assist to give a right construction of his word, and to point out the good old way which had been forsaken. God often raises up men to expound his word, and correct prevailing errours, from quarters which would have been least expected.

No one should reject the light which may be reflected upon the subject, through pride of opinion, or partiality to his own sect, or order; because it does not proceed from them, or come in the way of his choosing. But when, upon due examination, the doctrine dvanced is found to be verily true, it should be embraced, from whatever quarter it comes.

Believing that I have obtained new light upon this subject, not by means of any new revelation, but from the holy scriptures, I solicit the attention of the publick to what I have to say, although I am conscious of my unworthiness. Though I might have been the last from whom any thing could have been expected that would elucidate this subject; yet the Lord can work by just such means. And his name alone be praised for the knowledge which I trust he has given me.

It will be seen, at once, that if the scheme here proposed and advocated be correct, viz that believers are the only proper subjects of baptism, but the mode of administration is not essential, its adoption will tend to remove a mighty wall of separation which has long existed between two great bodies of evangelical Christians, the Baptists and Pedobabtists. Each of these bodies must yield something to the other: The Pedobaptists must give up the baptism of infants, and the Baptists must give up the principle that immersion is the only valid baptism; and then the separating wall is removed. They can, then, without any embarrassment, come around the table of their common Lord.*

This is the line on which, I am persuaded, they ought and must eventually meet. For both belong to Christ, and the form of baptism used by each is valid; therefore the one ought not to say to the other, you may not eat with me at the table of Jesus; but both ought to sit down together and celebrate his dying love. It highly becomes these sections of the church to give up their respective errours, and to receive each other in the Lord, as Christ hath received them, to the glory of God.

While I am constrained, for reasons hereafter stated, to take the ground of anti-pedobaptism, I cannot insist on immersion as the only valid mode of baptism; and hence exclude all from communion who have not been immersed. My stopping here, I am sensible, exposes me to censure from the Baptists, as my giving up infant baptism does from the Pedobaptists. I have not the satisfaction to please either, although I extend the hand of charity to both.

But I am neither to believe, nor to write, to please men. My object should be, and is, to elicit and defend the truth; and to his own master each of us must stand, or fall.

The propositions which I shall undertake to illustrate and defend, are these three, viz:

I. Believers are the only proper subjects of Christian Bap tism.

II. The different modes of administering this ordinance in use among the churches, are valid.

III. Open communion with all evangelical Christians, is a duty and privilege.

Follow me patiently, dear reader, in the defence of these propositions, and judge of my arguments and illustrations in the light of the holy scriptures, and pray that you may be enlightened to know the Redeemer's will.

PART I.

BELIEVERS PROVED TO BE THE ONLY PROPER SUBJECTS OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.

CHAPTER I.

Containing the argument from the apostolick commission for the baptism of believers only.

THE final commission which our Lord gave to his apostles, as recited by Matthew, Chap. xxviii, 19, 20, is in these words: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

He had, previously, sent them to preach the kingdom of God to the cities and towns of Israel. And he had also, previously, made many disciples, whom the apostles, by his order, baptized.

But, now, they were bidden to go and make disciples of all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.

This commission, unquestionably, extends to all ordinary ministers, and contains the warrant for the administration of baptism.

And the plain import of it is, that they were first to teach and then baptize such as should believe their doctrine. There is no order to baptize any till they were taught. And the qualification which was to precede baptism manifestly implies something more than simply being taught, viz. a cordial reception. of the word. It is plain from the passage itself, (especially as it stands in the Greek) and from what precedes and follows in the gospel records, that our Lord did not mean that his

ministers should baptize promiscuously, after having announced their message, without any regard to the effect produced. They were commissioned to teach the nations with a view to their conversion, and when converted, they were to be baptized. Hence the following words, which describe the scene, in part, that passed on the day of pentecost, under the sermon of Peter, furnish a plain comment on this commission: "Repent and be baptized every one of you," &c. "Then they that gladly re

ceived his word were baptized."

But the sense of this commission is more clear and definite as it stands in the original Greek. The Greek word “matheusate," rendered in English, "teach," signifies to disciple, or to make disciples. This rendering, no one, who can construe Greek, will dispute. It is universally admitted by the learned on both sides. The commission, then, runs thus: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them," i. e. the disciples whom they should make by teaching and preaching the gospel; or, they were to baptize the nations when discipled. Nothing can be plainer than that they were to make disciples of the nations first, and then baptize them. The order to baptize extends no further than to the disciples made by teaching. We cannot apply baptism to other subjects without altering and enlarging the commission, which we have no right to do.

It is a plain matter of fact, that infants are not named in this commission, as proper subjects of baptism, upon the faith of their parents, nor is there any thing said that implies that they have a right to this ordinance. The order was to baptize disciples, or believers; and here it terminates. Yes, my brethren, it positively terminates here. There is not a syllable pertain

ing to the baptism of any besides disciples.

The apostles, in their former commission, had been limited to the nation of Israel; but now they were directed to go and disciple all nations; i.e. to make converts of them, through the attending power of the Holy Ghost; and then they were to initiate them into the visible kingdom of Jesus by baptism. Hence the evangelist Mark, in reciting this commission, uses these words: chap. xv. 15, 16. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." This wording of the commission is equally definite with the other; showing the proper subjects of baptism to be believers only." He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."— This contains authority for the baptism of none but believers. To say, as Pedobaptists generally do, that it relates merely to

adults, and, therefore, does not affect the case of infants, is at once to admit, that it contains no authority for infant baptism.

But if infant baptism be a duty, we certainly have a right to look for the expression of Christ's will in relation thereto, in the commission which he gave to baptize. And the fact that it is not contained, either in the final commission or in any previous commission which he gave his disciples for baptism, goes very far, (to say the least,) to show that the practice is wrong. Unless something very explicit in favour of the baptism of infants can be found elsewhere, (which, however, is not the case,) we ought to conclude at once, that it is not the will of Christ that they should be baptized. It would be so perfectly natural for the Lord Jesus, as the New Testament lawgiver, when appointing this ordinance, to determine the proper subjects of it, that if infants were intended to be baptized, we must reasonably conclude, they would have been mentioned in this commission. It is unaccountable that they are not mentioned, if indeed they are to be baptized. To say that the principle was settled before, in the practice of circumcision, is not relieving the difficulty; because, as I shall show, the principle was not settled therein; and even if it had been, it would have been reasonable to expect a recognition thereof in this commission. So important an article would not have been omitted.

Especially, have we a right to look for the expression of、 Christ's will in this commission, if he intended infants should be baptized, as this is a positive institution, which, of course, is not based upon a previous moral fitness in the thing itself, but rests wholly on his will and pleasure; and hence does not admit of inference and analogy like moral precepts. The commission, in this case, is the very instrument which must be expected to contain the rule of administration.

If Christ had not instituted baptism, we could not have inferred the duty of practising it from any moral precept contained in the Old Testament, or inculcated by himself, nor from any ancient custom, or rite, whatever. Whether there should be such an ordinance, depended wholly upon his will; and of course, it depended wholly upon his will how far this rite should be applied. It is therefore but just and reasonable to conclude that, if he meant it should be applied to infants, he would have given instructions to that effect. And his not having done so, naturally leads us to conclude that he did not intend it should be applied to them. To induce a belief that they are proper subjects of this ordinance, when the commission authorizes merely the baptism of disciples, or professed believers, there must be something positive produced from some other part of scripture;