Letters on England | Page 5

I began to
question my courteous host. I opened with that which good Catholics
have more than once made to Huguenots. "My dear sir," said I, "were
you ever baptised?" "I never was," replied the Quaker, "nor any of my
brethren." "Zounds!" say I to him, "you are not Christians, then."
"Friend," replies the old man in a soft tone of voice, "swear not; we are
Christians, and endeavour to be good Christians, but we are not of
opinion that the sprinkling water on a child's head makes him a
Christian." "Heavens!" say I, shocked at his impiety, "you have then
forgot that Christ was baptised by St. John." "Friend," replies the mild
Quaker once again, "swear not; Christ indeed was baptised by John, but
He himself never baptised anyone. We are the disciples of Christ, not
of John." I pitied very much the sincerity of my worthy Quaker, and
was absolutely for forcing him to get himself christened. "Were that

all," replied he very gravely, "we would submit cheerfully to baptism,
purely in compliance with thy weakness, for we don't condemn any
person who uses it; but then we think that those who profess a religion
of so holy, so spiritual a nature as that of Christ, ought to abstain to the
utmost of their power from the Jewish ceremonies." "O
unaccountable!" say I: "what! baptism a Jewish ceremony?" "Yes, my
friend," says he, "so truly Jewish, that a great many Jews use the
baptism of John to this day. Look into ancient authors, and thou wilt
find that John only revived this practice; and that it had been used by
the Hebrews, long before his time, in like manner as the Mahometans
imitated the Ishmaelites in their pilgrimages to Mecca. Jesus indeed
submitted to the baptism of John, as He had suffered Himself to be
circumcised; but circumcision and the washing with water ought to be
abolished by the baptism of Christ, that baptism of the Spirit, that
ablution of the soul, which is the salvation of mankind. Thus the
forerunner said, 'I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance; but
He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.'
Likewise Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles, writes as follows to the
Corinthians, 'Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel;'
and indeed Paul never baptised but two persons with water, and that
very much against his inclinations. He circumcised his disciple
Timothy, and the other disciples likewise circumcised all who were
willing to submit to that carnal ordinance. But art thou circumcised?"
added he. "I have not the honour to be so," say I. "Well, friend,"
continues the Quaker, "thou art a Christian without being circumcised,
and I am one without being baptised." Thus did this pious man make a
wrong but very specious application of four or five texts of Scripture
which seemed to favour the tenets of his sect; but at the same time
forgot very sincerely an hundred texts which made directly against
them. I had more sense than to contest with him, since there is no
possibility of convincing an enthusiast. A man should never pretend to
inform a lover of his mistress's faults, no more than one who is at law,
of the badness of his cause; nor attempt to win over a fanatic by
strength of reasoning. Accordingly I waived the subject.
"Well," said I to him, "what sort of a communion have you?" "We have

none like that thou hintest at among us," replied he. "How! no
communion?" said I. "Only that spiritual one," replied he, "of hearts."
He then began again to throw out his texts of Scripture; and preached a
most eloquent sermon against that ordinance. He harangued in a tone as
though he had been inspired, to prove that the sacraments were merely
of human invention, and that the word "sacrament" was not once
mentioned in the Gospel. "Excuse," said he, "my ignorance, for I have
not employed a hundredth part of the arguments which might be
brought to prove the truth of our religion, but these thou thyself mayest
peruse in the Exposition of our Faith written by Robert Barclay. It is
one of the best pieces that ever was penned by man; and as our
adversaries confess it to be of dangerous tendency, the arguments in it
must necessarily be very convincing." I promised to peruse this piece,
and my Quaker imagined he had already made a convert of me. He
afterwards gave me an account in few words of some singularities
which make this sect the contempt of others. "Confess," said he, "that it
was very difficult for thee to refrain from laughter,