^.JtSfaWutt 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH 
 
 Received October, 1894. 
 Accessions No.£%//£_. Class No. 
 
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LETTERS 
 
 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM; 
 
 «* 
 
 INITIATING ORDINANCE INTO THE 
 REAL KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 On the CONTRAST between the Kingdom as organized by Christ, 
 
 AND THE PRESENT SECTARIAN STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. 
 
 
 BY REV. JOHN FLAVEL BLISS, A. M., 
 
 Late Pastor of several Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, 
 ^-v in Western New York. /*</ S' 
 
 Addressed to all his Christian Friends and Acquaintance. 
 
 ce. 
 
 High Treason is the crime of injured majesty. 
 
 High treason against the King of Zion, is where the crime is against either 
 the Person of the King — his Kingdom — his dominion — his laws — the oath of 
 allegiencc to Him, against proper persons taking it, against the union of ull his 
 people under him, within his own Fold, or against his exclusive jurisdiction 
 over them. 
 
 To build up other Folds, under other Rulers, is High Treason. 
 
 Whosoever cither aids, abets, or in anv way assists in a crime, is as really 
 guilty as a principal, and is equally liable to the penalty. 
 
 LEXINGTON, N. Y. 
 PUBLISHED BY LEVI L. HILL. 
 
 J. TtJtittiHvuvlk. . 
 

 [COPY-RIGHT SECURED.] 
 
K6> 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 On CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, as the initiating ordinance into the real King- 
 dom of Christ: 
 
 On the alterations of it, by Despotic Powers, in principle and in form, and the 
 misapplication of Baptism, and the substitute, to improper subjects, enforced by 
 the same powers, for sectarian purposes, and the delusions accompanying: 
 
 On the REAL KINGDOM OF CHRIST, exclusively under his own juris- 
 diction, into which Christian Baptism introduces the Convert: 
 
 On the extent to which that Kingdom has been broken down, by the forma- 
 tion of rival folds, under rival rulers, accomplishing their ends by stratagem, 
 and the substitute for Baptism : 
 
 On the CONTRAST between that Kingdom, so organized, by Christ him- 
 •elf.and the present scatterd state of the sheep,into folds the devices of men,and 
 under rival and competing Rulers : 
 
 On the ORIGIN and ILLEGITIMACY of those folds contrived by men, 
 and confining the Sheep away from the rightful Shepherd's jurisdiction, and 
 under the jurisdiction of those who have no right to control them ; and the 
 treasonable position of such folds, as rivals against the Fold of Christ, and as 
 obstacles in the way of its prevalence : 
 
 On the CRUELTY of that use of the substitute for Baptism which makes 
 unconscious and helpless babes, Church members, in such folds as are the 
 inventions of men, and ruled by men, and at antipodes against the One Fold 
 of Christ; thus hindering them, when converted, from Christian Baptism, and 
 from going into the Fold of Christ, under his exclusive jurisdiction , and thus 
 inclining the babe, through delusion, deception, and stratagem, to remain in a 
 treasonable state of rivalship against the Fold of Christ during all his life, breed- 
 ing and perpetuating divisions, " not knowing what he doe s :" 
 
 And on the DIVISIONS in the Zion of God, traced to their true origin; and 
 the true scriptural basis of CHRISTIAN UNION, to which Christians must 
 necessarilly come, before they can ever be one again, as they were during the 
 first and second centuries of the Christian era. 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 Utica, October 26, 1840. 
 Dear Biother Hii.l. — I have been highly gratified with the lucid, scriptural 
 ▼icw of the Kingdom of Christ, presented in the Letters of brother Bliss; and 
 in this, as well as in manyothtr particulars, I deem them an invaluable acqui- 
 sition to Baptist literature and the cause of truth. On no subject do the Chris- 
 tian community need instruction more than on this : and brother Bliss has been 
 peculiarly happy and discriminating in the discussion. Some of our own breth- 
 ren may be greatly helped by a close attention to brother Bliss' expose. 
 Yours truly, A. M. BEEBEE. 
 
 From Gcrrit Smith, Esq., to the Author , after reading part of 
 these Letters. 
 
 "You have certainly furnished no small amount of evidence that infant bap- 
 tism, and sprinkling, are but human inventions. I have long suspected that 
 they were no better. I should like to know for a certainty, ' what is truth' on 
 the subjsct, that I might act accordingly. If immersion be necessary to con- 
 stitute valid scriptural baptism, then do I earnpstiy desire to be immersed my- 
 self. But I seem never to have had sufficient leisure for the due examination 
 of this subject ; or rather, perhaps, I have never attached sufficient importance 
 to it. I admit that it is important to know the Saviour's own mode; and that 
 knowing it, it is sin to refuse to conform to it." 
 
 From the Editor of the New-York Baptist Register, July 10. 
 
 " The applications for the republication of these letters, have been such, that 
 the author will probably be induced to consider them, and give to tbo public hi9 
 labors in a more permanent shape. No doubt there will be a careful revision. 
 Individuals who have been liberated from the power of tradition, after a 
 long period of thraldom — when their eyes nre f ul!y opened, and God gives them 
 to see the delusion, the utter absurdity 'of It fills them with amazement ; and 
 they are surprised their former associates do not see as well as themselves. 
 When we consider the almost indescribable interest such persons feel in behalf 
 of their brethren they have left in error, Br. Bliss' plainness will no doubt be 
 pardoned. In regard to redundancy, Br. Bliss hud his object. He knew that 
 many required the subject to be presented in a great variety of points of light 
 — and he cared not if he sometimes seemed repetitious, so he effected his ob- 
 ject, in making the tiuth irresistable. 
 
 "In these letters, we must say, with hundreds of our brethren who will unite 
 with us, there is a distinctness and defitiiteness of position given to the Church 
 of Jesus Christ, and a contrast drawn with illegitimate associations rarely to be 
 met with; and some who have indulged in the charge of redundancy here, we 
 have no doubt might go over them again to great advantage, and learn still 
 more of the nature and Kingdom of Christ. Even Baptists, in many instances, 
 have but muddy views of the nature of this kingdom, and are too often dispo- 
 ned to jumble it up with anything and everything that has in it a moral blend- 
 ing. A multitude of contentions and difficulties have arisen from such confu- 
 sed and imperfect apprehensions, which a clear perception of its character 
 would have prevented. If there was nothing in the work but this, we would 
 give it wings to speed its flight in every legion." 
 
V. RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 From the same, of October 16, 1840. 
 
 M These letters must be an invaluable addition to any Library. They exhib- 
 it the whole subject of the contrast between the original Kingdom of Christ, 
 and the present scattered state of the sheep into human folds, in a clear, con- 
 cise and forcible light." 
 
 From the same, of October 23, 1840. 
 
 "We are indeed highly gratified to receive the intelligei.ee of the prospect 
 of their publication. Many of our readers also, who^havebeen so anxious for 
 their re-publication, in a revised form, will be no less gratified. There is no 
 publication that we have on the subject of the ordinances of Christ's house that 
 can supply their place." 
 
 From the Livingston Baptist Ministerial Conference, prepared 
 by Rev. E. Stone. 
 
 " Every man is under moral obligation to vindicate the cause of truth.— 
 
 We seem afraid to attempt the removal of the scales from the eyes of others, 
 lest we lose their friendship. While errors have been flooding churches, now 
 and then a bold champion, like Lutber, has ventured forth to stem the torrent 
 of error, for which they have been fined, imprisoned, and burnt at the stake. 
 Brother Bliss, it is true, is not terrified at the fires of Smithfield ; still, it needs 
 tome moral courage to step forth before the world to say what he has. The 
 subject has been handled without gloves. It needed handling with a fearless 
 pen. It may be asked, Has not the Editor of the Register spoken the minds 
 of the denomination generally with regard to the Letters ? If so, why say any 
 more? Has not Brother Bliss written "the truth, the whole truth, and noth- 
 ing but the truth?" Grant this: but does brother Bliss know that the people 
 to whom he belongs will bear him out in publishing what he has wvitten? 
 The approbation of his own conscience is his best)security — still, he mustdesire 
 to know the feelings of hi.-; brethren. For ourselves, we feel under obligations 
 to the author of those Letters, and wish to contribute our mite towards dis- 
 charging the debt. He must desire to know, in addition to what the Editor 
 has well said, that what he has fearlessly written ought to be spread before the 
 
 Christian public. We believe Brother Beebee has expressed the views of 
 
 our denomination, &c. 
 
 From the Rev. William Sands, Editor of the Religious Herald, 
 Richmond, Virginia. 
 
 "Brother Bliss has entered into a full and thorough investigation of this sub- 
 ject, especially on infant baptism. He has, we think, overthrown the arguments 
 usually adduced in favor of this tradition of the fathers. These letters have 
 already undeceived several as to this delusion. The re-publication of them has 
 been atrongly urged, and we are glad the request has been acceded to. Wo hope 
 they willyct do more good, in opening the eyes ofthe supporters of infant sprink- 
 ling, and cause them to renounce their unscriptural theory. 
 
PREPARATORY STATEMENT. 
 
 The writer aims solely at usefulness, in defending the 
 rights of Jesus Christ, against the invaders of his prerogative, 
 and in defending the best interests of all his people. In order- 
 ing them all to be " gathered together in one," within "one 
 Fold," and under "one Shepherd," by "one baptism" — to 
 have but " one Lord," and " no divisions," and in praying so 
 earnestly; " that they all might be one," the Saviour himself 
 displayed the most benevolent design. 
 
 The building up of illegitimate folds, under human rulersi 
 is certainly waging war with this must benevolent arrange- 
 ment of the Redeemer. 
 
 The writer was deluded when a youth, by what was falsely 
 called infant baptism. — his confidence secured in the usual 
 way; his reading was entirely on one side till he was 45 
 years of age. He took unwearied pains to become master of 
 all the published arguments on that side: and, (as he now be- 
 lieves,) because of an unconquerable anxiety to obtain more 
 satisfactory and sound arguments, and not because he began, 
 even during all that time, to suspect that system. 
 
 His confidence in the sprinkling of babes was first shaken 
 in an effort to defend it, against the attack of it, by an in- 
 telligent Baptist Minister, within his parish. 
 
 His mind was uneasy for nearly a year, and was search- 
 ing for scriptural and historical proof : but in vain. At length 
 he gave up to a determination to follow truth, let it lead 
 where it would, and let it cost what it might. Soon the bub- 
 ble burst. Yet, it was not till he had carefully written out a 
 literal translation from the Greek Testament of every passage 
 that relates to baptism, and collected them, so as to have a 
 clear view of the«*nind of the Spirit. It was six months more 
 
PREPARATORY STATEMENT. V*L 
 
 before his mind became adjusted, against the influence of all 
 his former prejudices, in relation to Baptism. 
 
 Most gladly would he have kept quiet, if he dared. Eut 
 as he saw, through this his delusion, he had exerted a wrong 
 influence in the Kingdom of Christ, he felt that he must coun- 
 teract it, let it cost what it might. 
 
 It was a costly transaction. To feel obliged to condemn 
 one's former principles, so often and so publicly defended — 
 to cease all further services with the churches, and feel obli- 
 to refuse all invitations — to remain ostensibly laidvp for one 
 or two years, in private studies — to feel obliged, by convic- 
 tions of truth, to join the "sect which is every where spoken 
 against" — and to turn the back upon all one's former associ- 
 ates and spiritual interests, and to expose one's self to all the 
 obloquy or persecution that might follow, and to contravene 
 thetenderest feelings of one's own dear family, is one of the 
 greatest trials in the world. Header, infant sprinkling, 
 and the accompanying delusions, which turn us into a fold the 
 device of men, instead of the One Fold of Christ, is the cause 
 of all this trouble, as well as of most of the divisions in tho 
 Zion of God. 
 
 Regard for truth — for the rights of Jesus Christ — for his 
 exclusive jurisdiction, and for his regulations for the best in- 
 terests of his people, constrained the author to take tho 
 course lie has. 
 
 As the subject matter of the one fold of Christ, his title to 
 all the sheep, and to exclusive jurisdiction, and the tendency 
 of infant sprinkling to build up and continue the competing 
 folds of men, and thus to breed and perpetuate divisions, an J 
 keep the dear friends of Christ in separate folds, in future 
 ages, and prevent them from ever being One under Chriat f 
 rose to view in a clearer and more forcible light, lie felt con- 
 strained to write a few friendly letters on the subject.to Chris- 
 tian friends, his former associates. As he continued to write, 
 the subject swelled and enlarged to the present size. 
 
 He is happy to say that he has certainly no less friendship 
 
PREPARATORY STATEMENT. 
 
 for his former associates, but an increase — and he knows not 
 that there is any diminution on the part of his former associ- 
 ates, unless it be in a few cases. 
 
 As friends insisted the letters should be published, he has 
 finally consented, in the hope they may be of use to the bleed- 
 *ng cause of Christ.and to those minds that are anxious to know 
 the truth. Perfection in thought or expression cannot be ex- 
 pected. He will cheerfully correct errors, as soon as con- 
 vinced of them. 
 
 A generous public are requested candidly to reflect on 
 the scope of the thoughts and arguments, and not to be fasti- 
 dious on little points ; and to recollect it is the rights of Jesu s 
 Christ, the great Redeemer, that we wish to defend. 
 
 To the influence of the Holy Spirit, who will always ac- 
 company his own truth, to the consciences andhearts of those 
 to whom it is presented, unless through prejudice and re- 
 bellious hearts, they grieve him away, this work is devoutly 
 commended, praying that he will guide all who read in the 
 right ways of the Lord. 
 
 If the writer in any thing seems pointedly severe, it is not 
 because of any lack of tenderness to those who differ, but 
 because he feels for the bleeding cause of Christ, and feels 
 a holy indignancy against the propagation of those delusions 
 that are breeding so many divisions, and are are so perfectly 
 unfounded in the word of God, and mislead so many excel- 
 lent minds, during all their lives, and often lead them to do 
 more hurt than good, notwithstanding they have good in- 
 tentions. 
 
 If a Minister or a Christian support, during all his life, ei- 
 ther the treasonable jurisdiction of the Pope over Christian- 
 ity — or that of the National Governments — or that of the 
 Civil and Episcopal Government of England — or that of the 
 Episcopal Government in the United States, or that of the 
 Presbyterian Aristocracies — or that of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Bishops, and subordinate rulers, or that of any other com- 
 peting fold, or jurisdiction, that hinders the unlimited, unri- 
 
PREPARATORY STATEMENT. 
 
 vailed, and exclusive jurisdiction of Jesus Christ, over his 
 own cause, and supports the great feeder, or supply, of all 
 this treason, the making of babes Church members, within 
 these folds, by stratagem, when helpless; and if he supports 
 the deluding of parents, by false pretences, and the making 
 of them the blind and cruel agents in enslaving their own, 
 children, in this way; it is a matter of serious doubt whether 
 he does not perform more evil than good, during his life, not- 
 withstanding he may have good intentions, and may actually 
 accomplish a great deal of good. Thejauthor now looks back 
 upon his own misguided course, in this mirror, with serious 
 regret. Minister of the Gospel! if you continue this 
 course, even though you now, through delusion, refuse to look 
 at it, yet you will be obliged to look at it in the great reck- 
 oning day. How will it then appear to you, in the light of 
 eternity ! Professed Christian ! if you support this evil, how 
 will you meet it at the bar of God ! Whether the benevolent 
 institutions of the day that stand connected with such trea- 
 son against Heaven, will be of more benefit than injury to the 
 world, is certainly very questionable. Such rulers always dis- 
 play such crooked management and give such a sectarian turn 
 and selfish direction to every thing under their control, that 
 the ffcneral movement becomes a state of absolute rivalship 
 against the jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton, after examining the History of the Bap- 
 tists, from the apostolic times downward, declared of them. 
 (as Winston informs us,) that they were the only communi- 
 ty that had never symbolized with antichrist, (alluding to 
 their uniform recognition of the exclusive jurisdiction of 
 Jesus Christ,) and that "he was inclined to consider them 
 as one of the two Witnesses of the Apocalypse. 
 


 LETTER I. 
 
 January 1, 1B40. 
 
 To my Numerous Christian Friends and acquaintance : 
 
 The recurrence of a new year's day reminds us of time 
 past, the rapidity of its flight, our rapid approach to the 
 judgment, and that whatever we do for the prosperity of Zion 
 must be done soon. 
 
 A subject has rested with great weight upon my mind, du- 
 ring three or four years past, which, to me, appears to be of 
 great importance. Taking one side of the question invol- 
 ved, tends, in my view, to continue and increase divisions 
 among Christians, to divide and weaken their influence, to 
 establish more firmly sectarian jars, with all its horrors, to 
 increase and foment divisions in the cause of benevolence, 
 at home and abroad, and thus to be instrumental in the ruin 
 of souls, and greatly to retard the millenial day. But taking 
 the right side of the question, to me seems necessary, in order 
 to unite the influence of Christians in those noble objects, to 
 remove divisions, to stop the mouth of gainsayers and infidels; 
 and to "prepare the way of the Lord" 
 
 It is now about two hundred years since Christian Baptism, 
 a positive ordinance of Jesus Christ* was actually cashiered 
 and pushed away by a whole kingdom, in ecclesiastical 
 council, at Westminister, and something substituted in its 
 place, of mere human invention. The circumstances, I am 
 sure, are not generally understood. A portion of Christen- 
 dom still honestly and conscientiously cleave to Christian 
 baptism as an ordinance of Christ, and can not, dare not, ex- 
 change it for a mere human invention. They feel that thus 
 to alter the laws of Christ by human legislation, would be high 
 treason against Heaven; that to alter the laws of Christ in ; 
 the least, is to establish a principle which would admit of un- 
 limited alterations ; that to discard one ordinance or law, it 
 to establish a principle that is unlimited in its tendency to 
 add others. We arc strictly forbidden by the Saviour from 
 adding any thing to, or taking any thing from, his laws, under 
 the severest penalty. (Rev. xxii, 18, 19.) We believe that 
 a portion of Christendom have been blinded, misled, and se- 
 duced from the truth by the inventions of men, and been 
 
12 
 
 made by predecessors, from infancy up, the unconscious and 
 unintentional agents in promoting a systematic delusion, 
 which has been appended to the Christian system : I mean 
 the system of church organization that stands connected with 
 the sprinkling of babes and of adults, and thereby discarding 
 entirely, as it does, Christian baptism. 
 
 Is Christ divided? Who ever authorized the formation of 
 churches except they consist of professed believers, and ex- 
 cept they profess Christ themselves, by baptism, in its true 
 sense, after conversion? Surely not the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Infant baptism is among the many errors that crept into the 
 church in a few very rare cases, somewhere near the middle 
 of the third century. But it was baptism., not sprinkling, un- 
 til the last part of the sixteenth century, or the beginning of 
 the seventeenth. The system, since that time, of organizing 
 churches, chiefly by the mere sprinkling of unconscious babes, 
 a totally unauthorized ceremony, and when in the Bible there 
 is not the least shadow of any authority for applyiug baptism 
 at all to such sujects, and the human constitutions, necessary 
 to hold such churches together, has a totally disorganizing 
 tendency upon Jesus Christ's kingdom, establishes a rival 
 competition between the organizations, — establishes a prece- 
 dent unlimited in its tendency of forming another and ano- 
 ther organization, according to human caprice, and therefore 
 leads to endless jars and broils among the friends of Christ. 
 Who can think of the evils that have followed from such ri- 
 val organizations, during the whole period, the unkind mis- 
 representations, the criminations, and recriminations, the 
 mutual jealousies, the obstacles thrown in the way of Christ's 
 organization, defeating as it does the efforts and success of 
 those who cleave to it, the evils of a separate train of cxpen- 
 Ces in building separate houses of worship, supporting a sepa- 
 rate and rival ministry, — the hostility of all this against the 
 heart and soul of the dear Saviour, who prayed that all his 
 people might be one; the weakening of Christian influence; 
 the discouragements thus thrown in the way of those on 
 both sides who would wish to do right, if they only under- 
 stood the cause and cure of the troubles, and the tendency of 
 this whole state of things, to feast the infidel, to ruin souls, 
 and to retard the millenium, without being sick and distressed 
 beyond measure ? 
 
 And what is peculiarly wounding, is, that these rival or- 
 ganizations are carried by the dear, well-meaning missiona- 
 ries among the poor, blind heathen, with the certain prospect 
 of a similar train of evils to bs introJuced, together with 
 
13 
 
 Christianity, among them, and perhaps to be of long dura- 
 tion. Infidels, among the heathen, are already fortifying their 
 minds against the gospel on account of the sectarianism that 
 accompanies it. And with us at home the greatest obstacles 
 in the way of extending the cause of Christ grow out of these 
 rival organizations. Behold, how the hearts of the dear min- 
 isters and Christians in these organizations are discouraged, 
 how the scoffers and infidels embolden each other, how jeal- 
 ous the unconverted are that we possess a selfish and sectari- 
 an spirit, and how exceedingly difficult it has become to get 
 near them, or them near us, that we may do them good, on 
 account of this slate of things. It is, in my opinion, chiefly 
 owing to these sectarian organizations and their effects, that 
 efforts in promoting revivals have become so unsuccessful 
 of late. 
 
 In the apostolic time it was not so. Then revivals accom- 
 panied the ministers and churches everywhere. God is now 
 just as ready to give his Spirit as then. The reason of the 
 superior success then, more than now, must be because then 
 ''the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and 
 one soul" then, in one spirit were they all baptized into one 
 body." Then the apostles nipt every division in the bud, 
 and a rival fold would not have been endured for a moment. 
 
 The question arises, what inventions of men, and delusive 
 systems, what human constitution of a delusive tendency, 
 empowering the few to govern the many, and keep them un- 
 dtr,-what change of ordinances, what lording over God's 
 heritage, by spiritual wickedness in high places, ami what 
 organizations, adapted to perpetuate these evils, have been 
 oppented to the Christian system ? If 1 can start some points, 
 give some hints, and afford some relief, even to one mind, and 
 correct some of my past teaching, and help even one out of 
 trouble, I shall have done something. 
 
 The eight hundred million of our race on the globe die a^ 
 bout as fust as to include that whole number during every 
 thirty-two years. This will be, on an average, about twenty- 
 live million each year, two million and more each month, 
 five hundred and twenty-one thousand each week, sixty-eight 
 thousand each day, nearly three thousand each hour, and for- 
 ty-eight each minute. During the two hundred years that 
 these rival and contending churcli organizations have exist- 
 ed, about five billion, or five thousand million of soulshave 
 passed into eternity. The subject swells in magnitude be- 
 
 B 
 
14 
 
 yond description. It is not a little petty question about how 
 much water 1 or a question where every man may follow his 
 own blind feelings, and falsely call them conscience. It is a 
 question involving the greatest and most important principles 
 cunceivable, all of them having a directbearing upon the con- 
 version of the world. They relate to the rival and contend- 
 ing systems of church organization. Whichever side is in 
 the wrong has a vast load of responsibility in holding up a 
 system productive of all these evils, as well as each individu- 
 al under it, who aids in its support. 
 
 Must things remain so? Can they never be adjusted and 
 settled ? Souls are fast perishing. The subject is too great 
 to lie neglected. We must know how, and when, and where, 
 these divisions, and rivalships, and jars began, and how they 
 have been continued, in order to know the remedy. For one 
 so insignificant as myself to attempt any thing of the kind 
 may be thought foolish. Nothing but a fear that more able 
 persons will neglect it, and a desire to do what I can, before 
 I go to the judgment, and a consciousness that I was blinded 
 and in the wrong a great many years, could induce me to it. 
 I know that the delusions connected with infant sprinkling, 
 and that whole way of church organization, (for I must speak 
 out,) are of a peculiarly blinding, darkening, deluding nature ; 
 and in my opinion this delusion, as a system of church or- 
 ganization, is stronger than any delusion with which I have 
 ever been acquainted. Another strong delusion once cost 
 me much effort; but this has cost me far more. I know that 
 thousands of honest minds are willing to do right, if they on- 
 ly understood the subject. Conviction with those whose 
 minds are made up i3 not to be expected; because delusion 
 is so evasive there is no reasoning with it. All I can hope 
 is to help some {ew honest minds. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 THE LAW ON BAPTISM. 
 
 When Jesus Christ commands all true believers to be bap- 
 tized, and his ministers to baptize them, what does he mean 
 by that law ? 
 
 Baplizo is the Greek word used by our Savior, in the law 
 and it has become anglicised within the last three centuries,' 
 by those who did not wish the people to understand its real 
 
15 
 
 meaning. If there had been any other ordinance equally dis- 
 agreeable to human nature, and one they wished to alter, 
 they probably would have transferred also the Greek of that. 
 Common people can not know its meaning only from Greek 
 dictionaries, and from the use of it, also, before the ordinance 
 of baptism was changed. Because, the common rule with 
 lexicographers is to define words, in English, and other dic- 
 tionaries, first according to their primary meaning, and then, 
 if any considerable portion of people, at the time,use the word 
 in a new sense, to add that also. Dr. Webster somewhere 
 says, we may use a word in any sense we please, if we only 
 define what we really do mean by it. Ever since the ordi- 
 nance of baptismwas changed, some two hundred years ago, 
 by the British Parliament,* and by the Westminster Assem- 
 bly by a majority of one, f and a new ceremony, invented by 
 men, to supply its place, efforts have been constantly made 
 to ha»'e baptizo so construed as to favor that treasonable crime 
 against heaven. But the Lord in his providence has laugh- 
 ed all these efforts to scorn. 
 
 To use the word baptizo, according to the sense of those 
 who have done this deed, is by no means ascertaining the 
 mind of Christ. Its modern use by the sprinklers is by no 
 mean3 the test. Its use before that treasonable crime, is the 
 only true test. We might just as well construe the word 
 "pay," in a civil law, and say it means to run away — to evade, 
 because some in modern times use the word in that sense ; 
 as to define baptizo according to the use of it by those du- 
 ring the last two hundred years, who have in fact totaly eva- 
 ded its force. Our question is, — What did Christ mean I not 
 what alterations of it have these made. 
 
 In Wilson's Christian Dictionary, 1678, baptizo is render- 
 ed to dip into the water, or plunge one into the water. 
 
 In Dr. William Young's Dictionary it is rendered to dip, 
 all over, to wash, to baptize. 
 
 In the Greek Dictionary ofSchleusner it is rendered, to 
 immerse, to plunge, to sink into water. 
 
 In the Greek Dictionary of Charles Richardson, justly es- 
 teemed the most valuable one ever published, it is renderd, to 
 dip, or merge in water, to sink, to plunge, to immerse. 
 
 In the Greek Dictionary of the learned John Jones, it is 
 rendered, in the first person, I plunge, I plunge in water, I 
 bury, I overwhelm. 
 
 • At 1644. 1 At 1643 
 
16 
 
 In Pickerings Greek Dictionary, it is rendered, to dip, im- 
 merse, submerge, plunge, sink. 
 
 In Donnegan's Greek Dictionary,* it is rendered, to im- 
 merse, submerge, saturate, drench, &c. 
 
 In Grove's Greek Dictionary, and also in that of Robert- 
 son, it is rendered substantially in the same way, unless one of 
 them has added a modern use of it, as a sixth or seventh de- 
 finition. 
 
 In Schrevilius' Lexicon, 17th edilion, improved by Hill, 
 Bowyer, and Entick, it is rendered into Latin, by mergo, 
 abluo, lavo — that is, to immerse, to baptize, to wash away, 
 to wash. 
 
 In the twelfth edition, however, London 1738, Baptizo has 
 in the same lexicon, but two definitions, to wit, mergo, and 
 lavo, — to immerse, to wash. Four new definitions have been 
 added then, in that same author's Lexicon, since his death, and 
 since 1738. This demonstrates intentional corruption some- 
 where. 
 
 One or two of the above authors, have added sprinkle as a 
 seventh or eighth definition also, within some ten years past, 
 but with an asterisk, thereby apprising us that it is a very 
 modern definition. Many of the other remote definitions, af- 
 ter the primary, have also been added in modern times. It is 
 certain Jesus Christ in his law could have had no allusion to 
 any of these secondary or remote definitions, added within 
 the last fifty years, and so many centuries since the law was 
 made. By having Baptizo in some lexicons rendered into 
 Latin, and of late by six Latin words, each of which, of itself, 
 has often some six or eight definitions, and by assuming that 
 Baptizo has all the various meanings of all these six Latin 
 words, many, through the impulse of their delusion, helping 
 along the mistake, have been grossly misled and deceived, and 
 been led in this way to deceive thousands of others, not know- 
 ing what they did. 
 
 The Dictionary of the learned Bailey, justly esteemed one 
 of the most accurate of any ever published, gives immerse as 
 the definition ofBaptizo. 
 
 Butterworth renders Baptize to dip, immerse, or plunge. 
 
 In the Dictionay of the very learned and celebrated John 
 Ash, London, 1775, Baptize is rendered to dip, to plunge, to 
 overwhelm, to administer Baptism, 
 
 * Small edition. 
 
17 
 
 Baptism he renders an immersion in water, a washing by 
 immersion, a Christianordinance, whereby a person "puts on 
 Christ" or, makes a public profession of the Christian reli- 
 gion. 
 
 Baptizo : " In its primary and radical sense, I cover with 
 water." — Ewing-''s Diet. 
 
 To the same effect are Stourdza, Greenfield, Junius, Cal- 
 met, Bucheners, and many others. 
 
 The Greek Church unanimously give the same meaning 
 to the word baptizo, and have always unanimously practised 
 immersion. They certainly know the meaning of their own 
 language. 
 
 It is those who hold that the rulers over the Church had 
 a right to alter the ordinances, and make new laws for the 
 Church, that have, since 1556, introduced another custom, and 
 falsely caled it baptism, and procured it to be established, in 
 the year 1644, by Parliamentary law. Of this we are in- 
 formed by Dr. Gill and John Floyer. The original law of 
 1534, enforced immersion, and those who were not baptized 
 were to betreated as outlaws. The act of Parliament of 1644, 
 repealed so much of the old law as enforced immersion, and 
 enforced sprinkling in its stead, and left the original penalty 
 annexed to sprinkling. After this, those who were not sprink- 
 led were treated as outlaws. 
 
 After my investigations, I affirm with boldness, that not a 
 Lexican can be found, published previous to 1644, that gives 
 anv other definition to baptizo than immerse; all other defi- 
 nitions have been added since by designing men. 
 
 By perverting the translation of the Scriptures, by infu- 
 sing delusion, and the strong love of our own party, into 
 the youthful mind — by excluding the true History of what 
 has been done in the way of alterations, from all the schools 
 and colleges, thereby keeping the youth, in all his studies, 
 ina state of ignorance of these facts — by introducing such 
 Lexicons only for a long time among the youth as mislead — 
 by teaching the youth that baptizo has as many meanings as 
 all the Lutin words put together by which it is defined, (many 
 of which have been rorruply added, within the last 75 ye;ns,) 
 tow making baptizo mean almost any thing and every thing 
 — by the strong cooperation of the force of habit, and of re- 
 .«})••(• t for parents and associates, with the help of the pride of 
 consistency — and by the strong delusions thus engendered, 
 through purty feelings, and a sort of determination, like par- 
 alitica, to sustain the sect, at all hazards, ma- 
 ny minds, otherwise enlightened, have become as blind on this 
 
18 
 
 subject as though they were covered over with thick Egypt- 
 ian darkness. I speak all this from experience, and from a 
 review of myself and former associates. 
 
 In the first formation of language, words were arbitrary 
 sounds, and no word had more than one meaning. That 
 meaning, with every word, is now called its -primary ; and 
 is usually given in dictionaries, as the first definition. In all 
 the dictionaries in the world, immerse is given as this pri- 
 mary meaning of Baptizo, and immersion of baptisma. 
 
 The effect of the action contained in verbs is often impro- 
 perly given as a secondary or remote definition of those words. 
 To shew how this is adapted to mislead from the truth, 
 let us notice the effects of this way of defining verbs, as in 
 the word Dip. Every one knows what is the real meaning 
 of this word. But the effect of dipping in dye is to color, of 
 dipping in clean water, is to cleanse or wash, of dipping in 
 filth, is to besmear, of clipping a hot iron in water is to boil 
 the water and cool the iron, of dipping an animal into strong 
 ley- is to take off the skin, and of dipping a vessel into a 
 neighbor's grain, is to steal. Some lexicographers after ren- 
 dering dip by immerse, as the primary meaning, are just as 
 unphilosophical in giving multitudinous definitions as if they 
 were to add, to color, to cleanse or wash, to besmear, to boil, 
 to cool, to skin, or to steal, as definitions of this word. If a 
 law existed, and dip were the primary action enforced in that 
 law, how absurd it would be to take those remote definitions, 
 and by boiling, cooling, skinning, or stealing, hold out the 
 pretence that the law had been obeyed. This shows how 
 words acquires econdary and remote definitions which do not, 
 on any philosophical principle, fairly belong to them. Ev- 
 ery body can see that these remote definitions do not express 
 the real legitimate meaning of the word, but only the effects 
 of the action implied in that verb, and exceedingly contradic* 
 tory under different circumstances. 
 
 Now Baptizo is perfectly parallel to the English word dip, 
 and the necessity of taking the primary, as the real meaning 
 of the law expressed by Baptizo, is just as plain as it is in the 
 above instance of dip. And it would be perfectly absurd to 
 construe the law by the second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, 
 or any other remote or contradictory definitions, or by any 
 modern definition tacked on for sectarian purposes, 1700 years 
 after the law was made, or by any modern definition tacked 
 on to the word in a lexicon, an hundred years after the death 
 of the author, by persons who wished to avoid the real law, 
 and to bring a substitute for it into general use. 
 
19 
 
 The word pay signifies the discharge of a debt. But when 
 an insolvent dies or absconds, it is often said he has paid his 
 debts. How perfectly iniquitous it would be to construe a 
 law, of which pay is the prominent word, and to say the in- 
 tent of the law is fulfilled by dying or absconding. But this 
 is no more iniquitous than it is to pretend that the law injwhich 
 Baptizo is the prominent word, is fulfilled by conforming to 
 any remote, modern, or corrupt and unphilosophical defini- 
 tions. 
 
 The man who insists that the law of Christ is fulfilled by 
 pouring or sprinkling, acts on the same principle that would 
 justify another in saying that boiling, cooling, skinning, or 
 stealing.are the fulfilment of that law, and that Christ meant to 
 enforce stealing. 
 
 The man who insists that baptizo signifies to cleanse, has 
 just as good ground for his assertion, as another has who as- 
 serts that it signifies to besmear, or to color,* Such trifling 
 with the law of Christ, were it not for the delusions from in- 
 fancy up in those minds who are guilty of it, would be treason- 
 able, profane, rebellious and wicked beyond description. 
 As to the amount of mitigation on account of this delusion, 
 the Searcher of hearts will judge, as well as the extent of the 
 guilt for neglecting, or refusing to know the law. 
 
 Dr. Campbell, of Aberdeen College, says, baptizo, both in 
 sacred authors and classical, signifies, to dip, to plunge, to im- 
 merse. 
 
 John Calvin says, to baptize, signifies to immerse, and it is 
 certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient church. 
 
 Grotius says, that baptism used to be performed by immer- 
 sion, and not pouring, as appears from the proper significa- 
 tion of the word, and the places chosen," &c. 
 
 The very learned Joseph Mede says, there was no such 
 thing as sprinkling for a great many centuries after Christ. 
 
 * I was conversing, not long since, with a very candid Presbyterian minister, 
 Rev. Mr. Goodell, of Clark son, a thorough linguist, and a teacher in the Acad- 
 omy in that place, who perfectly coincided in all these views. "Fxcio/'he 
 said, " to which some twenty definitions are tacked in the dictionaries, nf- 
 ter all, in fact, has but one real, primary meaning, to wit, to <\n or m.ke. All 
 theoihfMs" he said, " are cither an expression of tho effects ..t the legitimate 
 action belonging to the word, or are some modern definitions 'added." What 
 then, said I to him, is the real meaning of the word Baptizo t " To immerse," 
 was his reply. "To dye, and to wash, or ejeanso, ore only the effects of the 
 .ate action belonging to the word, and ore not, Strictly, n. definition of it." 
 *..r sitting by inquired, "Is there ony other GsYttk word that will as well 
 express immense as Baptizo? Mr. (i. leplied, " No. Duptoand Duno signi- 
 fy to dive, ond do not as well express immerse as Baptizo " 
 
20 
 
 Beza says, Christ commanded us to be baptized, by which 
 word it is certain immersion is signified. 
 
 Luther says, baptism may be rendered a dipping, when we 
 dip something in water, that it may be entirely covered with 
 water. 
 
 Venema says.the word baptizo is no where used in the scrip- 
 ture for sprinkling. 
 
 Buddeus says, the words baptizo and baptismos are never 
 to be interpreted of aspersions, but always of immersions. 
 
 Salmasius says, baptism is immersion, and was administer- 
 ed informer times according to the force and meaning of the 
 word. 
 
 Vitringa says, the act of baptizing is the immersion of be- 
 lievers in water. 
 
 Gustlerius says, to baptize is undoubtedly to immerse, to 
 dip. 
 
 Dr. Daniel Rogers, a learned Episcopalian, says, " that the 
 minister is to dip in water, the word baptizo notes it. None 
 of old were wont to be sprinkled." 
 
 The twelve last, are learned and standard pa3do"baptist 
 authors, and many of them teachers in Psedobaptist Semina- 
 ries. The authors of the above lexicons, are all supposed to 
 be paadobaptists, except Buttorworth. 
 
 " It cannot be denied that the native signification of the 
 word baptizien is to plunge to dip." Witsius, Econ. of Gov. 
 Lib. 4 Chap. 16. Sec. 13. 
 
 " The original and natural signification of the word Baptizo 
 imports to dip." Ridgely's Body of Divinity. 
 
 " The very word Baptizo, signifies to immerse. Calviri. 
 With such testimony from so many of the most learned and 
 standard authors, and scarce one of them a Baptist, and not 
 a single standard author in the world bearing a contrary testa- 
 mony, and especially with such unity of definition from Greek 
 dictionaries, how clear is its meaning. We might as well 
 dispute the meaning of the word pay, in a law requiring a 
 man to pay his debts, as to dispute the meaning of the words 
 baptize and baptism, in the law of Christ, where he commands 
 all believers to be baptized, and all ministers to baptize them. 
 Our saviour knew what he said, and he meant what he said, 
 when he commanded baptism. He knew all the objections 
 which pride would raise, and all the inconveniences atten- 
 ding it ; and that ithad nothing in it that was fashionable, or 
 gratifying, or inviting, to a single feeling of the natural heart. 
 But for each of these reasons it is so murh the better, as it 
 tests the entire acquiescence of the soul in his will, far more 
 
2t 
 
 than the anxious seat, or anything else with which we have 
 ever been acquainted ; and being public, this submission to 
 him is publicly made before the world. The public act of 
 leaving the world-of going into his kingdom, and of yielding 
 to his authority, and in this self-denying way, is just what he 
 requires of every one that is born again. " Except a man be 
 born of water, &c, John iii. 5, (An expression, which Wall 
 tells us, was always construed to mean Baptism, until John 
 Calvin's time,) as well as " of the Spirit he cannot enter into 
 the Kingdom of God :" i. e. his kingdom on earth. John, iii. 2. 
 
 If the Saviour had commanded sprinkling- in the the law, 
 pouring and immersion would be wrong — a total failure to 
 obey, an addition to or a taking from the law of Christ, a crime 
 which is expressly prohibited under the severest penalties. 
 Rev. 18—22. 
 
 If he had commanded pouring, then immersion and sprink- 
 ling, for the same reasons, would be a failure to obey the law, 
 and an exposure to the same penalty for the same reasons. 
 
 But as he has commanded immersion, sprinkling and pour- 
 ing, for the same reasons, are a total failure to fulfilthe law, 
 and the observance of them, 'madding to, and taking from 
 that law, a crime which is threatened with that awful penalty. 
 
 As well might a person at the Sacramental table, by put- 
 ting a crumb of the bread in his rfocket, pretend he had fulfil- 
 led the law requiring him to cat it, and by putting a drop of 
 the wine on his face, pretend he had obeyed the law requiring 
 him to drink it, as for a person by sprinkling or pouring to 
 pretend he has fulfilled the law of Christ, enforcing baptism. 
 
 Sprinkling und pouring are not baptism, are not the things 
 commanded, and therefore to observe them is adding to, and 
 taking from the law of God, a crime.'to which an awful penal- 
 ty is annexed in the passage above referred to. 
 
 It results from all this that when we were sprinkled our- 
 selves, we were not baptized. The mode of baptism is the 
 mode of immersion. Spriklingand pouring are not the thing 
 which Christ commands, and are not even the mimicry of it, 
 hut the evasion. The man who evades the payment of a debt 
 11 think he has paid it, as the man who is sprinkled 
 think he has been baptized. It results, also, that when we, 
 as ministers, used to wet the face, and say, " / baptize thro;' 
 &c, we did not tell the truth in fact ; hut it was a falsehood in 
 fact. We were not then conscious, that it was a fal-ehood, 
 and were as honest as people are in any other delusion. But 
 we could not do it again, lifter thus having the subject demon- 
 strated to us, without '* lying to the Holy Ghost.' 1 We arc 
 
22 
 
 not excusable for any delusion, because we are bound to know 
 the truth. For the dear ministers of the gospel publicly to 
 falsify the truth, in fact, however earnest in heart they may be, 
 and to do it in the name of the sacred Trinity, is extremely 
 to be regretted. Who hath required this at your hand ? Bap- 
 tism is that which Christ requires ; but the other ceremony, 
 falsely called baptism, adapted as it is to change and evade the 
 real ordinance, to alter the laws of Christ, to perpetuate de- 
 lusion ; and adapted as it is, if universally practiced, totally to 
 annihilate and remove from the world, the real ordinance of 
 Christ, is what I dare not do ;and I believe the time is not far 
 distant when no enlightened minister will dare to do it. For 
 me to do it, after my examination of the subject, would be 
 conscious profanity. When I used to do it I was under a de- 
 lusion, fixed upon me in my childhood, by others. 
 
 It results especially that those who were sprinkled in in- 
 fancy, and had this false declaration uttered with the ceremo- 
 ny, were no more baptized in reality, than the child where the 
 Roman Catholic held up his hand, and said the words, " I bap- 
 tize," &c, without any water ; or the other case where anoth- 
 er Roman Catholic sprinkled sand, and profanely said the 
 words. Who ever required this at the hands of those who do 
 it? "If any man shall au^l — to him shall be added all the 
 plagues." Carrying a babe to the anxious seat, that he may 
 excuse himself when he grows up, would be just as rational 
 as to sprinkle him in infancy, that he may evade Christian 
 baptism, after he grows up, and becomes converted. 
 
 It results also that those churches that are organized mere- 
 ly on infant sprinkling, are organized without Christian bap- 
 tism. They depend upon a constitution which is the inven- 
 tion of men in order to keep them together. And those who 
 remain connected with this way of organizing churches, are 
 responsible for all the evils and all the divisions that result 
 from it. 
 
 If Jesus Christ's way of organizing churches presents Him- 
 self as sole lawgiver and Ruler, his own revealed constitution 
 as the foundation, His jurisdiction over christians as exclusive, 
 baptism after believing as the public transaction whereby 
 members are admitted, and excludes unconscious babes, as 
 well as all the unconverted ; and if he commands every con- 
 vert forthwith to join his church in His way, as soon as con- 
 verted, then the former way is at variance with Christ's way, 
 defeats andhinders it and keeps back a great many of Christ's 
 redeemed ones from joining his kingdom, a new constitution 
 
23 
 
 to Christ's laws, contrary to Revelation, xxii. 18, 19. stands 
 forth in bold competition against Christ's organization, with 
 separate houses of worship, a separate ministry, and separate 
 expenses, (which if not properly applied are wasted,) and it 
 stands forth chargeable with all the sectarianism, and evils, 
 and injuries, to the cause of Christ which result. It is cer- 
 tainly high time for us to look into these things, and search 
 deep for the root of these evils, and that all return to primi- 
 tive gospel order. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 HOW IT HAS BEEN VIEWED IN ALL AGES. 
 
 Are my Christian friends, and former associates aware, (I 
 know they generally are not,) how many of the most learned 
 authors confirm the same definition of baptizo, which we have 
 given, and of baptism as being immersion only, and confirm 
 the fact thst immersion has always been considered by the 
 church of Christ as being indispensably requisite to the ordi- 
 nance of baptism, from the days of the apostles until now, and 
 still is by all Christians in all parts of the world, except those 
 who have inherited their views from the alterations of the or- 
 dinance in England, or have grown up in nations that have 
 derived their alteration of the ordinance from the church of 
 Home ? 
 
 Rev. Moses Stuart, Professor of the Andover Paedobaptist 
 Theological Seminary, says, " The man that denies that im- 
 mersion was practiced in the primitive church, for several 
 centuries after the apostles, must possess grest want of can- 
 dor or be unacquainted with church history. It is a thing 
 made out. So indeed, all the writers who have thoroughly 
 investigated this subject conclude. I know of no one usage 
 of ancient times, which seems to be more clearly and certain- 
 ly made out. I can not see how it is possible for any candid 
 man who examines the subject to deny this." This is can- 
 did. When he still practicesand countenances the alteration 
 of Christ's ordinance after all, and thus by his great influence 
 sanctions a divided state of the church, is a subject which he 
 must meet at the tremendous bar of God Himself 
 
 Moshiem, one of the most candid, and learned, and faithful 
 historians, as all admit.says, concerning the ceremonies of the 
 first century, (Vol. 1. p. 108) " The sacrament of baptism was 
 
24 
 
 administered in this century apart from the public assemblies, 
 in places appointed and prepared for that purpose, and was 
 performed by immersion of the whole body in the baptismal 
 font. u The same author in describing the ceremonies of the 
 second century, (Vol. 1. p. 170,) also says, " The persons 
 that were to be baptized after they had repeated the creed, 
 &c, ware immersed underwater, and received into Christ's 
 Kingdom by a solemn invocation of Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, according to the express command of our blessed 
 Lord." This last clause shows us very clearly what was the 
 opinion of this learned man concerning the import of the com- 
 mand of Christ on this subject. 
 
 Bishop Smith of the episcopal church, Kentucky, in a re- 
 cent Sermon, at the immersion of his own babe, says. 
 
 " We have only to go back 6 or 800 years, and immersion 
 was the only mode, except in the case of the few baptized on 
 their beds, when death was near. And with regard to such 
 cases, it disqualified its recipient for holy orders, in case he 
 recovered. Immersion was not only universal, 6 or 800 
 years ago, but it was primitive, and apostolic, no case of 
 baptism standing on record by any other mode for the first 
 three hundred years, except the few cases of those baptized 
 clinically, i. e. lying in bed. The place of baptism in most 
 cases, the significance of baptism, the washing of the soul in 
 the blood of the atonement, as ' our bodies are washed in pure 
 water,' Heb. x. 22. the allusion of baptism to the death and 
 reusrrection of Christ,' buried with him in baptism,' all con- 
 tinue to render the fact, as early ascertained, far more recon- 
 cileablewith scripture than any contrary theory can possibly 
 be. If any one practice of the early church is clearly ascer- 
 tainable, it is immersion. 
 
 He also asserts, that " The bowl and sprinkling are strict- 
 ly Genevan in their origin, i. e. were introduced by Calvin at 
 Geneva, as the Empedopidins also assert." 
 
 In relation to the phrase, Rom. vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12, " Bur- 
 ied with him by baptism," &c, the learned Dr. Cave, Locke, 
 Poole, Burkitt, Samuel Clark, the Assembly of Divines, John 
 Calvin, and also the two great founders of Methodism, John 
 Wesley, and Adam Clark, all agree and affirm that allusion 
 is here made to immersion as the baptism of those times. 
 John Calvin expressly tells us that immersion was always 
 the baptism practiced previous to this time, Inst. Chr. Relig. 
 Dr. Whitby, a very learned Episcopalian, on the place says, 
 " It being so expressly declared here (Rom. vi. 4, and Col. 
 ii. 12,) that we were buried with Christ in baptism, by being 
 
25 
 
 buried under water •, and the argument to oblige us to a con- 
 formity to his death, by dying to sin, being taken thence; and 
 this immersion being religiously observed by all christians for 
 thirteen centuries, and approved by our church ; and the 
 change of it into sprinkling even without any allowance from 
 the Author of its institution, or any licence from any council 
 of the church ; it were to be wished that this custom (immer- 
 sion) might be again of general use." We notice here the 
 substance of this learned Bishops opinion of the passage, viz. 
 that the fact here stands by the apostle, is, that in baptism, 
 we turn our backs upon the ways of the world, and die to sin, 
 and we are buried in the act of baptism, and then are raised 
 to a spiritual life in the church, in which we are thus planted 
 or placed ; and that all this is a striking parallel to the death 
 burial, and resurrection of Christ ; and that these facts were 
 notorious to those churches ; and that the apostle states these 
 notorious fact*, in order to press the argument thence derived, 
 to wit, that for these very reasons, professors ought " to 
 walk in newness of life." As Christ after his resurrection 
 lives in heaven, so we after our resurrection, at our baptism, 
 should live in the church, a holy life. Now, those who sprin- 
 kle blot out the whole of this pungent argument, and the 
 whole foundation of it from God's book, and destroy its mean- 
 ing. Is there no danger in thus taking away from God's 
 book ? If we may take away this argument and deny the fact, 
 from which the duty enforced is drawn, we establish a prin- 
 ciple that will lead us to take away another, and another' ar- 
 gument, penned by the Spirit of God, and another, and anoth- 
 er fact, though stated by the same authority. How deeply 
 does tlii- li Timed Bishop regret this course, and how earnest- 
 ly does he desire the restoration of the original ordinance. 
 
 He incidentally states here two great facts, well known in 
 his time, to wit,£r3*That immersion had been rcligously ob- 
 served by all Christians for thirteen centuries, and that 
 somewhere between the beginning of the fourteenth century 
 and his time, the ordinance of baptism had been changed. 
 have a proof before our own eyes, in these passages, 
 and in what we see in our land, that this ordinance of Christ 
 has been changed. The Rantism (sprinkling,) and the Pcr- 
 im (pouring) in this country, are radically different from 
 the Baptism, (immersion), enforced by'Christ. In'sprinkling 
 and pouring there is no burial : no resemblance to the death, 
 burial, and resurrection, of Christ. The reason is, they are 
 not baptism, but something else. The ordinance has been 
 
 C 
 
26 
 
 changed, or rather exchanged. Baptism has been discar- 
 ded, and substitutes been adopted. How silly would the 
 apostle have appeared, if he had said, We are buried with 
 Christ by sprinkling or by pouring. It is a falsehood on the 
 face of it. Pouring and sprinkling are not, then, the baptism 
 which the apostles and early Christians observed, and which 
 Jesus Christ enforced. They are only a substitute and cheat 
 played off upon the community by popery, by the British 
 Parliament, and by the persecuting bishops of England, du- 
 ring the 16th and 17th centuries, and by other coercive au- 
 thority. Afterwards, the practice was handed along from 
 generation to generation, parents applying it to their babes 
 for a long time with a superstitious belief that it was necessa- 
 ry to their salvation and with tame submission to the rulers 
 over them. So strong has the superstition and delusion final- 
 ly became, that it is now almostimpossible to break the spell. 
 Even Free-masenry and Mormonism are not stronger delu- 
 sions and superstitions than the baby-sprinkling of our land. 
 Sprinkling and pouring were not the ceremony which our Sa- 
 viour observed. He was baptized, and in Jordan ; and we have 
 proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, that to be baptized was 
 to be immersed.* And Jesus being immersed, ascended im- 
 mediately out of the water." This is the literal tranalation. 
 So also Philip and the eunuch descended both into the water, 
 and he (in Greek baptized,) in English immersed him. Sprin- 
 kling and pouring then, are not baptism. Baptism has been 
 exchanged for something else. Those churches who simply 
 sprinkle and pour water, have no baptism. They have substi- 
 tuted rantism, and perichysm, and discarded baptism. 
 
 All the learned authors agree that baptism (in the Greek,) 
 i. e. immersion in the English, was the uniform practice with 
 all christians during the first century,which century terminated 
 with the death of Christ's beloved disciple John. There is not 
 the possibility of a mistake. Not a single author can be found, 
 who contradicts this historical fact. But hundreds, of all de- 
 nominations bear testimony to it. If you ask why so many 
 blindly take the side of the sprinklers, I will ask you why 
 people adopt and blindly defend so many other delusions, su- 
 perstitions, anil traditions ? and your answer will be the an- 
 swer to your own question. And if you ask why I blindly 
 
 * " The travellers rested on the hanks of the Jordan, at the spot where, tradi- 
 tion says, the Lord washaptized. They bathed in the stream, the water was a- 
 bout eight feet deep." 
 
 This is from the N. Y. Evangelist, a Presbyterian paper. Wc commend it to 
 the attention of such as doubt that the Saviour was immersed 
 
 
27 
 
 defended the wrong side of this question so long, I will ask 
 you why you, and many thousands of others, still blindly de- 
 fend it, and you will answer your own question. The real 
 reason is, that our early impressions, all our early reading-, 
 feelings, associations and interests, were on that side, and we 
 were blinded. If you ask what difference it makes, I ask you 
 again, what difference does it make whether we obey Christ 
 in anything ? Naaman, the leper, must not only wash, but 
 must wash in Jordan, and must wash seven times. Wetting 
 a little, would not have answered ; washing even six times 
 in Jordan would not have answered ; and washing even seven 
 times in the waters of Damascus, would not have answered. 
 And for the best of ail reasons — the principle of disobedience 
 to the will of heaven would have been in it. The form is 
 good for nothing without the heart. We love to have our own 
 will gratified. This is the reason why implicit obedience to the 
 will of God is required; towit,because withoutentire obedience 
 we have our own will, and do not submit to the will of God. 
 And there is no such thing as doing right unless our wills are 
 subjected to his. This is the reason why sprinkling can not 
 possibly be right, and why immersion is indispensable ; the 
 one is having our own blind will, or with a blind impulse cal- 
 led conscience, to make a good enough law for ourselves. 
 The other is taking tbe will of another already expressed, to 
 wit, the will of God. 
 
 Dr. Wall says, '^the Presbyterian church in Geneva, is the 
 first church on earth that ever enjoined sprinkling." The 
 new Edinburgh Encyclopaedia says, sprinkling was first in- 
 troduced into the kirk of Scotland, and into England, in 1559 
 — that John Calvin was the first man among Protestants that 
 changed ihe ordinance. It intimates that a popish council at 
 Ravenna, in 131 1, had said that sprinkling or pouring would 
 do among papists, but yet scarce any adopted it. The very 
 learned Dr. Gale, in 1707, writes, (Reflections on Wall, p. 
 153,) "Baptism which all men know was U3ed to be adminis- 
 tered in England by dipping, or immersion, till Queen Eliza- 
 beth's time, 1558; since which time that pure primitive man- 
 ner, is grojM into a total disuse, within a little more than 
 one hundred years; and sprinkling, the most opposite to it 
 imaginable, introduced in its stead. The fact is notorious," 
 &c. Grotius, on Mat. iii. G, asserts also, that the "ordinance 
 has been en v \<. m from immersion to sprinkling." The lear- 
 ned Dionysius Petavius, refers to the same alteration. H Im- 
 mersion, he says, is properly styled baptism, though at pre- 
 sent we content oui selves with pouring water on the head 
 
28 
 
 Svliich in Greek in Greek is called perichusis, i. e. perychism 
 it 1 may so Anglicise, but not baptism." The learned anti- 
 quary, archdeacon Nicholson, bishop of Carlisle, in 1707, in 
 speaking of the baptismal font at Bridekirk, says, "There is 
 fairly represented on the font, a person in a sacerdotal habit, 
 dipping a child into the water," and adds, " I need nol acquaint 
 you that the sacrament of baptism was anciently administer- 
 ed by plunging into the water in the western, as well as the 
 eastern part of the church, and that the Gothic word (Mark i. 
 8. Luke iii. 7, 12.) the German word iavffcn, the Danish word 
 dobe, and the Belgic doopen, do as clearly make out that 
 practice, as the Greek word baptizo. Dr. Wall says, " all 
 those nations of Christians, that do now or formerly did sub- 
 mit to the authority of the Bishop of Rome, do ordinarily bap- 
 tize (we should have said, rantize) their infants by pouring or 
 sprinkling: — id^The English received not this custom, 
 (sprinkling) till after the decay of popery. But all other 
 Christians in the world, who never owned the Pope's usurp- 
 ed power, do and ever did dip." He particularly informs 
 us that all the Greek church, all Christians in Asia, all in 
 Africa, and about one third part of Europe, to wit, all Gracia, 
 Thracia, Servia, Bulgaria, Roscia, Wallachia, Moldavia, Rus- 
 sia, Nigra, and so on, and even the Muscovites, who, if cold- 
 ness of country will excuse, might plead for a dispensation 
 ■with the most reason of any, still most conscientiously cleave 
 to the ordinance of immersion." The fact is, then, most am- 
 ply and fully made out, as an historical fact, that Popery, the 
 British Parliament, and the Westminster Assembly, are all 
 the authority there is for sprinkling or pouring ; and that all 
 Christians in all parts of the world, except the descendants of 
 such as have been tinctured with popery, or with these other 
 authorities, donow, and always have, agreed in the fact, that 
 baptism is immersion, and that nothing else is baptism. 
 
 Those,then, who practice sprinkling and pouring have been 
 misled by their youthful impressions on the subject, by tak- 
 ing it for granted, that what they see with their eyes is bap- 
 tism, by refusing to examine the subject, by following the 
 " traditions of the elders," by satisfying themselves with spe- 
 cious arguments that are untrue in fact, by being deluded, by 
 following in many instances, a blind superstition, or an hon- 
 est mistake, or the influence of others, or by yielding to the 
 force of education, or by following the popish principle, that 
 * tradition, is of equal force with the word ol'God.' Nearly all 
 the delusions in the world have been propagated and contin- 
 ued in thel^me way. Free-masonry, Mormonism, and even 
 
29 
 
 no small part of popery itself, have been propagated and con- 
 tinued in this way. 
 
 I write these things in the fear of God, expecting to meet 
 what I say in the judgment, and my sole object is to recover 
 the ordinances of Christ from the perversion which has been 
 made of them, in order to help my fellow Chrirtians to return 
 to a course of implicit obedience to the will of our common 
 Lord, and that they may take a right stand, and exert a right 
 influence on his bleeding, divided, distracted, cause. If those 
 who baptize are right in fact, they will of course continue to 
 do it. Those who take the other course, then, will in that case 
 be responsible for continuing to promote and perpetuate divi- 
 sions. 
 
 How exceedingly evident it is that those who sprinkle or 
 pour in the name of the sacred trinity, have no authority for 
 it further back than the sixteenth century, fifteen hundred 
 and more years too late to be of divine authority; and that 
 it is, and must be, from the nature of" the case, an invention 
 ot men, and that in taking this substitute they have unawares 
 dashed away a positive ordinance of Jesus Christ. How ex- 
 ceedingly dangerous it is to cleave to a human ceremony, 
 when in doing it we discard an ordinance divine. Naaman 
 was no more wrong in fact, than those are who discard Christ's 
 ordinance, and cleave to the substitute. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 CHANGE OF THE ORDINANCE. 
 
 In my last I was proving that the divine ordinance of bap- 
 tism had been, during the latter part of the sixteenth, and the 
 first part of the seventeenth centuries, totally discarded by 
 the popish, the Episcopalian, the Congregational, and the 
 •yterian organizations, and a human ceremony, totally 
 unlike it, been substituted in its place. The Methodist or- 
 ganization was not formed till between 1739, and 1784, and 
 was not completed till the latter period, and was, therefore, 
 about 140 years after the profane exchange was made; and 
 Wesley, its founder, aimed to have this resemble the Episco- 
 piliin form of church organization. Of course he took the 
 substitute, in lieu of the divine ordinance, just as it stood at 
 that time in the Episcopal church. Still, he baptized many 
 Welsh, as he says in his journal to Georgia, by immersion, 
 
 
30 
 
 "according to the custom of the ancient church." He also 
 immersed E. K., as Toplady gives it, in England, and was 
 strongly predisposed, even to a fault, (in Toplady's view,) to 
 practice immersion. This the rather honors his conscience, 
 as being strongly inclined to obey the divine command when 
 he could. Benedict informs us, that he refused to sprinkle chil- 
 dren, until, according to the Rubrics of the English Church, it 
 *vas certified that the child was incapable of being immersed 
 without endangering life. Had it not been, then, that he was in- 
 ured to believe that the civil government had the right to make 
 laws,and regulate the things of religion, he certainly would 
 have practised immersion. This certainly honors his heart, 
 as displaying a respect for the divine ordinance. 
 
 He says, " We believe it would not be lawful for us to bap- 
 tize, if we had not a commission from the bishops, whom we 
 apprehend to be in succession from the Apostles." (Journal, 
 vol. i. p. 514. Ed. 1827.) It was feeling such allegiance to 
 human rulers, then, that misled him into sprinkling, accord- 
 ing to the then usages of the civil and Episcopal government, 
 and contrary to his own honest preference of the real ordi- 
 nance of Christ. 
 
 [Q.uery. What if all our civil rulers should modestly claim 
 the right of appointing successors in office, ad infinitum, and 
 the people were to feel thus servile under it ?J 
 
 I was proving in my last, from the most scientific and stan- 
 dard authors, the historical fact above stated ; and also that 
 all the Christian world, besides the above organizations, ever 
 have, from the time of Christ, and do now, every where, most 
 conscientiously cleave to the original divine ordinance, and 
 discard the substitute as a profane exchange. The bohan 
 upas of sectarianism with all its desolations, rending and tear- 
 ing as it does the church of Christ, has resulted almost en- 
 tirely from the profane exchange, and from trampling down 
 the initiating ordinance into Christ's kingdom, and initiating 
 meninto the sects by a substitute, and from the delusion of 
 infant baptism or infant sprinkling, as it stood connected with 
 these things. It is this fact which gives so much importance 
 to the subject. You will therefore bear with me for presen- 
 ting at this time the plain facts in the case. 
 
 With the papists the exchange, it is certain, never began 
 till after the year 1311.* The exchange with them was also 
 very slow, and but very {ew adopted it for more than two 
 hundred years. t For at the time of the Reformation it is cer- 
 
 * New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, Art. Bap. t Ibid. 
 
31 
 
 tain they generally immersed. It is true a small council of pa- 
 pists at Ravenna, in 131 l,were inquired of, whether sprinkling 
 or pouring, in case the child was sick, would do ; and that small 
 council seemed to think it would answer the purposes of pa- 
 pacy well enough, especially in such extraordinary cases.* 
 It is certain that the church of England, first formed and or- 
 ganized out of popery, as their own authors abundantly assert, 
 and in 1534, adopted immersion, at their first organization.! 
 This fact is confirmed by all history, and by all their ri- 
 tuals, by the Parliamentary act of 1534, enforcing immersion, 
 and by their great reluctance*, during one hundred years' strug- 
 gle, to take the substitute. It is equally certain that the Con- 
 gregational and Presbyterian organizations, which first came 
 into existence about the same time, also then adopted immer- 
 sion. This (act is confirmed by the concentrated testimony 
 of all history, by their writings during those times, and by the 
 fact that even as late as lG43,the Westminster Assembly were 
 exceedingly reluctant to adopt the substitute ; and the vote was 
 ultimately carried by the efforts of Dr. Lightfoot, and final- 
 ly obtained by a majority of only one. The honest part of 
 the Episcopal church even as far down as 1640, are found to 
 be exceedingly reluctant to give up the divine ordinance, and 
 to adopt the substitute: and to their honor be it remember- 
 ed, they never did do it, as a body, till an act of Parliament 
 enforced it in 1644. As a religious body they have never, in 
 England, altered their rituals from immersion, whatever may 
 be the state of the prayer book, and whatever alterations it 
 may have undergone in the United States. 
 
 These things demonstrate that all these denominations 
 originally had a conscience in favor of the divine ordinance, 
 and again*! the profane exchange. 
 
 hop Sooth, in his recent charge to the clergy of Ken- 
 tacky, as well as in his Sermons, conveys fully, the idea, that 
 immersion was the practice of the primitive churches. Ma- 
 ther, in his Magnalia, more than intimates that in New Eng- 
 land, from 1620, to 1648, immersion was continued by many 
 ,-it feast 
 
 The fact is. that John Calvin stands at the head of the pro- 
 fane exchange among Protestants, and is the father of it. 
 st began it in 1556, at Geneva. The number of baptisms 
 there become so much increased, that he first, in that year, in- 
 
 • Il»id. Sec also British Encyclopedia, and Encyclopaedia Americano. 
 1 Lowth. 
 
32 
 
 vented the practice of drenching the candidate by pouring a 
 pail full of water, as being more convenient than immersion, 
 afterwards of pouring a less quantity, and finally of mere 
 sprinkling. Dr. Wall, vicar of Shoreham, in describing the 
 fact, says, that "pouring was the substitute for baptism, 
 which Calvin first adopted, and that his sprinkling was only 
 the substitute of a substitute, and was the most scandalous 
 thing ever adopted for baptism, The sprinkling of our coun- 
 try, then, the Episcopal Wall being witness, is only the scan- 
 dalous "substitute of a substitute ;" — quite another thing, 
 than the divine ordinance itself. During the persecutions un- 
 der Queen Mary,* and the bloody bishop Bonner, many per- 
 sons had fled to the continent, and visited Geneva. On the 
 death of Queen Mary in 1558, and the accession ofElizabeth, 
 they returned, and in Scotland and England reported how 
 " the famous godly man, John Calvin, (as he was called, )had im- 
 proved on baptism ; and this substitute was not half so trouble- 
 some." From this, a small beginning of the use of the sub- 
 stitute commenced in Scotland, and in England. The proud 
 persecuting bishops of the time, seeing its convenience, im- 
 mediately set themselves at work to establish it as a good 
 enough baptism for their purposes; and it was so much more 
 convenient! They commenced and continued an excitement 
 in its favor, with which the worldly and unprincipled part of 
 the Episcopalians fell in; but the honest part opposed. The 
 bishops preached Before the Parliament, attempting to incite 
 them to pass a law enforcing it; and used language like this, 
 that the "devil of immersion ought tobe legislated out of the 
 realm, it was so troublesome." Under this state of feeling 
 and excitement, so much of our present translation of the Bi- 
 ble as relates to baptism, was made by these bishops in 1568, 
 copied from the Bishop's Bible." All the perversions we find 
 in it, on baptism, were made by them as the result of that 
 state of feeling. For when King James, in 1604, authorised 
 anew translation, (completed in 1611,) James ordered the 
 translators to leave baptism just as it had been rendered by 
 the bishops. When we read it on baptism, therefore, let us 
 remember who were the translators on that subject, and the 
 spirit they had in view, and then cease to wonder at the perver- 
 sions. Let us, however, remember that we can never preach, 
 and send the gospel to everycreature.without a literal transla- 
 te Queen Mary caused 800 Martyrs, mostly Baptists, to V>e put to death, in 
 he short space of only five years; solely because they had the rebellious spir- 
 it of being honest and conscientious in obeying God, in bU laws and ordinan* 
 
 Ci, 
 
83 
 
 tion of God's word ; and that we sin if we indirectly cover over 
 the mind of the Holy Spirit on any subject, by neglect ng to 
 have it literally translated, aud sent every where. It is these 
 bishops and the sprinklers, who have the new Bible. We 
 plead for the old-fashioned Bible, that lias an honest and literal 
 translation, such as has always translated the Greek word bap- 
 tizo and baptisir.a, and not left them in Greek, to blind the peo- 
 ple, and had no perversions on the subject ; and such as the 
 bishops gathered up aid destroyed, at the time of tneir new 
 translation, in 1568. 
 
 To return ; the bishops persistedjin iheir efforts to exchange 
 awav the divine ordinance of immersion, while Wall and oth- 
 ers wrote in defenee of it, as having always been the ordi- 
 nance from the days of John the baptist till then. Still the 
 bishep's party gained ground — so large a portion of the na- 
 tional church being void of christian principle. 
 
 It was not till about 1640, to 1644, that a Parliamentary 
 act was finally passed, requiring all the children born in the 
 realm, and all the people, to be sprinkled, under the old pen- 
 alty of !>eing treated as outlaws, and of being deprived of the 
 right of inheritance of estate, the right of burial ; and in short 
 of all the rights secured to the other sprinkled citizens of 
 the realm. From 1534, the beginning of the Episcopal or- 
 ganization, the immersion of all the babes in the kingdom, 
 and of all the people, had been enforced by law, under the 
 same penalty. After 1648, immersion was prohibited, and 
 for many years made penal.* Thus might makes right, and 
 
 * The Ana-Baptists (an opprobrious epithet, given to those who baptized ac- 
 cording to thecommund of Christ, regardless ofthc stratagem ployed upon babes,) 
 were always objects of persecution, by the Parliament, the Episcopalians, and 
 ifae Presbyterians. I have not tb« means of gathering nil the Parliamentary 
 Acts ogainst them, and a. ninst the ordinance of Baptism, and establishing tho 
 substitute by the arm of civil power. As early as lu'40, we find Edward Bar- 
 -t minister in London, imprisoned for a year, for baptizing converts 
 according to the command of Christ, and contrary to the laws of the Parliament. 
 ■ I t'.ie some fate In whatyenr the law was passed, J cannot 
 tell : it was not till Hill, that na ordinance of Parliament was finally obtained, 
 hing sprinkling as the national baptism. An ordinance, dated May 2, 
 1648, rends thus : " Whosoever shall say tbbt the baptism [sprinklinc, it had 
 then become,] of infants ia unlawful and void, or that such persons OUghl t<> be 
 baptized ana in, shall, upon conviction, by the oath of two witness**, or by his 
 m, be ORDERED torenounco his said error, in the public c< 
 "f the parish, where the offence was committed. And, in case of l 
 be shall bo committed to prison, till he find sureties that he shnl!"not publish or 
 ii said error any more." Much persecution wns carried on again, t the 
 is, under this statute. The laws making immer-ion petto 1, were, somo 
 of them, somewhat indimct in language, boi intended to be direct in their np. 
 plication. Soon after this, we find four-hundred Baptists crowded into New. 
 
34 
 
 makes right to become wrong, at pleasure : alters the laws of 
 God, ami lords it over God's heritage, and over the conscien- 
 ces of men, and changes or annihilates divine ordinances. 
 
 The principles of republicanism, and the rights of con- 
 science, were not in those days understood by any. Lording 
 it by some, in matters of religion, and subjection by the rest, 
 was the only government known. Accordingly, Calvin, who 
 evidently loved to lord it, invented the Presbyterian form of 
 church government, empowering the few to govern the ma- 
 ny, and acceding to the aristocracies he established above 
 the church, legislative, judicial, and executive, powers ; the 
 very powers that in fact belong solely to Jesus Christ. This 
 aristocratic Presbyterian body soon passed a law, at Geneva, 
 (about 1550) enforcing sprinkling as baptism. This usurpa- 
 tion of power is a fair specimen of Presbyterianism. Calvin 
 alludes to this when he says, " The church (i, e. Presbyteri- 
 anism,) hath granted to herself the privilege of somewhat al- 
 tering the form of baptism, retaining the substance ; i. e. the 
 words."f What a jewel this, and similar Presbyterianisms ! ! 
 
 John Calvin, then, is the father of this exchange of a divine 
 ordinance, as well as the father of Presbyterianism. Hi3 
 Presbyterian aristocracy, acting under the constitution he 
 had formed, and powers he had given them, passed the first 
 law of all, enforcing this profane exchange,and enforcing the 
 sprinkling of babes. (New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, Walls 
 Hist. Bish. Smith's Serm.,Dr. Gill, John Floyer, Gale's Reply 
 to Wall.) It was about the year 1560. Here is the first 
 beginning of baby-sprinkling, and the ceremony is the child 
 of John Calvin. Baby immersion into popery had beed en- 
 forced durnir all the dark ages, and as long as popery had ex- 
 isted ; a nd a little of it had been practiced, in some rare cases, 
 from the year 255 along down to the days of popery, under 
 different pretensions. It was however more than two hun- 
 dred years too late to be of divine origin, It originated in 
 
 gate ( Rite.s and Ceremonies, p. 593,) for no other crime only for teaching, in 
 relation to baptism, obedience to the law of Christ, and practising accordingly ; 
 bur contrary to Parliamentary laws. The cruH Act of Uniformity, is notorious 
 to the world. Delaune was imprisoned, and literally starved to death, for wri- 
 ting on this subject, his Plea for Non-Conformists. Not long after t the above 
 Acts, a national proclamation was issued, ordering all the Baptists to depart 
 out of the Realm, whether natives or foreigners. The Presbyterians, who had 
 ju<t decided by a majority of one, in favor of sprinkling, were the most active in 
 informing ngttinftt the Baptists, and in bringing about these persecutions. (See 
 Ctosby's History of. H.«'li«ion.) The imprisonment of the above 400, was al- 
 most entirely p rod need by thrir activity in these persecutions. 
 
 \ Tnstiiut. Christ. Reli^. Lib. 4, chap. 15, $ 19. See also his Commentary 
 on John 3, 23, and Acts 8, 38. 
 
35 
 
 the time of the pious frauds, baby-communion at the Lord's 
 table, and a hundred other delusions. The case, then, stands 
 thus: The exchange of the divine ordinance of baptism for 
 p. more human device, was invented by John Calvin, in 1556, 
 was enforced at Geneva by Presbyterian law, ;ib<>ut 15G0, 
 was first begun in Scotland and England in 155S, was em- 
 braced and determinately contended for by the proud perse- 
 cuting bishops; (they perverting the translation of thr Bible 
 on Baptism, in 1568, in order to favor it,) was finally enfor- 
 forced by parliamentary law, and was pissed int;> a law for 
 the Presbyterian community, by the Westminster assembly, 
 in 1643, by a majority of one— 24 voting against, and 25 for it'.* 
 The puritans were then accustomed to receive t!i< 
 of a Presbyterian council, or association, as law, 
 end of all strife. Accordingly sprinkling bee 
 from that time forward, as much as the Bonk of Morni 
 came the law of the Mormons, in 1830, and as much 
 nic rules became the law of free-masons after tin- institution 
 
 * Some different accounts given of the vote of the Westminster Assefribly, 
 are these: '' In the Westminster Assembly, it v as decided thai di 
 person in water, is not necessary: but baptism is rightly admin:- e . 
 ing or sprinkling water upon the person. This decision, was, ho* 
 by a majority of one, there being 25|for it, and 24 against it."~ 
 De Bap. p. 17 
 
 "This Directory, adopted at Westminster, is the first in tin- worl I I 
 scribes aspersion. Sprinkling, properly so called, at 16-45. wa sisa, 
 
 and used by very few. Then came the Presbyterian Directory,'and 
 tism is to be administered in the public assemblies," not in the pld 
 &c. So they reformed the font into a basi.v. This Assembly co A 
 member, that fonts, to hapti/.o in, had been always used by tb>' primitiv 
 tians, long before the beginning of I'opery, &c. It is only where the u 
 
 i-. that they have left off dipping. Basil 
 "f nee I, nil used by Presbyterians." — I ' 
 
 Bap. P. II. chap, ix., p. 463,477. 
 
 loot was the inun who caused dipping to be ex-- I 
 ling to ; sutlicient, in the Assembly of Divines, KM:! On 
 
 1 be minister shall take water and sprinkle or pour it, wito his fbund, up- 
 on the face or forehead,' the vote camo to anequalitv, within < )\ I 
 gon'i Hitt. Bap. p. 463. 
 
 ■nnt of this, will bo found in Neale's History of in- P 
 ii. p. 101, 107; also in the life of Lightfout, by Styrpe, in IV 
 
 Vol. 1. |i. I. 
 
 be Directory was ultimately carried, with n 
 rough the influence of strong delusion, have 
 ces of these twenty-foui I. But, the greater | 
 
 !y gave it the go-bye, because they were the minority Ii 
 Presbyfiians, however, had b< 
 
 r to being right. 
 
 tel Miller, nnd of Kdwin Hall, ol 
 of the law ofCbiisf, would bo truly disgraceful to tbo 
 they are under the influence of " a strung delusion." 
 
36 
 
 of free-masonry was contrived by Elias Ashmole, in June 
 1717. The delusion of sprinkling, and of infant sprinkling, 
 falsely called baptism, have been propagated on precisely the 
 same principle as these and other delusions, to wit, by assu- 
 ming the popish maxim, that " the traditions of mother-church, 
 and the laws of her rulers, are of equal force as 'proofs of 
 holy writ,' and also by wresting holy writ to favour him." 
 This is the secret of the whole delusion. Any person wish- 
 ing to investigate the subject will do well to consult Booth's 
 Pedobaptism Examined, the New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, 
 art. Baptism, the British Encyclopaedia, Pengilly's Scrplure 
 Guide, Robinson' History of Baptism, Prey's Essay, Gale's 
 Reflections on Walls's History of Infant Baptism, Floyer's 
 Essay to restore dipping, Dr. Gills Infant Baptism apart and 
 pillar of popery, Benedict's Hist, of the Baptists, &c. 
 
 The puritants settled New England and after this brought 
 their sprinkling principles, and taught them to their children, 
 and we took up with the tradition, of, mother-church. 
 
 The danger of taking a human substitute for a divine or- 
 dinance is seen in the tendency of such a principle. If we 
 may take a substitute for baptism, we may take a substitute 
 for the Lord's supper, the sorrow of the world for gospel re- 
 pentance, eternal mortality for piety, disobedience lor the 
 love of God, sin, for holiness, our own imaginations for the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, free masonry or the Book of Mormon, 
 for the Bible, the constitutions of the sects for Jesus Christ's 
 constitution of his Church, and infidelity for Christianity. 
 There is no limit to the principle, when once adopted ; and if 
 we may apply the substitute for baptism to babes, why not 
 apply a substitute for the Lord's supper also to babes ? What 
 if a delusion of mixing a teaspoon-full of milk and wine, and 
 calling it the Lord's supper, and administering it to babes, 
 accompanied with the prayers and services incident to the 
 supper, had been generally observed in the above churches 
 since the days of John Calvin, accompained with the tradi- 
 tions that if it is once administered to the babe it will become 
 wrong ever to partake of the real sacrement after it grows up 
 because it would destroy this tradition; and this milk and 
 wine in infancy is all the observance of the supper that is ever 
 required. Who can say there might not have been by this 
 time as much superstitious pertinacity in its observance, and 
 piety mixed with delusion in applying this insignificant sub- 
 stitute to babes, as we now see in relation to in Hint sprinkling. 
 Would this be any more profane than infant sprinkling? 
 
 When we see what a stronghold the delusions of popery 
 
37 
 
 have acquired over thousands, what a hold the delusions of 
 Mormonism has acquired over the minds of hundreds, even 
 during its ten years' continuance, and that the delusion of 
 free-masonry, even within an hundred and ten years from the 
 time Ashmole contrived it, had duped and deluded two hun- 
 dred thousand of our citizens, and was leading them to expend 
 millions of dollars annually, and was leading many of them 
 to believe it divine, that it came from heaven, was coeval .vith 
 the world, &c, the wonder ceaces how John Calvin's baby- 
 sprinkling, and his sprinkling substitute for a divine ordinance 
 have deluded and misled so many. The secret of it consists 
 in yielding the same confidence in a delusion, being a tradi- 
 tion of mother church which we have witnessed, and been in- 
 ured by parents to revere from our infancy, as we do in the 
 plain written truths of God's holy word. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 CHANGE OF THE ORDINANCE. 
 
 The New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, edited by Sir David 
 Brewster, a Presbyterian, gives the following account, after 
 stating that immersion was the ancient baptism, he proceeds, 
 M The first law for sprinkling was obtained in the following 
 manner: Pope Stephen II., being driven from Rome, fled to 
 the usurper of the crown of France, in 753. While there cer- 
 tain monks inquired of him whether baptism, performed by 
 pouring water on the head of the infant, would be lawful. 
 The Pope replied that it would. But though the truth of this 
 fact should be allowed, which, however, many Catholics deny, 
 yet pouring or sprinkling was admitted only in cases of neces- 
 sity. It was not till the year 13 11, that the Legislature, in a 
 council held at Ravenna, declared immersion or sprinkling 
 to be indifferent. In this country (Scotland) however, sprink- 
 ling was never practised in ordinary cases, till after this Re- 
 formation, (the date we have given,) and in England, even in 
 the reign of Edward VI., (from 1547, to JS53.) trine immer- 
 sion was commonly observed. But during the persecution 
 of many (from 1553, to 1558.) many persons, most of whom 
 were Scotsmen, fled from England to Geneva, and there gree- 
 dily imbibed the opinions of that (Presbyterian) church. In 
 1556, a book was published at that place (Geneva) contain- 
 
38 
 
 ing "The form of prayers and ministration of sacra- 
 ments, approved by the famous, godly, learned man, 
 JOHN CALVIN," in which the administrator is enjoined 
 to take water in his hand, and lay it on the child's forehead. 
 Thesfi Scottish exiles, who had renounced the authority of 
 the Pope, implicitly acknowledged the authority of Calvin: 
 and returning to their own country with Knox at their head, 
 in 1559, established sprinkling (by authority of the famous, 
 godly, learned man, John Calvin,) in Scotland. From Scot- 
 land, this practice made its way into England, in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, (which began in 1558,) but was not authorized 
 by the established Church." — Bee Art. Bap. Thus far the 
 New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. 
 
 Sir John Floyer, an eminent physician, in an address to the 
 high officers of the Episcopal Church, in Lichfield, England, 
 says, " I do appeal to you, as persons well versed in the an- 
 cient history, canons, and ceremonies of the Church of Eng- 
 land ; and therefore, are sufficient witnesses of the matter of 
 fact, which I design to prove, viz., That immersion continued 
 in the church of England, till about the year 1600. And, from 
 hence 1 shall infer, that if God and the Church thought that 
 practice innocent for 1600 years, it must be considered an un- 
 reasonable nicety, in this present age, to scruple either im- 
 mersion or cold bathing, as dangerous practices. We must 
 always acknowledge, that He that made our bodies,. would 
 never command any practice prejudicial to our healths ; but, 
 on the contrary, He best knows what will be most for the 
 preservation of our healths, and does, frequently, take care 
 both of our bodies and souls in the same command," In ano- 
 ther place, he says, " The church of Rome use only the wa- 
 fer, (for the supper,) and instead of immersion, they introdu- 
 ced aspersion''' " I have now," he adds, " given testimony 
 from our English authors, to prove the practice of immersion, 
 from the time the Britons and Saxons were first baptized, till 
 King James' days, about 1600: when the people grew peev- 
 ish with all ancient ceremonies, and then the love of novelty, 
 the niceness of parents, and on the pretence of modesty, they 
 laid aside immersion." — Hist, of Cold Bathing, p. 1 1, 15. 5 1", 
 61. 
 
 Dr. R. Wetham says, " Not only the Catholic church, but 
 also the pretended reformed Churches have altered this 
 primitive custom, in Baptism, and now allow of baptism, by 
 pouring or sprinkling water on the person baptized. Nay, 
 many of their ministers do it, now a'days, by filliping a wet 
 finger and thumb over a child's head, or by shaking a wet fin- 
 
39 
 
 ■ 4 
 
 ger or two over the child; which is hard enough to call bap- 
 tizing in any sense." — Annot. on Matt. iii. 6. 
 
 In the year 251, at Rome, one Novatian was elected bish- 
 op, by one party. His baptism had occurred when he was 
 sick. He had been drenched in water, all over, on his bed, 
 as well as the nature of the case would admit. He was rejec- 
 ted from the office of bishop, on the ground, that no one, un- 
 less regularly baptized, and so made a member of the church, 
 could be admitted to any office. See Wall's Hist. chap. 9, p, 
 563. See also Eusebius' Hist. b. vi. chap. 43. 
 
 Wall tells us, it was in 1643, that sprinkling was just be- 
 ginning, and used by very few among the Presbyterians ; at 
 which time, they reformed the font into a basin, and that 
 France (Ravenna.) first began the exchange of baptism, 
 for the substitute (sprinkling,) and then it was followed by 
 other popish countries. 
 
 Brenner, a Roman Catholic writer, in a late work on Bap- 
 tism, says, for " thirteen hundred years was baptism general- 
 ly and ordinarily performed by immersion under the water; 
 and only in extraordinary cases, was sprinkling, or effusion 
 permitted, (by the Catholics even.) These latter methods of 
 baptism were called in question, and even prohibited." 
 
 Hermas, (second century,) speaks of the water of baptism 
 M into which men go down bound unto death, but come up ap- 
 pointed unto life." — Simil.9, § 16. 
 
 Justin Martyr, who was converted about the year 130, and 
 suffered martyrdom about the year 150, of converted persons 
 says, " They are led out to a place where there is water, and 
 there are washed or bathed in the name of of the Father of 
 the Universe, and of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, and of the Ho- 
 ly Ghost." — Apolog. 
 
 Tertullian, writing about the year 200, (De Cov. Millitis. 
 $ 2 ) speaks of the person as M let down into the water, and 
 dipped, during the utterance of the words, " 1 baptize, &c." 
 In sec. 4, he says, '* It is a matter of indifference whether one 
 is washed in a pool, in a fountain, in a lake, or in a bath ; nor 
 is there any difference between fhose whom John immersed 
 in the Jordan, or Peter in the Tiber." 
 
 Barnabas, (second century.) says, "We go down into the 
 water, &c, but come up again bringing forth fruit," &c. 
 
 The first liturgy of the Church of England, drawn up in 
 trine immersion, " unless the childe be sickly. 
 The rhihic ia t<» lie dipped in the waler, so it be discreetly and 
 warily don." The Presbyterian* and Congregationalists us- 
 ed this confession of faith, till 1643. As is asserted by Mather. 
 
40 
 
 T. Lawson, the Quaker, observes, "To sprinkle young or 
 old, and cull it baptism, is very incongruous; yea, as impro- 
 per as to call a horse, a cow : for baptisma signifies dipping." 
 Also, G. Whitehead, another learned Quaker, says, "Sprink- 
 ling infants, I deny to be ba'ptism, either in a proper or scrip- 
 tural sense. For sprinkling is ranlism and not bapiiem." 
 
 The very learned Bailey, in his Dictionary, says, Baptism 
 in strictness of speech, is that kind of washing which consists 
 in dipping; and when applied to the Christian institution, so 
 called, it was used by the primitive Christians in no. other sense 
 than that of dipping, as the learned Grotius and Causa- 
 bon well observe." 
 
 Witsius, on the Covenant, says, "It cannot be denied, that 
 the native signification of the word baptizo, is, to dip." 
 
 Venema says, " the word baptizo is no where used in the 
 scripture, for sprinkling." 
 
 Bp. Hoadley says of Rom. vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12. " If bap- 
 tism had been then (in the days of the apostles,) performed 
 as it was now i.mong us, (by sprinkling,) we should have nev- 
 er so much as heard of this form of expression — of dying — 
 being buried — and rising again, in this ordinance." 
 
 John Wesley, on Rom vi. 4, says, ** Alluding to the ancient 
 manner of baptizing by immersion." 
 
 Richard Baxter, author of Saints Rest, says, "It is com- 
 monly confessed by us, that in the Apostles' times, the bap- 
 tized were dipped over head in the water," &c. 
 
 Calvin, on Acts viii. 38, says, " Here we perceive how bap- 
 tism was administered among the ancients For they immer- 
 sed the whole body in water. Now, it is the prevailing prac- 
 tice (at Geneva, and as far as his influence then extended;) 
 for a minister only to sprinkle the body or the head." 
 
 To contend agaii st immersion, and in favor of sprinkling, 
 as the divine ordinance, in view of all this, is as ridiculous as 
 it would be to contend against the fact of the full blaze of the 
 sun at mid-day. There can be no mistake ; sprinkling is not 
 a divine ordinance, but is only an ordinance of men — a mere 
 *' substitute of a substitute" for God's ordinance; and to con- 
 tend for a moment, that the sprinkling of unconscious babes 
 is a divine ordinance, is more ridiculous still. It is palpable, 
 and unquestionable, that such have never been baptized at 
 all, much less in pursuance of any divine law. They have 
 only been rantized; and that according to the sectarian laws 
 and usages of the rulers of the sect wherever it is done. 
 
 As further proofs oflhe exchange of the divine ordinance, 
 for a substitute, at the time specified, we add, 
 
41 
 
 1 The Greeks, who, of course, understand the meaning oC 
 the Greek words, baptizo and baptismus, i\o now, and ever 
 have immeised; and they all declare, that ponringor spi ink- 
 ling is not baptism. One recently came to Amei icj, and was 
 astonished at our ceremony of sprinkling, and said, it hid no 
 more resemblance to baptism, than hanging on a tree has to 
 
 i pi tali of) on a block. The fact that they always immerse, 
 • lotious to every person having any information on the 
 subject. 
 
 2 All the ancient Chapels in England, still contain the Bap- 
 tisteries, prepared for the exclusive purpose of immersion, 
 except where jhey have, since the exchange of the ordinance 
 been destroyed. In one place, they have still, a silver bap- 
 tistery 
 
 3 All the rituals of the Church of England, still enforce 
 immersion. 
 
 4 Emigrants from England, in many instances, are able to 
 detail all the circumstances of the change of the ordinance, 
 in England, as handed down by tradition from their progen- 
 itors. 
 
 5 Booth has collected the frank admissions of more than 
 • hundred Pasdobaptist writers of those times. As it was then 
 notorious, all admitted it. and no author thought of denying 
 the fact. Those who have grown up, in these later times, 
 under the stratagem of baby-sprinkling, have truly been man' 
 aged into a state of ignorance of these things, by the with- 
 drawal of the books containing the facts, from their train of 
 education; and by the alteration of the definition of the words 
 in the Greek Lexicons. But these things only show the des- 
 perate stue to which the cause of the sprinklers is reduced, 
 by the fact of their resorting to such measures. 
 
 6 The contrast between the opinions of all Christendom, 
 down to 1556, nm\ the present practice of the sprinklers, 
 is an overwhelming demonstration against the practice 
 of the latter, as well as the total failure, since the time 
 of the exc lange, to show, that baptizo has any other meaning 
 than immerse, notwithstanding the great efforts that have been 
 made to that ell. ( t. 
 
 The French minister, Bossuct, says, ** We are able to make 
 it appear, that for thirteen hundred years baptism was admin- 
 istered bv immersion throughout the whole church," i. e. the 
 whole of Cfiristendom. He admits a little variation with a 
 few Catholics after 1311. Stackhouse says, •* Several authors 
 have shown and proved, that immersion continued to be used 
 Tor thirteen hundred years." Bp. Stillingflcet says, ■« Rites 
 
42 
 
 and customs apostolical are altered — as dipping in baptism." 
 Dr. Doddridge, on Rom. vi. 4, says, "It seems the part of 
 candor to confess that here is an allusion to the ancient man- 
 ner of baptizing by immersion." How exceedingly reluctant 
 the good doctor seems to be in this confession. The very 
 learned Joseph Mede says, " In the ancient church there was 
 no such thing as rantism or sprinkling." Bp. Pearce says 
 of the apostolic times, "The person baptized, went down un- 
 der the water, and was buried under it." The Assembly of 
 Divines, on Rom. vi. 4, say, " The Apostle alludes to the an- 
 cient manner of baptism, which was to dip the parties baptiz- 
 ed, and bury them under the water." Sir John Floyer aserts 
 the change, and regrets it very much. Calvin says, the rite 
 of immersion was observed by the ancient church." Dr. 
 Gale, in 1707, writes, "It is notorious to every body, that 
 the divine ordinance, within less than a hundred years, has 
 been discarded, and something totally unlike it, has been sub- 
 stituted." Dr. Chalmers, on Rom. vi. 4, says, "The original 
 meaning of the word baptism, is immersion. We doubt not, 
 that the prevalent style of the administration, in the apostles' 
 days, was by an actual submersion of the whole body under 
 water." The learned Dr. Samuel Johnson, who could read 
 Greek, and write and converse in Greek as readily as in Eng- 
 lish, in speaking of the popish practice of withholding the cup 
 from the laity, says, " I think they are as well warranted to 
 make this alteration in that ordinance, as we are to substitute 
 sprinkling in the room of ancient baptism." Dr. Whitby, 
 in his endeavors to reconcile the Dissenters to the Church of 
 England, says, " If, notwithstanding the evidence that fwwer- 
 sion is the apostolic baptism, they, (the Dissenters) do agree, 
 after all, now to sprinkle, why may they not as well submit 
 to the other ceremonies of our church?" Dr Cheyne, ** I 
 cannot sufficiently admire how cold bathing should ever have 
 come into such disuse, especially among Christians, when 
 commanded by the greatest lawgiver that ever was." 
 
 I further say to my former associates, that authors have 
 grossly misled us. Notwithstanding Mosheim, the faithful 
 historian, tells us, that the origin of the Baptists is lost in the 
 remotest depths of antiquity — that John the Baptist immers- 
 ed, and that the sacrament of baptism was performed in the 
 first century by the immersion of the whole body in the bap- 
 tismal font, (vol. i. p. 126.) and that the persons, during the 
 second century, to be baptized, after they had repeated the 
 creed, and confessed and renounced their sins, (an act of adults 
 alone,) were immersed under water, and received into Christ's 
 
43 
 
 kingdom, by a solemn invocation of Father, Son, and Holy- 
 Ghost; (vol. i. p. 170.) and tells us about the rise of infant- 
 bapiism, after this century, and that the papists always per- 
 secuted those who held the sentiment! of the present Baptists, 
 whether Albigenses, Waldenses, Petrobrusians, Henricians, 
 or of any other names ; evidently admitting, as he is forced 
 to do, their continuation regularly from the Apostles: yet 
 other authors of sectarian feelings, deluded and blinded by 
 the influence of baby-sprinkling, who have copied after him, 
 have thrown all these things into the shade. Rev. T. Haw- 
 eis, L. L. D., who has written a History of the Church, and 
 copied much from Mosheim, could not copy these facts, but 
 unjustly and falsely ascribes the origin of the Baptists, to the 
 affiir of Munster, some 300 years ago. Rev. John Marsh, of 
 Connecticut, in his Ecclesiastical History, a popular work, 
 used much in sehools, falsely, and doubtless, through the in- 
 fluence of his delusion, takes the same ground. Jt was gene- 
 rally taught in the New England Colleges, that the origin of 
 the Baptists, was in the affiir of Munster. Even free-mason- 
 ry itself might laugh such delusion to scorn. Mosheim, though 
 a Lutheran, gives us all the Christians of the first two cen- 
 turies, as Baptists. We will now give the learned Curcellae- 
 ns, Professor of Divinity in the Paedobaptist seminary at Am- 
 sterdam, in the 1 7th cenlury. He says, " Paedobaptism (baby 
 baptism,) was unknown in the first two ages after Christ. In 
 the third and fourth, it was approved hy & few ; at length in 
 the fifth, and following ages, it began to obtain in divers pla- 
 ces. Therefore, this rile is, indeed, observed by us as an 
 ancient custom, but not as an apostolic tradition." If by 
 ages, centuries are here meant, he here teaches that encroach- 
 ments upon Baptist sentiments, were very slow, even until 
 the fifth century. These other authors we have quoted, teach 
 us the continuance "of Baptist sentiments, so far as the na- 
 ture of baptism is concerned, for sixteen hundred years. 
 
 The Baptist principle, that Christ has the right to the ex- 
 clusive jurisdiction over all his people, within his One Fold, 
 is clearlv taught in the Bible ; and even those whose practice 
 is to go into the oth*-r, and modern folds, and to be subject to 
 other rulers, still, will not often venture to defend themselves 
 in these points. We have only to show more clearly, there- 
 fore, and to prove that baby-baptism, and baby-sprinkling* 
 
 nefriond* complain, beeailM we call it by thaf name. But what shall wo 
 call it? Infant (from in nwifan-*,) i.« a word including minors, nil under twen- 
 ty- one year* of age. Baptism in immr-inn. Tin- immersion off minor* is too 
 eomprehen»ive. Therefore, I cannot tell the truth, and cull it infant-baptism. 
 
44 
 
 are innvoations and inventions of men ? having gradually en* 
 croached upon UtB original organization, and we shall have 
 shown how the King iom of Christ was originally organized. 
 By showing, in a short •ketch, who have enforced these stra- 
 tagems upon babes — who hive been persecuted for not ob- 
 serving them, and who were the persecutors, we shall readily 
 perceive that the kingdom of Christ originally was organized 
 without any such thing; anil that these stratagems have been 
 instrumental in aiding other lords, in making encroachments 
 upon the real kingd on of Christ, and thus divided the Zion 
 of God. Was it ever known that people were persecuted for 
 not obeying the commands of God ? Never. It was only 
 for disregarding the dogmas of men, that they have been per- 
 secuted. The Donatists, in the fifth century, were cruelly 
 persecuted for refusing to baptize babes, and for holding they 
 could be saved without it. 
 
 Christianity was planted in Britain, by the Apostles, in A. 
 D. 63. The Saxons conquered the Britons, and drove them 
 into Wales. Austin, the monk, was sent, in 596, to convert 
 them to popery, and to the Romish rites. He demanded of 
 them, I. To keep Easter, 2. To baptize their babes, as did 
 the papists. 3. That they join in teaching the Saxons in the 
 same way. But they refused. Whereupon Austin brought 
 on a cruel war against them, and well nigh exterminated 
 them. 
 
 In the year 610, baby-baptism being much neglected, the 
 pope ordained, concluded and published, that young children 
 must be baptized, as being necessary to ealvalion, and upon 
 penalty of damnation. One of the kings of the West Saxons, 
 A. D. 700, prescribed a heavy penalty for deferring the bap- 
 tism of babes, beyond thirty days from their birth. Charle- 
 magne required from 20 to 60 and 120 shillings fine of every 
 parent who deferred the baptism of a child, more than twelve 
 months. In the year 1050, Tope Leo III, commanded that 
 young children be baptized. In the year 1070, Pope Greg- 
 ory VII, deemed that those children whose parents were ab- 
 sent or unknown, should be baptized. So in Massachusetts, 
 in the year 1653, ministers decreed, that if parents die, be- 
 fore the babes were sprinkled, they must still be sprinkled ; 
 
 Patdo is a babe; Pado-hnptiBm, is the immersion of babes. The sprinkling of 
 these, then, is not Vndo-bopfism. i»/V/»/-9prinkling, is the sprinkling of mi- 
 nors. The sprinkling of babes, or baby-sprinkliv g, then, are the oniy names 
 we can give to the transaction, and speak the truth. We have a conscience 
 against calling it what it is not. Th« Bihle requires us always to speak the 
 truth, We cannot follow othets, and call it by a false name, 
 
45 
 
 and the General Court passed it into law. In the eleventh 
 century, it was deemed, if parents neglect to have their chil- 
 dren baptized, they shall be torn from them — be baptized, and 
 then be returned. In the year 1022, fourteen persons, in Or- 
 leansin France, were burnt, for opposing the baptism of babes. 
 In the time of Henry III, several persons were put to death, 
 for opposing the baptism of babes. In 1095, many were put 
 to death in Italy, for opposing it. In 1105, many persons 
 were banished out of the bishoprick of Tryers, for opposing 
 it. Peter de Bruys, from whom is named the Petrobrusians, 
 was burnt at St Giles', in 1130, for preaching the Bible prin- 
 ciples, as to the kingdom of Christ, and opposing baby baptism. 
 Henry, his successor, from whom the Henricians were nam- 
 ed, after preaching a long time in various places, similar sen- 
 timents, was, in 1 143, seized and imprisoned, where he died ; 
 and chiefly because he opposed the baptism of babes. The 
 Albijrenses, and YVa hie rises generally, (as we arc taught in 
 Twisk's Chron. in the Dutch Martyrology, and in Cassamler's 
 HisL) opposed infant baptism. Pope Alexander 111, in 1179, 
 anathematized them for opposing it. In the year 1200, many 
 of them were burnt in Germany, for the same reason. In 
 1230, many of them suffered death at Tryers, for opposing it. 
 In 1232, nineteen persons were burnt at Thoulouse, for op- 
 posing baby baptism. In 1336, four baptized persons were 
 imprisoned — placed upon the rack — tortured — and finally be- 
 headed, for the same offence. In 1 3 15, many Waldeuses were 
 burnt in Austria, for opposing the baptism of babes. In 1522, 
 two guilders was the fine, at Zurich, set upon all those who 
 neglected the baptism of their children. In 1529, nine per- 
 sons, who had had this stratagem played off upon them, when 
 babes, beso m in g converted, were baptized according to the 
 command of Christ, and for this reason were put to death 
 at Gant. In 1527, a Baptist minister was beheaded, with sev- 
 enty of his associates, for opposing baby baptism. About 
 three persons were roasted to death by a slow fire, for 
 no other offen< 
 
 These arc only specimens of what was continually prac- 
 tised. The Episcopalian, Congregational, and Presbyterian 
 organizations, all springing lip between 1534, and 1545, SO" 
 forced the baptism of babes on all they could control, under 
 the penalty of excommunication Baby-sprinkling, which 
 must Kara commenced after 1556, has been since enforced, 
 under simil tr After 164S, ihe Baptists were cru- 
 
 elly persecuted in New England. The eight hundred mar- 
 
46 
 
 tyrs murdered in England, between 1553, and 1558, were 
 mostly Baptists. 
 
 All this proves, first, that there have been Baptists in all 
 ages, who have endured these persecutions. And secondly, 
 that suspicion rests upon baby baptism, from the fact of its be- 
 ing enforced by the arm of despotism, and been accompanied 
 with such cruel persecutions. 
 
 LE TTE R V I. 
 
 PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 I my first letter I alluded to some perversions of scripture, 
 made by the bishops in 1568, nine or ten years after the ex- 
 citement in favor of Calvin's substitute for baptism began. 
 And as these perversions, by the express command of King 
 James' were to be retained in his version of 1611, and are still 
 continued in "America, their connexion with this point of his- 
 tory gives them fresh interest. 
 
 The first perversion I will name is the transfer of the 
 Greek words baptize and baptism and refusing to translate 
 them. While the bishops who had killed so many martyrs 
 were so eager to introduce sprinkling; if the words could 
 possibly have been twisted into such a version, they would 
 surely have rendered them sprinkle. The fact that they did 
 not, is, of itself full proof that they knew they could not. 
 Their other perversions area clear proof that they would 
 have done this if they possibly could. 
 
 Dr. Campbell, principal of the Marischal College, Aber- 
 deen, a Presbyterian minister, of great candor, and one of the 
 most learned men in the world, (Dissert, on Gospels,) says: 
 " The Greek word peritome, the Latins translate cirevmci- 
 sio ; (circumcision,) which exactly corresponds n etymology. 
 But the Greek word baptisma, (baptism,) they have retain- 
 ed, changing only the letters from Greek to Roman. Yet 
 the latter was jnstas susceptible of a literal translation into La- 
 tin as the former. Immersio (immersion) answers as exactly in 
 the one case as cireumcisio (circumcision) in the other. When 
 the language furnishes us with materials for a version so ex- 
 act, such a version conveys the sense more perspicuously 
 than a foreign (i. e. Greek) name. For this reason, I should 
 think the word immersion a better English name (for the ordi- 
 nance,)than baptism, we re we now at liberty to make a choice ;" 
 . e. were there no civil law or civil government against it. 
 
47 
 
 Also in his note on Matt. iii. 11, he says: "The word bap- 
 tizo, both in sacred authors and classical, signifies to dip, to 
 plunge, to immerse. 11 
 
 The bishops saw it would be too barefaced a falsehood to 
 have translated it sprinkle. But they did all they dared. 
 They transferred the Greek words, thus giving those who 
 were in their views the power to deceive the multitude who 
 were ignorant of the Greek language. King James, in 1604, 
 expressly enjoind upon his translators the retention of " these 
 old ecclesiastical words, 71 and the whole subject-matter con- 
 nected with them. This is the reason the perversions are 
 transmitted to us in the present version. His reason was the 
 same as that which influenced the bishops. The parliamen- 
 tary act of 1644, enforcing sprinkling as the law of the land, 
 and excluding immersion, was based upon the same princi- 
 ples, and on the retention of the same perversions. The peo- 
 ple, after these events, in the emphatic language of Campbell, 
 were ■ not now at liberty to make ft choice." The object in the 
 whole transaction evidently was to cast mist upon the subject, 
 to cover up the ordinance of Christ, and to countenance a 
 substitute ; to bury in perpetual oblivion the doctrine of be- 
 lievers' baptism, whereby Christians were subjected to Christ, 
 and to establish a sprinkling operation, that should subject 
 all the people and all the babes in the realm to the civil gov- 
 ernment, in all matters of reliajw«. This, then, is a bare- 
 faced perversion, in its practical operation, and intended to 
 subserve a heaven-daring invasion of the prerogative and ju- 
 risdiction of Christ. Whatever intrigues the Catholics might 
 have previously practiced on the same point, served only to 
 show these how this perversion could be effected. The Cath- 
 olics only led the way. The whole transaction is a studied 
 ueing fraudulent perversion of the ordinance, in its de- 
 sign. It is impossible, any person can avoid arriving at that 
 conclusion, who candidly reflects on the time and the circum- 
 stances connected with this transfer of these Greek words. 
 
 Iti I. that the bishop's Bible merely followed Tyn- 
 
 's of 1526; Covcrdalesof 1585; Matthew's of 1537 ; ( 'ran- 
 mrrs, and Travenner's of 1539; and the Genevan, of 1557. 
 
 We reply, if it precisely followed those, why did they call 
 it the " Bishops Version." Why bum up all ihe others, that 
 night prevail? There was palpable iniquity in this. 
 'lmit the Genevan Bible of 1557, and probably some oth- 
 ers, had tr ! the word baptizo. But we do not admit, 
 that they had the other perversions we have named below. 
 And further, we reject the principle, that any demonstrable 
 
48 
 
 guilt in the above, is any palliation for those bishops. The 
 bishops knew better than to give such perversions, as accor- 
 ding with truth, and therefore, the charge of conscious and 
 intentional corruption, is demonstrably true. Those bishops, 
 that ten years before, could be employed in killing so many 
 martyrs, would do the latter deed, and they did it, manger all 
 the efforts to screen their guilt; and they burnt the oilier ver- 
 sions, so that none but the Bishops' Bible, thus perverted, 
 could be had. 
 
 The second perversion I will name, is I Cor. 12, 13. The 
 literal translation is, "Because in one spirit were we all bap- 
 tized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or 
 free ; and have all drank in one spirit." The particular 
 thoughts "in one spirit (i. e. in the same spirit of piety) all 
 of every nation were baptized," and "into one body i. e. into 
 one kingdom, and "all drank in one spirit" (i. e. cultivated the 
 same christian spirit, through the influence of the EJolyGhost.) 
 This teaches that baptism introduces into the church or king- 
 dom — that all the members were adults, and supposed to be 
 pious," drinking in the same spirit," that none were then mem- 
 bers but such, and that there was of course no such thing as 
 infant baptism, or infant sprinkling, or infant membership, 
 thn in the church. These views were so repugnant to the Epis- 
 copal national organization, that it became necessary for the 
 bishops to cover it all over, by perverting some^words, and to- 
 tally changing the whole scope and train of thought. It is all 
 effected by translating en falsely by the preposition &y,and be- 
 ginning the word spirit with a capital letter.as " by one Spirit." 
 
 This little perversion turns off the whole attention into a 
 visionary field of falsely called spiritual baptism, and of a 
 falsely called spiritual Kingdom ; a form of thought which 
 is never found in the New Testament. The literal transla- 
 tion confines the attention to the real Kingdom consisting of 
 those, and those only, who in one spirit » were baptized into it,' 
 and were old enough to drink in one and the same spirit, or tem- 
 per. This fact is asserted of all the members — ol course no 
 babes. This is another just such perversion as might be ex- 
 pected from those bishops at that time having such an object 
 in view. 
 
 To show that this criticism is correct, it should be no- 
 ticed that the apostle, from verse 1 to 1 1, is speaking, notoi 
 converting grace, but of the different miraculous gifts bestow- 
 ed upon the dtfferent members " as he wills ;" and yet, verses 
 12, to 27, that as a human body, having many members, is one, 
 so is the churchy the Kingdom of Christ one, though consis- 
 
49 
 
 ting (as in the literal translation of v. 27) " of parts." What 
 a gross perversion, and how evidently intentional, in thus 
 changing the thought, and thus covering up this discription the 
 Holy Ghost has left on record of the kingdom of Jesus 
 Christ, and making the language describe something else ! 
 
 A third perversion I will name is Matt. iii. 2. The literal 
 translation is, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come," 
 or has come near. John's custom of immersing penitent be- 
 lievers, thus subjecting them to the King of heaven in his 
 kingdom, and into which Jesus Christ was formally intro- 
 duced in the same way, in order " to fulfil all righteousness," 
 and John's exclusion of those who did not bring forth fruits 
 meet for repentance.are facts clearly described by the Evange- 
 lists. On the imprisonment of John, Christ took the lead in that 
 kingdom and baptized (by his disciples) into it more disciples 
 than John," as we are taught John iv. 1, 2, and elsewhere. It 
 is thus John prepared the way of the Lord, and was the mes- 
 senger before his face. 
 
 But this immersion itself, as the initiating ordinance into 
 the kingdom, and its limitation to the penitent, are so clearly 
 described, and were so inconsistent with the national psedobap- 
 tism of England, and with the sprinkling they were at the time 
 so eager to introdnce, that it was necessary to do what they 
 could to darken counsel, and cover up or pervert the whole 
 passage. This they have done by perversely rendering 
 it " the kingdom of heaven is at handy By this perversion, 
 thus putting the labors of John over into the old dispensation, 
 and intimating that the "kingdom of heaven" was not yet set 
 up, they have by the perversion done what they could to de- 
 stroy that argument against them. 
 
 A fourth perversion is of a class of passages. The Greek 
 word «" (en) had been in the quiet and peaceful possession of 
 one meaning for more than two thousand years, as baptism 
 had been ofimmersion, and baptizo of immerse. The phrase 
 "immerse in water," or "in Jordan," if literally translated, 
 occurs in ten instances in the New Testament; and if it had 
 so translated, would have rooted up the whole of their sprin- 
 kling project. Accordingly they have perversely translated 
 it " with water" in seven out of the ten instances. The in- 
 stances of the perversion are Matt. iii. 1 1 ; Mark i. 8 ; brfft 
 ii. 16 ; John i. 26, 31, 33; and Acts i. 5. The translation "in 
 water, 11 or" in Jordan,"is given Matt. iii. G ; and Mark i. 5, 9. 
 
 Dr. Campbell remarks : " Nothing can be plainer than that 
 if there be any incongruity in the expression, in water, this 
 
SO 
 
 in Jordan, must be equally incongruous." Mr. Hervey, in 
 his second letter to Mr. Wesley, says; "I can prove thatcv 
 signilies in, and 1 can prove it to have been in the peaceable 
 possession of that signification for more than two thousand 
 years." L'Enfant, on the phrases "in water.?' and "in the 
 Holy Ghost," says, "These words do very well express the 
 ceremony of baptism, which was at first performed by plung- 
 ing the whole body into water, as also the copious effusion 
 of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost." The perver- 
 sion of "immerse in water," to " baptize with water, 11 in se- 
 ven instances, and by the bishops in 1568, was evidently in- 
 tended for the same general purpose they then had in view. 
 
 A fifth class of perversions is of such passages as Mark i. 
 8, and Luke iii. 16, literally rendered, would be, " He shall 
 baptize you in the Holy Ghost," and "in the Holy Ghost and 
 fire," The fulfilment is recorded in Acts ii. 2 — 4, when the 
 Holy Ghost like a rushing mighty wind filled all the house, 
 as well as cloven tongues like as of fire ; and when the disci- 
 ples were endued with miraculous powers. They were then 
 emphatically immersed in and surrounded by the miraculous 
 displays of the Holy Ghost. The perversion, baptize with 
 the Holy Ghost, was evidently intended totally to change the 
 scope of thought into another different train of thoughts. It 
 fixes the attention on the common effusions of the Holy Ghost, 
 so as to make the expressions favor their sprinkling project, 
 by its similarity to these effusions. It should here forever be 
 remembered by those who in prayer use the expression, " bap- 
 tize us with the Holy Ghost," that they use not the language 
 which the Spirit teaches, but the corrupted and perverse phra- 
 seology of those corrupt and heaven daring bishops ; and 
 that they perversely gave this phraseology for the sake of 
 wresting and perverting the truth. Converting and sanctify- 
 ing grace, is never called baptism in God's word, except by 
 perversion, and by corrupting the word of God. 
 
 A sixth perversion is in 1 Peter iii. 21. Eperotema, nev- 
 er signifies the answer. It always signifies the question, or 
 the test. The Bible is a book of tests. Baptism tests the 
 consciences of men whether they will subject themselves to 
 the authority of Christ in his kingdom, or not. Here we are 
 taught it is the " test of a good conscience." By perverting 
 it as " the answer of a good conscience" the bishops evident- 
 ly intended to give unbounded latitude to every person to fol- 
 low his own feelings in relation to baptism, and to call it the 
 answer of a good eonscience. This perversion makes each 
 one's feelings (blindly called conscience) his own law-ma- 
 
51 
 
 ker in relation to baptism. It virtually repeals the law of 
 Christ, and leaves every one to his own notions and wishes. 
 
 Surely the delusions of a bible Society must be as strong 
 as ever were those of the free-masons, or those of the Mor- 
 mons, in strenuously refusing to aid in the circulation of the 
 Scriptures, unless all these heaven-daring perversions are re- 
 tained. And the question rushes and presses upon the con- 
 sciences of ail Christians, and especially of those whose fun- 
 damental principle of organization is entire obedience to Je- 
 sus Christ in all things : how can we be saidto obey Christ 
 in rjusinghis gospel to be preached to every creature under 
 heaven, when parts of it, so vital in gathering together all his 
 people in one, and in preventing sectarianism, are thus cover- 
 ed up and concealed; and when these perversions so evident- 
 ly intrnti >nal, and so palpably adapted as they are to favor 
 divisions and sectarianism, are palmed oil* upon the world as 
 the real language of the living God. 
 
 A seventh perversion is Isaiah lii. 15. The literal transla- 
 tion is, "So shall he astonish many nations."* The visage 
 and form being so marred, as expressed in the previous verse, 
 is tne cause of the astonishment. The bishops have perver- 
 ted it "So shall he sprinkle many nations." They were at 
 the time devot ng all their energies to the defence of a nation- 
 al religion, and in laying the foundation for national sprin- 
 kling to become the initiating ordinance into the national 
 establishment. 
 
 An eighth perversion is Heb. x. 22. It is expressed. M and 
 our bodies washed with pure water." " With," is here put 
 in r.inian letters, as if it were found in the original, thus ex- 
 presstnga falsehood. 
 
 It was the custom of the translators, when they supplied a 
 I, to give it in italics. This passage is the only instance 
 I know of, where they have not done it. They doubtless, 
 had their reasons mentally for not doing it here. The peo- 
 ple would infer that "with" was merely the opinion of the 
 translators, ami that " in water," was full as likely to be the 
 meaning, ami more so. As we have shown that immersion 
 is the real Christian ordinance, this proves thai " in water," 
 
 * I follow tho Sep'uagint.as the Saviour used it, quoted from it, and approv- 
 ed the vi'r*iim. Thnuma$ei — shall astonish. 
 
 The i '//, , it it true, signifies to lcnp, to exult — to loap for joy. 
 
 It is here in the Hipbical conjugation ; implying a casual action, as "cause to 
 rejoice " 
 
 Gesenius renders the Hebrew "So shall he cause mnny nations to rejoice." 
 —So shall he organize many national churches; which would boa no more 
 gross perversion than — So shall he sprinkle many nations. 
 
52 
 
 is the only phrase that can express this real fact/arid give the 
 intention of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 By giving " with" and in roman characters, thereby teach- 
 ing that *• with" is found in the Greek Testament, as a part 
 of inspiration, they have palmed off a falsehood upon the 
 tvorld. If they had given ** with" in italics, wc should have 
 said this is merely their exposition. But as it is, they have 
 practically said, this is a translation. 
 
 Bishop Smith, of Kentucky, in his recent sermon on bap- 
 tism, has twice rendered this passage " having our bodies 
 Washed in pure water." Such testimony, from their own side 
 of the house, cannot certainly be suspected of partiality for 
 us. It is, and must be the testimony of candid criticism, and 
 sound conviction. 
 
 These are only specimens out of many other passages.. 
 Whenever the Saviour is made to say, •« Repent, for the king- 
 dom of heaven is at hand ;" the last words are also a perver- 
 sion. " For the kingdom of heaven has come," or has come 
 near ;*' implying that it is now in existence, and has actually 
 come close to them, is the thought the Holy Ghost has re- 
 corded in the Greek Testament. So also Matt. x. f. He 
 commands the disciples to " preach, saying, The kingdom 
 of heaven has come." The bishops perversion is " the king- 
 dom of heaven is at hand," — is about to be set up hereafter 
 — not so cogent a reason for repentance, as the real reason,, 
 and a false statement is never as good a reason to urge for 
 repentance, as the truth. 
 
 While I make these remarks, I must bear testimony to our 
 Tersion, as being generally very accurate; except simply, 
 in the items of baptism ; and there it is palpably sectarian, as 
 the above specimens show, and I might show many others. 
 
 But notwithstanding these and all the other efforts, no di- 
 rect Parliamentary law, enforcing sprinkling, could be ob- 
 tained till 1644; notwithstanding many indirect laws, inten- 
 ded for a direct effect, were passed previous to that time. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 MISAPPLICATION OF BAPTISM, AND THE SUBSTITUTE. 
 
 It should be steadily kept in view, that baptism is the initi- 
 ating ordinance into a state of entire subjection to the exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction of Christ, within his kingdom. As conver- 
 
53 
 
 aion is the private surrender of the whole soul to his will, 
 through the internal workings of the Spirit, so baptism is the 
 public subjection of self entirely to his will, within his king- 
 dom. M Putting on Christ," " baptized into Christ," and sim- 
 ilar phrases, fully express this truth. The person baptized 
 is supposed voluntarily and freely so to subject himself pub- 
 licly and fully to the will of Christ. But the use of the sub- 
 stitute is not taking the will of Christ as the rule, and there- 
 fore is not the thing. It is still cleaving to the will of man, 
 or to our own selfish feelings. It must be the thing Christ 
 requires, or the surrender of the heart to his will is not made. 
 And further, the substitute is only used in other folds, and 
 only misleads one away from the organized kingdom of Christ, 
 into the wrong fold ; i. e. some modern fold contrived by men, 
 and ruled by men, thus dividing the kingdom of Christ. That 
 all converts should subject themselves to Christ within his 
 kingdom, and his jurisdiction, and by that transaction which 
 is the initiating ordinance there, is as necessary as it is there 
 should be but One Fold, and One Shepherd. And further, 
 as another person cannot repent for us, so another cannot do 
 this duty for us in infancy. It is premature if done, and there- 
 fore is nothing. Jesus Christ requires of all believers the 
 personal subjection of themselves. The delusion of parents 
 can never excuse us from this invariable claim of Christ up- 
 on our own personal obedience, his right to have us in a state 
 of entire subjection to him and free from human lords, and 
 within his kingdom. 
 
 Christ will not have any rival powers with him over the 
 church, nor any rival folds. The existence of these is forbid- 
 olen, and the ceremony which initiates them is forbidden, Rev. 
 xxii. 18. Such a baptism, and into such a church as subjects 
 us partly to the will of human rulers, and partly to the will of 
 Christ, is vitiated in just so far as there is any subjection to hu- 
 man rulers. Because Christ will not have such competitors 
 or partners in power- But it can be cured by leaving such 
 rulers. As the ordinance must be right, so the purpose must 
 be right, pud the subjection to Christ complete, and within 
 his kingdom. Such was evidently the apostolic practice. 
 
 The ordinance of Christ, right in external form, has been 
 grossly mis ipplicd to wicked and selfish purposes. In the 
 mirror above given, we propose to point to the map of the Ins- 
 id point out some of these misapplications. 
 
 The fir*t misapplication is A. D. 206. The children in 
 die schools, railed catechumens, were hurried on to he im- 
 mersed before conversion. Tcrtullian raises his voice against 
 
54 
 
 it. Robinson fully demonstrates from the origina/ words 
 used in the discussion, and from the fact that they asked to 
 be immersed (as the description is,) that they could not pos- 
 sibly be babes. It was youths without conversion, to whom 
 the ordinance was misapplied. The re-action against it clearly 
 shows the general and universal opinion then prevalent, that 
 none but believers were proper subjects of baptism. 
 
 The next misapplication of the real ordinance is A. D. 255. 
 One Fidus, had a country parish in the interior of Africa. 
 The heathen around for centuries had been accustomed to sa- 
 crifice their own babes to Saturn, a heated brazen statue, and 
 to destroy them in the flames. So strong was the delusion, 
 that no civil law could check it. They were accustomed al- 
 so to steal and sacrifice the babes of Christians. Yet on ac- 
 count of the civil law, they did not meddle with Christians ; 
 i. e. baptized persons. Fidus' parish was in the midst of 
 these depredations. His ingenuity devised the scheme of im- 
 mersing the babes, in the name of the Trinity, whereby they 
 took the name of Christians, and were thus protected. He 
 soon laid the case before a council. Cyprian, who is descri- 
 bed as an 4t ignorant fanatic, and a great tyrant, and a confu- 
 sed genius, ambitious for power," at the head of the council 
 managed the question. After first deciding that a certain 
 deacon should be put to death for treating his pastor with con- 
 tumacy, according to Deut. xvii. 12, and secondly, that any 
 person who should employ the clergy to do secular business, 
 shouid be excommunicated, they decided in favor of Fidus' 
 course, on two grounds: first, "God would be a respecter of 
 persons,if he denied to infants that which he grants to adults ;" 
 secondly, '« that Elisha lay upon a ehild, and put his mouth 
 upon his mouth — the spiritual sense of which (they said) is, 
 that babes are equal to men, and you destroy this equality if 
 you refuse to baptize them." Bible logic this! 1 
 
 This council of confused geniuses, and the church they re- 
 presented, were fu'l of ignorance and fanaticism, having a 
 greater amount of Jewish and heathen, than of Christian no- 
 tions. 
 
 This is the first case of the baptism of babes, that can be 
 demonstrated. Perfect uncertainty, and the entire lack of 
 proof, rests upon every pretended case anterior to this. I 
 pronounce it impossible to demonstrate, from all history, the 
 baptism of a babe previous to this case. The sheer possibil- 
 ity of alluding to such a thing is all that ran possibly be said 
 of any writers or of their language, previous to this. And 
 the character of Cyprian, and of his council, the character of 
 
55 
 
 the other decisions, at the same meeting, and the grounds of 
 this decision in favor of Fidus' practice, only prove that it 
 was about as good as a hundred other decisions of councils 
 in those times, too ridiculous to be mentioned, and which no 
 person of common sense would think of following. Here is 
 an instance of the misapplication of the real ordinance, im- 
 mersion, to the humane purpose of saving babes from hea- 
 then depredations, and the flames. 
 
 The next misapplication of the ordinance, on the map of 
 history, grew out of the interpretation given of John iii- 5. 
 The fanatics of those times, in urging the people to be bap- 
 tized, had told them that passage meant that no one could go 
 to heaven without baptism. Hence sick persons and sick 
 babes, were baptized. The ordinance was thus misapplied 
 to the purpose of being an imaginary passport to heaven. 
 
 The next case is, the council of Meld, in Africa ; sometimes 
 called the council of Carthage, in 418. In this country, the 
 heathen practice of lustration, i. e. using water at the naming 
 of babes, which had been customary in all the heathen coun- 
 tries, for centuries, was continued by many half heathen Chris- 
 tians. Full as many heathen and Jewish practices had been 
 intermingled in the church of Africa, as Christian, for more 
 than two hundred years ; and the government of the church 
 had become exceedingly despotic. This despotic hierarchy 
 contrived the stratagem of enforcing infant baptism, for the 
 purpose of securing them under their control; being instiga- 
 ted by the love of rule. This is ihe first council, as Grotius 
 and all historians aflirm, that enforced infant baptism, i. e. the 
 immersion of babes. 
 
 It was not till the government of men began thus to prevail 
 over the church, that the baptism of babes began to be evfor- 
 The object, no doubt, was, to secure numbers under 
 their control. This council, at ihe same time, passed about 
 twenty other laws equally disgraceful and tyrannic, all of 
 thorn contrary to the express and fundamental principles of 
 the word of God. One was, Whosoever shall deny that the 
 Lord's supper is to be administered to new-born babes, let him 
 be ucevrsed. This law and the one for infant baptism stand 
 on the same basis. 
 
 From this time until the establishment of popery in 606, 
 a number of councils for a simitar put poee, enacted a similar 
 law, to be enforced as larai their several jurisdictions exten- 
 ded, to secure numbers. 
 
 in the rear 006, popery became regularly organized 4 and 
 infant immersion was enforced throughout the pope's domiu 
 
56 
 
 ions. The object was to enslave the rising generation, by- 
 taking advantage of their helpless state, and securing them 
 under the pope. Immersion in form, and the name of the sa- 
 cred Trinity were observed. But in fact it did not subject 
 them to Christ, but it was perverted by others to the purpose 
 of subjecting them to the pope. By his arbitrary power, the 
 parents were forced to be the tools in this profane and cruel 
 transaction. It was cruel because of the purpose; it was pro- 
 fane because the whole mockery was done in the name, and 
 by pretended authority from the triune God. 
 
 Had it not been for the stratagem of infant baptism, where- 
 by advantage was taken of the rising generation, popery could 
 never have been established or continued as it has. For 
 more than a thousand years, the ordinance instituted for the 
 purpose named in the beginning of this letter, was perverted 
 to this most cruel purpose. In the year 789, the cruel Char- 
 lemagne, King of France, and Emperor of the West, in his ef- 
 forts to subdue the Saxons, reduced them to the dreadful al- 
 ternative of either being assassinated by his troops, or of be- 
 ing baptized into subjection to his authority. He also requir- 
 ed them to have all their children baptized, and thus subject- 
 ed to him within a year from their birth, under the penalty of 
 one hundred and twenty shillings, if of noble blood ; sixty 
 shillings, if free-born ; and thirty shillings if peasants; to be 
 enforced, collected, and paid into the King's treasury. The 
 Greek church only practised infant baptism ^in case of pro- 
 spective death, down to the time when human beings acquir- 
 ed the government over the church; and then infant baptism 
 was enforced by law. As soon as church and state became 
 connected, the immersion of all the babes in the nations, was 
 enforced by the national governments. All the Eastern and 
 other churches, as soon as they consented to be ruled by hu- 
 man beings, immediately had laws enforced upon them requi- 
 ring babes by stratagem, to be subjected to them, in the exter- 
 nal form of Christian baptism. The baptism of babes was 
 effectually resisted in England, until the sixth century; and 
 it was effectually resisted in Wales, so as to gain no jooiiiig 
 there until the twelfth century. Tyranny over the church, 
 has always enforced it, where it could, so as to secure and ex- 
 tend its dominion. But until human beings began to lord it 
 over Christians, nothing of it was ever known, except in 
 the above cases of delusion, beginning at A. D. 255. 
 
 When the Episcopal church was O'ganized in 1534, it stop- 
 ped midway, as Bishop Lowth expresses it, in the reformation 
 from Popery. Its constitution was formed by the civil pow- 
 
57 
 
 ers and was intended as a church and state organization ; and 
 to pattern very much after the popish church. Of thesefacts 
 we are assured by Episcopal authors themselves. Of course 
 they would take infant baptism as a main ground of support. 
 It would be indispensable to their purposes in securing their 
 own subjects,and in competing for numbers against the church 
 of Rome, and against the kingdom of Christ. Here then the 
 immersion of babes in the name of the Trinity, was also en- 
 forced and converted to secular purposes. After about one 
 hundred years it was decided, as we have shown, that sprin- 
 kling would answer the same purposes. The Congregation- 
 al church first assumed a form and consistency about the same 
 time or a little later. Those who planned that organization, 
 would, of course take along infant baptism, both to secure 
 their own children within their own pale or fence ; and to com- 
 pete for numbers with other organization, The plan of 
 the Presbyterian church, was invented and contrived by John 
 Calvin; and the prominent feature of the few governing the 
 many would of course be introduced by a man of his charac- 
 ter and love of rule. He would also adopt infant baptism of 
 course, to secure their own children within the pale — to sub- 
 ject as many others as possible fo their government, and to 
 prepare his ship to compete for numbers with all the other 
 ships. In my fourth letter, 1 have shown how long these 
 three last organizations retained baptism in form as Christ 
 established it; and when they dashed it away and adopted the 
 "substitute of a substitute." These three organizations and 
 thir successors, are the only ones so far as I know, that have 
 totally discarded christian baptism, and established another ce- 
 remony as a good enough initiating ordinance into their folds. 
 When we once begin the principle, that we may make laws 
 for the church, and may rule, we know not how far the prin- 
 ciple will carry us. And with these it has occurred in such 
 a way, by tradition from parent to child that sprinkling is bap- 
 tism, and they have so far imbibed their ideas from what they 
 hear and see in their youth; and the books which contain the 
 facts have been so entirely withdrawn from their Seminaries 
 and course of education, and so many things in the Bible are 
 falsely translated or covered over, that probably not one in a 
 thousand now knows that the deed has been done. I am 
 king of the wicked purposes to which baptism, as such, 
 has been misapplied. These organizations, unconsciously 
 make a profane use of the words connected with baptism, and 
 of the name of the sacred Trinity. The use of water with 
 them is not baptism, hut is a very near resemblance to the 
 
lustration extensively practised before and since the Chris- 
 tian era, in heathen countries, in the namingof their children. 
 It has no resemblance to Christian baptism at all, except the 
 use of the words. Over this fiction we have unconsciously 
 used the sacred name of God, in a very improper manner, not 
 knowing - what we did. 
 
 While it is true that these things are so, it is equally true, 
 that in these organizations there are probably as many Chris- 
 tians of genuine piety and talents as can be found in any or- 
 ganization. I am thus plain in developing these things, be- 
 cause I see the evils of sectarianism, and I see clearly it will 
 continue until Christians return to primitive gospel order. I 
 see the importance of their union, in order to the conversion 
 of the world; and I see how the cause bleeds, and how fast 
 souls perish, and how fast infidelity increases because of these 
 divisions, and I have searched deep a great many years 
 for the root of the evil. I do not mean, and would not for 
 my life, reproach a fellow-Christian ; much less any whole 
 denomination. But how can these things be reformed, unless 
 they are proclaimed? And how can those who know they 
 are on gospel ground, as to church organization, give it up for 
 the organizations of the last three centuries, including the 
 contrivances and mistakes ofhuman beings? J arid hut one 
 remark, Sectarianism and tyranny have always found the stra- 
 tagem of baby baptism or its substitute necessary ; and the peo- 
 ple have been forced or deluded into it. But the kingdom of 
 Christ, or his organization, needs no such thing. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 MISAPPLICATION INJURIOUS TENDENCY, MONOMANIA. 
 
 The high handed and heaven-daring crime of annihilating 
 the initiating ordinance of Jesus Christ into his kingdom, 
 and of obtruding a contemptible substitute, as delineated in 
 my fourth lelter, is one which, if committed against an earthly 
 government, would have exposed the offending party to the 
 gallows, to banishment, or to imprisonment for life, and the 
 confiscation of all his goods. An accessary to a rrime is 
 one who aids, abets, or in any way assists in its commission, 
 either before or after the offence, and is held equally crim- 
 inal as the principal. All are accessaries who countenance 
 
50 
 
 the act, or hold on to a substitute, which annihilates a law 
 or connive at it. 
 
 An accessary, or an offender, who has the means of know- 
 ing the law, and yet neglects to acquaint himself with it, is 
 held equally criminal, and liable to the same penalty, as if he 
 knew it. Because his fault, in neglecting to know the law, 
 is equal to all the consequences that result from that criminal 
 i^ence; and one fault can never be an excuse for anoth- 
 er. 
 
 ff the immersion of babes, as practised before 1556, be a 
 divine ordinance, then the crime in dashing it away and ob- 
 truding the substitute, both with principals and accessaries, 
 is a high-handed crime. On this supposition, baby sprinkling 
 great crime; because the original law foi baby immersion 
 should have been obeyed, and not been annihilated by a sub- 
 stitute. If it is not a substitute for that, as a divine ordinance, 
 then it is a new ceremony, begun in the year 1556, and hypo- 
 critically pretending to be divine. Take either horn of the di- 
 lemma, and this sprinkling of babes is a crime. It is either 
 a crime in annihilating a divine law, or a crime as a new pre- 
 r. If this baby-sprinkling is right, then the apostles, the 
 primitive church, and all Christendom for 1556 years, were 
 exceedingly criminal in neglecting it. For not a trace of it 
 is found dining all that time, unless the Catholics, after the 
 council of Ravenna, in 131 1, had done a little of it. It is ei- 
 ther wroiii> since it began, or they were all wrong for neglec- 
 ting it during so many centuries. 
 
 The profane misapplication of the real ordinance of Christ 
 to babes, as a pious fraud to entrap them in their helpless 
 stale, in order to build up aristocracy, despotism, and popery ; 
 and to subject them to such a cruel state, as we hinted in our 
 la3t, will hardly be pretended to have accorded with the di- 
 vine rule. If it did, then the apostles, and primitive church- 
 es for 255 years, were grossly criminal for neglecting it. Be- 
 fore we get through, we shall demonstrate there was nothing 
 «>i it for the first 255 years of the Christian era. The heaven 
 daring atrocities of the bishops, and of King James, in trans- 
 ferring Greek words, in coveringover and concealing the law 
 of heaVen; touching this ordinance, and the gross perversions 
 of Scripture to which we have adverted, for the express pur- 
 pose of starting and propagating this substitute, this baby 
 sprinkling operation, does not argue very much in favor of its 
 being a law of a holy God. The Parliamentary acts of 1644, 
 or near that lime, enforcing this baby sprinkling, and making 
 immersion of believers penal, as well as the similar acts of 
 
60 
 
 Calvin's Presbytery near 15GO> and those of the Westmin- 
 ster assembly, in 1643, obtained by a bare majority, do not 
 argue very Forcibly in favor of the law being divine. The 
 late acts of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church 
 may just as well claim to be divine. They are scarcely more 
 than two hundred years more remote from the Christian era. 
 The reason these arguments have not been dilated upon by 
 the English Baptists is, they live where it is treason to speak 
 with disrespect of any acts of their own government, or of 
 their King, who "can do no wrong." For this reason, the 
 facts to which I alluded, are barely stated in a nude form, by 
 many different English authors, and without any comment. 
 And for this reason, their arguments have been confined 
 chiefly to the definition of words. The facts I have collected 
 stand scattered indifferent authors. 
 
 The fact is, thatbaby immersion, and baby sprinkling, have 
 uniformly stood forth a3 traps by which to catch the helpless 
 unawares. All the national organizations have adopted the 
 one or the other, as such traps. All the aristocratic and des- 
 potic establishments in all ages — all the ekurch and state es- 
 tablishments, and every founder of a new sect, and especial- 
 ly the founders of such sects as have been shaped after a na- 
 tional form, by joining churches together; and such as have 
 been ambitious to become a national church, (as the Presby- 
 terian, from the days of Calvin, to the days of Cromwell ;) 
 have uniformly resorted to one of these snares, by which to 
 gain numbers. The most plausible things about its tenden- 
 cy to promote the child's salvation, have been said in order to 
 beguile the parents. It has all served to build up sectarian- 
 ism, and other jurisdictions, and in effect to compete for num- 
 bers. against the real kingdom of Christ ; to prevent, anything 
 like union among the people of God, and to ensnare and mis- 
 lead hundreds of millions, in their helpless state : to blind 
 those who were entrapped, and make them blind tools in en- 
 trapping others, and in extending the evil, and to prevent 
 every thing like united effort on the part of Christians in the 
 conversion of the world. Baby immersion, and baby sprin- 
 kling has built up more sectarianism, than every thing else. 
 Millions and millions of souls have perished by neglect, in 
 consequence of these things, and the real kingdom of Christ 
 has become almost prostrated or lost in the fog. Christ is 
 hardly seen as Ruler over Zion at all. Human despots, aris- 
 tocrats, bishops, and other spiritual wickedness in high pla- 
 ces, and human governments over the churches, have taken 
 his seat, usurped his power, gathered sections of his people 
 
61 
 
 into sects, under themselves, and changed the whole govern- 
 ment from His liberal jurisdiction and purpose, to their own 
 sectarian, selfish purposes. 1 he love of rule, is the begin- 
 ning of all this offending, and the ensnaring of babes the 
 means. A constitution and human laws by which to hold the 
 people together under rulers, is resorted to : and this snare 
 for catching babes and securing numbers, is the main depen- 
 dance for success. And as the free-masons, when ensnared, 
 were totally unconscious of any snare, and were made the 
 blind and unconscious tools in extending that delusion; so it 
 is with the delusion of baby sprinkling among the sects. The 
 zealous and crafty propagators of the delusion, are as perfect- 
 ly unconscious of the delusion as the free-masons were of 
 their delusion. I know there is no foundation for the sprin- 
 kling or the baptism of babes in the Bible. I have carefully 
 written out a literal translation of every passage on baptism, 
 and carefully and prayerfully sought to know the mind of 
 the Spirit. I know there is no more foundation for either in 
 the Bible, than there is for free-masonry, or for JVlormonism. 
 And the position of baby immersion, as well as thai of baby 
 sprinkling, on the map of history, is as conclusive against the 
 possibility! of its being divine, as the position of any other 
 modern delusion. And the arguments in support of the thing, 
 as it exists in our country, and especially the circumcision ar- 
 gument, are as far back of the thing itself, and anterior to its 
 real existence, as the pretended proofs of free-masonry are 
 anterior to it In each case the pretended proofs are two or 
 three thousand years before the thing. Were it not that I 
 have faithfully examined the subject, and know these things, 
 i would not deal thus plainly with it. I verily believe, after 
 looking over the whole map of church history, that the bap- 
 tism of babes and the sprinkling of babes in building up sec- 
 tarianism, have been snares which have occasioned greater 
 injuries Co the real kingdom of Christ, and subserved an end 
 more cruel and tyrannic, and have done more to hinder 
 the conversion ol the world, and a united effort of Christians 
 ton axis it, than any and every thing beside. Believing this, 
 I must be plain : " the love of Christ constraineth me." His 
 cause and kingdom, and the best good of the world arc at 
 
 I have reflected much since I awoke from this delusion, 
 and will give my views of it. There is such a thing as mo- 
 nomania; i. e. derangement in one thing, while the mind is 
 perfectly sound in every thing else. Medical books fully dc- 
 
 r' 
 
62 
 
 scribe it, as one of the most common things in the world. 
 Free-masons, after being duped, immediately partook of it. 
 The Mormons and the papists partake of it. Anti-masonry 
 partook of it. The wild speculations of late years have mov- 
 ed on that principle. The heathen, in sacrificing their chil- 
 dren to Saturn, moved on the same principle. So we who were 
 ensnared by baby sprinkling, were so moulded in the na- 
 ture of things as to move on the same principle ol monomania. 
 People of the most sound judgment as to every thing else, 
 are often entirely void of reason, and of all sound reasoning as 
 to one thing. So our minds were diseased and crazed on 
 this one subject by our early impressions. The fact that such 
 men, and with truly pious feelings, cont'nue a ceremony so 
 perfectly void of scriptural support, is clear demonstration 
 of monomania. The baby immersion we described, as 
 Hughes, and all the intelligent papists assert, is nothing but 
 a popish tradition. It cannot possibly be anything else. It 
 was a pious fraud to catch and secure and enslave babes. 
 The baby sprinkling of our land according to Wall, is only 
 the " scandalous substitute of a substitute" for that. It is on- 
 ly the mere substitute of the substitute of a popish tradition, 
 and that a pious fraud. The conversion of the real ordi- 
 nance into a pious fraud by misapplying it to babes was pro- 
 fane. What then is the substitute of the substitute ? How 
 pitiful, then, is the sight, when a man of talents, of sound 
 mind in all other respects, defends and acts over this pitiful 
 farce; falsely calls it baptism (a declaration was never more 
 false in fact :) then calls the name of the Father, Son, and Ho- 
 ly Ghost, over it; as if it were done by authority of the great 
 God; and then he prays, and that honestly too, and tells God 
 he has done it according to the instructions of his holy word, 
 when in fact the custom first began only 284 years ago. If 
 the man was as crazy in all other respects as he is in this one 
 thing, he would certainly be sent to the mad-house. And yet 
 in all this mockery, there is usually as genuine piety of heart 
 and honesty of purpose in the minister and the parents, as in 
 anything whatever. And there is not even the beginning of 
 a doubt of its being a divine ordinance. It is absolutely cer- 
 tain they are deranged in this one thing. Were it not for the 
 fact of so many "strong delusions," and of monomania in so 
 many things, we could not account for all this, while we know 
 they arc possessed of piety of heart, and good sense in other 
 things. Tiiis mental aberration is begun in infancy ; arid is 
 the result of the law of influence, a very common law of our 
 natures. The filthy drunkard has very little influence. The 
 
63 
 
 moral and respectable citizen has much. The kind, intelli- 
 gent, and pious parent, has unbounded influence over the 
 child. Let that parent be diseased with mmomania, and it 
 will certainly be communicated to the child. Because the 
 child, seeing the parent is right in every thing else, will con- 
 clude, of course, he is right also on the point where there is 
 monomania. The pious minister, having the same mental 
 aberration, will strengthen the same in the child. The child 
 will form all of his ideas of baptism, from what he sees the 
 monomaniac of a minister do and say. He does not ever, begin 
 to surmise any mistake ; much less does he see that his pa- 
 rents, his minister, and himself, are all monomaniacs. In- 
 stead of this, his delusion grows with his growth. Infant de- 
 dication, and this sprinkling farce (for I will call things by 
 their right names,) are interchangeably used as being syno- 
 nymous ; and the real hearty dedication of children to God, 
 all admit is proper. This confusion of the two thoughts, 
 strengthens the mental disease. He is taught if there is no 
 sprinkling ceremony there is no dedication ; that if such chil- 
 dren are afterwards converted, this sprinhling ceremony is 
 a material link in the chain of causes ; and that if they die, 
 they will, if sprinkled, be saved.* Thus the child becomes 
 perfectly spell-bound : so that a doubt cannot be wedged in- 
 to his mind. He reads, as he advances, solely on one side; 
 or if on the other, it is solely to oppose. If he becomes a 
 minister, with one breath he rails against sectarianism, and 
 with the next he blindly defends this sectarian scheme, not 
 knowing it is such. He spreads the same monomania among 
 thousand*. The mind of the deluded victim dwells with so 
 much ecstacy upon the charms of this hallucination, and be- 
 comes so perfectly spell-bound, that it would seem really cru- 
 el to break the charm were it not that this same little farce, 
 enters into the very vitals of the kingdom of Christ, acts as 
 an iron wedge to split it asunder, prevents the possibility of 
 its union, prepares its dupes to be and remain at antipodes 
 against the real organization of Christ's kingdom, blinds them 
 - outlines, prepares them to oppose those who do observe 
 them: is a profane delusion, and it preparei its dupes to be 
 the propagators of it during all their lives ; and yet they know 
 not what they do. 
 
 Was it not for the same monomania, converts would never 
 
 • Many Secla are taught by their ruler*, that bnby-sprinkling is necessary to 
 salvation ; and many creeds have taught the same. Popery tenches that babes 
 have no *ouh, and are annihilated if they die, unlet* they are srniNKLicD 
 into the popish jurisdiction. 
 
64 
 
 hesitate as to the duty, as soon as converted, of being bapti- 
 zed into subjection to Christ. It therefore hinders their being 
 gathered under his jurisdiction. The rights of conscience 
 with many, seem to be nothing but the privilege of following 
 their own feelings, in this blind monomania, at the expense 
 of the divided, bleeding cause of Christ. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 MONOMANIA A SNARE ITS MODE OF SELF DEFENCE. 
 
 The monomania (described in my last,) with which the 
 minds of children become infected by what they see,, 
 and through the same mental disease of their parents, and 
 parents too, who are often hearty Christians, and often well 
 informed on every other subject, except that pertaining to this 
 mental aberration, according to the law of influence, and by 
 taking for granted that the parents are right here, because 
 they are right in all other things, leads such children when 
 they grow up to do many wrong things when in fact" they 
 know not what they do." They are caught in a snare and 
 know it not. The parents and the minister have ensnared 
 them, and knew it not. Progenitors for centuries have done 
 the like, and knew it not. It is an unfortunate mental dis- 
 ease. It is an unfortunate case. Parents if they only knew 
 it, could scarcely do any thing which would prepare the 
 minds of their chrildren to do greater injuries in the religous 
 world, through delusion, not knowing what they do. They 
 become the slaves to a sect, and to the self-created and usurped 
 powers which control the sect, when they ought to be sub- 
 jected to the exclusive power and jurisdiction of Christ, with- 
 in his kingdom. If we show that the sect is in a state of ri- 
 valship, from the time it came into being, against the real 
 organized kingdom of Christ; then the child is prepared to 
 devote all his life in increasing and perpetuating the evil of 
 such competitioa against the real kingdom of Christ. If the 
 child becomes converted, he becomes prepared to have a con- 
 science against personal obedience to Christ, in a plain and 
 positive ordinance, wherein all converts are required by him 
 who bought them with his own blood, to submit themselves 
 exclusively to His authority and jurisdiction, in his kingdom. 
 \{ the child becomes a minister, he becomes prepared by it to, 
 
65 
 
 propagate the same mental aberration and to build over a- 
 gainst the organized kingdom of Christ, into an organization 
 where they will be subject to human lords. All such separa- 
 tions weaken the real kingdom, whi^h ought and needs to be 
 strengthened To say the least, all the sects can not be right, 
 and therefore, this may be the wrong one. The bare possi- 
 bility of this should lead every Christian, who is candid, to 
 stop and think before he further goes. Delusions often lead 
 people to commit atrocities, when they are not aware they 
 are atrocities. Paul and others, when persecuting the church, 
 are instances in point. The delusion of baby sprinkling, is 
 doubtless one of the strongest delusions that ever prevailed. 
 It may, therefore occasion some of the greatest injuries to 
 to the church of Christ, when the deluded victims of the mono- 
 mania, have no surmise that it is so. Every thing which 
 crazes the mind either wholly or in parlor simply in one thinsc, 
 is, or may be, a far greater injury than we imagine. A tal- 
 ented mind affected with monomania, in a point so vital to 
 the cause of Christ, is prepared to do, unconsciously, immense 
 injury in that particular train. That the mind contemplated, 
 cannot be sound, is evident from the manner in which the de- 
 lusion is produced, as well as the manner in which it is defen- 
 ded. It is produced by what the child sees in such churches, 
 and by the mistaken instructions of honest but deluded pa- 
 The history of the origin of the thing, is full proof 
 that Mai which is so modern and so palpably a human device 
 and stratagem, and which is so much reverenced by the de- 
 Med as divine, must be a deception. The mind, therefore, 
 which cleaves to it as divine, cannot possibly be sound in that 
 train of things. 
 
 Its manoer of proving this delusion to be divine, shows the 
 same crazy state of mind. It not unfrequently defends this 
 profane delusion in connection with the dedication of chil- 
 dren to God, as if it were absolutely essential to their salva- 
 tion. Hence, also, the frequency of this ceremony upon chil- 
 drm who are expected soon to die. Hence, also, the wound- 
 ed hearts of parents are often soothed after bereavements in 
 view of their faithfulness in the observance of this delusive 
 ceremony, as a passport to heaven. As we know to a de- 
 monstration, when tnis ceremony originated, all these things 
 demonstrate a mental derangement in that thing. It is pre- 
 tended that God claims this modern ceremony, to be perfor- 
 med by parents on their children, as a divine ordinance ; and 
 that it came down iron) heaven. This ceremony, which com- 
 menced two-hundred and eighty four years ago, free-mason* ' 
 
66 
 
 ry, which commenced in 1717, and Mormonism, which com- 
 menced in 1830, all claim to have come down from heaven ! I 
 In each case, where people honestly believe the thing, the 
 mind must be so far deranged. 
 
 The hearty and daily dedication of children to God, in 
 prayer and faith by the parent, is right ; but what has this 
 modern delusion, this " substitute of a substitute," of a pious 
 fraud of the Catholics, to do with such daily dedication, and 
 such acts of faith X Does not this one dedication in connexion 
 with this delusion tend to pacify the mind, by leading it to 
 think the chore is done, and therefore to neglect these daily 
 and continuous dedications. It shows derangement there- 
 fore, in relation to its own object. 
 
 It defends itself on the ground that children so dedicated 
 and sprinkled, are very apt to be converted. It is admitted, 
 that the piety, faithfulness* and daily dedication of children 
 to God, by parents, in prayer and faith, have a most direct, and 
 I might add, sure tendency to their conversion. But it is de- 
 nied that this sprinkling delusion and stratagem has any more 
 of a tendency to the child's conversion than free-masonry. 
 On the contrary, if it tends to lead the parent to lean upon 
 this delusion as an idol, or to feel as if the work was done up f 
 it just so far tends to counteract the faithfulness and perseve- 
 ring effort of the parent towards the child's salvation. 
 
 It defends itself by assuming and taking for granted that the 
 church organized on infant sprinkling is the truly apostolic 
 church and organized kingdom of Christ, and that, therefore, 
 the practice must be right. I have only to reply, that every 
 reader of church history knows that, no church organization 
 based on infant sprinkling ever came into existence till the 
 sixteenth or seventh centuries.* The influence of the assump- 
 
 * Miss Opie makes a distinction between active and passive lying : the for- 
 mer is conscious and intentional, the latter unconscious. The lies uttered at 
 the ran'ism of babes, are usually unconscious ; but they are no less lies in fact. 
 " I baptize f" — it is a passive lie, the minister does not baptize ; " in the name 
 of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ;" — thereby meaning by authority fiom &c. 
 This is another passive lie, and an impeachment of the divine character, and 
 an insult to Him. What! God authorise the utterance of such a falsehood? 
 When the Master of the Lodge admitted the poor blind candidate into a room 
 fitted out in imitation of the Holy of holies " in the name of the Lord," he did 
 not utter a more barefaced or false pretence, or perform a more palpable farce, 
 or minister to a mere profane delusion. As it was, however, unconscious, Misa 
 Opie would call it a passive lie. Does the minister, by the words " In the name 
 of "&c, mean into subjection to the jurisdiction of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 7 
 This is another of Miss Opie's passive lies. The babe is always thus subjected 
 in rival folds, under the rival usurpers of dominion. Where his jurisdiction pre- 
 vails, this farce is not authorized at all. Seventy-five years ago, and previously ,. 
 the common expression used about this transaction was, giving them (the babes) 
 
6f 
 
 tion, that this is the truly organized kingdom of Christ, when 
 it is not, leads the deluded to think they are doing God ser- 
 rice in opposing that which in fact is the truly organized 
 kingdom of Christ, and in defending that which is not. If 
 those under this delusion become ministers, they are prepar- 
 ed by it to devote all their energies and talents in building up 
 a competition against the organized kingdom of Christ. Of 
 course their whole drift and influence is to wound Christ in 
 the house of his friends, to build against his kingdom, and to 
 perpetuate distractions. It prepares them, in the time of re- 
 vivals, to lead the unwary convert into the same delusion for 
 life, and to throw into revivals a crooked, sectarian manage- 
 ment, against the true interest of Christ's kingdom, without 
 being aware of it. All this tends to dampen and counteract 
 the revival, and to dishearten those friends of Christ, who 
 have submitted to his real organization. My own candid 
 opinion is, that as all the self-created authorities over the 
 church are obliged to depend on some secret stratagem for 
 success and continuance, this and similar stratagems indirect- 
 ly become the producing cause of all the sectarianism which 
 exists. This delusion defends itself on the ground that it has 
 a right to do as it pleases. But has any one a right in the 
 sight of God, to take the name of God in vain, or to perpetu- 
 ate a barefaced delusion, and do it in the name of the Trinity, 
 because he pleases ! It defends itself because it is the cus- 
 tom of the sect. So the Jews defended themselves on the 
 same principle against Christ. It pretends it is impossible 
 so many great men should be in the wrong. Judaism and 
 free-masonry, and every other delusion, can present the same 
 argument. It pretends that it is benevolence to children to 
 have parents pledged in this ceremony to be faithful. If such 
 a pledge is needful, why not enter into it openly as a naked 
 pledge, without this profane delusion ? Such a pledge is cer- 
 tainly better without this delusion than with it. It pretends 
 a sort of blind, vague notion that history defends it. We 
 have shown what MM nal facts are. The bold assertion of 
 fanatics under a monomania, are not to be accredited. There 
 is no better defence of it in history than we have given. Ev- 
 ery part, if disputed, can be proven from standard authors, to 
 
 to the church. By what logic giving and binding them out as church-members, 
 in a rival fold invented by men, and under ruler* who bavt gtarped i lie jurisdic- 
 tion, and by a ceremony too, which is palpably a modern invention of men, there- 
 by building up a treasonable rivalship against the jurisdiction of Christ, can bo 
 giving them to the Lord, it b impossible to see. This isanother of Miss Opie's 
 passive lies. A great many such lies arc always uttered in this farce. 
 
68 
 
 be precisely what we have stated. " So shall he sprinkle ma- 
 ny nations," Is. liii. 15, is adduced by the delusion in self-de- 
 fence. We reply, this is a deception in the translation, done 
 by the English bishops. " So shall he astonish many nations," 
 is the true translation. " Baptizing with water," in seven 
 passages, as a general reason, is also adduced. This is a de- 
 ception also in the translation, as we have shown. " Immer- 
 sing in water,'' 1 is the literal translation in every instance. 
 
 But baptism, it is said, " is the answer of a good con- 
 science," and therefore we may sprinkle or pour ; and may 
 sprinkle children or not, just as we please. We answer that 
 that translation is a deception also. No such latituuinarian 
 license is given to us to make our own pleasure our rule. 
 11 Test of a good conscience," is the literal translation. Bap- 
 tism tests the conscience whether it be good, and whether we 
 will wholly obey Christ in that ordinance, or not. But in- 
 fant sprinkling, it is said, is a token of the tendency of the 
 piety of parents in its influence to convert the children. We 
 answer, the influence of the piety of the church also tends to 
 the conversion of the impenitent part of the congregation. 
 Why not sprinkle the impenitent in the congregation also, as 
 a token of the same tendency of piety in the church, to their 
 conversion? But it is asked, how can so many be deceived % 
 I answer, how can so many be deceived by other delusions'? 
 It is all thejresult of following a blind impulse, through the in- 
 fluence of others, and neglecting to guide ourselves exclusive- 
 ly by the word of God. 
 
 In the absence of every thing else, the delusion leaps back 
 some thirty-five hundred years before its real existence, and 
 lights on circumcision. I have read every Paedobaptist pub- 
 lication I could find or hear of for twenty-five years, and have 
 patiently again and again followed them all through the quag- 
 mire and wilderness of this pretended argument; and long 
 before I relinquished the delusion, I was convinced that here 
 was no real argument at all. The Bible teaches that bap* 
 tism does not come in the place of circumcision. Paul was 
 circumcised and yet was baptized. The male part of the three 
 thousand converts in Acts ii. had doubtless been circumcised, 
 and yet they were all baptized. And so of all the other con- 
 verted Jews. Circumcision administered while the law was 
 in force, would have been sufficient for those so circumcised, 
 if baptism came in its place, without baptism. Moreover cir- 
 cumcision was applied to all the males in the nation. If bap- 
 tism comes in its place, it must also be applied to males only, 
 and to all in the nation! When it can be shown that the law 
 
69 
 
 of circumcision authorised Calvin, the British Parliament, the 
 church of England, and the Westminster Assembly, betweeu 
 1556, and 1644, to establish the sprinkling of babes by law, 
 and excused all Christians from doing it till that time, then, 
 and not till then, will we admit there is an argument for it, 
 from circumcision. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 NO AUTHORITY IN THE BIBLE FOR IT ALL HISTORY 
 
 AGAINST IT. 
 
 The law enforcing circumcision on all the males, whe- 
 ther pious or infidel, as a national arrangement to pre- 
 vent intermarriages with other nations, and to keep the na- 
 tion distinct from all others, was twenty-two hundred years 
 anterior to the beginning of the practice of the immersion 
 of babes, and thirty-four hundred and fifty years before the 
 custom of sprinkling babes began. The Parliament and 
 lords spiritual, that use such stratagems and commit such 
 crimes as we have seen, in order to justify a national organi- 
 zation, under men, would, of course, light upon the national 
 circumcision of the Jews, and make it subservient, if possible, 
 to their purposes. Bnt the astonishment is, that rational 
 men, in a free country, should become so deluded and crazed 
 with baby-sprinkling, as to suffer themselves to believe there 
 is reall.- any divine authority in the laws of circumcision, fa- 
 voring a delusion so remote as infant sprinkling — an inven- 
 tion of men — a gross stratagem — and brought into existence 
 under such circumstances, and for such purposes, as we 
 have described. 
 
 When we consider, however, another delusion, and the 
 greediness with which other delusions and fictions have 
 been drank in, in different ages, the wonder ceases. 
 
 Free-masonary, during the first thirty years of its com- 
 mencement in London, was an object of universal derision, 
 and was all revealed several times. To shield itself against 
 the shafts of ridicule, it began at length to pretend that it 
 was very ancient — that it existed in Solomon's temple — that 
 prophets and apostles were its patrons, and the like. To 
 the astoishment of the interested ones, these pretensions took 
 with the craft ; and in less than eighty years, these perfectly 
 groundless pretensions became universally credited by the 
 
70 . 
 
 craft, and confided in by the most intelligent of our citzens as 
 if it were true, notwithstanding all the old masonic books da- 
 ted themselves at its real orgin, in 1717. All this only shows 
 how greedily a delusion is drank in, and often too, by the 
 most intelligent of men, if only a bias is produced in its favor 
 on their minds, and if successors are only kept in ignorance 
 concerning the deception, or the origin of it. 
 
 It is not possible in the nature of things, that so ancient a 
 thing as the national circumcision of males among the Jews, 
 can justify the modern sprinkling of both male and female 
 babes, in these churches; a practice so recent in its origin, 
 and introduced in such a deceptive and wicked way. A man 
 must be greatly deluded, seriously to think such a thing pos- 
 sible. 
 
 It is often inquired, by those under the delusion, " When 
 Christ said, • Suffer little children to come unto me, 1 did he 
 not baptize them !" I reply, Christ did not baptize at all, but 
 his disciples. John iv. 2. As there is not a word said about 
 his baptizing them, it must be a deluded state of mind that is 
 anxious to find infant baptism and infant sprinkling where 
 they are not to be found. 
 
 They were not babes, because they were old enough to 
 "come to Him," but were "little children." " Suffer little 
 children (not babes) to come unto me." 
 
 Similar remarks are pertinent to the passage, "Go teach 
 all nations, baptizing them," &c. Such commentators as 
 Doddridge, Baxter, Barrow, Freeman, and Calvin, tell us it 
 should be rendered, " Go disciple all nations ; he that believeth 
 and is baptized," &c The persons to be baptized must be old 
 enough, then, to be disciples and tobelieve. A delusion must 
 be very strong, and in great trouble for support, in order to 
 be so eager to find a proof where it is not to be found. 
 
 The deluded mind lights on Acts ii. 39. " For the promise 
 is to you, and to your children," &c. What promise, I ask? 
 According to grammatical construction, and according to the 
 theme the Apostle has in the mind's eye, it is the promise of 
 the Holy Ghost. To assert that "promise" here alludes to 
 Gen. xvii. 7, is to assert a thing which can never be proven, 
 and a thing which is totally foreign from the main subject ; 
 and nothing but delusion would think of making such an as- 
 sertion. The delusion attempts also to sustain itself by the 
 passage 1 Cor. vii. 14. "The unbelieving husband is sancti- 
 fied by the wife, and the unbelieving wife by the husband, 
 else were your children unclean, but now are they holy." 
 This passage merely asserts that the piety of the wife natu- 
 
71 
 
 rally tends to the conversion of the husband; and the piety of 
 the husband to the conversion of the wife ; and the piety of 
 both parents is conducive to the conversion of the children. 
 The fact that their children were "holy" — were converted, is 
 the proof of this leading principle. The delusion has wasted 
 much strength to give such a coloring to this passage as would 
 justify the practice. Poor delusion ! — in as much trouble to 
 find a support, as ever free-masonry was. I truly pity those 
 who have been fooled with it. It misdirected all my energies 
 by fooling me for a great many years. It led me to build 
 against the real kingdom of Christ, and in favor of the king- 
 doms of men, even usurpers, for a great many years, without 
 knowing what I was doing ; and led me to deceive thousands 
 of others with this deceptive stratagem, because I was deceiv- 
 ed with it myself, and all this without seeing or surmising at 
 the time, there was any deception in it. It cost me, when I 
 discovered the deception, an immense amount of trouble. It 
 is a cruel and troublesome business to be made the dupe of 
 this delusion by parents. The honesty of the parents and of 
 the minister, makes no more diminution in fact, than the hon- 
 esty of the free-masons and Mormons, in propagating their 
 delusions. The evil is, in fact, worse to the child, than if the 
 parent and the minister meant to deceive ; because their hon- 
 esty only causes the delusion in the child to be engrained the 
 deeper. 
 
 The delusion tries also to find support in the baptism of the 
 jailer. It is said, " He was baptized, and all his straightway." 
 But it is also said, " They spake unto him the word of the 
 Lord, and to all that were in his house." Andjit is said, " He 
 rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." Such Pncdo- 
 baptist commentators as Dr. Doddridge, John Calvin, and 
 Matthew Henry, all agree in the opinion in view of this lan- 
 guage, that these were all converted. As baptism was the 
 the only custom of those times, and for fifteen hundred years 
 after, there can be no possible ground for the support of baby 
 sprinkling here. 
 
 But Cornelius, and his household, were baptized. These 
 were Gentiles The apostle asks *• Can any man forbid wa- 
 ter, that these should not pe baptized, who have received the 
 I lolv Ghost" — were converted — *• as well as we." This looks 
 Lik.4 adults, not babes. 
 
 Bin l household is also used in the case of "Stepha- 
 
 nas, 1 Cor. i. 16. h is supposed by many that Stephanos ia 
 the name of tip if ^<> then we have said all that 
 
 is necessary. In 1 Cor. xv'. 1 , this loishold aic snid to 
 
72 
 
 have u addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints." 
 They of course, were not babes. Baby immersion never 
 came into existence t»Jl the year 255, and after. Baby sprin- 
 kling not till 1556, and after. Of course there was no baby 
 sprinkling here. 
 
 But the household of Lydia is triumphantly adduced. The 
 account is given in Acts xvi. 14, 15, 40. She was at Phillippi, 
 200 miles from Thyatira, her home: was a pedlar — had a hir- 
 ed house, and hired servants — and calls it " my house," and 
 the sacred historians call it the *' house of Lydia," into which 
 the apostles entered. All this is a conclusive proof that she 
 had no husband, and no babes. A wife with babes is not ve- 
 ry apt to be 200 miles from home on such a business. The 
 deluded must prove, 
 
 1. That she was ever married. 
 
 2. That she had then a husband. 
 
 3. That she ever had any children. 
 
 4. That any of them then were babes. 
 
 5. That she had brought her babes along. 
 
 6. That her babes were baptized. 
 
 7. That they were baptized on her faith. 
 
 But when he has done all this, he has only proved their 
 immersion ; for this was the only baptism at that time, and 
 for fifteen centuries after. In order to justify his delusion, 
 he must prove further (1.) that the babes were sprinkled, (2.) 
 that this false naming of the thing was done in the name of 
 the Trinity, and (3.) that there was a divine warrant for this 
 sprinkling, and this misnomer of it, before he can find the 
 shadow of a justification for his delusion. 
 
 The old Abrahamic covenant is urged by some as a reason 
 for infant sprinkling. 
 
 What was that covenant ? It is in these words : " I will mul- 
 tiply thee exceedingly" — " thou shalt be a father of many na- 
 tions," — "1 will make thee exceeding fruitful," — and "1 will 
 make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee,"-*' Thy 
 name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I 
 made thee;" — ** I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed 
 after thee," — and I will give unto thee, and thy seed after 
 thee, the land" — all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting 
 possession. "And I will be their God." A national promise 
 is all thut can be made out of all this. 
 
 By seed, descendants are here meant, as in the promise of 
 the land, and so in the other promises. 
 
 To be a God to them in all generations is to be just what 
 God was in fact to them as a nation, to wit, their protecto 
 
73 
 
 and shield and benefactor. All the males had the foreskin 
 circumcised, as a national "mark. 
 
 If infant sprinkling, a modern delusion, comes in lieu of it, 
 why not confine it to the males, as was the custom in circum- 
 cision ; and then, when they are converted, still baptize 
 them, as the apostles did? 
 
 I nave no recollection of any other passages being used in 
 order to justify the practice of infant sprinkling. Even the 
 deluded themselves must see that at least uncertainty rests 
 upon all their pretended proofs. They must be void of all 
 reason as of all reasoning about it, not to admit as much as 
 this, but to defend a practice so suspicious, and with no ex- 
 press warrant, and by passages of even doubtful construction, 
 is perfectly inconsistent with the retention of a good con- 
 science, and with logical accuracy. In an earthly government, 
 how would men appear in enforcing a practice so vital in its 
 deleterious bearing on the unity of the nation, and with no 
 more appearance of a law to justify it. If the officers under 
 a government should persist with the pertinacity we see in 
 the case of infant sprinkling, and with no better authority, the 
 government would dismiss them with disgrace. If this would 
 be an offence against an earthly government, how much more 
 rebellious is this pertinacious course against the government 
 of heaven. If God requires the prictice, let the deluded point 
 us to the chapter and verse. Let them disprove all our his- 
 torical statements, our biblical criticisms, and all the state- 
 ments of Encyclopaedias and other standard authors. Let 
 them prove that the Presbyterian and Episcopal organizations 
 have not, between the years 1556, and 1648, done these deeds ; 
 altered divine ordinances, enforced this substitute, committed 
 these treasonable acts against heaven, perverted the scriptures 
 as we have stated, assumed and usurped their self created 
 powers, bred these divisions against the k'ngdom of Christ, 
 repealed his statutes, and substituted others of their own for- 
 mation, propagated these delusions and stratagems, and as- 
 sumed to themselves to lord it over God's heritage. Let the 
 deluded only awaken from their delusion, and begin candid- 
 ly to examine, and there is no question what will be the result. 
 To begin to examine, and be honest and free from delusion, 
 and to persevere, will be productive of a sure result. 
 
 Many paedobaptist authors, who, for some reason, contin- 
 ued either the immersion or the sprinkling of babe. , have 
 left in their writings the full conviction of their minds, that 
 there is no authority in the Bible for infant baptism. Bish- 
 
 G 
 
74 
 
 op Burnet, Fuller, S. Palmer, Philip Limborch, Curcellartisv 
 and Cellasius, Richard Baxter, the author of " Saints' Rest," 
 Bishop Prideaux, Thomas Boston.author of" Fourfold State," 
 Bishop Sanderson, Martin Luther, Erasmus, QEcolampodius, 
 and Bishop Stillingfleet ; all of them careful and prayerful 
 readers of the Holy Scriptures, and Paedobaptists too, have 
 recorded that, in their opinion, there is no authority for infant 
 baptism in the Bible. 
 
 Standard authors, who were paedobaptists too, fully agree 
 also in the fact, that there was no infant baptism in the first 
 two centuries. Bishop Barlow says, " I do believe and know 
 that there is neither precept nor example in scripture for pae- 
 dobaptism, nor any just evidence for it, for about two hun- 
 dred years after Christ." 
 
 This coincides with the statement we made in our seventh 
 letter. 
 
 Dr. Chambers, in his Cyclopaedia, says, " It appears that in 
 primitive times none were baptized but adults." 
 
 The Episcopal Wall, who defended immersion as the di- 
 vine ordinance, from the beginning, against Calvin's substi- 
 tute, but who was exceedingly anxious to carry the fact of 
 pacdobaptism as near the apostles' time as possible, in his pre- 
 face, p. 3, says, " There is no particular direction given what 
 to do with reference to the children of those who received 
 faith. Among all the persons that are recorded as baptized 
 by the apostles, there is no express mention of any infants." 
 This admission, from one so anxious to defend the piactice, 
 is of much weight. Martin Luther says, " It cannot be prov- 
 ed by the sacred scriptures that infant baptism was instituted 
 by Christ, or begun by the first Christians after the apostles." 
 The learned De La Roque, of Roan, in Normandy, says, 
 *• The primitive church did not baptize infants, and the learn- 
 ed Grotius proves it." 
 
 Grotius says, "You will not find in any of the councils, 
 a more ancient mention of the baptism of infants, than the 
 council of Carthage, in the year 418." That council met at 
 Mela, a neighboring village; and hence is sometimes called 
 the Melavitian council. 
 
 Salmasius says, " In the first two centuries no one was 
 baptized, except being instructed in the faith and acquainted 
 with the doetrine of Christ, he was able to profess himself a 
 believer because of these words. * he thatbelieveth and is bap- 
 tized,' &c." 
 
 Episcopius says, " Paedobaptism was not esteemed a neces 
 
75 
 
 «ary rite till it was determined so to be in the Melavitian coun- 
 cil,'held in the year 418." 
 
 Curcellaeus says, " The baptism of infants in the first two 
 ages after Christ, was altogether unknown ; but in the third 
 and fourth, was allowed by some few. In the fifth and sixth 
 and following ages, it was generally received. In the former 
 ages, no trace of it appears, and it was introduced without 
 the command of Christ." 
 
 Suicerus says, * The eucharist was given to infants, after 
 paedobaplism was introduced." 
 
 Erasmus, on Rom. v. 14, says, " Paul does not treat of in- 
 fants. It was not yet the custom for infants to be baptized." 
 
 The learned Neander declares there was nothing of itj in 
 the times of the apostles, and for some time after. 
 
 Mosheim, though a Lutheran, still asserts, that all who 
 were baptized during the first two .centuries, were adults pro- 
 fessing repentance, and were immersed under water : and in- 
 directly asserts that infant baptism was introduced after- 
 wards. 
 
 Limborch says, " There is no instance that can be produced 
 from whence it may indisputably be inferred that any child 
 was baptized by the apostles."* 
 
 * Vhe Magdeburgh Centuriators, say, " The apostles bap- 
 tized none but the aged or adult, whether Jew or Gentile."f 
 
 Olshauscn. M By the introduction of infant baptism, which 
 was certainly not apostolical, the relative position of baptism, 
 after the ebullition of spiritual gifts had passed away, was 
 changed."^ Also in vol. i. p. 158; "In infant baptism, which 
 the church at a later period introduced foT wise reasons, (a 
 paedobaptist thinks it wise) the sacred rite returned back, &c." 
 
 Hughes, the Catholic, tells us that infant baptism is not in 
 the Bible, and is only a tradition of the church. 
 
 Kaisend. " Infant baptism was not an original institution 
 of Christianity."! 
 
 Corrodi. " At the time of Christ and his disciples, only 
 adults were baptized. "$ 
 
 Baumgarten Crusius. "Infant baptism can be supported 
 neither by a distinct apostolical tradition, nor apostolical ex- 
 ample. 1 ^ 
 
 Neander. •« The practice of infant baptism was remote from 
 the spirit of this (the apostolic) age. Not only the late ap- 
 pearance of any express mention of infant baptism, but the 
 
 • Body of Divinity, p. 730. t Hitt. of facta, p. 176. t Vol. ii. p. 454. 
 
 | Biblical Theology, vol. ii. p. 158. 4 Drewler, p. 154. H HUt.Theou 
 p 1208. 
 
76 
 
 long continued opposition to it, (after it was introduced,) leads 
 us to the conclusion that it was not of apostolical origin.* 
 
 Strabo says, " In the first times, baptism was wont to be giv- 
 en to those only who were come to that integrity of mind and 
 body, that they could know and understand what profit was 
 to be gotten by baptism. "f 
 
 Greg. Nazianzen says, " None were baptized of old, but 
 such as did confess their sins."}: 
 
 Beza says, " The baptism of children was unheard of in the 
 primitive church." [| 
 
 Dr. Hammond says, "Anciently all men were instructed 
 in the faith before baptism. "§ 
 
 Ludovicus Vivus says, " None of old were wont to be bap- 
 tized but in grown age, and who desired and understood what 
 it was."!" 
 
 Jacob Merningus states that he had a confession of faith of 
 the Waldenses, written in the German language, in which is 
 the following statement, "In the beginning of Christianity- 
 there was no baptizing of children, and our fathers practised 
 no such thing."* * 
 
 The Encyclodaedia Americana says, " It is certain that in- 
 fant baptism was not customary in the earliest periods of the 
 Christian Church. In the middle ages, also, it wa^ declared, 
 invalid by many disputing parties, as the Petrobrusians, the 
 Catharists, the Picards," &c.f t 
 
 Many more who declare the same, might be quoted, if ne- 
 cessary. It will be asked, Why then did such Paedobaptists 
 practice it? Limborch, and many others tell us, It was 
 thought better to do it than to rebel against the government 
 of the Church ; and expose one's self to the penalty of rebel- 
 lion against the government over the Church, in which they 
 lived. It was the arm of despotism enforcing it for the sake 
 of uniformity, which crushed the people, and coerced subor- 
 dination to this and other ordinances of men. 
 
 Mosheim mentions no appearance of any thing like infant 
 baptism, till a sect of pedaizing Christians, called Ebonites, 
 at Pepuzc, in Phrygia, who were extremely heretical, bapti- 
 zed either youths, children, or babes ; probably the former.! % 
 Robinson tells us there was no trace of infant baptism in 
 Spain, earlier than 517. 
 
 * Apostolic Age, vol. i. p. 140. \ De Reb. Eccles., as in Hist, of Facts, 
 p. 177. X Orat. III. in the same, p. 174. || Exto. Idem. p. 182. 
 
 $ Lib. i. cap. iii. p. 23. in eooVm. H Extr. in Suppl Athen. Vol i. p. 174. 
 
 * * Mern. Hist. Part II. p. 738. t t Art. Anabapt. Fhiladel. Edit. 1830. 
 \ X Eccles. Hist. Cent. II, Chap. iii. — r. 
 
77 
 
 The Following modern German authors attest the same his- 
 torical fact : 
 
 Rheinwald, p. 313, of his works, says, "The first traces of 
 infant baptism, are found in the Western Church, and after 
 the middle ot the second century." 
 
 Matthies, De Baptism, p. 187, says, " In the two first cen- 
 turies no documents are found which clearly show the exis- 
 tence of infant baptism at that time.' 1 
 
 Prof. Haken, Theolog, p. 556, says, " Neither in the scrip- 
 tures nor during the first 150 years, is an example of infant 
 baptism to be found ; and the opposers of it cannot be con- 
 tradicted on Gospel ground. 1 ' 
 
 Tertullian, of the second century, says of the Apostles. 
 " Their business was first to preach, and afterwards to dip; 
 and that those who are ready to enter on baptism should give 
 themselves to frequent prayers and fastings." 
 
 Jerome says, "First they teach all nations, and when they 
 are taught, dip them in water." 
 
 How perfectly evident it must be, then, that infant baptism 
 is a deceiver when it pretends to be divine ; and that it is 
 just what we have before stated ; and that the " scandalous sub- 
 titute of a substitute," as Wall calls it, so prevalent in our 
 country, is profane ; and that all who have a conscience in 
 favor of it, are grossly deluded by their feelings. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 MY OWN EXPERIENCE HOW IT WAS IN GERMANY. 
 
 In my earlest years, the sprinkling of babes was an oc- 
 currence which was constantly presenting itself, and it 
 was always called baptism. All the influence of min- 
 isters, of pious parents, and of other Christians, favored 
 it. Of course, [imbibed the delusion at that early period. 
 All those were denounced by them who rejected it. A pre- 
 judice against them was thus produced. One bred under such 
 influence, and whose reading afterwards was entirely on one 
 side, of course, would not begin to suspect it to be i delusion ; 
 and after imbibing the delusion in that way, it would natural- 
 ly become stronger and stronger, and his whole subsequent 
 reading, would naturally strengthen it the more and more firno 
 ly. Those ministers, parents, and Christians, had themselves 
 been so deluded, and conformed in the delusion the same way. 
 
78 
 
 The free-masons were just as ignorant of the fact that they 
 had been delude d. Our ignorance that it was a delusion in 
 each case, and our confidence thus secured by the influence 
 of others, led us to become the unconscious tools in deluding 
 others also. The same principles that account for the exten- 
 sion of the one delusion, account for the extension of the oth- 
 er. And the same honest but blind delusion, reproduced it- 
 self in other confiding minds, without even surmising that it 
 was generating a delusion, — and in each case precisely alike. 
 I was familiarly acquainted with both — having thoroughly 
 examtned the origin and movement of both — and know to a 
 demonstration that it is even so in both cases. My excuse 
 for having once favored the one is precisely my excuse for 
 having favored the other, — viz., I Was deluded, and I knew 
 it not. There is as conclusive evidence that the one is a de- 
 lusion as the other. Every mind that will candidly and pa- 
 tiently examine the subject, must see it is so. The same 
 principles that account for the one, account for the other. 
 
 I shall ever recollect with gratitnde that faithful minister,* 
 who crowded the examination of baby sprinkling (as well as 
 the nature of baptism) upon us, in the village where I was 
 preaching. I sketched off all his remarks, in order to refute 
 them before my own congregation. In my efforts to do it, I 
 found I must study. Delays for the sake of investigation, in 
 order to doit more thoroughly ensued. The more I examin 
 ed the darker the subject became. Yet so strong was my de- 
 lusion, that I was poring over the subject by turns, nearly a 
 year. I ultimately resolved I would follow truth, let it lead 
 me where it would; and it was not long before the bubble 
 burst. Still, so strong were my prejudices and delusions, it 
 was six months more before my mind became wholly disen- 
 thralled so far as to begin to be established on the original 
 principles of the gospel, in relation to church order. 
 
 No one can know the injury done to a mind, by thus en- 
 thralling and enslaving it in infancy to this and concomitant 
 delusions, within the wrong fold, under the wrong jurisdic- 
 tion, the wrong bias and prejudices, the wrong training, the 
 exclusive reading on one side, and the mind set against the 
 right side by the influence of others, and all of it having its 
 origin in the modern farce of baby sprinkling, whereby we 
 are secured and fenced within the wrong fold, as church mem- 
 bers in our helpless state ; an operation so perfectly at war 
 with our subsequent personal liberty, until he has both expe- 
 
 • Rev. William Arthur. 
 
79 
 
 rienced it, and been reclaimed ; and also unil he has careful- 
 ly examined its bearing on the Kingdom and cause of Christ. 
 It is all but the assassination of the prospective usefulness 
 of a child, to infix this delusion upon his mind in childhood, 
 and to train him up in this separate state from the real fold of 
 Christ. 
 
 It is a consciousness of these facts, which leads me to use 
 great plainness of speech. Who can avoid seeing that a pre- 
 tended oath ot allegiance to Christ, but in reality a corrupted 
 altered, and vitiated, oath, and corruptly administered to the 
 unconscious ; thereby treacherously binding them, in fact, to 
 other lords in other folds, is a base deception, and a treason- 
 able transaction against the King of Zion ; and that the agents 
 have nothing but the delusion of their own minds to plead as 
 a palliation for such an offence. And who does not see that 
 if the child confides in it, it will pervert his whole life, from 
 the real kingdom of Christ, and lead him to propagate the 
 same delusion in others, unless he is reclaimed. When will 
 parents and ministers cease the propagation of this pernicious 
 delusion ! 
 
 In sketching the liberties that have been taken with the 
 ordinance of baptism, the real oath of allegiance to Jesus 
 Christ, as it was originally intended to be; (and such liber- 
 ties with such oath of allegiance are always deemed High 
 Treason in all civil governments) I here introduce the pre- 
 valent views in Germany, as late as 1712; which proves the 
 Government there did not change the ordinance from immer- 
 sion to sprinkling till after that period. 
 
 Philip Limborch filled the office of Professor of Divinity, 
 in the Pacdobaptist Seminary at Amsterdam, from 16G4 to 
 1712. Hia views are, of course, the views of the Paedobap- 
 tist clergy in Germany, and of the national church of those 
 times. As I have never heard of but one copy of this book 
 in America, the quotation may be grateful to many. John 
 lerc, Vossius, Episcopius, and Stephen Curcellaeus, all 
 of them noted for their profound erudition, successively filled 
 the same professorship, and confirm the same views, and give 
 the same opinions. 
 
 " Baptism (he says) is that rite or ceremony whereby the 
 faithful, (i. e. adults) by immersion into water, as by a sacred 
 pledge, are assured of the favor of God, remission of sins, and 
 eternal life, — and by which they engage themselves to an a- 
 mendmentof life, and an obedience to the divine commands. 
 Chri-t (he says) appointed it, and it was confirmed by the 
 practice of the Apostles." 
 
so 
 
 11 Baptism consists (he says) in washing, or rather immers- 
 ing the whole body into water ; as was customary in the pri- 
 mitive times." 
 
 On the question whether immersion be so necessary, that 
 there be no baptism without it, inasmuch as it had become 
 changed in England by the civil government; and as all in 
 those times construed the principle of " submission to the 
 powers that be," as a submission to the civil rulers over the 
 church, let them be what they might, and alter ordinances 
 and religion ever so much, be under the influence of such a 
 principle of allegiance to false rulers says: 
 
 u Upon great and emergent occasions, some allowances 
 ought to be made, especially in cold countries, and in case of 
 infant baptism, since their tender bodies might receive dam- 
 age, if the government require it, &c. This is the reason why 
 sprinkling is at present so customary in the western climates, 
 (i. e. England, &c.) and although it deviates from the prim- 
 itive institution of dipping," &c. 
 
 in his remarks, also, on the questions, What vve ought to 
 think of the baptism of infants, and whether infant baptism is 
 necessary, he says : 
 
 "We say, for our parts, it is not absolutely necessary. (1.) 
 Because there is no express command for it. (2.) All the pas- 
 sages commanding baptism do immediately relate to adult 
 persons. (3.) There is no instance that any child (babe) was 
 baptized by the Apostles. (4.) The necessity of it was never 
 asserted in any Council, before that of Carthage, in the year 
 418. It is true it was used in Africa before this; but it was 
 only used as a rite that might lawfully be administered, with- 
 out any notion of the necessity thereof." So that since there 
 are no marks in antiquity, before the said council, of the ne- 
 cessity of infant baptism, " there is no reason why at present 
 it should be held as necessary." These are the honest and 
 published views of him to whom the education of the Psedo- 
 baptist clergy was committed, at that time, in Germany. 
 
 Concerning the families baptized, as mentioned in Acts xvi. 
 15, 33, and I Cor. i. 15, he says, "There might be children 
 in them, yet the holy Scripture furnishes me with no solid ar- 
 gument whereby I can demonstrate it; and if they were in- 
 fants, we are not informed that they were baptized with their 
 parents." 
 
 Concerning the promise, Acts ii. 39, " to you and to your 
 children," as affording evidence for infant baptism, he remarks, 
 w It cannot be proved, that by children infants are meant, but 
 rather their posterity.'" 
 
81 
 
 Against the notion that baptism came in the room of cir- 
 cumcision, he says : (i.) u Infant baptism is no where express- 
 ly commanded, but circumcision was. (^.) If it were so, — 
 that baptism comes in its place, — infants must be baptized on 
 the eighth day ; nay, (3.) as soon as born — because they might 
 die. (4.) As the male children only were circumcised, there- 
 fore it would be unlawful for female children to be baptized." 
 M Baptism," he again defines, " an intelligent profession of the 
 name of Christ." 
 
 44 1 think," he adds, " every one ought to be left to his liber- 
 ty to make use of this rite (baptism) after such manner as he 
 thinks most conducive to those ends, (the profession of Chris- 
 tianity, and a holy life.) If any man offers children to be 
 baptized, they ought to be baptized ; since paedobaplism con- 
 tains nothing in it contrary to the genius of Christianity ; pnd 
 it has been practised for so many ages. No one should op- 
 pose it, therefore, if he cannot do it without giving scandal to 
 the church in which he lives." i. e. its regulations and gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 We make but three remarks upon this quotation, from this 
 learned professor and instructor of young men at Amsterdam, 
 for the ministry, in Paedobaptist churches in those times. 
 
 1. He plainly defends the present views of the Baptist 
 churches, as the principles taught in the Bible. 
 
 2. We notice the slender basis upon which he recommends 
 infant baptism at all, viz. 4 ' If any man offers children to be 
 baptized," — 4 * paedobaptism contains nothing in it contrary to 
 the genius of Christianity," (i. e. the national church of Ger- 
 many being his exemplar as to the nature of that genius,) — 
 44 it has been practised for so many ages," — no one should op- 
 pose it if he cannot do it without giving scandal to the chureh 
 in which he lives." As good reasons as an honest man can 
 give. 
 
 3. We see to what extent the principle that we may orga- 
 nize churches as we please — of such subjects as we please — 
 and under such rulers as we please — under the civil govern- 
 ment, if we happen there — by the stratagem of immersing or 
 sprinkling babes or not as we please — under the laws and al- 
 terations of those governments as is for our convenience, has 
 been carried — and how ruinous it has become to the original- 
 ly organized kingdom of Christ, under his own jurisdiction. 
 
 Salmasius, Curcellaeus, and Episcopius, all of them by 
 turns, Professors in the same Theological Seminary, tell us, 
 44 In the first two centuries no one was baptized but adults," — 
 that ** the baptism of infants in the fiist two centuries after 
 
Christ, was altogether unknown" — and that ?■ no tradition 
 can be produced for paedobaptism till a little before that coun- 
 cilin 418." 
 
 We notice, also, that the civil government of Germany, 
 had not, at the above time, enforced infant baptism so strenu- 
 ously as had that of England. And the effect of this liberty 
 of conscience, was, that Baptist views, and the honest truth 
 were taught, as being the truths taught in the Bible ; and that 
 too, by the most thorough scholars of the age, and those the 
 teachers in the Seminaries of the National Church. 
 
 We add, that the Dutch Testament, as translated by Lu- 
 ther, renders baptism, in every case, honestly, by a word that 
 signifies immersion, and that alone. 
 
 We also add, that the Dutch Confession of Faith, or Creed, 
 enforces baptism, i. e. immersion, in the fullest sense of the 
 word. 
 
 But since the above period, the civil government of Ger- 
 many too, have followed the evil example of the British Par- 
 liament, and have changed the or linance of baptism, to sprin- 
 kling. Because at present, (1840) the devoted Oncken, for 
 no other offence than preaching the Gospel, and immersing 
 believers, is arrested under the civil law, and is imprisoned, 
 and his rabors are broken up, by the arm of civil power. 
 
 I have been informed by many emigrants from Germany, 
 that during about 75 or 100 years past, sprinkling has be- 
 come the national baptism of Germany. 
 
 It is the arm of civil power, and ecclesiastical power, then, 
 that has committed these treasonable crimes against Heaven, 
 in altering one of his ordinances, and in enforcing the appli- 
 cation of a substitute to babes, for the uses and benefits of 
 such treasonable Governments, thus usurping dominion, and 
 at antipodes against the jurisdiction and the original King- 
 dom of Jesus Christ himself. 
 
 This course has well nigh prostrated the real kingdom of 
 Christ, in many countries ; and has fixed almost insurmount- 
 able barriers in the way of the preaching of the Gospel of the 
 kingdom, and the conversion of the world. It has substitu- 
 ted, in lieu of that kingdom, national establishments, under ci- 
 vil ruleis; and modern establishments, under ecclesiastical 
 rulers, in abundance. The jurisdiction of Christ is thus pros- 
 trated and the outlines of his kingdom trampled in the dust. 
 If all this is not high treason against Christ, it is difficult to. 
 tell what is J 
 
M 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 NEW-ENGLAND. 
 
 A sketch of some of the circumstances conducing to the 
 pushing of poedobaptism to the utmost verge in England, and 
 New-England, is this: 
 
 Popery had used that snare for catching babes, in success- 
 fully building itself up, for about a thousand years; when 
 Henry VIll.,the bishops, and the Parliament, resolved on a 
 revolt, and on a rival movement against the Pope. Accord- 
 ingly, they passed laws indirectly enforcing p&dobaptism up- 
 on all babes, in order to ensnare them within the Episcopal 
 national Church; and under the penalty of treating alias 
 outlaws — disabling them from being known in law, if mar- 
 ried — treating their descendants as bastards — disallowing 
 them the power of inheriting estates, and the right of burial 
 after they were dead ; unless the parents consented thus to 
 ensnare them, by paedobaptism, to that church. 
 
 The Congregational ruler3, in the true spirit of rivalship, 
 seeing this, enforced pa;dobaptism upon their members ; i. e. 
 required them to ensnare their babe3 to them, by that ceremo- 
 ny, and under the penalty of excommunication. It is hardly 
 twenty-five years, now, since that tyrannic rule, with them, 
 even began to lose its force. 
 
 The Presbyterian rulers, in the same spirit of rivalship, in 
 the time of Calvin, and since, enforced the same thing on their 
 members, under the same penalty. These folds, all contriv- 
 ed by human beings, and ruled by human beings, and compel- 
 ling their members thns to ensnare their children into the 
 church, commenced their career from the year 1534, to 1545. 
 The immersion of babes was the form they enforced for a con- 
 siderable time. 
 
 Sir John Floyer, a learned physician, in England, in an ad- 
 dress to the deans and high officers of the Church of England, 
 as partly quoted in Letter V., days, M I appeal to you as per- 
 sons well versed in ancient history, and in the canons and ce- 
 remonies of the Church of England, and as witnesses of the 
 < r of fact; that immersion continued in the church of 
 KiiL'Uud, till about the year 1G00," and adds, M I have proved 
 the practice of immersion, from the time the Britons and Sax- 
 ons were baptized, till King James' days." Dr. Wall says, 
 
84 
 
 " The first liturgy in the world that prescribes aspersion is in 
 1643 " It was the Westminster assembly that voted it, 25 to 
 24. 
 
 In getting rid of immersion every variety would be resort- 
 ed to ; as 
 
 1 Pouring a large vessel full of water upon the candidate, 
 so as to wet him all over, and yet the administrator keep dry. 
 This was Calvin's first way ; and was the «• substitute for bap- 
 tism. 
 
 2 Pouring out of a less vessel — wetting less. The con- 
 science ihat could interpose in the first way, could make it a 
 still more convenient, and a less sell denying transaction. 
 
 3 Pouring out of the hand as much water as the hand would 
 contain. Calvin's book — the Book of " the learned godly 
 man, John Calvin," as on the title page, in 1558, enjoins this 
 way. 
 
 4 Pouring a mere trifle from the hand. 
 
 5 Merely dipping the hand into the water, and laying it 
 upon the forehead — baptizing the hand," and wetting the face 
 of the candidate, as one satirically calls it. 
 
 6 Wetting the fingers and laying them on the face. 
 
 7 Wetting them, and fillipping them upon the face. 
 
 8 Ultimately and finally, as in 1643, by Presbyterian au- 
 thority, wetting the fingers, and sprinkling a few drops in the 
 face. This last, Wall calls " the substitute of the substitute.'* 
 
 The seven first varieties gradually and successively came 
 along between 1556, and 1643. About 1643, and 1645, the 
 eighth variety came into use, by Presbyterian, and afterwards 
 by Parliamentary authority. Wall tells us, *• It was at that 
 time (1645) just beginning. 
 
 I wish here to record, that I have (perhaps improperly,) 
 called all these varieties of aspersion sprinkling, because it 
 would cost too much pains to make all the distinctions in the 
 successive progress of all the varieties. 
 
 The rulers in these three organizations from and after'about 
 1644, compelled their members respectively to ensnare their 
 children to them, from that time forward, usually by sprin- 
 kling. 
 
 The King of England had presumed to become the 
 head of the church, and had empowered the several 
 governors and general courts in the several New-England 
 States to be, in a measure, the head of the several churches 
 there. Hence the Cambridge Platform, and the Saybrook 
 Platform, were perfectly invalid, till passed into a law in each 
 case by the General Court, and sanctioned by the Governors. 
 
85 
 
 Previous to this, the New-England churches are said to be 
 •' the truest sons of the Church of England, and to maintain 
 its fundamental .Articles ;" i. e. its thirty-nine Articles. (Mag- 
 nalia 1L, 155 ) Of course the immersion of babes and oth- 
 ers, was originally the law of the New-England Churches. 
 They would not otherwise be M the truest sons of the church 
 of England," or "maintain its fundamental articles ;" because 
 these enforced immersion from the first. From 1620, the first 
 settlement, till 1048, this was their state. The reluctance 
 of the Westminster assembly to adopt aspersion, and doing 
 it by a bare majority, as well as the fact that they had no oth- 
 er Creed than that of the church of England, previous to 1643, 
 and the fact that they, as a people, had a conscience against 
 interfering wilh the laws of Christ, gives us reason to believe 
 the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, in large propor- 
 tions, previous to 1643, were accustomed to immersion in 
 England. 
 
 The Governor, and General Court of Massachusetts, by 
 virtue of power (if any they had) derived from the usurpa- 
 tion of the King of England, against Jesus Christ, convened 
 a Synod of all the churches at Cambridge, Sept. 30, 1648; five 
 years after the Westminster Assembly had presumptuously 
 altered the ordinance of baptism. The Synod adopted sub- 
 stantially the confession of faith of the Westminster Assem- 
 bly — of course took upon themselves to join in-altering the 
 ordinance of baptism to sprinkling, and adopted a platform for 
 the government and regulation of the churches accordingly, 
 called the Cambridge Platform. 
 
 Prominent features of all those regulations, were based up- 
 on the assumption, that the General Courts or Governments 
 in those States, had the ripht, as the civil governments did in 
 •pe, to regulate, control, and rule in all matters of reli- 
 gion : that the part of the people was to submit " to the pow- 
 ers that be;" and that submission to the magistrate, in gene- 
 ral term*, is abundantly enforced in the Bible. It was a be- 
 li. I" in this latter principle, in its unlimited sense, that led the 
 people, everywhere, to acquiesce in all these changes ; and 
 iliu emboldened their rulers to make changes, according to 
 
 their pleasure. 
 
 The rulers in .\< -w-liuL'land, however, jjrneinusly acceded 
 
 to the clergy the privilege of first acting in mailers of ceil* 
 
 \ a mutual understanding, however, that when the 
 
 the clergy had acted, the rulers, if the clergy pleased tin in, 
 
 jtlPfl it into a law. The clergy were pleased with this high 
 
 H 
 
86 
 
 honor of being their tools; and the governments, in this way, 
 easily accomplished their ends of ruling the church, and of 
 enforcing uniformity, and by very plausible measures. 
 
 How true it is, that in proportion as human beings rule 
 Christians, the real kingdom of Christ becomes prostrated, 
 and the elements of it fail to be galheied under Christ. 
 
 The Legislatures were called "General Courts," the Gov- 
 ernors were appointed of the crown of England. The rulers, 
 as a whole, were called magistrates. The policy was to en- 
 force uniformity in religion, and to have baby -sprinkling, 
 which had rive years before been adopted in Westminster, be- 
 come the stratagem for securing the end ; and to force the 
 parents, by ecclesiastical power, to apply it to all their babes, 
 and so make them church-members, and cause all to grow up 
 in uniformity. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the General Courts of Connec- 
 ticut and Massachusetts, in 1644, called the above Synod, to 
 be holden Sept. 30 ; and according to the policy of the times, 
 this Synod adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith ; a 
 prominent feature of which was, that all church-men, bers 
 should be required to have their children sprinkled into church- 
 membership. 
 
 They reported progress to the General Court, and the lat- 
 ter passed it into a Jaw : whereby baby sprinkling became 
 the law of the land, in those States. 
 
 Roger W ; illiams, and the Baptists, for pleading that no such 
 authorities over the church were lawful, and that Jesus Christ 
 alone was Head of the Church, were most shamefully perse- 
 cuted for such opinions, by the same authorities. 
 
 The concentration of these movements in England, and in 
 New-England, is quite striking. 
 
 The rights of conscience were not then understood. To 
 think too highly of uniformity in the inventions of men, in 
 religion : and too lightly of the real kingdom of Christ, is no- 
 thing strange for those times. To distinguish between the 
 jurisdiction of magistrates, and the jurisdiction of Christ, was 
 what very few were disposed to do. A total reformation from 
 popery, would have been to reject all power of magistrates 
 over the church. — all the inventions of men — the traditions of 
 mother church, and the stratagems upon babes. It is evident, 
 therefore, there was but a very partial reformation from po- 
 pery. " Midway," to use Lowth's language in the case, is as 
 far as they had gone. The Westminster assen bly had esta- 
 blished sprinkling as baptism, by a majority of one, and made 
 a Creed in 1643. The Parliament were imprisoning men for 
 
87 
 
 immersing persons into the real kingdom, and under the ex- 
 elusive jurisdiction of Christ; had established sprinkling by 
 law, in 1644;* and had passed the gag-law of May 2, 16485 
 which rendered all persons liable to imprisonment who 
 presumed to speak against it, or say that such persons when 
 grown up and converted, ought to be immersed. And all the 
 Baptists in the realm, soon after, were required by law, to 
 "depart out of the realm," While these things were going 
 on there, these movements in New-England, began Sept. 30, 
 ! They all stand connected, not only as to time, but al- 
 
 so in design. 
 
 In 1657, the General Court of Connecticut requested the 
 nvwistrates of Massachusetts, to convene another Synod; 
 which they did, and accordingly ii met June 4, 1657. The 
 reasons assigned by Mather are, " That the ecclesiastical state 
 of their posterity, was an object of great interest. Parents 
 had become grand parents, and the sprinkled babes had be- 
 come parents, and yet were not communicants. Some of 
 these were willing to take their own baptismal (rantismal) 
 vows, made by parents, at their sprinkling, upon themselves, 
 although they were not converted. To make no difference 
 between those and pagans, (an opprobrious epithet given to 
 those who were not sprinkled) would soon abandon the coun- 
 try to heathenism. And yet if all were to become communi- 
 cants, the church would soon consist of impenitent persons. 
 The object of the General Courts was, to have the clergy at- 
 tend to these matters; and particularly to attend to two poins: 
 1. Who are the subjects of baptism, (rantism.) 2. Ought the 
 churches to be consociatcd so as to control each other, and 
 all to be controlled by rulers over them?" On the first point 
 u Who are to be baptized ? they decided in substance, first, 
 those who are members of the visible church ; second, the 
 members of the church are confederate believers, and their 
 intuit seed: also minors, where one or both parents are in 
 coven uit: third, all such children are members of the same 
 church with their parents ; and when grown up, are under the 
 u.u-li, discipline, and government of that church: fourth, 
 not membership, merely, but conversion is necessary, in or- 
 der tube communicant? : yet, filth, members thus grown up, 
 though unconverted, if sound in the faith, and of good mo- 
 r.il character, and owning the covenant, (the church govern- 
 ment,) thereby subjecting themselves to the government of 
 the church, their children must be sprinkled : sixth, such pa- 
 
 • Dr. Gill, and John Floyer. 
 
88 
 
 rents dying, their children must be sprinkled: seventh, if 
 such parents remove, their children should besprinkled wher- 
 ever they may go." Uniformity in these matters, was the ob- 
 ject of the magistrates and clergy. These things were ap- 
 proved by the General Court. "Soon a law was passed en- 
 forcing upon every plantation, the duty of having the stated 
 ministry." (Magnalia 11., 286.) But it must be a minister of 
 this establishment; because the Baptists were persecuted to the 
 utmost extent, by law, as they taught the exclusive jurisdic- 
 tion of Christ over the church, and the original oath of alle- 
 giance to Him. 
 
 Another convention, in 1662, was convened, and passed 
 this rule: "For any church to arrogate to themselves an ex- 
 emption from giving account, or from being liable to censure 
 by any other, either Christian magistrate above them, or 
 neighbor church about them, is a most to be abhorred maxim /" 
 In another convention, in 1679, it was decided "It would ve- 
 ry much promote reformation among us, if al! due means 
 were used for the bringing of more than there are, and as ma- 
 ny as may be,to submit unto the church watch." (Idem. p. 589.) 
 Also "thatunion between the civil government and the clergy 
 be carefully observed." In May 12, 1680, a similar conven- 
 tion, held in Boston, exchanged away the Westminster Con- 
 fession of Faith, or Creed, for the Savoy Confession or Creed. 
 Meantime, persecutions against the Baptists were carried to 
 the utmost extent. (See Isaac Backus' History.) The Gen- 
 eral Court of Connecticut, at their May session, in 1708, pas- 
 sed the following act: "This assembly, from their own ob- 
 servation, and from the complaints of many others, being made 
 sensible of the defects of the discipline of the churches, ari- 
 sing from the want of a more explicit asserting ol the rules 
 given for that end — from which would arise a more perma- 
 nent establishment among ourselves — a good and regular is- 
 sue, in cases subject to ecclesiastical discipline, &c, hath seen 
 fit to ORDAIN and REQUIRE, and it is ordained and requi- 
 red, that the ministers in the several counties in this govern- 
 ment, shall meet together at their respective connty towns, 
 with messengers, on the last Monday in June next ; there to 
 consider and agree upon those methods and rules for 
 the management of ecclesiastical discipline, which, by them, 
 shall be judged conformable to the word of God: and shall 
 appoint two or more of their number, to be their delegates, 
 who shall all meet at Saybrook, at the next Commencement ; 
 where they shall compare the results of the ministers of the 
 counties, and out and from them, to draw a Form of Ecclesi- 
 
89 
 
 astical Discipline ; which by two or more persons, delegated 
 by them, shall be offered to this Court, at their session in Oc- 
 tober next, to be considered and confirmed by them. The ex- 
 penses of said Convention to be defrayed out of the public 
 Treasury. Albert E. Kimberly, Secratary." Here the le- 
 gislature and the clergy assumes to make laws and regulations 
 for Church discipline, as if the jurisdiction was theirs, and as 
 if their substitute for what Christ enforced in the 18th of Mat- 
 thew, and established under his own jurisdiction, and to be 
 observed within his kingdom, might be enforced by civil law, 
 under their jurisdiction ; and as if a Confession of Faith or 
 Creed, enforcing sprinkling for baptism; and baby sprinkling 
 into their jurisdiction, might be established by law. This 
 Convention tinkered and adopted the Savoy Confession of 
 Faith, enfor-in<r baby sprinkling, and made themselves rules 
 of Church discipline. The General Court, in Oct. 1708, act- 
 ing under the principle that they were the head of the church, 
 passed the following act . "The reverend ministers, delegates 
 &c, met at Saybrook, Sept. 9, 1708, having presented to this 
 assembly, a Confession of Faith — Heads of agreement* and 
 lations in the administration of Church discipline, as u- 
 nanimously agreed and assented to by the Elders and church- 
 vernment; this assembly doth declare their 
 great approbation of such an happy agreement; and do or- 
 dain, that all the churches within this government are or 
 shall be thus united in doctrine, worship, and discipline, be 
 and for the future shall be owned and acknowledged estab- 
 lished by law ; provided always that nothing herein shall be 
 construed to hinder and prevent any Society or church that 
 is or shall be allowed by the laws of this Government, who 
 soberly differ or dissent from the united Churches, hereby es- 
 tablished, from exercising worship and discipline, in their 
 own way, according to their own conscience. E. Kimberly, 
 
 Secratary." (See Trumbull's Hist, of Conn, also laws of 
 
 C»nn.) In these efforts on the part of the civil government, 
 to stir up the deluded clergy to contrive their baby sprinkling 
 creeds, and forms of churches and of church government, we 
 have another specimen of rulers over the churches first fix- 
 ing on a purpose, and then using baby sprinkling as the main 
 stratagem in accomplishing that end. Uniformity in religion, 
 according to the devices of men under the government was 
 the object; baby sprinkling the means for securing uniform- 
 ity, and the arm of civil power, the efficient force in securing 
 the end. The "kingdom of Christ is not of this world," — 
 comprises converts alone; and membership is constituted by 
 
• 90 
 
 the oath of allegiance to Him as King, and is where the King* 
 has the exclusive jurisdiction and dominion, and where his 
 his laws alone prevail. A government like the General Courts 
 of New England, and the clergy under them, with baby mem- 
 bers in greater numbers than Christians; with human laws, 
 creeds, and rules of discipline, and the exclusion of Christian 
 baptism into Christ, is a totally different government from the 
 kingdom of Christ ; a totally different jurisdiction, and is a 
 great obstruction to the prevalence of the real kingdom. 
 
 As this baby sprinkling delusion builds up imperiums in 
 impcrio, within our own national government, it endangers 
 our own national Government. Nearly two millions of our 
 citizens, by it, are already subjected, and in their helpless 
 state, to the dominion and jurisdiction of the Pope, a. foreign 
 despot. Probably two millions moie are subjected, by it, to 
 other ecclesiastical dominations, such as Bishops, Hierarchies, 
 Aristocracies, Conventions, Conferences, Sessions, Presbyte- 
 ries, Synods, General Assemblies, General Conferences, &c. 
 &c. To suffer helpless babes to be thus cheated, enslaved, 
 and deprived of their personal liberty, as is palpably the fact, 
 under such ivipcriums in imperio, is perfectly inconsistent 
 with the sound principles of equal rights, and of protection 
 in a free government. That New-England, the land of boast- 
 ed liberty, should have established it by law, as was evident- 
 ly done, by the establishment of such Creeds, would be truly 
 astonishing, were it not palliated by the ignorance of the times, 
 and the example of Europe. 
 
 How cruel and treasonable against heaven, is the principle 
 of persecuting and imprisoning men for baptizing converts 
 into the jurisdiction of Christ, and contrary to the laws of the' 
 land : and how treasonable such laws are, as against the King 
 of Zion. 
 
 Germany has since followed in the wake, and established 
 the " substitute," as the national baptism, and enforced it up- 
 on babes ; and prohibits, under the penalty of imprisoment, 
 such an act as Christian baptism into the exclusive jurisdic- 
 tion and kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is unnecessary to sketch further the history of the New 
 England churches. We see in this sketch, all the authority 
 there is for baby sprinkling, — whence it originated — the fact 
 that it is a stratagem — the authority by which it was com- 
 menced and propagated, from the first — the fact most conclu- 
 sively demonstrated that it is a sheer delusion and deception, 
 and of course, that it is treasonable and criminal, as against 
 Christ, as it is the subsidary help resorted to by his rivals to 
 
91 
 
 compete for power and for numbers against him, in building 
 up their rival folds. 
 
 We see also the reasons why it did not prevail much a- 
 mong the honest Dutch, for a long time, to wit, because the 
 government let it alone for some time ; and the reasons why- 
 it has been made to prevail so extensively in Engiand, and in 
 1 nited States ; to wit, because civil and ecclesiastical au* 
 thorities have enforced it under penalties, as a matter of po- 
 liev in building up their rival kingdoms, and because the peo- 
 ple have become crazed from infancy, with the delusion, 
 which has been thus generated within them in their infancy, 
 and grown with their growth. 
 
 The question, therefore, is palpably this : Whether the laws 
 liction, and authority of Christ, are to prevail, or the laws 
 jurisdiction, and authority of civil and ecclesiastical usurpers ; 
 whether treason or obedience to the rightful Sovereign, and 
 whether the corrupted vitiated, and deceptive oaths of allegi- 
 ance to the usurpers, and the falsehoods accompanying, where- 
 by the people and babes are treacherously subjected to them, 
 are to prevail, or the original oath of allegiance to Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Here is all the authority there is in the universe, for the 
 practice of baby sprinkling, — a true sketch of its origin, and 
 the enforcements producing and extending it. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 ON THE RUINOUS TENDENCY AND EFFECTS OF TAKING 
 SUCH LIBERTIES WITH THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 I cannot but stop here in order to advert for a moment to 
 the ruinous tendency of these interferences with the kingdom 
 of Christ, and with the oath of allegiance : also of usurpations 
 of the government — such obstructions to his jurisdiction, and 
 such prevention of the oath of allegiance to the King — such 
 misapplication of it and the substitute to the unconscious, so 
 as to secure them under usurpers — such alterations of it in 
 the purpose and end to which it is applied, as well as in form 
 — such amalgamation of babes, sinners, and converts.in church- 
 es — such contrivance and continuance of new folds, under 
 holding new offices, the inventions of men, in lieu of the 
 command of God. 
 
 1. It has produeed endless divisions. Each and every 
 
92 
 
 change must either sweep all Christendom, and lead all Chris- 
 tians, and the King in Zion Himself, to adopt it, or it must 
 from the nature of things, breed a division ; the extent of 
 which, and the evils resulting from whieh, in time and in eter- 
 nity it is not possible to describe or to conceive. The divi- 
 sions which have grown out of the misapplication of real bap- 
 tism to the unconscious, out of the change of the ordinance, and 
 the extension of the substitute ; and out of the misapplication 
 of the substitute to the unconscious, are exceedingly great. Po 
 pcry, with all its horrors, has giown out of it. All the church 
 and state organizations in the world, have grown out of it, 
 interposing, as they do, so many obstacles to the prevalence 
 of the real kingdom. The check of the reformation from po- 
 pery, in 1534, and the consequent building up of the divisions 
 comprising the Episcopalian, the Congregational, the Pres- 
 byterian, the Lutheran, aad subsequently the Methodist or- 
 ganizations, have all grown out of these liberties taken with 
 the ordinance of baptism. The consequent troubles, jars, and 
 difficulties in the world, the obstructions thrown in the way 
 of Christian union, and of united effort for the conversion of 
 the world, and in the way of the millenium, have indirectly 
 ruined millions ! All these evils, originating, as they have, 
 in these liberties taken, have now continued and been extend- 
 ing during some fifteen hundred years ; and annually have 
 occasioned either directly or indirectly, the ruin of millions 
 of souls. Unless this career is checked, the milleniiNn can- 
 not come and prevail. It is impossible in the nature of 
 things. 
 
 II. We see a ruinous and wide yawning principle of sub- 
 stitution. A substitution of something else in lieu of the real 
 ordinance of initiation, has extensively prevailed, and been 
 accompanied everywhere, with the general impression that 
 strict obedience to Christ is not necessary. This accompa- 
 nying impression has done immense mischief a thousaud ways. 
 Tiie pleasure of each, has become a substitute for the will of 
 Christ. The wish and law made by the candidate, has be- 
 come a substitute for the law of Christ. Baptism has ceased 
 to be the test of a good conscience; and feelings are the sub- 
 stitute. The yawning principle has been extended until we 
 have an amalgamation of all the variety of characters for a 
 church, in lieu of Gospel Churches; usurpers for rulers, in 
 lieu of Christ ; the constitution of men, for new folds, in lieu, 
 of his constitution ; the laws of these human rulers as substi- 
 tutes for his laws; capricious human beings for legislators, 
 as a substitute for Him as Legislator ; divisions in abundance 
 
93 
 
 as a substitute for His united Kingdom ; and, in general terms, 
 the devices of men to an unbounded extent, in lieu of the com- 
 mands and ordinances of Christ, and u the commandments of 
 men," as a substitute for the doctrine of Christ. 
 
 III. Strong delusions, and prejudices on the minds of those 
 who are grown up under the influence of this sU.te of things. 
 These substitutes, as in popery, are taught to children where 
 they grow up, as the real doctrine of Christ. Passages of 
 holy writ, are perverted, wrested, and misapplied from their 
 real intention, to favor those delusions. The ministers them- 
 selves, become filled with " strong delusions," as in popery, 
 and propagate and strengthen them in others. The youth- 
 ful mind from infancy up, as in popery, becomes strongly pre- 
 judiced in favor of these delusions, and against all those who 
 oppose them. In this way, their minds become extremely 
 dark towards the truth, on these points, while they are bril- 
 liant and well informed on all other subjects. In this way, 
 each one becomes strongly biassed in favor of the peculiarities 
 
 a own sect, right or wrong, and against the real kingdom 
 of Christ. 
 
 IV. Another result is a most selfish state of rivalship, in 
 all, against each other, and against the real kingdom of Christ. 
 To the liberties originally taken with baptism, and to the mis- 
 application of it, as the origin, can be traced all these divisions, 
 and of course ail this bigotry, selfishness, and sectarianism. 
 The delusions accompanying the defence of the peculiarities 
 of the sects, in each case stir up all the selfish feelings of the 
 natural heart, in their defence. This selfish state of feeling, 
 and their delusions present almost insurmountable barriers in 
 the way of wedging in a single ray of truth that is adapted to 
 remove the films from the mental eye. This deluded state of 
 their minds, exhibits almost insurmountable obstacles in the 
 way of the prevalence of the real kingdom of Christ. Each 
 can iee it to be so in others, but his deluded mind prevents 
 him from observing it in himself. 
 
 V. Another result is, the dark and confused views general- 
 ly prevalent concerning the kingdom of Christ. Some define 
 it as comprising all the converts in the world ; others as com- 
 pri<iiiL r them and their children ; others, all the Jewish nation ; 
 others, all who h;ive ever been baptized or sprinkled; others, 
 as comprising their own sect merely, (as the j>;t|>ists, and the 
 hi<:h Church-men) — others as comprising this many headed 
 
 ter of Sectarianism, including all these folds of men; 
 others, as comprising some one particular national organiza- 
 tion, at the Church of England; others, as comprising all the 
 
94 
 
 national, together with all those other organizations ; just as 
 if that Kingdom never existed in due form, till all these sore 
 evils sprung up. The darkness upon the mind is so great, in 
 relation to the kingdom of Christ, and the prejudices are so 
 strong, that scarce any will tear asunder the veil, and candid- 
 ly search in the Bible for the original organization of the 
 real king lorn of Christ. Many honest and intelligent minds 
 seem to be perfectly benighted on this subject. 
 
 VI. Another result is, confused notions concerning the de- 
 sign of baptism. Some make it a token of a national organi- 
 zation — some the test of salvation. The papists tell their de- 
 luded dupes, that their children have no souls till they are 
 sprinlhd. Many teach they cannot be saved without it. It 
 is usually shaped by the teachers in all the sects, so far as de- 
 sign is concerned, so as to favor their selfish sectarian purpo- 
 ses. Though the real design is made very plain in the Bible, 
 yet in consequence of this state of things, the mass of mind 
 has become exceedingly beclouded. 
 
 VIE. Another result is, that the heritage of God is almost 
 wholly placed in the hands of other rulers, and in a state of 
 rivalship against the real kingdom. The idea may be con- 
 ceived, by supposing the real kingdom to be a Ship, starting 
 in the days of John the Baptist, which we will call the " Ship 
 Zion," under the command of the Great Captain ; and by sup- 
 posing a number of rival ships, built afterwards, and control- 
 led by human beings as commanders, sailing along by the side 
 of Ship Zion, and all of them robbing the latter of its crew, 
 as fist as possible, by stratagems, and by fixing the mimicry 
 of the Great Captain's badge upon babes, so as to forestall 
 them, and to secure them in their own rival ships ; thus hin- 
 dering his rightful soldiers, when converted, from going into 
 His Ship; and securing them in this, and by diffusing their 
 delusions, darkness, and prejudices over the minds they secure, 
 and by inducing them, in this way, to believe that the more 
 soldiers are drawn into their ships, and hindered from going 
 into His ship, the greater service is rendered to Him. 
 
 The ship of the Pope was some two hundred years in build, 
 ing, and set sail in the year 606. The church end stale estab- 
 lishments began to be built about those times, and set sail 
 from time to time, as soon as built. The Episcopal Church of 
 England, was built and set sail in 1534. The Presbyterian 
 ship was built by Calvin, and set sail on the 20 Nov. 1541. 
 The Congregational ship grew out of the division between 
 those who adopted Calvin's Presbyterianism, and those who 
 rejected it, and set sail soon after the Methodist ship was built, 
 
95 
 
 between the year 17:9, and 1784; and was completed by 
 ley, who had never been a Bishop himself, usurping the 
 prerogatives of a bishop, and presuming himself to ordain one 
 as a Bishop, during this year, thus treading down the princi- 
 ple of succession, and openly usurping a new succession. 
 
 We now see all these ships sailing along by the side of 
 Ship Zion, robbing her of men and of means — slandering her 
 and her crew — pretending great friendship to the Command- 
 er, that the more are secured within their ships, the more ser- 
 vice is done to Him ; and yet all are constantly attempting 
 to crush His ship, and to rob Him of all his men. This Is a 
 perfectly treasonable state of things, against the Great Com- 
 mander, however deluded and blinded the agents may be. 
 It is a fair view of the origin of sectarianism. If just such 
 persons had divided Moses' army, and travelled along by his 
 side, competing for numbers against him, would the people 
 still continue to be Moses' army who submitted to such rul- 
 ers? or other rival commanders? they would certainly be 
 under another jurisdiction. If Washington's army had been 
 so divided, under other competitors for rule, the same ques- 
 tion might be asked. None of these can claim to be the orig- 
 inal kingdom as organized by Christ himself, unless they 
 prove that it never existed till the time such denomination 
 began its career. 
 
 Another effect is that all deplore the evils of such division, 
 but yet, not one in a thousand perceives, or is able to discov- 
 er, where the difficulty is; and therefore, none seem to know 
 how to remedy it. All have been biassed in favor of their 
 own sect, and therefore, place the fault at their neighbor's 
 door. Another effect is, a vast amount of wickedness, and 
 crooked management, and dishonest contrivance on the part 
 of professors, and especially the rulers and ministers, against 
 each other, and against the real Kingdom of Christ: being so 
 perfectly deluded, ' they know not what they do." Another 
 tremendous effect is, a rapid approximation towards Popery, 
 in many of the sects, without being aware of it. The strong 
 -ions over the mass of the people, and the selfish adhe- 
 rence to party, prepares them to be easily misled and duped 
 by their rulers. We see this approximation towards popery, 
 in the indticeinents held out to the people to commit their 
 babes in that stratagem, which has always been the ground 
 and pillar of popery. We see it in the usurpation of such 
 astonishing power over the people, by several rulers ; in their 
 4ed management; in the rival governments against 
 Christ's ; In the use of delusion in advancing their ambittous 
 
9a 
 
 projects; in the stratagems and pious frauds practised ; in 
 the enforcement of the traditions of mother church, in each 
 case; in their vast stretch of power ; in the snbjection of help- 
 less babes to their control ; in human beings assuming the en- 
 tire reins of government; in the blindness of the people to 
 their danger, through delusion ; in the rapid strides by which 
 the real kingdom of God is broken down, and in the strong 
 delusion of the rulers over the people. The rulers over ma- 
 ny of the organizations, assume a station but very little short 
 of popery, even now. In these ways, the ^most alarming 
 stumbling blocks are put in the way of extending the real 
 kingdom of Christ. Christ says, ' Whosoever shall offend,' &c. 
 i. e. put a stumbling block in the way ofhispeople, &c. An- 
 other effect resulting from the stratagem with babes, is the 
 amalgamation of the world and Christians together, and the 
 consequent degradation of churches, as to spirituality, down 
 towards the wicked world. By the principle of baby mem- 
 bership, large majorities of many churches in New England, 
 soon were found to consist of impenitent persons. The im- 
 penitent portions became the majority, and in a vast many 
 cases have seceded, and organized as Unitarians. So that 
 the Congregationalists now stand aghast at their own dogmas 
 in relation to baby membership. They have been obliged 
 to practice close communion against their own members, and 
 are growing ashamed, in many instances, of their own princi- 
 ple of baby membership. In all the national churches, there 
 seems to remain but very little of piety. The form of godli- 
 ness Is substituted for the power, where all the nation are 
 members : and the effect is that souls are neglected, and per- 
 ish in their sins. The national establishments present strong 
 barriers in the way of missionaries ever preaching the gos- 
 pel of the real kingdom among them. All this had its start- 
 ing point in the liberties taken with baptism, the^initiating or- 
 dinance under Christ, and the misapplication of it to babes. 
 Almost the whole of Christendom, has, in this way, wander- 
 ed away from the real kingdom of Christ. In the national 
 organizations, the kingdom of Christ is neariy crushed by the 
 arm of civil power. 
 
 Another serious effect is, that among this whole family of 
 wanderers from the Fold of Christ, no possible basis, of Chris- 
 tian union among themselves, can, from the nature of the case, 
 possibly be discovered. As all things in which they differ 
 from the real kingdom of Christ, are the inventions of men, 
 it is impossible there ever should be any union in agreeing 
 precisely how many of these inventions all will adopt. The 
 
t)7 
 
 Congregationalists will want baby sprinkling, and ciril 
 government merely; the Presbyterians will want their 
 Bishops, gradations of clergy, and successions, and 
 aristocratic government; the Episcopalians their forms 
 and ceremonies ; the Methodists, their inventions, cap- 
 rices, management, and government ; the national churches 
 theirs; the Lutherans theirs; and all the several grades of 
 Scotch and Dutch organizations, theirs. During twenty years 
 connexion with that vast family of wanderers from the real 
 kingdom of Christ, I studied faithfully and perseveringly, to 
 discover some basis of Christian union; and investigated all 
 the propositions that were made for union. It is impossible, 
 in the nature of things, that this vast mass of wanderers from 
 the original Fold, should ever be united, as long as they re- 
 main in their present illegitimate folds, the devices of men. 
 They must drop all the inventions of men, and return to 
 Christ within his kingdom, and agree to take his revealed will 
 as their exclusive guide, or there can never be union. Anoth- 
 er effect is, that when people are baptized, on account of this 
 thick darkness, they have very muddy views about baptism, 
 and they hardly know whether they arc baptized into sub- 
 jection to Christ, or into subjection to human rulers. Also 
 a vast amount of guilt is incurred by all this mass of wander- 
 ers, in all they add to, and in all they take from, the original 
 kingdom, and the things of the Bible, so expressly prohibited 
 in Rev. xxii. 18, 19; and under the most tremendous penalty.* 
 Anothercffectis, a pcrfectagreementamongall the wanderers in 
 one point, i. e. in censuringseverely those who adhere to all the 
 principles of the original kingdom, and for not wandering away 
 with them, and for refusing to fellowship their inventions and 
 wanderings. The wanderers agree in denouncing those who 
 adhere to Christ, as bigots, and close communionists. 
 
 A large part of the Christian world, in these ways, is thrown 
 into a treasonable state against their King and Redeemer, 
 without being aware of it. Treason against the King of Zi- 
 on is daily practised; and yet they know not what they do. 
 This blindness to the offence, is the effect of their strong de- 
 lusion fixed upon them in early years The thick mist and 
 fog that has been spread over the real kingdom of Christ pro- 
 vents them from develop ng this "mystery of iniquity .** 
 
 other effect is, that multitudes under the Influence of 
 these M strong delusions," defend all these substitutes stout'y 
 
 • The name prohibitory law i* reiterated in Dour. iv. 2, and chap: 12, 37 i 
 also in I'ruv. xxx. 6, and in a great many other passag e§. 
 
91 
 
 as the real ordinances of Christ. Divine truth is misapplied 
 in their support. Books containing the facts, are withdrawn 
 from those who grow up in the delusion. A spirit oi denun- 
 ciation prevails, against those who defend the real truth. The 
 arm of power, civil and ecclesiastical, as well as this strong 
 delusion, made stronger by sectarian selfishness, and by use, 
 exerts a mighty influence in defence of this whole wayward 
 course against Christ. 
 
 And in a general view we perceive to how many different 
 and wicked purposes baptism and the substitutes have been 
 applied since such treasonable liberties have been taken with 
 the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Baptism was originally intended to initiate converts exclu- 
 sively under Christ. Yet in the year 256, it was loaned to 
 the purpose of shielding babes against heathen depredations 
 — afterwards to that of a passport to heaven to the sick, in 
 consequence of a wrong interpretation of John iii. 5 ; — after- 
 wards of a passport to sick babes to heaven — afterwards, 
 when the clergy had assumed the reins of government, about 
 418, to the purpose of building up treasonable folds under 
 their jurisdiction, and to securing babes by stratagem, under 
 their treasonable rivalship — afterwards, to gathering up na- 
 tions, whether saint or sinner, under the Pope, to gratify his 
 ambitious and treasonable designs against heaven — after- 
 wards,^ gathering babes by stratagem, for the same treason- 
 able purposes — afterwards, to the treasonable purposes of 
 buiiding--u.p_ national jurisdictions and governments, as against 
 the jurisdiction and kingdom of Christ, and the securing of 
 all, both good and bad, and babes, in a state of uniformity, to 
 accord with the selfish and worldly purposes of the govern- 
 ments — afterwards to the worldly and selfish purposes of the 
 national church of England, enforced by law upon all, both 
 good and bad, and babes also — afterwards to building up the 
 purposes of the Presbyterian aristocracies, and to the secu- 
 ring of all their babes for sectarian rivalship — afterwards to 
 similar purposes with the Congregationalists — afterwards it 
 was exchanged for a substitute in form, — afterwards for the 
 " substitute of a substitute," in form — afterwards the substi- 
 tutes have been applied to all the varieties of selfish, sectari- 
 an, and treasonable purposes, with all its attendants of misno- 
 mers and untruths accompanying — afterwards to the purpo- 
 ses of the Methodist rulers over a sect — and latterly, minis- 
 ters of the Gospel have set themselves up to deny its original 
 form and purpose, and have resorted to stratagems and de- 
 ceptions, to alterations of Lexicons, and to new definitions, 
 
99 
 
 in order fritter it away in form and principle ; and finally, 
 Buchcr has defined it, a mere token of the necessity of puri- 
 fication, like a Jewish type or shadow. 
 
 Before we close, we will simply add, that there are twelve 
 points, each and any of which demonstrate an organization 
 not to be the original kingdom of Christ : — 1. If the organi- 
 zation originated since the ascension of Christ, and since the 
 days of the Apostles. 2. If it recognize any human rulers, 
 so as to interfere at all with the exclusive dominion of Christ. 
 
 3. If it have any constitution contrived by human beings, 
 
 4. If it have any law-making, or law-repealing features. 5. 
 If any but professed Christians are admitted as members. 6. 
 If members are admitted in any other way, than by the real 
 oath of allegiance which Christ established. 7. If the church- 
 es are so joined together, as to control each other, whereby 
 Christ fails at all to have the exclusive dominion. 8. If men 
 are permitted to obtrude any of their laws or inventions. 9. 
 If any popish, or other tradition of men is recognized. 10. 
 If any stratagem to catch babes is recognized. 11. If the in- 
 itiating ordinance as administered stands connected with any 
 interference at all against the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ. 
 12. If church discipline, by usage, be performed in any oth- 
 er way, except according to the express command of Christ 
 in the 18th of Matthew, as by delegated power expressly em- 
 anating from Him. 
 
 r It is preposterous to call that state of things the Kingdom 
 of Christ, where other lords have formed the constitutions ; 
 where other members are admitted, than those He approves; 
 where other rulers hold the reins of government over the peo- 
 ple; and where the sect is palpably of very recent origin, or 
 where it misleads Christians away from the exclusive juris- 
 diction of Christ. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 
 
 By " Fold of Christ," and "Kingdom of Christ," we under- 
 derstand the same thing. *« The law and the prophets, were 
 until John; since that time the Kingdom of heaven sufTer- 
 eth violence," Malt. xi. 12. Of course it exists since then. 
 "Since that time the Kingdom of God is preached." Luke 
 xvi. 16. John was sent of God to say, "Repent, for the king. 
 
100 
 
 dom of God (engike) has come," or has come near. Thi* 
 fully expresses its existence from that time. 
 
 Christ repeatedly used the same expression, if it had been 
 properly translated, and he taught his disciples and Apostles 
 when they went forth, to use that expression. The Bishops 
 have perversely covered up its force, by rendering it " is at 
 hand" A verb in the perfect tense is thus grossly perverted, 
 and made future, to get rid of the argument against a nation- 
 al organization, in John's baptism. Christ teaches, John iii. 
 5, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit," — that 
 is, be baptized as well as converted, " he cannot enter the 
 kingdom of God." In chap. v. 3, he says in substance, Man 
 must be converted, in order to see that kingdom ; and in verse 
 5, says, " He must be converted and be baptized in order to 
 enter it." All. this shows its existence. He is doubtless 
 speaking of this same kingdom, and in the midst of baptisms, 
 as is evident from chap. iv. 1. Christ himself was baptized, 
 and thus formally introduced into it, by God's Messenger* 
 and said, " Thus it behooveth us to ratify every ordinance.'* 
 He introduced into it more disciples than John. He uniform- 
 ly teaches, •* Except a man be converted, and become as a 
 little child — Except your righteousness exceed that of the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, ye cannot enter it;" — thus intimating 
 the necessity of piety, in order to membership. The number 
 within it was so great, that he was seen of above Jive hundred 
 brethren at one time ; (brethren, being a name of church-mem- 
 bers) 1 Cor. xr. 6,. The sacrament of the supper, as well as 
 the ordinance of baptism,, both of them peculiar to this king- 
 dom, were administered within it before Christ v s death. If 
 Christ deemed the strict observance of the initiating ordinance 
 go necessary, before he should officiate within it, it would be 
 a reproach upon his consistency to suppose his disciples and 
 apostles were not of the baptized also. 
 
 When John baptized, teaching his disciples " they must bc^ 
 lieve on him that was to come, then they were baptized into 
 the name of the Lord Jesus ;" that is, into him who soon was 
 found to be the Lord Jesus. But for the perverse purpose of 
 the Bishops, this, as it was the truth in fact, would have been 
 the real representation of Acts xix. 4 — 5. The fact was even 
 so. *• This" in italics, verse 4, is supplied by the bishops. 
 "Him" or "John," would doubtless have been the supply, if 
 they had not had a purpose of their own to advance ; and 
 then the meaning would have been plain. John baptized in.- 
 
 * Campbell's Translation.. 
 
101 
 
 to Christ, substantially telling the people to believe on Him; 
 "He is mightier than I,— He must increase,— His shoes I 
 am not worthy to unloose,— Behold the Lamb of God. 
 Christ himself, acting within it, says, "Verily, verily, I say 
 unto thee,'— the very language of authority. The first con- 
 verts were "added to them;" not constituted anew:" and 
 other converts " were added daily," i. e. such as should be sa- 
 ved—converts. Jesus, thrice or more, calls it " my kingdom, 
 before his death— declares that he was "born a King," and 
 to Pilate's question, replied, " Thou has said," and" thou shalt 
 see the Son of man," & c. Circumcision as Jews was not ma- 
 king them members ; for Christ, and Paul, and the 3000, and 
 all the Hebrews, (Heb. x. 22.) were added to this new king- 
 dom by baptism, just as other converts. Circumcision there- 
 fore, did not introduce them into this new kingdom. Con- 
 version and baptism, as Christ taught, was indispensably ne- 
 cessary with Jews and Gentiles, in order to become members 
 of this new kingdom. 
 
 Besides we have no account of his organizing a kingdom 
 after his resurrection or ascension, and if it was not organ- 
 ized at the time we have named, we have no account of its 
 ever being organized." 
 
 And of the " Fold," he says, " I am the door of the sheep, 
 If any man enter by me he shall be saved." — " I am the good 
 shepherd," (referring to Isaiah xl. 11,) who " giveth his life 
 for the sheep." — " I, the good shepherd, know my sheep, and 
 am known of mine." — " Other sheep (that is, prospective from 
 the Gentiles,) have I ; them also I must bring or gather, and 
 they shall hear my voice, and there shall be One Fold, and 
 One Shepherd" or King. And of the sheep the description 
 is f — "hear my voice," — "follow me," — "I give unto them 
 eternal life," — " shall never perish," — and the like. Converts 
 were the only persons within that Fold or Kingdom. 
 
 All the institutions in the 18th of Matthew, concerning 
 Church discipline, contemplate the Church as already in ex- 
 istence. The direction to forgive offences to a brother, con- 
 templates the same church state before the death of Christ. 
 But for the perversions of the bishops, no one would have 
 doubted the existence of that kingdom, from the baptism of 
 John, and forward. The fact would have been so plain, the 
 way-faring man, though a fool, need not have erred. 
 
 In all the revivals as mentioned in the Acts, the converts 
 were added to ilicm. But not a word is said of adding any- 
 others, but converts. Those churches comprising this king- 
 dom, are addressed in this language: M Called to be saints," — 
 
roe 
 
 " have put on Christ," — " beloved of God," — •« sanctified," — 
 « help together with your prayers," — " are called into the 
 grace of Christ," — "are faithful," — "chosen in him before 
 the foundation of the world, that they should be holy," — m are 
 partakers of his grace," — " in whom God hath begun a good 
 work," — "saints and faithful brethren," — "have love to all 
 the saints," — "have the work of faith, and labor of love, and 
 patience and hope," — " have been buried by baptism,"—" their 
 bodies washed in pure water," — "are saved by the washing 
 of regeneration," (that is, the washing pertaining to the se- 
 cond birth,) — " are born of water and of the Spirit,,' — " baptiz- 
 ed into Christ, and have put on Christ," — "have faith which 
 groweth exceedingly, and charity which aboundeth," — " elect 
 according to the foreknowledge of God," — " have obtained 
 the like precious faith with us," — "rejoice with joy unspeak- 
 able, and full of glory," — "are sanctified by God the Father^ 
 and preserved in Christ, and called," — " cannot bear them 
 which are evil," — and are uniformly taught to put away from 
 them " those who disobey the gospel oi God." 
 
 While these descriptions are so frequent, there is not one 
 word said about babes being members. Hundreds of passa- 
 ges describe the churches' as saints, and not one passage that 
 even remotely alludes to babes as members ! This view is fur- 
 ther evident, 
 
 1. Because the Bible then recognized but two kingdoms : 
 the one comprising Christians, as soon as gathered under 
 Christ by baptism, which all converted did, in those times ; 
 and the other the kingdom of darkness. The intermediate 
 kingdoms, comprising sinners, saints, and babes, and under 
 human rulers and usurpers, were not then in existence. 
 
 2. John and Christ baptized none into that kingdom but the 
 penitent. "Repent, and be baptized," was the uniform direc- 
 tion. When the impenitent Sadducees came to John for bap- 
 tism, he said, " Bring forth fruits meet for repentance." " Say 
 not within yourselves, 'We have Abraham to our Father.' " 
 Not a single instance can be named of one being baptized 
 by either of them, but adults, and professed believers. Christ 
 himself made disciples, i. e. constituted them scholars, before 
 he baptized them, (John iv. 1.) 
 
 3. The commission of Christ did not authorize the baptism 
 of any but believers, "He that believeth and is baptized ;" 
 "Go disciple all nations, baptizing them," &c. These must 
 have been old enough to believe and be discipled, whom they 
 Were instructed to baptize. 
 
 4. The Apostles, after the ascension of Christ, baptized no- 
 
103 
 
 Others. In all the accounts given, none are mentioned as ha- 
 ving heen baptized but believers, who voluntarily subjected 
 themselves to Christ in baptism. 
 
 5. All the churches are uniformly addressed in the scrip- 
 tures, as we have seen, as a company of saints. 
 
 6. Baptism, the initiating ordinance, is spoken of as the 
 washing that pertains to the second birth. There is a wash- 
 ing pertaining to the first birth, and there is a washing per- 
 taining to the second birth. In Titus iii. 5, it is thus men- 
 tioned. In Heb. x. 22, it is spoken of in connection with the 
 profession of religion, and of course, it was applied only to 
 Christians. In Col. iii. 3, the members are represented as 
 dead to sin ; such language does not apply to babes. 
 
 7. Baptism, the initiating ordinance, is a token of resurrec- 
 tion to newness of life. — Col. ii. 12; Rom. vi. 4 ; 1 Cor. xv. 
 29. All this brings us to the same conclusion. 
 
 8. Itis a token of an intelligent engagement to serve God — 
 baptized into Christ — is putting on Christ : an act of adults 
 only- Col. iii. 27 ; and baptism into Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, as in the commission, plainly teaches the same. Itis 
 • willing and intelligent subjection of the baptized under Christ. 
 
 9. Ecclesiastical History is perfectly plain and clear on 
 this subject. Even Mosheim, the Lutheran, testifies of the 
 iir-t two centuries, that none were baptized into the kingdom 
 of Christ but believers. 
 
 Clemens, of that century, tells us that the proper subjects 
 of baptism are such as have passed through an examination, 
 and received instruction. Ignatius affirms that baptism ought 
 to be accompanied with faith, love, and patience. Justin Martyr, 
 a disciple of John, tells us, that those who are to be baptized, 
 must "first be instructed in the faith," and that no man is to 
 be admitted, but such as "believe the truth of the doctrine, 
 and live as Christ has taught." 
 
 Richard Baxter informs us, that Tertullian, Origen, and 
 Cyprian, of the second and third centuries, all affirm that in 
 the primitive times, none were baptized but such as personal- 
 ly promised to obey Christ. The Waldenses, who were so 
 bitterly persecuted by the Catholics, for rejecting infant bap- 
 tism, Beza assures us, " were the very seed of primitive and 
 purer Christian church — they having been upheld by the 
 wonderful providence of God:" and affirms, that no "perse- 
 cutions could ever prevail on them to # bend or yield to any 
 other course." When some imprudent persons, near the end 
 of the second century, began to hurry the catachumens ia 
 the schools to baptism, before they gave clear and full evi- 
 
104 
 
 dence of conversion, Tertullian raises his voice against it, 
 and cautions against receiving them till they give full evidence 
 of conversion. The most decided opposition to infant baptism, 
 was raised every where,after it was invented and came into being. 
 
 England, and Ireland, were both subject to the Welsh go- 
 vernment until about the year of Christ 450. The Welsh, 
 at that time, were driven into that part of the country now 
 called Wales, and other governments were established in 
 England and Ireland. The gospel was first planted in the 
 then Welsh kingdom, in the year 63, i. e. thirty years after 
 the death of Christ, and by the apostle Paul, as Theodoret, 
 and Jerome affirm, who was aided, as some assert, by Joseph 
 of Arimathea. The gospel met with wonderful success ; and 
 when the inhabitants by wars were afterwards driven to the 
 west, into the country now called Wales, they still continu- 
 ed the same church order and faithfulness in the service of 
 Christ. Two native Welshmen, iu the second century, nam- 
 ed Faganus, and Damicanus, on visiting Rome, were conver- 
 ted, and ordained at Rome, and had preached there for some 
 time with great success. 
 
 In the year 180, they were sent back to assist in spreading 
 the Gospel in the country, then Wales, now England. That 
 church proceeding then from the organization of Paul in 
 Rome, and in Wales, now England, has been perpetuated, 
 and still continues in regular organization in Wales, and has 
 been prosperous there, amidst all the darkness that has spread 
 over other parts of the world. It has been demonstrated 
 from the records of that church, in all ages, and from the 
 first, and from the writings of her sons in their connexion, 
 eminent for piety, preserved amongst them, written during 
 every succeeding age, from the first establishment of Chris- 
 tianity in the Welsh and Latin languages, that this same 
 church so planted, from the first has always adhered to the 
 same fundamental principles as are now maintained by the 
 Baptists of our country. That is, infant baptism has always 
 been rejected ; believers, and they alone, are admitted. Im- 
 mersion, in the name of the Trinity, has always been the in- 
 itiating ordinance. Subjection to the exclusive authority of 
 Christ, the rejection of human rulers, the equality of the mem- 
 bers, the churches independent of each other, as to govern- 
 ment, and every church considered as a school of Christ, 
 where his doctrines and spirit are taught, and church disci- 
 pline performed by the church under his authority, are the 
 prominent features. 
 
 We have here, then, a regular succession of the kingdom of 
 
105 
 
 Christ, as he organized it, in the succession of the Waldenses, 
 In all the various branches from the apostles, ami also in the 
 regular succession from the original church of Home, as or- 
 ganized by the apostles, through this Welsh church; and al- 
 so through the same, the regular succession of it, as it was 
 organized in the year 63, by the apostles in England, then 
 Wales. The gates of hell have never prevailed against it. 
 
 We notice in view of all this, 1 That Jesus Christ is King 
 and sole Monarch over his people. John prepared a peo- 
 ple for the Lord. The very language " my kingdom ;" " my 
 sheep;" " one shepherd ;'' " to this end was I born ," and the 
 like, proves it. Baptizing into Christ, implies the same. He 
 is set far above all principalities and powers; " God hath 
 put all things under his feet;" "given him to be head over 
 all things to the church, which is his body." The Govern- 
 ment was to be upon his shoulders. " I have set my King 
 upon my holy hill Zion ;" is the language of Jehovah. He 
 is Prince of Peace ; and of his rivals it is said, " He shall 
 break them in pieces." No officer has any power in the 
 church except that which is expressly delegated from him, and 
 be used solely for his purposes. "Elc that would be great 
 was to be least of all, and servant of all," and "he that would 
 be least, (i. e. had most humility) was to be greatest;" solely 
 because he would be free from arrogancy and usurpation, and 
 yield to Christ his place. Such officers as Bishops, beyond 
 the station of an humble overseer of a single church, are the 
 effect of selfish ambition. The offices as now in vogue, of 
 Bishops, Deans, and Prebends; of Popes, and Rectors, of na- 
 tional governments over national churches, of M. E Bishops, 
 ding Elders, and subordinate rulers; of General Assem- 
 blies, Synods, Presbyteries, Sessions, and Ruling Elders, of 
 Annua] Conferences, and General Conferences, and the join- 
 ing of all the churches of a sect, in a state or nation together ; 
 so that such rulers can control them, and gratify their ardent 
 love of rule.are entirely the inventions of men, and the effect of 
 an ardent desire "to be greatest." The two sons of Zebedce 
 were sharply rebuked for a much less love of rule. 
 
 All these things ore a direct and treasonable invasion 
 of the prerogatives of Christ. If "'offending" (literally, ob- 
 ttructing,) one weak Christian were so abominable, that "it 
 were better a mill stone were hung about the neck of the 
 criminal, and he cast into the depths of the sea," then what 
 punishment may not those expect, who build up and perpet- 
 uate such largo and treasonable invasions of the prerogatives 
 of the King in Zion ; and present such large obstructions to 
 
106 ' 
 
 the prevalence "of his kingdom? All those who aid, abet, or 
 in any way assist, directly or indirectly, will beheld as crim- 
 inals, as well as the principals in this vast amount of crime, 
 and these machineries for the continuance of crime against 
 the rightful Head of the church. 
 
 This whole movement on the part of rulers, is high treason 
 against Christ, in the fullest sense of the expression, and an- 
 tichrist is stamped upon this whole usurpation of jurisdiction 
 and of dominion over his people. The whole adaptation of 
 the immersion and sprinkling of babes, is, or has been, to 
 build up this treason. False pretences are held out to be- 
 guile the parents to subject their babes, by that delusion, in 
 building it up; and therefore, those who beguile the parents 
 are guilty of swindling also; that is, obtaining babes by false 
 pretences, bating all the allowance in the eyes of omniscience, 
 on account of the delusion and ignorance of the offender. 
 Until such offices came into existence such stratagems were 
 not needed, and such wanderings from the fold of Christ, and 
 such divisions did not exist; and of course, none being delu- 
 ded, there were none prepared to delude others. I warn all 
 who read, against all this treason in all its branches, and in 
 all the variegated machinery ; the love of rule is at the bot- 
 tom of the whole ; this mass of treason is not the kingdom of 
 Christ. The United States, since their revolt, and establish- 
 ment of another government, might just as well be called a 
 British colony. The King, rejected as such — usurpers en- 
 throned — a new and separate government established — and 
 his subjects cajoled and subjected under usurpers, and beguil- 
 ed to subject their helpless babes; and yet the hypocritical 
 pretence be held out by such rulers — the insult added to in- 
 jury — that all this is the kingdom of Christ ! It is an insult 
 to heaven. When did Jesus Christ resign his throne to such 
 proud aspiring rulers? They stand forth before the world 
 convicted by the word of God, of usurpation and treason 
 against the Saviour. For those who dethrone the King and 
 take such liberties with the oath of allegiance to him, to pre- 
 tend to the people they have beguiled, that they are still with- 
 in the organized kingdom of Christ, is an insult to common 
 sense. Many of the most lovely Christians are deluded, 
 blinded, and seduced away from the real kingdom of Christ 
 by these rulers. Were it not for the selfishness of these ru- 
 lers, the people would readily return to the fold of Christ. 
 In the real Kingdom of Christ, his exclusive jurisdiction pre^ 
 vails — His will is law — and there is one fold, and one Shep- 
 herd. Additions of all descriptions, and especially such ad- 
 
10? 
 
 ditions of new rulers, and new folds, and such treasonable 
 machinery as the above, is prohibited by the King, under the 
 severest penalty, even M all the plagues that are written in 
 in his Book." Rev. xxii. 18. 
 
 2. In the kingdom of Christ, none were received but con- 
 verts. This we have proved. Babes are made church mem- 
 bers only in rival folds, for the purpose of subserving the am- 
 bitious purposes of the rulers. 
 
 3. Each church, according to scripture, and according to 
 all history, and especially Mosheim, stood disconnected with 
 all others; was a simple school to learn the doctrines and 
 spirit of Christianity; all the members were on an equality ; 
 all the watching over each other, was according to the 1 8th 
 ofMtthew, and done under the jurisdiction of Jesus Christ, 
 and by power expressly delegated from him ; the officers, be- 
 ing two, viz., an overseer, teacher, or usher under Christ, to 
 teach these things ; and a deacon, or deacons to serve the 
 church. In this simple and natural organization, all was 
 peace and harmony. 
 
 4. All the members were subjected to Christ by baptism. 
 This is a humiliating ordinance to every feeling of the natu- 
 ral heart, croping to pride, to the love of the world, and not 
 affording gratification to a single feeling of the natural heart. 
 Like the anxious seat, it tests the good conscience of the con- 
 vert. It strikes at the root of his strong and proud propen- 
 sity to try to be a Christian in secret. As the soldiers in a 
 mutiny, though they repent, are still viewed as mutineers, un- 
 til by some public act they return to the army; so the alien 
 from Christ, even the converted in heart, is viewed as still of 
 the class of aliens, and the reproach of having been in the re- 
 bellion cannot be wiped away only by a public return to the 
 Saviour. And ill this self denial of washing in pure water, 
 is appointed by the Saviour, to constrain the convert public- 
 ly, and in this humiliating way, to subject himself to the ju- 
 risdiction of Christ ; thus testing his conscience, his sinceri- 
 ty, his willingness to bear the cross, and his willingness to 
 do whatsoever the S.iviour has commanded, and his willing- 
 ness to take sides with Christ. 
 
 The phrases, "Baptizing them into the name of the Father, 
 ■ 1 1 « I Holy Ghost," after they are discipled, " As many 
 as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ;" (im- 
 plying, th it ;is many as have put on ( 'hrist, have also been 
 into <'lirist.) — "Buried with him in baptism," — 
 "Having your bodies washed in pure water," (connected as 
 it Ifl with the " profession of faith." Heb. x. 22, 23.) — "bap- 
 
108 
 
 tized in water," in ten instances, if properly translated: and 
 immerse, and immersion, in the almost one hundred instan- 
 ces, if it had been translated, in lieu of the transfer of the 
 Greek, all teach what is the mind of Christ too plain to be 
 mistaken. 
 
 This and other views of the kingdom of Christ, are neces- 
 sary, because baptism was intended to introduce the candi- 
 date into the real Kingdom, and exclusive jurisdiction of 
 Christ. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 SECTARIANISM ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 
 
 This view is n?cessary, in order that the honest friend of 
 Christ may know when he is not baptized into the exclusive 
 jurisdiction of Christ, according to the original intent of the 
 ordinance: and the minister, when he is not being ordained; 
 not baptizing, and not acting under the jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 According to the constitution and kingdom of Christ, as 
 we have seen, no church is to exorcise any dominion over 
 any other church. The principle of the exclusive dominion 
 of Christ over all, so vital to his kingdom, expressly forbids 
 one church to rule another. A church may say she has no 
 fellowship for another, if justice requires it; but this is all 
 she can do. Hence, each of the churches in the New Tes- 
 tament is spoken of as being independent of the dominion of 
 others. In all that is said by Christ, and in all that is said by 
 the apostles in the Acts, and in the Epistles, not a word is 
 said about one church controlling or governing another, — 
 or about churches being joined together under any large ju- 
 risdiction. jVlosheirn (Cent. II. chap. it. § 1, 2, 3,) tells us, 
 in substance, that during the first, and greater part of the se- 
 cond centuries, the churches were entirely independent of the 
 dominion of each other. Each church took care of its own 
 affairs, except that Christians would always befriend each 
 other. One teacher, or bishop, he says, presided over each 
 assembly, or church ; to which office he was elected by the 
 people: and each church was a little state, governed by its 
 own laws, (or rather by the laws of Christ,) that the people 
 were all upon an equality ; and that their privileges and pros- 
 perity were far greater then than afterwards.. 
 
 He tells us, that "near the last part of the second century. 
 
109 
 
 ihey formed themselves into large ecclesiastical associations, 
 like confederate states, having stated meetings to deliberate 
 about the interests of the whole*" This step, it is evident, 
 roust have been based upon the false axiom, that the people 
 instead of being subjects under Christ, according to his laws, 
 may become the fountain of power, and make and alter laws 
 themselves. 
 
 This false maxim is at the root of all the troubles in the 
 church, in all ages. This movement, he says, "originated 
 among the Greeks, whose states were thus confederate; but 
 soon became universal among all the churches. By the 
 Greeks, these associations, or delegated conventions were 
 called Synods, by the Latins, councils. These soon changed 
 the face of the church, and gave it a new form. These ec- 
 clesiastical bodies soon assumed legislative powers — " enac- 
 ted canons, or laws — abridged the privileges of the people, 
 and augmented constantly the power of the bishops,or clergy ; 
 of course they abridged the jurisdiction of Christ. Although 
 at first these Synods or councils acted as representatives frura 
 the churches, as if deriving their warrant from the people, 
 yet soon they asserted their right to prescribe authorative 
 rules and laws to the churches, and to dictate. 
 
 "Ambition for ascendancy, and emulation for power, con- 
 stantly increased, until it eventuated in Popery." Congre- 
 gationalism resemble these councils and synods, in their first 
 state. Like the moderate drinkers, they are " on the road, 11 
 making rapid progress in their pursuit, after they begin to 
 travel towards the summit. The Presbyterians, Episcopali- 
 ans, and Methodists, arc already where the rulers "assume 
 legislative powers, enact laws, abridge the privileges of the 
 people — are constantly augmenting the power of the bishops, 
 or clergy, and assert their right to prescribe authoritative 
 to the churches." 
 
 The churches in these several kingdoms are already bound 
 together in large national compacts, contrary to the consti- 
 tution of Christ, and the state of the first churches, and in- 
 consistent with his entire jurisdiction. All the Methodist 
 churches in the nation arc bound together under one large 
 human jurisdiction, to gratify the ambition ot the rulers. All 
 the Presbyterian church* b in il te United I i.d to- 
 
 gether under anot|:cr large human jurisdiction, and for the 
 sam« '.!! the Episcopal (Lurches arc joined to- 
 
 gether by their constitutions in similar large' com pacts, with- 
 in the diocese of each of their Bishops, and arc under those 
 
no 
 
 bishops as rulers. According to Mosheim, all thi«, in each 
 of these organizations, is but one step short of absolute po- 
 pery. It is entirely different from the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 and inconsistent with his exclusive jurisdiction. 
 
 -The people who would be Christians according to gospel' 
 order, must always keep the place of humble subjects under 
 Christ. Let them once assume the axiom that they are the 
 fountain of power, in religion, and they immediately invade 
 the prerogative of Christ, as he alone is, and must be, the 
 fountain of power, in fact. 
 
 Having once assumed this false axiom, associated togeth- 
 er, and agreed on the convention of a council, who are to act 
 as rulers, and as representatives from the people, soon such 
 council will make laws, and soon will assert their rights to 
 " prescribe authoritative rules and laws to the churches." 
 This is but one step short, wherever it is found, of popery. 
 There never can be safety only by recognizing Christ as the 
 fountain of all power — the sole Huler and King in Zion, ha- 
 ving the sole jurisdiction. 
 
 Sectarianism, from seco to cut, is the cutting up of the peo- 
 ple of God into separate folds, under human rulers. The el- 
 ements of the kingdom of Christ, viz., Christians, trusty and 
 well-meaning, and that ought to be gathered under Him, within 
 his fold, are constantly, through the intrigues of rival rulers, 
 and the delusions they disseminate, and by the barriers pla- 
 ced in the way of their escape, (whether they were secured 
 
 'when babes, or later in life,) misled, deprived of person- 
 al liberty, and kept away from the real kingdom and exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction of Christ. The blame and odium of secta- 
 rianism, is therefore on the rulers, and not on the people so 
 much. The intrigues of sharpers are not more shrewd than 
 those of these rulers in cheating Christ out of his sheep and 
 lambs, and in cheating all other folds. This iniquity has 
 become so prevalent, that Christians have lost almost all their 
 influence in the conversion of sinners. 
 
 The love of rule in these rulers, is the foundation. Delu- 
 sions, intrigues, and crooked management are the means. 
 The first beginning of a secession from the original fold of 
 
 ■ Christ was near the end of the second century, and origina- 
 ting with the joining of churches together, and in the ambi- 
 tion of the clergy prompting them to assfimc the reins of go- 
 ernment, thus to establish a rival jurisdiction against that of 
 Christ. This usurpation of the government progressed so 
 far that in 418, we find a council at Mela, making laws at a 
 tremendous rate; enforcing the death of church members, in 
 
ill 
 
 certain cases; excommunicating persons for calling on the 
 clergy to do secular business; enforcing the administration 
 of the supper to babes, and also enforcing the baptism of 
 babes, to gratify their love of power, and of monopoly. This 
 love of rule during the next two centuries, prompted many 
 more to carry their usurpation of power, even to a far more 
 extravagant length, so that the jurisdiction and kingdom of 
 Christ, as far as their influence extended, was entirely pre- 
 vented. In this way his kingdom was obstructed. Infant 
 baptism became gradually established far and wide, as far as 
 this despotism prevailed. 
 
 Popery, absolute, became established in the year 606, and 
 was a perfect despotism. The will of the Pope becoming 
 law in all matters whatsoever. The mockery of baptism up- 
 on babes, was universally enforced by him, for the sake of 
 establishing and confirming his monopoly. This was the en- 
 tire annihilation of the kingdom and jurisdiction of Christ, as 
 far as it prevailed. It was only those who secreted them- 
 selves in mountains, and vallies. and in remote places, that 
 now constituted the real kingdom of Christ, or remained un- 
 der his jurisdiction. In the successive efforts of the Pope to 
 subdue them, he commonly sent messengers, proposing to 
 them to consent to the adoption of infant baptism, and a few 
 other preliminaries towards popery, and threatening them, in 
 case of refusal, with a war of extermination. By these means 
 infant baptism was extended, and the abrogation of the juris- 
 diction and real kingdom of Christ, kept pace with the pre- 
 valence of these things. 
 
 In the days of Constantino, the project was also devised of 
 governing the church, under the pretence of protection, by 
 the arm of civil power. Soon this custom extended all over 
 Europe. As the civil governments assumed the jurisdictio ), 
 and extended infant baptism to secure all in the nation in a 
 state of uniformity under the government, and oppressed and 
 persecuted those who adhered to Christian baptism, accord- 
 ing to the laws of Christ ; i. e. the baptism of converts into 
 subjection to him ; in that proportion, the kingdom of Christ 
 became frittered away. 
 
 The whole aim of national governments over churches, has 
 been to establish a monopoly under their own jurisdiction, 
 and to exclude all other jurisdictions, even that of Christ. 
 They have persecuted to the utmost extent, those who recog- 
 nized, defended, or promoted his jurisdiction or kingdom at 
 all. In proportion, therefore, as these have prevailed, his 
 Kingdom has become extinct. And as infant baptism, the 
 
112 
 
 main subsiclary of these governments has prevailed, the same 
 result has followed. The reason is, that infant baptism has 
 always been used to build up a rival government and jurisdic- 
 tion against his. It ha3 also degraded the church to a world- 
 ly state, and has screened and excluded those thus secured by 
 stratagem against the "preaching of the gospel of the king- 
 dom." Thus by means of the clergy, from the second to the 
 fifth centuries assuming the reins of government ; by popery 
 — and the national governments, and by infant baptism as the 
 means, the kingdom of Christ became excluded, whole na- 
 tions became nominal members, uniformity in the devices of 
 men became established in lieu of that kingdom, and all the 
 evils of the dark ages,during nearly a thousand years followed. 
 Yet the Kingdom of Christ was not entirely exlinct, after 
 all. A regular succession of Baptist churches in the wes- 
 tern part of Wales, beginning in England, A. D. 63, recogni- 
 zing no jurisdiction but that of Christ, and no baptism into his 
 kingdom, but that of believers, has continued down to this 
 time. All the Christians also that were not engulphed in 
 Popery, in national churches, and under the jurisdiction of 
 usurpers, continued in the regular form of the kingdom of 
 Christ, always repudiating infant baptism as fully as they did, 
 popery itself, as well as all rulers over the church, except 
 Christ himself. In England, large portions of people were 
 of this description, many of them being persecuted and slain 
 as martyrs to the truth long before the Reformation. In 
 Queen Mary's reign, also, 800 of them suffered martyrdom 
 in five years. Those in Europe, who escaped the control of 
 popery and of despots in succession, often bore the names, 
 more or less of them, of Petrobrusians, Henrisians, Albig-en- 
 ses, Waldenses, Waterlandians, Mennonites, Wicklifhtcs, 
 Hussites, &c. The Papists called the people that held be- 
 lievers' baptism, and the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, *• the 
 oldest heresy in the world.'' 1 Mosheim says, " The true ori- 
 gin of the Baptists is lost in the remotest depths of antiquity.'* 
 When Luther arose against the church of Rome, the Baptists 
 he says, arose from all quarters of Europe, to second his ef- 
 forts. But finding his views did not go so far as to promote 
 the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ over the church, or to 
 building churches of converts only, they receded, and Calvin, 
 and the Lutherans opposed and persecuted them bitterly, be- 
 cause of their difference in these points. (See Mosh. c. xvi. 
 chap. ill. sec. 3. Part II.) In vol. iv. p. 426, he speaks of the 
 Baptists " starting up all of a sudden in several countries at 
 the same point of time, on some emergencies." Their peculi- 
 
113 
 
 ar views, as he says, p. 427 — 9, same volume, are, "That the 
 Kingdom of Christ was an assembly of true and real saints, 
 exempt from all those- institutions which human prudence 
 suggests :" thus honestly teaching the exclusive jurisdiction 
 of Christ. In all those periods, according to President Ed- 
 wards, there were multitudes who adhered to the principles 
 of the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ; and according to the 
 testimony of the papists and others, they generally adhered 
 to the immersion of believers only, in the name of the Trini- 
 ty, and denied that pander of popery, and of the national go- 
 vernments, that delusion, infant baptism. 
 
 We now approach new obstacles in the way of the real 
 kingdom of Christ, and establishing new divisions. 
 
 After the reformation had progressed some fifteen years, it 
 waschecked.in England, as Lowth expresses it, in 1534, by the 
 establishment of a national church, then under the King r Parlia- 
 ment, and Bishops. This new jurisdiction still prevented the 
 people from returning to the original jurisdiction of Christ, 
 and obstructed the extension of his kingdom there. That I 
 may not seem invidious, I will here give the description of 
 it, as it exists, very nearly in the words of another author. 
 
 The King, whether an atheist or a believer, stands at the 
 head of the Church of England : next to him ranks the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, who is called the primate of all England. 
 Next to him is the Archbishop of York, called the primate of 
 England. Under these are twenty-four Bishops; all of whom, 
 except the Bishop of Sodor and Man, are peers of the realm, 
 and hold seats in the House of Lords. 
 
 The interference of the Bishops in the political concerns of 
 the nation, has been a stain upon their character. Under the 
 late spirit of reform, a loud demand has been made to exclude 
 them from their scat in Parliament. 
 
 The revenues of the bishops are princely. It was stated 
 in 1830, in the House of Commons, that the income of the 
 Bishop of London, would soon amount to £100,000; i.e. 
 about $450,000 a year ! ! and that of the Bishop of Winches- 
 ter, to 50,000 pounds sterling per annum; equal to 225,000 
 dollars!'. These bishops pretend a divine right to appoint 
 successors in office as long as the world shall stand j and 
 that no baptism is legal, but by their license. 
 
 Some of their clergy, as a writer remarks, are oftcner seen 
 at Epsom, Doncastcr, and New Market, and at the sporting 
 parties of Norfolk and Yorkshire, than in the pulpit. Those 
 who wear the clerical costume in England, do not hesitate to 
 appear at balls, routs, and in Opera stalls. And they have 
 
114 
 
 no scruples in appearing in a box at the Adelphi, or the 
 Olympic. 
 
 This laxity of manners grows out o{ the right of presenia' 
 Hon to the Churches ; whereby individuals have the power 
 of placing just such a clergyman over the people as they 
 please. The people have no choice in the election of their 
 ministers. The right of presentation is in the King, and in 
 the Bishops; in the Lord Chancellor; in the Cathedral and 
 Collegiate establishments, and in the aristocracy, and in the 
 gentry. For example: The King's patronage is the Bish- 
 oprics, the deaneries, thirty prebends, twenty-three canonries, 
 and a thousand and forty-eight livings. The Lord Chancel- 
 lor presents to all livings under the value of twenty-five 
 pounds in the King's Book, which are seven hundred and 
 eighty, besides twenty-one prebend stalls. The Bishops 
 have in their hands, sixteen hundred places of church pre- 
 ferment, at their disposal. The two Universities have six 
 hundred livings at their disposal. The colleges of Eaton and 
 Winchester, have fifty-seven. One thousand are in the gift 
 of Cathedrals and collegiate establishments. The remainder 
 are in the gilt of that community called the Aristocracy and 
 Gentry. In 1814, there were 6311 church livings held by 
 non-residents; that is, ministers who did not live in the par- 
 ishes. Of these 1523 employed curates, leaving 4788 church- 
 es entirely neglected, notwithstanding the salaries were ex- 
 torted. 
 
 Men void of piety, of course, are put into office, and secure 
 the livings. Piety suffers, religion is degraded, infidelity in- 
 creases, and souls perish in consequence of such an establish- 
 ment. There are many clergymen who preach the gospel in 
 a degree of purity, it is true, but the larger portion seem per- 
 fectly reckless. 
 
 On certain occasions, the Parliament originates, and the 
 King ordains a Fast. No one ventures to refuse to abstain 
 from food, or to turn the measure into ridicule ; but all must 
 attend worship as a form. See Goodrich's Universal Tra- 
 veller, p. 224, 225. 
 
 A seceding clergyman, says of that church, that a man, 
 who by reason of his immoralities, was adjudged in law, in- 
 competent and unworthy to direct the education of his own 
 children, still held the patronage of seven livings, and the 
 right to select clergymen to guide the immortal souls of sev- 
 en parishes. He selected one clergyman to a living, of late, 
 who, during the first week after induction, never retired to 
 his chamber at night sober. The livings are purchased by 
 
115 
 
 parents and friends, of such patrons, at large prices, for in- 
 cumbents, irrespective of their piety or talents. Livings are 
 advertised, and sold to the highest bidder like merchandise. 
 
 One advertisement reads, "Single duty — a living of in 
 
 a good sporting country" &c. Such sales of livings, by pa- 
 trons, he f>iys, are as common as the shining of the sun. The 
 book is headed H Present State of the established Church," 
 1840. 
 
 Here is a specimen of national churches, the effect of such 
 jurisdictions, and of national rantism, as a stratagem with 
 babes. Thousands of helpless souls are engulphed within 
 such establishments annually, by the profane practice of ba- 
 by sprinkling, wherein the clergyman falsely tells the parent 
 that the child is made a member of Christ ; a child of God; 
 and an inheritor of the kingdom of God, and " is born again." 
 Such falsehoods arc more palpable, than those uttered in the 
 ceremonies of free-masonry itself. 
 
 It is a rival jurisdiction, excluding the jurisdiction and 
 kingdom of Christ by law, and those who have undertaken to 
 promote it, have been imprisoned, fined and whipt. It is a 
 most powerful obstacle in the way of the prevalence of the 
 real kingdom, and jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 Those who through love of forms, or from any other mo- 
 tives arc anxious to build up this establishment in the United 
 States ; this obstruction to the real kingdom of Christ, are 
 not to be envied, cither for their respect for the kingdom and 
 laws of Christ ; their patriotism ; their regard for immortal 
 souls, or their regard for the feelings of Christ, which so ar- 
 dently desire the prevalence of his own kingdom, and the 
 union of all his people within it. Here is the interference of 
 a government against the real kingdom of Christ. 
 
 In seven years after the origin of this, another sect was 
 contrived. 
 
 The circumstances relating to the origin of Presbyterian- 
 igm, are these. John Calvin was first put to study, by his fa- 
 ther, in order that he might become a Roman Catholic priest. 
 Afterward he was put to the study of the law, and practised as 
 a lawyer of those times of oppression, for a period. He af- 
 terwards became a Catholic priest, and was ordained a pres- 
 byter in the Catholic church. In 1534, he joined the refor- 
 mation. In 1535, wrote his Institution of the Christian Reli- 
 gion and went to Geneva, persecuted the Baptists bitterly, 
 and by informing against Servctus, a Baptist, and a Socinian, 
 occasioned his death as a heretic. The great disturbance ex- 
 cited by these movements caused him to leave. After a few 
 
lid 
 
 years, his friends solicited his return. He refused, unless 
 they would adopt some system of church government where- 
 by he could hold the people in subjection. During these ne- 
 gotiations, he, with his love of rule, his Catholic, and lawyer 
 like traits previously acquired, contrived the constitution of 
 church government for a Presbyterian church. The outlines 
 of it, are, that four or five rulers over the church are appoin- 
 ted for life, (called ruling Elders) who, together with the mi- 
 nister, constitute the session. This session, so appointed for 
 life, has the entire and exclusive jurisdiction over the church, 
 and has a new form of church discipline, by citation, by ap- 
 peals, and by a many-headed jurisdiction. 
 
 The Presbytery consists of all the ministers, and one of 
 these rulers from each session. The Synod is a convention 
 from all the Presbyteries. The General Assembly is a re- 
 presentation from all the Presbyteries. The people, there- 
 fore, are subject to the whole, and have no representation. 
 The session governs the church, the Presbytery governs the 
 sessions, the Synod governs the Presbyteries, and the Gene- 
 ral Assembly governs the whole, in its whole practical ope- 
 ration, by legislative, judicial, and executive powers. 
 
 A portion of the people of Geneva subjected their necks to 
 such a jurisdiction, Nov. 20, 1541, as the price of Calvin's re- 
 turn. Their constitution, and form of government was made 
 by Calvin, and was never in existence till the above period. 
 Their creed was, for a long time, that of the church of England, 
 for they had no other; when a convention made the West- 
 minster Confession of Faith.* It was transferred in 1789. 
 
 The fundamental principles of Presbyterianism, as in prac- 
 tical operation, recognize not Jesus Christ as head of the 
 church, but the General Assembly. This government, as 
 well as the national governments, is perfectly at war with the 
 exclusive jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 The difference between Calvin and the Baptists, at its ori- 
 gin, was, they were for the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, 
 he was determined to have a new constitution, whereby he 
 could rule. They were for each church standing indepen- 
 dent and alone, as at the first. He was determined to join 
 them together, so as to rule the greater number. They were 
 for "baptizing into Christ" those, and those only whom Christ 
 had required, and the apostolic example justified, he was de- 
 termined to make babes church members, so as to monopo- 
 
 * See Life of Calvin, prefixed to his Ins. Chr. Itelig. Glasgow, 1749, an<$ 
 Mather's Magnalia. 
 
117 
 
 lize the more. They were for uniformity according to the 
 apostolic usage, he was determined to enforce a uniformity 
 according to his pleasure. The same contrast continues 
 even until now. 
 
 The people cannot serve two masters, i. e. the General As- 
 sembly, with the other conjoined aristocracies, and Jesus 
 Christ. " No man can, serve two masters.'' It is impossible 
 in the nature of things. It is a great pity these excellent 
 Christians should be cramped by such a government, and 
 when they have so warm a disposition, should actually be 
 prevented by it from promoting the real kingdom and juris- 
 diction of Christ. These are not the kingdom of Christ, not 
 because they are not Christians, hearty and devoted ; but be- 
 cause other lords have the dominion over them, and totally 
 prevent them from subjecting themselves to his jurisdiction, 
 and from becoming members where he alone is King. 
 
 Here is another obstruction interposed at that time, in the 
 May of the reformation, to check it mid-way, and to leave 
 such a government over all it could control, as hindered the 
 re-establishment of the real kingdom of Christ, and has thus 
 far hindered it in just so far as that government has prevail- 
 ed. The litigious character of the courts under this govern- 
 ment, and the unchristian spirit they engender is notorious. 
 
 The Congrcgationalists never had a systematic organiza- 
 tion, till after the organization of Prcsbyterianism. -They 
 consisted, at fir.st, of that portion of pacdobaptists, in those 
 periods of partial reformation from popery, who refused to 
 subject their necks to Calvin's Presbyterian aristocracies. 
 They stand, in the posture of the Synods and councils of the 
 second and third centuries, in their departure from the origi- 
 nal kingdom of Christ; only since they have adopted the 
 "substitute of the substitute," in lieu of Christian baptism, 
 and continue to apply it as a stratagem to babes; and are 
 treading hard upon the heels of Prcsbyterianism, and fast 
 passing into it. By their early alliance with the civil govern- 
 ments of New England, and their persecutions of those who 
 rejected infant baptism, and defended the exclusive jurisdic- 
 tion of Christ, and their continued opposition against the rral 
 oath of allegiance to him: they have demonstrated (whether 
 they sec it or not) that their organization has been a great 
 obstruction in tbe way of the real kingdom of Christ. How 
 lamentable it is that those who have so good hearts and in- 
 tentions, should by being unfortunately entrapped by baby- 
 sprinkling, be blinded all their lives, and be made blindly to 
 hinder that, which in heart, they would most cordially desire 
 
118 
 
 to promote. Their leaders, by blindly misleading them, 
 ■without even seeing it themselves, are doing a great injury 
 to them, and a great injury to the real kingdom of Christ, 
 however unconscious ot" it they may be. As a son of New- 
 England, I fearlessly make these remarks, with a readiness 
 to meet them in the scenes of the judgment. 
 
 And still another advance towards the right ways of the 
 Lord, in a revival of religion, and yet the establishment of 
 jrti-. illegitimate government, which checked it midway, and 
 thus hindered the people from returning to the exclusive ju- 
 risdiction and kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 
 John Wesley, in 1735, commenced an honest effort for the 
 revival of religion in his own heart, and in 1739, commenced 
 public efforts for the salvation of others, and was very exten- 
 sively blessed. Bred in the church of England, and inured 
 to such a construction of the passage, " Submit to the powers 
 that be," as led him to feel bound to ecclesiastical domination, 
 he had, by delusion, or the influence of parents, or use, be- 
 come strongly prepossessed in favor of its forms, ceremonies, 
 jurisdiction, government, and pretensions of powers, a regu- 
 lar succession of Bishops, strait from heaven, through a pe- 
 riod of 1500 years before it existed. 
 
 " We believe (said he) it would not be lawful for us to bap- 
 tize, if we had not a commission from the bishops; whom wo 
 apprehend to be in succession from the Apostles." — " We be- 
 lieve in the three-fold order of ministers, &c. (Jour. L. 514.) 
 " By baptism (said he) we are made the children of God, and 
 are made members of Christ its Head," p. 399, 400. "By 
 water, we are regenerated, or born again." — " Oyr church as- 
 cribes no greater virtue to baptism than Christ." — " Herein 
 (in baptism) a principle of grace is infused, which will not be 
 taken away, unless we quench the Holy Spirit." — " In the or- 
 dinary way, there is no other means (than baptism) of enter- 
 ing into the church, or into heaven." (Jour. p. 401.) That 
 which originated then, in 1534, out of popery, was, under the 
 jurisdiction of the King, Parliament, and Bishops, so corrupt, 
 and yet pretending a divine succession, entirely back to the 
 Apostles — makes baptism a means of conversion and salva- 
 tion — and yet allows no power to administer it only to such 
 as emanates from those bishops. This is admitting that bap- 
 tism and salvation is in their gift ! And yet the Parliament 
 had dashed baptism away, and established a " contemptible 
 substitute:" as one of their ministers calls it. 
 
 [Query. Was it the doctrine that this "substitute" had 
 Converting and saving grace in it? We do not reproach 
 
m 
 
 W. sley in all this. We simply take another peep at mother 
 church, and at the arrogant pretensions she taught her sons 
 and at the opportunities Wesley enjoyed. Another query : 
 Was not Free-masory intended, in part, to take off and hold 
 up to ridicule some of these pretensions? If so, it certainly 
 had one good design.] 
 
 But to the Government : Wesley, for a long time, had 
 no thoughts of leaving mother church, till at length he found 
 it necessary. Believing that no ordination was valid without 
 a bishop's hands, of course, his clergy being void of this gift, 
 were unable to administer ordinances ; and being obliged in 
 his absence, to call upon other ministers, to administer sacra- 
 ments, he felt his lameness. Before he left mother church, 
 he made some overtures towards becoming ordained a bishop 
 in the Episcopal church: but failed. In 17G4, he procured 
 one Grasmus, a Bishop of the Greek church to come to Eng- 
 land, and he sought Episcopal ordination from him ;* but 
 failed again. Twenty years more passed. At length, in 1784, 
 he practically usurped the Episcopal office, by proceeding 
 to ordain Thomas Coke as a Bishop; gave him a certificate 
 that he was a bishop; and sent him to America to ordain 
 Francis Asburv ; and then to tell him and the people that he 
 was a bishop also.f But solemnly, this is quite as good Epis- 
 copal ordination as popery could bestow after all. It reminds 
 us of the masonic ordination of High Priest. Now let us 
 see to what extent this farce (for such it w ; as in fact: Wes- 
 ley having no more power to begin such a movement, than 
 any other man,) has been carried. It has built up one of the 
 most arbitrary hierarchies in the world. 
 
 About 1825, or 1827, a number of clergymen seceded from 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, on account of its govern- 
 ment, and published the following, statement. 
 
 44 1. The Methodist Episcopal government is an Hierar- 
 chy, administered solely by itinerant preachers. Every local 
 minister, and lay member, no matter how well qualified by 
 age, experience, piety, and knowledge, is excluded from all 
 participation in the government, except so far as he is per- 
 mitted to act as the officer or servant of the travelling prcach- 
 i he servant thus is often a man grown grey in the church, 
 and the master an inexperienced youth. 
 
 %2. In the Methodist Episcopal church, there is no consti- 
 tution to prevent the tiavelling preachers from introducing 
 the most pernicious changes in doctrine, discipline, and gov- 
 
 • Toplady'i Lett, f Toplady's Lett. : Mcth. Dis. Ed. 180G. ; Port, of Mcth. 
 
120 
 
 errifflent What are called the «' Restrictive Articles," author- 
 ize them, when they shall be so disposed, to "alter any," 
 and •* all" the restrictions, and change the articles of religion, 
 the general rules, the discipline, and the entire government, 
 and independently of the people. 
 
 " 3. In the Methodist Episcopal church, a spurious and uni* 
 versal Episcopacy exists, with power to control the destinies 
 of the travelling preachers ; and to overawe and lead into 
 submission those of them who may be desirous of a reform. 
 
 "4. The Presiding Elder's office is filled (1827) by about 
 ninety preachers, each of whom receive support, for riding 
 round a district, to do what could be as well done without 
 him. It is called a " growing aristocracy." 
 
 " 5. In the Methodist Episcopal church, Committees of trial 
 are appointed by the preacher in charge ; and the person accu- 
 sed has no privilege of challenge, or to object to any member 
 of the. committer, [the preacher appoints] and is bound to abide 
 by their decision, though his greatest enemy be one of the 
 jurors. In 1824, it was moved that the person about to be 
 tried should have some share in choosing the committee of 
 trial, but it was defeated, on the ground that it would lessen 
 the power of the travelling preachers. If the person tried, 
 appeal to the Quarterly Conference, the tools of the preach- 
 er arc there also, to vote a second time for his condemnation. 
 This is adapted to enable a travelling preacher to EXPEL 
 ANY MAN from the church, against whom he is PREJU- 
 DICED. 
 
 "6. There is a rule, p. 91, of the Discipline, liable to inter- 
 fere against the freedom, of speech, and of the Press. It gives 
 the preacher the power of silencing- every inquiry into the 
 nature of the government, or into their own acts of mal-admi- 
 nistration. 
 
 " The principle upon which the Methodist Episcopal gov- 
 ernment is based, is this: That all power, in every depart* 
 ment of tiic government, emanates from the travelling minis- 
 try : and no part from either the local ministry, or tKe people. 
 Nothing can ke done without the presence and direction of 
 the travelling preachers. Without them, no rule can be made 
 for the government of the church: for they are the sole legis- 
 lators. Without them the government cannot be administered, 
 for they are the only executive officers. Without them, no 
 office can be filled; for they, directly or indirectly, hold the 
 appointment of all officers, in their own hands. A trustee 
 cannot be appointed, unless a travelling preacher nominate 
 him; nor can a steward be elected, without his naming him 
 
121 
 
 for office. A class leader can neither be appointed nor remo- 
 ved, unless the preacher in charge do it. No one can be re- 
 ceived into the church, except the preacher admit him. Nor 
 can a man be expelled for ira morality, or for any other cause, 
 unless the preacher direct the trial, pronounce the sentence, 
 and carry it into execution. 
 
 " What makes this the more exceptionable is, that these 
 preachers are in no manner whatever accountable to the 
 church for their moal, religious, or official conduct. They 
 try, acquit, or condemn each other, as they themselves judge 
 proper. And their trials are conducted with the utmost se- 
 crecy ; as no person but a travelling preacher is permitted to 
 be present. 
 
 " Thcv claim also a divine right to excrci: c authority in all 
 matters of church government and discipline, independently 
 of the local preachers, and the people. One of the present 
 Ejdjtor« of the " Christian Advocate and Journal," ( 1 8*27) has 
 published— 'Those ministers whom God selects to be the 
 Shepherds of his flock, and the guardians of his people, pos- 
 sess the right of governing themselves, in religious matters ; 
 and all those committed to their care. After having demon- 
 strated the divinity of their mission, in (lie awakening and 
 conversion of souls, have they not a ri^ht to govern those 
 who have been thus given them, as the fruit of their ministry % 
 !.o-c who call this right in question, if they arc able, pro- 
 d better. As long as these officers move in this way, 
 so long the people arc bound to submit to their authority, 
 in all matters of cburh government and discipline. Those 
 irits who n bel against the order God hath estab- 
 od ; and shall receive their own pun- 
 ishment. This is not pleading for submission to man It is 
 the authority pf God. This is the order he hath established 
 for tl e peace and prosperity of his church. '" 
 
 All this is a quotation from the statement of a large num- 
 thodist ministers, who srceded, as published in their 
 " Br'ef History of Reform," published in Baltimore, by Lu- 
 er, 1 820. 
 
 'J his is entirely a new sort of jurisdiction, and a phenome* 
 non. Jesus Christ has the right to the exclusive jurisdiction 
 ovc/ : II his people. These ministers, in jus! they 
 
 simply preach the gospel, and labor for souls with a disinter- 
 ested good. Bat il fat as they arc 
 employed in treacherously beguiling pe »plfl under such a ju- 
 risdiction, by baby sprinkling and the class paper, and train- 
 
 K 
 
122 
 
 ing them to oppose every thing that does not come under thia 
 hierarchy, they are doing injury. Is such a Bpurious hierar- 
 chy thinking to govern the world? Christian Baptism is the 
 subjection of converts to the exclusive jurisdiction of Jesus 
 Christ. Whence did this hierachy derive its power to con- 
 trol the people of God, in this sectarian, selfish, shape — thus 
 counteracting the exclusive jurisdiction, dominion, and the 
 real and exclusive kingdom of Christ. 
 
 As further specimens of such wicked usurpation, and do- 
 mination over Christians, coercing them into a sectarian shape, 
 the Presbyterian aristocracies of Ireland, have repealed the 
 law of Christ, as to the form of baptism, and established the 
 "subsliute of the substitute," and the people are degraded to 
 a state of absolute subjection to them in all things pertaining 
 to religion. The Presbyterian aristocracies of the Kirk of 
 Scotland, exercise a domination not less tyrannic; and have 
 also established the •* substitute of the substitute" for bap- 
 tism, for their convenience, in the same way, and all this since 
 15 8. The national Government of Germany, since 171*2, 
 have wiped out baptism in form from the national escutcheon, 
 •and although the Rubric still enforces immersion, as of old, 
 still their civil law now enforces the «• substitute of the sub- 
 stitute." 
 
 As a specimen of lording it in the United States, the Old 
 School Presbyterians disfranchised five Synods, comprehen- 
 ding some 500 churches, and some 400 ministers, because of 
 some different vievv3, on some little points, as to the philoso- 
 phy of the human soul. They have also recently established 
 close communion by law, against the New School Presbyte- 
 rians, unless they come up to iheir views as to the materiali- 
 ty and philosophy of the soul, the mechanical and passive 
 imaginary process in regeneration, and such a way of ex- 
 plaining the doctrines of grace, as accords with this philoso- 
 phy of the dark ages, and in general terms accede to their do- 
 mination. 
 
 And as Christian baptism is t( baptism into Christ," — into 
 the sacred Three, — into the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, 
 according to the usages of the first churches, all these go- 
 vernments, by treacherously beguiling the people, and secu- 
 ring babes by stratagem, under their own domination, 
 entirely defeit the nature and effect of Christian baptism, the 
 oath of allegiance to Him, within his own kingdom, and un- 
 der his own. exclusive iurisdiction. 
 
 The people, then, are not so much to blame for this hein- 
 ous state of sectarianism, especially where they have not the 
 
123 
 
 power to help themselves. It is these tyrannic, heaven-dar- 
 ing, treasonable dominations, established over them, springing 
 up, as we have sketched it, building themselves up by wrongs, 
 stratagems, and frauds, against Christ, assuming the tyran- 
 nic, popish principle, of the right of appointing successors in 
 their usurped offices, ad infinitum. On a partial reformation, 
 as it was called, from popery, there sprang up in lieu of it 
 swarms of hungry popes, and swarms of popedoms, as we 
 have shown, have been established. 
 
 Now each of these popedoms, under these usurping rulers, 
 is high treason in the fullest sense of the word, against Christ. 
 If such governments were to spring up in the United States, 
 such imperiuma in impcrio, ensnaring our citizens under 
 them, or if it were to occur in any other nation, the cry of 
 treason would resound throughout the nation, and there would 
 be no rest till the rebel leaders were subdued. Reader, this 
 treason is against Jesus Christ, and against his kingdom, and 
 is therefore a thousand times more heinous, than treason in 
 a national government. Are you engaged in it? Repent of 
 this thy wickedness, and forsake it. 
 
 It is an imperious duty, resting upon every Christian, to 
 eorae out and be separate, to repent, and in practice to wash 
 his hands and soul of this foul stain. Christian, can you ex- 
 pect to be saved, if, after being shown this world of iniquity, 
 you do not forsake it, absolutely, and wholly, publicly, and 
 firmly. 
 
 The reason whj r Christian baptism is so necessary, is, be- 
 cause it puts the convert under the exclusive jurisdiction of 
 Christ, within his kingdom, and because it builds up the king- 
 dom of Christ, as it was intended of God it should do. There 
 is no Christian baptism, however correct it may be in form, 
 unless it in principle and effect, puts the convert under the 
 exclusive jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 The reason why the popes over all the masses of abused 
 tians, arc so much opposed to Christian baptism, is be- 
 cause those so baptized, are gone into the kingdom of Christ, 
 and they feel that they have lost them, and a sort of vague 
 condemnation of themselves, comes across them. The rea- 
 son why they falsely and foully slander those who build un- 
 der the jurisdiction of Christ, with being equally sectarian, is 
 with the same selfish feelings, that prompts to other slander. 
 
 The reason why Christians ought without delay to come 
 out from under this mystery of iniquity — this treason against 
 Christ — this domination over Christians — this profane inva- 
 sion of the prerogatives of Christ, the participation in the 
 
124 
 
 guilt, and the continuance of these delusions and stratagems 
 which sustain it, — are, in the rights and equities of Christ— ~ 
 the injury they have already done Him — the desirableness of 
 Christian union — the blessed state of the primitive churches, 
 when the Kingdom of Christ alone prevailed — in the impor- 
 tance of the millenium — in benevolence to the right organiza- 
 tion of churches, as the gospel is planted in heathen lands — 
 and in the fact, that unless we are willing to forsake all sin 
 as fast as we sec it, we have no reason to believe we are 
 Christians, or to expect salvation, or to think for a moment 
 we are receiving the approbation oi Christ. 
 
 We see in this glance, 1. The vanity of jurisdictions, as the 
 ambition of the clergy prompted them to usurp the reins of 
 government, in different countries, between the third and se- 
 venth centuries. 2. The usurped jurisdiction of the Pope in 
 all ages. 3. The usurpation of national jurisdictions, in all 
 ages. 4. The usurpation over the national church of Eng- 
 land. 5. The usurped jurisdiction of Calvin's Presbyterian 
 aristocracies. These, like the frogs of Egypt, have spread 
 into France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Ge rmany, and Amer- 
 ica ; and now, like free-masonry, pretend to be of divine ori- 
 gin. 6. The several usurped jnrisdictions established in the 
 Congregational Sect. 7. The Methodist hierarchy. 8. The 
 modified forms of national governments. 9. The Episcopal 
 jurisdictions, under various other modifications. 
 
 We see, also, why their energies have been directed, in all 
 ages, either to the converting of baptism (immersion) to their 
 own sectarian purposes, by applying it to adults and babes, 
 and using it in subjecting the people to themselves, or else 
 in frittering away its form, to wit, because of their rivalship 
 against the kingdom of Christ, and because Christian baptism 
 as such, had an exclusive tendency to build up the kingdom 
 of Christ; a kingdom which those rulers have uniformly op- 
 posed. Again, we see why Sir Isaac Newton made the re- 
 mark, that the Baptists were the only Christians who had 
 not symbolized with Antichrist; and he inclined to consid- 
 er them one of the two witnesses ; to wit, because they had 
 always contended for the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, for 
 the o'ath of allegiance to him, and for implicit obedience to 
 all his commands. And finally, we see that the usurped ju- 
 risdiction of men over Christians, has been the fruitful source 
 of all the sectarianism that at present exists, and to the same 
 cause we trace the origin of all our troubles. The idea of uni- 
 formity is but a small remuneration for such broad, and deep, 
 
125 
 
 and lasting injuries, to the kingdom of Christ and to the 
 world. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 SECTARIANISM ITS FEATURES. 
 
 Sectarianism is the cutting up of the heritage of God, into 
 separate folds, by those who think highly of themselves, and 
 have a great love of rule, and who, from time to time, seize 
 the reins of government, clothe the office they assume with a 
 dignified name, make arrangements to give permanency to it, 
 usurp the dominion, provide for a succession, gather up the 
 people, and then make arrangements to secure their descen- 
 dants, whereby an entire secession from the original jurisdic- 
 tion and kingdom of Christ ensues. 
 
 In looking at the mass of sectarianism, mentioned in our 
 last, a number of points strike the attention. 
 
 1. The love of rule, was the first beginning of it. How 
 faithfully did the Saviour reprove this spirit. The rulers of 
 the Gentiles are called benefactors, "but it shall not be so 
 with you." Ye are my disciples, then, and only then, when 
 ye do whatsoever I have commanded you. " The disciple is 
 not greater than his Lord." 
 
 2. Such sect ceases abinitro to be the kingdom of Christ 
 If others rule, Christ does not. If it becomes a new govern- 
 ment, it ceases to be the original. If other rulers reign, they 
 hinder Christ from reigning. If in all respects, it agrees with 
 the original, it remains and coincides with it. But the mo- 
 ment it differs in so material points as become a separation, 
 to have new rulers, and regulations, it, of course, ceases to 
 be the original government. As well might the United StatC3 
 be still considered as belonging to the Government of Great 
 Britain, notwithstanding the separation. When the ambi- 
 tious efergyi from the third to the seventh centuries, in dif- 
 ferent places, assumed the reins of governmens, and became 
 rulers, the sections they misled, ceased to be the kingdom of 
 Christ ; because wherever his kingdom is,he is King and sole 
 Ruler. Wherever he is dethroned, bis kingdom so far ceas- 
 es. So when popery became established — when the civil go- 
 vernments began to rule the church— when the King, Parlia- 
 ment, and Bishops, of England, began to rule in England 
 over a pretended church — when Calvin, and his aristocracies 
 
126 
 
 began to rule portions of the Christian community — when 
 other rulers in succession, and when Wesley's bishops, and 
 hierarchies began to reign, in each and every case, from the 
 nature of things, those communities ceased to be of the king- 
 dom of Christ. When others rule, Christ does not. The 
 kingdom of Christ was quite another government, organized 
 on different principles, for another purpose and had another 
 Ruler. 
 
 3. Each and all of these, In just so far as they differ from 
 the kingdom of Christ, are so far wrong — are unprincipled, 
 are wicked. They differ in the separtion, and in all those 
 points which make a separation necessary — in establishing 
 a new government, and in all those movements and that course 
 of action, which gives permanency to this separation. 
 
 4. In looking at this mass of sectarianism in a general view, 
 we cannot but see the whole of it is treason. It is high trea- 
 so against heaven. The particular illustration of this we re- 
 serve for another place. 
 
 5. We notice that the office of the ministry, is. and must be 
 illegitimate, in all these separate folds. With those who first 
 separated from the kingdom of Christ ; if they had a regular 
 office, of course, they could not carry it out of the regular ju- 
 risdiction, where it was bestowed, and still exercise it. A 
 Justice of the Peace cannot exercise that office within anoth- 
 er government. . This is true of all offices. As soon as they 
 went under another government, they had no legitimate of- 
 fice. 
 
 6. Those churches are not legitimate churches. Christ 
 authorized the organization of churches under his own juris- 
 diction, bur never authorized a secession from his kingdom, 
 or any kind of movement, except such as fell strictly within 
 the scope of his own jurisdiction, according to his la (vs. 
 " Then (and only then) are ye my disciples, if ye do whatso- 
 ever I command you." No provision is made for the orga- 
 nization of churches under other commanders. 
 
 6. We notice the principles upon which the rulers claim 
 the transfer of the office of the ministry. One is, that this 
 whole mass of sectarianism is the kingdom of Christ. But 
 nothing can be more absurd. Those changes, secessions, as- 
 sumptions of new offices, new governments, new rulers, new 
 sects, jars, contentions, usurped power, addition of men's con- 
 stitutions, laws, regulations, and contrivances, and especially 
 such great stretches of power, make it absurd to pretend it is 
 still the kingdom of Christ. Nothing is the kiegdom of Christ 
 
127 
 
 but that which remains under his jurisdiction, and accords 
 with his regulations. 
 
 A second pretence is, that the office of the ministry may 
 be carried any where out of the kingdom, as well as in, and 
 connected to a treasonable agency in building up treason, re- 
 bellion, secession, andrivalship, against the King, and still be 
 a legitimate office ! This needs only to be looked at, in or- 
 der that its absurdity may be seen. No office conferred in 
 one jurisdiction, may be carried into another jurisdiction, or 
 into a rebellion, or be turned against the government who 
 conferred it, and yet retain even the pretence of legitimacy. 
 The opposite of this might be crowded upon people in the 
 dark ages; but will not do for these. 
 
 The other pretence is, that officers have the right to ap- 
 point successors ad infinitum, out of, as well as within, the 
 kingdom or jurisdiction. So a Captain in Great Britain, may 
 claiai the right of appointing all succeeding Captains, not on- 
 ly in Great Britain, but may come to revolted America, and 
 claim and exercise this appointing power. A President — a 
 Governor — a Justice of the Peace — a Postmaster — may all 
 claim the right to appoint all successors, and each may mo- 
 nopolize the appointing power in relation to successors. 
 This may go in the dark ages of popery, in the church and 
 state establishments, and under the tyrannic government of 
 the Bishops in Great Britain. But it cannot go in an enligh- 
 tened community. Every civilian, statesman, lawyer, and 
 enlightened Christian, knows that each government, or rather 
 the fountain of power within that government, has the sole 
 right of appointing all the officers; and that it is tyranny for 
 an officer to claim the prerogative of appointing successors, 
 and above all things, after he has leftthe original jurisdiction 
 for him to hold out such a pretence, is absurd. "Those 
 things which thou hast heard of me before many witnesses, 
 the same commit thou to others," &c, is a passage which 
 many superficial readers think favors this absurd principle. 
 But this passage relates, not to the office of the ministry, but 
 to the faithful defence of divine truth. It is "things which 
 have been heard, 1 ' which arc to he committed to others, — 
 truths. The instructions are to one already a minister.to be 
 fuithful in preaching. Jesus Christ has the appointing pow- 
 er in his kingdom. To the church is committed the respon- 
 sibility of guarding itself against false pretensions, of exami- 
 ning candidates, of deciding on the evidence that Christ has 
 called the person to the ministry, and praying ovrr the case, 
 and thus commending him to the work. Chciropoico, is the 
 
128 
 
 word which often expresses this action of the church. It ex- 
 presses the vote of the hand, or the decision. Diatithemi, to 
 appoint, sometimes is the expression of the action. Paul ne- 
 ver monopolized this appointing power, and of course never 
 conveyed it. The Head of the church says, "Separate me 
 Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto / have called 
 them." When and where did Jesus Christ surrender his 
 right to call to the ministry, and relieve the church 
 and ministry conjointly, of acting in such cases, in deciding 
 as lar as they can, whether Christ has called the person to the 
 work or not. But we must be members of Christ's body, the 
 church, in order to have anything to do with it. And no one, 
 though converted, is a member till he has subjected himself 
 by baptism, to the jurisdiction of Christ, within his kingdom. 
 Under another jurisdiction, he is not a member here. For 
 persons who were never converted, who live in luxury and 
 wealth, like the bishops of England, who have never become 
 members of Christ's body, the Church, to claim the monopo- 
 ly of appointing all his ministers, of giving permission to bap- 
 tize, or rantize, by which they pretend persons are convert- 
 ed and saved, is as absurd as any other part of popery, that 
 has ever existed. 
 
 Christ appoints his own ministers, by his Spirit, and by be- 
 stowing evident qualifications. The supervision and scruti- 
 ny of the case rests upon the church and ministry conjointly. 
 All they do, however, is to decide that in their opinion, Christ 
 has called the candidate, to pourtray his duty before him, and 
 to pray over his prospective labors. The imposition of hands, 
 an unmeaning ceremony, except as a token of friendship. 
 The appointing power is exclusively with Christ, the evidence 
 to the church is the spirit and ability, so far as they can 
 judge. Theirs is the delegated prudential part to examine 
 the case, to join in the responsibility, to decide approve and 
 pray. In this way, the man becomes appointed exclusively 
 by Christ. All the church and ministry do, is to act the part 
 of his agents. 
 
 Now for human beings to monopolize this appointing pow- 
 er, is to carry it out of the kingdom of Christ, into their re- 
 volted folds, is high treason, is the crime of injured Majesty, 
 is robbing God, is dethroning the King. Foreigners can- 
 not exercise the appointing power, when it is the exclusive 
 prerogative of the crown and his council. Chris* is this 
 King, and the Church are his council, not to advise him, but 
 to act under him, in counselling others. To assume, there- 
 fore, that a minister may monopolize the appointing power, 
 
129 
 
 mtiv revolt, as in the fourth or fifth centuries, and establish a 
 new jurisdiction, may in succession go into popery, that trea- 
 sonable state of war against Christ and his kingdom, may, in 
 !. monopolize the exclusive appointing power, in the 
 kingdom of Great Britain, may, in the person of Calvin, re- 
 volt from popery, and assume the right of appointing Pres- 
 ses, Synods, General Assemblies, Ruling Elders, &c, 
 and may. in Un person of Wesley, a mere priest, or deacon of 
 the church of England, appoint bishops, who shall from him, 
 monopolize the appointing power, in a new sect, — is to as- 
 sume a prerogative that is popish, revolting, treasonable, rob- 
 bing God, and dethroning the real King, so far as it goes, or 
 at least to invade his prerogative. This principle of men 
 being clothed with the appointing power, wheresoever ihey 
 may go, into whatsoever jurisdiction, and so may carry the 
 monopoly of the rights of the King into popery; into Epis- 
 copacy; into Presbyterianism ; and finally, into Wesley an 
 Episcopacy — is revolting to every principle of justice, and to 
 every righteous claim of the King in Zion. 
 
 No one is even a member of his kingdom, only by being 
 baptized into subjection to him. And here arc rerolters, 
 who claim to have stolen the exclusive livery and preroga- 
 tives of the King, and carried it into nil these revolts, shaped 
 it into the office of a pope, of an Episcopal bishop, with his 
 princely salary, and his vices, and monopoly of appointing 
 power: the several offices of the Presbyterian aristocracies, 
 and the office of Wesley's bishops! Popery itself has never 
 been more absurd. 
 
 It is palpable that there is no legitimate ministry at all, a- 
 way from the jurisdiction of Christ. Wherever oilier rulers 
 have ascended the throne, it ceases te be the kingdom of 
 ist Those even, who had an office in the kingdom of 
 Christ, at the beginning of this revolt, could not exercise it. 
 It becomes illegitimate, even when first carried into such re- 
 volt. A revolted succession of fifteen hundred years, docs 
 not cause it to become legitimate, by the lapse of time. It is 
 all perfectly spurious, however pious and nonest the men 
 may be, solely because it is all out of the jurisdiction and out 
 of the kingdom of Christ. No person was ever a member in 
 the kingdom of Chrht, until he had been baptized into the 
 exclusive jurisdiction of Christ. Piety shows right feelings, 
 but baptism puts him under his jurisdiction. .Much less is 
 one an officer in that kingdom, who is not a member. The 
 pomp and parade of self complacent dignity, was as vUibic in 
 the officers of free-masonry, as it is in the pompous ccrennoy 
 
130 
 
 nies of other pretenders. When did God authorize the re- 
 volts of the fourth and fifth centuries; of popery; of the E- 
 piscopal, the national, the Presbyterian governments, and the 
 governments of the Wesleyan Bishops, as substitutes for the 
 original kingdom, under Christ? 
 
 8. In looking at this mas3 of sectarianism, we see the Lord 
 has a vast amount of property there. Probably the majori- 
 ty of real Christians are there, and large numbers, of good, 
 well-meaning, and well-qualified men for the ministry, are 
 serving there in this illegitimate way, who have never be- 
 come even members of his jurisdiction. They have grown 
 up under revolted jurisdictions, and never been shown the 
 wrong, and never suspected any, but have always been tam- 
 pered with, in a way that has filled them with prejudice. 
 
 All this is a wrong to Jesus Christ. He has need of them 
 all: that they should labor, work, and pray, and preach, un- 
 der his jurisdiction, and not within revolted folds, and under 
 competing jurisdictions. 
 
 9. In looking at this sectarianism, we see the fallacy of 
 the commonly received opinion, that one denomination is just 
 as good as another, and those who gain the most proselytes 
 are the most to be commended. The true principle lies far 
 back of all this. The claims of Jesus Christ are entirely dif- 
 ferent from the claims of revolters, and usurpers, and illegit- 
 imate folds. The original Fold, where the lawful King, and 
 his laws and regulations prevail, and where allegiance to him, 
 however self-denying, prevails, is entirely different from the 
 revolted folds of men, where men have contrived the consti- 
 tutions, rule the people, make many of the laws, and blindly 
 encourage a revolt from the rightful King. 
 
 10. We also see that religion, in this mass of sectarianism, 
 is wrought into merchandize, and made to be a trade for a 
 living, in many cases, as an end, when the end ought to be to 
 advance the kingdom of Christ,and through that the best inte- 
 rests of the world, and the glory of God. From the first, 
 where men have assumed the reins of government, they have 
 made merchandise of the people. Sprinkled babes, if they 
 grow up as they would wish, become fit subjects of merchan- 
 dise. The princely salaries in the church of England, the 
 merchandise of the livings, that are bought and sold, and the 
 sinecure offices of the ministry, are all in point. The hands 
 of the people are tied, and they have not even the privilege 
 of promoting the real kingdom of Christ. In Germany, the 
 government extort the salaries by direct tax, and appoint all 
 the ministers, who fill their places for pay, rarely see their 
 
131 
 
 partshoners, lire in wealth, and thus the cause of Christ lan- 
 guishes. The same remark is true, to greater or less extent, 
 in all the seceding fold. 
 
 11. We see how difficult it must be for Christians in these 
 folds, daily to pray, " Thy kingdom come." Refusing to be- 
 come members of it, in a state of alienation from the jurisdic- 
 tion of Christ, never having put themselves under his own 
 jurisdiction, within his kingdom, but having always remain- 
 ed under revolted jurisdictions, — and yet required daily to 
 pray " Thy Kingdom come /" How can they do it with sin* 
 cerity, while their practice contradicts their prayers? How 
 can they pray for a kingdom, at the same time the Lord re- 
 quires them to become members of it, and yet they refuse to 
 do it? 
 
 12. We see what it is that has built up infant baptism, and 
 baby sprinkling. It is interested feelings in these revolted 
 folds, who use it for sectarian purposes, to secure numbers. 
 
 13. We sec how Christian baptism has become so much 
 frittered away. It was originally the pledge of the convert, 
 whereby he volvutarily subjected himself to the jurisdiction 
 of Christ, within his kingdom. It remained such, till these 
 revolts began. When the aspiring clergy, in the fourth and 
 fifth centuries, assumed the reins of government, then they 
 procured the babes to be baptized, from selfish motives. The 
 principle of subjecting believers to Christ, was left, and the 
 principle of subjecting babes to usurpers became the substi- 
 tute. The principle of subjecting them to popery, soon be- 
 came the substitute. The principle of subjecting them to na- 
 tional governments, soon was also a substitute. The prin- 
 ciple of building up the national church of England, after 
 1534, was a substitute. The principle of building up Presby- 
 toriinism, and Congregationalism, by securing babes, soon 
 became a snbstitute. The sprinkling of babes, it was soon 
 found would subserve the interests of these revolted folds 
 just as well, and so became a substitute. Wetting, pouring, 
 sprinkling, or immersion, just as suits the candidate, where- 
 by they become subjected to Wesley's hierarchy, became a 
 substitute. And finally, baptism is nothing but the token of 
 the need of divine purification. 
 
 In the early governments, in popery, in the Episcopal, 
 Presbyteiian, and. Congregational governments, infant Imp- 
 nr the substitute, has always been enforced upon the pa- 
 rents, and the penalty wh* excommunication, until the last 
 fifteen or twenty years. The immersion of converts into sub- 
 jection to the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, is what he re- 
 
132 
 
 quires, and what these all war against. Those who obey 
 Christ are dubbed as Baptists, and held up to odium, and per- 
 secuted, and opposed. Who does not see through all this, and 
 discover what is right? 
 
 13. We see, in looking at this mass of sectarianism, the 
 true idea of close communion. While all Christians contin- 
 ued to be baptized into Christ, as soon as converted, accord- 
 ing to the command of Christ, and enjoy the privileges as 
 soon as they become members, there was no close communi- 
 on. Oar denomination, during 250 years, held precisely the 
 same principles as now ; and yet there was no close commu- 
 nion. After sections begin to secede, and organize in anoth- 
 er way, and to wander wider and wider, then close commu- 
 nion exists. We have not wandered or altered, but still obey 
 the regulations of Christ. It is the wanderers, then, who 
 have made it, by fixing their own folds, presenting their own 
 terms, demanding of us to follow, and because we would not 
 wander too, have charged the fault of the separation upon 
 us. Had they never wandered from the original Fold, of 
 Christ, there never would nave been any close communion, 
 but the kingdom of Christ would have been prosperous and 
 happy. We simply ask them, therefore, to return to the or- 
 iginal fold of Christ. The path is simple. Be baptized in- 
 to the jurisdiction of Christ, and there is no close communion. 
 Remain under the jurisdiction of men, and -it will remain. 
 Because. Christ lias made no provision for incorporating such 
 a revolt, into his kingdom, only by the return we have nam- 
 ed. 
 
 But here the objection comes up, "If all this is so wrong, 
 why then does God bless those so much, who have thus wan- 
 dered ?" We answer, God is infinitely merciful, and blesses 
 all people, as far as he possibly can, consistently with their 
 cireumst .rices. He blesses them so much, because they have 
 not consciously, any more of these wrongs. The inference 
 is, that if they had less, he would bless all still more. And 
 if all were entirely rid of these divisions, and alienations from 
 Him, and all were one in his Fold, as they were during the 
 first and second centuries, blessings would be poured out in 
 such abundance, that there would hardly be room enough to 
 contain them. The Kingdom of God would come with pow- 
 ei, and the earth would soon be filled with the knowledge of 
 the Lord ; missionary operations would cease to be embar- 
 rassed ; our divisions among ourselves would cease ; our u- 
 nited influence would be exerted upon the world; and they 
 would hear the voice of God and live. 
 
133 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 FRAUD UPON CHRIST. 
 
 When our dear paedobaptist friends were sprinkled as babes, 
 it was done under the wrong jurisdiction. So modern a ju- 
 risdiction, of course, cannot be the right. This sprinkling 
 was a snare, which confined them in the wrong, and kept 
 them from the right jurisdiction. No jurisdiction can possi- 
 bly be right, but that of Christ exclusively. A jurisdiction 
 of men, clothed with imaginary offices, which have been in- 
 vented within a very few centuries, must be a spurious juris- 
 diction, and the offices be spurious. The jurisdiction of the 
 rulers in the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, and 
 Methodist organizations, are palpably such. Their rantism, 
 and subsequent training, caused them to grow up under the 
 wrong jurisdiction ; one that sprang into existence in all 
 those cases, within three hundred years, and without any di- 
 vine warrant for such divisions, for such new offices, or such 
 new and rival folds. Adding- them to Christianity, is as much 
 forbidden, as adding any thing else. And yet these frauds 
 have perhaps grown up without beginning to suspect any 
 wrong. 
 
 Ministers, when first invested, were hindered from Chris- 
 tian baptism; i. e. from subjecting themselves to the exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction of Christ. They devoted their lives to the 
 wrong jurisdiction, became ordained — i. e. appointed, to of- 
 ficiate under the wrong jurisdiction, and have been sprinkling 
 babes into the wrong jurisdiction, thus ensnaring them also, 
 and confining them wrongfully under the same. Now as the 
 jurisdiction is spurious, all these operations are spurious. — 
 Sprinkled when babes — a false confidence secured — the in- 
 fluence of the parents, and the sect devoted to continuing 
 them there — converted to Christ, and then neglecting to take 
 the oath of allegiance to him, within his kingdom — but in the 
 delusion and blindness of the mind, becoming more and more 
 strongly attached to that spurious jurisdiction, he devotes his 
 whole life to it; and thus, in all probability, does more hurt 
 than good. With one's hands to the plough, and his head 
 
 L 
 
134 
 
 turned back, he can cultivate the field, as well as such a mi- 
 nister, with his hand turned away from the real kingdom of 
 Christ, and devoted with the spirit of a bigot, to a spurious fold, 
 that he can benefit that kingdom. Instead of this, he Works 
 against the real kingdom of Christ, during all his life, and 
 consecrates all his energies to building Up an opposition fold, 
 and a rival jurisdiction. 
 
 Reader, baby sprinkling has done all this. If rival gov- 
 ernments were to spring up in the United States, against the 
 General Government, and you were to devote your whole 
 lives to building them up, and become ordained under them, 
 the case would be precisely parallel. And if you were to get 
 babes and others committed, then it would be the same in ef- 
 fect, as your baby sprinkling. 
 
 Suppose you are a minister there. Whenever you have 
 sprinkled, you have wronged the truth. 1. In saying, "I 
 baptize," without doing it. 2. In using the name of the Tri- 
 nity, as authority for it at all, and especially when it is not 
 done. 3. In pretending the babe, or person sprinkled, is 
 thereby put into the jurisdiction of Christ. 4. In pretending 
 the child, in such case, is, in fact, devoted to Christ. In 
 Calvin's time, and long after, the language was " Giving them 
 to the Church." This was telling the truth. 5. If, in pray- 
 er, you told the Lord, the dedication had been made to him, 
 you uttered a falsehood in prayer, and yet, probably knew it 
 not. 6. In pretending to the congregation that the Lord even 
 authorized such a mockery, as never existed till 1556, ex- 
 cept in the case of popery, after 131 1. 7. By your life and in- 
 fluence, in sanctioning all this mass of iniquity, in all the popish 
 national, and hierarchial dominions, who have carried on this 
 fraud for so many centuries. It is all treachery and fraud 
 upon Christ, however honest you might have been in heart. 
 
 The effect of the class paper is also to put people into the 
 wrong fold. It is simply building up a wrong jurisdiction, 
 and confining you away from the jurisdiction of Christ. Mi- 
 nisters, then, who are employed either in managing either a- 
 dults, or helpless babes into these wrong jurisdictions, are do- 
 ing immense injury to Christ, are promoting a treasonable 
 state against him, and are, in fact, cheating all the parties con- 
 cerned. 
 
 All must admit that Christ alone, on principles of common 
 justice, and common equity, is entitled to all Christians, as 
 his own properly. " Ye are not your own — ye are bought 
 with a price." " My sheep," — is his endearing appellation. 
 The,y are "redeemed unto himself,' ''redeemed by his blood," 
 
135 
 
 *rtd " redeemed unto God." But the rulers in these modern 
 folds of men, act on the principle that they have a better right 
 to Christians than Christ himself — to use them for their selfish 
 sectarian ends. Hence the most fraudulent measures are of- 
 ten resorted to, in order to defraud Jesus Christ out of them. 
 •' We have labored and prayed for you," is the language often 
 used, " and therefore you owe yourselves to us ;" i. e. to our 
 sect, and to our selfish purposes. Just as if the Lord had no 
 righteous claims to them — as if a few such efforts had bound 
 the converts to give away themselves, not to Christ, but to a 
 selfish sect, to usurping rulers, and to a rival jurisdiction. 
 
 The whole policy of baby sprinkling, was intended by the 
 original contrivers, to cheat Jesus Christ out of the babes, by 
 stealth, and is therefore, an imposition upon the parents, the 
 child, and upon Christ, and is a perfect cheat on Christ, in its 
 effect. The honest parents are duped thus to betray their 
 children into the hands of human rulers, under the pretence 
 of giving tnem to Christ. The command, that there be no 
 divisions, prohibits the existence of these other folds, and 
 these usurpations — and of course, prohibits the building them 
 up by such stratagems, and such a mockery of Christ's or- 
 dinance, and the building them up at all. The partaker is 
 as bad as the thief. 
 
 If all Christians and all converts are Christ's property,then 
 all such movements are frauds upon him. To steal our neigh- 
 bor's sheep, and secure his lambs prematurely, by stealth 
 and stratagem, is not worse, in principle, than it is to seduce 
 the sheep of Christ, and secure babes by stealth, so as to pos- 
 sets them at all events, when they are converted. To steal 
 from Jesus Christ, in order to build up usurped jurisdictions, 
 is worse than common theft, because of the dignity of the 
 Person defrauded — the great value of the property stolen, 
 and the application of it to build up an opposition against 
 him. People have become perfect maniacs in these matters. 
 They steal in open day-light — steal from Christ — steal as if 
 they were doing God service — and are so crazy with secta- 
 rianism, many of them verily believe the more they steal the 
 more they do God service. They lay the most subtle plans, 
 to steal from and rob the dear Saviour of«his rights, an. I do 
 it under a pretence of having authority from him. They 
 steal for the glory of God, and in the name of Christ. All 
 this grows out of the establishment of these competing folds 
 of men against the kingdom of Christ, and the delusions 
 therewith connected. Consequently, every thing which tends 
 to build them up, even baby sprinkling, is wickedness, is immo- 
 
136 
 
 ral in its whole tendency, and stands connected with a general 
 course of frauds, which, if committed under a civil govern- 
 ment, would expose the offender to State's prison. To let 
 down the fence, and seduce sheep and lambs away from 
 a neighbor is certainly no better in principle, than it is to se- 
 duce sheep and lambs from Christ. The very existence and 
 continuance of these other folds, than Christ's, and the build- 
 ing them up, is a succession of such frauds and thefts, howev- 
 er honest, deluded, and deceived the agents may be ; it is high 
 treason against heaven. 
 
 Paul " verily thought he ought to do many things contrary 
 to the name of Jesus of Nazereth." But when he came to 
 himself, he found that he needed " mercy" for those same 
 transactions. These men, who, in modern times, are doing so 
 much against the kingdom of Christ, and yet " verily believ- 
 ing they are doing God service," will find sooner or later, that 
 they must have great mercy from God, and that they must 
 "weep bitterly," as did Peter, for thus denying the only 
 Lord, and for building up other lords, the usurpers of his 
 power, who are thus lording it over his people against his. 
 will, or they will weep eternally. 
 
 In the civil governments, every man is obliged to know the 
 law. And if he breaks the law through ignorance, it is no 
 excuse, if he has the means of knowing it. Men would be 
 indicted daily for defrauding a civil government, as they dai- 
 ly defraud Christ. What if a rival government in our midst, 
 and at the expense of our government, were daily building up, 
 and the agents were daily to practice such stratagems, to en- 
 list our babes under them, and to seduce our citizens — to use 
 class-papers, and baby sprinkling, as we daily see it, and 
 were so perfectly deluded as to see no evil in it ! How long 
 would it be before the leaders, en masse* would be sent to 
 State's prison, as a warning to the rest. The honest inten- 
 tions of the thieves, or their delusions, would never be admit- 
 ted as an excuse. 
 
 This is not a highly painted description of the sectarian 
 thefts continually and openly practised under the cloak of re- 
 ligion, in our country. 
 
 Baptism, into Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, implies exclu- 
 sive subjection to the Triune God, in that ordinance. " Bap- 
 tized into Christ," implies subjection to Christ. The bapti- 
 zed were " added to the Lord. Acts ii. 41. "Baptized into 
 Moses," (the literal translation,) implies subjection to Moses; 
 "baptism into death," (Rom. vi. 4,) i. e. into the great princi- 
 ple of our death to sin, implies subjection to that fundamea- 
 
137 
 
 Ul Christian principle ; baptism into the death of Christ, 
 implies subjection to the great fundamental principle of 
 salvation, by his atonement ; baptism into the kingdom cf 
 Christ, implies subjection to the rules and regulations 
 of that kingdom, under the great Ruler, and rightful King. 
 The prominent idea in Christian baptism, in the king- 
 dom, is subjection to the proper authority, viz. Christ. It is 
 true, the willingness to die to sin, the burial in baptism, and 
 the resurrection, have an important resemblance to the volun- 
 tary death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ; and as 
 Christ, after his resurrection was in heaven, in glory, so we, 
 after our baptism, are in the church, where we must H walk in 
 newness of life." The resemblance, however, is collateral 
 and incidental in its bearing, although of vast importance ; 
 and the argument thence derived to enforce " newness of life," 
 is also of inconceivable importance. 
 
 The prominent and chief idea of Christian baptism, then, 
 is subjection to Christ. The baptism of believers into the 
 kingdom of Christ, accumulates to him, "gathers with him," 
 and under his jurisdiction, where there is "one fold, and one 
 Shepherd. But gathering, by another initiating ordinance, 
 under other rulers, who have usurped the dominion, " scat- 
 ters abroad from Christ. 
 
 Subjection to the usurpers of his power, therefore, is a 
 mockery. Such a use of the real ordinance, or of the substi- 
 tute, or of the sacred words used in baptism, or of the minis- 
 terial office, in relation to either adults or babes, as in fact 
 gathers not with Christ, but scatters and subjects them to 
 usurpers is a mockery, is profane, and is abomination in 
 the sight of God. The kingdom of Christ, therefore, should 
 be rightly understood, and these folds of men should be right- 
 ly understood, as baptism, or the substitute, is, in fact, the in- 
 itiating ordinance under the rulers, in all the several jurisdic- 
 tions, wherever it is done. Babes are considered by all go- 
 Ternments, as subjected under the rulers, wherever they are 
 sprinkled. Parents and candidates should therefore know to 
 whom they subject themselves and their children, not 
 merely in intention, but in fact. If it is, in fact, a subjection 
 to usurpers, and of course, a lolhing to Christ, it should be 
 known, and the parents should awake from their delusion. 
 What is, in fact done, not what the deluded mean, is the true 
 test of the transition. That, which, in fact, "scatters away 
 from Christ," should not be through delusion, viewed as "ga- 
 thering to him." 
 
 All these things must be understood, or we shall never have 
 
138 
 
 adequate ideas of what is, in fact, done in baptism, or in tner 
 substitute, or in the modern delusion of baby sprinkling 
 
 The usurpers of dominion, are the Pope — all the variety of 
 hierarchies, the church and state establishments, the Bishops 
 and governments established by law over the church of Eng- 
 land, Wesley's bishops and subalterns, with their several 
 Conventions, and Conferences; the Aristocracies, and Hier- 
 archies, in the Presbyterian church, consisting of Sessions, 
 Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies; including the 
 Ruling Elders, the mere tools of the hierarchies, — and those 
 particular ministers in all the several folds and Conventions, 
 who seem perfectly intoxicated with the love of pre-eminence 
 and the love of rule, and all the rulers elsewhere, who assume 
 the reins of government over the people of Christ. All these 
 dominions and offices (the office of the ministry, simply ex- 
 cepted) have come into existence long since the times of the 
 apostles, and all of them, except popery, within three hun- 
 dred and six years. Their position on the map of history, 
 and the times when they came into existence, demonstrate 
 them to be the innovations and devices of men. Constitutions, 
 the devices of men, within that period, are the only authority 
 they have ; and this is no authority at all. The fact that oth 
 ers had filled such offices before them, is their only pretext. 
 The love of party, in the people, and the love of rule in the 
 rulers, are the bonds which cement them together ; and 
 the cheat, the profane hoax, of baby sprinkling, is the main 
 dependance for enlarging these dominions of men. Babes 
 thus imposed upon, should spurn it with indignation, and re- 
 volt from the dominion to which, by the delusion of their pa- 
 rents, they were subjected in their helpless state, as soon as 
 they are old enough to understand it. 
 
 We have, then, a vast amount of real popery now in the 
 country. It stalks abroad in these dominions, with an un- 
 blushing face. The usurpers of such, exorbitant powers, are 
 imperceptibly extending their dominions by stratagem, far 
 and wide, and are thus hindering the prevalence of the real 
 dominion of Christ. Every sprinkled child, according to these 
 constitutions, is considered as subjected to the powers that 
 be, wherever it is done. 
 
 Now baptism, and the substitute, should always be honest- 
 ly and intelligibly performed, without any falsehood, or pre- 
 varication, or deception. If the minister is to sprinkle; the 
 candidate should insist on his saying, " J sprinkle." If he 
 is to pour, should insist on his saying, " I pour." If he is to 
 baptize, then, and only then, let him say, " / baptize." Let 
 
139 
 
 him use just such words as convey the exact truth. How can 
 the candidate serve God in a transaction which is performed 
 with falsehood in the language, and in the act, however delu- 
 ded and honest the minister may be. It is deception of the 
 grossest kind, to lie or prevaricate in so solemn a transaction, 
 or for the candidate to suffer it to be done. The candidate is 
 a partaker in the sin, if he suffers it to be so done and said, as 
 is contrary to truth. 
 
 And further, — the minister should be required to tell what 
 the real fact is that is done in the transaction. If the child or 
 candidate is to be subjected to the Presbyterian governors 
 and rulers, then insist on the minister telling the plain truth, 
 and saying, " I baptize, sprinkle, or pour, thee, (as the case 
 may be,) into the Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and Gene- 
 ral Assemblies, of the Presbyterian government." To pre- 
 tend to subject the candidate to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 when in fact he is subjected to other and human rulers, is de- 
 ception. The candidate as he values his soul, should not al- 
 low it. If he does, he is partaker in the guilt. Let the ho- 
 nest truth be told without any deception. 
 
 If the candidate is to be subjected to an Episcopal hierar- 
 chy, he should insist upon the minister's telling the truth. To 
 pretend, in such a case, to subject the candidate to Jesus 
 Christ, is just as deceptive as it would be to pretend, in enlist- 
 ing soldiers that it is under American colours, when in fact 
 they are, by stealth, subjected to French or British colours. 
 Such deceptions, however honest the minister may be, is too 
 barefaced. •* I baptize, I sprinkle, I pour thee, and into sub- 
 jection to the Pope, to the Episcopal Bishop, or to Wesley's 
 Bishops," (as the case may be,) must be the substance of the 
 language of truth, if the candidate chooses to go under such 
 human rulers. This custom of deceiving people, as to the 
 nature of the transaction, and as to the rulers to whom the 
 child or person is subjected, should no longer be continued. 
 
 The sprinkling of babes and others, never subjects them to 
 to Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ never allowed it. The 
 name of the Trinity, therefore, should not be mocked with 
 it. Its prototype, the immersion of babes, was introduced 
 during the growth of popery, under a state of things similar 
 to that now in our country, and was always intended 
 to subject the child ostensibly to Jesus Christ, but really to 
 other lords, and under other governments. The pa- 
 rent should not allow the deception, but should demand 
 of the minister to have the honest truth fairly told. Let 
 the minister then say, " I sprinkle thee into subjection to the 
 
140 
 
 Presbyterian rulers, or to the Methodist bishop, or to the 
 Episcopalian bishop," just as the truth in the case may be, 
 and cease the mockery of the sacred Trinity. 
 
 All these governments hold the child as subjected to them, 
 wherever he is christened. Let the plain truth then be told* 
 It is lying and deception, therefore, to pretend that it subjects 
 them to Christ. Let the plain truth be told, and the bubble 
 will soon burst, and the delusion soon end with the intelligent. 
 
 The sprinkling of babes is never any thing else but a sub- 
 jection of them to illegitimate rulers. 
 
 The whole business of deceiving and being deceived, in the 
 way of treacherous enlistments, by baptism, or by its substitute, 
 and under human rulers, is fast accellerating the establish- 
 ment of popery among us ; and in every step of it, is defrauding 
 and cheating Jesus Christ. For if under the pretence of his co- 
 lors, the soldiers and the babes are in fact enlisted, and com- 
 mitted by delusion and deception under other rulers, and with- 
 in the modern folds of men, then Jesus Christ, the only right- 
 ful ruler, and his kingdom, are cheated by it. Insult should 
 not be added to injury, by pretending to do it under his colors, 
 and in his name. 
 
 This whole movement on one side is building up popery, 
 increasing the power of the usurpers, is at antipodes against the 
 kingdom of Christ,, and against the safety of our country, and 
 the best interest of the world. When will parents see that 
 this baby sprinkling movement only fools them, is unprinci- 
 pled, is profane, is anti-christian, is a solemn mockery, and 
 is, in fact, treacherously building up the cause of the enemy, 
 under the pretence of building up the cause of Christ. Pa- 
 rents deceive their children, and yet ignorantly, and with ho- 
 nest motives. Children grow up with the deception, and be- 
 come ministers, and deceive others, though they may mean 
 no such thing. Thus all pass along, deceiving and being de- 
 ceived, destroying all peace and harmony among Christians, 
 and in the Christian world ; robbing Jesus Christ, of mock- 
 ing his ordinance, uttering falsehoods in the mock service, 
 and building up false rulers, who are stretching further and fur- 
 ther to a state of absolute popery and monarchy overChristians. 
 
 Even the immersion of a Christian, if it subject him to the 
 wrong rulers, and in the wrong government, is a baptism, os- 
 tensibly under the colors of Christ, but, in fact, deceptively, 
 under a totally different ruler, and different government, and 
 for this reason, is not Christian baptism. Jesus Christ must 
 have all the dominion, where we are, or we are not baptized 
 into his kingdom. 
 
141 
 
 When will people awake, and enlist under the banner of 
 Christ, instead of enlisting under that of usurpers, and rebels, 
 and self-created rulers. The building up of these monarehs 
 and rulers by the stratagem and deceptions of baby sprinkling, 
 counteracts the dominion of Christ, and the spread of his king- 
 dom, as he originally contemplated, hinders Christians, after 
 conversion, from being exclusively und£r him. Whosoever is 
 not with Christ is against him. What a pity so many good mi- 
 nisters, and so many babes, by being fooled, should be prepared 
 favor during all their lives, the above popish state of things, to 
 at antipodes against Christ, and in favor of his rivals. 
 
 This baby sprinkling, we cannot bnt see is a gross fraud. 
 It obstructs the prevalence of Christ's kingdom ; it cheats 
 him out of the true intent and effect of his own initiating or- 
 dinance, by using the mockery of it, and the words of it, and 
 for another purpose ; it cheats him, by teaching that the wili 
 of men and of parents may make the law, — thus trampling his 
 authority, and his right to make the law, in the dust ; it cheats 
 him, by preventing him from ever having those who confide 
 in it, in a state of'oneness under himself, in his own kingdom ; it 
 cheats him out of their usefulness to him, and their right ex- 
 ample; it cheats him out of the privilege of ruling his own 
 people for their own best interest under himself, and for the 
 best interests of a perishing world ; it cheats him, by the ob- 
 structions it throws in his way ; it cheats him out of the privi- 
 lege of gathering them all in his own way, and of seeing them 
 all happy as one, and enjoying free communion as he would 
 have it. The ministers who were cheated with this delu- 
 sion in infancy, became the blind and unconscious tools in 
 cheating others. They are cheated into the belief that it is 
 divine, when it is only a palpable modern hoax ; and being so 
 cheated, they cheat others during all their lives with it, and 
 all this without knowing it to be a cheat. By confiding in 
 this baby sprinkling, they become instrumental in all this 
 world of iniquity, arid know it not. They do a great injury 
 to the kingdom of Christ and to the world, and breed and 
 perpetuate divisions, and know it not. They mean to 
 build up the kingdom of Christ, but in reality build up the fold 
 of usurpers, when they say, «• I baptize," tell a falsehood, and 
 do not know it : and in this way cheat others by the falsehood, 
 and know it not. When they add, M In the name of Fa- 
 ther, Son, and Holy Ghost," if they mean by authority of 
 the great God, they tell another falsehood, and know it 
 not; and thus cheat the congregation by this falsehood, and 
 know it not. If, in the use of these latter words, they mean 
 
142 
 
 to say they subject the babe to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 in that, too, they tell a falsehood, and know it not; (or in fact 
 they only subject the child to human rulers in an earthly 
 kingdom, the device of men. They cheat the people, and 
 know it not, when they teach that the child is by that fiction 
 subjected to Christ or baptized. If after this they pray to God, 
 and s iy to him that it has been done according to his instruc- 
 tion, they tell a falsehood to God, and know it not; and thus 
 cheat the people, aud know it not, by a solemn falsehood ut- 
 tered rn prayer. When they publicly defend this delusion as 
 divine, they defend a false pretender, and know it not, and in 
 this way cheat the people, and know it not. When they en- 
 courage the parents to it, they of course cheat the parents, 
 and know it not; and the parents, too, cheat their babes; for 
 while they really mean to give up their children to God, they 
 only in fact bind out their children as slaves to other lords, 
 and thus cheat their children out of the privilege of beingdevo- 
 ted to the right Lord, and in the right kingdom ; and the child 
 is cheated as he grows up, into a belief that he is in a right 
 kingdom, when in fact he is only in a fold whose constitution 
 was contrived by men, and is ruled by men ; and being so 
 cheated, he is also cheated out of the idea of ever joining the 
 right kingdom in the Lord's way after conversion. And so 
 the Lord, the kingdom, and the world, are cheated out of his 
 usefulness; and not only this, but he becomes, in his turn, a 
 cheat to cheat others, and all this without knowing it. And 
 if he becomes a minister, he becomes prepared to cheat thou- 
 sand* of others in the same way, without knowing it is a cheat. 
 Such cheated parents, cheat their children into the belief that 
 they are baptized, when they are not, andall this without 
 knowing that what they say or do is a cheat, and also that it 
 would be wrong to renounce it, when in fact nothing would 
 be more pleasing to Jesus Christ. 
 
 All babes who are cheated with this fiction, become prepared 
 to cheat others with it during all their lives. The Christian 
 world are cheated by this delusion out of the gratification 
 that Christian union, under Christ would afford them, by the 
 divisions it produces, and in the jars, the jealousies, and mis- 
 directed expenses and efforts it occasions. It cheats a perish- 
 ing world out of such an infinite and invaluable privilege as 
 a state of union in the Christian world. It cheats benevolent 
 individuals, who have contributed their substance and their 
 efforts to benevolent institutions, out of the privilege of reali- 
 zing the objects which their expanded and benevolent hearts 
 desire. It cheats the Christian world, by the blinding and 
 
143 
 
 darkening influence of such a delusion, out of the privilege 
 of discovering any possible way in which Christians can be 
 united together, it does all this by building up the modern 
 folds of men under managers, whose hearts are full of the 
 love of rule, and are perfectly blinded by delusion, and un- 
 der systems and constitutions which are the contrivance of 
 men, and of modern origin. It counteracts and obstructs the 
 prevalence of the real kingdom of Christ, under his own or- 
 ganization, where he shall have all the power and all the do- 
 minion. Of all the delusions, therefore, which have ever pre- 
 vailed, the misapplication of the initiating ordinance of Christ 
 and of its substitute to babes, in its tendency to build up po- 
 pery, and the other rival folds of men, to gratify those who 
 have the love of rule, and who are willing to gratify it at the 
 expense of dividing the kingdom of Christ, and continuing 
 these divisions, and of robbing him of his dominion, and in its 
 tendency to promote and extend delusion, disobedience to 
 God, rebellion in Israel, and its tendency to destroy the use- 
 fulness of those who are duped by it after their conversion, 
 and in leading them to build up other lords, and under other 
 constitutions, than the Saviour and his constitution, has doubt- 
 less occasioned more real injury to the kingdom of Christ, 
 and thrown greater obstacles in the way of Christian union, 
 and of the conversion of the world, than any device or strata- 
 gem of the grand adversary, that was ever contrived. 
 
 As those constitutions formed by the Pope, by Henry VIII, 
 by Calvin, and by Wesley, conveyed, in fact, no power, (for 
 the makers had none to convey,) as God is the only source of 
 power in these matters, and not the people, or any rulers, and 
 as those, therefore, who step into power, under them are usur- 
 pers, the ordinations derived from such usurpers can not pos- 
 sibly be valid; because a usurper, having no power but what 
 he usurps, conveys none but a usurped power, and this is 
 none at all. It is all done under the wrong constitution, in 
 the wrong fold, and under the wrong rulers. Nothing is 
 done right, except that which is done within the kingdom 
 and government, and constitution, and jurisdiction of Jesus 
 Christ. If the beginning is usurpation, the succession is no- 
 thing but usurpation. The very existence of these other folds 
 <lli<>n. The builders of them and the rulers have ten thou- 
 sand times more cause to weep bitterly than Peter had. He 
 never went so far in denying his Lord, as to assume the reins of 
 government, and build up opposing folds, and frame consti- 
 tutions, usurp the dominion over his people, ordain subalterns, 
 and provide for a succession, and provide to forestall numbers 
 
144 
 
 by securing babes by stratagem. Peter's was a sudden emer- 
 gency, and be immediately repented. But these modern ru- 
 lers seem to show no disposition to repent. 
 
 From the principles laid down, it is evident that every bishop, 
 officer, and ruler, holding on to the reins of government, 
 should immediately cease his usurpation, and repent of his 
 rebellion against the rightful and only Lord over Christians, 
 and cease to perpetuate this treason, as he would meet it at 
 the bar of God. Every subaltern minister, however honest 
 in deriving an office from such usurpation, and under such re- 
 bellion, should see and candidly turn away from his mistake, 
 and set an example that is adapted to remove such rebellion, 
 and such a treasonable state of things. The original usurp- 
 ers had no power but that which was obtained by robbing 
 God; of course they did not have it in fact ; consequently 
 they conferred none. Every transaction, so far as the power 
 is derived from such usurpation, is void from the first. 
 
 Christians who find themselves subject to usurpers, should 
 immediately withdraw, and subject themselves to him who 
 alone has all the power, and who has bought them with his 
 blood. Ministers under usurpers, if they go on, and attempt 
 to gain proselytes, should be aware that in every step they 
 are defrauding Christ, by attempts to get away his right- 
 ful subjects, and to subject them to the usurpers under whom 
 they act. Such ministers are promoting rebellion, and it is 
 an imposition upon those with whom they tamper, and it is 
 perpetuating rebellion against Jesus Christ and against his 
 dominion. 
 
 Those who were sprinkled in infancy, were only sprink- 
 led into subjection to these usurpers of dominion. It was 
 false in principle, and a profane use of the words connected 
 with baptism, and the sprinkling was nothing but a stratagem, 
 the device of men. As soon as converted therefore, they 
 should immediately subject themselves to Christ, just as if no- 
 thing had been done. If any confide in it as a substitute for 
 circumcision, they should remember that Paul, the three thou- 
 sand, and the five thousand, were probablv all really circum- 
 cised, and while the law was in force, too, and yet, as soon as 
 converted, they were all subjected to Christ in baptism. 
 Wherefore, go thou, and do likewise. 
 
 For honest Christians to get on board the wrong ship, in 
 these times, is no uncommon occurrence. They should im- 
 mediately rectify the mistake. It is a disgrace, and disho- 
 ner, when apprized of it to remain. But it is an honor to rec- 
 tify, and get on board the ship of Jesus Christ, where he alone 
 
145 
 
 is commander. Under the wrong commander, all is wrong. 
 One error as to church organization, always needs human ru' 
 lers to take care of it, and these by a stretch of power soon 
 mislead the church and decoy it away from the rightful Cap- 
 tain. No organization can possibly be right, except it be 
 where Christ himself has all the power, and where Christians 
 are subjected exclusively to him. Let each organization be 
 tested by the leading principles we have given, and let each 
 minister test himself, and decide under what government he 
 is building, and whether he derives his authority from Christ, 
 or from usurpers, and whether he is accustomed to baptize 
 into Christ, or ranlize into subjection to usurpers. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 PRETENDED SUCCESSION IN OFFICE. 
 
 i being in the universe but Jesus Christ, has any right to 
 the dominion and jurisdiction over his kingdom as emanating 
 from the sacred Trinity, the true source of all power. 
 
 The covenant of redemption eternally subsisting between the 
 three persons in the Trinity, has acceded this right to reign 
 exclusively and permanently to Jesus Christ. He is placed 
 upon the holy hill, Zion, and he is to reign till all ene- 
 mies are subdued at his feet. All power in heaven and 
 on earth is given to him from the true fountain. 
 (Matt, xxviii. 18.) The chain of title is unbroken and direct. 
 In matters of religion, the people are not the fountain of pow- 
 er, but God. The tail is not to be the head, nor the head the 
 tail. In civil and political matters the people are the source 
 of power, but in religion God is the only source of power, 
 and he has given it to Christ. Where did the chain of title 
 to power, among these modern rulers over these modern 
 folds, built by men and enlarged by these stratagems begin? 
 In the kingdom of the Pope, the usurpation began with the 
 first founder of popery. In the church of England, it began 
 with Henry VIII his Parliament, and the wicked bishops, 
 hi the Presbyterian kingdom it began in 1641, with Calvin. 
 ilvin was only a subordinate officer under the Pope — 
 had never gone into tin: kingdom and jurisdiction of Christ — 
 bad B4T6I Named nor acquiesced in the principles of that 
 kingdom under Christ . of course never having a membership 
 
 M 
 
146 
 
 there, he never had an office from the kingdom of Christ. 
 His office was illegitimate, and yet his is all the office out of 
 which Presbyterianism has grown. As popery was in the 
 revolt, it had no legitimate offices at all, and of course, none 
 to confer. Calvin had none but of them ; of course it was 
 none. As the Presbyterians have never returned to the orig- 
 inal Fold of Christ, by being baptized into him, they can 
 have no legitimate offices, of course. 
 
 A revolt from popery took along all the offices which the 
 Church of England ever had. Wesley's chain of title to an 
 office began in the church of England. But what was his of- 
 fice? merely that of a Priest or deacon. 
 
 The chain of title to office then, in his bishops, began with 
 him. Any other person in the world, and just as much out 
 of the jurisdiction of Christ, has just as good a right to start 
 and head a succession of bishops. But as Wesley had no 
 such power to convey, of course his succession of bishops 
 have none. When did God authorize Wesley in 1784, to be- 
 gin a line of bishops, and to clothe them with such powers? 
 If he had no such authority, and no such powers, his bishops 
 have none, and those who hold offices under them have none. 
 The chain of title to power in the Methodist jurisdiction, be- 
 gan at Wesley, in 1784. 
 
 So in the kingdom of free-masonry, the chain of title to 
 power began with Elias Ashmole, in 1717. In the kingdom 
 of Mormonism, at Joe Smith, in 1830. 
 
 Suppose Beelzebub had am office in heaven ; could he ex- 
 ercise that office in the kingdom of darkness? Were the 
 terms upon which he received that office such, that he 
 might exercise it in heaven a while, then rebel, and revolt, 
 then be thrust down to hell, and still exercise that office in 
 hell? Suppose the founders of popery held offices in the 
 kingdom of Christ, were they empowered to exercise 
 those offices ; first in the kingdom of Christ for a while, then 
 to rebel, then to build up a rival and opposing kingdom, and 
 still to exercise those same offices in this rebellious and new 
 formed kingdom? When an officer of anarmy becomes the 
 head of a mutiny, and revolts, and fights the army whence 
 his power was derived, does he hold his office any longer, as 
 of the original army? Certainly not. As soon as an officer of 
 any description begins to act in a revolted, or another com- 
 peting kingdom or government, his office from the first, in the 
 nature of things, ceases and becomes void. To pretend to ex- 
 ercise it in another government, or kingdom, or army, or 
 eountry, or jurisdiction, than that where it was conferred, is 
 
147 
 
 perfectly absurd in the nature of things. To turn vulture up- 
 on the government which conferred it, and still to exercise it 
 as of that government, is the most absurd thing in nature. It 
 could not be so. 
 
 If the first founders of popery had offices under the king- 
 dom of Christ, yet as soon as they began to build up popery 
 — an opposing government — their offices ceased. They 
 usurped and assumed all the power they exerci-ed in the new 
 jurisdiction after that. So also when Henry the VIII. and 
 his bishops revolted from popery, they all lost the offices they 
 held even from the Pope, and from that time forward assum- 
 ed and usurped all the power they exercised. 
 
 Wesley's was no better than such as these revolters from 
 popery had to confer. But as soon as he revolted from them, 
 he lost even the office he received from them; because it was 
 not, in the nature of things, conferred to be exercised in 
 another revolted and opposition fold or kingdom. How 
 does Wesley look, then, in presuming to confer the office 
 of bishop; in establishing a new fold, with nothing but 
 an inferior and spurious office himself? And how do suc- 
 cessors look, in holding on to such powers, when their chain 
 of title goes back only to him? And how do minions look, 
 in extending the powers and jurisdictions of such Rulers, 
 and by such stratagems, as we sec. When at the reforma- 
 tion those who were thoroughly reformed, and those who 
 were in the kingdom of Christ, were minded to act exactly 
 according to the Bible, and to build exclusively under Christ's 
 jurisdiction, and by gospel baptism into subjection to him, so 
 many of them as were seduced into the observance of the strat- 
 agem of baby immersion, in order thus to build up another 
 kingdom, part clay, part brass, and part silver, — as soon as 
 they decided to do it, their office, if they held any, ceased at 
 that time, from the nature of things. Because they never re- 
 d it to build up such other folds. And as soon as Cal- 
 vin and associates decided to build up an aristocratic or Pres- 
 byterian fold, and commenced subjecting the people under 
 four aristocracies, in present Presbyterian form, they lost 
 their office, from the nature of things, which they received in 
 any other fold, if such offices existed. Because it is impossi- 
 ble for an office to be legitimate, out of the jurisdiction which 
 
 conferred it. 
 
 B( • l/.« -bull might just as well carry his office from heaven 
 into the kingdom of darkness, and exercise it there, in the na- 
 ture of the case, as Calvin and associates carry an office re- 
 ceived to build up popery with, into a newly contrived and 
 
148 
 
 totally different fold, and so much at variance from the pur- 
 pose tor which they were in that jurisdiction originally ap- 
 pointed or ordained. A Justice of the Peace appointed in 
 one county, can not exercise that office in another county. 
 A civil officer in one State, cannot exercise his office in ano- 
 ther, or for another purpose, or within another jurisdiction. 
 
 The founders of popery, then, lost aH the office they pos- 
 sessed as soon as they began to build in another jurisdiction 
 than that of Christ. The bishops and clergy, in the time of 
 Henry the VIII. , lost all the offices they held from popery, as 
 soon as they began to build in another, a revolted jurisdiction. 
 And Wesley lost all the office he held, even of the Episcopa- 
 lians, as soon as he began to build in another, a revolted fold. 
 The Congregationalists lost their offices, if they had any, as 
 soon as they began to build in another kingdom of medley 
 mixture, different from the real kingdom of Christ. And 
 Calvin and associates, lost their office, as derived from po- 
 pery, whence it came, as soon as they began to build up ano- 
 ther, an aristocratic fold, under Calvin. The whole of this 
 governmental operation, then, from the first to the last, is usur- 
 pation, and based on nothing. 
 
 What is the chain of title through popery worth, if it could 
 be traced? What was the office the first founders of popery 
 possessed, while under Christ? Not the office of a pope, but 
 merely the office of a minister, — a servant. Changing that 
 into the office of pope, or a bishop, in the modern sense, is 
 absurd, — is an usurpation, even if an office could be carried 
 from one jurisdiction to another. The office of pope often 
 was interrupted, and for a great many years at a time, and 
 once was filled by a woman. What is such a popish succes- 
 sion then worth f A chain of succession through the king- 
 dom of darkness up to Eeelzebub, would be just as good, and 
 worth just as much. A chain with so many broken links, as 
 exists in the succession in popery, is no chain at all. It be- 
 gins with antichrist at the head, and continues with antichrist 
 wherever it is found. The chain of succession up to Beelze- 
 bub, may be described in the same way, and is jii3t as good. 
 
 As no one ever had permission from Christ to establish a 
 popish government, an Episcopal government, a Congrega- 
 tional separate jurisdiction or fold, a Presbyterian aristocrat- 
 ic government, or a Wesleyan government; a chain of suc- 
 cession through popery is good for nothing, if it could be 
 shown. It stops at a usurper, even at the head of popery 
 Where in the Bible is there the least evidence that a succes- 
 sion in office from one man to another, is indispensible. As 
 
149 
 
 well might our Presidents, and all our civil officers claim a 
 jure divino right to appoint successors in office, as these ru- 
 lers over Christians claim such a right to appoint successors 
 in office. 
 
 Ordination is appointment, as the Greek word in the New 
 Testament denotes. This appointment, as the original Greek 
 implies, was often made in the apostolic churches, by raising 
 their hands. If a succession from one officer to anoth- 
 er is indispensible, none of us have it. It is certain, as we 
 have demonstrated, that it is not found in any of these revol- 
 ted folds. 
 
 It is not necessary. If it was it would have been preserv- 
 ed. If it is preserved, it is only with that succession which 
 begins with John, continues on under Christ and the apostles, 
 continues with the primitive churches, all of which held, as 
 we have demonstrated historically, the same sentiments and 
 principles as those churches which have more recently been 
 dubbed as Baptists. The succession continued with those 
 who were driven by popery into the dens and mountains, by 
 persecution, because they adhered to the same principles. 
 
 It continues also with the Waldenses, Petrobrusians, 
 and Henricians, who still adhered to the same princi- 
 ples, with the first Christians under the reformation, and with 
 those who in such vast numbers suffered under the cruel bish- 
 op Bonner, and associate Episcopal bishops. By a regular 
 succession they can easily be tiaced down to this time. 
 
 But what do we so trace 1 Not a succession of rulers and 
 usurpers, forming separate jurisdictions, ambitiously assum- 
 ing the reins of government. But we trace a humble peni- 
 tent, persecuted, obedient people, acceding all the power, and 
 jurisdiction to Jesus Christ, appointing or ordaining his min- 
 isters, according to his word. And such an appointment or 
 ordination, even without tracing any regular line, if perform- 
 ed according to his law, and under his jurisdiction, is valid. 
 When the question about an office, and its validity, is raised, 
 the question is not such as regards aline of succession. This 
 is only a notion of papists, and tyrants, and lawless usurpers. 
 Th«- only question is, Was he appointed under the right juris- 
 diciion, and to act in the right jurisdiction, and in behalf of 
 the legitimate government. If he was appointed in the wrong 
 jurisdiction, to act under an illegitimate government, and for 
 thrir purposes, it is all void, and just as if nothing had been 
 done. 
 
 How then do the Papists, the Episcopal bishops, Calvin 
 and his aristocracies, and Wesley, and his bishops, appear: 
 
150 
 
 as well as the civil governments in usurping such powers over 
 the abused people of Christ, — in insulting heaven by pretend/ 
 ing a divine descent, under such circumstances — in building 
 up such rival folds — in dividing the people of God — in trea- 
 cherously misleading the people of God — in building up such 
 treason^ and in using such stratagems for the accomplishment 
 of these nefarious purposes ? 
 
 These have all built up revolted folds, seized the reins of 
 government, opposed baptism into the jurisdiction of the true 
 King, and managed the people into their own lold, under 
 themselves, and by stratagems, when it is, in fact, treason to 
 build up such folds — when they never were authorized to ga- 
 ther up the people under themselves, when the law is, that arl 
 be gathered under Christ — and when from the true fountain 
 of power, Jesus Christ stands forth as the only King in Zion, 
 and nothing is done aright unless it is done under his jurisdic- 
 tion. 
 
 A person whohas never been made a member of the kingdom 
 of Christ, and only been made a member in an illegitimate 
 fold, acting under an illegitimate jurisdiction, neverbeen by 
 baptism put into the kingdom of Christ, but always stood at 
 antipodes a'gainst it, if he is ordained in such illegitimate ju- 
 risdiction, still it is all illegitimate. It is not a succession of 
 immersines, that aathorizes one to immerse into the kingdom 
 of Christ. Offices and baptism do not derive their validity 
 from succession, but from jurisdiction. S-uch a person even 
 immersing within the wrong jurisdiction does not subject the 
 baptized to the jurisdiction of Christ, — an effect always con- 
 templated by Christ. A person who has always remained 
 an alien, with an office from another government, might as well 
 administer the oath of allegiance without even being a mem- 
 ber himself, as for one to think he is baptizing into Christ 
 when he has never been introduced into the fold of Christ 
 himself. 
 
 There- is then no succession of bishops, and no legitimate 
 succession ol any kind out of the kingdom of Christ. But on 
 the contrary, from the first revolt from the kingdom of Christ 
 it is nothing but a succession of a revolted state, from the ju- 
 risdiction and kingdom of Christ, 
 
 Christ has a succession as we have traced. Every minis- 
 ter in gospel order is made such by Him, and recognized by 
 his church, who are under his jurisdiction. 
 
 Those who are under the jurisdiction of other rulers, are 
 all wrong from first to last, and will continue so until they 
 return to the jurisdiction of Jesus Christ. 
 
m 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 WICKEDNESS OF RULERS. 
 
 I was illustrating the prominent principle, that in the king- 
 dom of Christ, he alone has all the power, and showing where 
 this principle clashes with the Christian kingdoms of men. 
 I Hty Christian kingdoms, because so many excellent Chris- 
 tians are by some means gathered into them; kingdoms of 
 men, because men continued the constitutions, and men go- 
 vern the people who are gathered. In thekingdom of Christ 
 as it is defined in the scriptures, he alone forms the constitu- 
 tion, and he alone governs the people. Of course kingdoms 
 of the former description, are not the kingdoms of Christ. 
 He, in scripture, recognises that only a3 his kingdom, where 
 he has all the dominion. In just so far as men rule, he can- 
 not ; and it therefore ceases to be his kingdom, when they 
 *J»tt*p the dominion, or govern at all according to their con- 
 stitutions. I have not a word to say about the comparative 
 excellency of Christian character, among the Christians in 
 either of the kingdoms. Very probably there are as devoted 
 and pi ins Christians in- the Christian kingdoms of men, as 
 there arc where Christ has the entire dominion, and controls 
 all the external and internal regulations. And we charge no 
 special dark design upon the human rulers. So far as it is 
 >le for men intoxicated with the love of power, and with 
 constant strife for the pre eminence, and exercising usurped 
 dominion over the rightful subjects of another, and that oth- 
 er the Lord Jesus Christ, to be so far deluded as to he hones 
 in heart, s.i far we admit they may have honesty of heart, and 
 the whole judgment of their hearts, to the Judge of all 
 the earth. Their course is exceedingly unjust in fact, ho w- 
 iinr.»n>cioiis of it they may be. They interfere with his 
 ri<.'ht t<» spread his own kfngimi exclusively, by his agents, 
 without belt) g obstructed hy thrm and their agents, in spread* 
 iriir tlnir dominions. They interfere with his just rights, and 
 with Ml title to all the people, to all the pow t r. and to ill the 
 dominion, and with his rij*ht to have all the Christians and 
 minister* employed in building up his kingdom, according to 
 his pattern, exclusively. 
 
152 
 
 The course of these rulers is treason and rebellion, in fact, 
 of the darkest dye. Delusions from infancy up, and famili- 
 arity with this treasonable staie of things, and these delusions 
 and the defence of them, that is often made in true Roman 
 Catholic deluded style, by minisiers, by parents, and by oth- 
 ers, who are as perfectly crazy with them, as the papists were 
 with their delusions, may possibly diminish some part of the 
 guilt in the eye of omniscience. We leave all that to the 
 rightful Judge, and deal only with facts. It is usurpations, 
 rebellions, treasons, frauds, and wrongs, in fact, against Christ 
 as King, and sole King over his people. It is interference, 
 in fact, by these rulers, the maker of these constitutions, and 
 the successors in the usurped dominions, against the unity of 
 his people, under him, and against his right to have all the 
 Christians one under him, and against his right to their uni- 
 ted influence with him, and exclusively with him, for the con- 
 version of the world It is fraud, in fact, upou him, upon 
 his kingdom, and upon a perishing world. It is treason, re- 
 bellion, and usurpation, in fact, of which we treat. We pre- 
 sent Jesus Christ as the only being in the universe, who has 
 the right to exercise any dominion in the kingdom, any con- 
 trol and power, (except, that which is expressly required by 
 him to be done in benevolent discipline in his behalf.) We 
 present the rights of his down trodden standard, and oppress- 
 ed kingdom, as above defined. We present the great advan- 
 tages of Christian union under him, and the claims of a per- 
 ishing world to the influence, and useful tendency of such 
 union to their conversion. In view of these we most affec- 
 tionately remonstrate with these rulers over the Christian 
 kingdoms. We know you are blinded by delusions which 
 have grown with your growth, and strengthened with your 
 strength. You have all that love of power, all that love of 
 party, all that habitual delusion from infancy, all those habits 
 of thinking in a particular deluded channel, which throw dif- 
 ficulties in the way of your reformation, which are natural to 
 those who grow up under such a state of things. And like 
 the sinners who are banded together, ye have the influence 
 of each other to prevent any misgiving in any. And more- 
 over, ye are strengthening the same delusions, and sel- 
 fish love of party, and delusive habits in your subjects. But 
 after all, he that has the means of knowing the law, and knows 
 it not, or for any reason fails to learn it, is held in civil gov- 
 ernments, and doubtless in the divine, equally criminal for 
 transgression, as if he knew it. Ye are guilty of usurpation 
 or treason, and of perpetuating rebellion in fact. And every 
 
153 
 
 candid dispassionate person sees it. God sees it, and angela 
 see it. And ye will see it in the great day. 
 
 We say, and every one knows, that the popish powers, that 
 the church and state establishments, that Henry the eighth, 
 his Parliament, and those bishops, that Calvin, that the Con- 
 gregational powers, and that Wesley, — never had any per- 
 mission from the Lord of all power, to form such constitu- 
 tions, to suit themselves severally, under which to gather up 
 sections of his people, or put themselves into power over 
 them, or to rule them according to those constitutions, or to 
 authorize successors to do it, or to authorize the people of 
 Christ to remain since their time, subject to such governments. 
 The want of permission from the true source of all power, 
 amounts, in fact, in all governments, as a permanent principle 
 of invariable application, to an express prohibition. It is al- 
 so expressly forbidden in such passages as Rev, xxii. 18, 19 ; 
 Deut. iv. 2,'and 12—37; and Prov. xxx. 6. 
 
 If it is right for you to go on with such a state of things, 
 and holding up such dominions of men, then it is wrong in 
 Christians during fifteen hundred years to neglect such a state 
 of things. But if it was right in the Apostles, and primitive 
 and successive Christians, to neglect such a state of things, 
 then it is certainly treason for you and your predecessors to 
 begin and continue these things from those times, without an 
 express warrant from the true King, and Lord of all power. 
 For the beginners of this business to frame such constitutions, 
 and to put themselves thus into power, and to gather up sec- 
 tions of Christ's people, was usurpation and treason, ab initio, 
 against the rightful king. Of course it is no less usurpation, 
 and treason, in successors to continue it. And to use such 
 stratagems as we have named, to take such advantages of the 
 delusions of the people, from infancy up, and to ordain subal- 
 tern-; in such a rebellion, who should extend the delusions, de- 
 coy the people, and aid you in extending these usurpations, 
 and in building up these kingdoms of men, however honest 
 you and they may be in heart, on account of your delusions, 
 — is, in fact, a treasonable and rebellious course. You fill up 
 the measure of your fathers in the use of these means, by con- 
 tinuing and enlarging these usurpations. Ye are the chil- 
 of them that commenced the rebellion, formed the schemes, 
 and foitled themselves into usurped power. Ye are guilty 
 with tin in in 1 aci. whether ye see it or not, of the blood of all 
 souls that will perish in consequence of this deranged state 
 of Zion. 
 
 These imperiums in imperio are in competition againsl 
 
154 
 
 the rightful and exclusive dominion of the Great King in Z'\- 
 on, against the unity of his people, and against the best in- 
 terests of- the world. And ye are now in fact at the head of 
 the whole of this disturbance, whether ye see it or not. If 
 ye hold on, this whole world of iniquity will fall upon you. 
 Ye have not even the excuse that the beginners of this busi- 
 ness had, as ye have more light, less seeming necessity from 
 the external state of things, and from such ignorance in the 
 people as then existed. But ye have, in your love for pow- 
 er, and your greediness for the pre-eminence, stretched and 
 spread yourselves far beyond everything which they original- 
 ly contemplated. And ye shield yourselves under their pie- 
 ty and good name for a cloak Ye bishops, ye rulers of ev- 
 ery description, ye petty monarchs, behind the curtains, with 
 your subordinate clergy, and agents, entirely under your con- 
 trol; ye move the whole machinery by chords which vibrate 
 exactly according to your pleasure. Ye control the strata- 
 gems. Ye inherit your dominion from those who usurped 
 it. And yourselves continue to exercise a usurped dominion. 
 Ye should repent, and restore it to the only rightful Lord and 
 Saviour without delay. If ye hold on, ye are responsible for 
 all this treason against heaven, for all these stratagems and 
 pious frauds, for all that is done by your subalterns, who are 
 moved in the machinery by your own wills, and for all this 
 world of iniquity. The subalterns are the catspaw in your 
 hand. Ye are unseen by the people while ye move the wires, 
 and build up this rebellion in Israel, and all this by usurped 
 powers. 
 
 The people are kind hearted, are deluded by what they see 
 and hear in early life, and feel perfectly unable to unravel 
 this " mystery of iniquity," and feel as if they were deprived 
 of the power to help themselves. They seem to be enslaved 
 to usurpers. The exercise of usurped power over the people 
 of Christ, under the forms of religion, and under a sanctimo- 
 nius garb, is the very gist and essence of popery. It will be 
 a tearful thing for you who presume to exercise dominion over 
 the people of God, to fall into the hands of the living God. 
 Those clergyman who can consent to act as tools in these do- 
 minions of men, and on the principle of passive obedience, 
 and non-resistance under these lords spiritual, exercising such 
 usurped powers against Christ, cannot be supposed to have 
 much manliness of soul if they continue in it, unless we sup- 
 pose them to be awfully deluded. 
 
 An office derived from usurpation is no office at all. Be- 
 cause those who are usurpers have no offices to confer, ema- 
 
155 
 
 nating from any correct principles that relate to original right?, 
 A catalogue of regular successors for a thousand years of 
 such usurpers and rebels against Christ, presents no more au- 
 thority, ju re divino, for the continuance of any usurpation 
 than if it proceeded from those who usurped dominion in hea- 
 ven, and in consequence of this usurpation, were thrust down 
 to the pit. A catalogue of one such succession, is just as 
 good as the catalogue of another. It is the original right em- 
 anating from Christ, to act on behalf of Christ and in his king- 
 dom, and here alone from whence any valid commission is de- 
 rived. And as soon as such power is transferred to a revol- 
 ted kingdom, under other lords, it becomes null and void. 
 The power of the angels to act in heaven, is not to be exer- 
 cised in a revolted government. It is preposterous to sup- 
 pose a succession of popes — those false Christ's — and as per- 
 fect rebels as the rebel angels, continue a valid office, or that 
 such succession continues it at all, any more than such a suc- 
 cession through the infernal pit would do it. Whoever of us 
 act under the exclusive dominion and jurisdiction of Christ, 
 retain and derive our offices exclusively from that fact, and 
 from the fact that we do not act under other lords, or derive 
 our offices from usurpers. 
 
 In the sectarian folds of men, ambition for the pre-eminence 
 extensively prevails and succeeds. But Christ declares it 
 shall not be so in his kingdom. There, whosoever wills to 
 be great, shall, on account of that fact, be least of all and ser- 
 vant of all. Suppose these usurpations of the rightful power 
 of Christ, had beg?n at those times, in heaven, under those 
 self-created authorities, and with such constitutions and stra- 
 tagems, and the usurpers of the dominion in the newly crea- 
 te! folds, had ordained them ministers to act in their behalf, 
 to proselyte against the kingdom of Christ. How would sub- 
 alterns appear in heaven, deriving their power from such a 
 source and ordained to act in such a business, and in such a 
 revolt, how long would they be endured in heaven? But 
 whatsoever would be wicked there, is wicked here. What- 
 soever the Lord would loathe there, he loathes here. What- 
 soever there would cause them to be thrust down to hell, will, 
 if done here, cause you to be thrust down to hell, unless you 
 repent. And whatsoever state of things Mere cannot be call- 
 ed the kingdom of Christ, has no more claim to be called the 
 kingdom of Christ Ik re Whatsoever things there, would be 
 usurpation and rebellion, arc equally usurpation and rebellion 
 here. 
 
 Suppose the modest Moses after conducting the children 
 
156 
 
 of Israel ten years, had had a pope, a British King, Parlia- 
 ment, and bishops, a Calvin, and a Wesley, in succession, form- 
 ing just such constitutions as they did, in order to gather up 
 sections of the people, and babes by stratagem, and to take 
 advantage of the delusions of the people, so as to put them- 
 selves into power. Suppose they had gathered up more or 
 less of the people, contrived the stratagems, and ordained 
 their subalterns to act in their behalf, in using the stratagems, 
 in proselyting against Moses, and in order to make greater 
 encroachments upon the army of Moses. How contempti- 
 bly should we look upon those subalterns, ordained to such 
 a business and continuing it. These facts would be clear to 
 all. 1. These subalterns, so ordained, could not be said to be 
 gathering to Moses, while they were gathering under rival 
 competitors, or to derive their commission from Moses. 2. 
 Those who joined under these other captains, even though 
 they were honest,and though it was by the same initiating ordi- 
 nance in form, still could not be said to belong to Moses' army, 
 as long as they were under these other captains. 3. Every bo- 
 dy could have seen where the blame was in the production of 
 these divisions, viz. chiefly in those who contrived the con- 
 stitutions, usurped the power and dominion, as bishops, and 
 rulers, under all the various names, and their successors in 
 the usurpation, partly in the tame, passive subalterns, ordained 
 by them to act as tools under such a government, and to extend 
 such rebellion and witchcraft, and to act just as the wires are 
 drawn by the usurpers, partly, though least of all, in the de- 
 luded and misguided people, for not awaking from their delu- 
 sion. As delusion needs great plainness of speech in order 
 to make things plain, I will present still another case. Sup- 
 pose Jesus Christ had remained on earth in person, and had 
 personally governed his own kingdom till this time. By king- 
 dom of Christ, all along 1 mean precisely that organization, in- 
 cluding king laws, and subjects, that is described in the New 
 Testament. To use it in any other sense is to pervert the truth. 
 Suppose these same men had provided those constitutions at 
 terms, foisted themselves into power, taken the reins of gov- 
 ernment, provided them subalterns and agents to attend to 
 the stratagems, and to act under their authority in all respects 
 just as we see things move now in seducing people under them- 
 selves. Suppose not a word had been said to the people till 
 now in relation to this rebellion, and all things had moved on 
 just as they have ; and the people had not even surmised there 
 was any rebellion in building up such mixed kingdoms of 
 Christian bubes and others, under human lords, and in thus 
 
157 
 
 competing agatnst the kingdom of Christ. Suppose that by 
 this time their delusions and love of party had become so 
 strong, that all concerned in the rebellion had become so much 
 intoxicated with ths love of power, and the love of party, that 
 each and all would be offended if a single doubt were express- 
 ed. Suppose the Saviour should then call them all before 
 him, and by a miraculous flash hold up to ihem all the divine 
 law in the case, all his rights, and the evils of those divisions 
 and usurpations just as they will see them in the great reck- 
 oning day, and show who are the guilty ones. In view of all 
 these things, the rights and claims of Christ, of his kingdom, 
 and of a perishing world, and the injuries eight hundred mil- 
 lions of souls so many times over had suffered, by the embar- 
 rassments thrown in the way of laboring for their welfare 
 would not these self-called lords, bishops, and rulers, of every 
 description, melt away like wax before his presence, and hide 
 their heads in confusion and despair. Would they not call 
 upon the rocks and mountains to fail upon them, and hide 
 them from him whose power they had usurped. Their guilt, 
 in view of their usurpations, the rebellions they had promo- 
 ted, and the evils they had produced, would not be a desirable 
 load to bear. And the subalterns under such usurpers of the 
 It of the Saviour, would not present an enviable appear- 
 ance. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 TREASON. 
 
 Allegiance is the tie that binds the subject to the rightful 
 novcreitfn. The King in Zion claims it from every convert 
 It is a debt of gratitude, and a rule of equity, which can nev- 
 er be forfeited, altered, cancelled, or annihilated, by the sub- 
 ject. The Lord holds all Christians as his own property, 
 and as obliged to be joined with him in his kingdom. As 
 they are "not their own." they are not capable, by reason of 
 this allegiance, of contracting themselves away to other lords, 
 in other folds, any more than a wife is capable of contracting 
 herself away to another husband. As the contract would fa 
 void should sin- do it, so it is equally void when they doit. 
 l.iifiis arc inalienable, universal, permanent, of universal 
 application and such as will never be abrogated on his part. 
 
 N 
 
158 
 
 All their wanderings, therefore, and seeming contracts to oth- 
 er lords, in other folds, are only so many treasonable abuses 
 of his love; but void in their nature, ab initio, because they 
 had no right or power to contract themselves away. 
 
 Taking the oath of allegiance to him, (i. e. baptism,) is sim- 
 ply the recognition of this allegiance. Refusal is simply abu- 
 sing the claims of the Saviour. But their abuse can never 
 cancel our obligations to him, or diminish his claims upon us, 
 or cease to be a guilty, treasonable course. 
 
 Treason is defined, in law, either a renunciation of allegi- 
 ance to rightful sovereign, or a criminal neglect of duty to 
 him. It is the crimen Icrsqz majestatis, (crime of abused ma- 
 jesty,)of the Romans. Hence, Blackstone tells us, that to re- 
 fuse to take the oath of allegiance to the sovereign, that is, to 
 recognize his just claims, is treason. So also, he says, to dis- 
 suade or hinder others from doing it, is treason. So also, to 
 alter the form, or change the principles, of that oath, is trea- 
 son. So also, to be joined with those who alter it, — to aid, 
 abet, or assist, or to be in any way concerned, in such altera- 
 tion of it, is treason. Of course, to administer such altered 
 oath, or a corrupt substitute, is treason. Of course, to admin- 
 ister it to improper persons, — such as are not recognized in 
 the realm as subjects, is treason. To subject such improper 
 persons, or any persons, by such altered or vitiated oath, ei- 
 ther ostensibly to the sovereign in full, or partly to the sove- 
 reign, and partly to other and rival lords, is treason. 
 
 So also, if we know any ill, either done or intended, against 
 our rightful sovereign, or against his realm, if we neglect to 
 hinder it when we can, or neglect to give information, it is 
 treason. Believing these things, as I do, it would be treason 
 in me to forbear the course I have taken. Also any direct 
 attack on the right of the sovereign to rule, and any counte- 
 nance of such attack in others, as also any and every possible 
 attack upon him, as ruler, is high treason, — the greatest crime 
 that can possibly be committed. Hence, Montesquieu tells 
 us, that if the rights of the sovereign are not generally recog- 
 nized, and if the crime of high treason is not well understood 
 among the subjects, whereby the crime becomes k vague and 
 indefinite, the government soon degenerates into arbitrary 
 power; because usurpers will, in such a case, make gradual 
 encroachments upon him, — and anarchy, or the rise of petty 
 governments under others, will, in such case, soon follow. 
 
 Hence, the great need of clearly understanding the crime 
 of treason, and of high treason against the king of Zion.in order 
 to prevent such crimes. So also to usurp any part of the pow- 
 
159 
 
 er of the rightful sovereign, or to obstruct in any possible way 
 his government, or to build up imperiums in imperio, (other 
 governments within the realm,) has always been considered 
 either high treason, or treason, according to the degree of the 
 offence, and the part taken in it. So also, according to Black- 
 stone, to adhere to the king's rivals, or be joined with them, 
 or to aid, comfort, or assist them, while engaged in such a 
 crime, or to be in anyway concerned in it, is high treason, or 
 treason against him, according to the part taken. Even to 
 maintain in words, that any other person than the sovereign, 
 has any right to the government, or to any part of it ; and over 
 the whole or over any part of the subjects, is treason. And 
 so strict is the law, that even the secret thought of doing any 
 of these things, if it could be proven, would be punished as 
 treason. 
 
 In worldly matters, the people rule. But in religion we 
 are the subjects, exclusively under the King; and therefore 
 we have no right to rule, or make laws at all ; and for us to 
 presume to do it, would be treason. It is presuming to do 
 all this, which has produced all the divisions that exist in 
 Christendom. To assume the reins of government, as many 
 have done, — to contrive new folds, — to form new constitutions 
 — to appoint new rulers, and to mislead the subjects into them, 
 is certainly an insult to the rightful King, and is evidently 
 high treason against him. All efforts to increase numbers in 
 such treasonable folds, by stratagem or otherwise, is, of 
 course, high treason. 
 
 Even to go wrongfully away from our rightful Sovereign, 
 and to join another, even a lawful government, is felony. 
 And even to refuse to aid the rightful sovereign in any em- 
 ployment within his kingdom, is a high misdemeanor. 
 
 Principals in all such crimes are those who do the deeds, 
 and also those who are present, and either counsel, aid, ad- 
 vise, or in any way assist, in them ; and also those who re- 
 fuse to hinder the crime when they can. Accessories are 
 those who are in any way concerned in the offence, or who 
 in the least degree countenance or approve it, either before or 
 after the commission ; or who refuse to hinder it as far as possi- 
 ble. And so strict is the civil law, that even to receive, re- 
 lieve, comfort, or assist, the offender, when so employed, or 
 after it, if we know it, is to be partakers of his guilt, as an ac- 
 cessary, and to expose ourselves to the penaltv. Ignorance 
 is the only possible palliation that can be urged in mitigation 
 of all this treason and high treason against the K3ng of Zion. 
 
 Accessories are generally punished in the same way, in ci- 
 
160 
 
 ri! governments, as principals. It is high time, therefore, 
 that the crimes of high treason, and treason, against the King 
 of Zion, be clearly and definitely understood, in order to 
 prevent its frequency, and the degeneracy into arbitrary gov- 
 ernments, under other lords, so prevalent at present in Chris- 
 tendom. For Christians and ministers to assume the axiom, 
 that they may contrive and form new folds at pleasure, and 
 may rule and govern Christians as to them seems right, and 
 may enter on a course of competition for numbers against the 
 organization of Christ, is unquestionably high treason against 
 him. 
 
 We are placed, therefore, in awfully solemn circumstances, 
 in relation to the kingdom and dominion of Christ, and in re- 
 lation to the oath of allegiance to him, as well as the part we 
 are to take in relation to these rival kingdoms of men. We 
 cannot plead ignorance any longer as an excuse for being 
 joined with the King's rivals. If we go on under them, it 
 must be hereafter wilful treason. We cannot swerve to the 
 right hand, or to the left, from the laws of our King. Fearful 
 indeed, is the responsibility resting upon the conscience of ev- 
 ery Christian, in deciding whether he will support the King 
 in Zion — his kingdom, the oath of allegiance to him, the ma- 
 jesty of his laws, and his constitution ; or the usurpers of his 
 power, — their other folds, the corrupted aud vitiated oath of 
 allegiance to them, their laws, and their constitutions; and 
 whether we will hereafter exert our influence, and build un- 
 der them. We cannot be excused from disclosing his oath of 
 allegiance, which has so long been covered over by these per- 
 versions of scripture. If we forbear to do that, we are parta- 
 kers in the treasonable crime. 
 
 The amount of wickedness that accompanies the present 
 treasonable state of the Christian world, against the kingdom 
 and majesty of Christ, in all the several grades of principals 
 and accessories, usurping his power, as it does, building up so 
 many petty folds and dominions, within his realm, and tramp- 
 ling his rights in the dust, as it does, the day of judgment and 
 the blaze of eternity alone will fully unfold. Oh ! what an 
 awful amount of treason, of high treason, and of rebellion 
 against the King of Zion, is now in constant and daily pro- 
 gress, and in the open face of day. Those who profess to be 
 his friends, tear down and oppose his real kingdom — trample 
 in the dust the oath of allegiance he has established — build 
 up other and rival kingdoms, according to their own caprice 
 — mislead the people into them, and babes by stratagem, and 
 thus treasonably build up his rivals, the usurpers of his pow- 
 
161 
 
 er, and their rival kingdoms. Alas ! what a wound to his 
 bleeding cause — what a ruin of souls — what a disgrace to the 
 Christian name — and what a hindrance thus interposed in the 
 •ray of the conversion of the world. 
 
 In this point of vicw.we cannot but see that psedo-rantism^ 
 (i. e., the sprinkling of babes,) joining them, as it does, in their 
 helpless state, to these folds of men, and being, as it is, the 
 main subsidary in building them up, and in thus promoting 
 this treasonable state, — must be, and is, a treasonable offence. 
 
 Parents and. ministers cannot be guilty of baby sprinkling, 
 without being either principals and accessories in this treason- 
 able course. The framers of these treasonable folds intend- 
 ed it as a device whereby to build them up. The administra- 
 tion of a corrupted oath of allegiance to improper subjects, 
 to build up impeviums in imperio, within the realm, and in a 
 state of rivalship against the realm, must be treason, It is the 
 main channel by which people are misled from infancy, with- 
 out knowing it, into this treasonable state. 
 
 In a retrospective view of the epitome of ecclesiastical his- 
 tory we have given, we cannot but see, that if the imposture 
 of baby immersion could have been prevented, popery could 
 never have been built up, and church and state establishments 
 never could have existed. All those horrors, and all that ru- 
 in of souls, during a thousand or more years, and all that long 
 amount of treason against our dear Saviour, would have been 
 prevented. And if baby sprinkling could have been prevent- 
 ed, none of these other modem kingdoms, the devices of. men 
 under the usurpers of Christ's power,. could ever have been 
 built up. These things are all a state of treason against Christ. 
 This imposition upon parents, and through them upon babes, 
 is the main support of all this treason. To practice it, there- 
 fore, is to promote treason, or to be accessary to treason. It 
 tends to prevent the children, when converted, from taking 
 the real oath of allegiance to Christ, and for this reason, also, 
 is treasonable. It prepares the children to lead others into 
 the same treasonable course ; and on this account, is treason- 
 able. 
 
 It is a cheat. Many falsehoods arc uttered in its perform 
 mance ; is a modern hoax — and is treasonable for these rea- 
 sons, in its nature, and therefore must be a great loathing and 
 abhorrence in the sight of heaven. It enslaves the child to 
 an usurped dominion. The sin of baby sprinkling, therefore, 
 ought to be removed. from our land. 
 
 The church, according to the Presbyterian confession of 
 faith, consists of " all those that profess religion, together with 
 
162 
 
 their children, p. Ill ; of all "those persons, together with 
 their children/who make profession," &c. p. 346; of" profess- 
 ing Christians, with their offspring," p. 347; of "infants de- 
 scending from parents, either both, or but one of them pro- 
 fessingfaith in Christ, who are baptized," pp. 287, 121. " Bap- 
 tism is not to be administered to any who are out of the visi- 
 ble church; but the infants being members, are to be baptiz- 
 ed," p. 336. "The sacraments are instituted to put a visible 
 difference between those that belong to the church, and the 
 rest of the world," p. 1 17. " The visible church is a society 
 of professors and their children," p. 176. "Children are fe- 
 derally holy, and therefore ought to be baptized," p. 430. All 
 this is the device of the original contrivers of that fold, for the 
 sake of securing numbers. 
 
 According to the Saybrook Platform, the church consists 
 of professors, and u their children with them" p. 82. "Bap- 
 tism is a sign of ingrafting into Christ," (i. e. into his church,) 
 p. 87. Not only believers, but " the infants of one or both be- 
 lieving parents, can be baptized," and thus ingrafted into Christ, 
 p. 87. 
 
 According to the Cambridge Platform, the infant seed of 
 confederate visible believers, are members of the church with 
 their parents, and when grown up are personally under the 
 watch, discipline, and government of the church." 
 
 So also those who " owned the government," even though 
 not converted, were to have their babes baptized into the church 
 as church members. See Mather's Magnalia, II. 240. This 
 plan was adopted in 1662, by the messengers and ministers of 
 the churches of Massachusetts. It was also then decided, " In. 
 the administration of church power, it belongs to the pastors 
 and other elders of each church/' p. 234. 
 
 The troubles in Connecticut and Massachusetts about the 
 "church care" of members, made such by sprinkling, in baby- 
 hood, caused the General Court of Massachusetts to call a 
 convention at Boston, in 1691, in order to deliberate how to 
 manage and discipline these " baby members" and how to keep 
 them distinct from the "pagans" (i. e. unsprinkled persons) in 
 their midst. And it was carefully provided by that conven- 
 tion, that such members when grown up, though unconverted, 
 should have their babes baptized (rantized) into subjection to 
 the same " church power" of the clergy. All other persons 
 were denounced as pagans, by the language of that conven- 
 tion. Idem pp. 238 — 9. A fine system this for monopoly 
 under self created rulers. These principles were adopted by 
 the original contrivers of Congregationalism, so as to secure 
 
163 
 
 members, and compete against Episcopalians, and Pesbyteri- 
 ans. 
 
 According to the " Brief account of the Associated Pres- 
 byteries," the children are to be considered as " included with- 
 in tiie covenant, and as belonging to God, and consequently 
 to be baptized," p. 52. M If the children of believers are to 
 be baptized, they must be considered and treated as subjects 
 of the care and discipline of the churches to which their pa- 
 rents belong,' , p. 82. "No other supposition is consistent 
 with the nature and design of baptism, — for nothing is more 
 evident than that this ordinance is the mark of introduction 
 into the church." Therefore " they must be subjects of dis- 
 cipline, according to their age and capacity," p. 82. 
 
 According to the Episcopal constitution, the baptism of a 
 babe, makes it a '* member of Christ, a child of God, and an 
 inheritor of the kingdom of heaven ;" and by it he is received 
 44 into Christ's body, the church." Book of Com. Prayer, p. 
 149. 
 
 According to the Methodist Discipline, Art. 17, " The bap- 
 tism of children is to be retained in the church," and after the 
 Episcopal principles, in general terms. 
 
 We have here the devices of the original contrivers of these 
 Paedobaptist sects. All these constitutions are the contrivance 
 of men, and all has been done within three hundred years 
 past. It it be treason against the only rightful Sovereign, for 
 men to form such folds, and to gather and control his subjects 
 within them, then such projects about babes, in order to in- 
 crease numbers, must be treasonable, of course. 
 
 The above quotations show the plans of the original con- 
 trivers. Not to carry out those principles, is to rebel against 
 their own governments. If to contrive such folds, — such pet- 
 ty governments within the realm of Christ, is treason, — and 
 it lo build them up is treason, — and if to join and help in 
 building them up, is treason, so also if there can be any bind- 
 ing force in such contrivances of men, not to carry them out, 
 while one lives under them, is to commit treason under these 
 contrivances. Il is all treason, from first to last. Altering 
 or patching the contrivance, leaves it, after all, a mere hu- 
 man device. 
 
 It is evident that no person can avoid the guilt of treason, 
 only by returning to his allegiance to the King of Zion. If 
 other lords have had dominion over us, and if we have lived 
 under their constitutions, it should be so no more. No per- 
 son can hold up these Christian kingdoms of men, and their 
 human constitutions, these rivals against the kingdom and 
 
r64 
 
 constitution of Christ, and this deception of baby sprinkling, 
 their main subsidary, without being guilty of treason or high 
 treason against the king in Zion, according to the part taken. 
 No possible plea but that of ignorance that it was treason, 
 can possibly be interposed, in mitigation of guilt before the 
 throne of God. 
 
 I write as one who expects soon to die, and to meet what 
 I say in the judgment. My natural feelings have uniformly 
 pleaded to be excused from this task. In my eager pursuit, 
 during more than twenty years, for fundamental principles of 
 Christian union, and meeting with a repulse at every point; 
 and in my efforts afterwards to refute the sermons of an in- 
 telligent Baptist minister, which he had, as I thought obtru- 
 ded upon us, I was ultimately brought in my long train of in- 
 vestigations to this basis. I rebelled against becoming a 
 Baptist, as long as I dared. I arrived, ultimately, at the con- 
 clusion that it would be treason in me, against the King in 
 Zion, longer to forbear. 
 
 Having been misled from infancy into a treasonable course, 
 and ignorantly, too; not to give information to others now, 
 and take sides against it, would be treason consciously and 
 intentionally persisted in. But few, perhaps, had become as 
 familiar with both sides. I felt, therefore, that I could not 
 meet it at the bar of God,, should I forbear. It has been to 
 me no small sacrifice, and no small trial. But the conscious' 
 ness of pleading the cause of the King of Zion, and of meet- 
 ing his approbatiorij has by far counterbalanced all these tri- 
 als. 
 
 It was no small mortification to find I had been in such a 
 treasonable course, and done so much injury for so long a 
 time, even while I was enduring so many sacrifices with the 
 honest intention in all things to serve and obey Christ. Yes, 
 my brethren, I feel that my own baby sprinkling, by mislead- 
 ing and deceiving me, has blotted out in a great measure, the 
 usefulness of my life. For it is difficult to tell whether the 
 wrongs it has, by its delusive influence, led me to do, are not 
 full equal to all the good I have done, notwithstanding I have 
 been blessed in my ministry. 
 
 Brethren, every babe you sprinkle, may have his usefulness 
 blotted out by that very transaction. Parents, if you have 
 any "bowels of mercies" upon your children, forbear to 
 mislead them — forbear to deceive them — forbear thus to 
 build up a treasonable state of things against the King of Zi- 
 on. Ministers, forbear to imbue your hands in this treasona- 
 ble transaction, as you value your, souls, and as y.ou would 
 
165 
 
 meet it at the bar of God. I pity the deluded : and my re- 
 gard for the rising generation, and for the honor of Christ, 
 leads me to urge and beseech the deluded not to delude oth- 
 ers. If you continue the delusion, it will be a tremendous 
 thing for you to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. 
 
 Some of you have said you would never sprinkle another 
 babe if it were not the custom of the denomination. Has this 
 profane custom more force upon your consciences than the 
 evident rights of Christ ? I know some of your consciences 
 trouble you. The conscience of the public is awaking. It 
 will not, in my opinion, be ten years before it will be a shame 
 and a disgrace, in the public estimation, to be guilty of the 
 treasonable, profane crime of baby sprinkling, and its conco- 
 mitant falsehoods. The pretended arguments for it are a 
 mere sham. Its position on the map of history demonstrates 
 it. Will you continue it? Rather rise, like men; follow 
 truth, and return to the original fold of Christ. Once, a lit- 
 tle ardent spirits was viewed as no evil. Behold the change ! 
 Baby sprinkling will soon be treated by an intelligent public 
 with equal indignation. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 To show that our views of the real kingdom of Christ are 
 correct, we propose to point out a number of strong points 
 of contrast. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ was organized A. D. 29. Then 
 John began to say, " The kingdom of God is come." The 
 kingdom of the Pope, A. D. 600. The church and state or- 
 nanizations began in the days of Constantine. The kingdom 
 of the Episcopalians, A. D. 1634. That of the Congrega- 
 tiona lists, about the year 1545. The aristocracy of Presby- 
 tcrianism, Nov. 20, 1541. The Methodist kingdom was nev- 
 er fairly organized with a bishop, till 1784. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, He is sole monarch. In the ju- 
 risdictions of those who seized the reins of government, from 
 the third to the seventh centuries, usurpers and intruders go- 
 verned. In the fold of the Pope, he was ruler and despot; 
 in the fold of the church of England, the King or Quecn/Par- 
 liament, and Bishops, were rulers; in the church and state or- 
 ganizations, the civil governments rule; in the Presbyterian 
 
166 
 
 fold, Calvin, his aristocracies, and their successors; and in 
 the Methodist fold, Wesley's bishops, and those whom they 
 appoint to officiate under them. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, the Eternal God appoints the 
 King. " I have set my King upon my holy hill Zion." — " I 
 will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance." But the 
 aspiring and selfish clergy, in the early centuries, seized the 
 reins of government over their folds, by rapacity. The Pope 
 did the like. The civil governments did the like. The king, 
 parliament, and bishops, did the like. Calvin did the like. 
 The Presbyterian aristocracies were authorized by the "fa- 
 mous, learned, godly man, John Calvin," as he styled himself, 
 to rule the Presbyterian fold. Wesley's bishops derived their 
 power to rule, from Wesley. The General Courts in New- 
 England, authorized the clerg}^, in some measure, to rule 
 there; and the General Courts there, derived their power 
 from the King of England, and the Parliament. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is arranged and contrived by the 
 infinite wisdom of God, as to King, subjects, initiating ordi- 
 nance, outlines, privileges, discipline, and uniformity. Each 
 of the other folds was contrived by the individuals who form- 
 ed them, at the times and places specified; and they decided 
 who should rule ; what should be the offices over the people , 
 the initiating ordinance from time to time ; who should be the 
 subjects ; what the privileges, what the outlines, and what the 
 discipline. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ accords with the infinite purity, 
 and holy feelings of God. These other folds accords only 
 with the mixed, imperfect, selfish, sectarian,, and ambitious 
 feelings of those men who contrived them. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ was formed for the best interest of 
 all Christians, to put them in the best possible condition for 
 their own good, and in such a way that they may do the great- 
 est possible amount of good to each other, and to the world, 
 and that God may be glorified. Each of these other folds, 
 formed exclusively for the benefit of the sect, in each case, 
 and those that will consent to go under the rulers, and gov- 
 ernment of the sect, and for the gratification of those rulers. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ was so organized, as to have all 
 the people oi Christ one. These folds provide for them to 
 be divided into numberless subdivisons, and each of them is 
 based upon a principle that leads to endless divisons. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ provides for Christians to enjoy the 
 greatest possible amount of holy happiness in this, jvorld, by 
 all being joined together in one fold under Him* These otli- 
 
167 
 
 er folds greatly mar the happiness of Christians ; stir up jea* 
 lousv, selfishness, and sectarian feelings, whereby their happi- 
 ness is exceedingly diminished, and they are most painfully 
 annoyed by these divisions. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is so arranged, as to enable us to see 
 where the difficulty is, amid all these divisions. But those 
 blinded with thedelusions prevalent among the sects, cannot 
 divine where the difficulty is, or wade through the mystery 
 of iniquity, as long as they confide in their delusion. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ provides a way whereby all Chris- 
 tians can have free course, and labor for souls, without any 
 hindrance except from a wicked world. But by the building 
 up of these other folds, sectarianism has interwoven itself so 
 extensively into all the affairs of saints, as to present thou- 
 sands of obstacles in the way of the successful labors of Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ presents an easy basis of Chris- 
 tian union. But one bred under the prejudices and delusions 
 of sectarianism, cannot possibly discover any feasible basis 
 of Christian union, as long as he remains under the delusion. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, God makes the constitution. In 
 the other folds, men make the constitutions. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, free communion is established 
 on the principle of one fold and one shepherd ; free baptism 
 to all converts, and free privileges to all who become mem- 
 bers, and a law requiring all converts to go into his fold. By 
 the establishment of these other folds, close communion is 
 made, by shutting up Christians under human beings, and hin- 
 dering them from being joined together under Christ. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ in all respects accords with the will 
 of God ; these other folds, in just so far as they differ, are con- 
 trary to the will of God. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ, thcrfore.is emphatically legitimate. 
 But these other folds arc illegitimate. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ affords every possible facility for 
 Christian union. Its motto is, " Take the will of Christ — obey 
 him in all things, and we are one. Admit no jurisdictions, 
 but his; cease to teach for doctrines the commandments of 
 men; Jay aside human constitutions, for the sake of adopting 
 that of Christ; dismiss your rulers, and take no ruler but 
 I hri-t j let those persons only be church members, whom he 
 has authorized, and let them be initiated in the way he has 
 appointed, — and we arc all one." 
 
 But these other folds present insurmountable barriers in 
 4he way of Christian union. Tiny render Christian union 
 
168 
 
 impossible. Whenever all things in which they differ from 
 the fold of Christ are laid aside, then they will become the 
 fold of Christ, and of course all will be one. But as long as 
 they continue as they are, cither Christ must alter his king- 
 dom, and follow after them for the sake of union, or the divi- 
 sions will continue. Is it a desirable posture to demand of 
 the Saviour to change the laws of his kingdom, for the sake 
 of uniting our delusions and caprices ? If Christ's kingdom 
 stands, (and the gates of hell will never prevail against it,) 
 then until these folds are discontinued, they will perpetuate 
 these divisions. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ there is but one Ruler, and he is a 
 lawful ruler. In all these other folds, the rulers are illegiti- 
 mate. Certainly no ruler can be lawful that adds to or takes 
 from the regulations of the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is the invention of God. But these 
 other folds are the inventions of men. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is such as to keep itself united and 
 harmonious. Strict obedience to all the laws is all that is ne- 
 cessary to keep every thing in harmonious order. But these 
 other folds have the seeds of discord in every movement from 
 the first separation. 
 
 Every law in the kingdom of God is holy, emanating, as it 
 does, from the heart of the infinitely holy God. But the laws 
 of these folds, in just so far as they are human, are unholy, 
 and emanate from the hearts of unholy men. In most cases, 
 they are such as are adapted to carry out their crooked, sel- 
 fish, and sectarian purposes. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is anti-sectarian. Sectarianism is 
 from seco, to cut up. Certainly the kingdom of Christ does 
 not cut itself up, when the King so ardently prayed that they 
 all might be one. It is the rulers of these other foldsofmen, 
 then, that cut up the Zion of God, and make all the sectarian- 
 ism that exists. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is adapted to gather all Christians 
 under the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, and the shadow of 
 his kind wing. These other folds are adapted to hinder a re- 
 sult so desirable; to gather, restrict, and confine, large por- 
 tions of Christians under rulers, who have usurped the do- 
 minion. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is free in its ordinances, and if they 
 were all obeyed by all Christians, would, produce free com- 
 munion among all Christians. To be baptized into the king- 
 dom of Christ, in principle, precisely according to his com- 
 mand, is as free a privilege as the air we breathe, But these 
 
169 
 
 other folds restrict and confine Christians, and prejudice them 
 against this course, hinder them from going into the kingdom 
 of Christ, and in this way produce all the close communion 
 there is. Those within the kingdom of Christ cannot repeal 
 the law of that kingdom, requiring bapiism in order to mem- 
 bership, nor the law requiring membership in order to privi- 
 leges. Their hands are tied, and they are helpless. Those, 
 then, who disregard these laws of the kingdom, breed and 
 perpetuate all the divisions that exist, and make all the close 
 communion there is. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ, being holy, just, and good, is the 
 only right fold. But these folds of men are contrary to it. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ demands that all Christians obey 
 the will of Christ. But the rnlers of these folds seduce them 
 away from Christ. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ no laws but his prevail, and are 
 all found in the sacred scriptures. But in the Roman Catho- 
 lic fold, the laws of the Pope, and the traditions of mother 
 church. In the Episcopal fold, the laws of the Parliament 
 and bishops. In the national churches, the laws of the civil 
 government. In the Presbyterian fold, the laws of Calvin, 
 of the General Assemblies, and subordinate aristocracies. In 
 the Methodist fold, the laws of Wesley his bishops, and the 
 General Conference, and the circuit preachers prevail. If 
 their laws perfectly coincide with the laws of Christ, then 
 they are unnecessary, because we have them in the Eible. 
 But in just so far as they differ, they are an addition to his 
 laws, and expose men to "all the plagues," according to Rev. 
 xxii. 18. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, he has all the power over the 
 church. But the deceitful and aspiring hearts of these rulers 
 are leading them to encroach upon this prerogative of his, in 
 every way they can, and to worm themselves into the juris- 
 diction in every way they can. They have already doue it 
 so far as to breed all the disturbances that exist 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ he is exclusive ruler. These are 
 so full of the love of rule, as to breed these separations for 
 the sake of ruling. 
 
 In his kingdom, he forms the constitution. In this mass 
 of sectarianism, men form the constitutions. 
 
 In his case, all are required to defend his constitution. 
 With the scceders, the rulers seduce and prejudice the peo- 
 ple against his constitution, as much as possible. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, the principle is recognized, that 
 
 O 
 
170 
 
 no human being has the right to alter an ordinance of Christ. 
 But in each ol these other folds, the ordinance of baptism has 
 been grossly altered. In the earlier periods of those folds, 
 the people believed that rulers had the right to alter the or- 
 dinance of baptism. Calvin says, "The church hath granted 
 to herself the privilege of somewhat altering it." The bish- 
 ops of the church of England uniformly taught, from 1558 
 down to 1644, and forward, that the rulers had a right to al- 
 ter that ordinance. Calvin's Presbytery, in 1G43, in Geneva, 
 and the Westminster Assembly acted on that principle, as 
 well as the British Parliament. It was this belief that Jed to 
 the alteration. 
 
 But in this country the people are too much enlightened to 
 recognize such a principle. Since the ordinance was altered, 
 therefore, some makers of dictionaries have, within a few 
 years past, added this alteration, as a remote definition of bap- 
 tizo. This fact, and the prevalence of sprinkling for baptism, 
 have led the defenders of late, through delusion, to contend 
 that this is valid baptism, and not an alteration, notwithstand- 
 ing its unprincipled nature and effect in subjecting people to 
 other rulers than Christ, and in other folds than His, and not- 
 withstanding, in form, it is, in fact, the mere " substitute oi a 
 substitute." Although some are so well informed as to reject 
 the principle that the people have the right to alter the ordi- 
 nances of Christ, still they censure the Baptists severely be- 
 cause they can not conscientiously admit any transaction, 
 however different in form, and unprincipled in its effect, to be 
 baptism ; or that people are properly in gospel order, who 
 neglect to join the kingdom of Christ, and on the gospel prin- 
 ciple of Christian union. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, the principle is recognized, that 
 none but Christ has the right to establish regulations for the 
 church, and the terms of Christian union. In these revolted 
 folds, the idea seems very generally to prevail, that men may 
 meet together, and form such regulations, and establish such 
 principles as they please, just as if the power to make such 
 regulations, was not in Christ, but in the people, and as if they 
 had the jurisdiction. 
 
 In the kingdom of Christ, the principle prevails that all 
 Christians must join where Christ pleases ; as he knows bet- 
 ter what is for our good, than we possibly can. In the other 
 kingdoms, the principle prevails that Christians may all scat- 
 ter wherever the leaders of sectarianism can seduce them. 
 
 Another important principle in the kingdom of Christ, is, 
 that none but apparent believers, and apparent Christians, 
 
171 
 
 are lobe admitted as members. In each of these other king- 
 doms of men, babes are admitted as members, and by strata- 
 gems. In the Episcopal church, the child is taught to call 
 his sprinkling M baptism, whereby he was madea child of God, 
 an heir of Christ, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." 
 "The church," according to the Presbyterian Confession of 
 Faith, p. Ill," consists of those who profess religion, togeth- 
 er with their children." 
 
 In the Methodist Episcopal church, the rule of infant bap- 
 tism is the same as in the church of England. In all these 
 folds of men, either baptism 01 the substitute are applied to 
 babes as a stratagem. 
 
 It is a principle in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, that im- 
 mersion only is baptism. John immersed in Jordan ; and if 
 the word had been translated, it would have read so. Jesus 
 was immersed ; ami said, " Thus it becometh us (asthe Pres- 
 byterian Campbell's translation is,) to ratify every ordinance." 
 Christ never speaks of himself in the plural number. By 
 11 us," he must mean all those associated with him. Immer- 
 sed, and immersion ; and in water, not with water, would 
 have been the translation, if these self created rulers over the 
 people, had not wished, and been determined, to mislead the 
 people away from the kingdom of Jesus Christ, into subjec- 
 tion to themselves. The apostles immersed Christians in 
 water There were great conveniences for immersion in 
 those times. The Jews were so supcr.-titious in cleansing 
 themselves from ceremonial defilements, thatas Maimonides, 
 a Jew, informs us, nearly every family had a convenient place 
 in or near the house for bathing; and if a Jew went to the 
 market, or touched a Gentile, he laid his tunic, or cloak aside, 
 ami bathed , and if a Gentile touched his couch, or his table, 
 ishes, or kettle, these were bathed ; and their beds, and 
 pillows, and garments, if a Gentile had been near them, were 
 bathed ; and in bathing their beds and pillows, he says, they 
 dipped them a second time, where a part was held by the hand 
 or between the thumb and finger, for fear that part would not 
 be cleansed. 
 
 These superstitious customs arc alluded to, in Mark vii. 
 This state of things among the Jews, removes all difficulties 
 about conveniences for the juiler, and the converts in his house 
 to be bathed or baptized at midnight ; and all difficulties about 
 the baptism, within reasonable time, of so many of the three 
 thousand, on the day of Pentecost, as had not previously 
 been con verted ar.d baptized by John. Three thousand " were 
 added." All the new converts were baptized as soon as cir* 
 
172 
 
 cumstances permitted. The churches of Collosse and Rome, 
 were buried in their baptism, and raised again, from whence 
 an important argument to holiness of life is deduced. (Col. ii. 
 and Rom. vi.) It is preposterous to suppose there was more 
 than " one baptism," established by Christ. 
 
 St. Barnabas, of those early times, says, "It is all one whe- 
 ther we are washed in the sea, or in a pond ; in a fountain or 
 in a river; in standing or in running water. Nor is there 
 any difference between those that John baptized in Jordan, 
 and those that Peter baptized in the Tiber." 
 
 John Calvin, on John iii. 23, says: "It may be inferred 
 from this, that baptism was administered by John and by 
 Christ, by plunging the whole body under water." Here we 
 perceive how baptism was performed among the ancients; 
 for they immersed the whole body in water. Mosheim in- 
 forms us, that during the first centuries, all Christians were 
 buried under water in their baptism. Dr. Chambers' Cyclo- 
 paedia says, " In the primitive times, this ceremony was per- 
 formed by immersion, as it is to this day in the oriental church- 
 es, according to the original signification of the word." The 
 apostolical constitutions, say, " Immersion is the dying with 
 Christ. Emersion, or the coming from under the water, re- 
 presents the resurrection." Chrysostom observes, " To be 
 dipped and plunged into the water, and then ato rise out of it, 
 is a symbol," &c. Therefore, Paul calls it a " burial," &c. 
 St. Barnabas says, "We descend into the water full of sins 
 and defilement, and come up out of it," &c. Here we have 
 the only initiating ordinance under Christ in his kingdom. 
 But the initiating ordinance under human rulers, into their 
 folds, which they have organized, is sprinkling or anything-, 
 just as suits the caprice, if the candidate will only forsake 
 Christ, and come under them. Babes they sprinkle into sub- 
 jection to themselves, so as to make sure of them, when the 
 babes cannot help themselves, and so as to secure them by 
 stratagem, and secure them away from the kingdom of Christ, 
 and in a state of permanent subjection to themselves if possi- 
 ble. 
 
 LETTER XXII . 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 It is a prominent law of Christ's kingdom, that all Chris- 
 
173 
 
 tians, as soon as converted, subject themselves to the exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction of Christ. But the leaders of all these 
 sects do all they can to hinder it, and with the sectarian spir- 
 it of pop ry, try to manage them into their own folds. 
 
 In the one case, Christ alone makes all the laws. In the 
 other folds, men become legislators, t a great extent. 
 
 In the one case, the law is, *• no divisions." Willi the fcc* 
 tarians, the rule is, Hold up all the divisions and sectarianism 
 that exists, and go on with it just as it is. 
 
 In the one case, under Christ all Christians are on equality. 
 In the other cases, the few govern the many. 
 
 In the one case, it is a law that it is base ingratitude to for* 
 sake the kingdom of Christ. In the sects the converse of 
 this is the rule of action. 
 
 Under Christ, the rule is, that all things written in the Bi- 
 ble are to remain. With the sects, the rule is, change to suit 
 convenience, and for the interest of the j arty ; ;.nd if the ru- 
 lers so decide, let it be law. 
 
 Under Christ, Christian union and the terms are prescribed. 
 But these render Christian union impossible, in the nature of 
 things. 
 
 Under Christ, the law is, that as Christ is clothed with in- 
 finite knowledge, wisdom, goodness, and benevolence, all 
 Christians should join where he prescribes. With these, the 
 rule is, to please self; to suffer self to be deluded, and to be- 
 come subjected in some one of the sects, as if we were our own, 
 and not Christ's. 
 
 With Christ the rule is, that church discipline be perform- 
 ed in the kingdom for the interest of Christ, whose will as ex- 
 pressed, is that M not one of these little ones should perish.". 
 With these, the discipline, in many cases, is more like suits,, 
 summonses, citations, law-suits, contentions, and a war of 
 passions. , 
 
 With Christ, church discipline is an agency to be done by 
 us in behalf of Christ ; to please him, and save his sheep from. 
 being lost. 
 
 I. Go in Christ's name, with his spirit, with humility, and 
 meekness, and love to Christ, and out of regard to his iriten 
 est, and because he has commanded, — and tell the off mien 
 his fault, with a view to reclaim him, and save him, and with 
 a view to stop when Christ's end is answered. 2. If this fails. 
 take one or two others, for the same purpose. 3. If this fails 
 tell it to the church. 4. If he will not hear the church, so 
 as to be reclaimed, let him be as an heathen. 
 
 How different this, from the superciliousness of a citation 
 
174 
 
 from a session, or from a circuit preacher, and the usual war 
 of passions, where the purpose is to have those in power gra- 
 tified, and the selfish ends of the sect advanced. 
 
 With Christ, the law is, that that the gospel of the king- 
 dom be preached to all the world. With these, the rule is to 
 preach the gospel, and the outlines of the sect, and subjection 
 to rulers conjointly. 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is not Protestant. As Jesus Christ 
 and those who have been in his kingdom, and under his ex- 
 clusive jurisdiction, were never under the Pope, they of course 
 were never in a condition to protest and secede from the 
 pope, on a partial reformation. 
 
 "A protest is a solemn dissent on part of the minority, 
 from the acts of the majority, or from those in power. Such 
 a declaration was entered into by certain princes and deputies 
 of imperial towns, against the celebrated decree of the diet 
 of Spires, April 10, 1550, Those who protested were called 
 Protestants."* Afterwards all who separated from the church 
 or see of Rome, who became organized into the several pro- 
 testant folds, differing from that of the pope, were called Pro- 
 testants, f 
 
 Those who have always been against the wickedness of 
 the Pope, from A. D. 29, till now.cannot legitimately be said to 
 enter a protest as a ground of separation. 
 
 "The denomination called Baptists, (says Wycoff,) trace 
 their origin from Christ and his apostles. Tne nature of their 
 tenets is such, as not only to distinguish them from all oth- 
 ers, but must necessarily prevent them from acknowledging 
 any ecclesiastical authority on the part of those who differ 
 from them. No Baptist Chvrch (says he) admits the slight- 
 est degree of subjection to any spiritual power on earth, and 
 therefore, every body of the kind, is, and must be, from the 
 nature of its organization, perfectly independent of the Pope. 
 That churches of our order existed at the time of the Refor- 
 mation, will hardly be denied. Robinson, in his preface to 
 Claude's Essay, while tracing up to the times of the apostles, 
 those whose followers have, of late ages, been known in Eng- 
 land as Dissenters, says, 'One branch uniformly denied the 
 baptism of infants — all allowed Christian liberty, and all 
 were enemies to an established hierarchy, reigning over the 
 consciences of their brethren." 
 
 The Waldenses were estimated by one of their own wri- 
 ters, at the commencement of the Reformation, at eight hun- 
 
 * Wycoff. t Robertson's Charles V. 
 
175 
 
 dred thousand. Their opinions upon the subject of baptism, 
 are shown by the following extracts from Jones' Church His- 
 tory : 
 
 •* Also that baptism by water administered by the church, 
 was of no use to children, because the children, so far from 
 giving assent to it, cried at it." (Book of Sentences of the 
 Inquisition of Toulouse.) "These heretics say, moreover, 
 that this sacrament can be of no use to any but those who 
 seek it with their own mouth and heart. Hence drawing this 
 erroneous conclusion, that baptism can be of no use to infants." 
 Ermengardi contra Waldensium scctam cap. T2. 
 
 ** When Louis XII. sent the Master of Requests, and a Doc- 
 tor of the Sorbonne to inquire into the character and tenets of 
 the Waldenses, who inhabited a part of Provence, he learned 
 from these commissioners, among other things, that " they 
 observed the ordinance of baptism, according to the primi- 
 tive church." In the twelfth article of their Confession of 
 Faith, dated A. D. 1120, four hundred and more years before 
 the Reformation, they confine the ordinances of baptism and 
 the Lord's supper to believers. At this time, sprinkling was 
 never practised in any part of Christendom, and drenching 
 was only administered to the sick. " They contended, that a 
 Christian church is an assembly of believers/ faithful men,* 
 and that of such a church the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head, 
 and he alone; and that it is governed by his word, and guard- 
 ed by the Holy Spirit ; that it behooves all Christians to walk 
 in fellowship; that the only ordinances Christ hath appoint- 
 ed for the use of his churches, are baptism and the Lord's 
 supper ; that they are both symbolical ordinances or signs of 
 holy things, 'visible emblems of invisible blessings,' and that 
 believers only are the proper participants of them." No 
 wonder that Limborch, Professor of Divinity in the Univer- 
 sity of Amsterdam, declared concerning them and the Albi- 
 genses, of whom we have not time now to treat : 
 
 To speak candidly what I think of all the modern sects 
 iristians, the Dutch Baptists most resemble both the Al- 
 bigenses, and the Waldenses." 
 
 The pastors of some of the churches of this people, in their 
 letter to (Ecolampodius, in 1530, say, "We have sustained, 
 for above these four hundred years, most severe and cruel 
 persecutions, not without signal maiks of Christ's favor, as 
 all the faithful can testify." 
 
 A regular succession of Welsh Baptists can be traced from 
 the year 6fr, down to this time. Multitudes of Baptists have 
 been found in England, from tune immemorial. All Chris* 
 
176 
 
 tians during- the first two centuries, were of the same descrip- 
 tion. Multitudes in all parts of Europe have been known, in 
 all ages, of the same description. 
 
 "Many a careless thinker," continues Wycoff, "classing 
 the Baptists with the Protestants, concludes that they sprung 
 up with the sects that divide Christendom, at the time of the 
 Reformation. But history, and the nature of the case, show, 
 that the classification and the conclusion founded thereon, 
 have as little claim to truth and propriety, as though applied 
 to the Jews. The history of the latter commences in the 
 Old Testament: that of the former, who were first called 
 Christians, at Antioch, from the name of their Master; and 
 afterwards Baptists, from adhering to his ordinance, is dwelt 
 upon at considerable length in the New Testament. Claim- 
 ing our origin from the Lord Jesus, and his apostles, we can- 
 not submit to be classed with Protestants ; who looking to 
 Rome as their common mother, protest against their parents 
 pro?eedings, and call themselves, in consequence, reformed 
 churches, on account of removing part of her errors. We 
 call not cur churches reformed, because we believe them no 
 better than their predecessors, established by the primitive 
 disciples." Adhering to the simple rules of the original king- 
 dom of Christ, how desirable that we should adorn the doc- 
 trine of God our Saviour in all things. 
 
 We see here what Sir Isaac Newton means when he says> 
 "The Baptists are the only people who never symbolized 
 with antichrist j" and were "one of the two witnesses of the i 
 Apocalypse." The distinguishing principles of Baptists are, 
 to be from the first under the exclusive jurisdiction, laws, and 
 government of Christ; to allow no other rulers over church- 
 es but Christ; to change no laws, and to alter nothing; but 
 to obey all, however self denying; to justify no separation 
 from the jurisdiction of Christ ; to justify none in remaining 
 in a separate state. If they do it, and establish their own 
 communions, they are accountable for the evils of the divi- 
 sion. We cannot fellowship it, or he partakers of it. We 
 pronounce popery to be antichrist — its ministry to have be- 
 come entirely illegitimate — its principles of pretended minis- 
 ters, monopolizing the appointing power, as to successors, — 
 a delusion, and a tyrannic principle adapted to rob Christ of 
 the exclusive appointing power, and to recognize and sanction 
 transactions out of the jurisdiction of the King, as if they 
 were legitimate. As the protestants inherit their appointing 
 power solely from such a succession, we pronounce the succes- 
 sions derived, whether in the Congregational.Presbyterian or : 
 
177 
 
 the Episcopalian limbs, to be no more valid or legitimate than 
 the original succession in popery during 1000 years. 
 
 We hold that Christ always retained the appointing pow- 
 er to the ministry, under his own jurisdiction, and that the 
 church and ministry have simply the responsibility of decid- 
 on the evidence that Christ has called the candidate to the 
 ministry — approving and praying over the case. We per- 
 fectly repudiate the principle of an officer having the power 
 to appoint successors, and'above all things of carrying and 
 monopolizing such a power in a revolt, and a war of a thou- 
 sand years against the real government. 
 
 The Protestants are partially reformed from popery. They 
 have reformed in doctrine, and some of them have put them- 
 selves in a posture to promote revivals of religion. The na- 
 tional churches are the exception. 
 
 The points in which they still differ from us are, 
 
 1. In holding the principle of the appointing power to the 
 ministry to be in that succession, which has descended from 
 popery. As in popery it was nothing, of course, nothing is 
 derived. The pertinacious adherence to this principle, and 
 the pride that holds it up, keeps those churches under the in- 
 fluence of such a ministry, prejudiced against the real prin- 
 ciples of the kingdom, and in a state of continued separation 
 from if. 
 
 2. In the legality of a separation from the original fold, 
 and the refusal to return. 
 
 3. In allowing such a mass of rulers over them, which is 
 but little better than popery itself, and is evidently making 
 the state of the world worse and worse. A spurious class of 
 officers ruling over them, is now doing most of the mischief, 
 prejudicing the people, and hindering their return ; and by 
 their papers, is diffusing lheir sectarianism, and shutting the 
 people away from the truth as far as possible. By adhering 
 
 <h masses of spurious officers and rulers, the jurisdiction 
 of Christ does not reach them, nor they reach it, but they re- 
 main under usurpers. 
 
 4. In having the ir churches so joined together, as that some 
 by the rulers can be managed into a course of controlling the 
 others, whereby the exclusve jurisdiction of Christ, is thus 
 defeat 
 
 5. In their remaining palpably in this alienated state, from 
 the kingdom of Christ, in a line of succession ever since the 
 first separation in the third, fourth, and tilth centuries, and in 
 succession, including popery itself ; and even though reform- 
 ed somewhat, still refusing to return to Christ. 
 
178 
 
 6. In admitting the laws of these spurious rulers to be com- 
 mingled with those of the Bible, and to become their rules of 
 action. 
 
 7. In their refusal to be baptized iuto the exclusive jurisdic- 
 tion of Christ, as soon as converted ; thus disobeying a posi- 
 tive law of Christ. 
 
 8. In their sprinkling of babes ; falsely calling it baptism 
 — thereby mocking the sacred Trinity — binding out their 
 babes as slaves to spurious rulers, and hindering thern when 
 converted, from going under the exclusive jurisdiction of 
 Christ, according to his command. 
 
 9. In suffering their delusions to become so thick upon 
 thern, as to believe in the wresting of the scriptures, to favor 
 that mockery upon babes, so as to believe for a moment the 
 Bible favors that modern hoax. 
 
 10. In slanderously and falsely reiterating the charge of 
 close communion upon those who do go under the exclusive 
 jurisdiction of Christ, solely because they do not sanction 
 that alienated state away from the jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 Those in the kingdom of Christ, do not make the close 
 communion. Two principles, baptism under Christ's juris- 
 diction, essential to membership; and membership essential 
 to privileges, are truly obeyed. But it is because they are 
 the laws of Christ. Obedience to these laws does not make 
 close communion. 
 
 Here are two points of difference that stand out prominent- 
 
 This separation leads to the taking of opposite sides on a 
 number of other prominent principles, as well as these which 
 are put side by side, that all may see them. 
 
 In the Kingdom of Christ In the Sectarian folds, are 
 
 are the following principles: the following principles : 
 
 1. No being in the universe, 1. Human beings may build 
 besides the great Jehovah, just as many folds, and form 
 shall have liberty to make a just as many constitutions as 
 fold, or a constitution of a they please, and shut up all 
 fold, in which to gather the the friends of the Saviour they 
 friends of the Saviour. can. 
 
 2. Human beings may be 
 rulers according to such ca- 
 pricious constitutions which 
 they may choose to form ; 
 
 2. Jesus Christ is to be sole may create as many rulers as 
 King; exclusively to reign; they please ; give just such li- 
 
179 
 
 have all the power, and the 
 exclusive jurisdiction. 
 
 3. All legislative, judicial, 
 and executive powers are ves- 
 ted in Christ. 
 
 4. All Christians, as soon 
 as converted, must come into 
 the fold, or kingdom of Christ, 
 so as to be one, and enjoy 
 free communion together. 
 
 5. The laws are all written 
 in the Bible. 
 
 6. As people naturally are 
 estranged, they must become 
 the hearty friends of the King, 
 in order properly to take the 
 oath of allegiance. 
 
 7. Baptism is the voluntary 
 subjection of himself, on the 
 part of a believer, to the ex- 
 clusive jurisdiction of Christ, 
 within his kingdom. 
 
 8. This subjection to the 
 exclusive jurisdiction of Christ 
 in ltis way, is necessary to 
 membership under him, and 
 membership to privileges. 
 
 9. To alter either the form 
 of that oath, or the principles 
 of it, so as to recognize other 
 jurisdictions, other rulers, or 
 
 ties as they please ; may cause 
 the churches to come under 
 the jurisdiction of men, and 
 so keep them away from 
 Christ. 
 
 3. Men may assume legis^ 
 lative, judicial, and executive 
 powers. 
 
 4. Christians and converts 
 need not go under the juris- 
 diction of Christ, within his 
 fold, but may follow their own 
 caprice — go into the folds of 
 men — and thus breed separa- 
 tions and alienations from the 
 jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 5. Other laws, which throw 
 those of the Bible in the shade, 
 may be enacted by men, and 
 arc just as good. 
 
 6. Conversion is not a ne- 
 cessary prerequisite, in order 
 to be committed in other folds 
 by the substitute for baptism, 
 whereby they become confin- 
 ed away from the fold of 
 Christ. It may all be done 
 fan infancy. 
 
 7. Baptism is nothing — is a 
 disgrace— a subject of ridicule 
 — is indecent — is nothing but 
 our substitute — a mere token 
 of national circumcision. 
 
 8. The original oath of al- 
 legiance to Christ in his king- 
 dom, is not necessary in or- 
 der to enjoy Christian privi- 
 leges within the folds of spu- 
 rious rulers, as contrived by 
 me. i. They allow persons to 
 have their own way. 
 
 9. That oath may be alter- 
 ed by men at pleasure, both 
 as to principle and form, and 
 men may fritter it away to no- 
 
180 
 
 other folds, or to build them 
 up with other subjects, or with 
 another oath, — as it would be 
 in all governments, so here, 
 is high treason against the 
 King. 
 
 10. An opposition line of 
 things, or imperium in impe- 
 rio, or competing folds, — as 
 in all other governments, so 
 here, is high treason. 
 
 11. Church discipline is ex- 
 clusively the exercise of dele- 
 gated power from the rightful 
 Sovereign ; and in manner, 
 form, spirit, and purpose, pre- 
 cisely as he has prescribed ; 
 and for his interest, and that 
 of his kingdom. 
 
 12. To aid, abet, or assist, 
 in building up any state of 
 things, as in all other govern- 
 ments, so here, is treasonable 
 rebellion ; and more heinous, 
 as the character of the King 
 is infinitely more glorious 
 than that of any other king. 
 
 13. Jesus Christ alone has 
 the appointing power to the 
 ministry. 
 
 14. All divisions must be 
 nipt in the bud. 
 
 15. Jesus Christ is recogni- 
 
 thing — oppose it— counteract 
 its binding force, and prevent 
 people from taking it — may 
 buildup other and competing 
 folds, under other rulers, at 
 pleasure, and thus wash their 
 hands in innocency, and repel 
 with violence the foul charge 
 of treason. 
 
 10. Men may establish just 
 as many opposition lines a- 
 gainst Christ, as they please, 
 the more the better. 
 
 11. Church discipline is a 
 controlling power, emanating 
 from human rulers over the 
 people, to be exercised for the 
 good of the sect, and accord 
 ing to tha caprice of the ru- 
 lers. 
 
 12. That which would be 
 rebellion against human gov 
 ernments, is not rebellion a- 
 gainst the King of Zion ; and 
 the more we build up opposi- 
 tion lines against him, the 
 more we do God service. 
 
 13. A succession from po- 
 pery, through 12 or 1400 hun- 
 dred years revolt, has the mo- 
 nopoly of the appointing pow- 
 er to the ministry, derived 
 from thence by stealth through 
 revolters from popery,though 
 none in the succession have 
 ever been baptized into the ju 
 risdiction of Christ. 
 
 14. Divisions, as theyex : *»t 
 are permanently to remain, 
 and to be increased; the lapse 
 of time has legalized them. 
 
 15. A spurious set of rulers, 
 
181 
 
 zed as the only fountain 
 power, in all things. 
 
 of 
 
 16. None are within the 
 kingdom of Christ, but those, 
 who, after conversion, are 
 baptized into the exclusive 
 jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 17. Free communion to all 
 Christians, by keeping the av- 
 enues into that kingdom free 
 and open to all real Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 18. No churches may be so 
 joined together, as to control 
 each other at all, in any way 
 which will in the least inter- 
 fere with the exclusive juris- 
 diction of Christ, as sole Mo- 
 narch ; and no rulers arc ever 
 to be admitted, who will in- 
 terfere with his exclusive do- 
 minion, and jurisdiction, as 
 ■ole King. 
 
 in each organization, is to be 
 recognized as the dignified 
 fountain of all power. 
 
 16. All the Jewish nation, 
 and their circumcised children 
 — all the revolters from the 
 third to the seventh century 
 — all of popedom, and the im- 
 mersed babes — all the nation- 
 al churches under civil rulers, 
 and all the new folds, since 
 1534, with their babes,are the 
 legitimate, well organized 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 17. After obstructing the 
 avenues to the real king- 
 dom of Christ, a demand for 
 free communion is to be pre- 
 sented; based upon the prin- 
 ciple, that all may do &i{J 
 which is right in their own 
 eyes, and pleasing to them- 
 selves, in relation to the oath 
 of allegiance to Christ — may 
 go where they please — may 
 stir up all the prejudices they 
 can, against those who obey 
 Christ — may hinder all they 
 can from going into the king- 
 dom of Christ, and then throw 
 all the blame of the divisions 
 over upon those who adhere 
 to Christ's kingdom. 
 
 18. Churches may be so 
 joined together, as to have a 
 national government — a po- 
 pish government — an Episco- 
 pal government — a Presbyte- 
 rian government — a Wesley 
 an government, or any other 
 government self-created ru- 
 lers arc disposed to assume, 
 and the jurisdiction of Christ 
 be thu* totally discarded. 
 
182 
 
 19. All action in relation to 19. All action in relation to 
 the ministry,is under the king, the ministry, is within our 
 and within his kingdom, folds, and derived from our 
 Membership, and piety, and spurious rulers. Membership, 
 qualifications to be judged of with us is all that is requisite, 
 by those within the kingdom, A succession of the appoint- 
 according to the rules of Christ ing power derived from po- 
 are indispensable. pery, is a good enough autho- 
 
 T . '-,~M ritv - 
 
 It is easy to see that this world of iniquity, in fact, grows 
 out of the influence of rulers; who blind the people, and pre- 
 vent their return to the jurisdiction of Christ, through a sel- 
 fish love of rule, and sectarian feelings. 
 
 From infancy up, people become blinded by tradition, de- 
 lusion, and the whole course of education. The rulers hav- 
 ing been blinded in this way, are not conscious of the injury 
 they are doing. 
 
 There is every reason to havefull confidence in the piety 
 t ofthose who give evidence of it, and to ascribe all the wrong 
 o their delusion. 
 
 Whenever the people will leave these usurped jurisdictions, 
 and come under the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, divisions 
 will cease. 
 
 These rulers exercise a power, in a vast many cases, not 
 much inferior to popery itself. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 contrast (continued.) 
 
 Christ says, " Strait is the gate, and pressed or fenced is the 
 way that leadeth unto life," — into holy enjoyments, into the 
 spiritual life of the soul. But " wide is the gate, and broad 
 is the way that leads into an absolved or scattered state." 
 These ideas arc the true image of the original. This is pre- 
 ceded by intimations of the readiness of God to give the Ho- 
 ly Spirit, and of the advantages of being within the kingdom. 
 This is followed by a caution to "beware of false prophets, 
 coming in sheep's clothing," — inwardly of an hungry, wolfish 
 spirit. Who dare deny that the Saviour here cautions the 
 world against this sectarian state, and that this was the just 
 aim of this instruction ? 
 
 Christ prepared a " strait" course under his own jurisdic- 
 
183 
 
 tion, into which all his disciples were baptized, under him as 
 their Leader. 
 
 In the third century, a portion of the clergy through the 
 love of power, misled many from it, into another channel. 
 The civil governments soon misled others directly away from 
 Christ Popery soon misled multitudes away from the fold 
 of Christ. The rulers of the Church of England misled the 
 nation not only away from popery, but also still away from 
 the fold of Christ. The rulers over Presbyterianism misled 
 the people not only away from popery, but still away from 
 the jurisdiction of Christ. The same remarks are true of the 
 leaders of the Lutheran, and all other churches that are sha- 
 ped differently from the organized kingdom of Christ. Epis- 
 copacy in the United States, is a detachment from the church 
 of England ; pursuing a course similar to mother Church, with 
 some emendations. And Wesleyan Methodism is a revolt 
 from the church of England. It is under rulers created by 
 Wesley. It is truly an improvement on their condition as 
 Episcopalians. But still the regulations lead the people 
 away from the organized fold of Christ, and keep them 
 under leaders who are as "ravening wolves," in their love 
 of power. All the rulers over churches, usurping the domin- 
 ion, answers the same description. 
 
 The following figure will help to illustrate this state of 
 things. The longitude and departure from the strait course 
 of Jesus Christ, is, in proportion to the influence of human 
 rulers, and the power they presume to exercise — the effect of 
 infant baptism and other stratagems in producing an impeni- 
 tent church — the general course in which the leaders presume 
 to lead the people — together with all the other causes in tne 
 train. In this, our judgment must be our guide. In all oth- 
 er respects, it presents the view with accuracy as tothe time 
 and place, of the origin, and the general course in which the 
 leaders have conducted the people. 
 
 The lines in the cut represent the fences. The spaces be- 
 tween represent the general course in which the rulers, sev- 
 erally have led the people. 
 
 Let AB from the year 29, to the year 1841, represent the 
 " strait way," fenced on the right hand and on the left, by the 
 principles and laws of the kingdom, and the course, to wit: 
 under the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ — repudiating all 
 human rulers, — -all the devices of men, — all innovations — all 
 changes of ordinances, — all substitutions, — all human laws, 
 — all invasions of the outlines of the kingdom, — and careful- 
 ly observing the original oath of allegiance, as established at 
 
3 w 
 
 •;sun3 jo uopoipsunf 
 
185 
 
 the first by the King, in becoming members after conversion, 
 and not before, — and all retaining the position of scholars or 
 disciples, obeying his will, and utterly refusing to admit in- 
 truders to dictate or rule in any thing. 
 
 CD then, wil! represent the course in which the ambitious 
 clergy, who seized the reins of government, from the third to 
 the sixth century, led the people away from the jurisdiction 
 of Christ, establishing infant baptism in 418, in order to build 
 up their own power and jurisdiction, by this stratagem, mak- 
 ing new laws, and misdirecting the people by their control. 
 
 DE will represent the course in which the Popes in succes- 
 sion, misled the people, under their despotic sway, directly 
 away from the course Christ had established. All the na- 
 tional jurisdictions, misled the people, in courses which might 
 be represented by lines nearly parallel. 
 
 FG will represent the course in which Henry VIII., who 
 assumed to be Head of the Church, in 1534, his Parliament, 
 and the bishops; in the form of the national church of Eng- 
 land, — misdirected the people away from popery, but still 
 away from the direction of the only rightful King in Zion. 
 
 HI will represent the course in which the people have been 
 led by the jurisdiction of Presbyterianism, as established by 
 John Calvin, Nov. 20, 1541. Its several offices, he enacted; 
 such as Ruling Elders, Bishops, — its enlarged and extended 
 powers — its Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General As- 
 semblies, — its courts, and litigious bodies — its vexatious law- 
 suits, and doctrine of endless appeals, — its legislative, judi- 
 cial, and executive powers, — its law-suits, as a substitute for 
 Gospel discipline, and the establishment of it as a national re- 
 ligion in Scotland, in 1560, as a matter of course, from the na- 
 ture of things, would still mislead the people under its con- 
 trol, away from the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, and from 
 the course which he pointed out, — being that of scholars ex- 
 clusively under Him, as their King and Leader. 
 
 JK will represent Congregationalism, first started in 1590. 
 In Europe, this community were called Independents. They 
 were a detachment from Presbyterians, and from others. 
 They have scarcely flourished except in New England. The 
 establishment of them bylaw in Massachusetts and Connecti- 
 cut, the jurisdiction over them by the civil governments in 
 New England, and the making of church members while babes 
 by sprinkling, and the cruel persecutions of all others, — of 
 course, misled the people still away from the jurisdiction of 
 Christ 
 
 LM will represent the course in which the Episcopal ru- 
 
18G 
 
 lers iu the United States, have led those people who were un- 
 der their jurisdiction, much improved from the national church 
 — reiving mostly on the sprinkling stratagem upon babes, 
 for the enlargement of their jurisdiction, and the increase of 
 numbers. 
 
 NO will represent the course which Wesley's bishops, and 
 subordinate clergy have led the people, who through ihc stra- 
 tagem of the class paper, end of infant sprinkling, and other 
 means have been subjected to their jurisdiction. As all Wes- 
 ley's movements were substantially under the jurisdiction of 
 the church of England, till 1784, the time Wesley created a 
 bishop, (as he pretended,) I give that period as the real ori- 
 gin of Methodism, especially its government. 
 
 I stop here to remark, once more, that I do not blame the 
 people who have been so misled away from the jurisdiction 
 of the King, by the rulers. I know not as they could have 
 avoided the course, or done better under the circumstances 
 in which they were from time to time placed. Nor do I 
 blame the rulers in gross. Many of them, being deluded 
 no doubt, have been, and are still, actuated by honest motives, 
 Nor do I dash away all these several folds, so far as to say, 
 they have been of no use. Many of them, certainly, were 
 useful for the times. Presbytcrianism, Congregationalism, 
 and Wesleyanism, were then exceedingly useful, and perhaps 
 the best that could be in those times, considering the compar- 
 ative darkness, the general ignorance concerning the rights 
 of conscience, and the general impression that every church 
 must have rulers who might make laws, and change ordinan- 
 ces, and that the people must obey them. These all might 
 have served as schoolmasters, to lead the people back from 
 popery, into the real kingdom of Christ. 
 
 But what I do say, i3, that times have changed, the rights 
 of conscience are more generally understood, and the rights 
 of Jesus Christ, as King in his real kingdom, are seen now, 
 and these separate folds, now, are worse than useless. Their 
 utility has gone by. The <larkness which made them neces- 
 sary is past, and the true light shines. The people, now, are 
 qualified to guide themselves according to the real laws of the 
 leal kingdom. The milleniuin can never take place till the 
 regulations of the real kingdom prevail; And efforts in hea- 
 then lands can never be very useful, except in the shape of 
 the real kingdom of Christ. It is cruelty to the heathen, to 
 carry this sectarianism amongst them. 
 
 And I dp say, that to give up attachments to former views, 
 usages of youth, and denominational rules, for the sake o£ 
 
187 
 
 moulding ourselves into subordination to the real rules arret 
 regulations of the real kingdom of Christ, is a sacrifirc which 
 every minister, and every Christian, who has fallen into those 
 folds, is now called upon to make. The vHue of union among 
 Christians, the evils of disunion, and the palpable rights of Je- 
 sus Christ the King; as well as the tendency of it on a perish- 
 ing world, loudly call on all to take that eourse.and to magnani- 
 mously make thcsacrifice,in their own predilection, and private 
 feelings, which arc necessary in order to so glorious a result. 
 We cannot longer refuse without sinning against light and 
 against knowledge. 
 
 We do remonstrate, affectionately, with those who through 
 the love of party, seem determined to sustain this sectarian- 
 ism, and perpetuate these evils It certainly must give way. 
 The emulation, therefore, should be, who will be first to give 
 way, and let the kingdom of Christ come, in lieu of these do- 
 minions of men. Pertinacious adherence to a sect, may keep 
 off the happy results some longer, but cannot prevent that re- 
 sult from ultimately occurring. What is the sacrifice of giv- 
 ing up early predilections, usages, and biasses, delusions, mis- 
 takes, and errors, when contrasted with the advantages of 
 Christian union — of having the real kingdom of Christ pre- 
 vail — of setting a right example, and of united effort on a per- 
 ishing world ? The price is small for objects so noble. All 
 changes by some are reprobated as if we must certainly be 
 right io infancy. But nothing is more honorable than to 
 change, if, in doing it, we relinquish error, and yield to di- 
 vine truth. Covenant engagements, with some, arc an obsta- 
 cle. But covenants, if they hold us to a wrong course, or 
 prevent us from a right course before God, or if they were 
 blindly made by us in infancy, cannot be binding; because 
 we had no right so to bind or restrict ourselves, or others to 
 bind us; and such an obligation is void, ab initio, on the same 
 principles as masonic obligations, blindly taken, were void. 
 Things that are wrong, remain wrongs and obligating our- 
 selves to them, cannot make them right, or justify us in such 
 obligation, or in carrying it out. To bind ourselves to a 
 wrong, may be blindly, and therefore, honestly done. But 
 when we see the wrong, to fulfil that obligation, when we 
 have the power of rescinding, is criminal. Firmness in cleav- 
 ing to divine truth as fast as we learn it, is a noble trait of 
 character. But to adhere to the wrong, because we have al- 
 ways been so, and because of a pride in being consistent with 
 our former selves, is base stubbornness. 
 
 To show wheic the truth lies, 1 would reason on the firsl 
 
188 
 
 principles of government. On the above figure, then, it Is 
 clear that an office conferred under the jurisdiction of Christ, 
 AB, if the officer leaves, and goes into another jurisdiction, 
 CD, he cannot hold his office as legitimate in CD. As well 
 might an office conferred in one kingdom, be legitimate when 
 carried into another. It is impossible, in the nature of things, 
 to get a legitimate office, into the illegitimate jurisdiction. 
 Christ has never made provision for carrying an office out of 
 of his own jurisdiction, into that, or any other, and therefore, 
 it cannot be carried. So also if there were a legitimate office 
 in CD, still if the person goes into the jurisdiction DE, he 
 cannot carry his office. So also if an office were legitimate 
 under the popish jurisdiction, DE, yet as it was conferred 
 for the exclusive purposes of popery, it could not, legitimate- 
 ly, be carried into the revolted folds, FG, and HI, the Epis- 
 copalian, and the Presbyterian. Those bishops, therefore, 
 when they left the popish fold, held no offices. And Calvin, 
 when he left the popish fold, held no office. It is not only 
 preposterous to suppose any office was legitimate in popery ; 
 but it is preposterous even supposing it was legitimate to 
 think it could legitimately be carried into the revolted Epis- 
 copalian, and the Presbyterian folds. As well might an of- 
 fice conferred in Great Britain, be brought to the United 
 States, and be legitimate here. Of course no legitimate of- 
 fices can be derived from the Presbyterian folds,into the Con- 
 gregational, Episcopalian, and the Methodist Episcopal folds, 
 the sprouts of those others. 
 
 The people, certainly, cannot make a Christian office le- 
 gitimate. The idea has ever been scouted by Episcopalians, 
 and Presbyterians, that the people can ordain or confer a 
 Christian office. The people do not hold the jurisdiction 
 here, as they do in civil matters, of course they cannot make 
 the offices. Who then does hold the jurisdiction and offices 
 within his gift? None but Christ. And He of course con- 
 fers all the offices exclusively under his own jurisdiction, as 
 his law requires all converts to come there. Every thing 
 therefore, becomes entirely illegitimate out of his jurisdiction. 
 The people have the jurisdiction over their worldly matters. 
 But Christ, as King, holds firmly the jurisdiction over all mat- 
 ters of religion. The tail must not become the head, nor the 
 head be treated as if it were the tail. The scholar must not 
 govern the teacher. 
 
 As Christ declared there must be but " one fold, and one 
 shepherd," of course the building of other folds, is illegiti- 
 mate, because forbidden in that principle, and because they 
 
189 
 
 of course, cannot exist without an illegitimate jurisdiction, anil 
 illegitimate rulers. Consequently, every thing within them 
 is illegitimate from the nature of the case. 
 
 Again, Christ never conferred offices under his own juris- 
 diction, AB, in such a sense as to give those officers the pow- 
 er of appointing all their own successors, even there. For 
 this would be conferring the jurisdiction over offices upon 
 men, which would be just as dangerous as to confer the whole 
 jurisdiction of his church upon men at once. The passage, 
 4 * Those things which thou hast heard of me, before many 
 witnesses, the same commit thou to others also;" alludes to 
 "words,'* not to offices, as some have vainly supposed. 
 Preaching and spreading the gospel is the duty enforced. But 
 the right of calling men to the ministry, and of qualifying 
 them, he has reserved to himself. The church and the minis- 
 try, as conservators, are to act on his behalf, in every case, 
 and to decide on the evidence that he has so called the can- 
 didate to the work, and in doing it, to pray over the case. 
 The imposition of hands docs not confer the office; this is 
 nothing but an expression of friendly feeling. The decision 
 of the church, and of brethren in the ministry, does not con- 
 fer the office. It simply decides first of all that Christ has 
 called the person to officiate; they then proceed to set him 
 apart, acting as Christ's agents. The whole jurisdiction, and 
 calling,and ordination, is Christ's. We are merely his servants 
 like scholars in a school, acting under the guidance of the 
 Great Teacher. To suppose that we may run away with the 
 jurisdiction, is preposterous. To claim the right fven there, 
 of appointing all the officers in the succession, would be gross 
 usurpation, and an invasion of the prerogative of Christ. To 
 claim the right, therefore, of carrying an office out of his ju- 
 risdiction, AB, into the usurped jurisdiction, CD, and there to 
 appoint successors, is a still more gross usurpation, and inva- 
 sion of his rights. As CD is illegitimate, it would be treason 
 to do it. It is as if an officer under a government should pre- 
 sume to carry his office where a revolt from that government 
 had established another jurisdiction, and then claim the right 
 of appointing a succession of officers. The wholo of it is en- 
 tirely contrary to the first principles of government, and a 
 violation of all legislative rights. On what principle, then, 
 can the power of appointing such a succession of officers be 
 earrie I into the revolt DE, under the Pope, and aline of suc- 
 cession be, in any possible sense, legitimate? And on what 
 principle ran such an appointing power, after popery has last- 
 ed nine hundred years, be taken thence, and be exercised le» 
 
190 
 
 gitimately, in the Episcopal course, FG. Moreover, officers, 
 holding any sort of power in DE, received it, if at all, to be 
 exercised there. Of course, they could not legitimately car- 
 ry it into HI, the Presbyterian revolt. Where did Calvin 
 then, get his power to appoint his officers, and where did Wes- 
 ley get his ? Officers have not the power of appointing suc- 
 cessors, even under the jurisdiction of Christ. Of course, no 
 officer can legitimately appoint such successors in a revolt. 
 It would be claiming greater powers in a revolt, than exist 
 under the rightful jurisdiction. Of course, no such appoint- 
 ing power can exist in JK, LM, and NO, — the Congregation- 
 al, the Episcopalian, and the Methodist Episcopal course. 
 
 And further, no person was ever recognized as being even 
 a member in the church or kingdom of Christ, until after they 
 were converted, and until they were baptized into the exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction of Christ. Though all the men in these other 
 movements are Christians, still as they have never been so 
 baptized, they are not yet even members. Every thing must 
 be illegitimate, also, for this reason. Can offices be legiti- 
 mate, where even a regular membership does not exist? 
 
 From all this, it results, of course, that the humble office of 
 a teacher under Christ's jurisdiction, AB, cannot be carried 
 into the illegitimate jurisdiction CD, and then be enlarged to 
 the extent in which they usurped power in those times, and 
 be a legitimate office, in that enlarged capacity. It cannot, 
 then be carried into the illegitimate jurisdiction DE, and then 
 be enlarged to the despotic powers of a Pope, and of Bishops 
 under him, and be legitimate in those enlargements. It could 
 not be legitimate, and be carried intoFG, — the course of the 
 church of England, with the retention of those enlarged pow- 
 ers. It could not be legitimate, in the Presbyterian course 
 HI with all the changes, enlargements, and new shapes ofits 
 exercise, and for new and totally different purposes from any 
 thing which had ever preceded it. Of course, in the person 
 of Wesley, it could not be legitimate. And if it were, his 
 conferring of a greater office than he even supposed himself 
 possessed, of course, could not be legitimate. The same re- 
 marks apply every where, in the whole revolt. 
 
 There is nothing legitimate out of the jurisdiction of Christ. 
 Of course, the mutual covenants to sustain the revolt, in each 
 and every case, are illegitimate covenants ; and to carry them 
 out, and fulfil them must be wicked and awful sin against the 
 King in Zion. The whole was also illegitimate, because it 
 was an illegitimate succession, from Christ's fold from first 
 to last. Christ blessed them while their minds were dark,. 
 
191 
 
 and they knew not what they did, because they were honest, 
 and meant no harm, as far as circumstances admitted. But 
 if thay continue to sin against light and knowledge, they can- 
 not expect to be blessed in it in future. 
 
 Sectarianism is in this whole succession, from first to 
 last; comprehending all the several courses in which the 
 leaders have led the people, and all the several acts from first 
 to last, beginning on the map at C. 
 
 Close communion began at the same place. There was 
 nothing of it before. In the fold AB, the humiliating ordi- 
 nance of immersion, '• the test of a good conscience," where- 
 by the believer subjects himself to the exclusive jurisdiction 
 of Christ, has, from the first been necessary in order to mem- 
 bership, and membership essential in order to privileges. 
 This course, down to C, made no close communion. The 
 continuance down to B, of course, has made none. For these 
 principles which did not make it from A to C, could not make 
 it from C to B. Of course, the revolt at C, and the whole 
 movement away from the jurisdiction of Christ, in establish- 
 ing a separate communion, has done it. It is all the result 
 of misleading Christians into the wrong couise. and thus es- 
 tablishing separate communions. " Open communion," as it 
 is vulgarly, but falsely called, is fellowshiping this whole re- 
 volt, from the jurisdiction of Christ, from C to the utmost ex- 
 tremity. It is the fellowshiping of all these separate com- 
 munions. Close communion, as it is vulgarly but falsely 
 called, in the real organization of Christ, is nothing but ad- 
 herence to the original principles of the kingdom; namely 
 baptism essential to membership, and membership essential 
 to pri viieges ; it is, therefore no close communion at all. There 
 is no close communion in this; it is false and slanderous to 
 charge it over upon such. Non-intercourse with illegitimate 
 separations, is not close communion. It is those who bring 
 the charge, who make all the close communion there is, or 
 even has been. Disfellowshiping these separate jurisdictions 
 and these separate movements, and non-intercourse with it, is 
 the whole of our offending, for which we have been slander- 
 ed, held up to odium, and abused in public and private. 
 Where the fault is, every candid person can see, and in the 
 great reckoning day it will be seen by all. 
 
 It is mistaken views in those who have thus abused us, and 
 therefore, we forgive it, and only ask in future that all will 
 do us justice, in our honest adherence to the fundamental 
 principles of ihe kingdom of Christ, from first to last. 
 
 As this whole succession from the first is illegitimate, of 
 
192 
 
 course, all the alterations of ordinances, by the rulers, are il- 
 legitimate. The substitutes, of course* are nothing Honest 
 Christians, however, immersed there after conversion, can 
 mend all the deficiency there is in their baptism, by returning 
 to the jurisdiction of Christ, and thus leaving an illegitimate 
 jurisdiction. Christians in these folds, need bring no letters 
 of commendation irom these illegitimate folds, to the fold of 
 Christ. Yet, if perfectly convenient, a certificate of good cha- 
 racter does no hurt. Where the church know the person, it 
 does no good, except as a matter of courtesy to the feelings 
 of the church that is left. Under the jurisdiction of Christ, 
 no such letters of commendation are by any means essential. 
 The Christian may be taken up precisely as a new convert, 
 and be received in all respects as such. 
 
 LETTER XX IV. 
 
 PERSECUTIONS ENFORCING STRATAGEMS ON HELP- 
 LESS BABES, 
 
 The immersion of babes was first enforced, for the sake of 
 building up an illegitimate government, in the year 418. It 
 was soon enforced by Popery, for a similar purpose — soon 
 by Charlemagne, and other earthly governments. It contin- 
 ued to be enforced by all illegitimate governm en, over no- 
 minal Christians, till substitutes were adopted. It was en- 
 forced by the church of England, and by Presbyterianism, 
 when they first commenced. 
 
 Pouring water upon babes began to be enforced in the two 
 latter organizations, after 1556. 
 
 The sprinkling of babes first began to be enforced, as such, 
 about 1643, 1644, and 1648, by the Presbyterian, Episcopal, 
 and the New-England Congregational governments. It was 
 about an hundred years later, before it was enforced in Ger- 
 many. 
 
 The enforcements by which these stratagems have been 
 propagated, require a distinct Letter. 
 
 The Donatists were bitterly persecuted, soon after the stra 
 tagem was first enforced, because of their refusal to obey the 
 dictation of illegitimate rulers. Austin says of them, " Yc 
 permit babes to be saved without baptism. These things arc 
 very perverse, and against the catholic faith.'' It was this 
 
193 
 
 same Austin who had procured that law to be enacted, in 
 418. 
 
 In 590, a curse was denounced, in Spain, upon the opposers 
 of infant baptism ; and uniformity in it was enforced by the 
 arm of civil power. 
 
 In 596, Austin, the monk, was sent among the pure church 
 in England, to bring them over to the same practice. He 
 gathered a council of them, and first proposed all the popish 
 ceremonies to them. They refused to adopt thern. Then 
 said he, baptize babes, keep Easter, and preach as I have ex- 
 horted you. But these they refused. Then said he, 1 will 
 bring an army upon you, and destroy you. Accordingly he 
 did it. In Bangor, (England) were more than 2,000 devoted 
 Christians in a college, and hundreds of faithful preachers 
 were sent forth from it every year. Because they refused 
 infant baptism, and other popish practices, they were all put 
 to the sword, and their buildings were burnt. 
 
 In 610, the baptism of babes being held in low repute, it 
 was ordained and decreed, that all babes must be baptized, as 
 being necessary to salvation, and upon penalty of damnation, 
 as against the parents. 
 
 In A. D. 700, a King of the West Saxons prescribed a pe- 
 nalty, in money, upon the parents for the omission of infant 
 baptism even for the space of thirty days from their birth. 
 
 Charlemagne prescribed a penalty of 120shillingsin certain 
 cases, 60 shillings in other cases, and 30 shillings in other ca- 
 ses for every omission of the baptism of a babe, for the space 
 of a year ; to be collected by distress of goods, and sales. 
 
 In 1050, a Pope passed another decree enforcing infant 
 baptism. 
 
 In 1070, Pope Gregory passed a law that those children 
 whose parents were dead, absent, or unknown, should be bap- 
 tized into popery. 
 
 Deytingius tells us, about that time, •« If parents will not 
 have their children baptized, they are, by the authority of the 
 magistrate, taken by force from their parents, and baptized. 
 But when baptized, they are returned to their parents. 
 
 In 1022, fourteen persons were burnt to death, at Lyons, 
 for opposing infant baptism. 
 
 In the time of Henry VIII., a large number of persons in 
 England, were put to death for opposing infant baptism. 
 
 l-'rom the first establishment of the Episcopal religion in 
 England, down to this time, the penally for omitting infant 
 baptism, is, that such persons when grown up, shall be treat* 
 
 a 
 
194 
 
 ■ed as outlaws, they shall not inherit any estates, or be capa- 
 ble of holding them. Their marriages shall not be recogni- 
 sed as legal; their children shall be deemed as illegitimate; 
 and shall be deprived of the benefit of the poor laws. 
 
 In 1095, a number of persons at Pepuza, in Italy, were 
 condemned, and suffered death, because they opposed infant 
 baptism. 
 
 Peter dcBruys, a zealous reformer, after laboring faithful- 
 ly for twenty years, in promoting revivals, in gathering church- 
 es, and in promoting the real kingdom and jurisdiction of Jesus 
 Christ, was in 1 130, at St. Giles', burnt to death for opposing 
 infant baptism. 
 
 Henry, another zealous reformer, who succeeded him, af- 
 ter whom were named the Henricians, was in 1 148, imprison- 
 ed till he died, on account of his opposition to infant baptism. 
 
 During this century, the Waldenses and Albigenses were 
 most cruelly persecuted, because of their opposition to infant 
 baptism. 
 
 In 1179, the Pope anathematized the Waldenses, because 
 they opposed infant baptism. 
 
 In 1181, the Albigenses were "damned" by the Pope, for 
 opposing infant baptism. 
 
 In 1182, many Waldenses in Flanders, suffered death be- 
 cause they opposed infant baptism. 
 
 In 1199, about two hundred thousand of the Albigenses 
 were inhumanly butchered, because of this opposition to in- 
 fant baptism. 
 
 In the year 1200, many Waldenses, in Germany, were in- 
 humanly burnt to death, because they would not practice in- 
 fant baptism, but opposed it. 
 
 In 1230, many of the Waldenses in Tryers, for the same 
 reason. 
 
 In 1232, nineteen persons at Thoulouse, were inhumanly 
 burnt to death, because they opposed infant baptism. Four 
 converts, at Marseilles, were, the same year, burnt to death, 
 for the same reason. 
 
 At Zickrixsee, in 1336, three men, and one woman, were 
 seized, imprisoned, put upon the rack, and tortured, till the 
 blood gushed out of their mouths, and then they were behead- 
 ed, and their bodies were publicly burnt, because they reject- 
 ed infant baptism. 
 
 AtCrena. in Austria, in 1315, many Waldenses were burnt 
 to death, for opposing infant baptism. 
 
 In 1522, at Zurich, an edict was passed against the Bap- 
 
195 
 
 tists. A penalty of two guilders was set upon all who op- 
 posed infant baptism. 
 
 In 1527, one Skooncr, a Baptist minister, was beheaded. 
 Seventy others were put to death at the same time, for speak- 
 ing against infant baptism. 
 
 In 1529, fourteen persons were put to death, for being 
 what was called by civil governments, re-baptized ; i. e. bap- 
 tized according to the command of Christ, despite the strat- 
 agem played off upon them in infancy. 
 
 At Zurich, in 1526, Felix Mans, a faithful Baptist minister, 
 was publicly drowned because he disapproved of infant bap- 
 tism. 
 
 About the same time, another Baptist minister was impri- 
 soned, condemned, and burnt to death without the town, for 
 the same reason. 
 
 In 1528, at Vienna, the learned Pacimontanus, was public- 
 ly burnt to death, for preaching and writing against infant 
 baptism. 
 
 In 1532, at Harlaem, a woman for being baptized by a Bap- 
 tist minister, was, by a civil process thrown into the lake and 
 drowned. Her hushand and two others were publicly burnt 
 to death, at the Hague, the same year, for the same offence 
 against the government. 
 
 In 1533, at Leanwarden, one Snyder was publicly behead- 
 ed for being baptized by a Baptist minister. 
 
 In 1535, three men and two women were put to death for 
 being baptized by a Baptist minister. The men were behead- 
 ed, and the women were drowned in the sea, with great stones 
 fastened to their necks. 
 
 In 1530, an edict was passed at Zurich, making it death 
 for any one to be baptized, who had been christened in infan- 
 cy. 
 
 In this year, in Holland, the harboring of Baptist ministers 
 was forbidden, and a reward of twelve guilders was offered 
 for every Baptist minister that should be apprehended. 
 
 In 1539, a man, and his wife, and their son, were put to 
 death, for being baptized by such a minister. 
 
 In 1536, John Calvin informed the civil magistrate against 
 Servetus, as an opposer of infant baptism ; for which he (Ser- 
 vetus) was arrested, condemned, and burnt on a slow fire of 
 green wood. It is true, Calvin also accused him of being a 
 Unitarian. But the civil law had nothing to do with this 
 point. It was his opposition to infant baptism which procur- 
 ed his death, according to law. 
 
 In 1535, Charles V. passed a decree, dated June 10th, against 
 
196 
 
 the Ana-baptist and Waldensian Christians, commanding 
 them to refrain from those practices, (immersing believers, 
 and discarding infant baptism,) and to refrain from preaching 
 or publishing the same, under the penalty of the forfeiture of 
 life and goods, without mercy. The men to be burnt, the 
 women to be drowned. And all that conceal, and harbor, or 
 neglect to prosecute the law against them, to suffer the same 
 penalty. Informants were to have one third part of the es- 
 tates. In Queen Mary's time, thousands of Baptists were put 
 to death, as such. 
 
 In 1556, Philip the second, King of Spain, renewed and ex- 
 tended this edict, from which time it continued in force for 
 about 45 years; during which period thousands were burnt 
 to death, or drowned. 
 
 George Wippe, at Dort, on the 4th Aug. 1558. for having 
 presumed to be re-baptized ; thereby reproaching infant bap- 
 tism, was " condemned, to the honor of God, and for an ex- 
 ample to others, to be drowned in a barrel, after which his bo- 
 dy was to be publicly hanged, and his estate to be forfeited 
 to the Town's Treasury." 
 
 In 1560, eighteen baptized persons were put to death at 
 Antwerp. 
 
 On May 2, 1648, the cruel edict, or gag-law was passed 
 by Parliament; requiring permanent imprisonment, if a per- 
 son should speak against infant sprinkling. Soon after, all 
 Baptists were required to depart out of the realm. 
 
 In France, within the space of thirty years, 39 Princes, 148 
 Counts, 234 Barons, 147,518 Gentlemen, and 760,000 persons 
 of a lower rank, — making in all nine hundred and seven thou- 
 sand, nine hundred and thirty-nine persons, in that short 
 space, were put to death as heretics. 
 
 In 1643, a confession of faith, containing sprinkling as bap- 
 tism; and requiring infant sprinkling, under the false name 
 of " infant baptism" was established by law in Massachusetts, 
 and in Connecticut. Congregationalism, it seems, first came 
 into existence about 1590. 
 
 To show the spirit and design of the civil governments, in 
 establishing it by law, we adduce the following persecutions 
 against those who defended the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, 
 and the initiating ordinance under him, both before and after 
 the establishment. The spirit in England, and in New-Eng- 
 land, seemed to be very much the same. For in 1659, a Mr, 
 Edwards, Lecturer in Christ-church, directed magistrates 
 how to act in order to establish Presbyterianism, without li- 
 berty of conscience to any others. He advises the magis- 
 
197 
 
 trates to execute some exemplary punishment upon all dip- 
 pers. And if any, after being dipped, fall sick and die, the 
 dippers should be indicted under the statute against killing 
 the King's subjects, and be prosecuted accordingly. The 
 Parliament should take some severe cou se with all the dip- 
 pers, as they had done at Zurich, i. e. put them to death, and 
 confiscate their goods. 
 
 In 1039, six Baptists, for attempting to organize a Baptist 
 church, at Weymouth, Massachusetts, were arrested and tried 
 before the General Court at Boston, on March 13, for an at- 
 tempt to worship God contrary to law, and were fined 67 dol- 
 lars, down to a less sum each. 
 
 On Nov. 13, 1644, the following law was passed, by the 
 Legislature of Massachusetts, viz: " It is ordered and agreed, 
 that if any person within this State, shall either openly con- 
 demn, or oppose the baptizing (rantizing) of infants, or go 
 about secretly to seduce others from the approbation or use 
 thereof, or shall purposely depart the congregation, at its ad- 
 ministration ; every such person shall be sentenced to banish- 
 ment." 
 
 On Oct. 17, 1643, four persons were tried by the General 
 Court, for being Baptists, and were sentenced to be shut up 
 in separate prisons, — to be there set to work, and to wear 
 such bolts andirons as may hinder their escape. They were 
 kept in prison till March 7, 1644, when they were sentenced 
 by the General Court to banishment. 
 
 In 1644, at Hingham, Massachusetts, a man, for turning 
 Baptist, and refusing to have his babe sprinkled, was, by the 
 General Court, tied up to a whipping post, and publicly whip- 
 ped upon his naked back. 
 
 In July, 1651, three Baptist ministers, viz. Clark, Holmes, and 
 Moody, were arrested at Lynn, Massachusetts, on the Sabbath, 
 while Clark was preaching, and were imprisoned in Boston, 
 until they were tried. At the trial, Clark was fined a hun- 
 dred dollars for preaching, Holmes sixty-six dollars and sixty- 
 seven cents, for aiding, and Moody sixteen dollars and six- 
 ty-seven cents, for attending. They were sentenced to be 
 publicly whipt, if payment were not made. Holmes refused 
 to suffer his friends to pay the fine, and so he was publicly 
 whipped at Boston. Two spectators, showing signs of sym- 
 pathy at his bloody whipping, were suspected of entertaining 
 Baptist sentiments, were arrested, tried, and condemned, and 
 sentenced to pay twenty shillings each, and to be publicly 
 whipped themselves, for their sympathy. 
 
 In. 1655, nine persons, in Boston, were arrested, imprisoned,. 
 
i9a 
 
 and sentenced to public whipping, and other sufferings, for 
 denying infant baptism, and attempting to form a Baptist 
 church in Boston, according to the organization of Christ. 
 Three of these were banished, by sentence of the Court. But 
 refusing to leave, they were imprisoned again. The Baptists 
 obtained a House to worship in, and the General Court pass- 
 ed a law closing the doors, and inhibiting the holding of any 
 meeting in the same. 
 
 Between 1727, and 1733,28 Baptists were imprisoned at 
 Bristol, Massachusetts, for refusing to pay taxes for the sup- 
 port of Padorantist ministers. 
 
 In 1751, Rev. Mr. Moulton, for preaching Baptist senti- 
 ments, was arrested at Slurbridge, Mass. and imprisoned, and 
 finally adjudged to be a vagrant and a vagabond, and as such 
 sentenced to banishment His deacon, and five brethren 
 were imprisoned in Worcester Jail, for attending his minis- 
 try. In Ashfield, Mass. in 1770, 400 acres of land, belonging 
 to Baptist members, were sold according to law, to pay tax- 
 es for the support of Paedorantist ministers. 
 
 In October, 1656, it was enacted by the General Court in 
 Connecticut, " That no town within this jurisdiction, shall 
 entertain any Quakers, Ranters, (a name of opprobrium giv- 
 en to Baptists,) Adamites, or such like notorious heretics, nor 
 suffer them to continue above fourteen days, upon the penal- 
 ty of five pounds. 
 
 In 1658, the General Court sitting at New Haven, passed 
 a new law, increasing the penalties, and prohibiting the com- 
 mon people from all conversation with them, under the pe- 
 nalty of five pounds. ($16 67.) It was also enacted at that 
 time, " that if any person, not being a lawfully allowed minis- 
 ter, shall pretend to profane the holy sacrements, (baptism 
 and the Lord's supper,) by administering, or making a show 
 of administering them, to any persons whatsoever, and being 
 thereof convicted before a County Court, where the offence 
 was committed, shall incur the penalty often pounds, (833,34) 
 and for every such offence suffer corporeal punishment by 
 whipping* not exceeding thirty stripes for each offence." 
 Such a government exalted itself above all that is called God ; 
 and of course assumed to be Head of the church. 
 
 In 1742, it was enacted, that " if any ordained minister, or 
 any other person, shall enter into any parish, not immediate- 
 ly under his charge* and shall there preach and exhort the peo- 
 ple, he shall be denied and excluded: the benefit of any law of 
 this colony, and shall be sent as a vagrant person by warrant 
 
199 
 
 from any assistant Justice of the Peaee, from constable to 
 constable out of the bounds of the colony." 
 
 In February, 1744, fourteen persons were arrested at Say- 
 brook, (Ct.) on a charge of "holding a meeting contrary to 
 law, on God's holy Sabbath-day," were arraigned, fined, driv- 
 en on font to the county jail, and were imprisoned, without food, 
 fire, or beds ; and would have perished but for the sympathies 
 of people secretly affording relief. 
 
 On Nov. 19, 1744, two students were expelled from college, 
 in Connecticut, for attending a meeting in Canterbury, not 
 authorized by law. According to the laws of the State, the 
 whole territory is divided into parishes. No Baptist church 
 could possibly come up, except by special license of the Ge- 
 neral Court. No Baptist minister could possibly come up ex- 
 cept by special license of the General Court. No Baptist 
 minister could possibly preach in a parish, without incurring 
 the penalty of $33, and thirty stripes besides. How does 
 this look by the command of Christ, to preach the Gospel of 
 the kingdom everywhere. 
 
 The Episcopal church of England has enforced infant im- 
 mersion from its first establishment in 1534, down to 1644; 
 and since that time infant sprinkling; thereby making the 
 babe a church-member under that illegitimate goverment over 
 Christians, on the penalty of the exclusion of the parent from 
 the church, and of the child from all the privileges of a citi- 
 zen, and all the benefits of any law whatsoever. 
 
 Presbyterianism, from its first organization, Nov. 20, 1541, 
 enforced infant immersion by law, till infant sprinkling at Ge- 
 neva, and in Scotland, was substituted ; and in England till 
 the act of the Westminster Assembly, by a majority of one, 
 passed in 1643; and in the United States, till the General 
 Courts, in 1648, substituted infant sprinkling for the Congre- 
 gationalists . infant immersion was the law. Among the Cath- 
 olics, until 1311, infant immersion had always been the law, 
 since it was first established in 606. In Germany, infant im- 
 mersion was the law, until about 75 or an 100 years ago. 
 Since these periods it is found that infant sprinkling is just 
 as good a stratagem, to secure the babes under illegitimate 
 governors, and thus to defraud the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
 parents are forced to be parties in betraying their own babes 
 into this fraudulent state, by the selfish rulers in those several 
 organizations, under the false pretence that it is giving them 
 to Christ, when it is only giving them, and binding them out 
 to his rivals. Until some fifteen or twenty years since, every 
 member in the Presbyterian, Congregational, and other simi- 
 
200 
 
 lar churches, were forced thus to bind out their babes to the 
 illegitimate rulers, under that swindling- pretence, or incur 
 the penalty of excommunication. 
 
 VVe see, then, by what coercive measures this stratagem 
 has been enforced in all ages, and in all its different forms, 
 and what purposes it has been adapted and designated to sub- 
 serve. 
 
 It is perfectly clear, it has been adapted to counteract the 
 growth of the real kingdom of Christ, as organized by him- 
 self, and to build up the organizations of his rivals, and to sub- 
 serve their selfish and ambitious projects. 
 
 The pretence that it comes in lieu of circumcision, and that 
 it is to be applied to female babes, and also, the pretence, that 
 the babes, when converted, are not to be baptized into Christ, 
 while the circumcised babes, when converted, in the apostolic 
 times, were baptized into Christ, are perfect proofs that it is 
 a sheer delusion, and a profane mockery of the real ordinance 
 of Jesus Christ. In the absence of all other proof, the means 
 resorted to in order to enforce it, are " proofs as strong as ho- 
 ly writ," that it is an invention of men — a mere stratagem — 
 a cheat upon Christ, and upon all the parties concerned, ex- 
 cept the illegitimate rulers, and adapted solely to subserve 
 their iniquitous, and selfish purposes. Every person who 
 aids, or abets in it, or refuses to act against it, conduces to 
 the same iniquitous end. 
 
 The Baptists have been persecuted in all ages, from the 
 first, on two general reasons: 1. for strenuously maintaining 
 all the laws of Christ, and recognizing Him as sole Monarch, 
 and sole Ruler: 2. for opposing the laws and the government 
 and the stratagems of ail other rulers, in just so far as they 
 counteract the rights and equities of Christ, the King over 
 his own- church. 
 
 It is evident, from this view, that infant baptism and infant 
 rantism is a stratagem which has been used by the ambitious 
 usurpers of dominion over the church, in the accomplishment 
 of greater injury to the kingdom and cause of Christ, and to 
 the world, than any other stratagem or delusion which has 
 ever prevailed, and has been enforced in all ages, since it be* 
 gan, by persecution, by the arm of civil power, by the sword, 
 by wars and slaughter, by menaces, threatning the excommu- 
 nication of the parents who refused, and by the greatest con- 
 ceiveable cruelties. By these means, the babes have been 
 extorted from the Saviour, and from their parents, and by a 
 solemn mockery have been secured by usurpers, and 1 by ty- 
 rants. 
 
201 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 INFANT SPRINKLING AN IMMORALITY, AND POSITIYELT 
 FORBIDDEN POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. 
 
 According to the Presbyterian Directory, before the sprink- 
 ling of a babe, the minister is to say, " That it is instituted by 
 Christ," [one falsehood,] "That it (the sprinkling of the babe) 
 is a seal of the righteousness of faith," [a second falsehood,] — 
 " That the seed of the faithful have as good a right to this 
 ordinance, (baby sprinkling) as the seed of Abraham had to 
 circumcision," [a third falsehood,] — H That Christ command- 
 ed all nations to be baptized, "fa fourth falsehood. He com- 
 manded his apostles to disciple them first, and then to bap- 
 tize, not rantizc, them,] — "That of the seed of such is the 
 kingdom of heaven," [a fifth falsehood ; " Of such," i. e. those 
 who are like them — those who arc " converted, and are be- 
 come as little children, is the kingdom of heaven;"] — " That 
 the children are federally holy, and therefore ought to be 
 baptized," [a sixth falsehood ;] after which he is to sprinkle 
 or pour water on the face of the child, and to say " I baptize 
 thee," [a seventh falsehood,] — " In the name of the Father, of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." If by authority of the tri- 
 une Goa\ be the intention, this is an eighth falsehood. If in- 
 to subjection to the triune God, be intended, this is a ninth 
 falsehood. For the stratagem is only used in such cases as 
 subjects the babe to illegitimate rulers. "The whule should 
 be concluded with prayers," — if the minister prays over it, 
 and calls it a "dedication to God,*' although the parents may 
 mean so, yet it is not so, in fact, but is a tenth falsehood, it 
 is only giving them to that church. If the minister tells God 
 in prayer, thatall has been done according to divine command, 
 this is an eleventh falsehood. If, after the child becomes an 
 adult, and a convert, he is told that he has been baptized, this 
 is a twefth falsehood. Did Free-masonry ever require its of- 
 ficers to utter so many falsehoods, in any one of its ceremo- 
 nies? It is therefore a palpable immorality, not only be- 
 cause of the frauds, but also because of the falsehoods accom- 
 panying it. 
 
 It is, therefore, positively forbidden in the word of God. I 
 
202 
 
 In all the passages forbidding the taking of the name of God in- 
 vain. % In all those which prohibit all fraud, false pretensions, 
 and deceptions. 3. In all those that enforce the utterance of the 
 truth. 4. In all those which prohibit the utterance of false- 
 hoods. 5. In the command requiring all believers to be bap- 
 tized, this hindrance is forbidden. 6. In all the commands 
 prohibiting all additions to the word of God. 7. In all the 
 prohibitions from taking away from God's Book. This takes 
 away Christian baptism. 8. The command, requiring that 
 there be but "one fold," prohibits the building up of illegiti- 
 mate folds by such means. 9. In all the prohibitions from 
 * teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,' Mark vii. 
 7, 8. 10. In the prohibitions of all divisions ; this great cause 
 of divisions is positively forbidden. 11. In the command to 
 Christians " not to be unequally yoked together with unbe- 
 lievers." 12. In the command daily to pray " Thy kingdom 
 come," is prohibited this hindrance of its prevalence in Gos- 
 pel form. We might name many other similar principles 
 and passages which prohibit this ceremony. Of course, those 
 on whom it has been performed, are forbidden in all these 
 principles, from confiding in it, or carrying out its inconsis- 
 tencies. 
 
 A review of all the evils which this and its predecessors, 
 infant immersion, and infant pouring, have produced in building 
 up Popery — national churches — spiritual wickednesses in 
 high places, — persecuting usurpers, and rivals against the do- 
 minion of Christ, clearly shows, also, that it is substantially 
 forbidden as a positive immorality. Free-masonry, as such, 
 Mormonism, by name, and gambling, dancing, and the use ot 
 alcohol, are not prohibited by being expressly named in so 
 many words. Yet the plain principles of the Bible prohibits 
 them all. And yet these latter are no more plainly forbidden 
 than that. As we would avoid partaking of other people's 
 sins, then let us renounce that fraud with disdain. 
 
 The sprinkling ol adults, for baptism, is also positively for- 
 bidden. 1. In the command, enforcing immersion, according 
 to the primary definition of the prominent words of the law 
 of Christ, and the plain understanding, and practice of the 
 inspired apostles, and primitive Christians. A law that is so 
 plain, prohibits a substitute which defeats it. 2. In the pas- 
 sages forbidding all diminutions, or taking away from the laws 
 of Christ. 3. In the passages forbidding all additions. 4. 
 In the passages prohibiting all substitutes, and all teaching 
 for doctrines the commandments of men. 5. In all the pas- 
 sages that prohibit the utterance of falsehood, as is done when- 
 
203 
 
 ever it is called baptism. 6. In all the passages which pro- 
 hibit all divsions, and of course all causes of divisions. 7. In 
 the passages forbidding the taking away from the word. This 
 removes Christian baptism. When Naaman was command- 
 ed to go and wash seven times in Jordan, he was prohibited 
 from every substitute that would evade, in the least, the com- 
 pliance with that positive command. The command of Christ 
 requiring all believers to be immersed into the exclusive ju- 
 risdiction of Christ, forbids all evasions of that command. 
 All rules of regular subordination to the proper authorities, 
 teach the duty of entire obedience to all the laws of such au- 
 thorities, without the least equivocation. 
 
 We differ from all who differ from us in the following im- 
 portant points. 
 
 1. In our definition of the kingdom of Christ. We believe 
 the King is absolute Monarch — that believers are the only 
 proper subjects to be admitted, because he has said so — and 
 that immersion (a humiliating transaction, whereby we sub- 
 ject ourselves to His jurisdiction, within his kingdom) is es- 
 sential in order to membership, and because he has made it 
 necessary by positive command. No converts, until they 
 were thus initiated were ever considered as visible members 
 inform, within thatkingdom. " In one spirit they were all bap- 
 tized into one body;" (1 Cor. xii. 13,) i. e. the body consisted 
 of those who had one spirit, and baptism made them members. 
 
 2. We differ from all others in the whole question about 
 rulers over the church. But one is our Master, even Christ. 
 We deny the legitimacy of any office whatever, in any per- 
 son, that gives him any power at all over the church, or any 
 right to interfere at all against the exclusive dominion of 
 Christ. 
 
 3. We insist on the independence of each church, where- 
 by no other church or human being can interfere at all against 
 the exclusive dominion of Christ. The joining of churches 
 together, thereby affording facilities to usurpers of dominion, 
 and thus countervailing the exclusive jurisdiction of Christ, 
 is rebellion against the King. We insist that each church is 
 subject exclusively to the King, as sole Ruler and sole law- 
 maker. 
 
 4. We insist that Christian baptism, is the oath of allegi- 
 ance to the King. 
 
 5. We insist that regular membership, under the King, is 
 indispensible in order to communion at the table ; and that 
 membership, so formed under him, is indispensible not only 
 in order to partake of the supper, but also in order to a legit- 
 
204 
 
 imate ministry. The ministry, and the membership, and the 
 communions, every where else, are out of the visible and reg- 
 ular kingdom and jurisdiction of Christ. 
 
 6. We differ entirely as to the question who causes the di- 
 visions. We insist it is those who disobey the regulations of 
 the kingdom, and wander into other folds, that cause the divi- 
 sions. 
 
 7. We differ entirely in the question, who causes the close 
 communion. We insist it is effected by building up distant 
 communions separate and apart from the regular kingdom 
 of Christ. As there was no close communion during the 250 
 years, at the beginning of the Christian era, when the king- 
 dom alone prevailed. The same principles, continued, can- 
 not produce it. It must, therefore be movements out of the 
 kingdom, which have produced it. These movements are the 
 building up of separate communions. 
 
 8. We differ, by insisting that the whole Bible should be 
 literally translated out of the original languages, in which 
 they were first written by the Spirit of inspiration, without 
 covering over anything by the transfer of barbarous Greek, 
 or by mistranslation. As all the versions for more than 1300 
 years, translated baptizo, and baptisma, precisely alike, and 
 precisely according to the apostolic practice, we insist that 
 all versions should have continued so to translate them, and 
 so to have prevented the divisions. 
 
 9. We insist that infant sprinkling is nothing ; not only be- 
 cause it is an invention of men, but even supposing it to be a 
 substitute for circumcision, its friends are totally inconsis- 
 tent with themselves id applying it to females ; and in so using 
 it as to cause it to hinder the subject from being baptized in- 
 to Christ, after conversion, just as the circumcised were in the 
 times of the apostles; and that such an inconsistent use of it 
 defeats the rights of Christ, and the growth of his real king- 
 dom, and is unprincipled in its nature. 
 
 10. We insist, that to call popery the kingdom ol Christ, 
 after its existence, the national churches after their existence! 
 Episcopacy, with its governments, after its commencement 
 in 1534, Presbyterianism, with its governments, after 1541, 
 the New-England churches, under that national establish- 
 ment, after 1648, and Methodism with its government, after 
 its establishment, in 1784, — is to call the inventions and gov- 
 ernments of men, at so late periods, as a mass, the kingdom 
 
 'of Christ; and governments, too, that arc perfectly illegiti- 
 mate, and that entirely counteract the government and domin- 
 ion of Christ. We cannot have intercourse with, or fellow- 
 
205 
 
 ship such innovations of men, and such interferences against 
 Christ. We should be traitors to our King, and his rights 
 should we do it. 
 
 11. We insist that church discipline in every church is to 
 be performed in the name of the King, and precisely accord- 
 ing to the benevolent rules laid down in the 18th of Matthew. 
 
 12. We insist that it is the indispensible duty of all con- 
 verts to be one, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the King, 
 and that there should be but ** one fold and one Shepherd," 
 — " one Lord, one faith, and one baptism." 
 
 13. We insist that we do not make close communion, but 
 are the aggrieved and injured party. When our dear Chris- 
 tian friends leave us and go into other communions, with 
 which we cannot have any intercourse, by reason of the laws 
 of Christ; they make the close communion. As it is wrong 
 for us to have interconrse with such a separation, it is wrong, 
 of course, for them to separate themselves from the kingdom 
 of Christ. We, as the parly aggrieved and injured, in our 
 tendcrest love to them as Christians, have just cause to re- 
 monstrate with them, on account of their secession, and their 
 close communion. We by the written laws of Christ, are 
 shut up to the faith that baptized believers alone are proper 
 communicants. They can alter and return to the laws of the 
 King. But we eannot violate his laws and follow after them, 
 and be honest. For those, therefore, to charge us with making 
 close communion, and of being the close communion party, 
 is contrary to truth. As they are the only party who can, in 
 the nature of things, restore union, they surely ought to do 
 it: the laws of Christ require it. 
 
 So far are we from causing close commuion and divisions, 
 that our love of Christian union is deeply pained by these 
 things. So also the tenderest feelings of the King, and those 
 of all heaven must be wounded for the same cause. The en* 
 emy blasphemes, the infidel exults, and the grand Adversary 
 rejoices to have it so. We dissent entirely from the charge 
 ol causing any close communion, or any divisions. 
 
 We have been the persecuted in all ages, since the divisions 
 began. It is cruel, in addition to all the persecutions, to 
 charge the innocent with all the guilt of close communion, 
 when we have done nothing to make it. Obedience to Christ 
 is all our offending. Close communion does not belong to 
 us, but to the other side of the House. 
 
 The commission of Christ commands his ministers 1. to 
 disciple ( m at ket ornate) all nations ; 2. to baptize them. Jesus 
 
 R 
 
206 
 
 made and baptized more disciples than John. John, then, 
 made and baptized disciples. The conversation of Christ 
 with JNicodemus, with the woman of Samaria, and others, 
 and the specimens of his calling disciples, show how he dis- 
 cipled them. John's efforts in teaching the people repen- 
 tance and faith in "Him who should come after," show us 
 how John made disciples. To " disciple," is to teach them 
 the doctrine of Christ, their duties to Him, the readiness of 
 the Holy Spirit to help and to show them how to practice 
 the spirit of Christ. In a word, their conversion is their be- 
 ing discipled. This half of the commission, then, requires us 
 to labor for the conversion of the world. 
 
 The other half of the commission, baptizing them into the 
 name, &c. M Baptizing them into Christ," (Gal. vi. 27.) — 
 "baptizing them into one body," (I Cor. xii. 13.) — "washing 
 their bodies in pure water," on the "profession of their faith," 
 (Heb. x. 22, 23,) is the same as gathering them under the 
 King, by this oath of allegiance to him. " Thus itbecometh 
 us to fulfil all righteousness." Except a man be born of wa- 
 ter as well as of the Spirit, he cannot become a member of his 
 visible kingdom. 
 
 Large portions of ministers, since the divisions and the 
 lording by illegitimate rulers sprung up, have utterly refused 
 to obey the last half of the commission. Yea, through their 
 delusion they have counteracted it by the lying ceremony up- 
 on babes, first above named. They will, therefore, have a 
 tremendous acconnt to give at the bar of God. 
 
 If that ceremony were universally to prevail, and be con- 
 fided in, it would totally prostrate the real kingdom of Christ, 
 and all would be illegitimate governments ; just in proportion 
 as it does prevail, it now prostrates the real organized king- 
 dom ofChrist. 
 
 Those ministers incur a fearful amount of crime, who thus 
 totally neglect and counteract the last half of the commission 
 of the King, and devote all their lives in building up treason 
 and rebellion in Israel. May the Lord arrest them in this their 
 criminal, their mad career, and restore them to their right 
 reason. Through strange infatuation, some of old took away 
 the key of knowledge, — taught for doctrines the command- 
 ments of men — refused to enter the organized kingdom of 
 God themselves, and " them that were entering they hinder- 
 ed." Matt, xxiii. 13. Mark vii. 7, 8. 
 
 The whole drift of sectarianism, from the first, with its il- 
 legitimate rulers, its stratagem upon babes, and all its perse- 
 cutions, has been to hinder people from entering the organ- 
 
207 
 
 ized kingdom of God, by the regular oath of allegiance to 
 the King, and to extend in lieu of it the folds and dominions 
 of usurpers, arid allegiance to them. Will a man rob God, 
 the Redeemer, the King in Zion ? Ye, even this whole mass, 
 have robbed the rightful King, have invaded his prerogative, 
 robbed him of his subjects, kept them away from his kingdom 
 by stratagems, and devoted your lives too much to the inter- 
 ests of other and rival lords, to the enlisting of helpless babes 
 and of men under them, thus hindering the union of Chris- 
 tians, and the extension of the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 LITERAL VERSIONS. 
 
 All versions of the Bible that were ever made, previous to 
 the times before given, when men alered the ordinance of bap- 
 tism in form, uniformly rendered Baptize, and its cognates, 
 in all languages, according to the renderings hereafter given ; 
 i. e. by words in all cases, signifying immersion. Among 
 these are, 1. the Syriac version, the oldest existing transla- 
 tion out of the original Greek, in the world, 2. The Arme- 
 nian version. 3. The Georgian. 4. The Coptic. 5. The 
 Sahidic. 6. The Arabic. 7. The Ethiopic. 8. The Amha- 
 ric. 9. The Gothic. 10. The German. 11. The Danish. 
 12. The Dutch. 13. The Swedish. 14. The Russian. 15. 
 That of Sabat. 16. The Peshito Syriac, and a great many 
 others, with the exception, since those times of the Catholic 
 versions, and of those circulated by the Episcopalians, the 
 PresbyterianB, the Congregationalists, and the Methodists in 
 modern times. All others, it is believed, without an excep- 
 tion, have continued to translate it in the same way. The 
 Baptists, in all their versions, during the last fifty years, in 
 heathen lands, which now extend to the languages spoken by 
 probably six hundred millions of souls, have also uniformly 
 translated in the same way; i. e. they have given literal ver- 
 sions of every word, praying that they might know the mind 
 of the Holy Ghost; and also, that they might give the hea- 
 then the mind of the Holy Ghost, in every word. This is 
 right. Still the slanderous charge, from the last mentioned 
 denominations, of ♦•sectarianism," of " bigotry," of" blind 
 zeal,'* 6lc, is continued against them for this righteous course. 
 
 " We are content," says the Committee of the Baptist 
 
208 
 
 Union, " to leave the defence of Baptist translators, in the 
 hands of that late eminently gifted servant of the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society, to whom we have before referred.'' 
 "Bigotry," says Mr. Greenfield, "that is, blind zeal, aud pre- 
 judice, the Baptists cannot justly be accused of, while they 
 have the primitive sense of the term, and the rendering of so 
 many ancient and modern translations, as the foundation upon 
 which they have grounded their version ; nor can they, con- 
 sistently, be charged with sectarianism, while they are found 
 in company with the churches of Syria, Arabia, Ethiopia, 
 Egypt, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and others, to- 
 gether with the Church of England itself. If they be bigots, 
 1 know not what name the advocates for pouring or sprink- 
 ling, who have no such basis to rest on, merit; and if theirs 
 be a sect, it must be confessed to be a very ancient, and a 
 very extensive one." 
 
 " But there is another point of view," he continues, (and 
 while he writes these memorable words, he says, as a preface 
 to them, * I wish it to be distinctly understood, that I am nei- 
 ther a Baptist, nor the son of a Baptist') «« there is another 
 point of view in which the opponents of the Serampore Mis- 
 sionaries should consider the subject : and one which involves 
 the most important consequences. Before they arraign the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society as guilty of gross and un- 
 pardonable dereliction of duty, in aiding the Serampore trans- 
 lators, and prefer a recommendation for them to withdraw 
 that aid, they should be fully prepared to carry their censure, 
 as well as their recommendation, to a much greater extent. 
 In consistency, if that aid be withdrawn from the Seram- 
 pore Missionaries because they have rendered paxngw to im- 
 merse, then must it be also withdrawn from the churches of 
 Syria, of Arabia, of Abyssinia, of Egypt, of Germany, of 
 Holland, of Denmark, &c. ; and the venerable Peshito Syriac 
 Version, the Arabic versions of the Propaganda, ofSabat,&c. ; 
 the Ethiopic, the Coptic, and other versions must all be sup- 
 pressed. If, however, they are not thus prepared to carry 
 their recommendation to its fullest extent, then must they close 
 their mouths for ever against their Baptist brethren. But 
 should a faction so far prevail over the good sense of the Com- 
 mittee, and the sound catholic principles upon which the So- 
 ciety is founded, and which have ever been its boast and glo- 
 ry, as well as the most powerful means of its extraordinary 
 success, 'then its honor will be laid in the dust:' and from a 
 splendid temple, in the service of which the whole Christian 
 world would cordially unite, it will dwindle into a contemp- 
 
209 
 
 tfble edifice, dedicated to party feelings, motives, and views. 
 The broad basis upon which it is founded, is its strength and 
 security; contract this within narrower limits, and it falls in- 
 to ruins." 
 
 If such would be the consequence of such a course, in the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, as intimated by that learn- 
 ed Episcopalian, then what is the fact with the American Bf- 
 ble Society, in the war it has waged against literal versions, 
 during the last five years; and in successively resolving that 
 such are M false versions," that they will not aid in the circu- 
 lation of such, and that they will not aid in the circulation of 
 any except " such as conform, in the principles of their trans- 
 lation, to the common English version." Is not the verdict 
 pronounced by Mr. Greenfield, upon such a course, a correct 
 verdict? 
 
 The above small portions of Christendom, since the peri- 
 ods above alluded to, have attempted to blot out the real oath 
 of allegiance to Christ, and to propagate their " substitute ;" 
 and finally, since 1640, to propagate their " substitute of a 
 substitute." They have done it by warring against literal 
 versions, and by continuing to insert the Greek words un- 
 translated,* and by fraudulently adding new definitions in 
 some Greek Lexicons, to baptizo, which never in fact, belong- 
 ed to it How many of them are sinning ignorantly in this 
 matter, aud how many consciously, is known only to the 
 Searcher of hearts. The fact that all this has been done, is 
 known to the world. Of late, they have, in their Bible Soci- 
 eties, attempted to propagate some very corrupt versions on 
 these points, in foreign Iands.f 
 
 Had they not been thus guilty of "corrupting the word of 
 God," and of" handling it deceitfully," literal translations like 
 the following, would have always appeared, and been con- 
 tinued in the Bible everywhere. This wonld have prevent- 
 
 * The first English version was made in 1290; WicklifTs in 1380; Tindall's 
 in 1526 ; Coverdale's in 1535; Matthew'a in 1537; Crnnrner's in 1539; the 
 Geneva Bible, in 1560; the Bishop's Bible, in 1568 ; and King James' in 161 K 
 The Roman Hierarchy first introduced baptict nnd baptism into the English 
 language, to favor their project! ; and these words have since been introduced 
 into some versions of the English Bible, in order to obscure that ordinance, and 
 to afford a pretence for their substitutes, and continued for that purpose. 
 
 t In a Seneca vertion, they have translated bnptizo by gprinkle', in an Ice- 
 landic, by wash ; in a Chinese, by wash; and in a Hussion, by crosi. They 
 have prepared a modern Greek Testament, in which they have taken out ma- 
 ny words, and substituted others. They have also corrupted n Strasburgh, a 
 Lausanne, a Turkish, and a Hebrew Bible;, and all this within a very few year» 
 past, to favor their subtleties. 
 
210 
 
 ed these painful divisions on a point so vital to Christian 
 union. And had they kept themselves free from illegitimate 
 rulers, which always corrupt a church ; from infant baptism; 
 and from baby sprinkling, its substitute, and from such a use 
 of it as to counteract Christian baptism ; and had they been 
 of the number that subjected themselves to the jurisdiction of 
 Christ, according to his regulations within his kingdom, how 
 much better it would have been for the world. What an im- 
 mense amount of injury, then, have they done by thus cleav- 
 ing to those inventions of men, and consequently, by oppos- 
 ing the simplicity of the Gospel. 
 
 In addition to all we have said concerning the meaning of 
 baptizo, we appeal not only to the primary definition of it, in 
 all Greek Lexicons; which according to every legal princi- 
 ple of construction is to be taken as the meaning, but to the 
 Greek chureh, in all ages — to the profane Greek authors — 
 to Josephus and Philo, as Jewish writers to the Septuagint — 
 to the most learned Greek scholars — and to all who are un- 
 biassed, — to the most learned commentators, and to the most 
 eminent scholars of our own times, even in other ranks, such 
 as George Campbell, Professor Porson, Dr. Chalmers, Bish- 
 op Smith. Mr. Goodell and others. Porson, the Professor of 
 Greek in the University of Cambridge, and considered now 
 as the first Greek scholar in England, when asked the mean- 
 ing of baptizo, replied, that "it was absurd to imagine that it 
 had any other meaning than to dip entirely, or plnnge, or im- 
 merse.'' 1 He is in the Psedobaptist ranks. 
 
 Wherefore laying aside the barbarous Greek words, intro- 
 duced as above, for the obscuration of the subject, and taking 
 the real translation; and after correcting the mistranslations 
 otherwise, the following Is the literal translation of the pas- 
 sages referred to, viz : 
 
 Matthew iii. 5. And were immersed in the Jordan confess- 
 ing their sins. 
 
 Matt. iii. 1 1. I immerse you in water, unto repentance, — He 
 shall immerse you in the Holy Ghost and fire, [fulfilled, Acts 
 ii. 2—4.J 
 
 Matt. iii. 13. Then went Jesus to Galilee to Jordan to John 
 to be immersed by him. — v. 14. I have need to be immersed 
 of thee, — 
 
 Matt. iii. 16. And Jesus being immersed, ascended up quick- 
 ly out of the water, and behold the heavens were opened unto 
 him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and 
 corning npon him. 
 
211 
 
 Matt. xx. 22. Are ye able to drink the cup which I will to 
 drink, and to undergo the immersion which I undergo? 
 
 Verse 23. Ye shall indeed drink the cup which I will to 
 drink, and undergo the immersion which I undergo. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 19. Having gone forth disciple all nations, im- 
 mersing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Mark i. 4. John went forth immersing in the wilderness, 
 and preaching the immersion of repentance for the remission 
 of sins. 
 
 Verse 5. — and were all immersed in the river Jordan, by 
 him, confessing their sins. 
 
 Verse 8. I have indeed immersed you in water, but He shall 
 immerse you in the Holy Ghost. (See Acts ii. 2 — 4,) 
 
 Verse 9. And it happened in those days, that Jesus went 
 from Nazareth of Galilee, and was immersed by John into 
 the Jordan. 
 
 Mark vii. 4. — and from the markets, except they are im- 
 mersed, they eat not. And many other things have they re- 
 ceived to hold ; the immersions of cups and pots and brazen 
 vessels, and of tables.* 
 
 * Scaliger tells us, the superstitious part of the Jews every day clipped the 
 whole body before they ate, and that a laver or convenient place for it as an ap 
 pendage to every house, was as necessary, in their opinion, as the house itself. 
 They dipped also their couches, tables, beds, pillows, pots, cups, &c, as puri- 
 fications. Always after touching a Gentile, or going to market, they were thus 
 purified ; and if a Gentile had touched any of their things, it was thus immersed 
 and purified. See Maimonidet. 
 
 The foundation of this superstition was in such passages as these: Levit. xi. 
 32, — must be put into water, — verse 40, — clothes to be washed, — verses 44, 
 45. Ye shall, therefore, sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, &c. Levit. 
 xiii. 6, — for the plague he shall wash his clothes; — verse 54, — shall wash the 
 thing wherein the plague is, — verse 58, — the garment shall be washeda second 
 time to be clean :— -Chap. xiv. 9, — shall wash his clothes and his flesh. — Verse 
 47, He that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes, and he that eatcth in the 
 house shall wash his clothes:— Chr on. xv. 6. He that sitteth &c. shall bathe 
 himself in water, &c. — verse 7, And he that toucheth the flesh of him that is 
 unclean shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. In verses 8, 10, 
 11, tho «ame washing of clothes, and bathing of himself in water is enforced. 
 Verse 12. Every vessel that has betn touched by an impure person, must be 
 rinsed in water; verse 13, — shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water; 
 verse 18, — bathe themselves in water; verso 21, — wash clothes, and bathe 
 himself in water. The same is commanded in verses 22, 27, 31 ; in Chap. xvi. 
 4, 26, and xvii. 15, 16, and also in Num. xix.7, 8, 19. In Dout. xxiii. 11," La- 
 vers to wash in," are mentioned. Hence, we read, Heb. ix. 10, of things wtrich 
 stood in meats and drinks, and divers immersions. We have here these immer- 
 sions. The Jews, as Wall and others tell us,, when Gentile families joined them 
 as proselytes, were all of them required to bo immersed or purified. Vet that 
 those children born after were not immersed. This was often wiled Proselyte 
 Baptism. It was the mere purification of them in water, when they left their 
 
212 
 
 Mark vii. 8. For laying aside the commandments of Gotf, 
 ye hold the traditions of* men ; the immersions of pots and* 
 cups, and many other similar things ye do. 
 
 [The remarks in verse 9, about rejecting the commandment 
 of God, that ye may keep your own traditions, are in point, 
 in the rejection of Christian baptism in order that ye may 
 keep your own substitutes, and infant sprinkling.] 
 
 Mark x. 38. Can ye drink the cup that I drink, and under- 
 go the immersion that I undergo? 
 
 Verse 39. Ye shall truly drink the cup that I drink, and un- 
 dergo the immersion that I undergo. 
 
 Mark xi. 30. The immersion of John ; was it from heaven 
 or of men ? (In John i. 33, it is intimated that God sent John 
 to immerse. It was, therefore, from heaven.) 
 
 Mark xvi. 15, 16. Go ye into all the world, preach the Gos- 
 pel to every creature. He that believeth and is immersed 
 shall be saved. (Saved may mean shielded and protected un- 
 der the King, within his fold, and be thus conducted to hea- 
 ven under his guidance.) 
 
 Luke iii. 7. Then said he to the multitude that came to- be 
 immersed of him, &c. 
 
 Verse 12. And there came publicans also to be immersed 
 of him, and said, Sir, what shall we do? 
 
 Verse 16. I indeed immerse you in water ; he shall immerse 
 in the Holy Ghost and fire. 
 
 Verse 21. And it came to pass in the time that all the peo- 
 ple were immersed; and Jesus being immersed, and praying, 
 that the heaven was opened, &c. (Christ prayed after com- 
 ing up out of the water, and Ged there answered prayer mi* 
 raculously.) 
 
 Luke vii. 29. And all the people that heard, and the pub- 
 licans justified God, having undergone the immersion of John. 
 
 Verse 30. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the coun- 
 sel of God unto themselves, not having been immersed of 
 him. 
 
 Luke xi. 38. But the Pharisee seeing it, marvelled, because 
 he had not'immersed before dinner. (See note on Mark vii. 4.) 
 
 Luke xii. 5Ch But I have an immersion to undergo, and how 
 am I straitened till it be accomplished. 
 
 Luke xx. 4. The immersion of John; was it from heaven 
 or from men ? 
 
 John i. 25. Why then do ye immerse if you are not the 
 Christ, &lc. 
 
 Gentile associates. It was dm same purification above alluded to. Those 
 born after were not re paired to be purified in that way. 
 
213 
 
 Verse 25. John replied, saying, I immerse in water, — 
 
 28. — where John was immersing. 
 
 r 31. But that he might become manifest to Israel, for 
 
 this reason I have come immersing in water. 
 
 Verse 33. But he who sent me to immerse in water, He 
 said unto mo, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit de- 
 scending and remaining upon him, this is he who immerses 
 in the Holy Ghost. (See Acts ii. 2 — 4.) 
 
 John iii. 22. — and there he remained and immersed. 
 
 23. And John was immersing in iEnon, near to 
 
 Salem, because there was much water. And they came and 
 were immersed. 
 
 Verse 26. He who was with thee beyond Jordan, behold 
 he immerses, and all come to him. 
 
 John iv. 1. — heard that Jesus makes and immerses more 
 disciples than John, — ver. 2, — though Jesus himself did not 
 immerse but his disciples did it. (He discipled them, his dis- 
 ciples immersed them, and into his name.) 
 
 John x. 4. — beyond Jordan into the place where John was 
 immersing. 
 
 Act i. 5. For John truly immersed in water, but ye shall be 
 immersed in the Holy Ghost, not many days hence, (fulfilled, 
 Acts ii. 2 — 4. Of this last passage Bishop Tillotson says, 
 "They were all immersed in the Holy Ghost.") 
 
 Acts ii. 38- Repent and be immersed each one of you in 
 the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. And ye 
 shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ; because the promise 
 (of the Holy Ghost, Joel ii. 28—32, quoted Acts ii. 17—21 ; 
 the miracles, the signs aud wonders he wrought being the 
 things promised,) is to you, and to the children of you, and to 
 all those who are at a great distance, as many of them as the 
 Lord our God shall call. 
 
 Verse 41. Therefore, indeed, those who gladly received his 
 word, were immersed. And on that day about three thou- 
 sand souls were placed to them. 
 
 Acts viii. 12. And when they confided in Philip preaching 
 the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of 
 Jesus Christ, they were immersed, both men and women. 
 
 Verse 13. And Simon also himself believing. And continu- 
 ing with Philip, and seeing the signs and great miracles that 
 were done, he was astonished. 
 
 Verte 15, 16. — prayed for them, that they might receive 
 the Holy Ghost, (the miraculous operations.) For as yet he 
 was fallen on none of them, and it only existed that they were 
 immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus. 
 
214 
 
 
 Verse 36. — Behold the water, whathindereth me to be im- 
 mersed? 
 
 Verse 38. And they both descended into the water, to wit, 
 both Philip and the Eunuch; and he immersed him. 
 
 Verse 39. And when they come up out of the water, the Spi- 
 rit of the Lord caught away Philip. 
 
 Acts ix. 18. And immediutely there fell from his eyes some- 
 thing like scales, and immediately be saw. And having aris- 
 en up he was immersed. 
 
 Acts x. 47. Whether any one can prohibit water that these 
 should not be immersed who have received the Holy Ghost 
 as also we? (This inquiry is based in the fact that the con- 
 verts were Gentiles.) 
 
 Verse 48. And he in the name of the Lord commanded them 
 to be immersed. (The authority is in Matt, xxviti. 19. The 
 fact that they were converted, is assigned, v. 47, as the basis 
 and ground of it.) 
 
 Acts xi. 16. And I remembered the word of the Lord, as 
 he said, John indeed immersed you in water, but ye shall be 
 immersed in the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 
 
 Acts xvi. 15. And when she was immersed, and the house- 
 hold of her, (in verse 40, this household is called "the breth- 
 ren.") 
 
 Verse 33. — and was immersed, he, and all those of him, 
 immediately. (The word had been spoken to them all, v. 32, 
 and all were converts, v. 24.) 
 
 Acts xviii. 8. And Crispus, a ruler of the synagogue, con- 
 fided in the Lord, with all the house of him. (Another whole 
 family converted.) And many of the Corinthians, hearing, 
 believed, and were immersed. 
 
 Acts xix. 1 — 6. And finding some of his disciples, he said 
 unto them, Have ye who believe received the Holy Ghost? 
 (his miraculous powers.) And they said unto him, But we 
 have not heard if there is the Holy Ghost, (the miraculous pow- 
 ers.) And he said unto them, Into what were ye immersed? 
 And they said, into John's immersion. And Paul said, John 
 truly immersed with the immersion of repentance, saying un- 
 to the people (that he immersed,) that they must believe on 
 (confide in) Him who was coming after him ; that is, on Christ 
 Jesus. And they hearing it were immersed (in fact,) into the 
 name of the Lord Jesus. (We heie are taught, in a literal 
 version, that John in reality immersed into subjection to 
 Christ, and that it was so understood. In John iii. 26 — 36, 
 we see particularly, how John exalted Christ, and instructed 
 the disciples to trust in him.) And Paul placing his hands 
 
215 
 
 upon them, the Holy Ghost (in his miraculous powers) came 
 upon them. And they spake with tongues, and spake forth. 
 
 Acts xxii. 16. And now what wiliest thou? Arise be im- 
 mersed and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the 
 Lord. (Paul as well as well as Jesus, prayed as soon as he 
 came out of the water.) 
 
 Rom. vi. 3. Or are ye ignorant that as many of us as were 
 immersed into Christ, were immersed into the death of Him. 
 
 Verse 4. Therefore we are buried together with him, by 
 the immersion into the death ; that as Christ wps raised from 
 death by the glory of the Father, so also we will walk in new- 
 ness of life. 
 
 Verse 5. For if planted together, we have been conformed 
 to the resemblance of the death of Him, so also we will be, 
 of the resurrection. 
 
 Verse 6. This knowing, that the old man of us, was cotem- 
 porancously crucified, that the body of sin might be destroy- 
 ed, to the intent that we should no longer serve sin. 
 
 Verse 7. For he who is thus dead, has been delivered from 
 sin. 8. And if we died with Christ, we trust that also we shall 
 live with him. 
 
 1 Cor. i. 13. — or were ye immersed into the name of Paul. 
 
 14. I thank my God that I immersed no one of you 
 
 except Crispus and Gaius, — 15. — that no one should say I 
 immersed into my own name. And I immersed also the house- 
 hold of Stcphanus. (they were adults addicting themselves to 
 the ministry of the saints, &c. chap. xvi. 15.) Otherwise I 
 know not that I immersed any other. For Christ sent me 
 not to immerse, but to evangelize, (i. e. when Christ appear- 
 ed to me, his language was not about immersion, but about 
 evangelizing the Gentiles. Acts ch. ix.) 
 
 1 Cor. x. 2. And all into Moses, (into subjection to him as 
 a leader,) were immersed in the cloud and in the sea. 
 
 1 Cor. xii. 13. For also in one spirit, we all were immersed 
 into one body. (The body it is here said, consisted of those 
 who had one spirit, and were immersed, and immersion made 
 them members.) 
 
 Verse 14. For the body also is not one member but many. 
 27. But ye are the body of Christ, and members con- 
 sisting of parts, (i. e. consisting of separate churches.) 
 
 1 Cor. xv. 29. Because what will those do who are immers- 
 ed for those that are dead. If the dead arc not raised at all, 
 why also are they immersed for those that are dead % 
 
 Gal. iii. 27. For as many of us as were immersed into 
 Christ, have come under Christ. 
 
216 
 
 Verse 28. There is not the Jew nor the Greek, there is not 
 the servant nor the free. There is not the masculine and the 
 feminine ; for all are one under Christ Jesus. 
 
 Verse 29. And if ye are (the property) of Christ, then are 
 ye the posterity of Abraham, and inheritors (of Christ) accord- 
 ing to the promise. 
 
 Luke iii. 2, 3. The word of the Lord came upon John the 
 son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he came into all 
 the circumjacent country of the Jordan, preaching the immer- 
 sion of repentance for the remission of sins. 
 
 Acts x. 37. After the immersion which John preached: 
 
 xii. 54. John, preached, before his coming the immer. 
 
 sion of repentance to all the people. 
 
 Acts xviii. 25. — being experienced only as to the immer- 
 sion of John. 
 
 Eph. iv. 5. One Lord, one faith, one immersion, — 6. — One 
 God and Father of all, who is over all and through all, and 
 in you all. 
 
 Col. ii. 12. Jointly buried with him in the immersion in 
 wliich also we were jointly raised by the faith of the energy 
 of God, who raised Him from the dead. 
 
 Heb. vi. 1. Therefore leaving the account — v. 2, — of the 
 instruction about immersions, and of the imposition of hands, 
 and of the resurrection of the dead, and of the permanent sen- 
 tence. 
 
 Heb. ix. 10. — stood in divers immersions. (See Note on 
 Mark vii. 4.) 
 
 Heb. x. 22, 23. And having our bodies washed in pure wa- 
 ter, let us hold fast the profession of our faith firmly. 
 
 Titus iii. 5. But according to his mercy hath he saved (pro- 
 tected) us by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing 
 of the Holy Ghost. (The washing here spoken of, is that 
 which pertains to the second birth, in contradistinction from 
 that of the first birth. It is, therefore the immersion. We 
 are saved or protected through this instrumentality, as it puts 
 us into the fold of Christ, under the shadow of his wing, and 
 under his protection. By this means, and the constant renew- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost, we are helped onward toward heaven 
 itself.) 
 
 1 Pet. iii. 21. The antitype to which immersion, according 
 to the resurrection of Christ, doth now save us, (not the put- 
 ting away of the filth of the flesh, but the test of a good con- 
 science.) [Immersion, by putting us into the fold of Christ, 
 the ark of safety, and under his protection, saves us from ma- 
 
217 
 
 ny evils in this world, and help us along on the road to hea- 
 ven.] 
 
 John iii. 5. Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless any one 
 be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of God. (It is absolutely essential, according to this 
 language of Chrisl, to have a birth of water, in order to en- 
 ter that visible kingdom of God, as it was organized on earth.) 
 
 John xiii. 10. He who is washed (is immersed) needeth not 
 save to wash his feet. 
 
 Eph. vi. 11. But ye are washed, (immersed) but ye are 
 sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 and by the Spirit of our God. 
 
 These are all literal translations, with suggestions between 
 the parenthesis. Had it not been for the tricks of the Roman 
 Catholic priests, in relation to the initiating Christian ordi- 
 nance, and their desire to conceal them, by the use of heathen 
 Greek — their anglicising of Greek words to conceal their 
 tricks, — the knavery of those who introduced the Greek words 
 into the English Bible — the corrupt course of those bishops, 
 of 1568, who made a version to favor the national church of 
 England — the corruption of James, in retaining so many of 
 them, and the corruption of the rulers and bishops of the 
 church of England, and that of others who have directly or 
 indirectly aided in these things, — we should always have en- 
 joyed the privilege of literal versions. How, I ask, can we 
 avoid the guilt of adding to or taking from the word of God, 
 if we continue to circulate such obscure versions? Those 
 who undertake to defend sprinkling for baptism, from the Bi- 
 ble, might just as well undertake to defend free-masonry from 
 the Bible. 
 
 The following passages, literally translated, express the 
 time of the commencement of the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Matt. iii. 2. Repent, for tho kingdom of heaven has come. 
 
 iv. 17. From that lime, began Jesus to preach, and to 
 
 say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come. 
 
 x. 7. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of 
 
 heaven has come. 
 
 xii. 28. — then is the kingdom of heaven come unto you. 
 
 Luke xi. 20. The kingdom of heaven has come upon you. 
 
 Marki. 15. The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has 
 come. 
 
 Luke xvi. 16. The law and the prophets were until John* 
 Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached. 
 
 Matt, xi. 12. From the days of John the Baptist, until now, 
 
 I 
 
218 
 
 the kingdom of God suffcrcth violence, and the violent rapa- 
 ciously seize it. 
 
 Matt. xii. 2S. And if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, 
 then the kingdom of God hath come unto you. 
 
 xxi. 43. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, 
 
 and given to a nation bringing forth ihe fruits of it. 
 
 vi. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His 
 
 righteousness. 
 
 The following literal versions express the qualifications re- 
 quisite, at that lime, for membership in the kingdom : 
 
 Luke ix. 62. No one putting his hand to the plough, and 
 looking back, is well placed for (or towards) the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 Matt. iii. 7 — 9. The Pharisees and Sadducees were rejected 
 because they brought not forth the fruits of repentance, and 
 because they relied on the fact that they had Abraham for a 
 father. 
 
 Matt, v. 20. I say unto you that unless your righteousness 
 abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall 
 by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven. (It was the 
 kingdom of heaven, because the kingdom of heaven extended 
 to earth.) 
 
 Matt. v. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit for of them is the 
 kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Matt. v. 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for right- 
 eousness sake, for of them is the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 v. 19. Those (members) who break the least com- 
 mandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least 
 in the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 vii. 1 1. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
 
 shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the 
 will of my Father in heaven. 
 
 Matt, xviii. 3. Except ye be converted, and become as lit- 
 tle children, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 xix. 23. — hardly will a rich (worldly) man enter in- 
 to the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 xxi. 31. — The publicans and harlots precede you to- 
 wards the kingdom of God. 
 
 Mark iii. 35. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, 
 the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. 
 
 x. 15. Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of 
 
 God as a child, shall not enter into it. 
 
 Luke vii. 29, 30. And all the people that heard, and the 
 publicans, justified God, having undergone the immersion o 
 
219 
 
 John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel 
 of God towards them, not being immersed of him, (not being 
 qualified for becoming members of the kingdom.) 
 
 Matt. xii. 30. He that is not with me is against me; and 
 he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad. (All who 
 gather not into his kingdom, scatter abroad.) 
 
 John iii. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spi- 
 rit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God 
 
 xviii. 36. My kingdom is not of this world. 
 
 Verse 37. Thou sayest that I am a King: to this end was 
 I born, and fur this purpose came I into the world, that I 
 should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the 
 truth hcareth my voice. 
 
 We sec here the qualifications for membership in Christ's 
 time. We have before shown who were baptized into the 
 kingdom by the apostles. 
 
 I here add the literal version of two other passages, as re- 
 lating to the equality and unity of those within the church. 
 
 The one is, 1 Cor. xiv. 32 — 34. Let the spirits of the pro- 
 phets be in subjection to the prophets. For God is not the 
 God of confusion, but of peace as in all the meetings of the 
 saints. Let your wives in these meetings (meetings for speak- 
 ing in tongues, &-c. ver. 27 — 31.) be silent, because it is not 
 permitted to them to speak, but to be in subjection, as also 
 the law says. And if they desire to learn any thing, let them 
 ask their husbands in the house ; for it is unbecoming to wives 
 to speak in this meeting. 
 
 As these meetings have long since passed away, the regu- 
 lations about them, of course, cannot apply to other meetings, 
 but have passed away also. It related to wives, pertained to 
 that class of meetings, and was, perhaps, the result of some 
 law, alluded to in verse 34, unknown to us. 
 
 The other is, 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12. Let the wife learn in quiet- 
 ness, in all subordination. And I suffer not the wife to teach 
 or to authenticate the husband, but to be in quietness. 
 
 The old translators must have had much of the love of rule 
 over females, and felt much self-importance, or they would 
 not have strained their version to the utmost verge, as they 
 have done here, in order to justify such a course. That all 
 things be done decently and in order, is all the regulation 
 there is concerning the female portion of the church ; speak- 
 ing in conferenccs.and prayer meetings. The first of the above 
 pissagos has no allusion to ordinary Christian meetings. The 
 other simply prohibits the usurpation by the wife, of authority 
 over the husband. If those ministers who love to rule, and to 
 
220 
 
 stretch their gag-law,would think of the prohibitions from the 
 King, against lording it over His church, and cease their own 
 dogmatical construction of the above passages, Christians 
 wonld feel greatly relieved of a tyrannic obstruction to re- 
 ligious freedom. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 CLOSE COMMUNION. 
 
 This offence, from the nature of things, must be the estab- 
 lishment of a communion under human regulations, and in 
 such a way as closes and fences that communion against a 
 portion of their fellow Christians, wherever it exists. 
 
 As we have not made our regulations and we only obey 
 those of the King, from the nature of the case with us, neither 
 the initiating ordinance into the kingdom, nor the privileges 
 within it, nor the freedom of ingress is closed up by us. All 
 things are free precisely as the Lord made them, so far as we 
 are concerned: we are not guilty of close communion there- 
 fore. 
 
 To establish a separate communion, under other rulers, 
 without gospel baptism, and to make church members by in- 
 fant sprinkling, is to establish a communion to which we can- 
 not approach, by reason of the laws and regulations of our 
 King. We, therefore, are the sinned against, not the sinners 
 in this thing. If a church were to be organized in each place 
 without any water, or any baptism, this would make close 
 communion between those and all others. And it would be 
 false and cruel to blame the churches who believe baptism 
 (or what they call such) is necessary before communion, as 
 causing that close communion. It would be those who or- 
 ganize without any baptism, that would make that close 
 communion. The others would be the injured party. 
 
 The substitutes for Christian baptism to us, when examined 
 in the light of the Bible, are no baptism at all. They are the 
 mere inventions of men. Such churches, to us, are as if they 
 had no baptism. They stand in the same relation to us as a 
 church would to them, who should discard all water. Being 
 aggrieved and injured in our feelings of love to them, and in 
 our love of Christian union, as they would be in the other 
 supposed case, we have reason affectionately to remonstrate, 
 therefore, with our Christian friends, against this close com- 
 munion. We feel injured, that they should shut themselves 
 
221 
 
 away from our fellowship, and from the regulations of Christ, 
 and adhere to a communion to which they know we cannot 
 come. We are shut up by the laws of Christ to the regula- 
 tions of his kingdom, and cannot help ourselves by following 
 after them if we would, without trampling down the laws 01 
 the kingdom. But they can help the case — can obey the 
 rules of the kingdom— can return to the original regula- 
 tions ot Christ. They can. remove the close communion, 
 but we cannot. They have made it, we have not. With all 
 the tenderness of Christian affection, therefore, we urge them 
 to cease to perpetuate close communion between themselves 
 and us. We are pained and aggrieved with it. Christ and 
 all Heaven, no doubt, are aggrieved with it. 
 
 In Scotland, the established Presbyterian Church — the Co- 
 venanters, — the Relief Church — the Church of England — 
 the Bergers — the Anti-Bergers — the Independents — the Wes- 
 lcyan Methodists, and the Independent Methodists, all hold 
 close communion in the strict sense of the word; no one of 
 the*c churches communing witli another. As they all make 
 their own regulations, they could avoid this if they would. 
 
 When the Congregational churches were established in 
 New England, they continued in the same way, until about 
 twenty or thirty years since. The Presbyterians held strict 
 communion in the United States, for a long time, except with 
 the Congregationalists. Both still continue an arbitrary close 
 communion against a large proportion of their own church 
 members. For all sprinkled babes are considered in their 
 books, as church members. No one can commune with the 
 national church of England, without a certificate of his birth, 
 and of baptism, as performed by an Episcopal minister there,, 
 and without proof that he has been also confirmed there. 
 Dr. Miluer, and Dr. Hawks, who visited England in 1836,. 
 and IS37, were neither of them permitted to preach in Epis- 
 copal pulpits there, because not rantized, confirmed, or ordain- 
 ed there. Nor could they have been admitted, for the same 
 reason, to the communion there. A Presbyterian, Congrega- 
 tional, Methodist, or Baptist minister could not be admitted 
 into the pulpit with an Episcopal minister, either there or 
 here, or take any part with him, or exchange with him. In 
 the Methodist Discipline, ch. i. $ 22, it rrads " Let no person, 
 that is not a member of our church, be admitted to the com- 
 munion, without examination, and some token given by an 
 Elder or a deacon." In ch. ii. $ G. — " Give no tickets to any 
 till they have left off superfluous ornaments. Give no tick- 
 ets to any that wear high heads, enormous bonnets, ruflles, or 
 
222> 
 
 rings." In ch. i. § 18, 2, 3. — " those who hold doctrines* 
 privately, or publicly, contrary to ovr articles of religion," 
 are to be proceeded against " as in cases of gross immorailty." 
 Can we consistently be admitted by them who hold to views 
 for which their own members would be excluded? Most of 
 the forms of Scotch Presbyterianism hold close communion 
 in the strict sense 
 
 These are all the contrivances of men. The only fault of 
 us Baptists is, that we obey the regulations of Christ, and of 
 his kingdom. We make no close communion, we make no 
 laws about it, but simply obey the laws of Christ. This view 
 is introduced in order to show what a vast amount of close 
 communion is actually made by the regulations of human be- 
 ings. It is cruel, as against us, in our fellow Christians thus 
 to separate themselves from us into close communions. We 
 feel it most keenly. But in addition to all this, for them to 
 charge us with malting close communion, as between them 
 and us; no charge was evermore false or cruel! It is adding 
 insult to injury. We are the most averse to close communion 
 of any portion of Christians that can be found. We have the 
 laws of the kingdom, the rules of admission, and all other 
 things where Christ left them, and simply obey them. By 
 all the sincere and warm affection we have, therefore, for owe 
 fellow Christians — by our mutual love of each other, as Chris- 
 tians — by the regard we all ought to have for the prayer of 
 Christ, " that all his people might be one," and for his law 
 that there should be but " one fold," and for his law requiring 
 all Christians to be baptized into subjection to himself; and 
 by the great advantages to us all, and to the world, that would 
 Eesultfrom Christian union ;. by the great wants of the perish- 
 ing heathen, and their need of Christian union among us, in 
 exertions for their welfare, and by a review of all the advan- 
 tages the church might have enjoyed, if they had continued 
 to be one, and by a candid view of the evtls that have resulted 
 from divisions, we most earnestly and affectionately beseech 
 Our fellow Christians in the other ranks, to relinquish and to- 
 tally to discontinue their close commuion. It is a departure 
 from the regulations of the kingdom of Christ, and a pertina- 
 cious adherence to the inventions of men — to the new folds 
 which men have made in modern times — to illegitimate ru- 
 bers, and initiations under them, which makes all the close 
 communion, and all the divisions that exist. 
 
189 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In confirmation of the main statement about the change of 
 the ordinance, I here add an attestation of the Catholics ; be- 
 ing a note found in a Rhenish Testament, published in 1582, 
 on Matt. iii. 6, — "baptized in Jordan," &c. The note is in 
 these words, " The word baptism signifies a washing: partic- 
 ularly when it is done by immersion, or by dipping, or plung- 
 ing a thing under water, which was formerly the ordinary 
 way of administering the ordinance of baptism. 
 
 " But the Church, which cannot change the least article of 
 the Christian Faith, is not so tied up to matters of discipline 
 and ceremonies. Not only the Catholic church, but also the 
 
 PRETENDED REFORMED CHURCHES HAVE ALTERED this 'pri- 
 mitive custom, in giving the sacrament of baptism. They 
 now allow of baptism by pouring or sprinkling on the person 
 baptized. Nay, many of their ministers do it now-a-days, by 
 fillippinga wet finger and thumb over the child's head, or by 
 shaking a wet finger or two over the child, which it is hard 
 enough to call baptism in any sense." 
 
 A copy of the Testament and the Note, is in the hands of 
 J. M'Govran of New York. 
 
 THE EHD 
 
THE 
 
 BAPTIST LIBRARY; 
 
 A REPUBLICATION 
 
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 STANDARD BAPTIST WORKS. 
 
 TOBLISHED BY 
 
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 EDITED BY 
 REV. MESSRS. SOMMERS AND WILLIAMS, NEW YORK. 
 
 The following synopsis will present at one view, all neces- 
 sary information with regard to the character of the work, in 
 general, and what we pledge ourselves to make it in future. 
 
 OBJECT. 
 It will be our object 
 
 1. To restore OLD WORKS, of great value, to a place 
 among the living literature of the Baptists; at the same time 
 that we shall avail ourselves of the labors of American and 
 European authors who are yet in the field. 
 
 2. To collect and embody the literature of the Baptists, 
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 flowers. 
 
 3. To bring together a COMPLETE BAPTIST LIBRA- 
 RY, for less than one fifth of its cost at the usual volume pri- 
 ces, as will be seen in what follows. 
 
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 much for a little, is our motto. This object is fully secured 
 
2 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 by adopting the Periodical form, instead of the usual Volume 
 form. We thereby effect a saving of more than EIGHTY 
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 Hence our position, that the plan we adopt effects a saving of 
 more than EIGHTY PER CENT, is indisputable. 
 
 Besides, this estimate does not notice the fact, that the 
 GREAT MAJORITY of Standard Baptist works are out of 
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 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS FOR VOLUME II. 
 
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 Baptist Library, (being the first of the work for the selections 
 in which they are personally responsible,) to publish the fol- 
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 to bring within the compass allotted to the volume. 
 
 CHARLES G. SOMMERS. 
 
 New-York, April, 1841. WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS. 
 
 1. GRACE ABOUNDING. By John Bunvan. 
 
 2. THE DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS OF 
 
 THE MINISTRY. Robert Hall, A. M. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 3 
 
 3. THE BACKSLIDER, Andrew Fuller. 
 
 4. THE HOLY WAR. John Bunyan. 
 
 5. GLAD TIDINGS. Abraham Booth. 
 
 6. DEATH OF LEGAL HOPE. Abraham Booth. 
 
 7. THE SOCINIAN AND CALVIN1STIC SYSTEMS 
 
 COiVIPARED. Andrew Fuller. 
 
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 TION. The same. 
 
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 10. EXPOSITION OF GENESIS. The same. 
 
 11. MODERN INFIDELITY. Robert Hall. 
 
 12. CHARGE TO EUSTACE CAREY. The same. 
 
 13. FOSTERS' ESSAY ON DECISION. 
 
 14. PREFACE TO DODDRIDGE. 
 
 15. MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 16 LIFE OF PEARCE. Andrew Fuller. 
 17. LIFE OF WILLIAM CAREY. 
 18. CHAMBERLAIN. 
 
 19. MORRIS' LIFE OF FULLER. 
 
 20. HELP TO ZION'S TRAVELLERS. Robert Hall. 
 
 Scr.r. 
 
 21. TRAVELS OF TRUE GODLINESS. Benjamin 
 
 Keach. 
 
 22. GILL ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. 
 
 23. FULLER ON SANDEMANIANISM. 
 
 24. I. BIRT ON INFANT BAPTISM. 
 
 25. B. GOODWIN ON ATHEISM. 
 
 26. GREGORY'S MEMOIRS OF ROBERT HALL 
 
 27. GALE'S REPLY TO WALL. 
 
 28. IVIMEY'S HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. 
 
 29. THE USES OF BAPTISM. Fuller. 
 
 30. SELECT HYMNS OF MRS. STEELE. 
 
 31. GREGORY'S LETTERS ON THE EVIDENCES 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 32. INNES' SKETCHES OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 33. SELECT HYMNS OF KELLY. 
 34. BEDDOME. 
 
 35. COME AND WELCOME TO CHRIST JESUS. By 
 Bunyan. 
 
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