“That we will frequently exhort, and, if occasion shall require, admonish, one another, according to Matthew 18th, in the spirit of meekness; considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted; and that, as in baptism, we have been buried with Christ, and raised again, so there is on us a special obligation henceforth, to walk in newness of life.
“And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do his will; working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. AMEN.”
(See Matt. 3:5, 6, 11, 13-16; 20:22, 23; 21:25; 28:19. Mark 1:4, 5, 8, 9, 10; 11:30; 16:15, 16. Luke 3:3, 7, 12, 16, 21; 7:29, 30; 12:50; 20:4. John 1:28, 31, 33; 3:22, 23; 4:1, 2. Acts 1:5,2 2; 2:38, 41; 8: 12, 13, 36-39; 9:18; 10:37, 47, 48; 13:24; 16:15, 33; 18:8, 25; 19:4, 5; 22:16. Rom. 6:3, 4. 1 Cor. 1: 13-17; 10:2; 12:13; 15:29. Gal. 3:27. Eph. 4:5. Col. 2:12. Heb. 6:2. 1 Pet. 3:31.)
“This denomination claims an immediate descent from the apostles, and asserts that the constitution of their churches is from the authority of Jesus Christ himself, and his immediate successors. Many others, indeed, deduce their origin as a sect from much later times, and affirm that they first sprang up in Germany in the sixteenth century. This denomination of Christians is distinguished from others by their opinions respecting the mode and subjects of baptism. Instead of administering the ordinance by sprinkling or pouring water, they maintain that it ought to be administered only by immersion: such, they insist, is the meaning of the Greek word _baptizo_, to wash or dip, so that a command to baptize is a command to immerse. They also defend their practice from the phrase _buried with him in baptism_, from the first administrators’ repairing to rivers, and the practice of the primitive church, after the apostles.
“With regard to the _subjects_ of baptism, this denomination alleges that it ought not to be administered to children or infants at all, nor to adults in general; but to those only who profess repentance for sin and faith in Christ. Our Savior’s commission to his apostles, by which Christian baptism was instituted, is to _go and teach all nations, baptizing them_, &c., that is, not to baptize all they meet with, but first to examine and instruct them, and whoever will receive instruction, to baptize in the _name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost_. This construction of the passage is confirmed by another passage—‘_Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved._’ To such persons, and to such only, this denomination says, baptism was administered by the apostles and the immediate disciples of Christ; for those who were baptized in primitive times are described as repenting of their sins, and believing in Christ. (See Acts 2:38, 8:37, and other passages of Scripture.)