
name of God the Father and Lord of all, and of our
Saviour Jesus Christ . . . .The reason of this we have
from the apostles ; for having nothing to do in our first
birth, but being begotten by necessity, or without our
own consent, and trained up also in vicious customs and
company, to the end therefore we might continue no
longer the children of necessity and ignorance, but of
freedom and knowledge, and obtain remission of our
past sins by virtue of this water, the penitent, who now
makes his second birth an act of his own choice, has
called over hkn the name of God the Father, and Lord
of all things .... And moreover the person baptized and
illuminated, is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and
in the name of the Holy Ghost."* — Upon this passage
Basnage, among other things, observes : " That the
apologist plainly mentions the ceremonies of the church,
without circumlocution or ambiguity. Dissimulation
was not then used by Christians. Unless, therefore, we
w^ould represent Justin as telling the emperor a false-
hood, it must be confessed, that unction and the impo-
sition of hands were not yet annexed to baptism, nor
used upon baptized persons. For it was the custom to
unite without delay the baptismal water and the chrism,
from the time of the latter being brought into the church
.... Either, therefore, having cast off all sincerity, he
concealed in silence confirmation, or confirmation was
not at all used ; the latter of which, as more probable,

* Apologies, vol. i. p. 104 — 108.

400 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

we prefer, lest the holy martyr should lie under a
charge of perfidy. This argument is of so much force
with me, that I think the patrons of confirmation cannot
possibly answer it."* He proceeds on the same prin-
ciple, in order to prove, that various orders of eccle-
siastics in the Papal communion had no existence
among the primitive Christians. For having produced
a passage from Clemens Rom.anus, who speaks of the
apostles as "preaching through countries and cities, and
appointing bishops and deacons ; " he adds, " If, in the
age of Clement, subdeacons, chanters, door-keepers, and
exorcists had been appointed to those offices which their
names import ; what was the reason of Clement's men-
tioning none but bishops and deacons?" f — Again, with
reference to the office of a subdeacon, he says : "It was
not known before the third century. Cyprian honoured
that confessor of Christ, Optatus, with the new title of
a subdeacon. . . .Let us hear TertuUian in his book, De
Baptismo. The high-pfiest has the right of administer-
ing baptism ; then the elder, and also the deacon. Why
does the ancient author stop here ? Does not authority
to administer baptism belong to the subdeacon, when
the elder and the deacon are absent ? Seeing, therefore,
the name of a subdeacon first came into use after the
death of TertuUian, we justly infer that the office of sub-
deacon was unknown to the church for upwards of two
hundred years." J — Now, if these principles and this
course of arguing be pertinent and conclusive, in oppo-
sition to such particulars in the church of Rome as are
not mentioned in the scripture, nor in primitive anti-
quity ; what reason can be assigned why they should
not have equal force against infant baptism ? For it is
manifest, that all their force arises, not from an applica-
tion of them to the religious customs of a particular
people ; but from those religious customs not being

* Exercitat. Hist. Crit. p. 76, 77. f Ibid. p. 608.

+ Ibid. p. 642.

Before the second or third century. 401

mentioned in the divine word, nor in the genuine writings
of the most ancient ecclesiastical authors.

With regard to the passage produced from Justin,
Dr. Wall acknowledges, that it is not directly in favour
of infant baptism; though he is of opinion the famous
apologist says nothing inconsistent with the practice of
it in those times.* But if the silence of our venerable
martyr, concerning unction and the imposition of hands,
would have impeached his integrity, had those rites been
then used, as Mr. Basnage justly pleads ; much more
would his entire omission of infants, as partakers of
baptism, have inferred the same reflection upon him,
had Paedobaptism been then practised. " If," as Dr.
Gale observes, " he was so cautious not to seem unfair,
in hiding any thing from the powers before whom he
pleaded ; it is strange he should entirely omit, without
the least intimation, so important an article as the cus-
tom of baptizing infants, if it had been practised at that
time. The heathens were apt enough to charge the
Christians with using infants very barbarously; it con-
cerned St. Justin, therefore, not to give any umbrage by
seeming to avoid the mentioning of them. So careful
an apologist would certainly have taken occasion to
mention them, and describe the Christians' treatment of
them very exactly, in order to remove all suspicions
from the emperor's mind. When they were reported to
murder infants, or make some impious use of their
blood, what could possibly fortify the suspicion more,
than that so great a man as Justin should, in a public
and formal apology, decline saying any thing at all of
what they did to them? It was altogether necessary,
therefore, for St. Justin, at least to have taken some no-
tice of infants, if they had used any ceremony about
them .... But, supposing he had not, must he therefore
describe baptism in such a manner as cannot be at all
applicable to the case of infants, as he has done? This

* Hist. Inf. Bap. part i. chap.ii. § 5.
VOL. I, 2d.

402 NO EVIDENCE OF P.^UOBAPTISM

would have been directly deceiving the emperor, who
certainly understood St. JuBtin's account to be full and
true of baptism in general, and never imagined the
Christians baptized otherwise. Had there been such a
thing as infant baptism at that time, how easy had it
been for St. Justin, and how necessary, to have said,
Not only they who are persuaded and do believe, and so
on ; but also to have added, together ivith their infant
children, are baptized. .... Nothing can be plainer than
that the new birth [of which Justin speaks,] together
with the remission of sins to be obtained by water, is
here said to depend, not upon any necessity, or the^ill
of another, as our being born into this world did ; but,
on the contrary, on our own wills, or free choice and
knowledge. For the opposition lies here : We were at
first generated without our knowledge, or choice ; but
we must be regenerated, and obtain the remission of our
sins by water, with our knowledge and choice. And
this shows that infants, who are not capable of that
knowledge and choice, are consequently not capable of
this baptism : if they are to be baptized, it must be with-
out their choice, as much as their first generation Mas;
which destroys St. Justin's opposition, and therefore
must be thought inconsistent with his notion of the
matter."*

Should any be disposed to answer with Bellarmine,
in a similar case ; " Things that are generally known,
and daily practised, do not use to be written :" we reply
with Dr. Clagett, " But if this will do, it is impossible
these men should ever be convinced. For when we
charge them with innovation in any matters of doctrine
and practice, if they can show that those things are
written in the ancients, we are certainly gone that way;
for this proves that to be well known, and commonly
practised in the primitive times, which we pretend was
but of yesterday. But if we can show that they were
* Reflections on Dr, Wall's Hist. Iivf, Bap. lett. xii. p. 454 — 457-

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURV. 403

not written, we get nothing by it at all ; for it seems the
reason they were not written is, because they were gene-
rally known and daily practised."*

I will conclude this reflection with the following
quotation from Dr. Clagett : " The profound silence of
the first three ages — as to the worship of the blessed
Virgin and the saints — should be enough to determine
the point in question. And this silence is not only di-
rectly confessed by some of our adversaries, but as
effectually confessed by the rest, that labour to find
some hints of these practices in these primitive fathers;
but by such interpretations and consequences, that it is
almost as great a shame to confute, as to make them.
Now the silence of these fathers ought not be rejected,
as an incompetent proof, because it is but a negative.
For since we pretend that these practices are innovations,
and were never heard of in the ancient church ; it is not
reasonable to demand a better proof of it, than that in
their books, some of which give large and particular ac-
counts of their worship, and of their doctrines concern-
ing worship, we can no where meet with the least inti-
mation or footstep of them. Would our adversaries
have us bring express testimonies out of the fathers
against these things, as if they wrote and disputed by
the Spirit of prophecy, against those corruptions that
should arise several ages after they were dead ? .... To
demand more than their perpetual silence in these cases,
is unreasonable; because no satisfactory account can be
given of it, but this, That the wot^ship we speak of was
indeed no part of their religion. Had it been some in-
different rite or ceremony that we contend about, this
argument, from the silence of the fathers, against its an-
tiquity, might with some colour be rejected; because it
were unreasonable to expect, that they should take no-
tice in their writings of every custom, of how little mo-
ment soever: and yet we find, that in matters even of

* Preservative against Popery, title vii. p. 85.
S D 2

404 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

this slight nature, in comparison, they have not been
wanting to give us very much information. But it is
altogether incredible, that so notable and famous a part
of the worship of Christians, as that which is now given
to the blessed virgin, and to the saints, should not be
mentioned by any one of them, if it had been the custom
of those times .... We have seen that in these latter ages
the doctrine of her [the virgin Mary's] worship, is grown
to be no mean part of the body of divinity with the
doctors of the Roman church. There is no end cf wri-
ting books in her honour, and to excite and direct devo-
tion to her. . . .One would, therefore, expect to find all
things full of veneration and addresses to the blessed
virgin, in the writings of the primitive fathers ; that is, to
meet with it at every turn — but if you look for any
such thing, I will be bold to say you will lose your la-
bour. . . .1 know not how the fathers can be excused,
but that the scriptures speak as sparingly of her as
they."* — The intelligent reader will easily perceive that
this will apply with peculiar force, mutatis mutandis, to
the case before us.

Reflect. VI. Though the practice of infant baptism
did prevail in the latter part of the third century, yet
learned Paedobaptists themselves inform us, that many
eminent persons descended from Christian parents, in
following times, were not baptized till they arrived at
the age of maturity. Bp. Taylor says : " The wisest of
our fathers in Christ did not come unto baptism, until
they were come^ to a strong and confirmed wit and age
. . . .There is no pretence of tradition, that the church
in all ages did baptize all the infants of Christian parents.
It is more certain that they did not do it always, than
that they did it in the first age. St. Ambrose, St. Hie-
rom, and St. Austin, were born of Christian parents,
and yet not baptized until the full age of a man, and

* Preserv. against Popery, title vi. p. 192, 193, 194.

BEFORE THE SECOND OH THIRD CENTURY. 405

more."* Daill^ bears the following testimony : "In

ancient times they often deferred the baptizing both of
infants and of other people, as appears by the history of
the emperors, Constantine the Great, of Constantius,
of Theodosius, of Valentinian, and of Gratian, in St.
Ambrose ; and also by the orations and homilies of Gre-
gory Nazianzen, and of St. Basil, upon this subject.
And some of the fathers too have been of opinion, that
it is fit it should be deferred ; as, namely, TertulHan, as
we have formerly noted of him."t The famous Aus-
tin, in his Confessions, having said; " I was then signed
with the sign of his [Christ's] cross, and was seasoned
with his salt, so soon as I came out of my mother's
womb, who greatly trusted in thee;" his translator. Dr.
W. Watts, has the following note upon it: "This was
the practice of the primitive times ; by which religious
parents devoted their children unto Christ, long before
their baptism, which in those days was deferred till they
were able to answer for themselves.'" \ — Gregory Nazi-
anzen, born in the year three hundred and eighteen,
whose parents were Christians, and his father a bishop,
was not baptized till about thirty years of age:§ and
Chrysostom also, born of Christian parents in the year
three hundred and forty seven, was not baptized till
near twenty-one years of age.|| See the immediately
following chapter. No. 1. — Now, if the parents of these
Christian fathers and Cgesars, though professing them-
selves the disciples of Christ, did not baptize their infant
offspring, we may justly presume, whatever might be
the reasons of their conduct, that many others in those
times were influenced by the same reasons, and acted a
similar part.

* In Dr. Wall's Hist. Inf. Bap. part ii, chap, ii. § 10.
f Right Use of the Fathers, book ii. chap, vi, p. 149.
X Austin's Confessions, book i. chap.xi. p. 17, 1650.
§ Dupin, cent. iv. p. 159. Gen. Biog. Diet. art. Greg. Naz.
II GrotiuSj apud Poli Synops. ad Mat. xix. 14. Dupin's Eccles.
Hist, cent.v, p, 6, 7-

406 NO EVIDENCE OF P.EDOBAPTISM

The language of Boniface, bishop of Thessalonica,
in a letter to Austin, is far from expressing a warm re-
gard, either for infant baptism, or the business of spon-
sors. " Suppose I set before you an infant," says he to
Austin, "and ask you, Whether, when lie grows up, he
ivill be a chaste person ? or. Whether he will be a thief?
You doubtless will answer, I do not know. And, Whe-
ther he, in that infant age, have any thought, good, or
evil? You will still say, I do not know. If then you
dare not assert any thing concerning his future conduct,
or his present thoughts, what is the reason that, when
they are presented for baptism, their parents, as sponsors
for them, answer and say ; They do that, of which their
infant age is not able to think; or, if it can, it is a pro-
found secret? For we ask those by whom they are pre-
sented, and say; Does he believe in God? (which ques-
tion concerns that a^e which is ig-norant whether there
be a God.) They answer. He does believe. And so
likewise an answer is returned to all the rest. Whence
I wonder that parents in these affairs answer so confi-
dently for the child, that he does so many good things,
which at the time of his baptism the administrator de-
mands ! And yet, were I at that very time to ask ; Will
this baptized child, when grown to maturity, be chaste ?
or. Will he not be a thief? I know not m hether any one
would venture to answer. He will, or. He will not, be
the one or the other ; as they answer without hesitation,
He believes in God — He turns to God''* — Hence it ap-
pears, that in the time of Austin a profession of faith
was always required, prior to the administration of bap-
tism, agreeably to the primitive pattern ; f that when an
infant was presented for baptism, this profession was
made by proxy, as it is now in the church of Rome, and
in the church of England ; that Boniface considered
this vicarious profession, as a bold, unwarrantable, ab-
surd procedure, as it undoubtedly is; and, consequently,

* Augustini Einstola ad Bonifacium, epist, xxiii, f Acts viii. 37.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 407

that he was far from being, like Austin, a sanguine ad-
mirer of Paedobaptism ; there being, as Dr. Wall ob-
serves, " no time or age of the church, in which there is
any appearance that infants were ordinarily baptized,
without sponsors or godfathers,"* to make that vicarious
profession, against which Boniface with so much reason
and force objects.

To these difficulties the celebrated bishop of Hippo,
among other trifling and impertinent things, replies :
" As the sacrament of Christ's body is, after a certain
fashion, Christ's body ; and the sacrament of Christ's
blood, is his blood ; so the sacrament of faith, is faith ;
and to believe, is nothing else but to have faith. And
so when an infant, that has not yet the faculty of faith,
is said to believe, he is said to have faith, because of
the sacrament of faith ; and to turn to God, because of
the sacrament of conversion ; because that answer be-
longs to the celebration of the sacrament. . . .An infant,
though he be not yet constituted a believer, by that
faith which consists in the will of believers, yet he is by
the sacrament of that faith : for, as he is said to be-
lieve, so he is called a believer ; not from his having the
thing itself in his mind, but from his receiving the sacra-
ment of it. And when a person begins to have a sense
of things, he does not repeat that sacrament, but he un-
derstands the force of it, and by consent of will squares
himself to the true meaning of it. And till he can do
this, the sacrament will avail to his preservation against
all contrary powers; and so far it will avail, that, if he
depart this life before the use of reason, he will, by this
Christian remedy of the sacrament itself, (the charity of
the church recommending him) be made free from that
condemnation which, by one man, entered into the
world. He that does not believe this, and thinks it
cannot be done, is indeed an infidel, though he have the
sacrament of faith ; and that infant is much better, who,

* Hist. Inf. Bap. p. 477.

408 NO EVIDENCE OF P^EDOBAPTISM

though he have not faith in his mind, yet puts no bar of
a contrary mind against it, and so receives the sacra-
ment to his soul's health."* — Such is the solution given
by Austin, which the celebrated Chamier justly pro-
nounces yrig-^V/.f How far any of those who now ad-
minister baptism on the creed of a proxy, whether latent
in the parent, or avowed by the sponsor, may approve
of his reasoning, I cannot pretend to say ; but I think it
is plain, that the New Testament is equally silent about
a vicarious faith, and a vicarious baptism. - He, there-
fore, who admits the former, could not consistently op-
pose the latter, were any to plead for it.

The very learned and famous Daille, when animad-
verting on this passage of Austin, says ; " Whether
these things satisfied Boniface, I know not. To me, I
confess, they seem strange. How can the infant offered
to baptism, be truly said, therefore, to have faith, be-
cause he has the sacrament of faith, i. e. baptism, at
the time when he has not yet received baptism? nay,
who is for no other reason asked the question, than that
he may obtain baptism, which as yet he wants ? As
though none ought to be baptized who does not believe.
An infant is presented to the minister to be baptized:
the minister, as though he thought it unlawful to bap-
tize even an infant, except he believes, demands, and,
which aggravates the absurdity, he demands of the infant
himself, whether he believes? tacitly implying, he may
not baptize him unless he does so. Here the godfather,
that the infant may be capable of baptism, answers as
his surety, that he believes. When Boniface was in
doubt, how the godfather could truly and certainly affirm
this; Austin answers, he could, though the infant had
not yet faith; because, when he says he believes, he
only means, he has the sacrament of faith. Is* not this
a brave solution of the difficulty? But I say the infant

* 111 Dr. Wall, ut supra^ p. 115.
■\ Panstrat. torn, iv. 1. v. c. xv. § 22.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRC CENTURY. 409

has not what you call the sacrament of faith ; nor, if he
had, would there be any occasion to offer him to you to
be baptized : and therefore, in that very sense Austin
puts upon the answer, the godfather lies when he says,
the infant believes, i. e. has the sacrament of faith."*

Whether the form of proceeding in the administration
of baptism to infants, according to the English Liturgy,
do not deserve a similar censure, let my reader judge by
the following extract from Mr. Peirce. " The priest thus
speaks unto the godfathers and godmothers : ' Where-
fore this infant must also faithfully for his par^t, promise
by you that are his sureties, (until he come of age to take
it upon himself) that he will renounce the devil and all
his works, and constantly believe God's holy word,
and obediently keep his commandments. I demand,
therefore; Dost thou, in the name of this child, re-
nounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and
glory of the^world?' and so on. 'I renounce them all.'
'Dost thou believe in God the Father almighty?' and
so on. ' All this I steadfastly believe.' ' Wilt thou be
baptized 'in \h\?> faith?' 'So is my desire.' ^ Wilt thou
then obediently keep God's holy will and command-
ments, and walk in the same all the days of thy hfe?'
' I will.' Who now is so blind as not to see, the minis-
ter all along asks the infants themselves these questions?
Of whom else can he ask, whether he will be baptized ?
or who else can answer, / will? For the godfathers
and godmothers have been baptized themselves long be-
fore. It is plain then the godfathers are not properly
asked these questions, and that they answer them for
no other reason, but because the infants are not able to
speak for themselves. Which to many seems absurd
and childish, and unworthy of the gravity of a Chris-
tian assembly, and the solemnity of the ordinance
of baptism. Hereto we may add the words of the

* In Mr. Peirce's Vindicat. of Dissenters, part iii. p. 169, 170.

410 NO EVIDENCE OF P^DOBAPTISM

Catechism : * Why then are infants baptized, when, by-
reason of their tender age, they cannot perform [repent-
ance and faith?] Because they promise them both by
their sureties,' and so on." He adds ; " And truly they
seem by this method to betray the cause of infants
to the Anabaptists. For if an express and actual pro-
fession of repentance and faith is necessarily to be re-
quired of every one before he is baptized, infant bap-
tism can never be defended ; since a vicarious profession
is not founded upon any text in the whole Bible."* — To
the latter part of this quotation a Conformist might re-
ply: "We acknowledge. Sir, that there is an air of
puerility attending those questions and answers which
you have recited; but notwithstanding this we insist,
that there is a more plain reference to primitive practice
than can be perceived in your mode of proceeding.']' In
the administration of baptism according to our Liturgy,
a profession of repentance and faith makes a signal ap-
pearance ; not so in your procedure. We baptize on
the professed faith of sponsors ; you, on the presumed
faith of parents. Show us your warrant for baptizing
a child on the latter^ and you shall not wait long for
ours on behalf of the former. Produce your text from
the Bible for baptizing one or another, without a per-
sonal profession made by the subject; and you shall
soon have ours for administering baptism upon the de-
clared creed of proxy.

Once more: Cattenburgh informs us, that in the
former part of the sixth century many opposed infant
baptism. J — The Petrobrussians in the twelfth century
maintained, as Venema shows, "That Pajdobaptism
cannot save infants, nor the faith of another be profit-
able to them :"§ and Mosheim assures us, that " Peter

* Vindicat. of Dissent, partiii. p, 166, 167.
-}• Matt. iii. 6— lOj Acts viii. 36, 37; 1 Pet.iii, 21.
I Spicileg. Theol. Christ. 1. iv, c.lxiv. sect. ii. § 4,
§ Hist. Eccles. torn. vi. p. 129.

BEFORE THE SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY. 411

de Bruys, who made the most laudable attempts to re-
form the abuses and to remove the superstitions that dis-
figured the beautiful simplicity of the gospel," — insisted,
" That no persons whatever were to be baptized before

they came to the full use of their reason."* Hence

J. A. Fabricius calls the Petrobrussians, "the Anabap-
tists of that age."'!' — In the same century, according to
Venema, there was another sect of professing Christians,
denominated Publicans, who asserted, "That infants are
not to be baptized, till they arrive at years of under-
standing." The same historian mentions another de-
nomination of Christians in that age, called Arnoldists;
who, he says, " considered Paedobaptism in a different
light from that of the Romish church — Concernino; which
sect, Bernard exclaims, Utinam tarn sauce esset doctrincE^
quam districtcE vUcb/"^ — I will conclude this chapter
with the following concession of a Roman Catholic
writer, the principle of which will here apply. " No
true believer now doubts of purgatory; whereof, not-
withstanding, among the ancients there is very little or
no mention at all."^

* Eccles, Hist, cent.xii. part. ii. chap.v, §7.

t Bibliographia Antiq. p. 388. Hamb. 1716.

X Ut supra, p. 130, 131, 132. See Dupin, cent. xii. p. 88. 89.

§ In Morning Exercise against Popery, p. 251.

412 GROUNDS OF P^UOBAPTISrM,

CHAPTER III.

The high Opinion of the Fathers, concerning the Utilitif
of Baptism, and the Grounds on which they proceeded
in administering that Ordinance to Infants, when
P<2dobaptisni became a prevailiiig Practice.

ViTRiNGA. — ^"The ancient Christian church, from
the highest antiquity after the apostolic times, appears
generally to have thought, that baptism is absolutely
necessary for all that would be saved by the grace of
Jesus Christ. It was therefore customary in the an-
cient church, if infants were greatly afflicted and in dan-
ger of death ; or if parents were affected with a singu-
lar concern about the salvation of their children, to
present their infants, or children in their minority, to
the bishop to be baptized. But if these reasons did not
urge them, they thought it better, and more for the in-
terest of minors, that their baptism should be deferred
till they arrived at a more advanced age; which custom
was not yet abolished in the time of Austin, though he
vehemently urged the necessity of baptism, while with
all his might he defended the doctrines of grace against
Pelagius." Observat. Sac. tom. i. 1. ii. c. vi. § y.

2. Venema. — " The ancients connected a regene-
rating power, and a communication of the Spirit, with
baptism. Justin Martyr (Apol. ii. 79,) asserts it in ex-
press words; and to baptism he applies that saying of
our Lord, ' Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Be-
sides, (Contra Tryph. p. 231,) he asserts, ' that baptism
only can cleanse and purify a penitent;' where it is also
called, ' the water of life'. . . .Irenaeus (Advers. Haeres.
iii. 17,) says, ' That Christ gave to his disciples the power
of regenerating to God, when he sent them to baptize.'

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 413

And Clemens Alexandrinus (Paedag. i. 6,) says; ' Being
dipped, or baptized, we are illuminated; being illumi-
nated, we are adopted for sons; being adopted, we are
perfected; being perfected, we are rendered immortal:
whence baptism is called grace, illumination, and the
perfect laver,' which words he there explains. — The
doctrine of Tertullian is of a similar kind. Thus he
speaks, (De P^nit. c. vi.) ' A divine benefit, that is,
the abolition of offences, is ascertained to those that are
about to enter the water;' yet only in respect of such as
repent. In his book concerning baptism, he explains
his opinion more at large, and there attributes to the
water, by an union with the divine virtue, a sanctifying
power. . . .That baptism is connected with the remission
of antecedent sins, and confers a sanctifying power on
the person baptized, is the undoubted opinion of Cyprian,
which he every where inculcates, so that there is hardly
any need to produce the particular passages. In his
first epistle to Donatus he declares, that before his con-
version it seemed impossible to him, 'that a person should
all on a sudden put off sin, in the laver of the salutary
water,' which he himself had experienced; saying,
' Afterward, by the help of the generating water, the spots
of the former time are cleansed away ; a serene and a
pure light from above, infuses itself into the peaceful
breast; afterward a second birth, the Spirit being drawn
from heaven, restored me into a new man.' — In his
Ixiii'^ epistle, to Caecilius, he expressly says, ' By bap-
tism the Holy Spirit is received,' In his Ixx**" epistle, to
Januarius, he says, ' It is necessary, therefore, that the
water should be first purified and sanctified by the priest,
that he may be able, by the baptism which he adminis-
ters, to wash away the sins of a man who is baptized;'
where also many other things of a similar kind occur.
In his Ixxi^* epistle, to Quintus, he says; 'There is one
water in the holy church, which maketh sheep.' In his
Ixxii'^ epistle, to Stephanus, he apphes what our Lord

414 GROUNDS OF P^DOBAPTISM,

says (John iii.) concerning the necessity of regeneration,
to baptism. In his Ixxiii*^ epistle, to Jubaianus, these
remarkable words occur: ' Thence begins the origin of all
faith, the saving entrance to a hope of eternal life, and
a divine grant to purify and quicken the servants of
God :' soon after he also attributes the remission of sin,
and sanctification, to baptism, and applies to it John
iii. 5. In his Ixxiv'*" epistle, to Pompeius, he says, ' We
are born, in Christ, by the laver of generation. Water
only cannot purge away sins and sanctify a man, unless
it have also the Holy Spirit. It is baptism, in which
the old man dies and the new man is born.' Firmili-
anus also, in the Ixxv**" epistle, to Cyprian, among the
effects of baptism, particularly mentions, ' washing away
the filth of the old man, forgiving of old sins, that were
deserving of death ; making persons, by a heavenly rege-
neration, the sons of God; and a restoration to life
eternal, by the sanctification of the divine laver'....
Gregory Nazianzen declares, (Orat. xl. p. 653,) That
they who die unbaptized, without their own fault, go
neither to heaven nor hell ; but, if they have lived piously,
to a middle place." Hist. Eccles. torn. iii. secul. ii.
§ 124; sec. iii. §61; tom.iv. sec. iv. § 115.

3. Salmasius. — " An opinion prevailed, that no one
could be saved without being baptized; and for that
reason the custom arose of baptizing infants." Epist.
ad Justum Pacium, apud Van Dale Hist. Baptism.

4. Hospinianus. — " Austin, when writing against the
Pelagians, too inconsiderately consigns over the infants
of Christians to damnation that died without baptism.
There is nothing that he more zealously urges, nor any
thing on which he more firmly depends, than those
words of Christ, ' Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'"
Hist. Sacram. 1. ii. c. ii. p. 52.

5. Suicerus. — " We cannot deny, that many of the
ancients maintained the absolute necessity of baptism.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 415

Chrysostom says, ' It is impossible, without baptism, to
obtain the kingdom:' and soon after, ' It is impossible
to be saved without it'. . . .This opinion concerning the
absolute necessity of baptism, arose from a wrong un-
derstanding of our Lord's words; 'Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of heaven ' . . . . Chrysostom again says, ' If an
infant die without baptism, through the negligence of the
presbyter, wo to that presbyter ! but if, through the
negligence of the parents, wo to the parents of that in-
fant!'" Thesaur. Eccles. tom. i. p. 3, 650.

6. Episcopius. — " Paedobaptism was not accounted
a necessary rite, till it was determined so to be in the
Milevitan Council, held in the year four hundred and
eighteen." Institut. Theol. 1. iv. c. xiv.

7. Dr. Owen. — " Most of the ancients concluded, that
it [baptism] was no less necessary unto salvation than faith
or repentance itself." On Justification, chap. ii. p. 173.

8. Dr. Wall. — " If we except Tertullian — Vincen-
tius [A. D. 419] is the first man upon record that ever
said, that children might be saved without baptism; if
by being saved, we mean going to heaven; for that
many before him thought they would be in a state with-
out punishment, I have showed before .... All the an-
cient Christians, without the exception of one man,
do understand the rule of our Saviour, (John iii. 5,)
' Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God,' of baptism. I had occasion in the first Part to
bring a great many instances of their sayings, where all
that mention that text, from Justin Martyr down to St.
Austin, do so apply it ; and many more might be
brought. Neither did I ever see it otherwise applied in
any ancient writer. I believe Calvin was the first that
ever denied this place to mean baptism." Hist, of
Inf. Bap. parti, chap. xx. p. 232, 9>33; part ii. chap. vi.
p. 354.

416 GROUNDS OF P^DOBAPTISM,

REFLECTIONS.

Reflect. I. Though it is manifest from the conces-
sions and assertions of learned Paedobaptists in the
preceding chapter, that there is no evidence of infant
baptism before the time of Tertullian, by whom it was
opposed ; yet from these quotations it plainly appears,
that both he and others before him spake of baptism in
such a manner, as had a natural tendency to introduce
and promote Pasdobaptism. When Justin, for instance,
had learned to call baptism the ivater of life, and to in-
terpret John iii. 5, as relating to that institution ; when
Clement of Alexandria had ascribed to it an illummating
power, and connected adoption, perfection, and immor-
tality with it ; and when TertulHan had pronounced it
a divine blessing, which ascertains the abolition of sin,
and is attended with a sanctifying energy; it is no
wonder, that in the time of Cyprian it should be thought
necessary for infants to be baptized, and that Peedobap-
tism should become a prevailing practice. The language
of this venerable African is like that of Rupert, in the
twelfth century, who says : " Baptism is therefore called
tinctio, in Latin, because a man when baptized is, by
the Spirit of grace, altered for the better, and is rendered
very different from what he was before. He was a son
of death and of perdition ; he is made a child of life and
of acquisition. He was a son of hell ; he is made an
heir of God's kingdom. He was an enemy of God ; he
is reconciled and made a child of God."* A pernicious
opinion this, by whomsoever espoused ! The language
of Cyprian, and of others in following times, concerning
the energy of baptismal water, administered occasion
for the apostate Julian to reproach the Christians, with
reference to the solemn rite.f

It is worthy of observation, that while Cyprian stands

* Apud Magdeburg. Centur. cent. xii. p. 25"2.

t Vid. Biblioth Bremens. class, i. fascic. iii. p. 243.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 417

forth as the first patron of infant sprinkling, he appears
also as giving the sanction of his authority in favour of
holy water; asserting the necessity of having the bap-
tismal element consecrated by a priest, in order to render
it more effectual for the washing away of sin. See
No. 2.* — Austin and others, we find, in the following
times, proceeded a step farther than Cyprian ; and, not
contented with asserting at an CAtravagant rate the utility
of baptism, boldly maintained its absolute necessity :
consigning over to eternal ruin all such infants as died
without it. See No. 4, 5. — Now as both Cyprian and
Austin were x4.frican bishops, there is reason to conclude
with Grotius, " That anciently the baptism of infants
was much more common in Africa than in Asia, or
elsewhere; and with a greater opinion of its necessity, "f
So fond of baptism were the superstitious Africans, that,
as Deylingius informs us, they frequently baptized the
dead.J

Reflect. II. From the quotations before us it plainly
appears, that the baptism of infants was introduced and
prevailed, on the supposition of its being a necessary
mean of human happiness ; and that this weak surmise
was founded on a mistake of our Lord's meaning, in
John iii. 5. See No. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8. — ^In like manner a
misunderstanding of John vi. 53, produced infant com-
munion ; as we shall see in its proper place. — It is
worthy of remark, as Mr. Richards observes, that "those
words of our Lord were the principal texts that could be
thought of for some time, as proper to urge in their

* Vid. Quenstedium, Antiq. Bib. pars. i. cap, iv. sect. ii. num.i.
§ 13. The present form of consecrating baptismal water in the
Church of England is as follows : " Almighty everliving God ....
regard, we beseech thee, the supplications of thy congregation ;
sanctify this water to the mystical washing away of sin; and grant
that this child, now to be baptized therein, may receive the fulness
of thy grace," — and so on. Public Baptism of Infants.

f Apud Poli Synops. ad Mat. xix, 14.

% De Prudent. Pastoral, pars iii. c. iii. § 16,
VOL. I. 2 E *

418- GROUNDS OF P/EDOB APTISM,

favour. How vastly are the times altered since ! What
heaps of texts the modern advocates for these customs
are able to quote in support of them, which the ancients
could never think of; while those which the latter
thought the most favourable to their cause, are now-
deemed little, or nothing at all to the purpose ! What-
ever others may think of this circumstance, I must
confess that I cannot help looking upon it as rather
unfavourable to the cause of the usages in question ; for
had they been really commanded in scripture, one cannot
conceive why the ancients should not have been as well
acquainted with those commands as the moderns ; espe-
cially, as they must have been equally interested, and in
all probability took no less pains to find them out. But
by viewing both the customs as corruptions of Chris-
tianity, the circumstance at once ceases to be myste-
rious ; as it is well known that the ordinances of [men]
are capable of improvement; which is by no means the
case with those of Jesus Christ."*

In regard to John iii. 5, it may be observed, that had
our divine Teacher, when he declared it absolutely neces-
sary to be " born of water and of the Spirit," intended the
ordinance of baptism by the term water ; then indeed
the necessity of that institution would have unavoidably
followed, as being placed on a level with the renewing
agency of the Holy Spirit. But were that the sense of
our Lord, it would inevitably follow, that a positive rite
is of equal necessity with the renovating influence of the
Holy Spirit; that the salvation of infants, in many cases,
is rendered impossible, because numbers of them are no
sooner born than they expire ; that the eternal happiness
of all who die in their infancy must depend, not only on
the devout care of their parents, but also on the presence
and pious benevolence of administrators ; that all the
dying infants of Jews, of Mohammedans, and of Pagans,
are involved in final ruin ; and, that multitudes of adults

* History of Antichrist, p. SI.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 419

must also perish, merely for the want of baptism. But
who can imagine that the Lord should place our im-
mortal interests on such a footing, as neither tends to
illustrate the grace of God, nor to promote the comfort
of man, — on such a footing as is quite inimical to the
spirit of that maxim, by grace ye are saved; and
has no aptitude to excite virtuous tempers in the human
heart ? A sentiment of this kind is chiefly adapted to
enhance the importance of the clerical character, and to
make mankind consider themselves as under infinite ob-
ligations to a professional order of their fellow mortals,
for an interest in everlasting blessedness. — Remark-
ably strong is the following language of Mr. Arch. Hall
respecting this particular : " We might well say. Wo to
the earth! if it were in the power of a selfish and
peevish order of men, to dispose of happiness and damn-
ation according to their humour."* We may, therefore,
safely conclude, that the term water, in our Lord's con-
verse with Nicodemus, does not signify baptism ; and
consequently whatever its meaning be, the emphatical
passage neither enjoins nor encourages the administration
of baptism to infants. Hence it appears, that the main
foundation of Paedobaptism among the ancients was a
great mistake ; and as such it has long been deserted by
the generality of Calvinistic Psedobaptists.

Reflect. IIL That my reader may see in what an
important point of light baptism is considered by the
generality of modern Paedobaptists, and to convince him
that it is with an ill grace any of them charge us with laying
an unwarrantable stress upon it, the following extracts are
produced, partly from public formulas of doctrine and
worship, and partly from the writings of individuals.
Thus then the church of Rome, when speaking by the
Council of Trent. " If any one shall say that baptism

* Gospel Worship, vol. i. p. 288, See Mr. Bradbury's Duty
and Doct. of Bap. p. 19, 20.

2 E g

420 GROUNDS OF P^DOBAPTISM,

is — not necessary to salvation, let him be accursed ....
Sin, whether contracted by birth from our first parents,
or committed of ourselves, — by the admirable virtue of
this sacrament, is remitted and pardoned .... In bap-
tism, not only sins are remitted, but also all the punish-
ments of sins and wickedness are graciously pardoned of
God .... By virtue of this sacrament, we are not only
delivered from those evils which are truly said to be the
greatest of all, but also we are enriched w ith the best
and most excellent endowments ; for our souls are filled
with divine grace, whereby being made just and the
children of God, we are trained up to be heirs of eternal
salvation also. . . .To this is added a most noble train of
all virtues, which, together with grace, is poured of God
into the soul. . . .By baptism we are joined and knit to
Christ, as members to the head .... By baptism we are
signed with a character which can never be blotted out
of our soul, . . . Besides the other things which we obtain
by baptism, it opens to every one of us the gate of hea-
ven, which before, through sin, was shut."*

Cyril, the patriarch of Constantinople, expresses his
own faith, and that of the Greek church, respecting bap-
tism, in the follwing manner. " We believe that baptism
is a sacrament appointed by the Lord, which except a
person receive, he has no communion with Christ;
from whose death, burial, and resurrection, proceed all
the virtue and efficacy of baptism. We are certain,
therefore, that both original and actual sin is forgiven,
to 'those who are baptized in the manner which our Lord
requires in the gospel ; so that whoever is washed ' in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit,' is regenerated, cleansed, and justified."')" — Stap-
ferus, when speaking of the Greek church, says : " The

* Concil. Trident, sess. vii. can. v. Catechism of Council of
^>ent, p. 166— 175.

f Confess. Christ. Fidei, cap, xvi. A. D. 1631, ad calcem
Syntag, Confess, Fid. Genev. 16.'')4.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 421

Oriental Christians attributing too much efficacy to rites
and ceremonies, it is no wonder if they teach the absolute
necessity of baptism ; that without it no one can become
a real Christian; and that it cannot be omitted in re-
spect of infants without endangering their salvation : so
that, a priest being absent, and in case of necessity,
baptism may be administered by a layman, or by a
woman. For the same reason they also teach, that
there is an equal necessity of the Lord's supper; which,
therefore, they administer under both species to baptized
infants."*

Let us now examine the Protestant confessions, re-
specting this atFair. Thus, then, the Confession of Hel-
vetia: " To be baptized in the name of Christ, is to be
enrolled, entered, and received into the covenant and
family, and so into the inheritance of the sons of God ;
yea, and in this life, to be called after the name of God,
that is to say, to be called the sons of God, to be purged
also from the filthiness of sins, and to be endued with
the manifold grace of God, for to lead a new and inno-
cent life." Confession of Bohemia: "We believe,

that whatsoever by baptism — is in the outward ceremony
signified and witnessed, all that doth the Lord God per-
form inwardly; that is, that he washeth away sin, be-
getteth a man again, and bestoweth salvation upon him
.... For the bestowing of these excellent fruits was holy
baptism given and granted to the church. "^ Confes-
sion of Augsburg : " Concerning baptism they teach,
that it is necessary to salvation, as a ceremony ordained
of Christ ; also, that by baptism the grace of God is
offered." — —Confession of Saxony: '■^ I baptize thee;
that is, I do witness that, by this dipping, thy sins be
washed away, and that thou art now received of the true

God." Confession of Wittenburg: " We believe and

confess, that baptism is that sea, into the bottom where-
of, as the prophet saith, God doth cast all our sins.""

* Theolog. Polem. tom.v, p. 82.

422 GROUNDS OF P^DOB A PTISM,

Confession of Sueveland : " As touching baptism, we
confess, that it is the font of regeneration, washeth away
sins, and saveth us. But all these things we do so un-
derstand, as St. Peter doth interpret them, (1 Pet. iii.

21.)"* Church of England: " Baptism, wherein I

was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and
an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. . . .How many
sacraments hath Christ ordained in his church ? Two
only, as generally necessary to salvation ; that is to say,

baptism and the supper of the Lord."t Westminster

Assembly : " Before baptism, the minister is to use some
words of instruction,— ^showing, that it is instituted by
our Lord Jesus Christ ; that it is a seal of the covenant
of grace, of our ingrafting into Christ, and of our union
with him, of remission of sins, regeneration, adoption,
and life eternal." J — Such is the language of modern
Pagdobaptists in their public formulas.

The following extracts are from the writings of in-
dividuals of different communions. Thus that famous
reformer, Luther: "There is in the baptism of infants,
the beginning of faith and of a divine operation, in a

manner peculiar to themselves. "§ Gerhardus: "The

sacrament of baptism does not profit without faith;
nevertheless it is the efficacious mean by which God
of his grace works faith, regeneration, and salvation in

the hearts of infants." t| Buddeus : " All men should

be baptized, who are to be brought to eternal salvation
.... No one can be saved except by faith, as our Sa-
viour expressly declares. Now seeing infants cannot
be brought to faith by the preaching of God's word ;
it follows, that it must be effected in another way,
namely, by baptism : by which men are born again,
and so receive faith, as our Saviour declares. . . .The

* Harmony of Confessions, sect. xiii. p. 395 — 410.

f Catechism. | Directory, article Baptism,

§ ,\pufl Venem. Hist. Ecclcs. torn, vii, p. 107'.

II r.ori Tlunlog toni. iv. Do Hap. § lOh.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 423

effect of baptism, which has the nature of an end, is,
in respect of infants, regeneration. . . .That effect, there-
fore, which immediately results from baptism, consists
in regeneration, by which faith is produced in infants
.... In baptism a divine virtue is connected with the
water, and with the action conversant about it; which
is in a particular manner to be regarded .... Baptism
is not a mere sign and symbol, by which a reception
into the covenant of grace is denoted : but by regene-
ration, which baptism effects, we are realli/ received
into that covenant; and so are made partakers of all
the blessings peculiar to it. To which blessings (be-
sides remission of sins, or justification, renovation,
adoption into the number of God's children, a right
to the heavenly inheritance, and a certain hope of
eternal life) pertains communion with Christ, and with
his mystical body .... Concerning the highest necessity
of baptism, the thing itself will not suffer us to doubt;
seeing it is expressly asserted, that without it no one

shall enter the kingdom of heaven, (John iii. 5.)"*

Deylingius : " Baptism is the sacrament of initiation,
and, as it were, the gate of heaven; in which a man is
regenerated by the washing of water and the word of
God, purged from the guilt of sin, and declared to be
an heir of all celestial blessings .... If Christian parents
defer the baptism of their infants ; or, seized by the
spirit of Anabaptism, or of fanaticism, will not have
them baptized at all, — then, by the authority of the
consistory, or of the magistrate of the place, the infant
must be taken from the parents, and when initiated
by baptism returned to them.."')' — Vossius: " In in-
fants, upon whom the word has no efficacy, there is
room for the sacraments to generate faith in them;
without which no one shall see eternal life .... It is
manifest, that in baptism we are born again, adopted,

* Theolog. Dogmat. 1. v. c. i. § 5, 6, 7, 8, 10.
f De rrudent. Pastoral, pars, iii, c, iii. § 2, 15.

4^4 GROUNDS OF P.^DDBAPTISM,

received into the covenant of grace; and upon that
receive remission of sins, are renewed by the Holy

Spirit, and made heirs of the heavenly kingdom." *

Mr. Isaac Ambrose: "By baptism we are washed, we
are sanctified, we are justified, in the name of the Lord

Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."t Dr. Fiddes:

There is no " reason for excluding infants from baptism,
as it is a means of reinstating them in the favour of
God, or of conveying, in virtue of God's appointment,
inward and spiritual grace. . . .Baptism is a means of
conveying both pardoning and sanctifying grace, to
those who are qualified to receive it as they ought." :|:
Mr. Gee: "This sacrament of baptism doth con-
fer on the person baptized the grace of remission, of
adoption, and sanctification . . . .It is granted, that bap-
tism is ordinarily necessary to salvation; that God hath
made it the instrument of remission, of regeneration,
and of salvation to us."§ Anonymous: "It [bap-
tism] was ordained, that the baptized person might by
that solemnity pass from a state of nature, wherein he
was a child of wrath, into a state of adoption and grace,
V, herein he becomes a child of God .... Baptism was
instituted for a sign to seal unto baptized persons the
pardon of their sins, and to confer upon them a right
of inheritance unto everlasting life: but baptism hath
this effect upon infants, as well as upon adult persons;
for it washes them clean from original, as it doth men
and women both from actual and original sin. I say,
it washes them clean from original sin, and seals the
pardon of it, and the assurance of God's favour unto
them." 11 Dr. Waterland : " Baptism alone is suffi-
cient to make one a Christian, yea, and to keep him

* Disputat. de Bap. Disp. deSac. Efficac. § 46,47 ; disput. iv. § 9.

t Works, p. 196.

X Theolng. Pract. b. ii part ii. chap. i. p. 178, 181.

§ Preservative against Popery, title vii. p. 20, 33.

II Cases to Recover Dissenters, \o\. ii. p, 144, 445.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 425

such, even to his life's end; since it imprints an indelible
character in such a sense as never to need repeating."*
Dr. Whitby : " The end of baptism [is] the re-
mission of sins, and the effect of it justification, or the
absolution of the baptized person from his past sins."t
■ — ■■ — -Bp. Wilson: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. It was upon this declaration of the
eunuch, that he was baptized by Philip ; and if he was
sincere, (which Philip could not tell, nor pretend to
know his heart,) his sins were forgiven by that act of
Philip, (Acts xxii. 16.). . . .It would be wicked to say,
that the eunuch, by believing in Jesus Christ, would
have had his sins forgiven, though he had not been bap-
tized.":]: Dr. Featley: " BaTrrw, from whence baptize

is derived, signifieth as well to di/e, as to dip ; and it
may be, the Holy Ghost in the word baptism, hath
some reference to that signification, because by baptism
we change our hue. For as Varrow reporteth of a
river in Bceotia, that the water thereof turneth sheep
of a dark or dun colour into white; so the sheep of
Christ which are washed in the font of baptism, by
virtue of Christ's promise, though before they were of
never so dark, sad, or dirty colour, yet in their souls

become white and pure, and, as it were, new dyed.'^^ •

The reader will here excuse a remark, by way of query.
Would then the doctor have treated the Baptists in such
an illiberal manner as he has done, if he had, either by
dipping or sprinkling, thoroughly imbibed that excellent
dye of which he speaks? Or would his calumniating
pen have recorded the following sentence?. "The resort
of great multitudes of men and women together in the
evening, and going naked into rivers there to be dip-
ped and plunged, cannot be done without scandal." ||
What a pity it is, but the doctor had been soundly

* Discourse of Fundamentals^ p. 48.

f Note on Acts viii. 37. % Ibid. Acts viii. 41.

§ Dippers Dipt, p. 41, edit. 7. || Ibid. p.39.

4Q6 GROUNDS OF P.T:D0B A PTI S.AI,

plunged in Varro's Boeotian river ! It might have ren-
dered his mind more white, and his language more
fair, and then the Baptists would not have been so dirtily
handled by him. IVIr. Obadiah Wills expresses himself
thus : " Baptism is God's sheep-??2ark, as Mr. Ford
calls it, to distinguish those that are of his fold, from
such as graze in the wild common of the world."* It
is rather dubious, however, whether the excellent mark
will prove permanent; for this writer assures us, that
" the covenant of grace is not absolute and saving to
all that are once within it."t — Mr. Burkitt also, speak-
ing of infants under the notion of lambs, calls baptism
" Christ's ear-mark, by which Christ's sheep are dis-
tinguished from the devil's goats." J Thus happily have
these authors provided for the honour of baptism, when
the disciples of Christ are considered under the notion
of sheep; for it washes their fleeces and marks their
ears. § What Paedobaptists may think of such language,
from such pens, I cannot pretend to say ; but there is
reason to conclude, that were any of the Baptists to talk
at this rate, their conduct would be exploded with the
keenest ridicule.

Remarkable is the language of Dr. Scott, when
showing the import of Matt, xxviii. 19- Among other
things of a similar kind, he says : " By this commission,
Christ's ministers are authorized and constituted the
legal proxies of the Holy Trinity, in the stead of those
blessed persons, to seal the new covenant with the

* Inf. Bap. Asserted and Vindicated, p. 273,

f Ibid. p. 199. X I" Mr. Keach's Rector Rectified, p. 98.

§ Mr. Bingham tells us, from Clemens Alexandrinus, that some
of the ancient heretics, " when they had baptized men in water,
also made a mark upon their ears with fire ; so joining water bap-
tism and, as they imagined, baptism by fire together." Orig. Ec-
cles. b.x. chap, ii. §3. — The Jacobites and others of the Oriental
Christians make, with a hot iron, the figure of a cross on the fore-
heads of persons baptized. Vid. Hoornbeekii Miscel. Sue. 1. i.
c.xvii. § 16. Now these arc niark? indeed.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 427

baptismal sign to those whom they baptize ; and thereby
legally to oblige the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to
perform the promises of it to all those baptized persons
who perform the conditions of it.... When once we
have struck covenant with him [God] in baptism, we
have him fast obliged to us to perform his part of the
covenant, whenever we perform ours."* Pro.vies of the
Holy Trinity — Legally oblige the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit — God fast obliged to us. Peter tells us of some
who spake "great swelling words of vanity;" and it seems
as if the doctor had copied after them. — Mr. George
Whitetield, remarking on John iii. 5, asks and answers in
the following manner : " Does not this verse urge the
absolute necessity of water baptism? Yes, where it
may be had; but how God will deal with persons un-
baptized we cannot tell."']' — Mr. John Wesley, among
various other things of a similar kind, says : " If infants
are guilty of original sin, in the ordinary way they can-
not be saved, unless this be washed away by baptism." J
These extracts bring to remembrance an observation of
Buxtorf, relating to the opinion of Jewish rabbles about
the efficacy of circumcision. " It is almost incredible,"
says he, " how highly they extol circumcision ; how ar-
rogantly and impiously they are frequently boasting of
it; while they despise and condemn us, and all that are
uncircumcised. Among innumerable other things they
say, ' That circumcision is the cause why God hears
their prayers, but overlooks and neglects ours, we being
uncircumcised.' "§ A pernicious opinion, doubtless de-
serving the keenest censure. Nor was it without reason
that Mr. Walter Marshall gave the following caution :
*' Beware of making an idol of baptism, and putting it
in the place of Christ." ||

* Christian Life, vol. iii. p. 236, 238, Edinb. 1754.

f Works, vol, iv. p. 355, 356. + Preservative, p. 160.

§ Apud Basnagium, Exercit, Hist, Crit. p. 591,

II Myst. of Sanctificat. direct, xiii.

428 GROUNDS OF P.EDOBA PTISM,

The necessity of this caution will farther appear, by
the following extracts from Mr. Matthew Henry's Trea-
tise on Baptism, lately published. When speaking about
the ordinance itself, its obligation, and the privileges of
baptized persons, he has the following remarkable words :
" Such are the privileges which attend the ordinance,
that if our Master had bid us do some great thing, w ould
we not have done it, rather than come short of them ?
much more when he only saith unto us, wash and be
clean; wash and be Christians. . . .The gospel contains,
not only a doctrine but a covenant, and by baptism we
are brought into that covenant .... Baptism wrests the
keys of the heart out of the hands of the strong man
armed, that the possession may be surrendered to him
whose right it is. . . .The water of baptism is designed
for our cleansing from the spots and defilements of the
flesh.*.... In baptism our names are engraved upon
the breast-plate of this great High Priest. . . .This then is
the efficacy of baptism ; it is putting the child's name
into the gospel grant. . . .We are baptized into Christ's
death ; i. e. God doth in that ordinance, seal, confirm,
and make over to us, all the benefits of the death of
Christ. . . .Infant baptism speaks an hereditary relation
to Cod, that comes to us by descent. . . .Baptism seals
the promise of God's being to me a God, and that is
greatly encouraging ; but infant baptism increases the
encouragement, as it assures me of God being the God
of my fathers, and the God of my infancy." f

* Whether Mr. Henry confines the cleansing efficacy of baptis-
mal water to the pollution of actual sin, or whether he considers its
admirably purifying virtue as extending to innate depravity also,
is not very clear. If he includes both idea«, he attributes more to
baptism than Ambrose did ; who represents actual sin as taken
away by baptism, but hereditary depravity, by washing of the feet.
Apud Venem. Hist. Eccles. tom. iv, p. 122.

t Treatise on Bap. p. 12, 40, 42, 43, 59, 130, 170, 193, 201.
Mr. Bradbury says, That your children shall be sanctified " from
their mother's womb, \ipon their being received in this onlinance, is

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 429

Such are the language and sentiments of Mr. Henry,
respecting the utility of baptism ! Upon which I would
here observe, that we should not have been much sur-
prised, if after all this he had asserted, with the Council
of Trent, that baptism " opens to every one of us the
gate of heaven, which before, through sin, was shut;*
or if he had maintained, with many of the ancient fathers,
and with Mr. Dodwell of late, that it is by baptism the
soul is rendered immortal. f But as our Brethren often
refer us to the ancient rite of circumcision, and to the
writings of the Talmud, for instruction about the proper
subjects of baptism; so, who can tell, but the opinion
of Jewish rabbles, concerning the utility of circumci-
sion, may be of use to direct our enquiries in regard to
that of baptism ? and then, perhaps, we may have all
Mr. Henry says confirmed in a few words. Well, you
have their opinion, as expressed by one of them, in the
following extract : " So great is the virtue of the precept
concerning circumcision, that no circumcised person goes
down to hell or to purgatory.";}: — But what would our
opposers have said, had a posthumous work of the late
Dr. Gill, for instance, appeared, if it had been fraught
with such high-flown expressions as those of Mr. Henry,
concerning the vast importance and various utility of
baptism? They would have spoken, there is reason to
think, in some such manner as this : " The doctor
might well plead for his beloved immersion with all his
learning and zeal, while he imagined that such were its

making the blessing of the new covenant come by the will of men,
and of the will of the flesh, and not of God, But ' be not deceived;
God is not mocked.' Do not think so idly of those favours that
. come by his Spirit." Duty and Doctrine of Baptism, p. 19.

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, p, 175.

f " Many of the primitive fathers in the church explicitly main-
tained the natural mortality of the soul, which, according to them,
was only exempt from dissolution by baptism." Dr. Blaeklock's
Paraclesis, p, 298.

X Apud Witsium, Miscel. Sac. torn, ii. exercit.xxi. § 9,

430 GROUNDS OF P^DOBAPTISM,

blessed effects ; for, surely, he never could suppose that
a little water was equal to these advantages. It appears,
however, that while he bends his force to maintain a
darling practice, he grossly intrenches on the honour of
divine grace, for which he affected to be thought an
able, and a warm defender; that same favourite plung-
ing of his being represented by him, as little short of a
substitute for electing love, atoning blood, and sanctify-
ing influence. For, after having written many a long
page against the Arminians, it now appears, that he
considered the solemn dipping of a person in water, as
putting his name into the gospel grant — as wresting the
key of his heart out of the hands of Satan — as put-
ting him into the covenant — as writing his name on
the breast-plate of our great High Priest — as cleans-
ing him from the defilements of the flesh — as making
him a Christian — as sealing, confirming, and making
over to him, all the benefits of our Lord's death — and,
finally, as sealing the promise to him of God being
to him a God. Admirable plunging, truly! Who, on
such grounds, would not be dipped, aye, and dipped
again? Had but the doctor soundly proved all these
ipse dixits, we should no longer have objected against
immersion, as being either dangerous or indecent; but
have cheerfully submitted to it, though in the cold of
Russia and in the presence of ten thousand spectators."
— Such, I presume, would have been the remarks of our
opponents upon it. The reader perceives, however,
that it is not Dr. Gill, that it ia not any Baptist, but
Mr. Henry, who talks at this wonderful rate. So far,
indeed, are the Baptists in general from attributing more
efficacy to the divine appointment than their opposers
do, that it is manifest, from the preceding quotations,
their expectations from it are abundantly less. Nay,
the very learned Buddeus, who was a person of immense
reading, and well acquainted with their sentiments upon
the subject, charges them with greatly depreciating the

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 431

ordinance, in point of utility. His language is, " Their
principal error consists in considering baptism as a mere
s?g?i, or symbol, and not as an efficacious mean^ of ob-
taining grace."*

Though I am far from considering Mr. Henry as
avowing the natural consequences of his own positions,
and equally far from charging them upon him ; yet I
cannot but view the positions themselves as unwarrant-
able, extravagant, and of a dangerous tendency. They
remind me of the virtues attributed, both by ancients and
moderns, to the sign of the cross. Thus, for example,
Cyprian : " In this sign of the cross, there is salvation
to all who have this mark in their foreheads." t Am-
brose: " All prosperity is in one sign of Christ. He
that sows in it, shall have a crop of eternal hfe ; he that
journies in it, shall arrive at heaven at last."^ — Once
more : A Roman Catholic author teaches how the most
ignorant persons may become true believers, by making
the sign of the cross. "§ — Now^ I feel myself no more dis-
posed to believe that baptism is the mean of conveying to
infants, or to adults, all those capital blessings of which,
among a thousand others, Mr. Henry speaks, than I do
to receive this doctrine concerning the sign of the cross;
or to adopt the notion of ancient Pagans, when they
teach, that the use of salt and water purifies the heart; ||
or to imagine, with some of the Roman Catholics, that
baptized bells have a mighty efficacy to frighten away
devils from their vicinity. ^ Yet, calculated as the
language and sentiments of Mr. Henry are, to excite in
the breasts of ignorant persons a deceitful dependence
on the baptismal rite, it is manifest from ecclesiastical
records, that things of a similar kind, and often, if pos-

* Theolog. Dogmat. 1. v, c. i. § 21.

f In Mr.Polhill's Discourse on Schism, p. 62. % Ibid.

§ In Mr, Clarkson's Pract. Div. of Papists, p. 118

II See Mr. Weston's Reject, of Christ. Miracles, p. 357.

^ In Hist, of Popery, vol. i. p. 255.

432 GROUNDS OF P/EDOBAPTISM,

sible, more grossly erroneous, have been asserted by
Paedobaptists in every age, from the time of Cyprian
to the present day. And, indeed, when it is con-
sidered, that an unwarrantable opinion about the ne-
cessity of baptism, seems to have laid the foundation
for baptizing infants, it is no wonder that Paedo-
baptists, both ancient and modern, should frequently
represent that practice as vastly important. To a dan-
gerous mistake of this kind, the espousers of infant bap-
tism are apparently more liable, than such as baptize
those only who make a profession of repentance and
faith ; for no Baptist minister, without notoriously con-
fronting the grand principle on which he proceeds in
administering the solemn rite, can ever teach that baptism
is a mean of producing those great effects which ]\lr.
Henry and a thousand others have mentioned. To
maintain, with a resolute perseverance, that the laws of
Christ relating to a positive institution should be strictly
observed, is one thing; to insist upon it, or to insinuate
that baptism, to whomsoever administered, is the medium
of procuring those blessings to which we advert, is an-
other. The former is our indispensable duty; the latter
is pregnant with dangerous consequences.

Reflect. IV. That baptism is of real importance to
the church of Christ, and that believers, in a cheerful
submission to it, have reason to expect a blessing, we
firmly maintain; but that infant baptism is big with
much greater advantages than adult baptism, as ]\Ir.
Henry insists, we cannot admit. His words are as fol-
low : " That which shakes many in the doctrine of infant
baptism, is the uselessness (as they apprehend) of the
administration, and the mighty advantages which they
fancy in adult baptism. But before they conclude thus,
they would do well to answer Dr. Ford's proof of this
truth. That there is ijiuch more advantage to be made,
in order to sanctitication, consolation, and several other
ways, of the doctrine and practice of infant baptism,

AS PRACTISED BY THE A XCI ENI'S. 433

than of that doctrine and practice, which Hmits bap-
tism to personal profession at years of discretion."* —
Though there are few assertions in this respectable au-
thor's treatise, that have less pretence to evidence from
scripture than the passage here produced, yet he speaks
with an uncommon degree of assurance. This reminds
me of what I have somewhere seen remarked concern-
ing Bellarmine. That zealous cardinal, it has been ob-
served, when he had the least appearance of reason, or
of scripture, for what he was going to say, commonly
assumed the most confident airs, and was pretty sure to
introduce it with a proculdubio.^ Now, though we can-
not accept of Mr. Henry's challenge to answer Dr.
Ford's arguments in defence of this bold position, because
we do not know what they vvere; yet we will suggest a
few thoughts against the position itself, and leave the
reader to judge.

What then can be the reason of infant baptism
being much more advantageous than adult baptism ?
Mr. Baxter himself shall answer for us, by giving a
general negative to the bold assertion. " LJpon my
first serious study,'' says he, " I presently discerned, that
infants vvere not capable of every benefit by baptism, as
are the aged.";]] — To be more particular. Is infant bap-
tism of greater advantage than that of adults, because it
is more solemn ? If we appeal to Dr. Wall, his answer
will be; '' The baptism of an infant cannot have all the
solemnity, which that of an adult person may have. The
previous fasting and prayer, the penitential confessions,
the zeal and humility and deep affection of the receiver,
may be visible there, which cannot be in the case of an
infant."^ — Is it because infants are better capable of
reilectino; on the nature, the design, the oblisation of
baptism, than adults; or because they are more proper

* Treatise on Baptisnij p, 179.

\ Antisozzo, p. 545. % Plain Sciip. Proof, Pref. p. 2.

§ Defence of Hist. Inf. Bap, p. 40i.
VOL, I. 2 F

434 GROUNDS OF P^DOBAPTISM,

subjects of ministerial exhortation ? None will pretend
the one or the other. — Peter speaks of baptized per-
sons having the answer of a good conscience toicards God ;
and Mr. T. Bradbury tells us, " that the benefit which
arises from this ordinance is owing to the answer of a
good conscience." * Is it, then, because infants have a
better conscience, and make a better ansiver, than be-
lieving adults? That cannot be; for as the minds of
mere infants are not capable of comparing their own
conduct with the rule of duty, they have, properly
speaking, no conscience at all. Our Brethren, indeed,
frequently speak of covena?iting with God in baptism :
but mere infants are totally ignorant; and Mr. Baxter
tells us, " It is a known rule in law, that consensus non
est ignorantisy'\ The language of common sense, as
well as of casuists, is; " That infants are not capable of
contracting,":}: either with God or man. — Is it because
the conscience of a person is more tenderly affected, by
considering what was done for him, while incapable of
moral agency; than by reflecting on what was done by
him and upon him, with the full consent of his will? To
suppose any such thing insults the understanding and
feelings of mankind. For, as Bp. Sanderson observes,
" In personal obligations, no man is bound without his
own consent; — and a spiritual obligation, which is in the
conscience, must necessarily be personal, as every one's
conscience is his own; and such an obligation cannot
pass into another person. "§ Children, when arrived at
years of discretion, may be told, that they covenanted

* Duty and Doct. of Bap. p. 9.

f Disputat. of Right to Sac. p. 9.

X Dr. Ames, De Conscientia, 1. v.c, xlii. § 2. Li mborch informs
us, that Peter Auterius, an eminent minister among the Albigenses,
was accused and condemned by the Court of Inquisition, for saying,
among other things, " That water baptism performed by the church
is of no use to children, because they do not consent} nay, they
weep." Hist. Inquisit. 1. i. c. viii. p. 31.

§ De Juramenti Obligatione, prselect. iv, §9.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 435

with God when baptized in their infancy; but as en-
gaging to be the Lord's is a personal thing, and as they
could have no idea of such transaction at the time of
their baptism, so they cannot have any recollection of
it: consequently, their consciences cannot feel an obli-
gation in that respect, as those of baptized believers
may and ought. — The writer of these pages takes it for
granted, that the register of a certain parish bears testi-
mony to his having had something done for him in his
infancy, called baptism, attended with all the formalities
of proxies, of thanksgivings for his being then regenerated,
and so on; but he knows nothing about it, except by re-
port. Nay, though he had no doubts concerning the va-
lidity of his infant sprinkling till he was grown up; and,
through divine goodness, he had abiding impressions upon
his mind, relating to his best interests, from the earliest
period of hi '. present remembrance ; yet he does not re-
collect a single instance of his conscience feeling itself
under any obligation, in virtue of those transactions. He
considers it as very strange, and quite unprecedented in
the sacred volume, that any one should have a positive
rite administered to him according to divine appointment
— a rite which must not be repeated ; and that the reci-
pient, through the whole of his life, should entirely de-
pend upon testimony for all that he knows about the
fact. This, it is plain, was not the case of those infants
that were circumcised. They had no occasion to enquire
of a parent, of any senior, or of a register, whether the
sign of circumcision had passed upon them; because,
from the earliest dawn of reason, to the latest period of
life, the unequivocal mark was retained in their own
persons.

Farther: It is of importance here to observe, what
our opposers themselves, I think, will allow^ That the
proper standard of usefulness, in regard to any positive
rite, is, not our own fancies, or feelings, or reason, but
divine revelation; and that even an unscriptural cere-

436 GROUNDS OF P^DOBAPTISM,

mony may, through the kindness of Providence, become
the occasion of spiritual advantage to one or another.
For, without intending an invidious comparison, and
merely for the sake of argument, it may be asked ;
Whether it can be asserted with prudence, that none of
the Papal superstitions were ever improved by Provi-
dence, as occasions of lasting spiritual benefit to any
one? But yet, as Mr. Stoddart observes, " If men act
according to their own humours and fancies, and do not
keep in the way of obedience, it is presumption to expect
God's blessing. ' In vain do they worship me, teach-
ing for doctrines the commandments of men.'"* I will
add, in the words of that great man, Mr. Jonath. Ed-
wards; " Though we are to eye the providence of God,
and not disregard his works, yet to interpret them to a
sense, or apply them to a use, inconsistent with the scope
of the word of God, is a misconstruction and misappli-
cation of them. God has not given us his providence,
but his word, to be our governing rule. God is sove-
reign in his dispensations of providence. He bestowed
the blessing on Jacob, even when he had a lie in his
mouth: he was pleased to meet with Solomon, and
make known himself to him, and bless him in an extra-
ordinary manner, while he was worshipping in a high
place: he met with Saul, when in a course of violent
opposition to him, and out of the way of his duty to the
highest degree, going to Damascus to persecute Christ;
and even then bestowed the greatest blessing upon him,
that perhaps ever was bestowed on a mere man. The
conduct of divine Providence, with its reasons, is too
little understood by us, to be improved as our rule.''^
Candid and cautious is the following declaration of Dr.
Owen: " I do not know how far God may accept of
churches in a very corrupt state, and of worship much

* In Mr, Jonath. Edward's Enciuiry into Qualif. for Commu-
nion, p. 117.

f Ut supra^ p. 131.

AS PPACTISED BY THK AXCIENTS. 43?

depraved, until they have new means for their reform-
ation. Nor will I make any judgment of persons, as
unto their eternal condition, who walk in churches so
corrupted, and in the performance of worship so de-
praved."* Farther: Were the dupes of Papal superstition,
or our Brethren of the English Establishment asked, what
advantage they have, in comparison with us Dissenters;
they, very likely, would answer with Paul in another case,
" Much, every way." They would also, no doubt, men-
t^'n a variety of particulars, to prove that their forms and
rites are far better adapted to exercise devotional dispo-
sitions; and so to promote sanctification, consolation,
and so on, than those of Dissenters. But would Mr.
Henry have considered such pretences as any kind of
proof, that those forms and ceremonies are warranted of
God? No, he would have been ready to say, " Show
us your authority for them in our only rule of religious
worship, and then tell us how useful they are."

These things being observed, we add; If infant bap-
tism be so very useful, the apostles must have known it
as well, and have esteemed it as highly, as our author
himself. But have they acted as if they thus knew and
esteemed it? Their immortal writino;s make a consider-
able volume ; and in that heavenly volume they have
recorded their own faith and their own practice. Con-
scious of being amanuenses to the Spirit of wisdom, they
intended that sacred book should be considered as a
body of doctrine and a complete code of law for the
church in every succeeding age. This being the case, it is
quite natural to think, that infant baptism should make
a capital figure in such a system of theological doctrine,
of spiritual privilege, and of religious duty, if they had
known and viewed it in that very advantageous point of
light which Mr. Henry did. That they expressly men-
tion the baptism of adults, is allowed by all ; and that
their baptism is represented in the New Testament as
* Enquiry into the Orig. of Churches, p. 168.

438 GROUMDS OF P^DOBAPTISM,

instructive and useful, is denied by few: consequently,
if the baptism of infants be much more adapted to pro-
mote sanctification and consolation than the baptism of
those who profess faith, it is but reasonable to suppose,
that the apostles would insist upon it in a degree propor-
tional to its greater importance. But is it a fact, that
Pasdobaptism itself, and the benefits resulting from it,
make such a conspicuous figure in the apostolic writ-
ings? That the apostles mention baptism, and inform us
of great numbers who were baptized, are facts ; bift
where do they mention infant baptism ? That they men-
tion the ordinance as containing matter of instruction,
motives to holiness, and grounds of exhortation, in refer-
ence to baptized believers, is a fact;*' but Mhere is Pasdo-
baptism represented by them, as containing any of these
things, with regard to children when they grow up?
That they mention baptism as affording grounds of re-
proof to disorderly professors, is a fact ;f but where do
they mention P^edobaptism as ministering reproof to
Christian parents for neglecting the education of their
children? That they exhort and caution believing pa-
rents respecting their children, is a fact; but where do
they fetch their motives from infant baptism? That
they exhort and charge children to be dutiful to their
parents, is also a fact; but where do they remind chil-
dren of their filial obligations being enforced by having
been baptized in their infancy, or exhort them on that
ground? Yet, had Paedobaptism been then practised,
and had it been attended with such vast advantages as
our author pretends, it might, perhaps, have been as
pertinently urged as the latter pari of the fifth command,
on account of its being more precisely agreeable to the
gospel dispensation.;]; Mr. Henry, it is })lain, did not
fail to exhort both parents and children on the ground

* Rom. vi. 1— 5 ; 1 Cor. i. l'^— 16, and xv. 29 ; Col. ii. 12 ;
iPet. iii. 21.

■\ 1 Cor. i. 12—16. X St^e Ej)h, vi. I, 2, 3.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 439

of infant baptism. No, he treats it as a capital source
of motives, by which to enforce the performance of both
parental and fiHal duty, though the apostles have not
said a word about it in any of their exhortations. Can-
dour forbids my supposing, that he thought himself,
either more wise in the choice of his arguments, or more
zealous in the application of them to practical purposes,
than those ambassadors of Christ: but yet every one
ip^y see a remarkable difference between their conduct
and his, in this respect; which difference must have had
an adequate cause. I cannot help thinking, therefore,
that either the inspired writers knew nothing at all of
Psedobaptism, or had a very mean opinion of it; for
it seems unaccountably strange, that they should all
have approved the practice, and yet all agree, on such
a variety of occasions, in saying nothing about it. But
supposing it was practised by them, and that they con-
sidered it as much more advantageous than the baptism
of believers, their conduct is yet more amazingly strange;
because they expressly apply the latter to practical
purposes, though entirely silent about the former: — an
example this, which our opponents are not inclined to
imitate. Peruse the writings of modern Paidobaptists,
and you plainly perceive the advantages resulting from
baptism, almost entirely confined to that of infants. Con-
sult the apostolic records, and you find them all connected
with the baptism of adults. We may now venture
an appeal to the reader, whether he would not sus-
pect any unknown author of being a Baptist, were he
to find him treating on all the various topics lately enu-
merated, and yet perceive that he is quite silent about
infant baptism?

The following passages from learned Pasdobaptists,
mutatis mutandis, will here apply in all their force.
Anonymous: "The signing one's self with the cross
hath neither command nor example in scripture, nor

440 GROUNDS OF P^:D0B A PTISM,

any promise of any special grace or benefit, to be there-
upon conferred; therefore, there is no reason to expect
any such extraordinary virtues or assistance from using

the same."* Mr. ChiUingworth : "Give me leave

to wonder — that so great a part of the New Testament
should be employed about antichrist, and so little, and

indeed none at all, about the vicar of Christ."'!' ■

Dr. Cave: "The places [of scripture] usually alleged
to make good their claim [of Papal supremacy,] av,?
so far-fetched, and so little to their purpose, that
they contain alone a strong presumption against
them ; and their own authors sometimes speak of them
with great distrust. Here, if any where, sure, we
may safely argue, without daring to prescribe rules
to the most High, That in a matter of so great mo-
ment, had it been designed, it would have been most

explicitly delivered, and solemnly inculcated.":}:

Bishop Stratford: " Were it so good and profitable
to invoke the saints, as the Council of Trent teaches,
it is strange that so great a lover of mankind as St.
Paul, when he so frequently commands us to pray, and
hath left us so many directions concerning prayer,
should wholly forget to teach us this lesson. Can it be
supposed a worship so pleasing to God, when Crod hath
not given us the least intimation in his word that it is
so? For that it hath no foundation in scripture we may
be assured, when so great a man as cardinal Perron
acknowledges, that neither precept nor example is there
to be found for it; and when other learned doctors of
that church, not only confess the same, but also give us
several reasons why no mention is made of it, either in

the Old or New Testament." § Turrettinus : "The

invocation of saints has neither precept, nor promise,

* History of Popery, vcl. i. p. 110.

t Relig. of Protest, p. 450.

J Preservative against Popery, title i. p. 137.

§ Preserv. against Popery, title i. p.^8.

AS PRACTISEP BY THE ANCIENTS. 441

nor example in scripture on which it rests ; and, there-
fore, it is no other than vicious and condemnable will-
M'orship. The invocation of God is abundantly urged ; but

the invocation of creatures is no where mentioned."*

Chemnitius: " There is not in all the holy scripture
any passage which teaches the invocation of saints; no
command is found that requires departed saints to be
invoked; there is no promise that such invocation
shall be acceptable to God, and efficacious; that is,
heard, so as to obtain grace and assistance; there
is no example in scripture of departed saints being in-
voked by godly persons ; there is no threatening in
scripture, nor any example of punishment, against them

who do not invocate the saints." f -Once more:

Archbishop Tillotson says : " Does either our Saviour,
or his apostles, in all their particular directions con-
cerning prayer — give the least intimation of praying
to the virgin Mary, or making use of her mediation?
And can any man believe, that if this had been the
practice of the church from the beginning, our Saviour
and his apostles would have been so silent about so con-
siderable a part of religion ? insomuch that, in all the
epistles of the apostles, I do not remember that her
name is so much as once mentioned. And yet the
worship of her is at this day, in the church of Rome,
and hath been so for several ages, a main part of their
public worship; — in w'hich it is usual with them to say
ten Ave Mmies for one Pater Noster ; that is, for one
prayer they make to almighty God, they make ten ad-
dresses to the blessed virgin .... He that considers this,
and had never seen the Bible, would be apt to think,
that there had been more said concerning her in scrip-
ture, than either concerning God or our blessed Sa-
viour; and that the New Testament were full from one
end to the other of precepts and exhortations to the

* Institut. loCi xi. quaest. vii. § Vi.
t Exam. Concil Trident;, p. 611.
VOL. I. 2 G

44^ GROUNDS OF P^DOBAPTISM, •

worshipping of her: and yet, when all is done, I chal-
lenge any man to show me so much as one sentence
in the whole Bible that sounds that way; and there is
as little in the Christian writers of the first three hundred
years."* — Ten addresses to the virgin Mary for one to
the divine Majesty, says our learned author. So we may
say, ten, or rather a hundred infants are sprinkled in
these kingdoms, for one person that is immersed on a pro-
fession of faith; and, to our great discouragement, Mr.
Henry tells us, that when an adult is baptized on such
profession, it is far from being so advantageous to him,
as pouring or sprinkling is to an infant. Now, " he that
considers this, and had never seen the Bible, would be
apt to think, that there had been more said concerning
[Pa?dobapti5m] in scripture, than [about the baptism of
adults;] and that the New Testament was full, from
one end to the other, of precepts and exhortations to
the [practice of infant sprinkling:] and yet when all
is done, I challenge any man to show me one sentence
in the whole Bible," by which it is either enjoined
or exemplified. How much, alas, is our complaint
like that of Tillotson, " Ten Ave Maries for one Pater
Noster ! "

Once more: Mr. Peirce and Dr. Priestley tell us,
that various and great advantages would probably attend
the revival of infant communion among us, and labour
to restore the practice in this country from that con-
sideration. Were Mr. Henry now living, we might,
therefore, venture to return his challenge, by saying;
Let him answer the arguments produced by Mr. Peirce
in favour of that hypothesis, without subverting his own
for the utility of infant baptism : for it is plain to us,
that most of the principles on which he proceeds to
prove the benefits of P^cdobaptism, would equally apply
to infant communion. — In a word; either the baptism of
infants has been sadly misrepresented by the generality
* Preservative against Popery, title iii. p. ^33.

AS PRACTISED BY THE ANCIENTS. 443

of those who have pleaded for it, since the time of
Cyprian; or it is calculated to do immense mischief to
the souls of men, by leading persons to imagine, that
they were born again, cleansed from sin, interested in
all the benefits of our Lord's death, and made heirs of
heaven, by what was done for them while destitute of
reason — done for them, in many cases, by ungodly
priests and profligate sponsors. For, as Dr. Owen has
well observed, the father of lies himself could not easily
iVdve invented a more deadly poison for the souls of sin-
ners ; as they are taught, by these unscriptural dogmas,
to rest satisfied with a supposed regeneration by their
baptism.*

* Theologoumena, 1. vi. c. v. § 3. Brem.

END OF VOL. I.

T. Bensley, Printer, 9, Crane-court, Fleet-street.

J