6. Let Baptist and Pædobaptist remember Him who has said, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day" (John xii. 48). Those who build even on the right foundation, "wood, hay, stubble," as compared with those who "build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones," "shall suffer loss," when "the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Cor. iii. 11–15). Those of us who are professing Christians, have professed our devotedness to Him that has bought us with His blood; our decision to follow the Lamb whithersoever He may lead us. Let us smother no convictions. Let us put no light "under a bushel" (Matt. v. 15). "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Rom. xiv. 5). And let us beware of judging and despising one another, remembering in reference to each, "To his own master he standeth or falleth" (Rom. xiv. 4). But be in practice what you are in sentiment. Some are Baptists in sentiment who are not so in practice. Were we to say to a Christian that he is a Christian in sentiment, or to an honest man that he is an honest man in sentiment, would he not deem it a reflection? Hold not the truth in unrighteousness, nor simply in sentiment and silence, but in word and deed. If we had to meet with civil penalties, imprisonment, the sword, or fire, in rendering obedience to God, it would still be our duty, privilege, and honour to obey God rather than men. We adopt the words of Mr. Barclay, that "the continued and habitual professing of faith in Christ, and a holy life answering thereunto, is a far better badge of Christianity than any outward washing" (p. 442), and, at the same time, advocate submission to immersion on all those who have like views with ourselves in regard to inspired teaching on this subject. Some of us are in the habit of immersing those who, although connected with a Pædobaptist church, differ from them on this subject, and desire to obey Christ, having come to the conviction that scriptural baptism is alone immersion. We baptize these, and some of us tell many of them that, with such sentiments as they entertain, we deem it most consistent that they unite with a Baptist church, by this means giving the greatest countenance and support to what they deem most scriptural. But we leave it with them to adopt that course which they themselves deem most consistent and acceptable to God; not refusing to baptize, or dissuading from it, because they may not think with us in regard to uniting with a Baptist church. 7. Finally, this book may possibly be read by some one that is not a Christian, that does not supremely love Him that came from heaven, and died on the cross for his salvation. If this, dear reader, is your state, it is one much to be deplored. You are not with a right heart making a venial mistake. A blest refuge for you has in infinite love been provided. But 'tis vain, unless you thither flee. The preparation of a sovereign remedy for the cure of any disease needs the application of that remedy. Nothing but the blood of Christ can bring us near the throne of God. Believe the good news of God's love, and let Christ be in you the hope of glory. Let no failings in him who now addresses you, or in any other, hinder you from receiving God's truth in the love of it. Repair without delay to Him who is able, and who alone is able, "to ADDITA. save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." The Gospel is proclaimed to you, and you are not ignorant of what will be the consequence of unbelieving disobedience. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." In the words of an excellent Wesleyan minister, Rev. G. Mather, we say to you: "Religion, which is the secret of true enjoyment, is provided for you, offered to you, yea, urged upon you. The Holy Spirit calls and strives, allures and leads to the Saviour; and the great Father is saying to each of you, 'Son, daughter, give me thy heart.' How tenderly and lovingly He speaks to you! The Saviour knocks at the door of your heart, and with sweet and gentle voice asks you to open. Open now: He lingers at the door. Look through the lattice, and you'll see Him tenderly entreating you to open. Open, then, while you are reading these pages" (A Pastor's Visits to an Old Hall, pp. 23, 24). Let your remaining life be a life of faith in the Son of God who has been wounded for your transgressions; and of cheerful and entire consecration to His service. your soul to the keeping of a Divine surety, who has promised and who Having committed gives the Spirit to them that believe on Him, you may sing with us: "With joy may we our course pursue, "To bear His name-His cross to bear, Who nobly suffers now for Him, Shall reign with Him in bliss." "And Truth alone, where'er my lot be cast, 'Midst scenes of plenty, or the pining waste, Shall be my chosen theme, My glory to the last." "The conclusion of the whole matter" is, "FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS." APPENDIX I. AN APPEAL TO BAPTISTS AND PÆDOBAPTISTS FOR CHARITY AND OR STRICT COMMUNION. JESUS CHRIST."Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."-Matt. vii. 12. PAUL, THE APOSTLE.-"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. xiii. 10. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity [love], these three; but the greatest of these is charity" [love]-1 Cor. xiii, 13. JAMES.-"If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well."-Epis. ii. 8. R. HOOKER." There will come a time when three words, uttered with charity and meekness, shall receive a far more blessed reward than three thousand volumes written with disdainful sharpness of wit." Dr. WARDLAW.-"Baptists and Pædobaptists ought surely to yield to each other the claim of mutual sincerity."-Inf. Bap., p. 14. Lord BACON.-"There be two false peaces, or unities; the one, when the peace is grounded but upon an implicit ignorance, for all colours will agree in the dark: the other, when it is pieced up upon a direct admission of contraries in fundamental points: for truth and falsehood, in such things, are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image; they may cleave, but they will not incorporate."-Of Unity in Religion. Essay iii. Dr. R. VAUGHAN.-"It is a law of Providence, that change in bodies should be slow when the body is great. Nor is it less a law that what the great heart of humanity has been long in constructing, it must be long in taking to pieces, and in casting utterly away." "Nor is it just," says he, "to suppose that a religion" [apply this to erroneous sentiments and practices in true Christians] "which may appear to us to be very unreasonable, can never be a religion deeply felt, or sincerely believed. As a rule, the men who sustain false religions are as firm believers in the religion they profess as are the nations who sustain what we hold to be a more true and enlightened faith."Rev. in Eng. His., vol. i., pp. 555, 187. J. GILBERT.—"Considering how common it is for declaimers of all grades of intellect and knowledge to bespatter their opponents with offensive epithets,-with charges of vicious and factions feeling, one cannot but attach discredit to this mode of conducting a controversy; except, indeed, appearances of a just ground for the imputation are so unambiguous that it were treason to truth to be delicate."-Cong. Lec, p. 260. W. JAY."I know religious parties are too free in censuring other bodies as less liberal than themselves; but in this respect I have not seen and my opportunities have been favourable for observation and comparison much difference between them. There are bigots in them all, both as churches, members, and teachers; and there are men of real candour." "Bodies of men are not easily moved; and the mistakes of pious men, being conscientious, are with difficulty rectified" Auton., pp. 162, 165, Mr. Jay, on Religious Denominations and Parties, remarks that he does "not consider them as incompatible with Christian unity," that he regards them as "more useful than would be the stagnancy of dull uniformity;" and that he expects not their entire suppression, but their correction and improvement (p. 160). C. H. SPURGEON.-"A manly charity can comprehend severe language, can receive it from others without astonishment, and return it without animosity. Effeminate charity delights in honeyed words, smooth speeches, flowery compliments, hollow courtesies, pretended friendships, and loud professions of union; yet have we often observed that when the fit is on it, it plays the bigot for liberality, and would extirpate and utterly destroy all who are not as profoundly tolerant as itself. All men are, now a days, freely admitted into the magic circle of the brotherhood of love, except those who have a mind of their own; we are allowed to differ, if we will conceal the difference, but our name will be erased from the list if we dare to intrude our peculiarities. And this is called charity."-Bap. Mag., 1861, p. 10. Canon STOWELL"We want a catholicity so broad as to embrace a brother, whatever the uniform he may wear, or however we may march in different regiments." "If we have light without love, we shall be powerless. If we have love without light, we shall go astray. Light without love makes Satan; light with love makes Gabriel."—Er. Hall Lec., 1851, pp. 69, 71. Dr. J. MORISON."But since, through infirmity, prejudice, or temptation, there is found existing considerable diversity of opinion among those who afford ample proof that they are on the Lord's side, and are journeying towards the heavenly Canaan, it becomes the duty of all who would not abandon the Spirit of Christ to cultivate brotherly love toward all they hope to meet in the bright world she: and to remember that if they discover imperfections in their brethren, it is at they, in their turn, perceive more than equal infirmity in them."--Hom. than pr Dr. CARSON.-"I will fight the battle of baptism with all zeal; but I will acknowledge in the greatest heat of my zeal the worst instructed of all the disciples of Christ." "Prejudice is no doubt one of the greatest obstacles even to Christians, with respect to the perception of truth.” "Men may be brought to spiritual life by the Gospel and Spirit of Christ, while, like Lazarus, they continue bound with the grave-clothes of prejudice.”—In Tes. of Em. Pæd., pp. 8, 9, 6, 7. N. VANSITTART.-"Hostility may cease where perfect agreement cannot be established. If we cannot reconcile all opinions, let us endeavour to unite all hearts."-Let. to Dr. Marsh, p. 10. Dr. H. HEUGH.-Who knows not the influence of system over the best minds; how it often clouds the clearest intellect, and embitters the kindest and gentlest natures. When I think of a Knox getting the Scottish Legislature to decree that whosoever should say mass, or receive mass, or be present thereat, should, for the third offence, be put to death: a law, you know, the execution of which, at this day, would amount to the butchery of nearly all Ireland; when I think of the devotional Rutherford writing, with all imaginable animosity against the vile Independents, for their intolerable toleration of all religions; when I think of the heavenly, the seraphic Leighton, allying himself with as unjust and bloody a system Bp. Burnet himself being judge as religious tyranny ever attempted to impose on this country; when I think of such a man as Dr. M'Crie appealing to the decree of Nebuchadnezzar as an authority, which decree appoints that those who should speak against the God of heaven should be cut in pieces;-above all, when I think of the two disciples of Him who was meek and lowly in heart, whose soul was gentle as a lamb, and who preached and breathed goodwill to men, requesting from Him miraculous power, not to convert their enemies, but to burn them with fire, I see abundant cause for tolerance, and for kindness; and I blame the system more than the men. I say, deal kindly with the men, but spare not the system."-Ch. Lec., p. 25, Dr. WALL. Whatever becomes of the questions of baptisms, he that has lost his charity has lost his Christianity."—His. of Inƒ. Bap., vol. iv., p. 424. Dr. GUTHRIE.We have differences, but do these form any reason why we should not love each other, give and forgive, bear and forbear, suffer and sympathize, one with another; and agreeing to differ, walk together as far as we are agreed?"-Christ and the Inh., &c., p. 288. Dr. J. PARKER.“There is no crime in mutual disagreement, where the matter is one of conviction."-Ch. Ques., p. 182. It would not accord with our present design to express an opinion as to whether God's Word favours open or strict communion. We write from a painful conviction that on this subject there is a lamentable want of charity and candour both in Baptist and Pædobaptist churches, both among open and strict communionists. It will be perceived that we do not regard a person as charitable or uncharitable because he entertains open or strict communion sentiments. We can conceive of charity, fervent charity towards every disciple of Jesus, existing and even abounding in the bosom of one who from conscientious views (whether correct or incorrect) would not merely exclude from the Lord's Supper those whom he deems unbaptized, but would also exclude them from the pulpit, and from conducting any part of the public worship of God. Nor do we affirm that such a person is or is not more consistent than those who refuse such as they deem unbaptized to the Lord's Supper, and yet admit and invite them to the pulpit. We may venture to express our greater admiration of the man whom we deem in error in regard to a particular sentiment or practice, who yet acts consistently with his own views, than of the man whom we regard as correct in practice, but who is correct rather from custom, preference, or policy, than from an enlightened and conscientious conviction. But it has appeared to us as if some persons, Baptists and Pædobaptists, of open and strict communion sentiments, would scarcely allow others to differ from them on this subject without a suspicion, if not a charge, of bigotry, or of a wanton disregard of a Divine ordinance or of a Divinely-instituted order. Indeed, it has seemed to us possible to write eloquently and nobly in favour of charity among Christians, and, alas! come to a climax in declaiming bigotry, advocating union, and applauding charity, by some sarcastic, contemptuous expression respecting the supposed bigotry of those who differed from them in respect to terms of communion, and by expressing a determination or recommendation to unite with any, or perhaps stand aloof from all, rather than unite with persons entertaining sentiments on the subject of communion that are denounced as confined, illiberal, and opposed to the spirit of Christianity. All this in advocacy of charity and union! And when the feelings are most strongly excited on these noble themes, and when the pen or the tongue has reached the highest pitch of eloquence, such is the finishing stroke! We are ready to make allowances for excited feelings, but we cannot forget that here charity and union are the glorious theme of eloquent applause! That the persons who thus inconsistently declaim are, on the whole, eminently amiable, charitable, and Christian men, we will not deny. It is simply maint that there is error, deficiency, inconsistency, in this particular. There a whom Dr. Witherspoon has described "fierce for moderation," who have charity towards those whom they are pleased to dub bigots. These, however conscientious, and though supposed to err on a point which their opponents consider to be far from fundamental, are excluded from the list of those to whom brotherly love is to be manifested, or, at least, to whom fervent affection is to be cherished. We maintain it to be desirable and important that there should exist among Christians as close, affectionate, and manifested a union as differing opinions and an approving conscience towards inspired truth and Divine authority will permit. We remember that it is a part of the most distinguished of all prayers, "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me." That a person who believes the sprinkling, pouring, or immersion of an infant, child, adult, or professing believer, to be scriptural baptism, wantonly disregards a Divine ordinance, or any Divinely-instituted order, in partaking of the Lord's Supper with those who practise exclusively the immersion of professing believers, is to us inconceivable. Such an act is one of consistency with the sentiments entertained, which consistency is ever to be commended; yea, such an act is required by such sentiments. We see in this no evidence of charity or liberality. Charity must have its manifestation in something else than simply carrying out into practice those sentiments which are believed to be scriptural. And yet there are some who appear to pique themselves on their charity in thus acting! There would be plausibility in a person believing immersion alone to be baptism, and yet admitting the unimmersed to the Lord's Supper, or believing sprinkling alone to be baptism, and yet admitting the unsprinkled to the Lord's Supper, taking to himself the praise of being charitable: although, unless he believed such a course to be scriptural, we would not commend such a charity. Charity, or love, "rejoiceth in the truth." We cannot, in recommending charity, recommend latitudinarianism and indifference. Perhaps the strict communion Baptist has the greatest difficulty in exercising charity towards his open communion Baptist brother; and possibly the open communion Pædobaptist has the greatest difficulty in exercising charity towards the strict communion Baptist; whilst the open communion Baptist may find it deplorably easy to judge harshly and speak unkindly of his differing Baptist brother. From each of these is solicited towards our subsequent remarks the most candid and charitable attention that can be bestowed. The strict communion Baptist has great difficulty in exercising charity towards his open communion Baptist brethren. But consider how certainly one has as much right as the other to judge what is scriptural, and to act according to what he deems Divine teaching! Also, how unkind and unjust it must necessarily be to impute motives to another which are denied, and which can be proved only by the Searcher of hearts! Nor can the suspicion of an unworthy motive in a differing brother, whose conduct in other respects is worthy of the Gospel of Christ, by any means be justified. It is the privilege of both these differing brethren to defend what they deem scriptural, but not to impugn the motives of one another, and, without proof, assert or insinuate that such a course is pursued to gain the favour and support of certain persons, or to avoid some difficulty or supposed opprobrium. "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth." None but God can say, "I am He who searcheth the reins and hearts." We are all to be commended in being fully persuaded in our own minds as to what the Scriptures teach, but we are not justified in unkind feelings, harsh expressions, unfavourable innuendoes, and unnecessary divisions. If a regard to Divine truth is thought to forbid, at least temporarily, that closeness of union which but for supposed error would be deemed compatible with obedience to God, and would be the spontaneous manifestation of the affection inwardly experienced, from a regard to Divine truth let unfeigned and fervent love of the brethren be cherished and manifested; yea, cherished and manifested in every practical and scriptural manner towards all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity in any denomination throughout the whole world. Assuredly the strict communion Baptist must admit it as possible for the open communion Baptist, considering the power of "latent prejudice," to conceive not only that it is charitable and expedient to receive the unbaptized to the Lord's Supper, but that the Scriptures, correctly understood and justly applied, require admis The strict Baptist is bound to admit that the open Baptist may not a well-founded conviction, that by his conduct he is neither |