EV 811 867

Northern District of New-York, To wit:

Be it Remembered, That on the twenty-first day of June, Anno Domini, 1831, Cornelius Bogardus, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a Book, the title of which is in the words following, to wit:

“A plain and familiar Treatise on the mode of Baptism, in which it is shewn that sprinkling is the scriptural mode of administering that ordinance-By Cornelius Bogardus, Pastor of the Pratestant Reformed Dutch Church in Wynant's Kill.

To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.-Isaiah viii, 20. Search the Scriptures.-John, v, 39."

The right whereof he claims as author and proprietor.

In conformity with an act of Congress, entitled an act to amend the several acts respecting Copy Rights.

RUTGER B. MILLER,

Clerk of the Northern District of New-York.

TO THE

Rev. JOHN F. SCHERMERHORN.

REV. AND DEAr Friend and Brother,

AGREEABLY to your request, I have prepared for the press so much of my writings on the doctrine of baptism, as pertains to the mode. I am aware of the triteness of my subject, and the reiterated remarks, that any further publications upon it are superfluous; because the subject has been again and again exhausted, so that nothing new can be offered. These considerations, however, are not sufficiently weighty on my mind to forbid further attempts to enlighten the community upon it. Every branch of divine instruction should be, as the Prophet expresses it: "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Nor am I of the opinion that nothing new, either in argument, illustration, or arrangement, can be offered upon the doctrine of baptism, as exhausted as it may have been. And if I have not succeeded in either of these on the present subject, I have, at least, the satisfaction of bearing my testimony to that which I do conscientiously believe to be the truth. And it is to be

lamented, that while some make too much of this ordinance, many others make too little of it. They manifest an unwillingness that this divine injunction should receive its proportionate attention in the pulpit.

And again, I am fully aware of the great responsibility I have assumed upon myself in giving this work to the public, and I trust, I have not been unmindful of this, while preparing it for that purpose. If ever I have sought any favor of the Great Head of the church; I have sought for light on this subject, on which so many great and good men differ so widely. And if I am not deceived, I have had cause to believe that my prayers were heard. And as Paul enjoined it upon Timothy to attend to reading, so have I endeavored to profit by the labor and learning of others. And it is no more than just, that I should acknowledge the authors by whom I have been benefitted on this subject. On the Pædobaptist side of the question, they are the following, namely, Doctor Lathrop, Doctor Janewey, Edwards, Prime, Brown and Chadwick. And on the Baptist side of the question, Merril, Pengilly, Hall and Hascal,* and above all, the Author of all authors. I have trembled at the thought of pursuing any practice, or preaching any doctrine unacceptable. with God, and unauthorized by his word: Hence

* Author of a small pamphlet entitled Definitions of the Greek Bapto, Baptizo, Baptisma and Baptismos.

the sacred scriptures have been studied with an earnest desire to be led in that way which was agreeable to his mind and will, and the result, at least as far as the present subject is concerned, will appear in the following treatise.

Aside from the triteness of this subject, there are some considerations which operate upon my mind against giving it to the public; but the desire and prospects of being useful in the church as far as my feeble efforts may go, have preponderated in favor of preparing this treatise for publication. The learned reader will not find much in the execution to gratify his taste. I have particularly aimed at instructing and convincing the plain and unlettered part of community. Having been called, in a certain period of my life, to converse much upon this subject with different descriptions of characters, I was enabled to learn, in some measure, their mode of thinking, and what manner of presenting the truth to their minds would be most likely to succeed. Hence I have used such plainness of speech-fulness and repetition in argument, as, in my opinion, were thought necessary and best calculated to accomplish my object. How far I have succeeded the result must tell.

I have also endeavored to bear on my mind, that, although we differed from the Baptists on this subject, and were greatly reproached and misrepresented by some of them; yet they were our brethren, and therefore I would be accountable to God, not

only for the doctrines I taught, but for the manner in which I treated them; consequently I have not (intentionally,) advanced any thing relative to them, or upon the subject, with which I would be unwilling to appear before my Judge and their Judge. It has been my desire not to give needless offence, knowing that a brother offended is not easily gained or convinced.

If the learned reader should think that my references to Merril, Hascal and Pengilly, are at any time "rather out of place," or uncalled for, my only reply is, that we have not the happiness to agree in our opinions in this matter. These men have used great freedom and boldness, in expressing the views of their denomination upon this ordinance; and as their works have been published, and some, if not all, republished, and hailed by the Baptist community, I availed myself of their arguments and criticisms, the more easily and successfully to present to the reader their inconsistencies and the extreme weakness of their arguments in favor of immersion as an exclusive mode. And if I have omitted or passed over their strongest and best arguments, it is because I have not had the happiness to discover them.

I shall now conclude with a little variation in the language of the great Halyburton in relation to another class of men. If any of the Baptists "shall see meet to undertake this debate, I decline it not. If they treat my book, as" some of them "have done