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This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmi au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dassous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X y_ 12X 16X 20X ' ^P^ 28X 32X Th« copy film«d h«r« has lM«n rtproduecd thanks to th« g«n«ro«ity of: L'oKomplairo fllm4 fut ropro• ./-•. ■jif.,,jf>''-ii's'v!\ *■ s '-■ ^^k v-^^ ;■>,,;'■■ .*■■-. -^4^''" ■^ ■■:,'■ ..V/^ 1 <• H^* r ^^^ * *P*&Bitli«r«- were all baptiMdumoa*oso0,w .' ' * > -JF' « 'tV, ' < -iX. 1 «"■ ■ ' ? . , . DUDLEY i ^fRINtiSD AND SOLD BY TBtOMA§ St^VL^t ST. JOHir, N. B. ,|lS«Pli;MT£b BY DURAIfT & SAkCTOR^ ExCttARpt Cftfl*^ 'BousK, Masbikt 8mrAac* . ^- "**''«'« ♦ • j'v ■ « ,* ,«♦-,'■■■ < To THE Societies and Conoreoations of thb Wesley AN Methodists in the Dudlet Circuit. Dear Brethren, Vei'y zealous efforts having recently heeti made to draw you aside Jrom those views of Christian baptism in which you had been instrtu:ted, and to persuade you that infant baptism is no baptism, and that there is no true baptism but by immersion ; by which means some have been prevailed upoii to be dipped, and others have been not a little perplexed in their minds ; I have thought it my dutyjfis one of ymir Ministers to state what we coticeive io be scriptural baptism, both as it respects its subjects, its mode, and its design. In doing this, I have carefully abstained from ad" ducing the authority of early ecclesiastical records, ' and have confined myself to the authority of Scripture alone, which is alike accessible by you nil. My object in the following pages is two-fold — First to establish you in the belief of what I conceive to be the truth ,• and Secondly to give a check io that party proselyting zeal, which, whilst it may possibly increase the num-' bers of a particular society, does not add a single in- dhidual to the army of Emmanuel, Praying that the great head of the Church may guide you into all truth, , . , » r / remain, -V Your Servant in Christ, JACOB STANLEY. '■^■:% "'^"y^.t . ^ ^ i» «>.""" -'» g! g 'A -' II :'-mmii 'i mn»m ."\ m 1i0,,-lltl$mmllm / >::%••■' *> - s- ■ •-• V- 3T] .%ann«. •«»«•, • , I THE NATURE, *c. OF BAPTISM. That the baptism of water as well as the bap- tism of the Holy Ghost, is a Christian doctrine, has been admitted by the whole Christian Church, from the beginning, with very few exceptions. But, What is baptism ? What is its mode ? Who are its proper subjects ? And, What is its design ? are questions on which much diversity of opinion has prevailed. These questions we shall briefly consider. Baptism, in the New Testament is used for im-^ mersion, effusion, and sprinkling. The word sometimes signifies Immersion or Dip^ ping. Thus it is to be understood in i^.iark, vii. 4. " The washing of Cups and Pots ;** ilo original word signifies the baptism of Cups, &c. These are dipped into the water, and not merely sprinkled with ' it. Thxis too, some have supposed Luke, xi. 38. is to be understood. " He marvelled that he had not first masked before dinner." If this washing, or baptism, refer to the hands only, then certainly it includes the idea of dipping ; but if it refer to the face, as well as the hands, then it cannot be so un- derstood, unless we suppose the Pliarisees were in the habit of dipping their faces into the water, a. 6 tiling, which I believe is not pvelenileil by any one* Thus too the Advocates for Immersion have inter- preted Romans vi. 4. ** We are buried with him by baptism." But this figure agrees better with the effusion, or pouring upon, than that of dipping ; for the body which is buried, is not dipped into the earth, but has the earth poured upon it. The word sometimes signifies Effusion^ or Pour- ing. Thus it is understood in Matt. iii. 11; *< He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." Not by dipping, most certainly, but by pouring, agreeably to the prophecy of Joel, (ii. 28,) "I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." So also in Acts i. 5 ; and in verse 8, the historian expressly states how they were to be baptized : " Yt shall receive power, after that" — after what ? After that ye have been dipped into the Holy Ghost? No, but " after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you." Thus also it is plainly to be understood, in Acts xi. 16. This is evident from v, 15 : " The Holy Ghost fell on them" — not they fell into the Holy Ghost — " as on us at the beginning, then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed bapti- zed with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." * The word sometimes signifies Sprinkling, Thus it is used in 1 Cor. x. 2 : " And were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Here the Apostle n fers to the passage of the Israelites through tlie lied Sea, and to the cloud by which they were concealed from the Egyptians. (Exodus xiv. 20.) That they were not dipped in the sea, is certain, for the Historian says, " the children of Israel went iuto the midst of thcj sea upon dri^ gn tt .-..''■' ground : And the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left." And that they were not dipped in the cloud, will, I suppose, also bo readily admitted. But that they were sprink- led both from the cloud and from the waters, which « were as walls on their right hand and on their left," is so probable a circumstance, that few, if any, will soberly attempt to controvert it. The word being thus variously applied, the Mode of Christian baptism cannot be determined from its import. Let us try whether we can ascertain it from any other source. Many cases of baptism are recorded in the New Testament ; let us exam- ine how baptism was administered in these. John's baptism, in order of time, is first entitled to consi- deration. Two things are recoided of this bap- tism. First : It was in Jordan : and, Secondly : The multitude baptized was immensely large; ** There went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him." Whether the baptized as well as the bap- tizer, were in Jordan, or on its banks, neither 8t. Matthew nor St. Mark clearly state. Their words are, " They were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan." The words may either mean that John was in the river, or that they who were bap- tized were in the river, or that both were in the river. One thing, and only one from the history is clear, viz., that John baptized them with the water of Jordan. But whether they were in the water, or whether, if in the water, they were dipped or sprinkled, or had it poured upon them, are points, which, as far as the narrative goes, are left wholly undecided. - ^^;;^; : f ;, " :...,. .«*S4fc Thero are however two facts which ure strongly |\resuiDptive against dipping in thii caae. i :^l ^''f^: 1. 7%f e^vpoted situation ff the place of hapihmK They were either baptisied with or mthout their clothes. Common decency would forbid the latter \ and if dipptng were the mode, both liealth and qohh fort would forbid the £urmer. It was not tliere as in a Baptist Cliapel, where thev have a Veitry contigun ous to the baptistry, in whiod tkoy can at once throw oiF the garment provided for that piirpoae« In thl^ case there were no such conveniencea ; neither gar* menta nor vestries, but they were in an open country, where they must of necessity remain in their wei clothes, to the great danger of their health, .(.i.: * • 8. The immense multitude 'which John baptized, M anpiher strong presumption against dipping* ^* Ther« vent out unto him all the land," that is, all the people ** of Judoa, and they of Jeruaalenn, and w«re 4LL baptized of inim*" I do not mean to Contend that the word all in this passage is to be understock as oomprisinff fv^r^/individiial, but only that a greal pr opra^tion of the people were baptised by hifn. SufH pose a writer, on whose veracity we could depend* were to aiHrm that a Baptist Minister was baptiaung in the New Cut, and that all the people of Stailpr£ ' shire and of Birmingham wnro bapti^d by him « though we should not think that every old man, and every infant were included in this desorifitionf yet we should most assuredly understand the writer as stating that a large proportion of the healthy part of the population, both male and female, old and young were intended. But if so, then he would have baptized on a very moderate calculation, at Igast fifty thousand people, v.'hich at the jatepf^y.^ « \ ' ^ ■ii.. I »»^ 9 minutes per lieud, siippusing liiiii lo coulinue at it twelve hoiirM a day, without allowing one moment for any kind of refreshment, which would be no. very easy work, especially if standing up to the mid- dle in water all the time, would require forty-nine weeks and four days, including Sundays as well as other days. Who can possibly believe that John ^as a whole year in Jordan ? Or that he was im- mersed in water the one twelfth of that period ? To baptize such multitudes by immersion in so short ' a time, was, without a miracle, absolutely impos- sible. But suppose John's baptism to have resem- ' bled the baptism of Israel in the sea, and in the cloud, that is baptism by sprinkling, chen there is neither impossibility, nor difficulty, nor danger, ' nor indelicacy in it. In this case it was not even ' necessary for John to stand in Jordan at all, neither thd it require the people, either male or female, to c4iangie their dothes. All that in this case would be necessary, would be for the baptizer, to stand at ' the edge of the Ilivev, and the baptized to stand in a row upon its banks, whilst with a switch dipped ' in the water, he could, without any extraoulinary ' exertion, baptize thousands in a few hours. >**'^#J The baptisms on the day of Pentecost, next de- mand our attention. The historian says, — ** Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized : And the same day there were added unto them ' about three thousand souls." (Acts. ii. 41.) The Spirit of God w..s not poured out upon the .disci- - pies till the third hour, that is tiir nine o'clock in the morning; (Acts ii. 15 ;) after which St. Peter ^ )>reached his powerfully impressive Sermoiij by which they were dreadfully alarmed, and enquired ■^^ .^~ 10 what they should do. It is liighly probable that some hours would elapse before any of them coukl be baptized. There is no probability that more tlian six hours of the day would remain for baptism, in which case, suppose dipping to be the mode, there muiit have been dipped five hundred in an hour, which is rather more than eight in the mi-<^ nute, that is, about seven seconds and a half per liead. To say the least, this would be very quick. work. ,> .a ti.' .)%lyj.i\.i-i:'%l.d ■i'.4^ii-:i:j^i^f'E'l^ iji':i ■ Then where could all these be dipped ? It wilt not, I believe be pretended, that the disciples hacL any baptistries in Jerusalem ; and Jordan was at &. distance. Kedron indeed was at hand, but Kedron, was only a brook, and not of sufficient depth for any . such purpose. Then again, were they baptized in a^ state of nudity ? Or had they garments for the puiw. pose ? Or were they dipped in their ordinary cos-^. tume? Decency forbids the 6rst. Not bavins pre«^- viously thought of being baptized, is an irresistible*: argument against the second ; and the danger ta. which they would expose their health, renders ther third highly Improbable. Baptism in this case, by^ dipping, is so clogged with difficultes, that to me it> appears morally certain that it was not so adminis- tered. But whilst all these difficulties are involved? in dipping) not one of them exists either in the. case of effusion or sprinkling. The baptism of the Eunuch recorded in Acts viii. •, 3S, 301, has, by many of the advocates of dipping, . been considered conclusive in its favour. I say by^; many, for some of the first men in the Baptist Con- : nexion, do not so consider it. The words of the his-*; torian are these : " And thev went down both into. th its ^t •n ini tei *. 'm * n (h« water, both Philip and the Eunuch, and he bap- iised him. And when they were come out of the ^ater,^ &c. The prepogi'^ions which are here ren-p 4ered into and otU of, very frequently signify unto, 99 is evident fron^ the following texts : ** I am not (Bent but mtfo the lost sheep of the house of Israel/* {Matt. XV. 34.) *^ And the devil taking him up into ma high mountain." (Li|ke iv. H.) *< He went out inte a mountain to pray." (Luke vi. 12.) In tlhe lat'» (er texts, the word evidently means unto, and not into, See also Luke ix. ^3 ; Acts xiv. 21 ; Colos. i. 90; Luke xx. 4; J^n xix. 12; Acts %\v, S; xv. 9; xvii. 3 — $1 ; andxxvij. S4. <^ '.•viiS, |V ,' : 12 public and expostd situation, is, to say the least, in the highest degree improbable. And as to the Jai« lor, he was baptized in his own house a little after midnight. He went to no river, neither is there the slightest evidence that he was dipped in either bap- tistry, or well, or lake, or pool. On supposition that baptism was administered by effusion or sprinkling, both cases are simple and plain ; but if administered by dipping, the narrative is involved in difficulty. Besides, baptism is a positive institution of ChKs- tianity, essentially belonging to it, and inseparably accompanying it in all the regions of the earth. Its mode therefore must be adapted to every latitude, and to the various local circumstances of our world. But is dipping adapted, for instance, to the frigid zones, where there is almost one eternal frost, and where to sustain life, instjfad of plunging into water, covered with thick ribbed ice, they find it necessary to burrow like the rabbit, an4 to clothe themselves with the hairy skins of wild beasts ? Or is it adapt- ed to those warmer regions of the earth, where a sufficient quantity of water can hardly be procured for the essential purposes of life ? In each of these cases, baptism by immersion is impracticable ; but by pouring or sprinkling it may at any time, and in any part of the world be administered. . III. But if dipping be not the mode of baptism^ is it not quite clear that adults alone are its su^ectsf. So our Baptist friends most confidently assert. They found their opinion chiefly upon the commts<- sion qf our Lord, and upon what they think apos- tolic usage. Let us examine each of these. (1.) They infer, that adults alone are fit subjects for baptism, from our Lord's Commission, which ac^ be mii ^**w/*--*»v'»'v.. ' * -mr — ^^t^ I' y^ It cording to St. Markxvi. 15, 16, reads thus, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shaft be saved," &c. On which they found this syllogism, Faith precedes baptism ; But children are incapable of faith ; Therefore children are incapable of baptism. By a similar syllogism, the salvation of children might be proved impossible ; for example, Faith precedes salvation ; >^si-! i But children are incapable of faith ; ' ^ • V • Therefore children are incapable of salvation. But will any one affirm, that because in our Lord's Commission the word believeth, goes before the word saved, thereLre all who die in infancy, and who are consequently incapable of this faith, must inevitably perish ? The argument founded in the order of the words, is equally conclusive against sal- vation as against baptism. But if children are ca- pable of salvation without faith, why are they not capable of baptism without it too ? If they are ca- pable of admission into the Church in Heaven with^ out it, why should they not without it be admitted into the Church of Christ on earth by baptism ? It is indeed admitted, that in the case of adults, faith must precede baptism as well as salvation ; faith in their case is necessary to both ; but in the case of children, it is not necessary to either. (2.) What circumcision was in the Jewish, bap^- tism is in the Christian Church. It nvas the out- ward sign or token of God's -covenant with Abraham, the father of the faithful, and of his seed. And this sign or token was required not only in adults, but also in children : " It shall be a token of the co- «■ I 14 yenant betwixt me and you ; and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you." (Genesis xvii. 11. 12.) Abraham on believing and entering into covenant with God, received this visible sign or token ; but his children and all his descendants received the token, without either personal faith or engagement on their part. So on the introduction of the Christian Dispensation, of which both the Jewish and Patriarchal were typical, tliose who first entered into the Christian Covenant, who first em- braced the religion of Jesus Christ, on their em- bracing it, received as a sign or token, the rite of baptism, by which they were admitted into the visi- ble Church of Christ, or as the historian of the Acts expresses it, '* were added to the Lord." But as in the Abrahamic, so in the Christian Covenant, the children of b^ievers were admitted also. Hence^ Lydia and her household ; and the Phillipian Jai- lor, and all his were baptized at the same time. Indeed we have not a single instance of the head of any family being baptized, without baptism beii^ administered to the whole household. And it is utterly incredible that there should not have been some children in these families* Baptism is the appointed rite of admission into God's visible church under the Christian, as circum- cision was under the Jewish dispensation.. But children were admitted into this Church uqder the former dispensation, and I shall be glad . to be in- formed when^ and bt/ whom they were excluded. I can find no record of such exclusion. Ii^stead of excluding children, Jesus Christ says, ** Buffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of jH^aven." .(Matt. Xix. 14.) fcTJJb, S^^ 15 To deny to children the ordinance of baptism which is the only rite of initiation into the visible Church, is to deprive them of a privilegje enioyed by children in the Jewish Church, and virtually to exalt the Jewish above the Christian dispensation, which is directly opposed to the doctrine of St. Paul, who says the former ** has no glory, by reason of the glory which" in die latter ** excelleth/' (Cor. iii. 10.) Are then Adiilts not to be baptized ? Not if they have been baptized before ; for as there was but one circumcision, so also there is but one baptism. But if baptized in infancy ? No, for by that baptism they were admitted into God's visibW Church ; and it would not have been more absurd, and contrary to God's appointment for a Jew who had been cir- cumcised in infancy, to be circumeised than for a Christian, who has received baptism in infancy, to be baptized on the profession of his faith, when he became an Adult. As in Jewish times, there never was a second circumcision, so in Apostolic times» there never was a second baptism. But what benefit can children derive firom being admitted into the Church of G6d ? They don't understand Christianity. Granted: But neither do children when first admitted into a Grammar or Commercial School, understand either Writing or. Accompts, or Latin, or Greek. They are admitted not because they know these, but that they may know them. For the same reason children are ad- mitted into the Christian Church, that as their minds open, they may be fully instructed in the doctrines of Christ, and participate in all the bene- fits of Christianity. * In baptism we are at once dedicated to the ser- ■i' t',. ■ p Sr"!5Mflsa.-9*is<» -i «i t —i j i j i m iiii ft' . - » »i in] wi » . s »" ". ' *. *^»^- 16 \ice of God, and admitted into the School of Christ, that we may be placed under a course of Christian instruction and discipline. Not that baptism saves us, any more than admission into a Grammar School makes us learned ; but as the latter is the way to become learned, so the former is the way to be made wise unto salvation. There is the baptism of water, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost: By the former we are admitted into the outward and visible church : and by the latter into the spiritual and invisible one ; and we are admitted into the first, that we may be admitted into the second. But that the baptism of water neither it regeneration, nor inseparably con- nected mth it, is evident from the total absence of the fruits of regeneration in multitudes of the bap- tized : These are " love, joy, peace, longsufFering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." But do these fruits accompany baptism, whether ad- ministered to Infants or Adults ? In the former we see the same anger and peevishness after, as be- fore baptism, and in the latter in multitudes of ca- ses there is ample evidence that baptism has not only not entirely washed them from their unfaith- fiilness, but that it has not produced the least moral change. As all were not Israel who had been ad- mitted into the Jewish Church by the outward circumcision^ neither are all Christians who have been admitted into the Christian Church by baptism. And as he was not a Jew who was one outwardly, nor was that circumcision which was outward in the fiesh, but of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, — (Rom. ii. 28, 29 ;) so neither is he a Chris- tian who is one outwardly, nor is that baptism which is outward in the flesh, but of the heait, in ■•V'Aji-. i^-^t- d!P*~ '.^smi. n V Christ, iristian 1 saves School way to made water, brmer lurch: eone; nay be ism of y con- nce of e bap- Fering, ance." ler ad- former as be- of ca- is not ifaith- moral sn ad- itward have ptism. y,nor 1 the in the ]!hris- ptism rt, ill the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. The sum of the whole is this : That the mode of Christian baptism o«nnot be determined by the word itself, it being alike applied to dipping, pour- ing, and sprinkling ; that to suppose the baptisms recorded in the New Testament to have been ad- ministered by dipping, involves them into difficul- ties, not to say impossibilities, from which pouring or sprinkling entirely frees them ; — that in some latitudes dipping is impracticable ; — that the sub- jects of baptism arc in the case of all converts from Judaism, Mahometanism and Heathenism, Adults in the first instance, and then their children, who are as capable of being members of the Church of God under the New dispensation, as Jewish chil- dren were under the Old ; — that children being admissioie into the Church triumphant, ought not to be despised and reje