(3.) Col. ii. 12.-They were buried with him in baptism, and are risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God. Now, if none have a right to be baptized except those who have been made partakers of vital faith; and if this ordinance were to be administered to none but those who make a credible profession, this language would be very proper, notwithstanding the posssibility of our being occasionally mistaken in some individuals, as even the Apostles sometimes were. If I could hope that those Friends who deny the perpetuity of this Christian, ordinance, as well as that of the Supper of the Lord, would pay any regard to what may be said by a person of a different denomination; and if I could so express the fears which have been excited in my mind, by the little knowledge I have had of them, as to be likely to profit, instead of offending them, I would beseech them seriously to examine, whether the bulk of that denomination, who have laid aside the forms of worship which we think Christ has prescribed, are not as much in danger, or more, than any other class of Christians, of resting in a mere lifeless formality, respecting such externals as have no immediate reference to religion? and, whether too many among them are not equally inattentive to the work of Christ without them, and to the special operations of his Holy Spirit within. Happy exceptions I trust there are; and a general regularity of conduct, and a most commendable spirit of benevolence, render them highly respectable in society; but as to conformity to the world, it is a very subtle evil, consisting more in the mind's being engrossed by worldly things than in the mere external appearance and habit of the body. And for our acceptance with God, an entire dependance on the sacrifice of Christ is absolutely requisite, which, if it be sincere, will be manifested by our walking, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."As many as walk according to this rule, (whether they follow with us or not) "peace be upon them, and upon the Israel of God." Note K. Preface, page vi. I cannot but regret that some of our brethren, who think us mistaken in rejecting infant baptism, are not more conscientiously scrupulous in the use of means to enlighten and convince us of our error. While many are pleased to nickname us Anabaptists, or Re-baptizers, (though we never baptize those whom we believe to have been truly baptized before,) and we have often been taunted with our pretended descent from the madmen of Muntzer; an attempt has been lately made to identify us with those fanatics, by republishing Dr. ROBERTSON'S account of them, under the title of The History of the BAPTISTS. So then, if it might seem illiberal to give their name to us, we must be identified with them, by giving them our ususal appellation. Is this reconcileable to liberality, or to justice? On this subject, it may be worth while to insert the following extract from a letter, sent by Dr. GILL to Mr. RYLAND, sen. of Northampton, received July, 1771: "As to the turbulent factions in Germany, these were begun by Pædobaptists, though afterwards joined by some called Anabaptists, on whom the whole blame was laid, men of bad principles and scandalous lives; and the Pædobaptists have been told over and over again, that we disallow the men, their principles, and practices, as much as they do: and the man that will upbraid us with these things after all this, discovers more the malignity of his heart, than the weakness of his head. Our confessions of faith, both of the particular and the general persuasion, throughout the last century and this, show that we believe civil magistracy is an ordinance of God, and that all Christians ought to obey the civil magistrate in all things lawful, and our behaviour has been always agreeable to our principles, so that we may claim to ourselves the character of being the quiet and peaceable in the land. In what plots and conspiracies, insurrections, and rebellions against the present family have any of us been engaged? when it is well known, multitudes of Pædobaptists have been concerned in them. It would be thought hard if we should impute all the massacres and murders of the Papists, who are all Pædobaptists, to the body of that people; even all committed in France and Savoy, in the Netherlands, in Ireland, and elsewhere; and yet all this may be as justly retorted upon them, as the distractions in Muntzer upon us, excited by a people who never had any connexion with us, and with whom we neither agree, nor they with us; as not in their political principles, so neither in their religious ones, no, not in baptism itself, which, as it is affirmed, they administered by sprinkling, and not by dipping See my Divine Right of Infant Baptism disproved."" What would our brethren say, if we were to endeavour to throw an odium upon the practice of Pædobaptism in general, and to involve them therein, by asking such questions as the following? Who perpetrated the massacre of Paris? Padobaptists. Who executed the Irish massacre? Pædobaptists. Who committed all the atrocious crimes that attended or followed the French revolution? Pædobaptists. Yet hundreds of such questions might truly receive the same answer. And what are these things to them? Just as much as the madmen of Muntzer are to us, and no more. Though it must be confessed, that they are all baptized into one body with them, considering their baptism as valid; which we should deny to the Muntzer Anabaptists. In reply to an American Pamphlet, which appeared in 1746. The Reply was printed in Dr. GILL's Sermons and Tracts, II. 274; and is now prefixed to Mr. IVIMEY'S History of the English Baptists. |