children individually, "Who gave you this name?" they, agreeably to instruction given them, reply, "My god-fathers and god-mothers in my baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. After the children have repeated in their mother-tongue the creed, the Lord's prayer, the ten commandments, and answered some questions, the bishop lays his hands upon their heads and prays thus: "Almighty and everlasting God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these, thy servants, by water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins, &c. ;" and in a following collect he says: "These, thy servants, upon whom (after the example of thy holy apostles) we have now laid our hands to certify them (by this sign) of thy favour and gracious goodness toward them." Thus, as infants, they have been regenerated in baptism, of which, in riper years, they were confirmed and certified; and at their burial, no matter how wicked their lives may have been, (except self-murderers or excommunicated,) their bodies are committed to the dust in "sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life," and thanks are given for "God's taking the soul of this dear brother (or sister) to himself.” Awful delusion indeed! Assembly Conf. of Faith, ch. 28.

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Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only as the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church, but also to be unto hima sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins," &c. Again; "The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered; yet notwithstanding, by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost to such (whether of age or in

fants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to God's own will in his appointed time." Judging from the life and conduct of many who have been sprinkled in infancy, it seems that, by baptism, grace is promised, and sealed and offered, to many to whom, according to God's own will, it does not belong.

Dutch Reformed Church Conf. of Faith, Art. 34. "Christ shed his blood no less for the washing of the children of the faithful than for adult persons; and, therefore, they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them." Again, the Heidelb. Cat. Lord's day 26th, says, "that I (viz., the person baptized) am as certainly washed by his blood and spirit from all the pollution of my soul—that is, from all my sins -as I am washed externally with water." Is this really

true of all baptized children?

Innumerable testimonies might be adduced from the writings of individuals, but two or three must suffice. John Calvin says: "Baptism is a sign of initiation, by which we are admitted into the society of the church, in order that, being incorporated into Christ, we may be numbered among the children of God. In baptism God assures us that all our sins are cancelled, effaced, and obliterated, so that they will never appear in his sight, or come into his remembrance, or be imputed to us. Baptism is also attended with another advantage; it shows us our mortification in Christ, and our new life in him. Rom. 6: 3, 4." Institute, B. 4, ch. 15. Mr. Henry, whose commentary on the bible displays so much piety, learning, and judgment, yet had his mind so much prejudiced by education, that he advances the following sentiment: "Such are the privileges which attend this ordinance, that, if our Master had bid us do some great thing, would we not have done it, rather than come short

of them? much more when he only saith unto us, wash, and be clean; wash, and be CHRISTIANS. The gospel contains not only a doctrine, but a covenant; and by baptism we are brought into that covenant. Baptism wrests the keys of the heart out of the hands of the strong man armed, that the possession may be surrendered to him whose right it is. The water of baptism is designed for our cleansing from the spots and defilements of the flesh. In baptism our names are engraved upon the breast-plate of this Great High Priest. This, then, is the efficacy of baptism; it is putting the child's name upon the gospel grant. We are baptized into Christ's death; i. e., God does, in that ordinance, seal, confirm, and make over to us ALL the benefits of the death of Christ. Infant baptism speaks an hereditary relation to God, that comes to us by descent. Baptism seals the promise of God's being to ME a God, and that is greatly encouraging; but infant baptism increases the encouragement, as it assures me of God being the God of my father's, and the God of my infancy." Treatise on Baptism. Passim. Another Protestant divine has informed us "that Christ has nothing to do with any man, nor any man with Christ, till he is baptized with water. All power in heaven and on earth is in baptism. He that is not baptized has no interest in Father, Son, nor Holy Spirit. By this ordinance he is united unto the true God, and becomes one with him in all things. Baptism is our righteousness and holiness; it is remission and cleansing from sin; and, though our sins are red as scarlet, baptism makes white, and whiter than snow. He who is baptized is as white and clean from sin as God can make him." Lewelyn's Treat. on Bap., pp. 5–23.

Dear reader, allow me now to ask you the following questions: First. Who do you think lay the greatest

stress on baptism, the Baptists or the Pedobaptists ? Secondly. If the preceding statement be true, if grace be given the child in baptism, if God has truly regenerated it, and has actually made it a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, I ask, how comes it to pass that persons baptized in infancy are not uniformly pious in their after-lives? How is it that so many of them turn out such profligates ? Are these the fruits or evidences of their regeneration? Are these the persons that may call God their Father, Christ their Head, and heaven their home? I ask once more, how are these things consistent with the doctrine of perseverance? Justice, however, requires the admission, that all Pedobaptists do not attach so much importance to infant baptism. Mr. Bradbury says: "That your children shall be sanctified from their mother's womb, upon their being received in this ordinance, is making the blessing of the new covenant come by the will of men and of the will of the flesh, and not of God. But be not deceived; God is not mocked. Do not think so idly of those favours that come by his Spirit." Duty and Doctrine of Baptism, p. 19.

The late Pedobaptist writer in the New York Observer, mentioned above, states that infant baptism is wholly the act of the parents, and that the child derives no other benefit from it but a dedication to God; and in the close of his paper he observes: "If the Pedobaptist churches would take this ground, and relinquish the idea that baptized children are in any such sense members of the church as to entitle them, by reason of their baptism, to a seat at the Lord's table, and to subject them to the discipline of the church, they would find their system, I think, more consistent with Scripture, and more accordant with what, in fact, is practicable."

It is gratifying to see the rapid progress of the Baptist sentiment. Nor can it be otherwise. In proportion as the bible is circulated and read without note and comment, in the same proportion we may hope God will be worshipped without human inventions. Hasten it, Oh Lord, for thy name's sake. Amen.

15. Close communion is another objection against the Baptist sentiments and practice.

Not a few pious and conscientious Christians, convinced of the truth of the Baptist sentiments, have been kept back by the erroneous and slanderous report, that the Baptists are a bigoted, narrow-minded sect, because they allow none to come to the Lord's table except the members of their own denomination, as if they were the only people fit for heaven.

Certainly our Pedobaptist brethren cannot mean by this objection that we ought to admit a person who is a heretic in sentiment or immoral in practice; for to such some of them refuse admittance, as well as we. Their objection, therefore, we conceive, is, that we do not admit such as are church members in good standing in every other respect, except that they have not been immersed after a personal profession of faith. I confess, with deep regret, that this objection had once great weight upon my mind, and excited not a little prejudice against the Baptist denomination. I remember that once, after having preached in a Baptist church, immediately before the administration of the Lord's supper, on leaving the pulpit, I expostulated with the minister for refusing me a crumb of bread from the Lord's table, after I had dispensed the bread of life to the whole congregation. But, as hard as I then thought of this conduct, I cannot now but approve of it, as a thing absolutely necessary to make their practice consistent with their principles.