And basely vilified.
I suffered to be washed
As Satan instituted,
My body, so my soul thereby,
Became the more polluted.
I suppose he intends by that sacramental bond by which he says his soul was tied to Christ, that non-scriptural practice of sprinkling a little water out of a basin on his face in his unregenerate state. Now the scriptures abundantly show us that the Spirit of God is the bond by which God’s children are sealed or united to him; as Eph. i, 13, Eph. iv, 3 and 30, John iii, 24. Thus it plainly appears it is the Spirit of God that is the bond by which God’s children are united to Christ, and not by sprinkling a little elementary water on their faces, as Peter Pratt has ignorantly and blasphemously asserted.
Whereas he says he suffered his body to be washed as Satan instituted, I suppose he intends his being baptized according to the rule of Scripture of which he gives us an account, page 18, how that he was stirred up to this ordinance from those words, Acts xxii, 16, “And now why tarriest thou? arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins,” and that accordingly he was baptized by burying his body in the water.
As to the first institutor of this ordinance, we know that John the Baptist was the first practiser of it, therefore let us take his testimony as to the institutor of it, which is to be seen John i, 33, “And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit,” etc.
And here I suppose none but Peter Pratt will dare deny that it was God Almighty that instituted this ordinance and sent John the Baptist to administer it.
Having given a specimen of Peter Pratt’s poetical effusions, we will further entertain the reader with some verses by John Rogers, 2d, which precede his “Reply” to Pratt’s book:—