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    veartty believe , contemplates by eryiagr aip the Roman Catholic Church , the crying down of the Christian religion , which his favourite Paine has no doubt taught him to consider assailable chiefly through the corruptions of Popery ,

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    gospel ordinance . This c ^ fi hardly be disputed . " 2 . Paul baptized , though baptism was not mentioned in his divine mission This proves , that , under the gospel dis * pensation , a divine mission is not necessary to authorize a person to baptize .

    " 3 . As , in the apostolic age , baptism was administered by the authority and command of Jesus Christ , and no intimation can be found in the New Testament that it was to be . discontinued aft ^ r th ^ t ag e , there can be no scripture autno-- rity for its discontinuance .

    *? 4 * It is undeniable that the primitive churches continued to baptize after the death of all the apostles j and whatever changes baptism might undergo , it . certainly was continued , in some form or other , by the whole body of professed Christians ^ for many a ges after the apostles .

    " 5 . I know of no , clear proof that the perpetuity of baptism was questioned during the first three centuries after the Christian era , nor indeed until quite modern times . ** 6 « Christianity is as much a personal religion now as it was in the days of the

    apostles . Men are no more born Christians at the present time , than they Werfc while their parents remained Jews or Heathens ; for no ope can be a Christian without understanding Christianity ,, aa >< l

    no one is born with the knowledge pf It * " 7 . I know of no moral or religious purpose wWcfr baptism was calculated to answer . ln the times of the apostles , wnicfi it is not equally well calculated to answei * in the present day /'—Pp . 21 , 2 £ .

    These arguments appear to us to be less conclusive than those which we have been accustomed to hi the writing's of the worthy preacher . * - * - What is baptism but washing ? This determines to what dispensation of religion it belongs . See Hub . ix . K ) .

    It is disputed / that washing was ever a " gospel ordinance / ' The ceremony being dropped in the explanation of the misaion of Paul , ( the only apostle to the Gentiles , ) is deemed good proof of this . The general apes * toKc commission on which the Baptists rely , limits itself to the age of

    the apostles , the age of miracles . — That baptism was not universal in the church , is probable from some passages of scripture , and from the history of Constantine and others . A Baptist should be cautious of th $ $ r- > gument from antiquity and Immemorial usage : ' here is Mr , Belsham ' s

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    Remews *~ WrigMs Sermon before the General Baptist Assembly . 49

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    VOL ,. XX . H

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    Art . IV . — The General Baptists , A Sermon * preached before the Annual Assembly of General Baptists , at ' the Chapel in Worship Street , l * x > ndon , June $ th , 1824 . By Richard Wright . 12 mo . pp . 24 . Eaton , and Fox and Co . 1824- 8 */ .

    THIS is ah affectionate address by the preacher to his own denomination , from Psalm xlv . 16 . He shews , I , What the fathers of the General Baptist interest were : 2 9 What the children must be and do to be

    instead of the fathers : and , 3 , What mfct be done to prepare the children to be instead of the fathers . He claims as Baptists sopae of the first

    Reformers " : The first Unitari&ns who appeared in England after vfye commencement of the Reformation were Baptists ; and they were the first ProleStants who suffered martyrdom in tfhis country und £ r a Protestant government , and through f * h £ inflneiice of Protestant ecclesiastics : —they

    were also thelaut who were appointed to dea # i for their religion . The last person burnt alive , under the charge of heresy * was ^ n Unitarian B aptis t , Edward Wightman , who wa $ burnt at JUitcbfield on £ he 11 th of April s 1611 ; and the last person actually tried for heresy , Edward Elwall 3 was also a Unitarian Baptist . "—P . 11

    The preacher exults in the liberality of the ancient General Baptists , among whom Emlyn and Whiston received the right hand of fellowship when driven out of a / 11 other churehee . Should the ^ General Baptists attend to Mr . Wri ^ ht'd excellent * advice , they would probably recover from their present depressed condition .

    The perpetuity of baptism is , ft would appear , a question amongst the Baptists of the present day . Mr . Wright lays down the following grounds on which he is satisfied of £ he perpetual obligation of the rite :

    * 1 . Baptism , as spoken of in the New Testament , was practised by divine authority ; it was appointed by Jesus Christ , and administered by the apostles as a

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1825, page 49, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2532/page/49/