PREFACE. READER, BEFORE you peruse the following History, pardon me if I detain you a moment to inform you of my real motive for compiling it; for I am well aware, that Baptism, one of the chief institutes of our holy religion, hath been the innocent occasion of so many mean motives and violent dispositions, that the subject can hardly be mentioned without exciting suspicions of unfair treatment. I hope you will not find any thing to offend in the following sheets; at least, I can assure you that I have not allowed myself to deal in censoriousness, or knowingly to use the language of bitterness and wrath. When the subject first darted into my mind, I own, I was not thinking of Baptism, but of the evidences of Christianity. I was entering on that argument, which is taken from its rapid progress, and the multitude of its professors; and I was the more struck with it by observing that the first ecclesiastical historian, Luke, in the book of Acts, makes frequent use of it; but I could not help at the same time observing, that the same argument is not valid now, because a profession of Christianity doth not now imply an exercise of reason and assent, but is put upon infants by extrinsick force. The conduct of a multitude of wise, free, and virtuous men, forms a presumption in favour of the reasonableness of their actions; but a multitude of beings of no character cannot form even the shadow of a presumption. The first are the thousands of whom Luke wrote; the last are the modern professors of the Christian religion. Some writers have availed themselves of the modern case; and supposing, as they have been told, that Jesus instituted the professing of his name in nonage, they have ventured to represent Christianity and its author unworthy of such respect as Christians pay to both. Thus the objection is transferred to the gospel, and the wisdom and equity of the author of it are brought into question, unwarily no doubt; but the fact is true, and the reasoning, though from mistaken data, hath consistency and weight. Nor doth infant baptism appear less incongruous with the natural rights of mankind, than it is with the wisdom and equity of Christianity. Of personal liberty, one of the dearest branches is liberty of conscience, the liberty of choosing a religion for one'sself, of which none is capable during infancy. It is the parent or the magistrate, who chooses what religion the infant shall profess, and this is depriving him of a natural birth-right. The observation, that infants are disposed of in baptism, without their knowledge or consent, is a sort of finger pointing to the age and the kind of governments where it was first practised. It must have happened where the choice of the religion of one man was a right of seigniory exercised by another. Full of these, and such like suspicions, and loth to think Christianity inimical to personal freedom, I set myself to examine the History of Baptism, and the following sheets contain my observations. They go to prove that the Christianity, which Jesus and his primitive disciples taught and practised, is not liable to any objections on this head, but that it is in full agreement with the perfections of God, the character of revelation, the principles of good governments, and the freedom, virtue, and felicity of all mankind. Lest I should seem to arrogate a credit not due to my bare affirmations, I have taken the pains to quote my authorities, and to mark the editions; but I must own the authorities quoted are few in comparison with what I had collected, and which I have since destroyed, as what remain appear fully sufficient to authenticate any fact affirmed. I have severely felt the inconvenience of a distance of fifty miles from the press. ***** If, Reader, you do me justice, you will number the errors of the press among my misfortunes, in common with those of all Authors, for I assure you, though I tried hard, yet I could not prevent them. I feel happy on reflection that I did not set about this work on any motives below the dignity of a Christian, nor am I aware that I have prostituted my pen to serve a party, or once dipped it in gall. Escapes undoubtedly there are many; but when did any individual of my species produce a work of absolute perfection? Such as it is, I commit it to the candid perusal of my brethren; and I am, Courteous Reader, Your humble Servant, CHESTERTON, CAMBRIDGE. R. ROBINSON. EDITOR'S PREFACE. THIS work has for many years been known, and much esteemed, by many of the Baptist denomination on both sides of the Atlantic; and many in this country have desired that it might have a more general cir. culation. Some years ago, the Philadelphia Baptist Association appointed the late Dr. Samuel Jones, of Lower Dublin, Pennsylvania, to abridge and prepare it for the press, on a plan similar to that which is here pursued. But it is believed, that age and infirmities prevented the Doctor from fulfilling that appointment. The Editor has been in the habit of perusing the work with considerable attention, and much interest for a number of years but the labour which he has now performed, was first suggested to his mind while studying it for the purpose of making out the article on Baptism, published in his General History of the Baptists. His intention was announced in that work, and soon after, he began to be solicited to undertake the preparation of Robinson. It abounds with notes and authorities in many dead and foreign languages, which the Editor designed at first to have generally omitted: but by the advice and desire of a number of learned friends, he resolved to retain the authorities without much abridgment, and also to insert a larger portion of the notes than he first designed. For the information of those readers who are unacquainted with languages, it may be proper to observe, that the substance of most of the notes, so far at least, as they relate immediately to baptism, is incorporated with the English reading in the text, of which circumstance, notice is generally given by inverted commas. Mr. Robinson saw fit, in a great many instances, to insert the Latin, Greek, &c. below, which he had translated in his narrations. This was probably done for the purpose of giving the learned an opportunity to judge of the correctness of his translations. A few of the most striking notes which were not thus disposed of, have been translated by the Editor, for the benefit of the common reader, and the translations immediately follow the notes. Although some portions of this work have been omitted, yet the reader may be assured, that every thing has been retained, which has any direct or important bearing on the history of baptism. The generous subscription which has been received for this justly celebrated production, is a proof of the high expectations which are entertained of its excellence; and it is confidently believed, that it will be perused with uncommon interest and satisfaction. Pawtucket, R. I. April 4, 1817. DAVID BENEDICT. THE HISTORY OF BAPTISM. CHAP. I. THE MISSION AND CHARACTER OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. LONG before the appearance of John the Baptist, the Jews had been taught to expect that the God of heaven would, at a certain time, without hands, set up a kingdom, which should never be destroyed. This heavenly kingdom was the economy of assortment which John introduced, and the baptism of John is called the beginning of the gospel, the epoch from which the New Testament dispensation is to be computed. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached (1). This came to pass in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests. It seems to have been an ancient idea, that the beginning mentioned in the New Testament, particularly in the 1st chapter of the gospel of John, and in the 1st chapter of his 1st epistle, is to be understood not of the beginning of the world, but of the beginning of the evangelical economy. This idea glimmers in the writings of the fathers, though obscured by allegory. This is what Cyril seems to intend, when he says, "water was the beginning of the world, and Jordan was the beginning of the gospel" (2). This is a sort of harmony, ingenious but fanciful, between the first chapter of Genesis and the first of Mark and John. In the former it is said, in the be (1) Mark i. 1, 2. Luke iii. 1, 2. Acts i. 21, 22. |