TREATISE ON THE MODE AND SUBJECTS OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. IN TWO PARTS. DESIGNED AS A REPLY TO THE STATEMENTS AND REASONINGS OF THE REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON, JUN. As exhibited in his "Sermon, preached in the Lal Bazar Chapel, BY ENOCH POND, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Ward, (Mass.) ૬ ૨ । 78 District of Massachusetts, to wit: DISTRICT CLERK'S OFFICE. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirteenth day of April, A. D. eighteen hundred and eighteen, in the forty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America, ENOCH POND, of the said District, has deposited in this Office the Title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as Author, in the words following, to wit: "A Treatise on the Mode and Subjects of Christian Baptism. In two Parts. Designed as a Reply to the Statements and Reasonings of the Rev. ADONIRAM JUDSON, Jun. as exhibited in his Sermon, preached in the Lal Bazar Chapel, Calcutta, on Lord's Day, September 27, 1812,' and recently republished in this Country. By ENOCH POND, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Ward, (Mass.) Truth has been usually elicited by controversy. Robert Hall." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned:" and also to an Act entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical and other Prints." JNO. W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts, Librarian 01-5-40 J. A 7-1-40 41250 BV INTRODUCTION. THE mere suggestion of the ensuing Treatise will probably excite in some minds inquiries such as these "Why should any thing farther be written on the subject of Baptism? Why should more be attempted, where every thing that can be said has been repeatedly said already? Why revive a controversy which has been so long protracted, and to so little purpose?"-The writer answers, that, should the charge of reviving this controversy fall on him, he sees not at present any cause for alarm. He is not conscious of an undue predilection for religious controversy. He ardently desires the day, when "watchmen" and watched "shall see eye to eye." Still, when he reflects that the labours of the best of men have been in many instances controversial, and that no inconsiderable portion even of the Sacred Volume is of the same description; he cannot admit that under existing circumstances religious controversy is universally to be deprecated. He accedes to the sentiment of the immortal BACON, who considered it" weak divinity, to account controversies an ill sign in the church. In ignorance and implied belief," says he, "it is easy to agree, as colours agree in the dark. If any country decline into atheism, then controversies wax dainty; because men do not think religion worth the falling out for."* But is the present revival of this controversy properly chargeable to the writer? When Mr. JUDSON wrote and published his Sermon, with the avowed design of transmitting it to America, he well knew that he was treading on controversial ground; and he had every reason to expect, unless he supposed it would force universal conviction, that some one in his native country would attempt a reply. Besides the usual reasons which are adduced to justify publications like the present, there are some which seem to render the ensuing discussion peculiarly necessary. The circumstances under which the Discourse before us has been brought forward, will unavoidably throw it into the hands of many who have never attended to the subject of which it treats. Such ought to have it in their power to judge of the matter fairly. They ought to be able to look at it on more than one side. Were no answer given to this Discourse, they would read *Works, vol. iii. p. 59, in Christ. Observ. vol. x. p. 100. "The interest which that event (referring to Mr. JUDSON's change of senti ments) has excited in the Christian community, attaches an importance to this Discourse, and cannot fail to secure it a general circulation."JUDSON'S Sermon in Amer. Bap. Magazine, vol. i. page 21. -Review of Mr. JA ily conclude that none could be given. These considerations, more than any drawn from the work itself, have appeared to demand that it should be examined.* Mr. JUDSON is a person whom for several years we have been accustomed to respect. It is with pain we find ourselves under obligations to controvert what he has advanced. It is particularly painful that we are to become the instrument of communicating facts which seriously implicate his moral character. His particular friends may rest assured that we have no pleasure in detraction, and that it would afford us the highest happiness, could the mysteries of his conduct be fully developed, and the charge which in the ensuing pages lies against him be fairly removed. Our object has not been to furnish a reply merely to Mr. Judson. We have designed to exhibit a summary view of the evidence in favour of the Pedobaptist cause. Our references are to the second American edition of the Discourse, published by Messrs. LINCOLN & EDMANDS, Boston. The author supplicates the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to guard him from sophistry and errour, from misrepresentation and unchristian severity; and that his labours may be a means of dissipating delusion, and promoting the cause of truth and righteousness upon earth, "I have thought and said," says the Rev. Dr. WORCESTER, in a letter to the author, "that Mr. JUDSON's Sermon ought to be answered; not so much on account of its intrinsick force, as of the extraneous circumstances which serve to give it a currency and influence, to which it is not justly entitled." A TREATISE, &c. PART I. On the Mode of Christian Baptism. SECTION I. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. IN the first words of Mr. Junson's pamphlet, he informs us that he "was by education and profession a Pedobaptist."-This fact is not yet forgotten by his Pedobaptist friends in America. They distinctly remember that he was once of their number, and that he shared liberally their benefactions. He also informs us, that "during his passage from America to India, in the spring of 1812, he began to doubt the truth of his former sentiments ;" and that "after his arrival in that country, and before he communicated the exercises of his mind to any of the Baptist denomination, he became" an established convert to the peculiarities of the Baptist faith.-Pedobaptists would gladly indulge the hope that these pretensions are sincere-that Mr. JUDSON was influenced in this matter by a sense of duty, and acted in the fear of God. They cannot, however, repress the opinion, after a deliberate investigation of concomitant circumstances, that his change is one of the most mysterious and unaccountable events which has ever occurred in the Christian world. His professed object, in transmitting his Discourse across the ocean, was to furnish "his distant friends in A. merica with a more full and satisfactory statement of the reasons of his change, than could be made in private com |