BAPTISM - , 
17 
The acts of desiring and receiving baptism, on 
the part of the subject of it, were viewed as a 
public and solemn renunciation of paganism, and 
a declaration of discipleship with Christ; and the 
circumstance of baptism was regarded as consti¬ 
tuting the grand, public, and open line of demar¬ 
cation 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 de¬ 
sirable to receive suitable evidence of the sincerity 
of such profession. 
As to the degree of evidence that should be 
required, there was a considerable difference of 
opinion. A few of our number supposed that 
no adults should receive this initiatory rite, but 
such as, there was every reason to believe, were 
regenerated persons ; and that a general belief in 
the testimony that Christ was the Saviour of men, 
and a desire to receive farther instruction, how¬ 
ever sincere it might be, should be accompanied 
with an experience of that change of heart, which 
these truths, under the special influences of the 
Holy Spirit, are adapted to produce; and, in 
short, that such only should be baptized as would 
be at once unhesitatingly admitted to the Lord’s 
supper. 
The majority, however, of the Missionaries were 
of opinion that the ordinances were totally distinct, 
and that though it was proper that every church 
member should have been baptized, yet it did not 
follow that every one who had received such rite 
was thereby admitted to church fellowship. Satis- 
III. c 
