Baptism and the Visible Church
Acts 8:36-39
And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water…


One of the parish ministers preaching at Whitewell Chapel, Mr. Philip Henry and his family and many of his friends being present, was earnestly cautioning people not to go to conventicles, and used this as an argument against it, "that they were baptized into the Church of England." Mr. Henry's catholic charity could not well digest this monopolising of the great ordinance of baptism, and thought it time to bear his testimony against such narrow principles, of which he ever expressed his dislike in all parties and persuasions. Accordingly he took the next opportunity that offered itself publicly to baptize a child, and desired the congregation to bear witness "that he did not baptize that child into the Church of England, nor into the Church of Scotland, nor into the Church of the Dissenters, nor into the Church at Broad Oak, but into the Visible Catholic Church of Jesus Christ.

(Whitecross.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

WEB: As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?"




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