9. I recommended the Connexion to pay off all the chapel debts, and
prepare itself for more vigorous and extensive aggressions on the
kingdom of darkness.
All these things increased the anxiety of my opponents to get me out of
the ministry; but they would probably have failed to give them the power
to accomplish their object, if I had gone no farther. But I believed it
my duty to take another step.
10. It was the custom in the Body to which I belonged, to baptize
children in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This
form of words was understood by me to imply that infant baptism was
commanded by God in Scripture. This, however, I doubted, and I declined
to use the words when naming or baptizing children. I had no objection
to name children, to pray for them, or even to sprinkle them; but I
could not use an expression in a sense in which I did not think it
strictly true. This emboldened my enemies to attempt my expulsion
without more ado, and this time they adopted measures calculated to
ensure success. They issued circulars on the subject to the ministers
and to the leading and influential laymen. They called secret meetings.
They employed a variety of means which seemed to me and my friends to
savor more of Popish tyranny than of Christian discipline.
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