sistance which he receives from the deacons of the church. In this point of view, it is their duty, 1. to be labourers together with him; and, 2. by their kind, affectionate, and respectful behaviour towards him, and manner of speaking of him at all times, and especially in their families, which we also recommend to all Christian heads of families, to secure and increase that veneration of the younger part of the congregation for his person and labours, which is essential to his usefulness. On the same account we

of being a genuine believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"When the late Rev. Claudius Bu

chanan was conversing with the Bishop of the Syrian churches, respecting the from the church of Rome, the Doctor churches in England who had separated

says,

This led to the mention of the

different sects. Those who most interested him were the Quakers and Bar TISTS. He said, it was an imposing idea

to WASH THE BODY WITH WATER TO

BEGIN A NEW LIFE. He asked, whether they were baptized again every time they relapsed into sin, and known apostasy.'* He might have been informed, perhaps the principle of ONE BAPTISM,' and he was, that the Baptists strictly adopt therefore contend, if a person has been immersed in water, in the name of the Holy Trinity, on a credible profession of repentance and faith, that it is never to be repeated; even should the person afterwards declare that at the time of his baptism he was not a real, though a professed, believer in the Lord Jesus Christ."

The following note is subjoined, which contains some curious facts.

equally recommend to the younger part of our brethren in the ministry, in addition to the advice quoted by the author, p. 91, from Dr. Collyer's Charge to Mr. Raffles, not to let any man despise their youth, but to attend to the exhortation of the apostle Paul to Timothy, as paraphrased by the excellent Dr. Doddridge, "Let thy whole behaviour command a reverence to it, while others see that, young as thou art in years, thou art old in wisdom, piety, and "In the year 1813, the writer asked universal goodness. Be thou there-chanan,) in relation to the above statethe author of the Researches, (Dr. Bu fore an example to all the faithful, in ment, Whether the Bishop's surprise prudent and useful speech, in a grave, arose from being told of the immersion steady, and consistent conversation, practised by the English Baptists?' He in unbounded love, in a candid yet at the same time reminded the Doctor of zealous spirit, in uniform and incor- what the Rev. Dr. Wall had said in his ruptible fidelity, and in unspotted History of Infant Baptism, (Part II. purity, by which all suspicion of Chap. ix. p. 463,) All those countries in evil shall be avoided, and even all which the usurped power of the Pope is, or occasion of apology superseded." has formerly been owned, have LEFT OFF dipping in the font; but all other countries in the world, which never regarded his authority, DO IT.' The writer added, Now, Sir, if sprinkling has obtained among the Syrian churches, seeing they have never been subject to THIS Tract, which contains only the usurped power of the Pope, the fact eight pages, is well adapted for ge-stated by Dr. Wall will be contradicted, neral circulation. We copy the commencing paragraph.

An Answer to the Question, "What are the distinguishing Tenets of the Baptists?"

STILL USE

and I candidly acknowledge that I shall be at a loss to account for its existence.'

The Doctor replied, The fonts are quite large enough for immersion;' intimating, as the writer understood him, that they still used the primitive rite, and had not, like the national churches in Europe,

"It is rather singular, after so much has been published by the Baptists in England, for upwards of two hundred years, that so many persons are totally unacquainted with their distinguishing principles. A Baptist Minister was lately asked by a person of exalted rank, Why is it that you do not baptize persons until they are twenty-one years of age? This Nobleman was informed, that the age of a person was of no consideration with the Baptists, it giving them no concern whether he was a child, or a person of grey hairs, provided he gave evidence | Vol. I. p. 111, 112.

LEFT IT OFF. This conclusion is confirmed by what is said in the Researches, (see letter dated Cande-nad, 25th Nov.) in which the Doctor says, "We next had some conversation concerning forms of worship; whether Christ intended that

Ecclesiastical Researches in sig

his church should have the same form | baptize in the name of the Father, and of

under the burning line, and in a country of frost and snow?' To what other forms of worship' than immersion and sprinkling could this possibly refer? The letter from which this conversation is quoted, may be found in the first nine editions of the Ecclesiastical Researches ; the tenth, edited by Dr. Buchanan, about a year before his death, does not contain it; nor the eleventh, which has been lately printed from it."

"For the information of those persons who cannot procure larger works, the following statement is extracted from an excellent work, entitled, ADAMS'S VIEW OF RELIGIONS.

BAPTISTS, OF ANTIPEDO-BAYTISTS. This denomination of Christians is distinguished from others by their opinions respecting the mode and subjects of baptism.

the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt, xxviii. 18-20. This construction of the commission, they contend, is confirmed by the different words in which another Evangelist expresses it: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved. Mark xvi. 16. To such persons, and to such only, they say, baptism was administered by the apos tles, and the immediate disciples of Christ; for they are described as repenting of their sins, as believing in Christ, and as having gladly received the word; and without these qualifications, Peter acquaints those who were converted by his sermon, that he could not have admitted them to baptism. Acts ii. 38-41, Philip holds the same language in his discourse with the eu nuch; Acts viii. 36-39; and Paul treats Lydia, the jailor, and others, in the same manner. Acts x. xvi. xviii. Without these qualifications, Christians in general think it wrong to admit persons to the Lord's Supper; and for the same reasons, without these qualifica tions, at least a [credible] profession of them, the Baptists think it wrong to admit any to baptism.

« Instead of administering the ordinance by sprinkling or pouring water, they maintain that it ought to be administered only by immersion. Such they insist is the meaning of Barrio ; 0 that a command to baptize is a command to immerse. Thus, they say, it was understood by those who first administered it. John the Baptist, and the Apostles of Christ, administered it in Jordan, and They farther insist, that all positive other rivers and places where there was institutions depend entirely upon the will much water. Matt. iii. 13-17. John iii. and declaration of the institutor; and 23. Both the administrators and the that therefore, reasoning by analogy subjects are described as going down from previous abrogated rites is to be reinto, and coming up again out of thejected, and the express commands of water. Matt. iii. 16. Acts viii. 36-39. And the baptized are said to be buried in baptism, and to be raised again; Rom. vi. 3-5. Col. ii. 12; which language could not, they suppose, be properly adopted on supposition of the ordinance being administered in any other manner than by immersion. Thus, they affirm, it was administered in the primitive church; thus it is now administered in the Russian and Greek churches; and thus it is at this day directed to be adminis. tered in the church of England, to all who are thought capable of submitting

to it in this manner.

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“ ، With regard to the subjects of | baptism, the Baptists say that it ought not to be administered to children or infants at all; nor to grown-up persons in general; but to adults who profess repentance for sin, and faith in Christ, and to them only. Our Saviour's commission to his apostles, by which Christian baptism was instituted, is to go and teach all nations, baptizing them ; that is, | say they, not to baptize all they meet with, but first to instruct them; and whoever receives the instruction, him to

Christ respecting the mode and subjects of baptism ought to be our only rule.

"The Baptists in England form one of the three denominations of Protestant Dissenters. They separate from the establishment for the same reasons as their brethren of the other denominations

do, with whom they are united, and from additional motives, derived from their particular tenets concerning baptism. The constitution of their churches, and their modes of worship, are Congregational, or Independent; in the exercise of with all other Dissenters, by the Act of which they are protected, in common Toleration. Before this they were liable to pains and penalties, as non-conformists, and often for their peculiar sentiments as Baptists. A proclamation was, issued ont against them, and some of them were burnt in Smithfield in 1538 They bore a considerable share in the persecutions of the seventeenth and preceding centuries, and it should seem in those of some centuries before ; for there were several among the Lollards and Wickliffites who disapproved of infant baptism. There were many of this pers

suasion among the Protestants and Reformers abroad. In Holland, Germany, and the North, they went by the names of Anabaptists, and Mennonites; and in Piedmont, and the South, they were found among the Albigenses and Waldenses.

land. Those in Scotland, having imbibed a considerable part of the principles of Messrs. Glas and Sandeman, have no communion with the others. When the English Baptists engaged in a Mission to the East, however, they liberally contributed towards it, especially to the translation of the scriptures into the Bengalee language.'

"Since the above article was written, the Baptists have very much increased in both the Indies; and the Missionaries, principally at Serampore, have transla

"To those who make their history as a denomination to have originated in the turbulent excesses of Munster, they answer, If it were so, it is no disgrace to our principles, unless they could be proved to favour such excesses; nor to those who hold them, unless they are guilty of theted the scriptures, either in whole or in same things: but they deny that it is so; for that the disturbances did not originate with the people called Anabaptists, (or Mennonites ;) that those who bore this name (who were guilty of those excesses,) practised sprinkling: and that Antipædobaptism was known many centuries before they existed.

"The Baptists subsist under two denominations, viz. the Particular, or Calvinistical; and the General, or Arminian. The former is by far the most numerous. Some of each denomination allow of mixed communion with Pædobaptists, others disallow it:t and some few of them observe the seventh day of the week as the sabbath, apprehending the law that enjoined it, not to have been repealed by Christ, or his apostles.

"A considerable number of the General Baptists have gone into Socinianism, or Arianism, on account of which, several of their ministers and churches, who disapprove of those principles, have, within the last forty years [1805] formed themselves into a distinct connection, called, THE NEW CONNECTION,'

"The Baptists in America, and in the East and West Indies, are chiefly Calvinists, and hold occasional fellowship with the Particular Baptist churches in Eng

*For several years in England they were called Anabaptists, because their opponents charged them with repeating baptism. As however they consider infant-baptism as a mere nullity, they disclaim this term as unjust and reproachful. There are not any now, except those who are very ignorant or bigotted, that call them by this name."

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+ "This part of the description is not exactly correct. There are none of the General Baptist Churches that admit of mixed communion: there are a few of the Particular Baptists who do; and others who admit of open communion; but the far greater number of the Baptist churches admit no persons to the Lord's Table unless they have been baptized."

part, into more than fifty of the languages and dialects of India. Some new churches of Particular Baptists have been formed in Scotland; and in America they are increased to a multitude of people. As long since as 1813, the estimate was 111 associations, 2633 churches, 2142 ministers, 204,185 members. It was supposed that the number of those who considered themselves as belonging to the Baptists, though not baptized, were 1,433,915: these, added to the communicants, made 1,638,760, which was more than one-fifth part of the whole population of the United States and terri tories.*

"Within the last six years the Baptists have increased in Ireland. The Baptist Irish Society employs sir Itinerant Ministers, and seven Itinerant Readers of the Irish Scriptures; they have about eighty schools, principally for teaching the native Irish language, containing upwards of six thousand children. The Baptist Missionaries in the East Indies have more than eight thousand in their native schools."

dotes are admirably adapted to impress the minds of children, and the reflections drawn from them are appropriate and well expressed. The Editor has our best thanks for the promptitude with which he has, inscription of Propriatory of the United several instances, seized occasions for the purpose of providing suitable little books for our Sunday-Schools.

Intelligence, &c.