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flesh * and that he suffered only in appearance . In the epistle of Ignatius , bishop of Antioch , we find the word Xp ; f * ay < K frequently used , ( the followers of Christ were first called
Christians at Antioch , ) the same order of bishops , presbyters and deacons , and the same offices assigned to them , ( though some little variation is pleaded for by Tertullian , in cases of
necessity , ) and in like manner the allusions made to baptism exactly correspond to what is said of it in the apostolical writings , and , subsequently , in Tertullian and Justin Martyr .
Thus much concerning the writings of the earliest Greek Fathers , the Patres Apostolici so called , Tertullian * Mr , B . is kind enough to inform us , was the earliest of the Latin Fathers .
Now it has always appeared to me , and I made the search and comparison more than thirty years ago , that Tertullian ' s account of baptism is in exact correspondence with that in the
apostolical writings and in the Apostolical Fathers : and from the following quotations and particulars , let your readers judge . For the sake of breyity I shall not reckon it necessary always to quote the Latin ,
" Happy sacrament of our water , ( thus he begins his treatise , ) by which being washed from our sins , we are received into eternal life . " I have said in a former letter , that Tertullian spake not merely in his own person , but also in that of the Catholic Church
at Carthage ; meaning thereby , not that he gave the open , avowed sanction of that Church , subscribed in testimony to it , but that he speaks
throughout in the first person plural , as delivering the acknowledged sentiments and practices ( which amounts to the same thing ) of the Catholic Church of his time . And the
Catholic Church , with whom Tertullian was then in communion , consisted of numerous congregations 3 and where he speaks of the practice of the Church , he must mean the Catholic Church ? for heretics he did not at tbe time allow to have ** the otie
bap-Mature of Subscription to the T ^ irjy-nine Articles , Seoaad Edition , printediW John-* op > St . Paul ' s Church JYVrd , W 0 S A p . pandix , p . 381 .
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tism , " or to be a Christian Cfcurcfr 9 % all . He goes on : 4 t But we little fish , " he says , fancifully enough , speaking of men baptized by immersion * " according to our fisli , Jesus Christ , are born in watery nor are we saved otherwise than by remaining in water .
That here , because ( he speaks of those denying water baptism ) a man Ipt down in water , and dipped , amidst a few words , rises not much or jiothing clearer , the obtaining eternal life should therefore be reckoned incredible . ' * " Is it not to be wondered at *
that death should be washed away iqt a bath , or by bathing ? * " Are we dipped of dyed in those very watery which then were in the beginning ?" Tertullian uses the word dipped aqij dyed as synopymous ; for it is by being dipped that tilings are dyed :
and the word washin g * when applie 4 by him to baptism , always implies being covered or immersed in water . " Therefore there is jno difference , " says he , " whether we are washecj . in the sea or a lake , in a river or fountain or conduit 5 . nor is there any difference between those whom John
dipped in Jordan , # nd those whom Peter dipped in the Tiber . " Tertallian appears , however , to have thought immersion essential tp the ceremony $ for he adds , " although a resemblance to the simple act is necessary , that as in the circumstance of filth we are defiled
by sins , we may be washed in water- * Speaking of the priests of Isis or Mithras , he says , " in their washipge or bathings , " &c . ( for it was batfjingp he means , it being by . immersion of these priests that the cerenmony was
performed , ) " but waters being brought about , they every where expiate by sprinkling towns or villages , houses , temples , and whole cities . * Where observe the difference or opposition between sprinkling and bathing ; and he observes the same distinction ifi
another place ; where speaking of those who , objecting to Jbaptipiqi $ aj $ , that the apostles were ijot baptized , be adds 5 " others , plainly with snfficijefit violence to the passage , object , that the apostles had what su (>|> liej tfefB
place of baptism , when , in the little ship they were covered , being sprinkled with the waves ; and thajt Peter , walking through ; febe sett , wf ^ wffir ciently iiomcr ^ ed . Mut , I think it jp one thing to be spruikled or inter-
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On Mr . Behhams Censure of Mri Robinson . $ 60
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VOJC . Kill . 4 D
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 569, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/33/
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