ents being witnesses we d some service; and we ne evangelical editor in O was at his work before one who has worked so anded.

t that we should have to make these remarks. here are those to whom ly, their number is but ally, in both sections of our labours have been d appreciated; in proof refer to our well-sustained We might also give exers recently received from rs and brethren, of the raging and satisfactory ut we cheerfully leave he hands of unprejudiced, nd hearty baptists; who, ive our labours are calcuse a sounder knowledge principles and practice, confident, render us their Zealous support. sat down we only thought few lines to introduce of a printed discourse Baptist," Matt. iii. 1, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 52, in commemoration of of baptist churches in the ngland two hundred years Richard Bottomley Laninted at the request of -iends. London: B. L.

s have sometimes been st the name by which as a on of evangelical christians called " baptists" are ho gave them that name ot. Most likely it was hemselves, for other names given to them by their -outlandish, and hard to od, such as “ Ana-baptist," -pædo-baptist." But we tempt. We are for keepne by which we are known, which, notwithstanding

made for ourselves a firm position. If we must have new names for ourselves and our opponents, why we would simplify the matter yet more, so as to make it quite unmistakeable. We would, in plain old Anglo-Saxon, be called "Dippers," leaving our opponents to choose a name as plain for themselves; for as they are "legion," we dare not venture to say what they would be called, whether pourers, sprinklers, wetters, or what. We have but one form, and that is, to dip; they have many, and what, therefore, to call them in one word we know not. Anti-dippers" would comprehend them all, but it would be a sort of negative compound, which might not please them, and we do not like to give "nicknames."

66

Mr. L., after stating that "this brief but significant designation was given by the Holy Spirit to John, the harbinger of Christ," observes, that the intention of his remarks is not to disparage others, nor unduly to exalt our own sect, but simply to speak the truth in love.

ON THE NAME OF THE BAPTISTS.

The name Baptist or "Baptistes," as it stands in the original, signifies one who dips or immerses. This we hold to be its primary, legitimate, and exclusive signification. We believe there is not an instance, either in the Ancient Classics, or in the New Testament Scriptures, in which Baptistes means one who sprinkles or pours; but always one who dips or immerses. John was called "The Baptist," because he immersed his disciples in water on a profession of their repentance towards God. We are denominated baptists because we administer the ordinance of baptism by immersion. When the ordinance was first instituted, the only mode of administering it was by immersion, and the only proper subjects for it were believers. Hence the simple word baptist, was sufficient to shew to what

About the beginning of the third century, the primitive practice of baptizing believers only was corrupted, and infants were admitted to that ordinance. This was a new thing in the church; and to distinguish those who practised this novel mode, a new word was necessary. Hence "pais," or pædo, which means an infant, has been prefixed to baptistes; and they have been called pædo-baptists, or infant dippers, because they dipped infants.

About the year 1300, dipping was given up (by infant baptizers), and infant sprinkling was introduced in its stead. Now the name Pædobaptist, no longer expressed the mode of the ordinance, and the word "baptist" ought to have been dropped (by them) for some other term.

If the name of any particular section of christians be intended to designate some particular practice amongst them, then it is inappropriate and unjustifiable, to call those who practise infant sprinkling, pædo-baptists. The word signifies, one who dips a child. Pædo-baptists do not immerse infants; but sprinkle or pour a few drops of water upon them. They have, therefore, clearly no right to be called baptists, or pædo-baptists; nay, to call them by that name is evidently a gross misapplication of the term.

There is a Greek word, Rantizo, which signifies to sprinkle, as well as the Greek word Baptizo, which means to dip; and if those who practise infant sprinkling are to be designated by a Greek word which indicates their practice, they ought to be called pædo-rantists, which means infant sprinklers.

Ana-baptist has long been applied to us as a term of reproach. Anabaptist means one who re-baptizes, or baptizes a person a second time. We deny the applicability of this name to us, as we never re-baptize a person. We certainly baptize those who have

been sprinkled in infancy but this is

such persons have never There is but "one bapti is believers' immersion of the Sacred Trinity.

Of late, certain emine tist writers have though anti-pædo-baptists, whic is more remarkable for i awkwardness, than for th of learning displayed by The preposition, "anti, pædo-baptist, signifies opposed to," and if nothi meant by those who pædo-baptists, than that posed to infant sprinklin cation of the term to passed over with a smile are not mistaken, they more than this, viz. sprinkling is the prin Testament baptism, an practice of dipping be human invention, and a of the New Testament sprinkling children. Th is to obliterate the wor appropriate to themselve pædo-baptist, to apply sively the name anti-p thereby implying that we to and wish to destroy a stituted ordinance, nan baptism.

We are perhaps the c christians whose distinct found in the Scriptures the various existing sects, Papist, but no such expr Papist occurs in the Bibl the Churchman, but no st the Churchman is found of God. There is the I but there is no such w Independent in the Sacr There is the Wesleyan M there is no such phrase leyan Methodist in the Bi is the Baptist, and here we find this name-" "TH which is repeated fourte the New Testsment.

need be ashamed of his no

o him, since it was worn by the illustrious f our Lord, and has been th a place in the New ecords by the Holy Ghost

ANTIQUITY OF THE
BAPTISTS.

following remarks it will the baptists are more any of the existing sects. hodist society was formed undred and thirteen years ous and venerable John its founder. The Indeme into existence towards the sixteenth century. originally called BrownRobert Brown and Mr. ere their founders. The tablished Church sprang end of the fifteenth, or ginning of the sixteenth Martin Luther may be conillustrious father of ProThe Papists did not ist as an organized body mmencement of the fourth der the reign of ConstanGreat. Some historians the authority of the bishop over his brethren in the was not in any degree ed until the sixth century. ever, were introduced into n the fourth century. It said, that the true cross Christ suffered had been dels of which were made up in places of worship. eposited in boxes,

were to sanctuaries, to which e was ascribed. The invoaints commenced about this rysostom preached long and - on the virtues of an old a decayed piece of wood. ch was then taken into an s connexion with the state. ne may be considered to the foundation for the maniof Popery in an organized Jo form and Chrysostom

may be regarded as the father and patron of Popish mummeries and superstitions.

The Baptists existed (in England) before the Methodists; for baptist churches were planted at Hexham, and at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, nearly one hundred years before Mr. Wesley appeared. They existed before the Independents. The first Independent church, according to Dr. Hurd, was formed at Middleburgh, on the Island of Zealand, near the coast of Holland, in the year 1586; and the first Independent church in England was formed in 1616. The same writer says, that several baptists were put to death, and others banished, for their opinions, during the reign of Henry the Eighth, yet they still continued to increase: and Bishop Burnett says, "There were many Baptists in many parts of England in the year 1547." So that the baptists existed in England thirty-nine years previous to the formation of the first Independent church abroad; and sixty-nine years before the formation of the first Independent church at home. They existed before the English Protestant Church; or, before what is often called the Glorious Reformation. Dr. Hurd says, "In Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and many other parts of Europe, many of the baptists suffered martyrdom before the Reformation took place:" and Dr. Wall, the greatest English writer in defence of infant baptism, admits that there were some thousands of baptists in the world before the troubles broke out at Munster, in the year 1533. In addition to these, there were also the Waldenses in the fastnesses of Piedmont, who had retained the ordinance of baptism, in its primitive purity, through a succession of nine hundred years before Luther was born. The baptists existed before the papists, who cannot be said to have had an organized and visible being until the time of Constantine the Great. The

testimons of Mosheim is that the