And how they lose it all, in time;
Is't by their own or parents crime?
The chriften'd infant's regeneration,-
Its happy covenant relation
With God, as Difputator faith,
Well founded on the parents faith,-
The covenant too, its feal and fign,
Are founds that chime exceeding fine :
But where's the fubftance to be found?
In Difputator's brain profound;
Where likewife the rich infant's field
Of privileges, lies conceal'd.

Thus, the young babe abounds in grace ;
But, as it grows, its ftores decrease,
'Till, by degrees, its bleft relation
To Abra'm, and its regeneration,
With every other covenant-good,
Are funk in fin's tremendous flood!
There's no command, it must be own'd,
For fprinkling infants, to be found||;
Ergo, we warmly muft maintain it,
Though Jefus Chrift doth not ordain it,

Letter, &c. p. 65, 66.

§ Letter, &c. p. 39.
Letter, &c. p. 46, 47.

True,

True, infant sprinkling, 'tis confess'd, Is not in facred writ exprefs'd*;

Ergo, in Difputator's fight,

It is an "apoftolic rite +,”

And is a plain command of Christ,

"Which we do mutilate," faith the Prieft:
That is, according to his ftricture,
It is, and is not, found in fcripture.
This emblem of our regeneration,
Is not effential to falvation;

'Tis Chrift's command, our Lord fupreme,
Which all his followers fhould esteem,
And keep, like every other part
Of his new law, with all the heart;
Ergo, 'tis needlefs, nay 'tis wrong,
Or with the pen, or with the tongue,
E'er to defend it as a duty,

Replete with joy‡, adorn'd with beauty;
And how much worse it must be still,

This righteous precept to fulfil !

* Letter, &c. p. 72. It is true express mention is made only of thefe," adult-baptifms. "But would you infer from thence, that children were never baptized ?" Yes, Mr. De Courcy! we will infer it; and will ask you, "But would you infer from thence, that bells were never baptized?" Here is rare logic for you!

+ Rejoinder, p. 22.

Letter to a Baptift-Minister, p. 13. Rejoinder, p. 110.

When early herefies obtain❜d,
And facred truth was greatly ftain'd,
Some of the fathers strangely thought,
(An error since to England brought,)
None of the clinics* could be fav'd,
Unless they were with water lav'd,
And, by degrees, began to do
The same good deed for infants too;
Which, among other innovations,
Soon overspread extenfive nations;
And holy, good and learned men
Have countenanc'd it with their pen;
Ergo, it must be surely right,

And should be propt with all our might,
Although our univerfal Lord

Hath not enjoin'd it in his word.

The

* A term applied by fome church hiftorians to those among the ancients, who received baptifm on their deathbed. It was the doctrine of many of the fathers, that bapa tism absolutely washed away all previous fins, and thatthere was no atonement for fins committed after baptism. On this account, many deferred that facrament till they were arrived at the last stage of life, and were pretty fafe from the danger of finning any more: and fuch were called Clinici. See Cham. Dift.

The miflaking of the meaning of Chrift's words, "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John iii. 5. most probably gave rise to this error, as well as to infant baptism.

The point in Difputator's sections,
Is gain'd by numbers, like elections:
The crowd, it cannot be denied,

Have truth and reason on their fide;
And Chrift's own word is not, it seems,
So fafe a guide as good men's dreams.
Amazing Bostwick, vaftly great!
Shall make the dippers troop retreat,
Nay! quite fubdue their trembling host,
And be our everlasting boast!

Look at his fword!-how keen! how strong!
"If they are right, we must be wrong+:
How dreadfully this blade muft wound,
And hew ten thousand to the ground!
The rite, for which the Priest contends,
And with more forms devoutly blends,
Is very ancient, you must know
Ergo, 'tis right, it must be fo:

Like antique paintings in their prime,
'Tis much improv❜d by length of time.
'Twas at the glorious reformation,

The Baptifts rofe within the nation;

Though, first of all, with Chrift they sprung, Ergo, they're ignorant and young.

C 3

1

The

+ See Mr. Bostwick's futile arguments for infant baptism, fo wonderfully extolled, and quoted by Mr. D. Letter, &c. P. ვ6, 37, 38, 39.

The learned Vicar needs be told,
His Mother church is not so old.

The great hiftorian, wife logician,
Sound proteftant, and foul phyfician,
Among them share, to each his part,
A world of sense, as well as art.
The rapid traveller could not call
Where any Baptists liv'd at all,
From Jordan's banks, to Munster's plain,
Where German ranters fix'd a stain

Upon the name, which his fierce page
Exhibits to the prefent age,

(Above two hundred years apart,)
In horrid forms, with cruel art*.

He

*Letter, &c. p. 34 "Whatever other advantages the Anabaptifts may have on their fide, they certainly have not that of antiquity, for we hear nothing confiderable of them till about the year 1517. Their origin was mean; their principles were corrupt; their morals depraved; and their diffent from the reformed churches was then deemed heretical. Befides the vitious tendency of their principles and the fcandalous nature of their lives, they were fanatics in the highest degree."-Then follows an account of their* enthusiasm and rebellion. Such is Mr. De Courcy's generous and rational manner of writing against the Baptifts! I pray God not to lay to his charge, the fin of hating his brother, and of bearing false witness.