"In John xiii., when Christ offered to wash the feet of Peter, he at first opposed it; but, afterwards consenting, requested, that not only his feet, but his hands and his head, might be washed also. Our Saviour replied, 'He that is washed need not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.' The word, here rendered, he that is washed is OλOUEVOS, generally denoting the washing of the whole body, or bathing; and by respectable critics is supposed to have this meaning here. But I differ from them.

"The words of Christ are a reply to those of Peter, and intended to oppose the proposal made by him, that his master should wash his hands, and his head, as well as his feet.

"But the declaration, that the person bathed has no occasion to wash any part of his body, except his feet, contains no opposition to Peter's proposal; since Peter was not bathed, nor indeed any relation to it, so far as appears to me, except what is very distant and fanciful.

"The washing of the disciples feet, in my view, was a symbolical washing.

"Peter appears to me, plainly, to have understood it in the same manner; for, being now acquainted with the real design of Christ, he replied,. 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head:' Christ rejoined, 'He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.' A symbolical washing is perfect, although applied only to the feet; as perfect, as if it were applied to the hands and the head.

"To these observations may be added, the unsuitableness of immersion, as an ordinance of public worship, to the circumstances of many nations in the world.

"In a nation, whose manners are like ours (Americans of the U. S.), there is, to say the least, a degree of impropriety in this practice, which is very unhappy. This, it will be easily seen, is a subject on which I cannot here expatiate. It will be sufficient to say, that, whatever impressions may be made by this practice in countries where bathing is a standing custom, here they are of a very unfortunate

nature, and such as are directly opposed to every religious feeling. I speak from facts, and not from opinions; and from facts, repeated through a century, and therefore operating, not by their novelty, but by their nature.

"At the same time, the health, and the lives, of those who are baptized, are often injuried, and destroyed. Here, also, I speak from facts. Both these considerations form, I acknowledge, only a presumptive argument in the present case; for God has an unquestionable right to require us to undergo this exposure, or any other according to his good pleasure. But the presumption is a very strong one, and to be admitted in its full force, unless the practice contended for is expressed with indubitable clearness.

"On the texts alleged (by those, with whom I am contending,) as proofs of baptism by immersion, I shall make but a few observations; particularly, because they appear to me to furnish very little support to the side of the question in behalf of which they are alleged. It is said of our Saviour, that after He was baptized 'he went up straightway from the water, ανεβη απο του ύδατος, he ascended from the water, and the word avaßaw, signifying to go, or come up, to ascend, in whatever manner. This passage appears to be descriptive solely of Christ's ascending the banks of Jordan, after he had received baptism. That this is not the meaning of the phrase cannot be shewn, nor rendered probable. The preposition ao is erroneously rendered out of in our translation. Its proper meaning, as every Greek scholar knows, is from, and can be out of only by accident as in Matt. vii. 4; 'Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye.' Even here it would be much better rendered, Let me take the mote from thine eye. If Matthew intended to express Christ's rising out of the water, he has certainly used phraseology of a very peculiar nature.

"Another passage often triumphantly alleged for the same purpose, is Acts viii. 38, 39; And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch; and he baptized him; and when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip.' To the

translation here, no reasonable objection can be made. I will, therefore, not avail myself of what might, however, be justly alleged, to wit, that may with equal propriety signify to, and Ex from. Still I object to the construction of those I am witnessing against, for these reasons:

"First. That we as naturally say, that they went into the water, of those who went in to the depth of the knees, or even of the ancles, as of those who have plunged themselves.

"Secondly. The declarations here made, are made concerning the Eunuch and Philip alike; of both it is said, that they went down into the water, if we render the word ELS into; of both, also, it is said, when they were come up out of the water, if we render the word Ex out of. Now let us see what will be the true import of the passage according to this mode of construing the words in question. And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch-that is, they were both plunged; and he baptized him—that is, Philip plunged the Eunuch. And when they were come up out of the water, that is, when they had both been plunged the second time, and risen up from their immersion, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. In other words, both were plunged twice; and the Eunuch the third time.

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Thirdly. I conclude, as I think, with certainty, that these words have no reference to the immersion of either; but are barely descriptive of the fact, that they went down to or into the water; in which, perhaps, they waded a little distance.

"Another text of same nature is Rom. vi. 4, 'Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death.' The word buried is here supposed to denote immersion. In the next verse it is said, 'for if we are planted together in the likeness of his death.' Our opponents are bound to shew that this figurative expression, which refers to the same thing, does not as strictly signify the mode in which baptism is received as the word buried; and, if it does, to point out the particular mode of administering baptism denoted by the word planted.

"These are among the texts most frequently alleged by those with whom I am witnessing against. I do not suppose that they are regarded as being of any great importance to" the trial. "Their principal strength lies, as I conceive, in their own view, in what they suppose to be the original meaning of the words Bar and BaTw; and these texts are pressed into the service as auxiliaries. If, then, their principal support fails, as, if I mistake not, I have shown that it does, these texts will be alleged without success. The general conclusion, therefore, appears to me to stand on solid ground; to wit, that baptism is in the Scriptures instituted as a symbol of the affusion of the Spirit of God upon the soul in regeneration, and the cleansing of its sins. by the blood of Christ; and that the mode in which it is administered is not in the Scriptures exhibited as a subject of serious importance, and is no where declared to be immersion."

SIXTH WITNESS.

I, the SIXTH WITNESS, shall "endeavour to adhere to the Latin maxim, familiarly rendered in English -'Soft words and hard arguments.' Whether I shall succeed or fail, the " court "must judge. To the blessing of the Lord I humbly commend" the evidence that I am about to give, "in the conviction,-a conviction that has gained strength by every new examination of the subject,-that the cause" of the plaintiffs "is his, and that its opponents, however plausible their scheme may be rendered, have not a foot-breadth of solid scriptural ground to stand upon.

"As a Pædobaptist, I am accustomed, along with my brethren of the same persuasion, to administer the ordinance of baptism, as occasions present themselves, both privately and publicly, to the infant children of believers, and we are countenanced in so doing by our churches and congregations.

"I am satisfied, that the argument respecting the validity of infant baptism is far from being so difficult and formidable, as, from the numberless pamphlets and volumes that have been written upon either side of the question, many are ready, without further enquiry, to suppose." -And" there are too many, especially of the young, who, in the outset of their Christian profession, have not their minds directed at all to the subject. It is an unexamined point. And these persons, when, in this state of want of knowledge and information, they happen to fall in with a baptist friend, a baptist book, or a baptist argument, feel themselves unprepared to meet what is new and startling; their minds are in danger of being immediately unsettled, and of hastily adopting what is presented to them with no little plausibility, and possibly too with much imposing confidence.