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    i cepted by the violence of the sea * another to be dipped in the way of religious discipline . " Speaking of the baptismal form , he says , " the law of dipping is imposed , and the form prescribed : " " Go , " said he , •« teach the nations , dipping them into the name of the Father , and the Son and

    the Holy Ghost , " Where , by the bye , though we read of a law for baptism , we read not a syllable of Mr . B . ' s apostolical traditiou by the Apostolical Fathers , nor is it once mentioned . " On the Apollinary and Eleusinian games they are also

    dipped ; " and they pretend that they do it for " regeneration , and to escape the punishment of their perjuries . " Speaking of washing , he says , " a man is thereby restored to the image of God ;" afterwards he adds , " by faith sealed in the Father , Son and Holy Spirit , " and elsewhere , " with the confession

    of all their past sins . " After they came out of the water , in Tertullian ' s time , they were rubbed over with oil , ( the common practice after bathing * ) which would have been trifling after a few drops of water merely sprinkled in a child's face . After

    many fanciful observations , before expressed , he adds , " Christ is never without water , therefore he was dipped in water . " He invariably connects baptism with believing , confessing sins , &c .: " therefore all who thenceforth believed were baptized , then

    also Paul , when he believed , was baptized , " &c . Thus much and more , all referring to the immersion of adults . Every word , every allusion , every metaphor and figure , ( and he uses several figures , ) correspond to this idea : man , often repeated , full ,

    perfeet man 9 * is the subject ; nor does he once allude to Infant Baptism , till the words soon to be quoted are introduced . Infant Baptism is afterwards mentioned , and seriously opposed by

    Tertullian ; and contrary to what Mr . B . supposes , from the whole tenor of this treatise , I repeat it , he delivers the sentiments and practice of the Catholic Church ; and thus for several pages he had beep describing baptism ,

    * Ita reatituitur homo Deo ad similitudinem ejus , qui retro ad imaginein Dei fuerat . Imago in effigie , limilitudo in t e&ermtate censetur .

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    and it appears by the whole account that the rite wafr performed by immerao i * at an adult age ; and when he gives advice to others , who were not of his Church , the Church of Quiritilla , it is decidedly against every form of baptism , till after the

    candidates were properly instructed and prepared . He had , a few lines back , been speaking of the officers who were the proper and regular administrators of baptism , and he admits , that in cases of danger a laic might administer it , least he should be guilty of a man ' s destruction ; but that , in

    all cases , it would be better to delay , than to hurry on baptism . Then follow the words quoted by Mr . Robinson and Mr . Bel sham ; the former has , I think , unnecessarily introduced several lines which do not relate to Infant Baptism . These I shall omit .

    " Every request is able to deceive and to be deceived . Therefore , according to each person ' s condition and disposition , and age also , the delay of baptism is more useful , but particularly in the case of little ones .

    What necessity is there that sponsors ( susceptors or guardians ) should be brought into danger ? They themselves may be incapacitated by death from fulfilling their engagements , or may be deceived by the intervention of a bad disposition . The JLord , indeed , says , € Be unwilling to forbid them to come unto me . Let them come , therefore , when they are grown up ; let them come when they are taught j when they are instructed

    for what purpose they come . What need is there that an innocent age should hurry to the remission of sins ? We act more cautiously in secular affairs , than to intrust divine

    substance , to one to whom we do not intrust temporal . Let them know how to ask for salvation , that you may seem ( Inj entering into the import of the command ) to give to him that asketh . "

    I beg leave to add a remark or two on these words . They relate , then , to a question put by Quintilla , a member of a church of heretics , ( as the primitive Christians were in the habit , often bitterly , impudently , ignorantly , of calling one another , ) who were numerous , ( plerosq , rapuit , says Tertulliao , ) to a member of the Catho-

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    570 ' On Mr . Behham ' s Censure of Mr . Rolinsori .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 570, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/34/