DEFENCE.

GENTLEMEN, I now stand before you as the defender of this great and most important cause-great, inasmuch as it is the cause of God; and important, as it involves the eternal welfare of myself and my clients, with whom I identify myself. To be enabled, by the help of God, to establish an unalienable right and title to our heavenly patrimonyto be made instrumental in promoting His cause-in exposing error and superstition, and divesting them of the mask of righteousness which they have falsely assumed, will be an honour, in comparison of which I shall deem all earthly honours as the "shadow that declineth.”

1 have commented with great freedom upon the conduct. of our opponents, and the evidence they have adduced. I have shown that their claims are erroneously founded; and I shall now proceed to show, with all clearness of speech, according to the ability which God shall give “unto me by the effectual working of his power," that the cause which we espouse is the cause of truth; and that the foun

dation upon which we are established is that " of the apos

tles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."+

It has been shown that the doctrines and practices of our opponents are not in accordance with our views; but are in fact diametrically the reverse of what we esteem and observe. It is not possible, therefore, that we can both be standing upon a sure foundation, or that both can have a just claim to the heavenly bequest. One or other of us must fail in some most important points-points which will mar our title. This is a serious and awful consideration; it requires the deepest searching of heart and life, and the most scrutinizing examination of our respective claims, in order to + Eph. ii. 20.

* Eph. iii. 7.

ascertain, beyond the possibility of doubt, that our tenure is safe-our building secure, such as will stand the severest test, the fire that is to try every man's work of what sort it is. *

My first object will be, briefly to state the provisions of the Will, and describe the characteristics of the true heirs.

The commission given by the Great Testator to his apostles, (whom he was pleased most condescendingly to denominate his friends; who were his companions during his personal ministry, who, he said, "continued with him in his temptation," and whom he appointed his successors after his ascension; who were fully instructed into all things relating unto his kingdom;) is summed up in these few words, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." To which he added the comforting assurance of his abiding presence; "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

"These

This is the substance of the requisitions of the Will; and the true heirs are those who conform to its precepts "who turn not from it to the right hand or to the left."+ are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth."‡ I shall now endeavour to elucidate these provisions of the Will, and set them forth more minutely, and in detail. The apostles were sent to teach or disciple all nations; and every individual, of every nation, who should receive their testimony concerning their glorified Lord, they were commanded to baptize in his name. Afterwards, they were more fully to instruct those whom they had thus baptized, into all the laws, ordinances, and institutions of his kingdom. On them who received this testimony, believed it with all the heart, and professed their faith in the ordinance of baptism, a blessing was pronounced-"He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved;" and a malediction denounced upon them who rejected it-"He that believeth not shall be damned."

Here, then, it is manifest from the Will, that before one step can be taken towards the heavenly inheritance, we must be the subjects of a teachable disposition, have arrived to years capable of understanding, of receiving, and of believing the message brought to our ears; and that, having heard with attention, comprehended (through the divine teaching) the nature and import of the message, embraced it with affection, and received it by faith, with all the powers of the soul, into the understanding, we are to confess and make an open declaration of our faith before the world, by being baptized in water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; or, as it is elsewhere expressed in the Will," with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

"Gentlemen, you have heard the arguments of the parties on the other side. And now I appeal to your candour and good understanding to say, whether the statements I have just made be not in exact accordance with the tenour of the Will-the plain, simple deduction to be drawn from it; and whether, if we would divest our minds of all previously conceived opinions, and of the practices built thereon, and view its simple and plain declarations without bias or prejudice, we could possibly arrive at any other conclusion?

Faith, then, manifested by a scriptural walk and conversation in the ways of God, is the first thing that can enable us to lay any claim to the inheritance; and the first advance towards the establishment thereof, is to confess the Lord in the ordinance of his house. By the observance of this rule only can we by any means show an indubitable title to the inheritance.

Thus you see, Gentlemen, that if we act in accordance with the Will, faith must precede baptism, and baptism succeed to faith; it is manifest, therefore, that at the very threshold of the door into the heavenly kingdom, the plaintiffs have taken a false step.

That faith is a necessary and absolute qualification for the ordinance, may be proved from several passages of the Will.

When the Pharisees came to John, he addressed them as a generation of vipers-inquiring who had warned them to flee from the wrath to come; adding these words, "Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance," &c. * hereby pointing out the necessity of manifesting a meek and lowly disposition to receive his testimony, that he came to prepare the way before the Great Messiah, who should come after him to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. This their pride would not suffer them to receive; they "rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." But "he that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true." Peter said, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you"-believe in him whom you have hitherto rejected. "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized." And "when they believed Philip— they were baptized, both men and women." "Simon him

self believed also; and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip." § His faith, however, was spurious; it nevertheless appears that a profession of faith in Christ was required before he could be received into the church. To the Ethiopian Eunuch Philip said, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest; and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God;-and he baptized him." We could multiply instances to the same effect, but these are sufficient to show that a profession of faith was made previously to the administration of baptism, although that faith, as we have seen, was not in every instance genuine; but without doubt the evangelist believed that Simon's was sincere, or he would not have baptized him. God only "knoweth the secrets of the heart."||

We are next commanded to be baptized. Of the necessity of attending to this ordinance, I might adduce numerous arguments (some of them valid) from the evidence of my opponents; but, as I have before shown that almost in every particular that evidence is not to be relied upon, I shall not avail myself of it in any instance; nor of any thing which

Matt. iii. 8, 9.

+ Luke vii. 30.

+ John iii. 33.

§ Acts viii. 12, 13.

|| Ps. xliv. 21,

they have advanced or admitted favourable to our cause; but proceed to prove the necessity of observing this ordinance from the plain declarations of the Will.

The first account which we have of the institution of baptism (taking the books in the order in which they stand in the New Testament) is in the third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he, &c. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judæa, &c.—and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." The same circumstance is recorded in the third of Luke. "The word of God came unto John-in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."-That this is the first time that baptism is mentioned in the Scriptures as an initiatory ordinance into a profession of divine truth, is manifest— First, from the appellation given to John, who is emphatically called THE BAPTIST; Secondly, from the question which the Pharisees put to him, "Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ?" &c. And, Thirdly, from John's own testimony respecting himself, and the object of his ministration" that he should be made manifest in Israel; therefore am I come baptizing with water." *

We will examine each of these propositions more particularly.

1. If baptism, in the sense before mentioned, were a rite common amongst the Jews upon receiving converts (as some of our opponents insist that it was), why should John be denominated The Baptist? Would not every individual who received a convert by this ordinance be equally entitled to the appellation? And, moreover, if it were a regular, habitual mode, why should it have excited any surprise, or have led to any inquiry? Or why should he have been so denominated in contradistinction from all who preceded him? The ministers of religion of the present day are not, in general, called Baptists, though they all profess to baptize.

* John i. 31.