_Mr. M._ Perhaps it might not be best at present. They should tolerate
each other's views, meet and act together where they may; but I do like
to see a man heartily attached to his own denomination, without bigotry.
I have not much partiality for those schemes of union which require and
expect each sect to give up its peculiarities, and which seek to
amalgamate us. It is unnatural. Let each be thoroughly persuaded of his
own faith;--different temperaments and habits of thought are suited by
different modes and forms;--but let us treat each other as Christians,
and with urbanity and kindness. That is the most sublime spectacle of
union. It comes nearer to fulfilling the prayer of Christ, "that they
all may be one," when we differ strongly, and yet keep the unity of the
spirit. I am doubtful whether, even in heaven, there will not be such
innocent diversity of views about things successively beyond our
knowledge or comprehension, as to stimulate inquiry and discussion; but
that we shall ever be capable, as we are here, of alienation, in
consequence of these varying opinions, is impossible.
_Mr. K._ Do you not think, Mr. M., that we shall all think alike about
baptism in the millennium?
_Mr. M._ I suppose that you expect that we shall all give up infant
baptism. But my expectation is that, as we approach that day, the last
prophecy of the Old Testament will be as truly fulfilled as it was at
the coming of Christ, and that the hearts of the fathers will be turned
to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Parental
piety and discipline will be greatly promoted, and an attendant of it
will be, I suppose, a greater use of the ordinance of infant baptism,
demanded by the pious feelings of parents, as pious feeling in the
regenerate craves the ordinance which commemorates the love and
sufferings of the Redeemer. The feelings of pious parents will require
the ordinance of infant baptism, as an expression of their earnest
desire to have fellowship with God as the God of the believer and his
offspring, the covenant-keeping God. It is to the increase and
prevalence of this feeling that I look now for an increasing observance
of infant baptism; for, without such feeling, the ordinance is an empty
name. Where that feeling exists, it soon modifies the speculative views
of a parent. As our conscious need of an atoning Saviour soon dispels
the former difficulties about the doctrine of the Trinity, so a longing
desire to have special covenanting with God for a dear child, makes the
subject of God's everlasting covenant with Abraham, as the great
believer, and the father of believers, plain.
Now, before I forget it, please let me tell you of an objection to
infant baptism, which I lately met with, drawn from the effect of the
prevalent practice of it in a community.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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