252 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
the administration of this rite by the apostles, and the 
reception of the gospel on the part of those to whom 
they preached, also convinced us of the design of our 
Lord, that it should follow the belief in the testimony 
concerning him, which we were commissioned to deliver. 
Hence, it was regarded as our duty to baptize those who 
desired to become the disciples of Christ, as well as to 
instruct them concerning his will. 
We did not apprehend that there was any spiritual 
virtue or efficacy connected with, or contained in, bap¬ 
tism, nor did we consider any spiritual blessings com¬ 
municated by it, much less that most important of all— 
the one thing needful, a regeneration of the heart. It 
appeared designed, by the great Head of the church, to 
occupy that place in the dispensation of the New Testa¬ 
ment, which circumcision did in that of the Old, The 
acts of desiring and receiving baptism, on the part of the 
subject of it, were viewed as a public and solemn renun¬ 
ciation of paganism, and a declaration of discipleship 
with Christ; and the circumstance of baptism was re¬ 
garded as constituting the grand, public, and open line of 
demarkation, between the idolatrous, and the thus sepa¬ 
rated or Christian portions of the community. While 
we thus felt ourselves bound to baptize those who, like 
the Ethiopian eunuch, and those to whom Philip 
preached in Samaria, professed their belief in the 
Saviour, and the grand truths of the Christian system, 
we also felt that it was desirable to receive suitable 
evidence of the sincerity of such profession. 
As to the degree of evidence that should be required, 
there w^as a very considerable difference of opinion. 
A few of our number supposed that no adults should 
receive this initiatory rite, but such as, there was every 
