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thanded; vide chapter xxviii, v. 19. St. Matthew, chapter xviii. records a fimilar tranfaction relative to a child, with this additionfpeaking of children, Jefus faid-In Heaven

their angels do always behold the face of my Father, &c.' If thefe infant angels were born in fin, and were the children of wrath; how, when, and where did they receive remiffion of their fins? We come next to the promises made for the infant in this ceremony- That he will

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renounce the devil and all his works; the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous defires of the fame, and the carnal defires of the flesh; fo that he will not follow or be led

by them.' A performance of this promife is not poffible, were the child, bred even a monk. In the Belief we find new matter introducedThe refurrection of the flesh. From whence this abfurdity was derived, I know not, unless from the poetical ftory of Job, who fays (ch. xix, v. 26.) And though after my skin, worms de• ftroy this body, yet in my flesh fall I fee God. St. Paul's poetical fifteenth chapter in his 2d Epiftle to the Corinthians, counteracts this opinion: in v. 35 he ftates à queftion- Some man will

fay-How are the dead raised up, and with what < body do they come?' This he anfwers in feveral ways It is fown a natural body, it is raifed a fpiritual body. Flesh and blood cannot in

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herit the kingdom of God, &c.' But I have a better evidence; Jefus, when questioned by the Sadducees relative to the woman who had been the wife of seven brethren, answers- In the re'furrection, they neither marry nor are given in

marriage: but are as the angels of God in Hea. < ven.' Vide Matthew ch. xxii, v. 30. The child is however baptized in Job's faith; and that

all carnal affections may die in him'-is a requeft made to God. This, if granted, may be fitting him for a convent, but not for the world; as it would difqualify him for executing the first command given (according to Moses) by God to man. After this ceremony, the priest speaks with confidence- Seeing now, dearly beloved bre

thren, that this child is regenerate, &c.' pro. poses thanking the Almighty for it: and, in the laft prayer, we find him faying- We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleafed thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit; to receive him for thine own child

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by adoption, &c.' This, I think, is a little too affured, and we frequently fee the affertion aided even by the bishop's certifying hand, difgraced by the event. I better approve the dogma placed at the end of this baptifmal service-' It is certain by God's word, that children which are baptized, dying before they commit actual fin, are undoubtedly faved.' And had the three marked words been omitted, I fhould not have approved

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the dogma lefs, or have thought it at all deficient. As St. Paul cannot perfuade me, that all the hu man race, created by an All-wife, All-bountiful, and All-merciful Father, and who were totally ignorant and entirely innocent of Adam's fin; were for that fin of Adam's, and that only, justly (and if not juftly, certainly not at all) made

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the children of wrath.' So neither can I believė; that if by the ceremony of baptifm they really became the children of grace; the neglect of a parent, much lefs the act of God, fhould, by depriving them of this advantage, leave them in a helpless state of reprobation. The Catholic method of anticipating the act of God in thofe cafes, is too ridiculous and too immodeft, to be noticed here. Having examined this ceremony of baptifin as practifed in the Church of England, and fhewn its defects; it remains only to make a few obfervations upon what we find in the Scriptures relative thereto and not already noticed. According to Matthew and Luke, John the Baptist declared that Jefus would baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Mark tells us that he faid fimply- And he fhall baptize you with the Holy

Ghoft.' St. John fays nothing about it: and it doth not appear that Jefus ever baptized at all; nay we are expreffly told, John ch. iv, v. ii. that he did not. In two of the In two of the gofpels, Luke and John, we neither find any form prefcribed by Jefus, or any order given by him to his difciples for their performing this ceremony at all. Mat

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thew tells us, ch. xxviii, v. 19, that Jefus, after his refurrection, faid to his difciples- Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghoft.' (This poffibly, or rather probably, is an interpolation, and my reasons for the fufpicion will foon appear.) Mark records the faid direction thus Go ye into all the world, ' and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be faved; but he that believeth not fhall be damned." (I have in page 200, already commented upon this record of Mark's.) St. Peter, Acts ch. ii, fays, to those who asked him what they were to do, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jefus Chrift. And in ch. viii. we find this form was practifed by Philip, in Samaria. In ch. x. it appears, that the Holy Ghoft was given to the Gentiles who had not been baptized : upon feeing which, Peter faid- Can any man ⚫ forbid water, that thefe fhould not be baptized, ' which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. In ch. ix. we are told that Saul was baptized, but no form is mentioned and we hear nothing of his baptizing till we come to ch. xix, where we find about twelve men, who had been baptized with John's baptifm, but knew nothing of the Holy Ghoft; were now baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. It is not faid to be done by

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Paul;

Paul; but And when Paul had laid his hands upon them; the Holy Ghoft came on them,

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and they fpake with tongues, and prophefied." Paul in his 1ft Epiftle to the Corinthians, ch. i. fays-Chrift fent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel.' His Epiftles to Timothy, in whose care he had left the churches of Afia, are filled with rules for church government, &c. but contain not a word about baptifm. Neither does that he addreffed to Titus, When Jefus (Matthew ch. x.) gives particular inftructions to the twelve, what they were to fay and to do; not a word is faid of baptifm. When (according to Mark ch. vi.) He fends them forth two by two; no fuch directions are mentioned and upon their return, giving an account of what they had done; baptifin is not among their acts. These obfervations tend to fhew, that baptifm, in thofe days, was not thought fo effential to falvation, as is pretended in thefe; and as we do not find the form mentioned in Matthew was ever practifed, we cannot fuppofe it was given by Jefus if it was not, my suspicion, in courfe, is juft; it is a forgery.

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We now come to the Communion Service; in which we are told, the receiving it unworthily increases our damnation. This unworthinefs is thus particularized- A blafphemer of God, an hinderer or flanderer of his word, an adulterer, or be in malice, or envy; and then generally→→ Y 3

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