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    rately , make disciples of ; ' and this signification it appears to have , likewise , in Acts xiv . 21 . The Apostles , in their addresses to those who either already w ^ re , or were brought by their preaching to become , believers in the one qniy tru e God ^ would of course acquaint them with the history pf Jesus Christ *

    and set before them the various evidences by which he was proved to be a teacher sent from God . ' . When any persons were brought to the belief and acknowledgment of this truth , they were to be cC made disciples , pr entered into the number of professed disciples , by solemn baptism ; after which il ^ ey were to be fully " taught to observe all things whatsoever' *

    their newly-acknowledged Master had commanded . That ^ then , which discipled them , which " received them into the nuircr ber of disciples , was the outward rite of baptjsm . A disciple , to use a more familiar English word , is a " scholar / ' Now , it will readily be granted , that any one may with propriety enter himself as scholar to a teacher , of whose ability for giving instruction he has a high opinion , and hereby engage himself to an immediate attendance at his school , and attention to his

    lessons . And may not a parent , . with equal propriety , enter even his ipfant-child at such a schpol , aqd thus oplig < e himself to send it thith er ' as $ oon as it is capable of learning any thing

    that is taught there ? -4 nd ^ supposing it to be the establishe 4 custom of the master to have this engagement confirrqed by some outward act—for instance , by entering the qameofsucfy intended scholar in a book- ;—would it not be equally proper for the parent to enter the name of his child , as for a grown-up person to enter his own name , in this view ? Coqsjufering the Lord Jesus Christ , then , as both every way qualified $ nd divinely commissioned to be the teacher of mankind , will it not follow that it is alike proper for adults who believe in him £ s such , to enter themselves , by submitting to the prescribed rite of baptism , among his professed scholars , that they may im ~ mediately apply their minds to his sacreel lessons ; and for

    believing parents to enter their infant offspring by the same outward rite among his scholars , and thus engage themselves to do wh ^ t they can that their children may actually become acquainted with the same divine lessons as soon as they are able to learn them ? If this argument be allowed to be valid

    then will it not lay to rest for ever the controversy between poedobaptists and anti-poedbbaptists , as it will follow that the practices of infant baptism and of adult baptism are equally proper in themselves , and equally warranted by the very words of the original institution ? As to the mode of baptism , indulge me in proposing the fol-

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    Thoughts on Baptism . 299

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1806, page 299, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1725/page/19/