us, that man is born like a wild afs's colt. It does not exempt believers' children any more than others. Befides fays our Saviour, Except a man be born again, he cannot fee the kingdom of God. Is Mr. A. an Arminian, or a Wesleyan Methodist, and fo has he adopted the inventions of men to pervert these texts? If he have, ftill I will show the public, that he has denied a plain fact, to get rid of a difficulty. For, in the fame page, and in the preceding, he, fpeaking of the jailer, and of his household, charges me with prefumptuous comments, which, fays he, are calculated to make your unlearned readers conclude, that the jailer's household are faid to be believers as well as himself. Whereas the evidence from the ufe of this participle is quite the other way." Here Mr. A. informs us, that the jailer's household were baptized, when they did not believe; and charges me with prefumptuous comments, because I held with the plain Scripture account of the matter, that the jailer rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Mr. A. holds that the household of the jailer was baptized, while they were unbelievers, and that this is a juftification of his and his brethren's practice. Now I appeal to the common fenfe of all men, if unbelieving houfeholds, or if the unbelieving members of a manifeftly unbelieving household be not manifeft unbelievers. If they be, then Mr. A. holds, that manifeft unbelievers are proper and gospel subjects of baptism'; or elfe he charges the Apoftles with baptizing improper and ungofpel fubjects. For he holds, that they baptized fuch, and charges me with prefumptuous comments, where I fhow, that they did not baptize fuch unfit and improper fubjects. I now appeal to every man, who has common fenfe, whether Mr.. A. has not contradicted plain matter of fact; denied his own fentiment, and charged me unjustly; and all this to get rid of a difficulty into which his errors have brought him; and whether he does not hold to the unfcriptural and popish fentiment, that manifeft unbelievers are proper and gospel fubjects of baptism ?

fen

2. In page 21, fays Mr. A. to me, " In P..17, you make a very unfair statement. You fay, Befides it is your timent, that baptifm is to be observed, or received, when we are infants; when we know nothing about it. How much serious reverence and confcientiousness infants have, we know not ! Is this fair? Is it honeft? You have omitted to mention our adult baptifms entirely." Truly, I have omitted it, but will now mention it, and expose the whole bufinefs.

1. Mr. A.'s fentiment is exactly as I fat it down; but I did not expofe the whole. For his fentiment is, as I obferved, that baptifm is to be received, when we are infants, when we know nothing about it. He holds, that this ought to be the cafe univerfally, in all Chriftian lands. For it is his fentiment, that all parents, where the gofpel is preached, ought to be believers, when their children are born; and that all fuch children ought to be baptized or sprinkled in their infancy. Thus he holds, that, in gospel lands, all ought to be baptized before they believe; and that none fhould be taught till after they are baptized, Juft the contrary from what Chrift commanded, and the Scriptures every where teach. Thus we fee, could his error have its perfect work, how seriously they would reverence, and how confcientiously they would obferve the gofpel ordinance of baptifm. They would fo reverence it, and fo confcientioufly obferve it, that not a fingle believer in the whole nation fhould have the privilege to fubmit to it according to the exprefs command of our Saviour. No one fhould be taught, and then baptized; but all fhould be baptized, and then taught.

But, 2d. Says he, "You have omitted our adult bap tifms entirely." I have; but will be faulty in this partic ular no longer. Now, for their adult baptifms. What are they? The reader fhall hear, and then will never for get them. Their adult baptifms are, when a master of a family is converted, his household of adult impenitents muft be baptized as well as the believing mafter. This is Mr. A.'s principle, and if he will not acknowledge it, I will prove it to him. He tells us, that the Philippian jailer be lieved, that his household did not, and yet, that they were proper fubjects of baptifm; and that the baptifms of fuch unbelieving households are their adult baptifms. Thefe are not just his words, but these are his fentiments, not de duced from his principles, but from his declarations and affertions, as the reader may fee by confulting his Letters to the author. Befides, this is juft in agreement with their principles. If they deny this, they give up their princi ples, and ftand upon nothing. They have no other de fcription of adult baptisms belonging to their fyftem; unlefs in fome rare inftances, a heathen bachelor or maid, without a family, might be converted, and then fuch an adult might be admitted to sprinkling.

The public are now defired to judge, with what proprity Mr. A. afferted, in his first Letters, faying, "We as

feriously reverence, and confcientioufly obferve the gospel ordinance of baptifm, as do the Baptifts." Upon this, I obferved to him, that it was his fentiment, that this ordinance is to be observed or received when we are infants, when we can know nothing about it. How much ferious reverence and confcientioufhefs infants have, we know not. To this he replies, "Is this fair? Is it honeft ?" Yes, and I appeal to the Bible and to the common fense of the public, if the whole truth, fairly laid open, would not have made him appear more erroneous, and given his fentiments a worse hue? But as he hath faid, “Is this fair? Is it honeft?" he is now defired to inform the public how much ferious reverence, and confcientiousness the infidel, or unbelieving houfeholds of converted masters, or parents have? Have unbelieving adults, whofe hearts are hardened by experience in wickedness, any more serious reverence or confcientiousness, in fubmitting to baptism, at the command of their master, or of the offi ciating priest, than have infants of a day old? Suppofe the jail-keeper in Worcester be converted, and his family, or houfehold, confift of half a dozen of unbelieving adults, with how much ferious reverence and confcientioufness would they obferve the gospel ordinance of baptifm? Should they fubmit to be fprinkled, or partially washed, or have water poured upon them, or have water applied to them in fome other way, which Mr. A. might fancy to be gofpel baptifm, then might the fpectators behold one of his adult baptifms, which he fays I have omitted entirely. I confefs, did I hold to fuch adult baptifms, and did my opponent neglect to mention them, I would never complain of fuch omiffion, unless my judgment were what it is not, or I wished my fentiments to be had in everlasting reproach.

Let the Bible doctrine of gofpel baptifm, let the Bible facts, relating to gofpel baptifm, let common fenfe, as to gofpel baptifm, judge whether Mr. A.'s adult baptifms be any way preferable before the heathen rites, practised in honour of Jupiter, or of other heathen gods! The Bible knows nothing about fuch adult baptifms, as he and his brethren advocate. The fact is, they have loft the idea of gofpel baptifm, and of the subjects too; and now confider themselves juftified in contending earnestly for the commandments and traditions of men.

3. Says Mr. A. page 26, "There are fome men, fir, who have not a jot of oil, nor a grain of balm, in their veffels, who yet have infinite zeal about things of compar

ative indifference. The lefs determinate evidence there is, the more pofitive do they feem to be." By the connexion in which this paffage is introduced, it is manifeft that the Baptifts are intended. But we appeal to the public, if Mr. A. have not mistaken their characteristics. "Infinite zeal (fays he) about things of comparative indifference." Who more zealous than Mr. A. and his brethren, about baptifm? Yet they, especially he, confefs it to be of fuch comparative indifference, that it may be adminiftered at one time, or at another time, or at no time; and that it may be in one way, or in another way, or in almost any way. It is not thus with the Baptists. "The lefs determinate evidence (fays he) there is, the more pofitive do they feem to be." Nothing can better apply to Mr. A. than does this; for I fhowed him, in my Letters, that he had no determinate evidence, nor even probable evidence, in favour of his errors; yet he is, if poffible, more pofitive than before. "They plant themselves (fays he) on an elevation enveloped in vapours, and yet fancy that they only have the feeing faculty." We can fee, that to be baptized in the river, is not to be fprink led out of it. We can fee, that to have our bodies walked with pure or fimple water, is a different thing from having a little put upon our faces. We can fee, that for converts to be baptized when they hear the word gladly, is not the fame as to be fprinkled before they can understand one word from another. We can fee fome difference between burying believers with Chrift in the very folemn and fig nificant ordinance of baptifm, and the fprinkling or pour ing water on adult infidels because their mafters believe. We do not claim exclufive poffeffion of the feeing faculty: we believe Mr. A. has it, but with relation to gofpel baptifm, will not use it.

Again, fays he, "They make a thoufand times more fufs about the mode of a thing, about converfion to that mode, and the putting in practice that mode, waiting months to give it publicity, and fending from Dan to Beersheba for agents to be employed about it, than if all the inhabitants of Louifiana, were converted to Chriftian ity."!! This we believe to be a very rafh untruth, of which Mr. A. must repent in the prefent or future world.

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4. The public will excufe me, though in this place may prefent them with a quotation of unufual length. In. my judgment, it is expedient, in the prefent debate, to be liberal in quotations. My reafons are two: one is, that my opponents fhall have no plaufible objection to make,

that their fentiment is not fairly stated; the other is, that then very many of my readers will difcover for themfelves the fallacy and weaknefs of my opponents' arguments, by infpection, before they are particularly expofed. It would please me well to be used in the fame way; then would the readers, on both fides of the queftion, poffefs a more generous opportunity to know the truth: but those who contend with me will use their pleasure in this matter.

The quotation is in pages 37 and 38, and in the following words:

"The fecond proof which I advanced against your doctrine of the exclufive meaning of the word baptizo, is the paffage in 1 Cor. x. 2, And were all baptized unto Mofes in the cloud and in the fea. Here your reply is founded altogether on the force of the prepofitions under, through, and in. Prepofitions are every thing with you. But how are we to understand them? Beyond all doubt, the declaration of the apostle is founded upon the fact in the Mofaic narrative. This you have not dared to look in the face. You fkulk under prepofitions, in the hope they will fhield you from the eyes of those who are able to detect your fophifms. But you must come out. You have committed yourself before the public. You have impofed on the credulity of your unlearned readers, by indefenfible affertions, which you do not support, and must be rebuked for your temerity. This text alone is fufficient to confound all thofe affertions. The apostle speaks of the whole multitude of Ifrael, and comprehends every individual. All our fathers. Now will you undertake to fay before the public, that all these fathers, individually, were immerfed in the cloud, when the facred narrative fays, Exod. xiv. 19, And the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them; and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Ifrael? Will you fay that they were individually immersed in the fea, when the facred narrative is, verfe 22, And the children of Ifrael went into the midst of the fea upon dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. If by the fea be meant the bed of the waters, that was dry ground under their feet; if the waters themselves, they were on each fide of the congregation as a wall."

I will here, in the first place, give the public a particular statement of the facts which caufed the good man to speak fo fmartly, and to affert things fo roundly, and then. I fhall