Schismatics. For what is schism but a separation from the society of the church for external things? "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular, and there should be no schism in the body; but the members should have the same care one for another." 1 Cor. 12 chap. 25, 27 v. Which care the Baptists have not otherwise they would still cling to their mother-church, and apply to her for a remedy for their doubts. And if their doubts proved to be such as she could not remove from their scrupulous minds, if they be mere questions about not being dipped, (which however was their parents' ordering, not the church's) let them solicit from her hands what in that case is admissible, viz. Hypothetical Baptism, administered with this formula; "If thou art not already baptized, N. I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Sou, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." See Directions at the end of the Ministration of Private Baptism, Common Prayer. Or, rather, let them seek Confirmation, that solemn, ancient, and laudable custom in the Church of God, continued from the Apostles' times--that all Bishops should lay their hands upon children baptized, and instructed in the Catechism of the Christian religion, praying over them, and blessing them; when they may themselves, with their own mouth and consent, openly before the Church, ratify and confirm their baptismal vow or covenant; and also promise that, by the grace of God, they will evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to observe such things as they by their own confession, have assented unto. And verily, as they do in England, so should they do in India, travel miles and miles, to obtain this heavenly boon-Episcopal Confirmation. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us (who have once received baptism,) go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. and of faith towards God, and of the doctrine of baptisms. And this will we do, if God permit." Heb. 6 chap. 1, 2, 3, v. CHAPTER 3. OF INFANT BAPTISM. It is written, Eph. 4 chap. 4, 5, v. "There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, One Baptism: and the sound Christian rehearseth with perfect safety those suffrages of his creed"And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. Amen." Now this one baptism is Infant baptism, which has been the uniform practice of the Holy Catholic Church throughout all the ages of Christendom. It is true indeed that the primitive Christians could not have been baptized when infants; for Christianity did not then exist. But when they embraced Christianity, their families were always baptized with them, as you can easily discover by reading the Acts of the Apostles. And the Missionaries of our Church, according to the Apostolical discipline, never baptize adults, in these or other Heathen nations, without their children. I beg leave to add, saith Bromfield, that Origen speaks of Infant baptism having been ordered by the Apostles. Forty years after Origen, Fidus, a Bishop, sent to Cyprian and sixty other Bishops, to know whether the baptism of a child must not be always on the 8th day after his birth, because circumcision was so. They answer, the child may, and must be, baptized sooner if there is danger of death, and speak of the refusal of it as hurtful to the soul's health. Justin Martyr wrote 90 years after St. Matthew, and he asserts that there were many persons, then 70 and 80 years of age, who had been made the disciples of Christ when in. fants-they must have been baptized in the days of the Apostles. Who, saith Pelagius, is so iguorant of what is read in the gospel as to hinder infants being baptized and born again in Christ? When it was said of St. Paul that " he taught all the Jews which were among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children," it was understood that he taught them to follow Christ instead, and to baptize their children. In short there is every reason in scripture for including children, under the Christian dispensation, in those corresponding rites which they enjoyed under the Jewish law. When Abraham wss circumcised, he and all his house, both old and young, were circumcised with him, and adult circumcision at once ceased with the family of the faithful. Now it is precisely the same with regard to baptism: and "where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world," that can conscientiously gainsay this analogy? Faith, saith St. Paul, cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. "And how shall they believe in Him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent ?" Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Such is Christ's direction-" To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life," 2 Cor. 2 66 chap. 16, v. And when Lydia was baptized, her household was baptized with her, and adult baptism at once ceased in her family; for the children of one believing parent, as I have before observed, are reckoned holy, and meet subjects for this sacrament, and even servants are to be baptized upon the same trust. Parents and Masters are the divinely-appointed guardians of the faith of their respective households-and woe be unto those who neglect to teach them the faith, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. For God alone can give the increase, and they must wait for it in His own good time. 66 Wherefore, let no man whisper to you any. strange doctrines. This the Church always had, always held; this she received from our fathers, and this she holds constantly to the end. And Quicunque parvulos, ab uteris matrum, baptizandos negat, anathema sit," saith the Council of Milevis and that Council is confirmed by the fourth and sixth General Councils. Indeed, children are much more entitled, according to scripture, to be baptizsd, than women are to receive the Lord's Supper and, if we followed the letter instead of the spirit of it, no female would be admitted to the holy table, for want of an express warrant & instance. But that, which God alloweth to the husband in the gospel-covenant, He alloweth to the wife; and what He alloweth to either or both, He alloweth to their children. "The dictates of nature," says Buck, "in parental feelings; the verdict of reason in favor of their privileges, the language of prophecy respecting the children of the gospel-church; the evidence of children being sharers of the seals of grace, in common with their parents for the space of 4000 years, all concur in favour of the pedobaptist opinion." And " surely, saith Bishop Heber of blessed memory, the more we examine it, the more reasonable does the prac tice appear, as a seal of past mercies, as an engagement to future duties, as an admission to the external means of grace, which the church can in this world supply, as a solemn petition to the Almighty, that His blessing may render those outward means effectual! Suffer, then, the little children to come to Christ, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven!" How strange it is that the Baptists will not admit that circumcision was a seal of grace at all, when the Jews would have fain excluded the converted Gentiles,(who were baptized,) from all hopes of salvation, unless also they were circumcised, believing circumcision to be the greatest seal of the two! For we read, "And certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised, after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved," Acts, 15 chap. 1 v. But, please God, the time will now soon arrive, when the Jews, the natural branches, will be again ingrafted into the olive-tree: " then must these Sectarians be obliged to acknowledge the identity of the old and new seal of the gospel-covenant, and join our church, or "judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life." And 66 - How still more strange that the Baptists object to the holy rite on account of the unconsciousness of children, when Moses commanded the elders of Israel, saying; "Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the words of this law and that their children which have not known any thing (of the covenant of the Lord.) may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God." Deut. 31 : |