day of the week as the Christian sabbath.-The observance of a sabbath, the consecration of a part of our time to the worship of God and to spiritual purposes, is not a merely positive, but a moral duty. But the proportion of time, and the particular day, are positive. It seems, however, impossible to ascertain the change of the day from the seventh to the first, and the consecration of the whole day to the Lord, without a process of induction, in many respects resembling that which is employed to vindicate the authority of pædobaptism. I am myself, it is true, of opinion, with some eminent critics and expositors, that in the ninth and tenth verses of the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we have direct intimation and express authority for the change:-"There remaineth therefore a sabbatism,* (or the keeping of a sabbath) to the people of God: for he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his." But the establishment of this depends upon a process of reasoning; of reasoning too, which has never yet occurred to the minds, or settled the convictions, of the great majority of Christians: and I am free to say, that although I am perfectly satisfied as to the meaning of the passage, as an intended and explicit declaration of the change of the sabbath, yet, had it not been accompanied with the commentary of facts in the recorded practice of apostolic times, we could not with confidence have founded our observance of the first day of the week on its exclusive authority. Even from the facts alluded to, we can only ascertain that on that day the disciples were accustomed to meet together for the worship of God, and the other sacred exercises of Christian fellowship. But the sanctification of the entire day, as a day of "holy resting" from secular engagements, and of spiritual occupation and preparation for eternity, must be made out on other grounds. That it can be made out, and that most satisfactorily, I am thoroughly convinced; and I tremble for the interests of personal and social religion, in the individual mind, and in the Christian society, where this con

*The word in the original of this verse, rendered by our translators rest, is caßßarious, being different from the word so translated throughout the whole of the preceding and subsequent context, which is αναπαυσις. Into the illustration of this interesting subject, or the discussion of the controversies connected with it, I cannot enter here.

viction has begun to give way. Yet I am persuaded that no antipædobaptist can set about proving the obligation of the sabbath, without adopting principles of reasoning, if not identically the same, certainly very closely analogous to those which he is accustomed to controvert, as inadmissible, when applied in support of infant baptism.

Third'y I hope to be able immediately to show, that the requisition, on the part of our baptist brethren, of a positive precept for our practice, is unfair; and that we are rather entitled to require such explicit authority from them. If we can succeed in establishing the previous existence of the connexion of children with their parents, under the same "covenant of promise" with that which constitutes the ground of fellowship in the Christian church;-if, I say, we can succeed in this, then we have a title to demand an explicit statute of repeal. Explicit authority for relinquishing a practice, is quite as indispensable as explicit authority for commencing one. But more of this by and by.

On

I must still further premise, because on all controverted topics I feel the essential benefit of clearing my ground as to the principles of reasoning-that the question is not at all about adult baptism, or about the necessity, to the baptism of adults, of a profession of the faith. this, baptists and pædobaptists are of one mind. When, therefore, the former adduce, in opposition to infant baptism, those passages of the New Testament in which the subject is the baptism of adults, and from them insist on the universal necessity of understanding and faith, on the part of the recipients of the ordinance, to its legitimate administration, they do nothing at all to the purpose. They are guilty of a sophism. They bring infants into their conclusion, whilst they are not in the premises. The illusion is very much of the same kind with one which abounds in the writings of Unitarians, who have an inveterate habit of adducing passages to prove that Christ is not God, which only prove that he is man ;—as if to prove his humanity, (the point in which we agree with them, and which we are quite as desirous to establish as themselves,) were to disprove his divinity, (the point in which we differ from them, and which is not in the least degree affected by the evidence of his real humanity.) Antipædobaptists seem to be chargeable with the same description of fallacy, when they think to disprove infant baptism by

proving adult baptism. Instead of establishing their own view of the subject on which we differ from them, they only establish (a thing quite unnecessary) a point on which we are perfectly agreed.-This observation narrows the limits of the field of argument; bringing the subject of dispute (which is always very desirable) into smaller compass.-No one, I trust, will take groundless offence at my having named a class of theologians whom I consider as subverters of the gospel of Christ, in connection with those whom, notwithstanding our differences in sentiment and practice, I esteem, and love, and honor, as brethren in the faith. I have not compared the men— God forbid! I have not compared their views of divine truth. All that I have done has been, to point out the nature of one fallacy in argument, by comparing it with another of a similar description.

I have only further to observe, that, if the general views which I am about to present on this subject shall be fairly established from scripture, it is foolish to allow our minds to be easily startled and shaken by particular difficulties which may be suggested and urged, as to what would be right practice in certain supposed cases. Nothing can be easier than thus to perplex and puzzle the mind; and the mournfully prevalent abuse of the practice of infant baptism has given rise to cases of apparent difficulty, respecting which there may be hesitation and diversity of opinion, even amongst those who are of one mind as to leading principles. Were it a becoming mode of arguing, there are puzzles to be found for baptists, as well as pædobaptists; although it may readily be admitted, without the smallest disparagement to the cause of the latter, that the abuse just referred to has given their brethren who are opposed to them, no inconsiderable advantage for the invention of casuistical questions.

That indiscriminate admission to the ordinances of Christ which is involved in the very idea of a national religion, has produced, or at least maintained, a very general ignorance, or gross misunderstanding, of their true nature and I would entreat any whose minds may have been startled on the subject of infant baptism by the grevious prostitution and abuse of it, and the various absurd motions entertained respecting it, to consider, that the ther ordinance has been equally abused and prostituted; nd that to suffer this, in either case, to shake their con

victions and unsettle their practice, is the indication of a weak mind, in which feeling has the ascendency over judgment, and which is incapable of discriminating between the precepts of God and the corruptions of them by men. The possibility, or even the existence, of particular cases of difficulty should never be allowed to take our minds off from the great general principles, when these have been satisfactorily established from the word of God. There are few of the doctrines of that word, however clearly revealed, to which objections have not occasionally been offered that may perplex our minds and give us pause:"but are we at once to renounce the faith, because, on some of its articles, a puzzling question may be put to us by a subtle adversary?

Our baptist brethren are abundantly ready to impute our views and practice to the power of educational prejudice, and of prevailing custom, which, when once introduced, goes on without consideration or inquiry,—and to assume, with rather more than enough at times of a happy self-complacency, the certain rectitude of their principles, -laying them down as settled points, and in, conversation, familiarly adducing the sentiments of those who differ from them, amongst their common-places of illustration, when speaking of the inveteracy of early prepossessions and habitual associations of ideas, and "astonished with an exceeding great astonishment" at the dimness which on this subject rests upon the vision of minds that are otherwise clear-sighted and intelligent. "My persuasion is," says Mr. Cox," that the popular feeling is theirs, the argument ours. If an evidence of the latter were requisite, it might in part be deduced from the striking facts, that not only have the best pædobaptist writers made us repeated and most important concessions, while many, if not a majority, of their living teachers, constantly admit one half at least of our arguments for the mode of baptism: but their churches contain vast numbers of theoretic baptists, who have discernment enough to appreciate the force of evidence, but not piety enough to pursue the path of duty." Now this, it will not be denied, is somewhat provoking. That the "popular feeling" is ours, we do 'not deny; that in a vast number of instances it is ignorantly ours, we believe and regret; while the circumstances in which pædobaptism has been placed leave us at no

* Pref. to his Reply to Ewing, Dwight and Wardlaw.

loss to account for the fact. But that we have none of the argument, we cannot quite so readily concede; and we feel ourselves warranted to say, that the reasoning of Mr. Cox, to which the preface is prefixed that contains the preceding extract, ought to have been of a much firmer, more coherent, and more conclusive texture, to have warranted this lofty style. As to the Christian charity of the allegation in the close of the extract, I leave the reader to judge of it; simply reminding Mr. Cox, that the charity which Paul so beautifully eulogises has for one of its features, that it" thinketh no evil."-That there may in our churches be some such hypocrites as he describes, is very possible and let them take the reproof, and act accordingly but his "vast numbers" only show us, that there are other figures besides arithmetical ones, by which the process of multiplication can be effected.-We certainly are not quite ready to submit to the alternative which is here imposed upon us, by which the whole multitude of pædobaptist professors is divided into two classes, those who have discernment enough to appreciate the force of evidence, but not piety enough to pursue the path of duty,"—and those who have " piety enough to pursue the path of duty, but not discernment enough to appreciate the force of evidence.” We have the presumption to fancy, that a person may have both discernment and piety, and yet be a pædobaptist.-We desire, however, to be sensible of our danger. It is perfectly right that we should be reminded of it. We are in danger of doing, without thought, what our fore-fathers have done before us. Dissenters from established articles of faith, and nonconformists to established usages, are generally better acquainted with their principles than those from whom they differ. They are bound to assign a reason for leaving the beaten track; whilst those who follow it are apt to think enough that it is beaten, and to move indolently forward. But the danger is not confined to one side. In proportion to the respective numbers of baptist and pædobaptist families, perhaps there may be found as many who hold their views from education, in the one communion, as in the other. And moreover, while the deceitfulness of our hearts should put us on our guard, on the one hand, against adhering to any practice from the mere force of custom; it ought, on the other, to make us jealous of the charms of novelty lest we should too readily renounce a principle of an observance, from fond