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is at all acquainted with the writings and spirit of this violent ecclesiastic , believe that he would have treated the practice with so much lenity , if he had known it to have been an innovation ?
No , no . That was not Tertullian ' s way . The holy father , who is indignant enough where he finds an opportunity ta vent his feelings , expresses himself upon this subject in a meek and subdued tone , under a
consciousness that the practice of the universal church was in opposition to his advice . " Delay , ' says he , "is very useful . Why should their sponsors be brought into danger ? Let them come when they are grown up . Let them be
made Christians when they can know Christ . Why should that innocent age be in a hurry to obtain remission of sins ? " Is this the language of one who knew that he was opposing a great and dangerous innovation ? Is this the spirit with which Tertullian . would plead in such a case ?
But if it could for a moment be admitted that Infant Baptism was an innovation in the time of Tertullian , it cannot be denied by any who are conversant with the subject , that it prevailed universally in the time of Augustin , Pelagius and Jerome : who
all consent in declaring that they never knew nor read of any one who denied it , not even among heretics themselves . The difficulty in this case of accounting for the unanimity of the Christian body in the observation of a rite
directly opposite to the precept and practice of the apostles and the primitive church , and introduced so late as the age of Tertullian , would be unspeakably enhanced ; especially considering the multitude of sects into which the Christian world was then
divided , the malignity with which they regarded and persecuted each other , and the extreme improbability that one would be induced to borrow an unscriptural rite from another . The improbability , indeed , is so extreme , that it amounts to a moral impossibility , as incredible as a contradiction in terms .
Some have said that other rites , acknowledged to be unscriptural and superstitious , stand upon the same ground of evidence as liifaut Baptism , and ought , upon the same principles , to be received . This I den y : I readily admit , ' indeed , that public woVshipf
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the religious observation of the L , ord ^ day ; the annual cbfamemdfaitUra | df our Lord's death and riesun- ^ tidpS » and the Eucharist , stand upon ground * precisely similar to that of Infant Baptism \ and are observed , and no doiibt will be observed , in the Christiiiii church to the end of time . But t
know of no other custom which can plead the same antiquity and universality . We learn from the Scripttire , that the application 6 ( vvater was att that was essential to the rite of bap * tism . The sigp of the cross , there *
fore , and the use of milk and honey , of salt and spittle , and the like , are totally groundless and unauthorized additions to it . However , if any one can prove that any other rite whatever can be traced t < i the same
authority as Infant Baptism , I shall readily concede that it is of equal obligation . I shall conclude with a few observations upon the letter of your respectable Correspondent , T . G . p .
SlT . G . need not be apprehensive that the celebration of the Lord ' s Supper will fall into disuse , from any thing which may occur in this or any other controversy upon the question . It is so firmly established by universal custom , founded upon known apostolic practice , that the private opinions of a few dissentient individuals will never
produce any sensible effect ; and I regret with your worthy Correspond dent , that an institution , the authority of which is so obvious , and the uses of which are so important , should be so much neglected . I cannot , however , agree in his suggestion , that the order
of a religious service should be so arranged , as not to afford " ao opportunity to depart" to those who are unwfj-1 ing to remain . The proper remedy for the evil is , by reverting to the practice of the primitive church , ancl bringing children to the Lord ' s table as soon
as they are capable of behaving with propriety . When God was pleased to deliver a law to the Hebrew liatiojn , he explicitly arid publicly enjoined certain
rites and ceremonies , such as the passover , the sabbath and the law of circumcision , in language too peremptory and too plain to be evacted of ; misunderstood , it ik 9 by iou 9 ' % lmt h $ has nipt act&i in this manner under jtfc Chu » ti 4 n dispensation , but has left us
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Mr . Belsham on the Argument for Infant B&ptirm . 243
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1818, page 243, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2475/page/19/
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