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of Christ. Let us examine into the validity of this objection, taking for our guides the lights which are afforded us by the texts of Scripture upon this point.

Every well-wisher to the human race must admit that to inculcate into the minds of little children, at their earliest dawn, sentiments of religion and morality, is a work of the greatest importance. From their very infancy they should be instructed in habits of piety and virtue"Train up a child in the way he should go ;" (said Solomon)" and when he is old, he will not depart from it." What then is the first duty of a Christian parent? It is surely to dedicate his offspring to the Lord by baptism. Bring them

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up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," saith St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians, chap. vi. 4. Of so much consequence, indeed, did the Apostle regard the religious instruction and discipline of children, that to no father who disregarded these duties would he grant any office in the Church. "If a man desire the office of a bishop, he must be one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; for if a man knew not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?.... Let the deacons rule their children and their own houses well. . . . . I left thee in Crete that thou shouldest ordain elders in every

city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly." 1 Tim. iii. 1-12: Titus, i. 5, 6.

Much has been said on the impropriety of subjecting young people to a course of religious instruction, before they can comprehend it and make up their minds about it. "We cannot give our children grace, (say the Antipædobaptists) we can only pray for them, and leave them to the Lord." Surely they might go a little further, and bring them up, according to the Apostle, in the doctrine and discipline of Christ: for, by "the Lord," (as used by St. Paul in Eph. vi. 4,) is undoubtedly meant, our Saviour. A parent who subjects his child to a course of Christian instruction before he subjects him to baptism, acts in diametrical opposition to the rules laid down in that Sacred Volume, by which he professes to govern his conduct. If the Antipædobaptist can produce from the New Testament a single example in his favour, I will give up the cause. If then it be the duty of parents to train up their children in the way of the Lord; and if this relation be brought about by baptism, it is the duty of parents to have their children baptized. For although infants can do nothing, they can reiceve something they can by this sacrament as really be admitted into the covenant of faith, even

before they have the grace of faith, as the infants of the Jews could. As well might circumcision have been deferred till the Jewish infants could understand its meaning, as baptism; but since the infants under Moses received that which to them was an insignificant character, so may the infants under Christ have water.

It has already been shewn that our Lord places baptism before a course of Christian instruction, and that the Apostles uniformly acted upon that plan it has also, I trust, been satisfactorily proved that no one of the arguments against Infant Baptism is supported by so much as a single word of holy writ. I will, however, be still more explicit on this point, and enumerate several additional texts of Scripture which will turn the tables completely upon our opponents.

1. John the Baptist baptized "unto repentance. "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Mark, i. 4. Here we see that baptism preceded preaching, and that repentance unto life was not regarded as a necessary preliminary. In the 7th and 8th verses of the same chapter St. Mark adds, that John preached, saying, "There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized with water; but he shall baptize you

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with the Holy Ghost."-And again in St. Matthew, iii. 11, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance."

2. Our Lord instructed his Apostles to administer the rite before they taught the peculiarities of the Christian covenants, as did our Saviour himself" Go ye therefore and make disciples* of all nations; baptizing them.... and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. The Antipædobaptist's version of this text puts teaching before baptizing.

3. The primitive Christians were baptized into Christ by the Apostles, who also regarded baptism as preceding sanctification: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost," Acts, ii. 38. Our opponents reverse the order in both instances.

4. The Apostles exhorted people to receive baptism, as the appointed means of obtaining the effusions of the Holy Ghost. "Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: for as yet he was fallen upon * See pp. 9-13.

none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost." Acts, viii. 14-17. The Antipædobaptists desire evidence of a candidate's actual possession of sanctification as a prerequisite to the administration of this ordinance. But what sort of faith is that for which there is no evidence? Cornelius and his company did not make so much as a profession of faith before baptism, nor was any demanded by St. Peter. Acts, xi. And, in the case of Simon Magus, nothing more than a profession was given: the Apostle did not wait for or require any evidence.

5. "Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word." So says St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians, chap. v. 26. And in his letter to Titus, chap. iii. 5, speaking of our Lord, the Apostle likewise says "According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Here again our opponents reverse the order, insisting upon it that we ought to be in a state of salvation before we receive the ordinance!

And now I think I have firmly established the principles of Pædobaptism from these texts of Scripture; and I flatter myself it will appear

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