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• repentance, was baptized by John; Í fuppofe, to initiate him into his office, as the great Meffiah. The circumcifion of Abraham was to him, who was a believer, the feal of the righteoufnefs of that faith, which • he had before he was circumcifed. But could not be the feal of faith unto infants at eight days old, to whom it was nevertheless commanded to be adminiftred, merely as the initiating ceremony. Many Chriftians argue in like manner, about chriftian baptifm, and fuppofe that it may fignify fome things, when applied to the adult, different from what it can fignify, when applied to infants. To the laft they look upon it as a mere initiating ceremony, by which a christian parent, or fponfor, ingages in a folemn manner to train up child in what he apprehends to be a rational religion. By that external rite fuch a child is entered into the fchool of Chrift, to be trained up in his religion; that • he may learn the nature and evidence of it, as his underftanding opens, and be taught to live in all that purity which the outward washing with water denotes, and which Chriftianity requires. There are fome, who reprefent baptifm as abfolutely neceffary to falvation who fpeak of perfons as actually faved, upon the strength ' of the mere ceremony; who make children commence believers upon the imputed faith of their bondfmen, or fureties; and make the fponfor fay, I believe, and it is my defire to be baptized; when he hath no defign to be baptized himself, but hath actually been baptized many years before; who pretend to baptize not with water only, but alfo with the Holy Ghost; or to connect with baptifm the conferring of grace, or of the Holy Spirit; as was actually done, after baptifm, by the Apoftles; but which no other perfons fince have had "the power of doing."

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In all this, only thefe twelve words, I fuppofe, to initiate Bim into his office, as the great Meffiah, can with certainty be taken as Mr. Benfon's own judgment and perfuafion: and therefore, whether he has here given us his own notion of infant-baptifm, I know not; but this is manifesty he does not mention any one notion of it as agreeable tơ fcripture, nor pretend to bring any proof for that prac tice from thence. He is fo far from attempting this, that he freely condemns moft, if not all the notions, fome churches have had concerning baptifm, together with their forms of adminiftration, as unfcriptural, in

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the following words, But as to those who hold fuch opinions, and make use of fuch forms' [namely the opinions and forms abovementioned] let them anfwer for them. Such things do not appear to me to be according to the pleafure and ordinance of God himself in this point. All I can do is, out of a fincere concern for Chriftianity itself, moft humbly to breathe out my wishes and ardent prayers, that fuch ftumbling-blocks may be taken out of the way; and that all parties of Chriftians would endeavour to cut off occafion from those who are perpetually feeking occafion to blafpheme that holy name, by the which we are called!' [in the number of which occafions he allows, that infant-baptifm is one, and therefore he adds] However, the New Teftament itself is a ftranger to any fuch fentiments, or practices; and therefore Chriftianity is not, in the leaft, affected by this • objection.'

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I freely fubfcribe to what Mr. Benfon here fays, when he pronounces thofe notions and forms, made ufe of in infant-baptifm, no part of Christianity; or that objections against it, founded on that practice, are what real Chriftianity is not in the least affected by: because the New Testament itself is a firanger to any fuch fentiments or practices. But I must likewife obferve that these questions were properly afked, and the responses, rightly made in the primitive times, when none were admitted to baptism, but thofe only, who had been first instructed in the knowledge of Chriftianity, and made a perfonal profeffion of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God. Heb. vi. 1, 2, And I cannot but add, that fome churches ftill retaining these ancient forms is a plain confeffion, that they have changed the proper fubject, and is also a standing proof of the antiquity of adult-baptifm. And this appears very clearly from the liturgy in the apoftolical conftitutions, the most ancient now in being; and which, according to Mr. Whiten, 7 contains the true original baptifmal creed, from whence that, which is commonly filed the apostles creed, is only an abridgment. The office of baptifm in them begins thus:

Book VII. Sect. LXIII. Now after what manner those ought to live that are initiated into Chrift, and what thanksgivings they ought to fend up to God, thro Chrift, has been faid in the foregoing directions: But

7 Efay on the Conflitutions, p. 215.

it is reasonable not to leave even those who are not yet initiated without affiftance.

'XXXIX. He therefore who is to be catechized in the word of piety, let him be inftructed before his baptifm in the knowledge of the unbegotten God, in the ⚫ understanding of his only begotten Son, in the affured • acknowledgment of the Holy Ghoft: let him learn the order of the feveral parts of the creation, the feries of providence, the different difpenfations of the laws : let him be inftructed why the world was made, and why man was appointed to be a citizen therein; let him alfo know his own nature, of what fort it is; let him be taught how God punifhed the wicked with wa ter, and did glorify the faints in every generation, I mean Seth, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and his pofterity, and Melchifedeck, and Job, and Mofes, and Joshua, and Caleb, and Phineas the Priest, and thofe that were holy in every generation; and how • God still took care of, and did not reject mankind, but ⚫ called them from their error and vanity, to the acknowledgment of the truth at various feafons, reducing them from bondage and impiety unto liberty and piety, from injuftice to righteoufnefs, from death eternal to everlasting life. Let him that offers himself to baptifm, learn thefe and the like things in his catechizing; and let him who lays his hands upon him adore God, the Lord of the whole world, and thank him for his creation, for his fending Chrift, his only begotten Son, that he might fave men, by blotting out his tranfgreffions; that he might remit ungodliness, and fins, and might purify him from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, ⚫ and fanctify man according to the good pleasure of his kindness, that he might infpire him with the knowledge of his will, and enlighten the eyes of his heart to conlider of his wonderful works, and make known to him the judgments of righteoufnefs; that fo he might hate every way of iniquity, and walk in the way of truth; that he might be thought worthy of the laver of regeneration, to the adoption of fons, which is in Chrift, that being planted together in the likeness of the death of • Chrift, in hopes of a glorious communication, he may be mortified to fin, and may live to God, as to his mind, and word, and deed, and may be numbered toge⚫ther in the book of the living: and after this thanksgiv

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XL. And when it remains that the catechumen is to be baptized, let him learn what concerns the renunciation of the devil, and the joining himself with Chrift: for it is fit that he fhould firft abftain from things contrary, and then be admitted to the myfteries; he must before hand purify his heart from all wickednefs of difpofition, from all fpot and wrinkle, and then partake. of the holy things: for as the skilfulleft husbandman does first purge his ground of the thorns which are grown up therein, and does then fow his wheat, fo ought you alfo to take away all impiety from them, and then to fow the feeds of piety in them, and vouchsafe them baptifm. For even our Lord did in this manner exhort us faying, firft make difciples of all nations, and then he adds this, and baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. Let therefore the candidate for baptifm declare thus in his • renunciation:

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XLI. I renounce Satan, and his works, and his pomps, and his worships, and his angels, and his inventions, and all things that are under him. And after his renunciation, let him in his affociation fay, And I affociate myself to Chrift, and believe, and am baptized into one unbegotten being, the only true God, Almighty, the Father of Chrilt, the creator and maker of all things, from whom are all things; and into the Lord Jefus Chrift, his only begotten Son, the firit-born of the whole creation, who before the ages was begotten by the good pleasure of the father; by whom all things were made, both thofe in heaven, and thofe on earth, vifible and invifible, who in the laft days defcended from heaven, and took flesh, and was born of the holy Virgin Mary, and did converfe holily, according to the laws of his God and father, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died for us, and rofe again from the dead after his paffion the third day, and afcended into the heavens, and fitteth at the right hand of the father, and again is to come at the end of the world with glory, to judge the quick and the dead, of whofe kingdom there fhail be no end. And I am baptized into the Holy Ghost, 'that

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that is the comforter, who wrought in all the faints from "the beginning of the world, but was afterwards fent to the apoftles by the father, according to the promise of our Saviour and Lord, Jefus Chrift; and after the apostles, to all thofe that believe in the holy catholic church. Into the refurrection of the flesh, and into the remiffion of fins, and into the kingdom of heaven, and into the life of the world to come.'

Thefe rules juftly deferve the moft ferious regard of every Chriftian. And, notwithstanding what Mr. BenJon fays, it is my humble opinion, that the fureft way to remove these ftumbling blocks is not to lay afide the ancient forms, but to restore primitive baptifm, both as to the mode and fubject. However, if the Baptift churches, or as Mr. Benfon here expreffes it, if pure and primitive Christianity is not in the least affected by this objection; yet I am fure Mr. Benfon himself, with all his Pædobaptist brethren, even every denomination of Chriftians, except thofe who utterly difown and renounce infant-baptism, muft be fo greatly affected by it, that they can never defend pure and primitive Chriftianity, I don't fay with the leaft, but with that confiftency, which it is neceffary, and moft to be wifhed, that they could. And is it not greatly to be lamented, that fuch excellent abilities, and fuch diftinguishing endowments, as many of them poffefs, fhould be rendered ineffectual for the conviction and converfion of Papifts and Infidels, by their practice of that unfcriptural ceremony in any form whatfoever? For Mr, Benfon affirms, That, before men are capable of un⚫derstanding, no faith can be required of them; any · more than reason or virtue can be expected of infants, before they become moral agents.' And of infants the Oxford Reply fays; 9 They have no reason, nor are they therefore capable of religion.' And we are affured by a much higher authority, that, without faith it is impoffible to please God. Heb. xi. 6. But if inftead of renouncing and giving up fuch things, minifters will on the contrary practife, as a folemn act of religion, What is no where exprefsly revealed in the New Testament, What the New Teftament itself is a ftranger to, 3 about which the

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Page 108. 9 Page 7. Cambridge Letter, p. 5. Mr. Benfon's Dialogue, p. 95.3 Mr. Male's Grounds, p. 56.

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