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observes , that " the faith required of those whom the apostles were empowered to receive into the number of Christ ' s disciples , tfy b&ptisifig them
into the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost , was wholly relative to the dominion of Christ , it being only an acknowledgment of it , with the ground on which it was admitted . It was a faith in the
Son of God , on the evidence or testimony of the spirit of God : it was a confession that God had anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power . " " That baptism , " remarks Mr . Belsham , * " into the name of any person
signifies nothing more than the acknowledgment of his authority , and expresses no belief in his proper deity , is evident from what the apostle says of the Israelites , 1 Cor . x . 2 , that they were * baptized into Moses / And when the same apostle expresses his
apprehensions , 1 Cor . i . 15 , ' lest any should say that he had baptized into his own name / he could not suspect that they would represent him as claiming divine honours , but merely as assuming to be the head and leader of the Christian sect .
" Nor does the uniting the name of the Son with that of the Father and the Holy Spirit in the administration of baptism , prove the deity of Christ , or th ^ t he is any thing more than an exalted hum ^ n being : much less does it prove that he is the proper object of
religious worship . For , waving the consideration whether the text be genuine , whether it was intended as a formulary of the rite , whether the names of the Father and Spirit were ever used in primitive baptism , whether the precedents in the New Testament are not all into the name of Christ
only ; and finally , whether a positive institution which contains no direct address to an invisible being , can with any propriety bq regarded as an act of religious worship , it is certain , that no inference 6 f equality in rank or homage can be drawn from the association of different names in the same
sentence , oee 1 Chron . xxix . 20 , * All the congreg ^ tknn ] bowed clown their heads , and worshiped the koxfl ——— . j ¦———„ , ^— _ * Calm Inqwry , &c ., fed . 1 st *) pp . 363 , 364 .
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aiidihe king / 5 1 Sam . xii . 18 , * The people feared the Lord and the king ;" 1 Tim . v * 21 , I charge thee before God and Jesus Christ , £ nd the elect angels , that thou observe these
things . *" If Mr . Relsham suspect the genu ineness of <* the baptismal commission / 5 we heartily wish thai he had laid before the * public the reasons for his doubts . When he suggests the inquiry , whether the text *^ was intended as a formulary of the rite , " he urges an extremely pertinent and weighty consideration , There is no proof whatever that any specific form of baptism was prescribed by our Lord to his apostles , no proof that the words
before us are this form - The passage is descriptive of the Christian instruction by which baptism was bptb preceded wd accompanied : the te ^ t represents , concisely yet significantly , tfye characteristic features of the gospel . Whoever believed in Jesus of
Nazareth as the Messiah , believed sdso in God as the Father of men a $ d Christians , and in our Saviour ' s rpsuixectiQis , and these other miraculous attestations to his doctrine which the New Testament declares to be the effect of the
Holy Spirit or pqwer . * Thi $ was the faith of all his disciples , wt ^ th $ T th § y had previously been Jews pr Heathens . Th ^ t the baptism administe red to the first Christian converts implied their knowledge of the existence of
the Holy Spirit , we learn from a memorable passage in the Aqts of the Apostles : f " While Apoilos was at Corinth , P ^ ul came to Eplyesus ; and finding certain disciples , JUe said u * tfp them , Have ye receive 4 the IHfl ly Spirit since ye believed ? Ajid tfcpy j ^ icl unto bhp , We have not sa Jftuch as heard whether there be any Holy he 4 unto
Spirit . 4 ^ n 4 s ^ th $ m , Unto what they were t ^ e bap&ipeylj * An $ they jaid > unto $ < $% ? X $ bimtisw-Then said P ^ vi , •*< % * W $$ WP # ? £ with the baptisn * ^ yep < mt * wee * ^ W ^ % unto the pppl ^ / I ^ t / m 0 y » sheul 4 helieve on him wha # M ^ uM ^ owi ^ after him , tUaU ^ ^ Cl j ^ J # M- WM * they h ^ ard this ^ $ & $ mw& . Iw ^ izw
* ItoHU . UJU . Q » l * « B * 2 m > t A . c ^ s xpp . hrrrfa * > ¦¦ : \ •*?• % M ^ tt .. ^ l- ^ l ^ ; ; V \ . ; h
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358 Review . —TJie ^ uthenticitg of the Baptismal Commission .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1820, page 358, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2489/page/34/
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