. (meaning "CON- TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ^- signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, char^>. t^t-; -nay be filmed at different reduction ratu " " hose too large to be entirely included in one exposui? are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many rrames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film^s d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 .-# X J BAPTISMA: THE MODE AND SUBJECTS «r OHEISTIAN BAPTISM BY J. LATHERN. XOKT. '■ THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMSr-l St. Paul.. HALIFAX, N. S.-KEV. J)R, PICKAUJ). trsii 87^ 19452T ^'ONTEXTS. I. MODE OF BAPTISM: THE OLD TESTAMENT II. MODE OF BAPTISM: JOHN THE BAPTIST ill. MODE OF BAPTIST: WITH WATEtt ''' ''^i^W':^ «^1*TISM: PEXTECOST AND NEW TE8TA. V. MODE OF BAPTISM: ARGUMENT FROM ANA! OP V VI. SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. ANALOGS. VII. OBJECTIONS TO INFANT BAPTISM. TUI. TESTIMONY OF ANTIQUITY. IX. CONTROVERSY AND CRITICISM. INDEX AND SUMMARY. / PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. The Tolume, whatever its value may be, will be found to con- tain chiefly the results of independent investigation. Through several of the earlier chapters, in this examination ot the ordinance and administration of Christian Baptism, there has btfen presented, in consecutive and formulated view, the positive teachings of God's word : "To the law and to the testi- mony" must be the first and also the final appeal. It has been the usual practice, in treatises of this class, to deal with the question of the subjects of Baptism — involving that of the Mot al Status o.' children — in a second or separate part ; but, in the present case, for continuity of inspired idea, as part of the main scriptural argument, it has been deemed expedient that this part of the discussion should immediately follow that of positive teaching in regard to mode. Citation, disquisition, the examination of authorities, and other matters belonging to the more general literature, which has originated with the question of Mode of Baptism, have been reser- ved for later chapters. As baptismal questions are varied, of necessity grouped, and frequently controverted, the conditions of ttruetural arrangement are considerably complicated. With the hope that Baptisma may for the present supply the place of Uand Book to students, not having access to more exhaustive works on the subject, and for the sake of lueid presentation and facility of reference, the several chapters have been distributed into sections. The aim has been, throughout the discussion of this subject, to secure as much of definitencss and conclusiveness s, — lor which th(>re was no other authority in the word of God, — which indisputably, accordini; to Kabinical testimony, was the otablished usage, and which accounts tor the general lamiliarity with the rite of l)ai)tism everywhere apparent and as- sumed throughout the Gospel. It is evident from the wisdom of Sirach xxxi, 25;' DIFPERBNT BAPTISMS. 11 " Wlion oTie is baptised from a dead body — baptizomenos apo nekrou— and touchcH it again," of what avail \s his washing — tii loutrb. Unquestionably the writer, accus- tomed to legal ablutions, writing the Greek language in much the same diction as that of the New Testament, speaks of ceremonial cleansing as a baptism. Can we, by any means ascertain the mode of ancient ablutions aj)pointed by God? Was there any thing of deflniteness of teaching in regard to legal puritication ? Is the .Sj;rmA7m^ of water enjoined, or at all sanctioned in that early ritual ? Turning to the Pentateuch wc find most minute and explicit requirement. It may be satisfactory, upon this point of vital importance, to reproduce all the loading pas.-^agos. The law of ceremonial purification from unclcanncss by contact with dead bodies, spoken of as a baptism in the wisdom of Sirach, may bo found in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Numbers; "and for an micloan jiersou they shall take the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification from sin, and running water shall be put thereto '\u a vessel: and a clean ])orson shall take hys- sop, and (lip it in the watei", and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that toucheih a bone, or the slain, or the dead, or a grave; and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and upon the seventh day, atid on the seventh day he shall ])urify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water and shall be clean at even." There was, it will be seen, in adilition to legal official administration, washing and I'athing, and in other pas- 12 BAPTI8MA sages Hhaving; but these wore personal matters — purely of cleanliness. In such case there was no administrator ; and no specification of mode. It must not be supposed that the bathings required wore immersions. The ex- planation of these will be found in the supplementary notes. They wore jiot of importance, however. But of such nccessit}'' was the '^sprinkling v)hich sanctifieth ;'* that whoever was not purified by this mode was put to death : — " Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tab- ernacle of the Loi'd ; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he .shall be unclean ; his uncleanness is yet upon him." In the law of purification of leprosy, we have the same roquiieineiit: "This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: lie shall be brought unto the priest." The priest was directed to take two birds, — one of which was to be " killed iu an earthen vessel over running water:" as for the living bird heshall take it and the ccilai' wood, and th(» scarlet, and the hys'^op^ and shall dij) them and the living bird in the blood of the bird tli;ir was kille'ving fleoil." — " Xow, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the KifJi,' of Assyria and all his^lory; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: and he sha!! pa^s through Jud:ih; he shall overflow and go over, ho shall reach even to the neck.'* — "A destroying storm as the flood of might}'' wafers.'' — " Who is this that comefh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as tho rivers ? *' *• risoth up like a flood and his wafers and he sftilh, -il g^ up, and will cover the earth ; I yv'iW destroy Xho city and the inhabitants thereof."— St. Pet^>r, in allusion to the ark sprinkled by rain as a fig:ire PROPHETIC STKBOLISM: SUBMERSION. 15 of baptism, speaks in contrast of the judgments of God " bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." There was immersion at the flood, but that was not a figure of baptism which saves. "And the Lord God of Hosts," says the Prophet Isaiah, " is he that touchcth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up v^ holly like a flood ; and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt " The flood of Egypt could only suggest, in the most supreme and striking manner, the idea of calamity and ot overwhelming disaster: — the hosts of Fharoah, his horses and his chariots engulfed in the Red Seti. Take these pasrfages, and others such as these, — what is the one uniform sustained idea? Itiseviland not good! It is calamity, and not blessing! It is destruction and not salvation ! ! IV. PROPHETIC SYMBOLISM : AFFUSION. But then in the figurative language of the Psalms and Prophecies, in manj' metaphorical passages of the (Uli Testament, in which water is spoken of, the ima- gery is that of sprinkling — as the dew, " I will be as the dew unto Israel," and of pouring — as the rain: "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass : as showers that water the earth." A few such passages for illustrative purposes will be sufficient : " As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion : for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forever more." —"Then," says the prophet, "shall we know, if we fol- low on to know the Lord : his going forth is prepared as the morning : and he shall come unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain onto the earth." — " Thou 16 BAPTIHALl ; J ! t O God," says the PsalmiBt, in commemoration of nation- al visitation, " didst senll a plentiful rain, wheroby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary." — " Be glad then ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God ; for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain." — " My Doc- trine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." — " Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust; for thy deiv is as the dew of herbs." " I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring." Passages — such as that of the memorable prediction in Malachi : — " If I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing — do not positively include water- symbolism, except the general idea of copiousness, and cannot fairl}" bo appealed to in thisconneetion. There arc numerous passages in which the promised blessing is set forth as " the dew of youth" — as " the dew of the^ morning" — as the sjmnfding of water. The Apostle Peter, who in one Epistle speaks of the Flood as a revel- ation of judgment' writes in another Epistle of " the ark wherein a few, that is eight souls wore saved by water : the like figure whereuuto baptism doth also now save uy." — " Noah's Ark floating upon the vater," says Dr, Clarke, " and sprinkled by the rain from hecwen ia figiirr corresponding to baptism." One more passage, and only one, I need to quote from the figurative language of prophetic declaration : "And T will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cauoethe shower to comedown PROPHETIC SYMBOLISM : AFFUSION. It in his season : there shall be showers of Messing." What is the grand all-jiervadinijj idea of these promises and pro- phecies of the word of (rod ? Always good and never ecil, always blessing and never calamity, always salvation and never destruction! Would it nut have been strange if, in the baptismal element of Christianity, the mode always suggestive of salvation had been set aside ; and another mode, which in figurative teaching had always typified destruction, had been substituted ? It would have been difficult, with our conceptions of the orderly arrange- ment of iT'finite wisdom, to have comprehended such an anomaly. It is true that in utterances which are figurative, but which do not include icater, — which do not therefore belong to this domain of inquiry, — in the outpouring of divine fury and indignation, we have the idea of calamity. But oven there the idea of mode imperatively presses its claim, and determines the otherwise inexplicable render- ing of Isaiah xxi. 4, in the Septuagint, ^^ Iniquity bajHizes mc ; h'i anomia me baptizei^ The pouring out of judgment was the fearful baptism of iniquity. The inquiry instituted, however, has purely and ex- clusively reference to prophetic imagery in which icater is emplo^'cd. The field of inquiry is broad and clear. The margin is wide. There was ample room for chaico and choice of mode. Water, the visible emblem of bap- tism, was the sj-mbol of inspired prophecy and enters into man}' of the most lofty and sublime of ancient pre- di'Jons. The question is lifted from the sphere of petty, puny strife, up to the clear noontide light of straight and honorable investigation. Does submersion, in all that range of water imagery, symbolize evil ? lias af- fusion the constant consecrated significance of salvation ? I 111. m !l : 18 JJAPTISMA ; In the interests of trutli, of siijircmc importance, and in llio name of soboi" searching criticism, we submit tli'it this appnal, to the broad decisive and uniform teachin;;'s of the Word of God, in I'cLition to water sym- holism — of close alRnity and in perfect consonance with the main subject — the mode of application in the baptis- mal element — which therefore strikes home to the very licart of the subject, cannot be disj)osed of by quibble or mere evasion, if, in this exhibition of inspired teaching — of its ^j)irit and scope — of tiie uniform tone and tenor of pro[)hetic imageiy, the saci'cd writers luivc been mis- undei'sloinl and misrepresented, let the anjument vanish. If, in ibis c<)m)):vrison of scri]-)turo with scripture, the roults have been stated liiiily and with substantial accui-acy: upon what ])rinci|»le or procedure of divine f'onsistency, and ol' unchcUKjiiKj wisdom, are wo to account for the fact — that a Viodc. always in ancient unnals ex- pressive ot evil, should be perpetiAted and that which had uniformly, in ])rophecy and promise, been symboli- cal and suiTiiestive of salvation and blessinn", should be abandoned and condemned ? i\< CHAPTER II. MODiO OF lUPTlS.M: JOIIX TIIH BAPTIST. " Unto John's baptism." — Ads. '• It cannot be certainly proved from Scrijditrc that even John's (^bajdism) iras jterformcd by dipping. — IVcsby. I. John's uaptism. The 7node of John's administration has been cxhau.s- tively discussed by controversial exponents of the bap- tismal rite. John's baptism, however icas not christian JOHN S BAPTISM. 19 l((l>fiijec't. Tiirnin,:;' to the ninetcentli chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, wo have jyos'7/jv'/)/'oo/of the insufticiency of the baptism of Jolin — as a compliance with the initiatoiy rite of the Christian Chiirch. " I'aiil havinij ])assc(l through the upi)er coasts," says the inspii-od historian of tlie early A]K>stolic Church, '"came to Kjthesns: and fin.iiing certain cliscii)les, ho said unto them, Have ye i-e- ceivcd the Holy (Jhost since ye belicvctl? And they said unto him, We have not so much as hoard whether there be any Holy (Jhost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye ba])tizod ? And they said, I 'nto John's baptism. Then said Paul, .John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that thoy bhoidd liolieve in him which should come alter him, that is, in Christ Jesus. When they hoard this they irerc baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when l*aul laid his hands upon them, the Holy (Jhost came ujtun them, etc." The bajjtism (;f John was insutlicient. and thus these twelve men wei-o baptized into the {aith of Christ, "in the name (^f the Lord Jesus,"' "In the whole compass ot' theological litciatin-c, " Kays the Icarnotl and luminous I>a])tist author, Robert Hall, aware that some had attempted to donv r nd ex- plain away the signiticance of the historic record, " it would be difficult to assign a stronger instance, of the force of prejudice, in obscuring a ])lain matter of fact."' He denounces the unfair attempt as "violence to the language of Scripture." Johns Baptism was not Christian Baptism; but his mission was one of divine appointment. " There was a 20 baptisma; i hill iHtan scut from flod whose name was John." His minis- try was one of national preparation. When the Lord God came down amongst the people, at Sinai, they were re- quired to sanctify themselves. A service of soKmn cere- monial preparation was held. That covenant into which God then entered with the nation had its seal and its symbol : " For when Moses had spoken every j)reccpt to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, icith water ^ and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and i;^)n;i/i/t'(Z both the book and all the jJ^ojile." At the advent of Jesus, in whose sacrificial work all altar-offerings were to have their fulfilment, the only symbolical service v;hich remained in John's ministry was the application of water. John baptized with water, and, from the fact that such an immense concourse thronged to his ministr}-, it is incredible that any other mode should have been practicable. " Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judca, and all the region about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan." "Can any man suppose," inquires Dr. Adam Clarke, in his comment upon this passage, " that it was possible for John to dip all the inhabitants of Judea and of all the country round about Jordan ? Were both men and women dipped, for certainly both came to his baptism ? This never could have comported either with safety or decency. Were they dipped in ihoXv clothes f This would have endangered their lives if they had not with them a change of raiment : and as such baptism as John's was in several respects a new thing in Judea, it is not at all likely that the people would come thus provided. But suppose these were dipped, which I think it would be impossible to prove, does it follow that, in all regions of the world, men and women must bo dipped in order JOHN 8 BAPTISM. 21 to be evangel icully baptized?" "Such prodigious num- bers," says Wesley in his Notes, " could hardly bo baj)- tizcd 1)3' immcrging their whole bodies underwater: nor can we think they were provided withchangeot raiment for it, which was scarcely i)rac'ticahle for such a vast multitude. And yet they could not be immerged naked with modesty, nor in their wearing apj)arel with safety. It seems, therefore, that they stooil in raidcson the edge of the river, and that John passing along before them, cast water upon their heads or faces ; by which means ho might baptize many thousands in a day. And this way most strikingly signified Christ's baptizing them '-with the Holy Ghost and with tiro," which John spoke of as prefigured by his baptizing with water, and which was eminently fulfilled when the Holy Ghost sat upon the disciples in the appearance of tongues or flames of fire." John baptized at the Jordan, and at other places — one of which was the wilderness. The mere fact of bap- tism at a river does not, as sometimes has been imagined and asserted, necessarily imply immersion. Analogous to the narrative of baptism at the Jordan was a custom connected with the solemnization of the " Elousinian mysteries." Those admitted into the lesser or introduc- tory mysteries of Eleusis were previously purified, on the banks of the Tllissus, by water being poured upon them by the Adranos." The candidates for admission to the ''mysteries." went to the Athenian River. There was the lustration — purification by water; but there was no immersion. John baptized in Enon, because there was (hudata polla — many springs) much water there. Was not the place selected by John, to whose ministry a great con- course of people gathered, for the same reason that the T=^ 22 BAI'TISMA travi^Uin/^ caravan seeks an cneanijnncnl near somo fountain at tlie present day? The children of Israel, in tlieir march througli the wilderness, '-canio to Mlini, wiiere tiiere wore twelve wells of water, and three score and ten j)alni-trees ; and ih'u citcamiird then' by the vdtcrH.'' in the Kast Indies there is said to be a sect calling tlieinsolvcs the "disciples of John the Jia])tist, " who an- nually lepcat and reiterate the service of baptism. *'They proceed in a l)ody," says Norberi^, as (juoted by a late wi'iter, " to the water, and amon^ them one bears a (Standard; also, the priest dressed in his camels hair ornament, holding a vessel of water in his hand, ho 8i)rinkles eacdi person as he singly comes out of the river. " ri. THE SAVIOUR AND JOIIN's BAPTISM. " Then comcth Jesus from Galileo to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him." The fact of the Saviour's comj)liance with an a})pointed ordinance of national pur- itieation, just as ho went up to the annual Feasts and complied with other requirements of rito and ritual and established institutions of religion, — has teen made the subject of frequent and urgent appeal, plausibly present- ed, and to imperfectly instructed converts more potent than argument, to '-follow the blessed Saviour." Was the baptism of Jesus in a literal sense an example for his people? It is well that jiicty should rest upon an intelligent basis. The most strenuous advocates for following the Saviour literally, do not act out their profession. "Ye call mo master and Lordj" said Jesus, on the eve of his passion, " for so I am. If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet : ye also ought to wash one ano- THE g.VVIOua AND JOHN S BAl'TIKM. tljer'rt foot. For I have given you a?i example, tlmtyo should do iis I lijivo done unto you." If following Jesus implies literal eoin[)lianee with his e\'anii)le and teach- ings, then the oriental washing of feot ought to be per- petuated through all time and in all lands. Tlie Saviour was not bapti/.ed until he was thirty years of age. Must obedience in our case be deferred? In the (!().>))cl ot Luke, we learn " when all the people were bdptiztuf, it came to pas*i that Jesus also being baptize, IG. The competent testimony of St. John may, so far as Avitnesses are concerned, close the case. " P'or thoii wast slain and hast redeemed us to God bij. cn or vitli, Thy blood." — Rev. 5, 9. ^ . " To kill with, en, sword and with, en, hunger and with, en, death."— licv. 15, 8. "He that killeth with, en, must be killed /r<7/i,€/i, the sword." — IJev. 13, 10. "Would it be contended that the forms of expression i' with salt," "with the sword," "with the heart," "with the mouth," " with hunger," "with an hoi}" kiss," sanc- tion, and of necessity iniply, into in the modal sense of immersion? Three passages have heenquote(' from three sections of the New Testament : Gospel, Ei)istle and Apocalypse Three Apostles, St. Matthew, St. Paul and St. John have furnished testimony; and "in the mouth of two or three witnesses, may every word be established." Con-, tinned inquiry may assume somewhat the appearance of a work of supererogation ; but the question opens the way into comparatively a new and, as far as myacciuaint- ance with the subject extends, untracked field of in([uiry. It is expedient therefore that the investigation be con- ducted to thorough and satisfying result. Examples of classic usage have been cited from Conant, the chief JJaptist author, for the purpose of in- validating argument: established by authority and evi- dence the most apposite and irrefragable. f 28 BAPTISMA ; I lii; In the writings of Basil the en occurs in the pas- sage : "Steel baptized with the fire ; en to puri, kimWad up by the spirit (wind)." The quotation, from the au- thor referred to, has of course the rendering, "immersed in tlio tire." But does tlie en, even in this proof passage from Basil, dip the steel, ov plunge the steel or //n??i*"rsc tlic steel? The smith at the foru:e thrusts the steel into the lire; but that is not Basil's baptism. The action of the workman is followed by an action, or effect of wind and flame ; and that is baptism. An important signification of en is locality — " rest in a place,'' as Yalpy in his Greek grammar phrases it, and the steel, at rest in the furnace> was acted \\\io\\ by wind and fire — by blast and fierce flame — the action and effect, one or both, constituted the baptism. A tolerably good example that of Jiasil of the signification of en, denoting ?r/f/i, the dative of the instru- ment, and in consonance with scriptural examples. Another passage, depended upon to break the force of cumulative proof, in evidence of with, upon which great stress has been placed, is also from Conant : " but I in the waves of the sea immersing." The (Ireek text : Ego de se kumasi ponton baptizon, would be legitimately rendered: "but I with the waves of the sea baptising." The action indicated clearly is not that of the appli- cation of a person to passive, inert element, but that of the element — the waves of the sea scattered and broken into/oa7n and spray — applied to the person. Kuhner, the eminent German scholar, of the very highest authority as a Greek grammarian, consulted at this point, because easy accessible, gives as the very first illustration of En, with the dative of instrument : MODE OP BAPTISM : WITH WATER. 29 Horan, homsthai. en ophthalnwis — " to sec, be seen with the eyes." It would require considerable ingenuity to work out the idea of into or of immersion, from an ex- pressioji such as this : en ophtluilmois — " with the eyes." * Turning to the copious grammar of Matthior, hy Bloomfield, a standard of reference in all questions of Greek philology and criticism, we find that "the (Jrcek dative also supplies the place of the Latin abla- tive; and, in this case, expresses relationship of the connection or companionsiiip to the question where- with? of an ir.strument or means to the question whereby?" From Homer, Euripides and other classics, passages are cited to shew that " sometimes, instead of the simple dative, propositions as en, are used." The appeal cannot, however, be legitimately made to classic usage. The idiom and structure of Xew Tes- ment (freek, as all scholars know, and the i)reposition en eminently and exactly exemjdities and illustrates the principle and position in contention, take their caste and coloring from the Hebrew and Septuagint version of tho Hebrew books. The testimony of the Xew Testament writers, in- spired of God, will abundantly suffice; and walking in tho light of sacred teaching, we shall be less likely, amidst the intricacies and niceties of abstract philologi- cal investigation, to lose the golden thread of thought and truth. Two things in regard to the New Testament use of En, are clear and conclusive: 1. That tho preposition en, governing the dative of locality, denoting "rest in a place,'" means what wc ex* press by the word at. * See on page 179. w 30 IJAI'TISMA; The people wore bjiptized by Joliii, en to Jonhinr, ^^ at the Jordan." John also bai)tizeil, en ti- en'mo, ''at the desert," encampment not under the desert sand. He baptized bej'ond Jordan, en ''at athabai-a." The pre- position is not only used in baptismal ]iassages, but in other narratives: "Jesus was born, en B elousa se en hudati. kai echrisa se en elaib. J)Ut lor example we need only ihe jtassage in ques- tion ; the te.stimony of John, •• I indeed baptize ijou with water, «.S:c." Matt. iii. IL The authorized version has been determined by a sound eaiion of jihilological criti- cism, — the distinction helween ///,/rr iind in. and in the other (Jospcls, becomes more evident and a-^sui-ed, l)ecause it. alone, can be consistently and legitimately carried through the passage : " He shall bai)ti/.e you with the Holy (Jhost, .Mode of baptism: with watku. 31 Tonhnw, ■mo, '"'^^ ml He Hic prc- ■;. but in at Beth- Si loam, is risen even at IIS in the of the in- ]»c tran>^- hos'3 pi'C- IIo liath is arm ;" u-ith the vlth, oi, lliCU 1 ntca{)tist the testimony was taken uji l)y the foui' Evangelists. The (Jospel of .lohn, the last portion, ])ro- bahl}', of the sacred canon, bears witness: — "He that se!it me to b:i[)tizo icitli, en, water, the same said unto me, ujidii whom thou sliall see the Spirit de- seendiu'i aiid lemaining on him, the same is lie which ba))ti/eth thee with, en, the Holy (ihost." Amongst the \oi'y last words of .lesus, before ascend- ing to His niediatoi'ial throne, was the assurance, "John bai»tized irltJi, en, water, but yc shall be liiXi)ti/e 1 with, en, the lh)\y (.rjiost." Ten times in ihu (iospels an»l .Vets, we h:ive the same emphatic and sublime exjircssion. In Luke iii, 1'!, we have hurhiti baptizo ; ajid in one other place, which only adds to the tituess and force of the ren- dering, we have the tlative without the jiroposition. Special slivss, in a slenderly .sustained argument, might lii J 1 ■ J 1 ; 4 iii! 32 BAPTI8MA ; bo placed upon tlio nude dative ; but the advantage is not pressed. The appeal made is to the frequent and familiar form of the authorized version. It could not have been mere accident, or any want of scholarly pre- cision, that the venerable translators, amongst them the most learned men of their time, uniform ily rendered en hudati and en j^neumati "icith water" and ^^icith the Holy Ghost." The baptism spoken of and promised in all these passages, comprises a three fold application : with water ivtth the Holy Ghost, and icith fire. The instrument in each case has been indicated. The en pneumati cannot in this connection mean into. We do not need any vindication of our version, " I indeed baptize you with water," except what the struc- ture of parallel passages clearly exemplifies. This ren. dering is not only grammatically correct, but it is that "which, carried through the passage, harmonizes with the historic facts of Pentecostal baptism ; with the Holy Ghost and with fire. It is both good grammar and sound sense ; but dipping icith water, a rendering for which some strenuously contend, would carry the passage at once into the region of sheer absurdity. The argument, clear and conclusive as it may have been up to this point, finds its culminating force, how- ever, in the theological significance of the rendering in question. Tb« Holy Ghost, the third Person in the glorious Trinity, cannot fitly be represented as passive essence or inert substance. The personality, office and work of the Holy Spirit liave been distinctly revealed. As a divine agent, proceeding from the Father and the Son, He is ever actively engaged in applying to believing ones the benefits and blessings of a jyirchased salvation : MODE OP BAPTISM. "His work completes the great design, And fllU the soul with joy divine." 33 Thus grammatical scnHO, histxjric fact, and theological signification constitute a perfect vindication of the authorized version*. CHAPTER IV. MODE OP baptism:: PENTECOST AND THE CHKISTIAN CHURCH. " Replete ivith an ineffable gift." — Chrysostom. ^^ Every one shall see that verily the Spirit is poured out like water, and the rains are descending from above.'' — C. H. Spurgeon, " Conceive the outburst of that burning moment : Body, Soul, and Spirit, glowing with one celestial fire." — Wm Arthur. We have, in the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost, an irrefutable and irresistable argument in favor of affusion. The subject admits of positive proof. The de- monstration is just as complete as the force of language and the well authenticated facts of history, by possibi- lity, can make it. I. INSPIRED RECORD. It may be satisfactory exhibition, of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, to gather and to group into one vie\r * Vide page 181. f' l( p 34 baptisma; 1^ ii! i tlic facts and statements of the inspired record. First, we have the promise of the Father : " yo shall be bap- tized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." The bajitism was near at hand. It was calculated to awaken expectation : " Yo shall receive power after that the Holy (rhost is come upon you." When the day of Pen- tecost was fully come the promised gift was received. '* And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." " This,'" said the Apostle Peter, with wondrous illumination, is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel : " And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, / ivillpour out my spirit upon all flesh." " Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." The Apostles Peter and John, prayed for the Samaritan converts that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost : for as yet " He was fallen upon none of them." " While Peter spake these words," in the House of Cornelius," the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word. And they of the circumcision were astonished ; because that on the Gentiles also \\&s poured out the gift of the Holy • Ghost." "As I began to speak," said St. Peter, in a .subsequent account before the Council of the Church, "*' the Holy Ghost /e?^ on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Loixi : ye shall bo baptized with the Holy Ghost." Was the Apostle Peter at fault in remembering that the outpouring was the baptism of the Holy Ghost ? The question at this point is purely one of mode. The narrative is clear and de- cisive up to the very utmost measure and capacity of human speech. To prevent possibility of mistake there was the accompanying symbol, a visible baptismal elo- ment. Historic fact determines the New Testament N;':il CONSONANCE OF MODE. :^5 meuning of Baptize. What docs the main iact of Pente- cost tench In rehition to mode ? In what manner ? The answer is explicit and the demonstration conchisive. The Holy Ghost was not passive and inert, but an active agent, in that baptism. The disciples were not plunged into personality, substance, element, sound as of wind or the likeness as of tire. The mode of contact, in that bap- tism of God, between the persons baptized and that with which they were baptized teas affusion. " Till better au- thority be produced," says Dr. Wardlaw, with special reference to St. Peter's affirmation, that the baptism of the Holy Ghost was a pouring out, " I desire to bow to this; and, when Peter himself tells me that he did con- sider affusion as baptism, it is not the learning of all the Etymologists in Europe, that will persuade mo againgt his own word, that it was impossible he should." II. CONSONANCE OF MODE. " When we know how Christ baptized with the Holy Ghost, we know how John baptized with water. For he declared he was doing with water what Christ should do with the Hol}^ Ghost: 'I baptize; He shall baptize.' When Christ baptized with the Holy Ghost, as we have seen, He shed forth the Holy Ghost ; He poured out the Holy Ghost; He sent the Holy Ghost upon them; the Holy Ghost fell upon them. When John did the same thing with water — when he baptized, he shod forth water ; ho poured out the water ; he sent the water upon them; the water fell on them. When Peter said : ' He hath shed forth this,' did he moan he hath immersed in this which yo see and hear ? When Christ said : * Be- hold I send the promise ot my Father upon you,' did he mean, * I will immerse you in the promise of my father?* When God said: * I will pour out my spirit upon all § 36 BAPTISMA flesh, ' did Ho moan that He would immerse all flesh in his Spirit ? When Peter said : ' The Holy Ghost fell oa them,' did he mean to say, ' When I began to speak, they were immersed in the Holy Ghost as we were at the be- ginning? Immersion is not administered by pouring or shedding — baptism was. If to baptize be a specific term, always meaning one and the same act, that act is to pour out, to shed forth as the Word of God is true. If it be a generic term, signifying the thing done — as to purify — without reference to the manner of doing it, then the mode is fixed by other terms — as to pour out, to shed forth, to send upon, &c. Whether it be specific or gen- eric, the doctrine of immersioi. utterly fails." III. PENTECOST: AUDIBLE SIGN. la promise, prophecy, and ancient ordinance, in con- secrated symbol and inspired imagery, we have found, upon this subject, distinct aad definite utterance. It is only, however, when we roach the sublimity and mag- nificence of Pentecostal inaugural, the promised baptism of God, a scene of simple, but of absolutely unparalleled grandeur, that symbol and substance, voices and testi* monies meet and culminate ; and, as in the roll of a mighty chorus, the full strength and deep significance of authoritivo teaching breaks in upon the ear of the hushed, waiting, fire-crowned church : " and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon them." The baptism of the Holy Ghost, the narrative of which can never lose its unique interest and importance, "which we can never peruse without a fresh thrill, was . PENTECOST : AUDIBLE SION. 37 accompaniod by an audible sign — " a sound as of a mighty rushing wind." It was not wind ; but only something which mysteriously resembled it — " as of^ hosper,'' — like unto wind. Affinity and analogy find decisive expros- sion in the correspondence between the sign and the person signified: "The wind bloweth," Jesus said to Nicodemus, as in midnight interview, they held converse upon Olivet. The wind sighed and moaned through the valley of Kedron, rushed through the branches of the olive trees and beat coldly upon the Ruler's browt *' The wind bloweth," said the Saviour, " and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometb, and whither it goeth : So is every one that is born of the Spirit:' The word ordinarily used by the sacred writers for wind, is not the word employed in this narrative. It is not pneuma, wind, hut pnoe — blast or breath. It is the same as in Acts 17, 25 : " lie giveth to all life and breath, and all things." It was as the sound of a mighty breathing. It would recall the vision of Ezekiel : ^'Comefn.m the four winds, O breath and breathe on these." They would be especially reminded '^f the re- cent memorable manifestation of the risen Saviour : *' He breathed on them; and said Beceive ye the Holy Ghost." The ascended exalted Redeemer was upon His throne ; and now the sound as of a mighty breathing came straight '-down" from heaven. "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind." " Not, mark you, a wind," says Wm. Arthur, the eloquent exponent of the Tongue of Fire, " no gale sweeping over the City struck the sides of the house, and rushed around it. But " from heaven," directly downward fell " a sound," without shape or f' 38 BAPTISMA 'II ' step, or movement to account for it — a sound as if a mighty wind were rushing, not along the ground, but straight from on high, like showers in a dead calm.'' M3\sterious sound, whence comest thou? Is it the Lord again breathing upon them, but this time from his throne. " When the risen Saviour stood in the midst of the disciplos/' He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." And in the same manner at Pentecost the breath of God was indicative of the pro- mised baptism. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with tongues as tho spirit gave them utterance." The influence of the spirit, as if })ent up for ages accompanied by the like- ness as of lire, a fitting symbol, expressive of the burn- ing energy of the Holy Spirit's operations, was poured forth in abundant affusion : *' O 'twas a most auspicious hour, Season of grace and sweet delight, When He came with mighty power, And light of truth divinely bright." Lord, wc believe to us and ours The apostolic promise given : Wc wait tlie pentecostal powers, The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. In harmony, with this record of sacred fact, we are accustomed, from spiro, to speak of the saving sanctify- ing influences of the Holy Ghost as an inspiration. The idea has found its noblest application, perhaps in the solemnization of sacramental service, " Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit." In the same stnan, we are accustomed to plead in consecrated song. " Breathe on us, Lord, in this our day, etc." PENTECOST : AUDIBLE SKJX. 39 ctity- The the the Holy lead The audible sign of accomplished spiritual baptism •was richly sigiiiticant in regard to 7node. It was the sound as of a breathing upon the disciples. The only attempt at an encounter with this invul- nerable testimony, has been an assertion — perhaps sug- (jestion would be the more correct expression : for but few expositors have had the temerity to attempt more than the suggestion — that the disciples must have been immersed in sound! If, instead of the sound, the room had been full of water that would have beetj immersion. The question is not water, at this point, but of sound. It is not of quantity; but of mode. They wej*e not plunged into the sound : It " came from hoiiver," di- rectly down " where they were sitting." "The room in which I now write," says the most recent exponent of immersionist . eoiies, " is Hlled with air. I am certainly immersed in it, so ir. this case, there came a sound, etc." The absurdity of such an argument must bo ])alpa- ble to the dullest sense. The essential conditions and the direct effects are completely changed and reversed. Immersed in the air of the room? Certainlv. But how did he get there? By walking, y>/>m^«/i7 into it. He may call that immersion but it is not baptism. The disciples at Pentecost were already sitting in the roon> when the sound, as of wind came down upon them. They were not plunged. There was no iinmersion — even in sound; but there was a gloriou\bapLism. IV. PENTECOST : VISIBLE SVMKOL. Conscious of gracious manifestation and the breath- in the other, in which the Pente- costal baptism of tire iinvom\sGd presence, "And I will pray the Father, and llo shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with Ijou for ever.'' VII. TIIK SIMKIT OF 1JIRNIN(J, The likeness as of fire, by which the baptism of the Spirit was accompa:?ieil, was indicative and expres- sive of tha purifyi/if/, sanctifyintj, tr-msf arming eneryy of the Holy Ghost. " And it shall come to pass that ho that is left in Zion, and he that remaincth in .Terusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem." Holiness shall be the grand distinction of the Church ot God. The tilth of the daughters of the Zion shall be washed away; and the blood of Jerusalem shall be purged. Sanctity, and therefore spiritual power shall be a distinc'on of the jieople of God. Every one sliall be called holy. Scriptural holiness shall spread through the land. Meetings for the promotion of higher life shall not bi> the exceptional arrangements of church organization. Holiness unto the Lord will oecome the normal condi- tion of the people of (Jod. The agency by which that 4ji I 44 BAPTISMA ; work of sarctifying power shall be carried on to a blea- sed consummation, has been indicated " by the spirit of judgment, and by the cpirit of burning. '' In the last of the prophecies, that of Malachi, we have the glorious announcement which i.i every age has struck home to the heart of the church, and tired the expectation of waiting souls : the Lord whom ye sock shall suddenly come to his temple, " But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shaH stand when he appeareth ? for He is like a refiner's fire, and l^e bhall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he s'lal'. )) arify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gjld and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering !n righteor.iiess." Under this gracious d'spensation of the ^'on ot' G^ d, the opera- tions of the Holy Spirit are represented as the fire of the refiner, and as the purifying of silver. I have often seen the ore of precious metals as it has been dug from the rich vein, and from the rifted rock. It is generally threaded through and through, encrusted with impure and worthless substances. By what means shall the pure ore be separated from the crystallized rock? How shall the dross be purified from the silver? There can be but one certain efficient process. It is put into the fire — into the crucible — into the snulting furnace. There it flows down. The dross is purged. The impurities are consumed. In a pure white stream of molten flame the metal flows into the ap- pointed mould. Apart from the softening, subduing, penetrating operations and influences of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are hard and dull and cold. But He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. Threadings and incrusta- tions of sin and selfishness are consumed; and the soul. PENTECOST: GODS BAPTISM. 4& soft and plastic, melted into tenderness, takes the divine likeness and impress. With scriptural accuracy, there- fore, we plead : *< Refining flro go through my heart, Illuminate my soul ; Scatter the light through every part, And sanctify the whole." VIII. PENTECOST: OOD's BAPTISM. In regard to the visible symbol, the baptismal flame by which the descent of the Spirit was accompanied, expressive of burning energy, were the disciples plunged into the fire ? Was the element of fire, the likeness as of flame, applied to the waiting suppliants in that upper room? The history of that superlatively gra.id fact of the Christian economy is most minute and circumstan- tial. The fire sat upon each of them! It sat upon the headj the seat of intelligence; and covered the forehead. Every disciple was baptized. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. That one authenticated fact of Pente- costal baptism, the fire upon the head, is abundantly ample for all purposes of demonstration. That was God's baptism/ It was the model for the Christian church. It meets us upon the very threshold of Chris- tianity. When, just before his death, a well known composer wrote his last hymn he emphasized the thought: rather in the dark with God than in the light of h'. man wisdom without God. In the ordinance of baptism, administered by ourselves, as an institution of the church, we have so far as mode is concerned, for guidance and authority, the model baptism — the divinely promised baptism, — " baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Even if the question were involved in some I 1 !i! i I T fir I t 1 II m ■utU t 46 BAl'TISMA ; obscurity, \vc would rather bo in the dark with God, with this example before us, than follow the lights and the lamps of human teaching and the traditions of men. There is no ambiguitj'. vSuppose that a person in pei'plexity upon this point were invited to that upper room and permitted to witness the promised bap- tism of the Holy Ghost. The only thing visible in con- nection with that rush of energy, of which ho becomes conscious, is the tongue of tire — the likeness as of flame. Yes, he would say, I understand it now ; I have been in doubt as to the New Testament meaning of that Greek verb baptizo. I have been undecided in relation to action and mode — imi)liod and required. The bajjtism compre- hends things of vital essential importance, of w^hich no external symbol can afford adequate interpretation ; but, in relation to mode, it is luminous as the flame upon the forehead. I understand it all now : the baptismal sym- bol was applied to the heads of the disciples. Tnis anxious inquirer you next take down to the sea-shore, to the rushing river, or to the somewhat im- pure waters of the deep font, into which the shivering candidates are in succession thrust beneath the flood. He might say at once, I am perplexed more than ever. In that upper room all was clear ; it is now confusion worse confounded. The mode is reverse d. Instead of the element being applied to the candidate, the candidate is plunged into the ekrmnt ! In contrast with that immersion in water, wo arc called to witness another baptismal scene. The 8er\ ice is impressive. There is no disturbing influence. There is nothing to shock the sensibilities — oven of the most refined taste, or of feminine delicacy of feeling. Tho i»entecost: alternative view. 47 deep, silent hush has settled over the great congregation. The baptismal element is applied to the candidates. That is sufficient for satisfaction. The correspondence is 2Jerfect. It harmonizes completely with God's baptism. In that case it was fire; in this case water. The element dif- fers ; hut the mode is the same : baptism xoith icater, and icith the IIolu Ghost, and loithfire. IX. PENTECOST : ALTERNATIVE VIEW. It has been urged as an opposite and alternative view of this passage that the fire spoken of by John the Baptist was a penal one — that it refers to the unquench- able fire of hell. Whence comes this suggestion of wrath and terror? Turning to the inspired history, and remembering with Eichard Cecil, that " the meaning of the Bible is the BiJble," without resorting to any torturing process of violent criticism, are wo compelled by any intuition of truth, or by any pressure of exegetical exigency, to adopt such a principle ot interpretation ? It is easy to see, with Daniel Isaac, that the Pente- costal baptism is " very embarrassing to our Baptist brethren " ; and that " if this difficulty cannot be got over their cause is lost." The bearing of the subject becomes so palpably evident, when searchingly investigated, that some res- traint is felt in writing these lines. The demands of truth, however, are supreme and imperative. Force and fulness of conviction must find free and unfettered (Utterance. The examination of the question must be thorough and exhaustive, and then the results inevitably :aceepted. I' II 4a BAPTISMA : Is there anything in the nature of that visible sym- bol to warrant the application which has been attempt- ed? Was not the likeness as of fire, through all ages — at Abraham's altar, in Horeb's burning bush, in the wilderness pillar and cloud of fire, in the Shekinah of the palace sanctuary, in the dedication glory of the Temple — the constant consecrated emblem of the gracious^ Presence of God. If not in the nature of the symbol, can we find, experimentiim crucis, lurking in the Ji'orm of that visible symbol any latent suggestion of threatening and des- tmction ? It was not a shapeless flame, or patriarchal lamp, or burning bush, or cloud-pillar, or seraphic coal from an altar-fire, or careening splendor of Chebar vision. It was not a flaming thunderbolt flashing ven- geance upon the men who plotted and perpetrated the death of the " holy and just One." It was not the gloria of Italian art. It was a tongue — an instrument of speech — the voice of an appointed messenger — signifi- cant of the grand agency employed for the world's salvation. They began at once to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Thus " the tongue of fire," and not the trumpet of an angel, became the hallowed emblem of published salvation to them that dwell upon the earth. m • The alternative of John's testimony would be : I in- deed baptize you — you my disciples — you on whom the mightier baptism of the Holy Ghost shall yet descend — " unlo repentance." But he that cometh after me shall consume and destroy you. I baptize you, vi'ith water^ PENTECOST: VISIBLE SYMBOL. 49 but he shall burn you up witii " uiu|ucnc'hablc firo?" The record is explicit. John, in testimony affirmed that Jesus should " bap- tize with the llol}- Ghost and fire" — that lie should save and sanctify Ills people — that lie should throughly purge his floor" — that lie should gather Ilis wheat into the garner" — harvest home every golden sheaf — that then lie should " burn up the chaif with unquonchablo fire." But are wo to confuse and confound the bright- ness, " like as of fire," the consecrated symbol for ages of the Divine presence, with that lurid lasting flarao which shall in the end consume the chaft'? Was the '^ unquenchable fire" any part of that promised baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, of which John testified, and for which the disciples were commanded to wait ? The bare suggestion, of such an application, of the most glorious historic fact in the church of God, startles and shocks the very spirit and genius of devout feeling, scholarly taste, and of high-toned exegisis. Desperate indeed must be the cause w'hich demands " confusion of tongues" contravening and traversing grand historic fact ! Forlorn the hope which can take advantage of mere miserable subterfuge. Fundamental is the distinction and the difference, cleaving their way to the very heart of the subject, between the baptismal symbol, the likeness as of fire, which came down upon the disciples at Pentecost, and the " utiquencliable fire" of hell. The one was promise; the other threatening. The one was likeness; the other real. The one was salvation ; the other damnation. The one was a hap- tism ; the other a burning np. The one was for the wheat or garnered souls; the other for the ungodly '' which are as the chaff." The one was fulfilled at Pen- m i^ 50 baftisma; .1! I I > 1 ;' 41 iiiii ■I 'III tccost ; the other awaits its most fearful exhibitions in the puniyhmont of the finally impenitent. The one was the beginning of u new dispensation of mercy ; the other an element of " the wrath to come." If in such a contrast, and upon such a theme, the modal idea must still be contended for, the case is con- clusive: The baptismal fire was by effusion; the fire of infinite wrath suggests the ideal of immersion. The brow of each waiting disciple, in the upper room, was touch- ed and brightened by the streaming, luminous likeness as of flame ; the finally impenitent will be cast " into a lake of fire." X. THE BAPTISMAL SERVICE OF PENTECOST. There was baptism with water subsequent to the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. The more we pon- der the facts of conversion at Pentecost, the greater the improbabilities of baptism by immersion, will appear. Difficulties must have been all but insuperable. It would be difficult, even to-day, in the heart of a crowded west- ern metropolitan city, with all the prejudices and pre. possessions of the people in favor of Christianity, to make arrangement for the baptism of three thousand, converts by immersion, in the afternoon of a single day, though water is vastly more abundant, and more access- ible than in oriental cities. In few places, perhaps, could fewer facilities have been found than in Jerusalem, It was at the driest season of the year, — when the waters of the brook Kedron failed. '\Three thousand persons" — says Dr. Robinson, the eminent scholar — whose Oriental travels and Biblical Researches constitute a most competent authority upon this point, — " are said to have been baptized at Jerusa- THE BAPTISMAL SERVICE OF PENTECOST. 51 .--+ r If lem apparently on the day at the season of Pentecost in June i and the same ritois nocossarily implied in reHpcct to ^^^e thousand more . Against the idea of full immersion ii so cases there lies a difRvuhy ap})are7itly insuperable in Llie scarcity of water. There is in summer no running stream in the vicinity of Jerusalem, except the mere rill of Siloam, a few rods in length ; and the city is and was supplied with water from its cisterns and public reser- voirs. From neither of these sources could a supply have been well obtained for the immersion of 8,000 per- sons. The samo scarcity of water forbids the use of pri- vate baths 0,8 a general custom." There would be a difficulty also in regard to time. T\ ' day of Pentecost begun in prayer. The baptism of c Holy Ghost and fire followed. Then 'anie the tec.nonies of the disciples: they spake with fongues " as the spirit gave them utterance." After i testi- mony came the keen, pungent sermon of St. Peter. An anxious inquiry meeting followed ; and thousands of penitents had to be directed in the way of salvation. Opportunity would be afforded for profession of disciple- ship. Before a single baptism could have been adminis- tered the day must have been far spent. With what possibility of decorum, and appropriate religious exer- cises, could three thousand persons have been immersed in water in the brief closing hours of that day? In a Congregational Church, of the United States, the oppor- tunity was once afforded of witnessing the reception of considerably over a hundred converts. The sacrament of baptism was administered, by immersion, to a few candidates on the Friday evening, and to a much larger number at the Sunday service. The time occupied in the different portions of those services, was indicative •'i. ii 52 BAPTISilA ; f'l 'I 1 '' ' 1 i : 1 1 1 ; of the possibilities of Pentecost. An early immersion- iat writer, Du Veil, " Acts of the Apostles literally ex- plained," in loco, remarks : " No wonder is to be made that three thousand persons should be plunged, in one day, by Peter, a fisherman and used to the water." The explanation does not quite dispose of the difficulties of the case. But even if there had been ample facilities, in re- gard to time and place there were still more serious diffi- culties to be encountered. There were pools in the city, Bethesda an.!, Siloam, but t\ y were under the direct control of the authorities — the bitterest opponents of Jesus of Nazareth. The pool of Bethesda, used for the V. :i, i ing of sacrifices, was in the precincts of the Temple, aiiJ certainly could not have been given up to the fol- lowers of the " Nazarene." The pool of Siloam was three-fourtlis of a mile distant from the city ; and we hear of no proceosion to the pool. Nudity in the admin- istraiion, in a promiscuous assemblage, could not have boon thought of; there was no time for providing bath- ing dresses ; and the art and elaboration of modern im- mersionist services had not been invented. Immersion at Pentecost, in view of tho insuperable difficulties in- volved, must have been a sheer impossibility. It has boon replied to this objection that Pentecost was a "day of power" and that the converts to (.hris- tianity had "favor with all the people." With the nar- rative before us, we cannot regard this answer as rising to the dignity of sober sufScient confutation. The pools at Jerusalem were under control of the men who " cru- cified the Lord of Glory ;" and therefore inaccessible to the Galilean disciples. Even when priests and pharisees in the temple, in the last days of the Saviour's ministry, THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 53 were planning and plotting his death : " all the people were very attentive to hear him." At Pentecost the Apostles of Jesus Christ and the first members of the Christian Church, though in favor with the people, were so far from being favored by constituted authorities, that, in the immediate iiarrative, we read : " the captain of the temple, and the Saducecs, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people; and they laid hands upon them and put them in hold until next day." The baptism of initiation to the christian church, at Pentecost, in the name of the Ti'iune GJod must have been " ?t'iYA wator" and therefore in consonance '^icith the Holy Ghost and fire." The three bear record ; "and these three agree in one." XI. THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. The Ethiopian Eunuch read as he sat in his chariot in the Prophecy of Isaiah. lie had before him in im- mediate connection with the narrative of the Saviour's Passion, " wounded for our transgressions," the magnif- icent Messianic prediction : He shall sj^riiikle many nations. The rendering of this passage in the Soptua- gint has been adduced. The Ilebi'cw word, according to eminent Oriental scholars, and this settles tlic case, signi^.es : to sprinkle. "Does it not," inquii-os Dr. Clarke, " refer to the conversion of the Gentile nations ?" The Eunuch was reading when, driving in his chariot, he was joined by the Ev'angclist Philip, on his way through the Desert to Gaza. The thoroiighfai'c to that Bouthermost city of Palestine was through a region des- titute of dwellings, a waste land in which no man has ever found foaming flood, or water deep enough for sub- mersion, but which migh't afford sufficient for ba])tism by effusion. As Philip expounded the Scriptures, con- li' 54 BAPTISMA ; H corning the sacrificial work and redeeming purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can readily understand that one expression of the Prophet would most forcibly ar- rest his attention. He well knew the cxclusiveness, the severely local character of the Jewish religion ; but here was an utterance which seemed to overleap all barriers, and to comprehend within its range the scattered fami- lies of the earth. What does this mean Philip ? Does this refer to the conversion and baptism of Gentile na- tions ? How the soul of Philip would take fire and his countenance glow with suffused light as he expatiated upon the universialityof the Gospel — for Jew and Gentile — for bond and free — for the cultured Greek, the haughty Homan, and the swarthy African — for all nations and tongTics of the earth. Wo do not wonder at the sur- prise and exclamation of this Ethiopian Eunuch : — "Lo! Wator,"-''^ As the baptismal element was applied in the only way probable or over possible in that desert the Evangelist, no doubt, explained very fully the agon, cy and work of the Holy Spirit, as the chief distinction of this Christian dispensation, and as constituting the most distinguished fulfilment of the prophetic utterance the confirmation and the consecration of the mode im- plied in John's ministry, perpetuated in the Church — ba])tism ivtth water. Thus the Treasurer of Queen Can- dace was enrolled amongst the first fruits of the great *The preposition eis, "into" upon which great stress has hcen placed and the changes rung, " with variations" of every possible kind, is after all but very slenuer ground on which to base the weiglit of argument in favor cf immersion. The same preposition occurs no less than five times in this same narrative: eis, "unto Gaza, — eis, " to Jerusalem, — cj's, "atAzotoz, — eis, " to Cacsarea." *' They went down," from the chariot, ft5, "^ the water," — ^.just in the same sense, as Philip afterwards came to Caesarea." The eis cannot, even upon immersionis^. theory, be made to do here. The baptism was a subsequent act. BAPTIZED UNTO MOSES. 56 prediction, passing on to its accomplishment, He shall sprinkle many nations. XII. BAPTIZED UNTO MOSES. If the principle of interpretation which has guided us through prophetic ages, which found such ample and evident illustration at Pentecost, be a correct one, it will not fail us in the only remaining passage — in which there was literal baptism with water, and positive indi- cation of the mode in which the element employed came into contact with the persons baptized, " Moreover, brethren, I would not tba,t ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers weve under the cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and wove all hajAized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." They were under the cloud, and yet were baptized. " By faith," says the apostle, in Hebrews, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land : which the Egyptians, assaying to do, were drown- ed." There was a baptism in that passage through the sea; but, except the fact: that the passage was on dry land, incomjiatible with the idea of immersion, we have no distinct intimation as to mode. We must travel back in search of historic fact. That memorable event of Hebrew history was con- secrated by the most sacred historic associations. There was there a great national baptism. The captivity of Israel was broken. From the land of bondage thej' were to be forever separated : and were now to constitute the Church of God — the church in the wilderness. Theii* pas- sage through the Eed Sea was for them a baptism. What are the facts of that baptism ? In what manner, on that night of marvellous mighty deliverance, was the baptismal element brought into contact with the people of Israel ? "' And the Lord caused the sea to go back by 56 BAPTISMA ; illi a strong cast wind, all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground," etc. Some other facts of that midnight march through the mighty deep have been furnished to us by the Psalmist: " the clouds poured out water: the skiea sent out a sound; thine arrows also went abroad." Through the dry depths of the sea, as on a pavement of adament, marched the host of God. The channel was not narrow and crowded. The waves stood far apart as if they had been walls of granite ; and so broad was the pathway, and far away the watery walls, affording ample space for great multitudes to move abreast, that in a few hours the passage had been effected. " They passed through the Rod Sea as by dry land : which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." The depths have covered them : they sunk into the bottom as a stone. They sank as lead in the mighty waters. That submerging of the host of Pharoah was the flood of Egypt to which the prophet refers. The Israelites wore baptized. They were saved — gloriously delivered. But whence came the baptismal element ? The clouds poured out water. Only by affusion, by pouring or sprinkling, could the baptismal waters come into contact with the redeemed people. The Israelites icere baptized; but not immersed. The Egyptians were immersed^ but not bap- tized. Xiri. THREE BEAR record: OMNE TRINUM PERFECTUM. *' There were three," says John the Divine, " that bear witness in earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood : and these three agree in one." They agree in one in relation to ihaiv 2Mrpose : the necessity of purity ; and, also, in reference to mode, the sprinkling of water THREE BEAR RECORD. 5t which sanctified harmonizes with the blood of sprinkling which spcaketh better things. These closing voices of inspiration are in harmony with all the utterances of the past. They sound like the echo, along the corridors of ages, of the penitential prayer: "Purge me v;ith hyssop, and I shall be clean.'' The hyssop was used, in services of solemn dedication and ceremonial purification, for sprinkling the blood and water upon '' all the people." It is impossible to ponder the teachings of God's word, in relation to mode without the impression of com- pleteness of efficacy, which, in idea and expression, in substance and in symbol, are intimately and uniformly associated with effusion. The suggestion, not unfre- quently made, more elfective in some cases than a better reason, that sprinkling is of necessity symbolical and significant of that which is slight and superficial in idea and result, vanishes before the facts and forms of sacred and authoritative record. " If I wash thee not," said Jesus to Simon Peter, when he had " poured water into a basin," and began to wash the disciples feet, " thou hast no part in me." " Not my feet only," was the im- pulsive reply, " but also my hands and my head." The only case upon record of a demand for more water ^ as re- quisite to complete purification ; and " Jesus saith to him. Ho that is washed needeth not save his feet, but is clean every whit.'' Salvation and purification by sprinkling, ideal or actual, shadowy, slight and superficial ! What is the testimony of the ages, of the goodly fellowship of the prophets, " of the glorious company of the apostles," of " the noble army of martyrs," and of the '' great cloud t m as BAPTISMA ; of witnesses ?" They have but one voice. They came- "to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things." "This is He that came by water and blood, even* Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood." The flowing of that mingled stream, of " blood and water," from the joierced side of Jesus, was the ac- complishment of the prediction : " A fountain opened for sin and uncleanness." The main idea of that promise, and of its fulfillment, has found application in the stanza : *' There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuel's veins, &c.," which was recently appealed to in a convocation sermon in advocacy of immersion. Were the mode then contend- ed for, " plunged beneath that flood," of divine appoint- ment, thcphraseology of the hymn would thread through and through the entire teaching of God's word. Cowper's hymn of Calvary has marked merits of another kind; and therefore in spite of defect has struck home to the heart of the Chtirch. But in the imagery alluded to, it thoroughly and positively traverses and contradicts the voice of God in fact and testimony. Turning to the inspired statement of sacred fact,. from which the stanza has been woven, we read : " One of the soldiers, with a spear, pierced his side, and forth- with came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true." That pur])le cur- rent from the pierced side of the Eodcemer was the " fountain" for sin; and there is not, therefore, perhaps,, in the whole range of hymnology, a more striking ex- ample of incongruous imagery, and of utterly false and absolutely wnscr/jjfwmZ figure than that which finds ex- JEWISH BAPTISMS. 59 pression in the opening stanzii of that otherwise noblo and treasured hymn. The " water and the blood" arc in perfect accord; and " through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" these " agree in one." Therefore we plead with propriety and with the utmost scriptural accuracy : "Let the water and the blood, From thy wounded side which flow'd, Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure." XIV. JEWISH BAPTISMS. The Greek verb ba^ tizo, in some of its forms, has been occasionally employed in the Now Testament, with reference to lustrations and purifications not connected with Christian baptism. The value of such passages can only, of course, be incidental and collateral ; but it may be well to ascertain to what extent, and with what ac- cord, they are in keeping with the united and unbroken testimony of all the past. '^ For the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the traditions of the elders, and when they come from the market, except they wash, haptisu?itai, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing, baptismous, of cups and pots, brazen ves- sels, and of tables." 3fark vii. 3, 4. The oriental mode of baptizing the hands before eat- ing, the pouring of water, can be fully ascertained by reference to Thompson's "Land and the Book" — the tes- timony of twenty years of Syrian observation. Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah," 2 Kings iii. 11 ; and as Eastern customs do not usually change, the same in (I r i I i 11 Mvi 60 BAPTISMA ; practice is still continued. The servant j^owrs water from the pitcher on the hands of his master and upon the hands of all the guests. Water is never previously poured into a basin as in Occidental life. The servant pours the water from a pitcher, an"d carries a vessel to receive the water as it falls from the hands. The 'pouring of water in these ablutions, upon which, in the time of Christ, much stress was laid, was designated by St. Mark as baptism. The tables, or as in the margin beds, Jclinon, were beds or couches — often used for beds at night and for couches at meals. If an unclean person sat upon the couch or bed it was rendered unclean and needed puri- fication. To guard against defilement the Pharisees were scrupulously exact and frequent in their lustrations. They baptized their beds and couches. "Was that baptism an immersion ? Were the beds plunged in some foam- ing flood before they were used for repose ? The Phari- sees baptized their beds and couches. They would unless insane, have immersed them. The characteristic style of Eev. Daniel Isaac, in ex- position of this passage, though not quoted as a model for controversialist, has the ring of clear, Saxon sense, and finds warrant in the subject : " The vessels of brass were undoubtedly used for or- dinary purposes ; and, how these vessels were baptized any servant girl can give better information than a learned divine, I have just interrogated my servant upon this knotty subject : How do you wash your brass pans? I^owrwater upon them. Do you never dip them in water ? No ; never. As to the tables whether we take them literally or as the couches on which they sat or re- RIIANTIZO. 61 re- clined at meals, — dipping is out of the question. What then becomes of the bold assertion that baptism always denotes immersion." The New Testament sense of Baptism can only bo settled by appeal to the inspired writers, and the usus loqendi of the word. This one cxamjile abundantly dis- poses of and sweeps away, like the chaff of the thresh- ing floor, all exclusively immersioni.3t assumptions. The case is conclusive : In ancient ablutions for purposes of legal and ceremonial purification beds and couches were baptized. Tn such frequent baptisms there was no possibility of immersion. Immersion and bap- tism are not equivalent terms. Therefore immersion is not Scriptural baptism. XV. RIIANTIZO. The question has been asked : If there is not a word in Greek literature for sprinkling ? Yes I we say rhantizo means to sprinkle ; and there is another word cheOj which means to pour. Then if sprinkling or pour- ing bo the Scriptural mode in the application of the baptismal element, why it is demanded, in tone of tri- umph, were not rhantizo and clieo employed by the sac- red writers. It may be sufficient to ask in reply, if baptism meant " mode, and only mode," dip, and only dip, why wQi'd not huthizo; diipto, cjnJduzo, ovpontizo used for the sacrament of baptism ? Buthizo, to throw in the deep, to inuncrse, to sink, would have been Greek equivalent for immerse. Kata- dud " to go under," to sink, to immerse has been, for example substituted by later Greek writers for haptizo. "Immerse," ka tadusi, the child three times," was the phrase of Photius — Patriarch of Constantinople. Triune % ■ m i an Hi 62 BAPTISMA ; it h-' I Immersion, it is well known, was amongst the corrup- tions early introduced into the Greek Church. Infant- baptism is practised ; but they immerse three times and sprinkle or pour three times. But for the adequate ex- pression of the active immersion the verb katadu'6 ob- tained preference, in some cases at least, over the conse- crated New Testament haptizo. The fact is that the verb haptizo, consecrated by in- spiration, means a great deal more than ivords which simply imply mode. A man going out in a shower of rain, without an umbrella, will be sprinkled ; hut that is not baptism. An excursionist upon the lake on a summer evening, may be immersed by falling out of his boat in- to the water ; But that immersion is not baptism. To bap- tize is to produce an effect without specifying mode, or change corresponding in character and completeness with the agent or element emplo^^ed ; and hence its exact and exquisite adaptation to the Christian ordinance. XVI. AUTHORIZED VERSION. The fidelity of the venerable men who translated the Englisii Bible has again and again been called in question ; because Greek words, noun and verb, were only transferred in the Anglicized forms of baptism and baptize. But does not the same princijile lie at the very foundation of English literature ? More than any other, the English language is eclectic. It has been enriched from all sources; and, especially in the class of words to which baptism belongs, has been indebted to the un- rivalled language and literature of ancient Greece. Even supposing that we were prepared to admit that baptize meant only mode, and that the mode was to put under water, the Anglicized Latin words immersion and m- AUTHORIZED VERSION. 68 merse do not correctly and fully express all that is meant by putting the candidate into the water, in the ordinance of baptism. They simply speak of putting under — with- out having anything whatever to say of any subsequent action — raising up from the water — an important part of the transaction. There is the Saxon word dip, which, as if " to the manner born," conveys, with the utmost accuracy and precision, the meaning and the mode con- tended for ; but it is difficult, without a seeming burlesque u])on the sacred words of Jesus, to carry dij) as an equi- valent of baptize through the New Testament: ^^ Are ye able to be dipped with the dipping that I am dipped with?'' There is an ambiguity about the Latin phrase which helps, by its haze, to conceal somewhat the ab- surdity^ of certain renderings, and which has secured for it a decided preference ; but, even were we prepared to surrender the question of mode, we should be sorry to accept the Anglicized Latin, immerse, for the Anglicized, consecrated Greek, baptize. If in opposition to all canons of criticism and of common sense the modal meaning must still be insisted upon ; it may be pardonable to ajjply another test. The word jp^wn^e is used as an equivalent of immersion: — John the plunger — the plunging of repentance — he shall plunge 3''0u in fire — plunged with the plunging that I am plunged with — the plunging of cups and pots, of brazen vssels and tables (beds or couches) — they eat not except they plunge — plunged into Moses — plunged into Jesus Christ!" The absurdity is at once apparent. Clamour for external rite, moreover, is associated with and constitutes a distinctive feature of some of the least reputable of all religious organizations. In the rhapsody and rhodomontade of Mormonite preachers I } 64 BAPTISMA ; II V I V • i , ■ ,1 ' V- listened to from curiosity in other days, there was littlo of polygamy, of the land of promise, or of any other pe- culiarity of Mormonism ; but a strenuous and vociferous contention for immersion. Mormonite converts, perverts, were exultingly led down into the liquid grave. XVII. DEMONSTRATION. Thus, in relation to mode in baptism, we have war- rant for the application of the baptismal element to the person, that by effusion — of the most ample and assur- ing character. We have traversed the complete circle of sacred record. The Old Testament and the New, the Law and the Prophets, ordinance and symbol, ablution and imagery, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, and, in all the facts and inferences of subsequent state- ment, we have one uniform, conclusive, and trium2)hant testimony in approval and in attestation oi affusion. Unquestiortably too much of recognition, far too much in controversy, has been accorded to a matter of mere form. " the letter killeth ; but the spirit giveth life : How shall not the ministration of the sj^irit bo rather glorious?" The genius of our holy Christianity, like the snow-white brilliant dome of the loitiest Alpine mountain, towering in grandeur above mist and vapour, in its magnificence of spiritual reality, stands far above the region of shadow and of form. '-For in Christ Jec^us neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcis- ion, but a new creature. And as many as walk accord- ing to this rule, peace be on them and mere}', and upon the Israel of God." The agitation to which the Churches have been sub- jected upon the vexed but comparatively insignificant question of mode in the administration of baptism, may DEMONSTRATION. 65 by moans of parallel instituted botwoon this saornmcnt and that of tho Lord's Supper, be made to stand out in its true light. Tho Lord's Supper was solemnly .institu- ted. "Wo have a very full account of the first celebra- tion. Tho disciples, as they took the elements of tho broken body and shod blood, did not sit or kneol us with us; but reclined upon their couches. The consecrated name by which tho apostle designated this sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus was deipnon — which in classic usage meant the chief meal of the day. To ob- serve this ordinance literally, we ought, in tho night time, in an upper room, reclining upon sofas, or couches, to take a full meal, and the Lord's Supper ought to be celebrated as a grand festal entertainment. "Would any thoughtful Christian man ever dream of commencing a crusade against tho Churches because deipnon, the Sup- per, meant the principal meal of the day : and because in the administration of this sacrament we use only the smallest quantity of bread and wine. It would not bo difficult, upon tho basis of such a parallel, to construct a conclusive reductio ad absurdum argument; but the sim- ple suggestion, in the direction of consistency in dealing with the two sacraments of the Church, and of making the same law of interpretation to sweep the whole (5,V''l r , sufficiently the supreme folly of attempting ' > a lofty fabric upon so slight a foundation. But A] while satisfied that others should adopt the mode, which to them sccnis preferable, we arc challenged f ■»• scriptural proof, and denounced for inconsistency, we confidently appea' > the oracle of God. " To the law and to tho testim • : if they speak not according to this word it is becar iiorc is no light in them." The res- ponse is clear a . decisive, the evidence obvious and H |if::il J 66 BAPTI8MA ; •.ii 1 lii! abundant, and the testimony triumphant and complete. There are three that bear witness. There is a three-fold baptism : tvith water and with the Holy Ghost and with fire. In each case, as already elucidated and demonstra- ted, there is an application of the baptismal element to the candidate. These three agree in one. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses," upon the authority of the ^reat Lawgiver, " every word may be established." XVTI. SUMMARY OF MODE. 1. Evangelical promise: "I will sprinkle clean water. 2. Different baptisms : " Sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh ; and was by inspired authority baptism. 3. Throughout prophetic imagery submersion im- plied calamity. 4. In all the symbolism of Psalms and Prophecy whenever and wherever water was poured or sprinkled, as in rain and dew, it invariablj" meant blessing and sal- vation ; and the mode consecrated by inspiration could not be consistently abandoned. 5. John testified : " I indeed baptize you with water." G. The baptism of the IIol}' Ghost was hy pouring out. " Thej'' of the circumcision were astonished because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." "Then remembered I," says the Apostle Peter, in explanation, "the word of the Lord, John in- deed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." T. Baptisms that exactly agreed : "With water and witli the Holy Ghost." Immersion is never admin- iti !!• SUMMARY OP MODE, 67 istered by pouring: the baptism of the Holy Ghost was by pouring out ; therefore the pouring, and not immer- sion, is scriv/tural baptism. 8. Audible sign, " lie breathed on thera." 9. Tho baptism of Fire at Pentecost was by appli- cation of the visible symbol to the persons. The " tongue of fire," suggestive in its form of testimony for Christ, sat upon the head. The idea of immersion in a tongue is utterly absurd. The discii^les were not plunged into the emblem; but the likenesiH as of fire de- scended and rested upon each of them. 10. To the administration of baptism to three thousand persons, on the day of Pentecost, there must have been insuperable obstacles ; and therefore it may be assumed that the baptisms were with water. 11. The Ethiopian Eunuch was baptized in the desert, a dry and thirsty land, svheie no water was, ex- cept when obtained as Isaac did by sinking deep wells, and therefore not attbrding facilities for immersion. But as the Eunuch read and Phili]) expounded the sprinkling of mar\y nations, they come unexpectedly, as the narrative implies, to water sufficient tor the administra- tion of baptism by sprinkling. 12. Baptized unto Moses in cloud and sea: Tiie Egyptians were immersed but not br])tized; the Israelites were all haiitized hut not one Israelite icas inunersed. 18. Baptism, as the consecrated designation of the iniatory ordinance of the Christian Church, cannot in any word, merely expiessive of mod'', tind adequate equivalent. Immersion and bajitism are not equivalent terms; for a man may be immersed and yet not baptized. 68 BAPTISMA ; 14. Tho administration of Laptiam with water, the element applied to the candidate, corresponds with the "breaking of bread," small in quantity, and with the wine, in the administration of tho Lord's Supper. The philosophy may be explained : Simplicity of outward sign, does not absorb the interest of the moment. It is calculated to direct the mind at once to tho true significance.* i'\ ill CHAPTER V. SPIKITUAL BAPTISM: AEGUMENT FEOM ANALOGY. " One baptism." — St. Paul. " The doctrine of baptisms.'' — St. Paul. " One the pure baptismal flame." — Charles Wesley. " But observe, yet further, that from that whole, so various, so vast, so complete as it is, we gather a final total impression of the truth which it brings, which is ^ar more sufficient and far more impressive than we otherwise could have had" — Dr. B. S. Storrs. In one of the grand and gorgeous cathedrals of Europe, " unimpaired, shining, imperial, in the serene Italian air," the vast and varied magnificence and massy richness of stately' aisle, wreathed pillar, " storied win- dow," fretted roof, and the solemn, silent gloom at once strike tho sense with awe ; but immediately thoro fol- lows the satisfying consciousness of a unity reaching up * " A little drop of water may serve the fulness of divine grace in baptizing as well as a small piece of bread, and the least tasting of wine in tlie Holy Supper." — Witsins. THE GREAT COMMISSION. 69 to the very ideal of perfection. Through mighty nave, transept, chancel and every extension, there is the ex- pression of supreme architectural harmony. In the magnificent temple of inspired truth we may ■tand with subdued and reverential awe beneath the lofty dome — tread the noble aisles which stretch through cen- turies of prophetic ministration — traverse every recess, angle and extension, with the certainty that each several part will deepen the sense of that perfect unity of idea — to which the glorious structure, as a whole, gives voice and eloquent expression. We havenow, therefore, to examine some passages of another class, in which baptism is spoken of in ihe New Testament. They are mainly figurative and do not ad- mit of any positive proof, as to mannrr of baptismal administration; but for profound importance of theme, force of figure and argument from analogy, the searching test which they supply of that continuity of scriptural id«a, up to this point, indisputable and undisturbed, de- mand special and separate consideration. I. THE GREAT COMMISSION. The Saviour in the Great Commission said nothing of water. That command, to disciple, matheteitsate, all nations, was given at a time when the one absorbing theme was the advent of the Spirit; and it cannot, even in thought, be separated from the last promise: "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." The command must be interpreted in the light of the promise. Thero was silence in regard to mode; hut not many days hence there would be complete eluci- dation. Two things would be at once suggested to the minds of the disciples: Judaism, the adoption and the glory and the service of God and the covenants pertained i ■ii ¥:: •70 BAPTISMA w I I pre-eminently to one nation; but the Gospel, a more glorious ministration of the Spirit, is, in co-ordinate and co-extensive sense, for all nations : there is no hint of restriction, — only of enlargement, — the world takes the place of the nation. The other thought which would most immediately and most permanently impress the minds of the disciples, significant of closer relationship to God, would be that of dedication to the Triune One — baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. That which ought in the commission to be consider- ed as subordinate has, however, received most distinct recognition ; and that which, even in the outward and visible sign, should occupy a secondary place, has been brought into boldest and most distinct relief. Appeal to the Commission for proof of immersion has been thrown into syllogistic shape : Chi'ist commanded His Apostles to baptize. The meaning of baptize, according to all the learn- ing in the world, is immerse, or its equivalent. Therefore the Commission authorizes immersion. A more striking exhibition of the Petitio PriJicipio, a mere begging of the question, could not perhaps be attempted. The u;-iuul assumption in the premises, through nil this parade of halting logic : that by con- fession of learned men baj^tism and immersion ai equi- valent, constitutes the fallacy, and vitiates the conclu- sion. Taking up the most accessible authority, upon the meaning of the Greek verb, Dr. Eobinson's Lexicon, a work of the very highest authority for scholarly thoroughness, wr find that, in the earliest Latin versions of the New Testament, the Greek baptizo "is never THE QBEAT COMMISSION. n translated by immergo ; showing that there was something in the rite of baptism to which the latter did not corres- pond." " But nine-tenths of the christian world," says Dr. Pope, Professor of Theology, one of the most learned men in England, 'have understood by baptism the pouring of water " — effusion and not immersion.* The New Testament meaning of the verb Baptizo, around which this controversy has gathered, and whieh has so often been made the battle ground of fierce disputation, we have been able to determine in the New Testament sense. The classic usage of this word, not- withstanding erudite and elaborate investigation in that direction, is of comparatively little value in this ques- tion; and the results of learned disquisition are of no material importance. Such words as aggelos, ekklesia, pistis, almost all theological and descriptive terms, have in the Gospel changed their meaning. They are used not as by old Greek writers ; but tcith a New Testament sense. The only valid inquiry in relation to such words, so far as the teachings of Christianity are concerned, is that by which their force and significance as used by the inspired writers of the New Testament, can be ascertained. "The body of learned critics and lexicographers," says the eminent theologian and scholar Dr. Dwight, — who tells us that he "examined almost one hundred in- stances, in which the word baptize, and its derivatives, are ns(d in the New Testament, and four in the Septuagint," " declare that the original meaning of both these words (baptizn and bnptb) is to tin'je, stain, dye, or color; and that, when it means immersion, it is ♦Christian Theology, p. G70. 11 II 12 baptisma; I i r 11 only in a secondary and occasional sense ; derived from the fact that such things as are dyed, stained, or colored^ are often immersed for this end. This interpretation of the words also they support by such a series of quota- tions as seem unanswerably to evince that this was the orignal, classical meaning of these words." " I do," says Professor Stuart, "consider it as quite plain, that none of the circumstantial evidence thus far, proves immersion to have been exclusively the mode of Christian baptism, or even that of John. Indeed, I con- sider this point so far made out that I can hardly sup- press the conviction, that if any one maintains the contrary, it must be either because he is unable rightly to estimate the nature and power of the Greek language ; or because he is influenced in some measure by party- feeling ; or else because he has looked at the subject in only a partial manner, without examining it fully and thoroughly."— P. 313. Very reluctanly have authorities been multiplied; but only in this way can sweeping assertion in regard to "all the learning in the world" be satisfactorily re- futed. The influential names of Eobinson, D wight, Stuart and Pope have been cited, not because of their opinions on baptisms, but as representatives of the most advanced scholarship, critical and theological, of modern times. The preponderance of scholarship, extensive re- search, and acknowledged erudition arc in affirmation of what Lexicographer and Theological Professor have deliberately declared. What then are the value and ' '} ONE BAPTISM. 73 validity of demonstration, based upon promises so false? It must always prove fallacious and delusive— /imsy and frail as a spidefs web. II. ONE BAPTISM. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; the grand essential baptism of the Holy Ghost — of which the ap- plication ot water is only the symbol. Adherents of the immersionist theory are in danger, in strife and in the strenuousness of persistent and impassioned appeals, of resting in the shadow and of losing sight of the one essential glorious baptism of the spirit of God. Great injustice has been done to a noble passage, in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians by the unwarrantable sever- ance of a single clause from the context — thus wresting, as also the other scriptures, and taking away gems of truth from the rich and beautiful yetting which God gave them. The "one baptism" occupies consi)icuou3 and commanding position in the very centre of a most mag- nificent passage, descriptive of the grand and glorious essentials of the Christian system — especially of its har- mony and spiritual unity. The introduction, to such a connection, of a clause having relation to mere rite and external service, would not only constitute a juxtaposi- tion of the most incongruous and inconceivable kind ; but it would bo a violation of the spirit of Christianity and it would be strangely at variance with the logical sequence of the passage : "there is one, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; ono "Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all." The force and beauty of the text are brought out in the noble .74 BAPTI8MA ; |i hymn, on the " Communion of Saints.^* A single stanza will be sufficient for illustration : " Build as in the body up, Call'd in the high calling's hope : One the Spirit whom we claim ; One the pure baptismal flame : One the faith and common Lord ; One the Father lires adored, Over, through and in us all ; God incomprehensible." Eather than bo a party to strife in which outward service should bo unduly exalted in the Church at Corinth, the apostle Paul, who exulted in the one bap- tism of the Holy Ghost, was prepared to sink the sym- bol and to abandon the rite, and with vehemence ex- claimed for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. " I do not know what God intends to do with me," said one of the most distinguished Baptist minis- tors, whom I have been privileged to know, in these Eastern Provinces — with whcm, in his last sickness I had much intercourse, " I do not know what God intends to do with me," he said, with all the energy of which ho was capable, just before death, " but if I should bo raised up and be permitted to preach again, two themes now scorn to me only worthy of consideration. I shall feel that I have a special mission to preach holiness and the importance of the one glorious baptism of the Holy Ghost.'" III. BURIED WITH IIIM BY BAPTISM. The baptism of the Holy Ghost alone introduces us into that close and vital relationship with Christ which sutisfies the soul. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into His death. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into His death : that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, BURIED WITH HIM BV BAPTISM. TOh •even so wo also should walk in newness of life." " For if we have been planted together into the likeness of His death, we shall bo also in the likeness of His resurrec- tion. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we shall not serve sin." * The Apostle Paul, whoso acute and comprehensive mind grasped the most subtle and profound laws and principles of spiritual life, dovelopes, in this noble pas- sage, wi'ought out in logical and luminous language, a three-fold relationship to Christ — crucified, buried and planted together. By Romans, for whom this epistle was written, ^^ a handfxd of dust flung upon a corpse was held to he a legal ritual burial," and accustomed to the practice of burning their dead, of which the ashes were collected and deposited in tomb or urn, the appositeness of this allusion to the Spirit's baptism, — which alone could be meant in this connection, a baptism of fire, an element of searching, dissolving, purifying, quickening energy — would be at once apparent, and the illustration would carry and command conviction and intelligent ac- ceptance of the imjDOrtant truth. In spiritual crucifixion the old nature gradually dies, as in the Roman mode of death upon the cross, the victim after excruciating pain and lingering agony at last expired. In burial, by bap- tism of the Holy Ghost, — for the whole process is one of spiritual change and acknowledged canons of criticism, * John Wesiey, in lo co, says "Buried with him, alluding to the ancient manner of baptizina: by immersion." — Notes. Wesleyan and other expositors have supposed that, in the phrase of the Apostle, there was allusion to ancient immersions — purifications of the Jewish Church, which were supposed to bo mostly by immersion. Later research has done much to correct the supposition. mii I' i SI I . 1 ^ i i ne BAPTISKA ; shut US up to ono law of interpretation — the soul of th e believer crucified with Christ, dying unto the world, ne- vertheless lives and, quickened, purified, saved and sanc- tified, is thrilled and pervaded by the pulsation and power of i\ new life. The metaphor of planting is also employed in this passage to work out the same thought — a life of faith rooted in Christ Jesus. This baptism into Christ's death, by the agency and operation of the Holy Ghost, fulfils every conception of the mind and meets, and satisfies every capacity of the renewed nature. Conscious of insufficient religious life and power, w© meet occasionally with cases of doubt and perplexity. It cannot, in view of well authenticated facts, be regard- ed as any violation of the law of Christian charity to make the assertion that the policy and practice of some religionists, always troublesome neighbours, meddling and muddling, is for the sake of propounding a solution, to confuse and disturb the simple hearted and unwary ones. In such cases the success is sometimes worthy of a better cause, and immersion in water is vainly res- orted to — because of the assurance, confidently but fa Ise- ly given, that such an act in itself must be accompanied by great and signal blessing. Not in any such resource can rest and satisfaction be found. Some time ago the Baptist churches of one of our metropolitan cities were jubilant over the accession to their ministerial ranks of a clergyman from an influential Episcopal church ; but the result was chagrin and bitter disappointment : he soon severed his connection with his new associates and gave in his adherence to another religious organization. In such circumstances it is always better to give than to receive.. Only in the baptism of the Holy Ghost can we find cen- tral bliss, stability and certainty of spiritual life. That BURIED WITH HIM BT BAPTISM. 11 richer effusion therefore with faith and fervor wo in« voke : " Come, Holy Ghost all quick'ning Arc I Come and our hallowed hearts inspire, Sprinkled vrith the atoning blood : Now to our souls Thyself reveal ; Thy mighty working let us feel, And know that we are born of Ood." It may be still thought that there is not sufficient warrant for the principle of interpretation now urged ; and that this passage may have reference to baptismal service. But has there been any adequate estimate of the consequences which, in logical sequence, follow from such position. There could not possibly bo a more direct way to the demonstration of baptismal regen- eration. " Buried with Him" is a great verity of personal salvation. But the baptism of water is the agency by which this great and glorious work has been effected and accomplished. Therefore we are saved by the ap- plication of water. The Sacramentarian would be well satisfied to entrench his pernicious system in a posi tion of such security and strength. The congruity of the principle of interpretation con- tended for in this passage, and its complete conformity, to the whole analogy of faith, become at once apparent, and if additional pi*oof, the positive testimony of scrip- ture, be needed, then " by one Spirit are ice all baptiz- •ed into one body'' that is into Christ. What then becomes of the whole fabric of exegesis and appeal based on the alternative principle of interpre- tation ? It vanishes like the mist from the mountain broiv. is BAPTISMA ; ii-4 IV. BORN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT. The Baptism of the Holy (xhost, as the grand and glorious distinction of Christianity, was announced by Christ to Nicodemus, in one of the most profound and spiritual of all his discourses : '* Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot sec the Kingdom of God." With startling effect upon the shivering ear of that man of the Pharisees, scrupulous in all that related to the ritual of the Church, fell the words of the Saviour : Ye must be born again. There was no attempt to tone down the impressive solemnity of this authoritivc utterance, *' Verily, Verily" — Amen, Amen — " I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he can- not enter the kingdom of God." The profound significance of these words, born of water and the Spirit, can only be understood from the standpoint occupied by Nicodemus. Jesus spoke of a baptism of fire. To the llebiews that symbol was hal- lowed. The burning bush of Iloreb, the pillar of fire in the wilderness, and the Shckinah cloud were the conse- cration and the explanation : so of this figurative utter- ance of the Saviour, born of water. Its significance could not be misunderstood. To the mind of Nicodemus it would be immediately suggestive of the '' clean water" which sanctified to the purifying of the flesh. The heifer, all red from horn to hoof, and without blemish, when found amongst the herds of Israel, was slain, consumed ujion the altar of burnt-oftering, and the ashes, the con- centration of the offering, were mingled with water from a running stream. This was technically "clean water." It was the water of sacrifice. It takes us directly to the altar and to the atonement — to BORN OP WATER AND TUB SPIRIT. 79 the water and the blood— from tlio Saviour's side which flowed. " I saw it," John testified ; " I saw that pierced side, that opened fountain, that mingled current." But, while the ashes from the sacrificial altar, sug- gestive 0^ pardon, pointed to the " cross and passion" of our blessed Redeemer, the ivater from the running brook, typical of purity, in perfect correspondence, as a symbol, with the baptismal element, has direct reference to the saving, sanctifying operations of the ever-blessed Spirit of God. Thus we have not only relative change, reconciliation through Christ : but real change : regeneration by the Holy Ghost — boni of the Spirit. There is mystery in this change — this renewal of the heart by the Holy Spirit — this transformation of the soul into a living temple for God. But there are mysteries in the world around us, — that somel hing which we call speech, a mere wave of sound, a pulsation of the atmosphere, will trans- mit from one mind to a thousand the same thoughts. An operator at Valencia, sitting at the end of a cable, the other end of which is in the dcj^ths of the vast Atlantic Ocean, finds himself, at midnight, watching intently the delicate magnet, disturbed by the influences of the sea, by a tiny flash of light, suddenly placed in communica- tion with men separated from him by a vast expanse of storm}^ waves. There is mystery in such communication, but the fact is none the less real. " The wind bloweth," the Saviour said, in this midnight interview upon the Mount of Olives : the wind moaned through the Valley ofKedron, rustled amongst the branches of the grove, beat coldly upon the brow of Nicodemus, but who could explain the law of that midnight breeze ? The lawB which govern the motion of winds and the course of 80 BAPTISMA ; storms have boon closely iDvost'gated, and aro partially understood, but tho rising and falling of gentlo breezes, ttnd their frequent changes, will, probably, forever re- main a mystery. — " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound t'Kreof, but canst not tell whence it corneth, or whither it goeth : so is every one that is ^om of the Spirit.'' " The Spirit answers to the Llood." 5. A FIGURE CORRESPONDING TO BAPTISM. A favorite .>iode, more ingenious than ingenuous, involving a suppressio vsri, always discreditable in a witness, sworn to the wholn truth, has been to accumu- late scraps and shreds of |)aragraphs and sentences, from voluminous writings of able and learned thoologiana and expositors ; and to parade them as clouds of witnesses It is not always easy, in such multifarious and not unfre- quently mutilated fragments, by com])arison with the deliberate and definitely formulated judgments and opinions ot the v/riters themselves, to ascertain their real value; but confessedly when such '^ witnesses" are brought into court ihere ought to bo no lie forced upon thew lips. They fJiould be allowed in their vernacular to tell the whole truth. "It is pro?>a 6 fe," says Dr. Adam Clarke, following previous oxpositOi.^, who supposed that there might be allusion to an ancient practice of immersion, " that the Apostle hero alludes to the mode of administering bap- tism by immersion, the whole bod}' being put under water." To an intelligent audience the above sentence was quoted as an eml^odimcnt of Di\ Adam Clarke's opinion. To the important qualification of the passage whicn follows immediately, there Wc'^.s not the faintest allusicn. The bulk (^1 the people present at that time, ^ EXIGENCY, FACT AND INFEUENCE, 81 L \, not liaving the Coinmentaiy for reference, could only carry away one impression. T^iit wliat must liave been tlie ieelini^ of indignation, with the few wlio consulted and compai'cd authorities, when they came to read tho whole passage — calling for s])ecial attention hccauso emphasized by the use of italics: ''I sa}' it is j/rohable that the Apostle alludes to this mode of immersion; but it is not absolutely certain that he doe.s so, as somo imagine; for in the next verse, our ])eing incorporated into Clii'ist by baptism is also denoted by our being planted. 01- rathci- (jraftcd to/jcther in the likeness of his death; and Xoah s Ark, floating nium iho water, and sprinkled by the rain from heaven^ is a figure corresponding to baptism.'' Tho great "Weslcyan Commentator generously, but as we have seen from mistake, made the concession, as above stated, and also in the parallel passage of Colas- sians. lie believed that there was probable allusion to immersion — probably, as in Wesley's note, the ancient Jewish purifications were in mind — because '* some do imaijine it." The concession is ([uotod without any cognizance of the accompanying ai'gument : sutKciently cogent and positive, we should say, to balance all probabilities and even crtainties that rest oidy upon imayination. VI. EXIGENCY, FACT AND INTEUENCE. The first pastoral duty called fi)r after exj osition of the subject of luiptism, early on tl e following nioming, was the administration of baptism to one who. supposed to be dying — not by any means a solitary instance — <'ould not by possibility have been baptized, except by affusion — with water. i' !' 82 BAPTISM a; in m Ht ■ I ill The fact, in relation to spiritual intcrcstR involved, is not one of vital importance. Salvation is not a mere ritual. The dying thief, who lirst reviled and then be- lieved, though baptism was out of the question, j^aased away from the cross of shame to the paradise of God. Even in regard to the baptism of the disciples of Jesus Christ, the silence of Scripture is complete. Simon Ma(/us, though baptized by an Apostle, ivas still in the (jail of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity ; and Cornelius and his friends, without any application of icater, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Churcli of Christ is built " upon the founda- tion of the Apostles and jDrophets." If immersion had been an imperative requirement, and mode in the out- ward rite an essential thing, wo might have expected ample and explicit detail as to the manner in which the apostles w-ere baptized. They were at the foundation, you know. Inox])licably, upon the immersionist theory and appeal, we have not even proof that they were ever bap- tized at all. The bearing of the fact, previously indicated, ujjon the question at issue, however, must be sufficiently evi- dent. Cixn we admit, in harmony with our convictions, of the inlinitc wisdom of the Redeemer, that if immer- sion wore the only valid mode of baptism, an ordinance shonld meet us, at the threshold of the Christian Church, with which, in the case of thousands, compli- ance wjis an utter impossibility? The glorious dreamer, John Bunyan, though a Bap- tist, in his great allegory, following closely the word of God, took his i)ilgrims all the way I'rom the city of des- truction to the celestial city, and, in all their progress, li! DISPENSATION OF Till: SPIRIT. 83 we meet with no flood until, in the deep, ihulv- rivei- of death, they tiiii^^hed theii* earthly piigrimag-e, were wel- comed by the .shining ones, and then went up through the golden gates into the city of the Gi'eat King. Very apposite to the subject, in view of numei'ous assumptions,^^ looked atfi-om this and other standpointi, are the eloquent words of tlie illustrious Baptist minis- ter, Eobert Hall : — slightly softened in this closing quo- tation — '• Let him reflect on the enormous impropriety of demanding a greater uniformity among candidates for admission into the Church militant, than is recpiisite for a urdon with the Church triumphant — of claiming from the faithful, wliile encompassed with dai'kness and imperfection, more harmony and cori'cctness of senti- ment than is necessary to qualify iheni (o sit down with Abraliam, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of (Jod — of pretending to render a Christiim society' on cntdosure more sacred than the abode of J)ivinc Majesty — and of investing any little teacher with the prerogative of re- polling fr( '11 his communion a Ilowe, a Leighlon, or a Brainard. Tranmhstantiation presents nothiruj more re- volting to the dictates of common sense. VII. DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. It is impossible not to be profoundly impressed in many a jira^'cr-service, with the earnestness and tremu- lous fervoi' of petition for the baptism oi'ihv Holy (Jhost. Have we warrant for such pleading ? Ai-e we in ai-cord with the teachings and testimonies of the inspired word of God? * One of th<' most amiable ami oloqucnt mlnLslcrs I have known, ventured when convalescent to preach on the Sabbath, and afterwards to achninister the rite of baptism, by immersion; the ijf xt day, in bis golden prime, he died — the direct conKequence of imprudence. si i ^v ' <4 ', ]■ IH i- 84 IJAPTISMA : Wo live iindei' tlio dispcusation of tlu' spiiit. Tho groat .substantial ])Iossini;;s of Pontcco.st arc uiiox- haubtcd and iiioxluiu.sliblo, and wo believe to us and oui'b : — The apostolic promise given. According to tlic .saci'cd record when, at the inau- gural of Christianity, the baptism was lirst I'cccived, " they were all lilled with the Holy (jhost;" and, indi- cative of undiminished privilege, the Apostle Paul, Avriting to the Church at Ephesus, earnestly enjoined upon them : to ''be filled with the Spirit." AVe have th^is, in the phraseology of inspii-ed exliortation, an ample vindication of thc/orm of supplication, in relation to the oa;>^<'^?H of the Holy Spirit, to which Ave are ac- cu8t(jmed in services of prayer. AYiio .shall dare to place limitation where the terms of go.spjel are without re- striction ? The great promise of this dispensation, " I Avill pour out my spirit upon all flesh," has not yet re- ceived its full accomplishment: and, until then, we are justiried in asking and expecting in richer plenitude : " Until the spirit bo poured upon us f-om on high, and the Avilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted as a forest." One more pi'omisc fi'om the lofty and magnificent predictions of Isaiah, who by tlie golden-mouthed Chrys- ostom was spoken of as ''the cloud of God," will be amply sufficient in illustration of exalted privilege, and of confident expectation: '"And the Lord Avill create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon all her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shin- ing of a flaming fire; for upon all the glory shall be a defence." The imagery of such ])romi8es and predic- tions, involving in their accomplishment a glorious bap- TITK KFV-NOTE. 85 tism of the Holy H host and of tire, has hy a natural transition passed into Christian hui,i^uai;e and literature ; and, in thch^'mris of tlie (.'hurch, has found tittinir ajipli- cation : " 0, that lie now from licavcn might fall And all our sins consume ; Come, Holy Ghost, for Thee we call, Spirit of burning come." till i . place of the Jews, who, regarding this promise made to their fathers as an inalienable birth-right, listened to the Apostle Peter at Pentecost — has been explicitly affirmed by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians : " That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, etc. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for yo are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye bo Christ's, then are ye Abra- ham's seed, and heirs accordiuj to the promise.'' In every covenant of God, made with his people, in- fants have been included. In the original r*ovenant of Eden children were com- prised ; and upon -them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trangressionf," tho consequences of disobedience were directly entaik-i It was, therefore, & fundamental and corvelative necessity of that divine il Q0 BAPTISMA ; |i ! ! i\it Hcliomc, in which '• grace did much laoro abound," that each succcswivo covenant of .salvation .should bo conipro- hensivo as the Fall. Tlius "in Christ, the tribes of Adam boa.st more blessings than their fathers lost." The covenant made with Noah was of this distinc- tive character: "I establish my covenant with thee and ivith thy seed.'' " Behold," said the Lord (lod unto Abraham, ''1 establish my covenant with thee, iuvliciththi/ seed after thee." In the Mosaic covenant, they arc re- presented as " standing before the Lord their God, with their little ones.'' The last '^ New Covenant" intimation, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, is that of comprehensiveness: ^^ from the least to the greatest." Is there anything in the New Testament to traverse Old Testament covenant, or to collide with evangelical promise? All convictions of consistency of divine procedure constitute a standing protest againt such supposition. III. THE VOICES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. In choral execution there may be a multitude of voices and many instruments, the soft lute, the silvery cymbal, and the organ's majestic roll — "all the forms and forces of sound, dual, semichoral, antiphonal response, burst and swell of voice and instrument, attenuated cadence, apostrophe and repeat, united and full har- monious combination" — yet, with exquisite accent and perfect precision, each note of melody obtains clear and accurate expression. In the Old Testament, we have the voices of patri- archal ages and of prophetic times — covenant, command, and promise. Im "times past" and in "divers manners God spake unto the fathers by the prophets." At Pen- THE VOICES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 89 r Ir- ]d d tecost listcniii.i:^ to St. Potcr, wc stand on tlic thrcsliold of a new dispensation — that of tlie Son of God, But, thei'e is a profound and glorious sense in which tiio Church of Cliri.^t is built upon the foundation of tho Apostles and Prophets, lieforc we turn away, from tho rapt utterances of inspired men, it is well that we should ponder their testimony : " unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves but unto us they did ministoi* tho things." Tho promise of which St. Peter spoke, in exposition of the gift ol the Holy Ghost, chords in beautiful har- mony with tho divine declaration, as spoken by tho prophet: "For I will pour water upon liim that is thirsty, and floods upon tho dry ground : I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and ray blessing upon thine offspring." Promise can never in the Covenant of God collide with command; and, accordingly, the "promise of the Father," unfolded by the Apostle at Pentecost, embodies and crystal izes the very spirit and essence of former in- junction : " For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children : that tho generation to come might know them, even the children which sliouldbe born ; who should ariso and declare them to their children ; That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments." " Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God ; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your oiRcors, icith all the men of Israel, Your little ones , your wives, and thy stranger that I I m BAPTISMA ; n is in thy camp, from the howei- of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water : That thou shouldcst enter into covenant ivith the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which tho Lord thy God maketh with thee this day :" Tiius in the Old Testament wo have varied voices : but from each immortal bard, and from eacli consecrated lyre, there wounds "one common nofe" " That they might set their hope in God.'' IV. IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH. It is not without significance that such plirascs as ^'Jewisli Church" and "Christian Churcli," are not to be found in the sacred .Scriptures. " Nor," says Doane, *' is such form of words : as tlio Church of Christ, to be met with in the Bible. It was always tho Church, or the Church of God:' Granting tho identity of tlie Christian Church — demonstrated by the Apostle Paul, in liis masterly and conclusive argument of the Olive Tree, in which, though original branches were broken off because of unbelief, and, upon a corresponding principle of faith, now ones grafted in, through all developments and transitions tho trunk and roots remained unchanged — its essential identity unimpaired — there was, upon the supposition of reversal in relationship of children, an imperative neces- sity/or the repeal of former law. But the total silence of Revelation, in regard to any covenant-change in this direction, affords the strongest presumptive evidence of tho divine purpose to perpetuate former right and privi- lege ; and there was therefore no necessity for additional ^enactment. What force in court of law, in a case invol- ving the rights of infants and minors, and their legal IDENTITY OF THE CIIlllCII. 91 status in tlils Ishuid, would there l)e in the pk\'X : we are under a new and more extensive political dispensation ; and since Confederation there has been no dii-ect and positive legislative for the benefits of the class concerned: therefore their status and their legal rights arc nihil? If there has been no act of repeal the old statute law of the colony remains in full force under the new rcijime; and according to its provisions and stipulations adjudi- cation will be made and rights sacredly vindicated. If there linger still a doubt as to the identity of tlic ''Church of God," through all dispensations, that doubt vanishes before the authoritive and masterly statement of the subject, by the Apostle Paul, in the Epistle to the Ephesians : " Ye are fellow citi/.ens with the saints, and of the household of God ; and are built upon the found- ations of the apostles and pro])hets, Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Corner Stone ; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord ; in wdiom yc also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." The Apostle's ideal of the "Church of God" was that of a gorgeous temple, fitted and framed, not of cedar and marble but " living stones" — its courts thronged with worshippers : no more strangers and foreigners — its altars flaming with love and devotion, prayer and praise, incense and a pure offering — its splendor tho glory of the Lord. But at the very foundation of the Church, bearing the weight of the mighty structure are the Apostles and Prophet s.'' Through the golden ^aid way of appointed ordinance and initiatory rite, in virtue of unchanging covenant fitipulation, for thousands of years, the people of God ii I:' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) I 1.0 I.I 1.25 -' ilU |||||22 112 2.0 1= U IIIIII.6 V] (^ /} -'(3 ■e. 93 o /a 0^- ^'S 7W //. Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ) I ^ ^^ // ^ i/. .<$> ^ 92 BAPTISMA ; passed into the briglitnoss and glory of Divine Presence. . They took, in solemn dedication, their "little ones" with them ; and sacredly resolved : " As for me and my house wc will serve the Lord." Has that gate of God's temple ever been authoritively and formally closed ? Was there ever inscribed above the portals of the Church of God, in interdict of infant dedication : No admission here ? No ! a thousand times. No ! That has not been done in the national Church of England. It has never been done by the influential Presbyterian Church, — for that has always been distinctively distinguished for loyalty to the "Word of God. It has not been done by the Congre- gationalists — the living representatives of the grand Puritans of Old England and of the Pilgrim Fathers of New England. The Methodist Church, carrying the triumphs of the Cross, the wide world over, promulgates the fundamental promise — unto you and to your children. To the apostle Peter, in acknowledgment of memor- able confession, the Saviour accorded one, and but one, special distinction, that of opening the kingdom, — the New Testament Dispensation to Jew and Gentile. " Thou art the Christ the Son of God," was the testi- mony, of Peter. And Jesus said, " Thou art Peter," — a name which signifies rock — with thy name corresponds thy confession ; and, "upon this rock," the fundamental doctrine of Christ's divinity, embodied and expressed in the testimony, " I will build my Church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Then came the declaration of proposed investiture : "And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of hea- ven ; and whatsoever thou shalt build on earth shall bo built in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ; Matt. 16 : 19. The - OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF OOD. 93 keys of gates were, in ancient times and still are, the emblem of official constituted authoritij. Oriental keys, were very different from Italian pictures of St. Peter's keys. The imagery of the prophet — the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so shall ho open and none shall shut — was in literal keeping with actual fact. At Pentecost the gates "of the kingdom" the Gospel Dispensation, were to be opened. Christ has delegated authority to his servants for this purpose. They are to open '''■ and none shall shut.'' St. Peter in virtue of Christ's investiture, claims the distinction of first open- ing the portals of the Church to Jew and (Jentile. T SCO him there standing at the threshold of the New Dispensation. The *' keys of theMcingdom," arc upon bit* shoulder. The emblem ot authoritv is not carried there as an empty, unnecessary badge. The massive apparatus in which there has been perfect adaptation presents no difficulty. The portals of the kingdom are thrown wide open. Shall we enter ? anxiously inquire the multitudes of penitents. Yes, and be baptized every one of you" — ;just what missionar- ies of the Church are saj'ing to-day — when like the Apostle, they are opening their commission for the first time. Can our friends in many lands obtain access? Yes " all that are afar off" — from Orient to Occident. But most essential of all, may the little ones enter ? Yes! emphatically and assuredly : "for the promise is unto you and to your children." V. " OF SUCH IS THE kinodom <)F god." The relation of children to this economy of grace, the spiritual kingdom of the Hcdcemcr, was very strik- ingly exemplified, and very explicitly stated, in the \ 94 BAPTISMA ; personal ministry of Christ. The "blessing of the lit- tle children" has formed a fitting theme for poet and painter. It has been woven into immortal song. It has been limned by the pencil of glowing genius. But, after all, the efforts and aspirations of art and genius, of story and of song, there has been nothing yet produced com- parable, in power and enduring interest, to the simple, artless, but exquisitely beautiful, narrat'vcs of the evan- gelists. According to Luke; '•' they brought unto Him also infants ; and Jesus called them unto Him." " In Mark, however," says Dr. David Brown, in loco, we have a most precious addition. " But when Jesus saw it Ho was 7nuch displeased, and said unto them : Suffer the lit- tle children, ta paidia, to come unto me, and forbid them not." What words are these from the lips of Christ ! The price of them is above rubies. But the reason as- signed, in the words that follow, crowns the statement —for of such is the kimjdom of God. But the action that followed is the best of all : And He took them vp in His arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Did not the grave mistake of the disciples, which so much dis- pleased the Lord Jesus Christ, consist just in the thought that infants should not be brought to Christ, because only grown up people could profit by Him. That explanation, correctly stated, would put into the mouth of the Great Teacher the purely absurd proposition : " Suffer the children to come unto me, because believing adults who resemble them in moral disposition, are proper subjects of the Kingdom of God." The Saviour was not furnish- ing reason for receiving pei'sons of child-like character; but for receiving and blessing the children themselves. There might be mistake in the reception of adults. *' Verily I say unto you," Jesus said, " whosoever shall OF SUCn IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 95^ not receive the kingdom of God, as a little child shall not enter therein." Instead of the little children becom- ing like the disciples, in order to enter the kingdom of God, in earth or heaven, in grace or glory, the disciples must then become like the little children. Before turning away from " that sweet stoi-y of old," in such consummate harmony, and delightful ac- cordance, with all other grand and glorious teachings and testimonies of the word of God, let us note once more its distinctive features. Ilebrew parents brought their children to Christ, and were rebuked by the disciples. The disciples were as a2)parcntly contracted in their views as some Chris- tian people of our times. "But when Jesus saw it He was much displea'ied." In one or two other passages that word eganaktesi', was displeased, is used by tho evangelists ; when at Bethany, the alabaster box was broken and the costly fragrance poured upon the head and feet of the Saviour, the disciples had much indigna- tion ; and when, at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the children shouted Hosannah : the Priests and Phari- sees were displeased. Only once, however, is this word applied to Jesus : not when despised and betrayed and scourged and condemned and crucified , but, when tho disciples rebuked those that brought their children. J CAna I'yanaktesc — "was displeased" — had, as rendered in the other passage, "much indignation.'' lie said unto them : " Suffer the little children to come unto me and foi'bid them not : for of such is the kingdom of God.''^ That expression is the New Testament phrase foi* the *" Of such is the Kingdom of heaven ; not of such only as were like these infants. For if they themselves Wi-re not fit to be sub- jects of that Kingdom, how could others be so because they were like them?"— IfirsZey. 96 BAPTISMA ; ^lih Chuit'h of God, the Gospel Church, and here we have not siinply iiilerence, but explicit authoritative Btatc- ment. We are encourai:;ed and authorized to receive the little ones, by the initiatory rite of baptism, into the Kingdom of (Jod upon earth; and wo arc assured that, if taken from us by death, as thousands are, in virtue of the free gift which has come upon all, of their salvation into the Kingdom of God in heaven. The blessing of Jesus was no sentimental ujimoaning act ; and ichom Christ blesses inan may receive. In the very next narra- tive, in each of the synoptic Gospels, wc read of the young man who came to the Saviour by the way. Earnest, enthusiastic, correct in creed, and of unexceji- tionable deportment ; the ]\raster looked upon him and loved him ; but he could not reccicc him. lie could not bless him as he blessed the little ones. In their relation to the Ivingdom there was fundamental difference. The children v.'cro welcomed, but of the other the Lord could only say it was hard " to enter the Kingdom of (rod." The example and utterances of Christ, in this de- lightful and influential episode of his 2)ersonal ministry are authoritive and conclusive in regard to the children. He was much displeased with his Disciples for put- ting obstacles in the way of the little children. But "it is an acknowledged ftict that when any sin is forbidden the contrary duty is commanded." Therefore the rebuke of Jesus was equivalent to command, and carries with it the duty of offering infants up to Him. The Saviour said in exposition and in explanation of tlio kingdom, of the laws by which it shall be gover- ned, and ot the subjects which it should comprehend "of such is the kingdom of God." AND FORBID THEM NOT. 97 mi to Infants lation jovor- ^d"of The rite of initiation into that kingdom was bap- 4ism. The children, according to the positive assertion of Christ, belong to the kingdom. Th^ kingdom, and the right of initiation, which is no- thing more than recognition of privilege, belongs to the children — and to such as shall become like them. Therefore, children are proper subjects for baptism. Children that die in infancy arc because of " the abundance of grace" received to exalted place in the Kingdom of God in heaven. Children that live are in virtue of the same "gift of righteouiiness," only forfeited by actual tranKgrossion, members of the Kingdom of God upon earth. Baptism is the only ordinance of God by which right and recognition can be publicly and scripturally de- clared. Therefore, Children are proper subjects, for Christian •J>aptism. VI. " AND FORBID THEM NOT." Turning from the Gospel narrative, with its touch- ing records of the Kedeemer'a love, and his words of immortal tenderness, to the annals of modern Christian enterprise, in the great North West of our own country, we meet with a beautiful incident, — illustrative of the solicitude, in their isolation, of converted Indians for their children, which even an inspired evangelist would have found satisfaction in recording : " One morning, just at daybreak, during the home- wai-d journey we were accosted by a band of Indians, who, having heard from some hunters that the mission- i ril ' (!! 98 BAPTISMA ; A ary had p«asscd that way a few days before, had como and encamped at a narrow pass through which our route lay for the purpose of having their children baptized. Wo responded to their signals to land ; and there upon the barren rocks, with the blue heavens above us for covering, and the rushing stream as our font, we per- formed the solemn rites. A fathei and mother brought their little girl a distance of two hundred miles for this purpose. Wo gladly baptized the little one, giving her the name of Elizabeth, after which the parents imme- diately started off on their homeward journey." Could that scene have been displeasing to the Lord of Glory, who folded little ones in his arms, and laid his hands upon them and blessed them ? Could " any man forbid water that these should not be baptized?" One incident, because of its unique interest, has been culled from the annals of Mission work in our own country. But the thought takes a wider range. All tho great Evangelical denominations, with one exception, cherish solicitude in regard to tho dedication of infants to God. What multitudes are thus brought in faith and prayer to the Saviour; and Jesus bids them come. Tho statistics of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in tho United States, alone, shew that more than fifty thousand children are animallj^ dedicated to God in the solemnity of baptismal administration.* What accession from tho * The Methodist Episcopal Church, North, which docs not include Southern Methodism, in the United .States, for 1817, re- ported upwards of 56,000 infants. The total membersliip, of all the Methodism of the United States, according .to Dr. . DePuy, in Quarterly is 3,293,469. For the other evangelical churches, Baptists, Presbyterian', Congregationalist and Protestant Episco- pal, unitedly, the number of communicants, reported, is 3,G47,90i.„ POSITIVE AUTHORITY. 99' ranks of children arc being constantly made to the ic- doemcd throng before the throne of God. Out of 10,746 ' deaths, which in one year were recorded in the City of Glasgow, the Commercial metropolis of Scotland, 3.9C3 were children under two years of age — more than one- third of the whole. " In that beautiful place lie is gone to prepare, • For all who are washed and forgiven ; And many dear children are gathering there, For of such is the kingdom of heaven." "Take heed that ye detspiso not one of these little ones; for 1 say, unto you, that in heaven their angols do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." VII, POSITIVE AUTHORITY. Positive authorit}' for the admission of children into recognized relationship tothe Christian church, we have from the lips of Jesus. Mistakes may be made in the re^' coption of adult candidates into church membership; but in regard to the other class there can be no possibility of deception. It is questionable if language would admit of a declaration more distinct and positive" than that of Christ, introduced with the solemn formula: "Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall 7wt enter therein." What could be more decisive than the Saviour's memor- able manifesto : "except ye be converted, and become as ^little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven'." ' " And ichoso shall receive one such little child in viy name receiveth me.'' To no act could higher recogni- tion bo accorded. Upon no service does Jesu's Christ so deeply and so broadly put the stamp and seal of his apr proval. The little ones are to' be received in Ctuist's name. "What ordinance of reception oi' initiatory k'lwd has M ; I 100 BAPTISMA ; been indicated? In what manner has the Charch been authorized to comply with this sacred requirement? Are we at liberty to set aside and super«ede appointed order and ordinance in the Church? We are commanded to receive little ones in Christ's name. Baptism into the divine name, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, is the only ordinance of initiation, recep- tion, and dedication, appointed and instituted in the Christian Church. Therefore, we are solemnly authorized, and posi- tively commanded, to administer infant baptism. Then, again, the moral relation of infants, to tho Saviour and His kingdom, through the meritorious "cross and passion" of the blessed Kedeemer is just the same as that of adult believers : Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shatt not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Either we must incur the penalty of direct disobe- dience ; we must substitute some hun^i^ device for the appointed initiatory ordinance of theChurch, which would be only an impertinence ; or, we must respond to the positive teaching of Christ and, as He has commanded us, receive the little ones in His name. VIII. APOSTOLIC COMMISSION. The Commission claims special consideration : "Gk> ye therefore," said Jesus, and teach, matheteusate, all nations, baptizing, baptizontes, them * * * teaching, cUdaskontes, them &c. Three things are solemnly enjoined in the Commis- sion : matheteuein, baptizein, didaskein. 1. To disciple. 2. To baptize. 3. To teach.* * Bloomfield. ▲P08TLB8 DOCTRINE. 101 'Go all The Jews made disciples to their faith, and in cases of proselytism, children were included with their parents. In what sense then, it may be pertinently inquired, would the men to whom the Commission was given, in the first place, naturally and necessarily understand it? They were to make disciples : How ? By baptism. To disciple : For what purpose ? Teaching them. To disciple: "Whom? All nations! The only limitation that would have been thought of, consequent upon their deeply-rooted prejudices, would have been to one nation — " to the Jew first." The Commission overleaped all barriers of clime, and race, and creed. Jesus said all nations : All I Were an act to pass the Dominion Le- gislature now in session, applying to all Prince Edward Island, declarative of personal right and privilege, uni- veraal in its terms : would not that legislation include children of all ages ? Of course it would. IX. "apostles doctrine:" law op infant baptism. The New Testament dispensation was instituted, and the first coaverts continued steadfastly, in the " Apostles' doctrine." Here then we have the indica- tion of crucial test. We meet and mingle with the crowd at Pentecost. The recent solemnities of Passover observance have afresh moved and thrilled our hearts. The blood which saves and sanctifies has been sprinkled for a testimony upon lintel and door posts. The thought of the children is uppermost at this moment. Tremul- ous with feeling wo hear the words of St. Peter, in his first sermon: "Eepentand be baptized every one of you." The rite of baptism, become so familiar in the numer- ous national ablutions, needs no explanation ; and none apparently is given — except that they are to bo bap- trl m Hli f V ' 4 .102 BAPTISMA ; il H.J f tizod " in the name of Jesus Christ." Wo have, how- ever, an inquiry of Huj^romo importance to make — uppermost at this moment. Toll us, rotor, what in this new era of privilege and blessing, in the Church of God, shall be the relation of the little ones? The answer is . immediate, satisfying, conclusive : The promise is unto you, and to your children. It is desirable, upon a point of such vital moment, that appeal should be made to the original text. The Greek tekna, — infants, children, descendcnts, posterity* — fully authorizes and sustains the English version. The consonance of this promise with that of ancient covenant affords additional confirmation of teaching; "and Peter's reference to it is the first trill of its echo sounding down through the christian ages." IIow eu- phonious its accents ; "u7ito thee and to thy seed! Unto you and to your children /"f We are now prepared once again to accept the challenge in regard to command. According to an ac- knowledged canon of interpretation : Promise is equiva- lent to command. God's will through all the ages of revelation and inspiration, was distinctively and alter- natively made known by promise and command. Each and equally, they imply indisputable authority. Disre- gard and disobedience, in either case, involve peril and penalty. What then is the promise of which St. Petor authoritively speaks ? Definitely and distinctly, beyond * The primary meaning of ieknon is child. It is derived from tikto, " to bring forth" — as in the Septuagint eteke. Genesis iv : 1. It is used, in its native sense, Gen. iii : 17, " God said unto the woman — thou shalt bring forth children : — texe tekna. The Greek of the seventy, therefore gives the very word of St. Peter, in Acts, and also establishes the signification. Primarily it signifies chil- dren, in a more extended sense posterity. t Doane p. 96. ■4 BAPTISMS OF IIOrSEIIOLDS. 103 a question : that, which in tho plcnitiulo of inspiration has just been spoken ; " and yc shall recoivo tho ^ift of tho Holy Ghost." '• For," said ho, in continuation of tho Bftmescntonco, and in oxplunation of " tho gift of (rod," " the promise is unto you and to your children." Yo shall receive it — that promise of tho Father — that essen- tial glorious baptism of tho Holy Ghost — and your children shall receive it. Tho case is conclusive. The promise is equivalent to command. Can any man then forbid ivater that these should not be baptized which receive the Holy Ghost as well as we? X. BAPTTI-MS OP nOUSEnOLDS. Throughout the Acts of the Apostles we find that, whenever congregational ministry is the subject of sacred history, and the gospel was for tho first time preached in a city, the first record of baptisms, as at Samaria, and as in all new missionary stations up to the present time, is that of their converts. But wherever the ministry of the Apostles had to do with home-life, wo have then the church in the house, and the narrative of saving work includes tho facts of households. Heads of famil- ies w^ero converted and baptized, and their households were baptized with them — tho Jailer andall his straight- way — Lydia and her household — Crispus with all his house — the household of Stephanas. Households may be found without children ; but tho membership of children in the family is the general law of life, and their absence tho exception. There arc unqcstionably families unblessed with children. We have been assured that such a state of things exists, to an extraordinary ex- tent, in a neighboring congregation. But that is not to the purpose. " Through the entire history of tho Old Testament Church, tJie accession of a household to the ]\ ■ ■>] A' 1U4 BAPTI8MA ; I I Lord's people necessarily included the infants of that house-- hold.'' Upon the supposition that exclusion was the new Testament idea : Looking upon households of the New Testament in their representative character, no language could have been more calculated to mislead or to pervert the right way of the Lord. What are the facts ? The narratives of baptism in the Acts of the Apostles arc nine in all. They arc doubtless intended to be re- presentative in their character. To Cornelius it was said: "who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." It is recoi"ded, very signifi- cantly, of Lydia : that when the Lord " opened her heart," "sAe attended to the things spoken by Paul, and sJie was baptized and her household," and " sfie besought the Apostles," saying " If ye have judged mt faithful to the Lord," Very plainly does the narrative through- out distinguish Lydia as the only believer. Either, we must assume the fact of children, in the household of Lydia, or the alternative fact that adult members were baptized in unbelief. The jailor was converted, and though his conversion is the only one plainly distinguish- ed, in the narrative; yet, "he was baptized, and all hiSy straightway." During theministry of St. Paul, at Corinth^ he baptized, as he tells us, very few; yet, of the number, there is special mention of "the household of Stephanas." More than one-third, nearly half, of the New Testa- ment narratives of baptism, designed for the guidance of the Church in all ages, arc devoted to examples of households — with not an intimation of changed relation- ship. Think in contrast of the style adopted, in modem papers and periodicals, by those who repudiate infant- baptism !* • The rcfcr;.'nce is purely to reports of christian work, which alone admit of comparison, and not to controversial notices. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 105 t* rhich " It surely is an extraordinary thing," says Br. Wardlaw, writing many years ago, and the fact is even more patent to-day, " that in the journal and periodical . accounts of Baptist missionaries, in heathen countries, we should meet with any thing of the kind. I question, xvhether in the thirty years of the baptist mission in India, there is to be found a single instance of the bap- tism of a household. When do wo find a baptist mis- sionary saying, "When she was baptized and her family" — or " I baptized the family of Krishnoo," or any other convert ? We have the baptism of individuals; but nothing corresponding to the apostolic baptism of families. This fact is a strong corroborative proof, that •there is some difference between their practice and that of the apostles. If the practice of both were the same, there might surely bo expected same little correspon- dence on the facts connected with it. • — — - — XI. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. The appeal throughout this investigation has been -fiiade to the word of God. The voice of ecclesiastical liistory, however, is in such perfect consonance with the teachings of scripture that we are compelled to heed tho testimony. The prevalence of infant baptinra at the time of Augustine's ministry, A.D. 634, is not disputed. Ho speaks of the baptism of infants as an apostolic tradition handed down and held by the universal church. "And if any one," ho says, against the Donatists, " do ask for divine authority in this matter, though that which the universal church practices, tvhich has been institu- ted by Councils, but has always been observed, most justly believed to be a thing delivered, or handed down by the authority of the apostle j, &c." — Letters. : if 106 BAPriSJIA ; 1 1 i 1 ; 1 i In the third ccntuiy a question arose amongst the then influential African churcheb whether a child might bo baptized before the eighth day. A council of sixty-six bishops convened under Cyjjrian, A. D., 253, gave it as their unanimous judgment that baptism might bo admin- istered before that age. The validity of infant baptism was not even questioned. Origen, who lived within a century of the aj)ostolic age, affirms " that little children are baptized agreeably to the usage of tho church ; and that the church received it as a tradition from tho apostles that baptism should bo administered to child- ren." This tradition, according to Eusobius, was roco> ved by Origen from a pious ancestry. Tertullian, who lived some years earlier than Origen, alone opposed tho baptism of infants. He refers to tho custom as one of general observance; and in his opposition does not refer to Scripture. He took tho ground that the blessing of baptism onco forfeited was never retrieved. Ho con- tended for tho delay of baptism in different cases, inclu- ding infants, unmarried persons and widows. Jmtin, who was contemporary with Polycarp, tho disciple of St. John, whose First Apologj'- appeared about A.D. 150, takes the chain of ecclesiastical evidence up to the apostolic age, testifies, in his Apology: "Numbers of men and women sixty and seventy years old, who from childhood were discipled to Christ — hoi et paidon emathe- teusa7i te CAnsfo— still continue uncorrupt." Irenmus, who belongs to the earlier part of the Second Century affirms : Christ came to save all persons through himself; all I say who through him arc regenerated to God — renaO' cuntar in JDeum — infants and little ones, and children, and youth and the aged. Tho phrase of Irenoeus, " ro- gonorated to God," was constantly applied to baptism at ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 107 st the might cty-six c it as admin- aptism ithin a hildren h ; and m tho ) child- j rocei- m, who sod tho , one of 3t refer sing of [c con- inclu- Juitin, iple of D. 150, o the ors of from mathe- enoius, ntury self; renaa- Idren, (( lism at that time, and indicates the general prevalence of this custom. Tho word used by Justin, in his Apology, for discipleship is the same as that of the Commission. Can we believe that if infant-baptism had not boon of apostolic authority that all history would have boon silent in regard to its introduction ? If a practice of such important character, in violation of apostolic teaching and traditions, had hQCtn foisted upon the Church ; would not the voice of protest have sounded along the ages f " On tho opposite side of the question," says Turner in "Divine Validity of Infant Baptism," wo have seen nothing " to invalidate tho following conclusions :" "First, during thd first four hundred years, from tho formation of the Christian Church, Tertullian alone urged the delay of baptism to infants, and that only iti some cases; and Gregory only delayed it, perhaps, to his own children. But neither any society of men, nor any indi- vidual denied the lawfulness of baptising infants. " Secondly, in the next seven hundred years, there was not a society or an individual who even pleaded for this delay ; much less who denied the right or the duty, of infant baptism. "Thirdly, in tho year 1120, one sect of the Waldonsos" — a more fragment — declared against tho baptism of infants ; because they suppose them incapable of salvation. But the main body, " of the Waldensian Church," re- jected tho opinion as heretical ; and the sect which held it soon came to nothing. " Fourthly, tho next appearance of this opinion was in the year 1522 :" — the Anabaptists of Munstor in Germany. ill F 108 BAPTISMA ; " The first Baptist Church in England appears to have been founded between the years 1633 and 1649." In explanation of the fact that a small section of the Waldensian Church declared against the baptism of infants, it may be stated that the Petro-brussians, fol- lowers of Peter de Bruis, a very small faction — " not more than a thirtieth or fourtieth part of the whole" held that infants not being capable of salvation ought not therefore to be baptized. The great body of the Wal- densian witnesses for the truth were Podo-baptists. " If these historical facts be correct, and that they are so is just as well attested as any facts whatever in the annals of the Church, the amount of the whole is conclusive, is demonstrative that for fifteen hundred years after Christ, the practice of infar , baptiom was universal ; that to this general fact there was absolutely no excep- tion, in'the whole Christian Church, which inprincipleor even analogy can countenance in the least degree, modern Antipedobaptism" — vide Prof. Miller. SUMMARY OF 8UBJI0T8. 1. Chord and Consonance of all voices and testi- monies of Kevelation and Inspiration. 2. Authoritive Apostolic Announcement: "Unto you and to your children." 3. Stipulation of the " everlasting Covenant :" " Unto thee and to thy seed.'* 4. Promise equivalent to command. It involves faithfulness on God's part, to fulfil what He has pro- mised, and faithfulness also on man's part — in com- pliance with condition expressed or understood. 5. The identity of the Church unimpaired — built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Freshets. 8UMMABY OF SUBJjtGTS 109 6. CommaQd and promise and established testi- mony in Jacob, in Pentateuch and Psalms and Prophecy, speak with one accord : " He comtnanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children." '7. Jesus took up infants in His arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them ; and, whom the Saviour blesses and receives, the Church may receive and acknowledge. 8. " Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such ia the Kingdom of God." 9. Infants are not excluded from the Kingdom of God in heaven : Why exclude them from recognition in the kingdom of God upon earth ? 10. The Church by the positive teaching of Christ has been authorized to receive the little ones in Jlis namo — and such adults as may, in maral disposition, resemble them. 11. The little child, in the fulness of its interest, and all benefits and blessings, eomprohendod in the kingdom, is the model of discipleship; and unless adults be converted and become as little children, even if im- mersed in an ocean of water, they " shall not enter into the kingdom." 12. Most of Evangelical Denominations of Christ attach the utmost importance to the solemnity of infant baptism ; and we cannot believe that nine-tenths of the Lord's people, throughout the world, have been suffered greatly and grievously, from Apostolic times until now, to misinterpret His work and, palpably, to misunder- stand the object of His appointed ordinance. 13. The Acts of the Apostles chronicle services of baptism in the New Testament Church ; and a large pro- m r ii. A H 'I if 110 BAPTISMA ; portion of Ihcm were of households : Was the language employed by the sacred writer, which from the usage of initiating households, including infants, into the ancient church, evident from indisputable Eabbinical authority, had current and established meaning — a vsus loquendi which could not be ignored — purposely designed to mis- load ? 14. Do the annals of Baptist enterprise furnish re- cords of the baptism of households in exact harmony of phrase with the New Testament? 15. Promise equivalent to command: The prom- ise was spoken by St. Peter at Pentecost. " And ye shall receive the gift of the II0I3' Ghost." Ye shall re- ceive it and your children shall receive it : for the pro- mise is unto you and to your children. Can any man forbid water that these should not be baiitized which receive the Holy Ghost as well as ice ? CHAPTER VII. OBJECTIONS TO INFANT BAPTISM. • : " And His disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw^^ it, He was- much displeased.'" — St. Mark. "Break butbne Of a thousand keys, and the paining jar Through all will run."— ]K7tt«ter. Many seriously inclined peojde run to infant baptism to satisfy a sense of duty in ?'efercnce to their children,'' — Writer in Baptist Londoai *' Freeman.'' jj liiii SILENCE OP SCRIPTURE. Ill Discordant notes arc not pleasant to an ear attuned to melody; and never are the jar and dissonance of dis- cord more sensitively felt than Avhen they break in upon the gi-andeur of rolling harmonies. In the present chap- ter we have to listen to the voices of opiwsition and un- belief. The spirit of opposition, as exhibited in tho ministry of Christ, has been very graphically described in] the Gospel : " And they brought young children to Him that He should touch them ; and His disciples rebuked them.'' It has been said that history repeats itself. The words and acts of Jesus were so clear and decisive, and tho testimony of God's word so full and complete, that, for nearly twelve centuries, the voice of opposition to bringing infants to the Saviour, was un- known in the Church. But in modern times, there arc zealous disciples whose special mission and distinctive denominational existence are not unfairly represented by the Gospel record : — not an enviable one— and His dis- ciples rebuked those thdt brought them. As most prominent amongst objections the following may bo noted :— I. SILENCE OP SCRIPTURE. Objection to the ftict of Baptism taking the place of circumcision,, as the imfm^orj/ rite ef the Church of God, has been urged. ' a That the Scripture is silent concerning such a change ; therefore no such change was made. The Sci-iptural record of apostolic eftbrt, and acces- sions of saved souls to tho Church of Christ, extendinir over a period of s^'.rfy j'cars, is silent concerning any adidt baptism in a Christian Community. Even Timothy, who ha<^l kno^vn the truth from childhood, .whom St.- .5 iK'sl nrw 112 BAPTISMA ; il h 1' ! i; 1 1 i,i i; ;i I' r Paul found at Lystra long after the Church had been there planted, and the peculiarities of whose case were specially favorable for such record, cannot be claimed as an example of adult baptism. The silence is profound.. Is that utter silence to bo accepted as conclusive evidence upon the subject ? But, instead of silence, in regard to the initiatory rite of membership in the Church, we have the positive affirmation: "As many as have been baptized into* Christ," of which water is the sign and seal, "are Abra- ham's seed and heirs" — according to the Covenant promise — of which circumcision was the sign and seal.. The Covenant of salvation in its glorious promises and provisions has not changed. One seal has been replaced by another — that is all: A few months ago, in the Eastern Section of this Dominion, the discovery was made, in legal and literary circles that the Seal of the Province had been changed.. The introduction of a New 3eal.'.had not been logaliaed by any special legislation. Did that silent substitution, of one Seal for another invalidate thereby any important document? Was any covenant transaction by that moans annulled ? The application of this analagou» fact, and the inference which it suggests, may be safely- left to any intelligent student of this subject. b That Timothy was circumcised twenty years after the institution of baptism ; and therefore the one- had not superseded the other. But the fact in Timothy's case is mentioned specially as an exceptional one. It was harmless, providential compliance, for the sake of' grreater usefulness, with a rite which, though obsolete. In the christian economy, was deeply rooted in the pre- .'L, NO EXAMPLE. 113 been were odos loncc atory ►sitivo . into* Abra- 7onant 1 Heal.- es and placed years le one* lothy'a le. It lake oi' IbsoletaT le pre- ferenccg and prejudices of his countrymen. Exceptio probat regulam: — " the exception proves the rule." II. NO EXAMPLE. Opposition to the doctrine of infant baptism, has usually shaped itself into syllogism: — Tiiat ordinance of which no example is found in the New Testament does not belong to the Churcii : But there is no example of infant baptism ; therefore, it is not of Christ. Propositions of this class may be supplied to order. They are, as in Miltonic legend, " Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks In Vallambrosa." The usual assumption of the minor premise, which, when persisted in assumes an appearance oi presumption, invalidates the affirmation. No examples of infant baptism ! And yet nearly half the representative examples, of the inspired record, are baptisms of households; and, if not enjoined as en- samples to us, of all the books that have over Leen writ- ten, the Acts of the Apostles would be the most calcul- ated to mislead. No examples! '* Thoy were all bap- tized " at the Rod Sea ; and in that baptism of God there were thousamls of little ones. That passage through the Red Sea, beneath })0ur- ing rain and drifting spray was btiptism. The fact is also emphasi/.e;l : '' All were baptized." Five times in that brief record, it is most suggestively and significant- ly affirmed — all were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all wore baptized, &c. Example is asked for; and we are assured that, in that baptism ol i 114 BAPTISMA ; Ji. I. f God, infants as well as adults, "all were baptized." "Now," adds the apostle, with intensified emphasis, " these things were our examples.'' III. NO COMMAND. The position, in which error at this point seeks in- trench ment, may bo fairly and fully presented by the proposition : — Baptism is a positive command : but the baptism of infants has not been commanded ; therefore, infant bap- tism is not of God. The validity of the logic, and the value of the affir- mation, may be tested by another proposition — perfect in coincidence and correspondence. The Sabbath is a positive institution : and for its observance there must be direct command. But no such command is contained in the New Testament; therefore, the observance of the Sabbath is not of God. The conditions in this case arc essentially the same as in the other. The change, from circumcision to baptism, in the initiatory rite of church- membership finds counterpart and exact equivalent in the change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week. Is the obligation of the Christian Sabbath to be lightly and loosely held? The sacred claim of the holy Sabbath, as in the or dinance of infant baptism, rests upon evidence which is inferential, cumulative and conclusive: The Apostles of Jesus Christ, " filled with the Holy Ghost," led into all truth, were authoritatively, and in virtue of their sacred office, commissioned to hind and to loose — to appoint and to abrogate — to perpetuate and to annul. They had the distinct assurance that their CANNOT BELIEVE. 115 administration, under the guidance of an infallible spirit, should bo ratified in heaven. But of the abrogation of the Sabbath, and of infant membership in the church, alike important institutions, we have not, cither in the form of example or of precept, any record. "We have intimation of changed conditions ; but upon these ordin- ances, in all their integrity, we have the imprimatur of apostolic authority — deeply and indelibly stamped. Holy land in hid and Lte and lat their IV. CANNOT BELIEVE. But then it has been argued, the Gospel of Mark contains specific condition. " He that belioveth shall be saved."* The syllogism is summoned into service : Believing is necessary to baptism; infants are incapable of believing ; therefore they are not proper subjects of baptism. The logic may be satisfactorily tested by another proposition of the same character and construc- tion : Believing is necessary to salvation: but infants arc incapable of believing; therefore infants are not saved." " That which proves too much proves nothing." The condition is not, however, ho that belioveth and afterwards shall be baptized ; but he that belioveth and is baptized. The Greek Aorist carries the idea of past time. The verb in the Greek text is baptistheis — Aorist, passive, participial. The condition, therefore, literally reads: "He that believeth, having been bap- tized, &c. " How definitely and distinctly this teaching of Christ meets and satisfies the case of many converts : as they seek closer communion with the visible church. ♦ The last twelve verses of St. Mark is Gospel, though sanc- tioned by certain M.S.S., being considered an interpolation, will be omitted from the revised version. I M y ( ! :ti '■■ • 116 BAPTISMA : They have bowed in prayer. They have believed with the heart unto righteouHness. They were early dedica- ted unto God. They have been baptized. In personal public profession of faith in Jesus they avow the solem- nity of baptismal obligation and, in sacramental service, — the elements of the broken body and shed blood, — tremulous with emotion and thrilled by hallowed memories of the garden, the cross and the sepulchre, they assume the appointed badge of disciple- shij). Blessed, thrice blessed, is that scene and service of renewed dedication and of covenantobligation : ♦* O happy band, that seals ray vows To Him who merits all my love ; Let cheerful anthems fill His house, While to that sacred shrine I move." V. so FEW HOUSEHOLD BAPTISMS ! " The fact" says the latest exponent ot Baptist ten- ets in " voice of God," " that so few household baptisms are recorded in the divine record, while so many thou- sand baptisms are recorded proves household baptism to be a rare occurence, and in the few records, &c." With the quotation just made in which the objection in question finds formulated expression, a slight liberty, in the use of italics, has been exercised. "Whatever transgressions of taste may be tolerated in the effusions of ordinary mortals, the "voice of God" ought to reach us in satisfying st^'lc and until it does so, we really can- not accord to it awj very special respect. The objection : Many thousand ba2)tisms and so few households ! throws us back upon the Acts of the Apostles and the facts of the New Testament. 1. Three thousand converts baptized on the day of Pentecost. In the church of the prophets, children had so FEW HOUSEHOLD BAPTIS&I8. 117 recognized right, and the tendency of the Gospel is to extend privilige. "Nothing' nays Kcv. J. C. Ryle, " would astonish a Jewish convert oo much as to tell him his children could not be baptized. In fact I never heard of a converted Jew becoming a Baptist. 2. The baptism of the Samaritan converts : " they were baptized both men and woman." There has boon stress put upon the omission of infants from the record. In the utter destruction of Ai, in which infants were in- cluded, it is said, " all that fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand." The phrase, of the Sam- aritan narrative, " from the least to the greatest," in all probability originated in household baptisms. 3. The baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch : as he traversed the desert " that goeth down to Gaza." 4. The baptism of Saul of Tarsus at Damascus. The baptism of Cornelius : " thou and all thy "and her household." " he and 5. house." 6. The baptism of Lydia 7. The baptism of the Philipian jailor : all his straightway." 8. The baptism of Corinthian converts : which in- cluded Crispus, "with all his house," and "also the household of Stephanas." 9. The baptism of John's twelve disciples at Ephesus. These nine baptismal services comprise all the facts of the Acts of the Apostles and of the New Testament. They are all which find any permanent place in the in- spired record. They extend over a period of thirty years ; and have been selected as the pattern and model (,1 4 !ff^ fT- 11! 118 BAPTISMA ; 1'^ for the administration of Christian baptism in every ago of the Church. The baptisms of Saul of Tarsus and of the Ethiopian Eunuch are of individual interest and character ; and the baptismal service at Ephesus was ajiparently an ex- ceptional incident of apostolic ministry. In all the other narratives we have the idea ; and, omitting the Ephesian exception, in the half of these records, we have positive affirmation of household baptism. But these baptismal services represent a vast num- ber of others, possessing the same character solemnized by Ajwstles and Evangelists, during that period of thirty years mission and ministry : Are we not therefore, war- ranted in the belief, based upon the proportion of inspired historic fact, that of every thousand baptismal services, belonging to those yoavs, fully five hundred, and probably a much greater proportion, were household bajitisyns ? It is not suprising to learn, from Turner's "Divine Validity," that a gentleman who had formerly been a Baptist minister, compelled from conviction of principle to leave the denomination in explanation to his congre- gation, emphasised the fact: — " That in all the Baptist missionaiy reports, we never read of the baptism of whole households at one and the same time." VI. TUE TERMS OF THE COMMISSION ARE DEFINITE. " AVerc not the apostles commanded to baptize all nations, and were not infants a part of the nation ? Yes, and so are idiots and iiijidels.^'^ * The voice of God on the Qualifications for membership in the visible Church of Christ &c. , by pastor D. G. McDonald, Charlottetown, P.E.I. THE TERMS OP THE COMMISSION ARE DEFINITE. 119 iirty iptist iin of zo all Yos, Such is tho inquiry, of tho most recent interpreter of baptist principles, in that extraordinary publication, "The voice of God J " and such the sovorely repulsive reply : but 1. Idiots are not incapable of ultimate salvation, and they are fitting objects of compassion, divine and human ; but in regard to the present life they are utter- ly helpless and hopeless. In tho condition of infants there is nothing of the hopelessness of imbeciles. 2. Infidels, by tho very term of the commission, because of defiance and disobedience, are doomed to damnation : are infants excluded " after the same man- ner of unbelief ?" The Saviour took up little children — Llcscribod by St. Luke as infants, brephe — and blessed them ; and ac- cording to St. Matthew, said : for of such is the Mnc/dom of heaven. '' ton gar toioutun estin he hasileia ton ouranijn.'' The form of expression, in that authoritivc, and em- phatic declaration, in the original text of St. Matthew, isessentially thatof the Beatitudes : "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs, is the kingdom of heaven: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Two pictures are presented to our raental vision ; Look on this and then on that: In one group shadowed in chilling and repulsive forms, are infants, the objects of fond parental hope and aflfection; imbeciles, from whom all the brightness and sunshine of life have been excluded; infidels, hardened and impenitent unbelievers, condemned to eternal perdition. :u eili I if 51; r, exhibitions |o character an annual Ihen the con- tributions of the infant class, amounting to twenty-five dollars were presented, a little child of not more than four or five years of age, with a face of suflused rapture and a sweet and beautiful enthusiasm, exclaimed audibly and unconsciously: Thafs my cJass. Is not that identity of an infant class, with the church and with the cause of the Heclcemer. in harmony with the genius of Christianity and the teachings of inspired truth? " And infant-voices sbal) proclaim Their young hosannas to His Name." There have been on the part of the baptized children of the church, we have been olVen reminded, frequent lapses into sin, and grievous departure from God ; and, in like manner, eveiy chuich has had to mourn over backslidings and over cases of foul sin in its adult-mem- bership. The validity of baptism is not of consequence affected: In no church is there any requirement /o?' the re-baptism of restored mernbers. The testimony of Rev. C. II. Spnvgeon, as quoted by Foster, is very much t > the purpose. The great Baptist preacher is not only open communion, but- he comes as near as possible to infaac church-membership : "I have" he says, during the pasr, year received foi'ty or fifty children into church membership. Among those I have had .it any time to exclude from church fellowship out of a church of twentj'-scven hundred members, I have never had to exclude one who was received while yet a child." Children are addressed in the Epistle to the Ephesians as in the church. They are in the church as an insti''iite for making and moulding christian life. They are to be trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. r 126 BAPTI8MA ; kh' ' ii In the best days of the church there shall be the ac- compliHhraent of inspired prediction : " All thy children shall be taught of the Lord." " For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts : and I will be unto them a God, and they shall be unto me a people: and they Hhall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord ; for all shall know me from the least to the greatest." CONCLUSION. It is not too much to assume that objections to infant baptism which have, at different times, been most plausibly presented and most persistently pressed, have been thoi'oughly investigated. In the " balances of the sanctuary" they arc only as the " small dust." There is however, " a more excellent way," enforced in the wise and weighty words of the venerable Dr. Osborne, of tho British Methodist Conference — which may fitly close this chapter. lie cordially commends the example of the saintly and learned Philip Henry — father of the well known commentator. " He had a method of improving infant baptism, superior to that of most divines, and de- cidedly bettor than I have at any time met with. Ho drew out what he called the form of the Baptismal Cov- enant: "I take Clod the Father to be my Father; I take God the Son to be my Saviour ; I take God the Holy Ghost to be my Comforter, Teacher, Guide and Sanctifier ; I take the word of God to be the rule of my actions ; I take the people of God to be my people in all conditions : and all this I do deliberately, freely and forever." He taught all his children to say this to him every Satur- TESTIMONY OP ANTIQUITY. 127 day night. "When they wore able to write, ho made every one of them write it and sign it. " Now," he said, " I will keep this for a testimony against you." And he did keep it. And there is found amongst his i^apere one of the most affecting documents in the English lan- guage — a copy of this Covenant signed by each of his children in succession. But ho never had to produce it against them. By God's grace they kept it ; and they verified his own frequent adage, Fast bind, fast find." "That our sons," pleads tho psalmist, " may bo as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace:" — as the polished and beautiful stones prepared for tho magnificent sanctuary. " And infants, though part Of the true archetypal house of God, Built on the heavenly Zion, are not now, Nor will be ever, massive rocks lough hewn. Or ponderous corner-stones, or fluted shafts Of columns, or over shadowing pinacles. But rather as the delicate lily-work By Hiram wrought for Solomon of old, Enwreathed upon the brazen chapiters. Or flowers of lilies round the molten sea. Innumerable flowers thus bloom and blush In Heaven." ; CHAPTER VIII. TESTIMONY OF ANTIQUITY. " Till he can read Sanctii Minerva, with Scopinus and Perizzonius' notes." — Locke. " When two authorities are vp, Neither of them supreme, how soon confusion May enter twixt the gap.'' — Shakespeare. IFp- ti 1 II 'H ' < 128 BAPTISMA ; " Jfast thou appealed unto Cccsixr? Unto Ccpsar thow shalt ij^y — Fe&tus. Thoro in a Huufgcstivo legond of the oI tizod but not sunk: no immersion. — Dr. Ilalley, 352 p. Describing the slaughter of Cloobulus, in his six- teenth book of the Iliad Homer tells that Ajax "struck him in the nock with his hilted sword, and the whole sword was warmed with blood." A Greek commentator on Homer, Dionysius, remarks on the clause: "In this he expresses greater emphasis, as the eword being sa M m frr 130 BAPTISMA ; t li! ■ ( 1:1 ,11 ii (!i ;'- baptized (haptisthentos) at even to bo wanned." Tho hilled sword of the mighty Ajax was baptized in blood flowing from a wound in tho neck of his falling foe: that was baptism, but no immersion. — Vit. lloni., 297 p. A youth, in tho company of Sophists, was bewilder- ed with tho subtle questions, and that is said to be a baptism: Ego gmus haptizemenon to mcira/n'on—^' I knowing tho youth baptized." — Enthd. 277, 1>. There was baptism by questioning, but no immersion. In a battle description, JDiodcrus Sicidus pays of troops, that had been defeated and driven into tho river, " the river flowing down with a more violent current, baptized many, (jwllons chaptize) and destroyed them swimming across in their armour." A threefold action is described : 1. — The defeated troops were "di'iven into the river" — immersion but not baptism. 2. — The action of the waves upon the men in their armour — "many bap- tized" — a baptism. 3. — "And destroyed them;" they sank in their armour ; but that utter destruction was not their baptism. — Diod. Sie. 2. 142. Josephus in his Jewish wars, describing the action of waves upon certain vessels, says : " The billow high raised baptized them — ehaptizc.'' Cleai'ly the mode sug- gested is that of the element acting upon the ships. — Jewish Wars, 3, 8, 3. For an exhaustive treatment of the whole question of bajitism, where matters of scholarsliip and research are concerned, I must refer to the noble volumes of Dr. James Dale, a learned Presbyterian Minister.* In each hook Judaic, Johannic, Christie and JPatri^tic, hit espe- cially in * Dr. Dale in student life sat at the feet of Prof. Moses Stewart, and now wears the mantle of that illustrious scholar. CLASSIO BAPTISM. 131 rho ood foe: 7 p. dcr- bo a .-"I 'hero VH of river, rrcnt, tbcm action sn into action ' ihcy ah not action w high [de BUg- Ihips. — III OS lion lescarch of Dr. Ilii each 111 espc- |f. Moses lolar. CLASSIC BAPTISM. tho intelligent student will obtain all the aid that can bo required for examination of tho whole subject. I havo noticed that a reviewer of " Baptisma" speaks of tho volumes of Dr. Dale, confessedly, what- ever else they may not be, monuments of massive and accurate scholarship, and of stupendous research, as an ^^ amusing work, and tho author as "a certain man in tho United States. "^' Dr. Dalo has traversed tho whole domain. In vindication and verification of authorities and citations, ho explored European libraries. Scores of tho most learned men of tho time, including Biblical critics. Theological Professors, Presidents of Colleges, havo staked tho reputation upon tho assertion that Dr. Dalo has made good his position. " On which side is the weight of opinion ?" To attempt to deal in detail with iha puny criticism of tho "review," or to meet tho charge of "gross mani- pulation" would bo grievous sacrifice of sj^acoand waste of words. Tho chapter of criticism on Dr. Dale's noble and comprehensive work, apart from its few quotations, reminds ono only of Robert Hall's daring metaphor : a mouse nibbling at the wing of a flaming archangel. Tho author of "review" whose complete work I have just seen, has selected a remarkable caption for a book of such pretensions. A compound of Anglicised and classical form and termination, such as that of tho title- page, constitutes a rare phenomenon in tho literary world. For a man who could not write his own title- page correctly to undertake tho criticism of Dr. Dale's * " Bible Baptisma, by D. G. McDonald, Pastor of the Bap- tist Church, Charlottetown." • '11 i m m\ 11; 132 BAPTISMA ; i ^ erudite volumes, is, iu his own phrase, to say the least, "very amusing." That title-page announces " Bible Baptisma" " and its qualifications. Docs the Bible, for the defence of his system, demand qualification ? Alas, for the system ! An exhaustive selection from Dr. Dale's Classic Baptism would of itself demand a volume. The utmost that can be attempted is to indicate the scientific and satisfying nature of the treatment and the clearness and decisiveness of result. The inquiry extends to all pas- sages in classic authors in which the word is known to occur. One hundred and twelve passages, according to their character, are distributed into classes and sub- jected to searching analysis : 1. A list of twelve examples : these include Aris- totle's baptism ot the sea-coast, Plutarch's baptism of the bladder and Strabo's baptism to the waist. 2. A class of examples, page 254, in which a cer- tain influence of baptizo, as in the destruction of vessels, finds illustration — " the ship nearlj'' baptized," baptizetai, — ''baptized, baptis thentes, by their own weight" — "and breathed as one out of a state of baptism," bebaptisthai, — "and ships anchored were baptized," baptisthenai, — " carrying down many baptized, ebaptize, and destroyed them." In the destructions of vessels, described in many of these passages, the mode is to sink : For centuries they have been beneath the whelmning wave ; but surely the sinking of ships as a mode cannot meet the de- mands of immersion as a rite. There was in all these cases an influence, or effect, of the action, which deter- mined the classical use of the word. 3. A classification of twenty-four passages, page CLASSIC BAPTISM. 133 266, in which instrumentality in indicated: "I baptiz- ing you by the sea-waves" — baptizing with his hands the fleet of the Persians" — " baptizing his hand into the blood, &c." 4. A selection of thirty examples, page 283, in- tended to exemjilify the secondary meaning of baptizo. Dr. Dale contends conclusively that words of this class, in their secondary sense " secure well defined meaning, through continued use, and great breadth of ajiplication, lose wholly their figurative character and must be con- sidered simple and literal in their expression." Amongst illustrative examples we find: "what is sudden, astounds the sou.], falling on it unawares, and thoroughly baptizes it" — "baptized with calamity" — "when midnight had baptized the city with sleep" — " they do not ba2)tizo the peopl by taxes" — " for ihere fighting ho baptized all Asia" — " baptized by the afiairs of life" — " baptized by grief." "Rhyme and reason" says Dr. Dale, "carry licence often into licentiousness ; but I do not remember that either has ever taken the liberty of putting a city to sleep, figuratively, by plunging it into water. The communication of the gentle influence of sleep, when re- presented by figure proceeds on a wholly ditt'erent basis." According to Ovid, the Latin Poet, humid night gathers from the dwelling of the God Somnus the sophorifics of rich poppies, and countless herbs, and sprinkles them over the darkened earth. Ileliodorus baptized the city with sleep; but does not specify mode: Ovid explains that the somnolent eondition is produced by sprinkling. 5. A list of fifteen examples, page 31Y, which in- cludes Plato's youth baptized witii bewildering ques- tions — baptism by unmixed wine — Alexander ba])tized by much wine — baptism by an 02)iate drug — baptized by ■' .1 II lii 134 BAPTISMA ; t i m drunkenness into insensibility and sleep, &c. The idea of immersion in wine is certainly absurd, and not for a moment to be entertained. Drunkenness is produced by a reception of the element, and not by an immersion into it. As the result of this thorough inquiry it has been shewn : 1. That Baptizo in classic usage demands for its OBJECT condition — condition characterized by complete- ness. " Whenever any liquid possessed of a quality ca- pable of exerting a controlling influence of any kind whatever is applied to an object, so as to develope influ- ence it is said on all classical authority to baptize the ob- ject, without regard to mode of application and with as little regard to physical position." 2. To meet the demand for a completely changed condition it accepts any agency, physical or spiritual, competent to the task : -' hot iron made to pass into a cold condition; intoxicating wine made to pass zn^o an un- intoxicating condition ; a defiled man made to pass into a purified condition ; a sober man made to pass into a drunken condition; a wakeful man made to pass mfo a deeply somnolent condition;" and other changed condi- tions exemplify the dominant idea of classic baptism. 3. That Baptizo is a many-sided word adjusting itself to the most diverse cases : Agamemnon was baptized, Bacchas was baptized, Panthia was baptized, and a host of others were baptized ; each one differently from the others in the nature or inode of the baptism, or both. It would be easier to thread the Cretan Cave, without a clue, than to determine the nature or mode of any given baptism, of the classic record, merely from the moaning of the word baptizo. CLASSIC BAPTISM. 135 Baptisms wore variously effected ; and classic Greek pronounces a man, who is in a condition of drunkenness, to be a baptized man — in a condition of obloquy to be a baptized man — in a condition of grief to be a baptized man — in a condition of mental perplexity to be a bapti- zed man — "then I say any one who chooses to apply the term to a man restored by any competent influence to a condition of religious purity, will have the unanimous support of every classic Greek writer through a thousand years." 4. In the exhaustive inquiry of Dr. Dale wo obtain an answer to the question : What is Classic Baptism ? "Whatever is capable of thoroughly changing the character, state, or condition of any object, is capable of baptizing that object ; and by such change of character, state or condition does in fact baptize it." Accordingly classic baptisms were effected by a draft of wine, by an opiate drug, by a heavy sleep, by a bewildering question: "Accumulate, around those bap- tisms, metaphor, figure, picture, and what not. I make my argument with finger pointed to the cup, the ques- tion, the opiate drop and Bay : the old Greeks baptized through a thousand years icith such things as these." 5. The distinctive idea of the Greek verb haptizo : changed condition, produced by any competent agency, permissible by any possible mode, that which — in contra- distinction to cheo, to pour : rhantizo, to sprijiJde: dupto, to dip: buthizo, to immerse: kataduo, to go under, and words of merely modal action — has always clung to its use, gathering strength and significance with varied breadth of application, proves that the selection of this woid, by the inspired writers, was not the result of accidental and n 136 BAPTISMA ; arbitrary arrangement ; and that it was dictated and de- termined by governing philological principle. 6. Wo must bear in mind that classic usage throughout this discussion, is a very different thing and demands different treatment, from the same word ap- plied to the christian sacrament. The author of Classic Baptism " claims, and nothing more, to have followed the golden thread of truth, slow- ly, steadily, simply, absolutely, through intricacy, winding and bewilderment, until brought into a broad place. Those who examine and believe they see the golden filament stretching, unbroken, un wrested all along the way, will approve and accept." The controlling idea of all these passages, and that doubtless which determined the exclusive selection of the Greek verb haptizo for the christian sacrament, carries us far beyond the insignificance of mere mode, constitutes the "golden filament" of clear and intelligi- ble principle. In possession of this ARIADNE THREAD we are enabled througli the windings of a thousand yoara, and all the varied applications of the word in disputa- tion, to traverse the deep labyrinth of classic Literature. II. GREEK LEXICONS AND GREEK AUTHORS. The opinion has been repeatedly expressed : that, inasmuch as nearly all words of distinguished import- ance, in the Greek of the New Testament, are used in a new sense and applied to subjects of which ancient authors had no knowledge, the New Testament moaning of Baptize and Baptism must bo sought in inspired teaching. This law of investigation must ever form the GREEK LEXICONS. 137 ^cars, l)uta- [turc. golden gateway through which we pass into sun-lit temple of truth. We prefer in this inquiry to consult the oracles of God ; but if others appeal to Cajsar, then to Casar they must go. The following extract from an important work by Eev. W. Thorn, an English writer, published somo years ago, exhibits in compact and compendious form the result of learned and laborious research. It does not sufficiently discriminate between the verbs hapto and haptizo — a matter of moment in this inquiry — but for a comprehensive view of this part of the tield it is some- what valuable. GREEK LEXICONS. " That the word baptize has a variety of significa- tions, and is of a generic nature, may bo made by an appeal to the best Lexicographers. The following have been consulted : Iledricus, Leigh, Parkhurst, Schleusnor, Scapula, Stephens and Suidas. Reference has also been made to Montanus', * Literal version' of the Apocrypha and New Testament, and to the Hebrew terms, rendered baptize by the seventy translators. The result of the research is, that the word is deemed synonymous, with the following Latin verbs : — Ahluo To wash away Colo To colour Demerge To dive Duco To lead F^go To pierce Fuco To colour Ilaurio To draw up Imbuo To imbuo Imn/iergo To plunge Itnpleo To fill Intingo To die Lava To wash Madefacio Macula Mergo Mundo Obruo Pereo Pur go Ruhesco Suhmergo Terreo Tingo To wet To pollute To dip To cleanse To overwhelm To perish To purge To redden To put under To atl right To stain 'A t A Br ' 3 pf ■ ;. \ 1 1 \ i 1 ' i; .p- 138 BAPTISMA ; Win i 1 ... r 1 1 ( R ■1 1' i ' i i U r i \ ' m 1 1 1 ■« *' i r 1 GRKEK AUTHORS. " "Wo proceed now to the translations of our oppo- nents. Considerable pains have been taken by them to rnl'oi, the Greek Authors under their banners for the pu.' pobfi of aiding their cause. Five only of their most eminent and learned divines — Booth, Cox, Gale, Eyland and Gibbs— have cited numerous passages from Greek writers, to establish their position, that baptize means only to dip or plunge, and that they do not remember a pasHfip-c where all other senses are not necessarily excludeu.' TJiat these gentlemen have not perverted the seii^e of their authorities to the prejudice of their cause, may DC r jadlly supposed — and what is the result ? That the word baplj e, ;.s employed by the ancient Greek poets, philosophers, historians and divines, signifies only one and the same definite action, and that to dip, plunge or immerse ? — Far from it. — The following list of trans- lations, presents the fruit of their laborious researches and philosophical acumen. According to them it is used for Bathe Besmear Caused Coloured Covered Crushed Daubed Dip Drawing water Drank much Drowned Dyed Fill Given up to Infected Imbue Immersed Involved Laid under Let down Opi^ressed Overwhelmed Over head and ears Plunged Pour Purify Put Put into Quenched Itedden Run through Smeared Soaked Sprinkled Stained Steep Sink Swallowed up Thrust Tinged Washed Wetted " By cursory reference to the citations, our oppon- ents have made from Greek writings, for the express purpose of supporting their exclusive mode of baptism, we find the following operations, conditions, or designs, are designated by the word baptize or baptism." GREEK AUTHORS. 139 Staining a sword with blood or slaughter. Daubing the face with paint. Colouring the cheeks by intoxication. Dyeing a lake with the blood of a frog. Beating a person till red with his own blood. Staining the hand by squeezing a substance. Ornamenting clothes with a paint, needle or brush. Imbuing a person with his own thoughts, or justice. Polluting the mind by fornication and sophistry. Poisoning the heart with evil manners. Involving a person in debt and difficulties. Bringing ruin on a city by besieging it. The natural tints of a bird or flower. Plunging a sword into a viper or army. Running a man through with a spear. Sticking the feet of a flea in melted wax. Quenching a flaming torch in water. Seasoning hot iron by dipping it in cold water. Plying the oars and rowing a vessel. Dipping children into a cold bath. Drowning persons in a lake, pond or sea. Sinking a ship crew and persons under water. Sweetening hay with honey. Soaking a herring in brine. Steeping a stone in wine. Immersing ones'self up to the middle, breast or head. Destroying ships in a harbour by storm. Filling a cup with honey. Drawing water in a pitcher or bucket. Popping cupid into a cup of wine. Poisoning arrows, and presents like arrows. Wasliing wool in or with water. Cleansing the body wholly or partially. Tinging the finger with blood. Dipping birds or their bills in a river. A dolphin ducking an ape. The tide overflowing the land. Pouring water on wood and garden plants. Dyeing an article in a vat. Tiirowing flsh into cold water. Dipping weapons of war in blood. Overwhelming a ship with stones. Oppressing or burdening the poor with taxes. Overcome with sleep or calannty. Destroying animals with a land flood. " Little comment is requisite on these allusions. It is clear as the light at noon, that the passages which 1 ! 1 ,H 1; ,1 •': j 1' '^'1' 1 fff ■ 1 li i I .1 ■J 140 BAPTIS3IA ; i| our opponents have selected from Greek authors, as tho best calculated to sustain their cause of exclusive dipping, have completely failed. But there are other passages in Greek writers, which our brethren have purposely or inadvertenly overlooked — and where, in several instances, the sense of the word in question is, if possible, still more adverse to their conclusions." Aristophanes. — 'Magnes, an old comic of Athens, used the Lydian music, shaved his face, and baptized it with tawny colours.' He ai^plied the colours to his face. — 'Dress not with costly clothes, which are baptized with the richest colours.' Several colours must be ap- plied to the cloth. Aristotle. — ' If it is pressed, it baptizes the hand which sustains and presses it.' Here the hand is tinged by an application of the colouring matter to it. Dion Cassius. — 'Those from above baptizing the ships with stones and engines.' Here the baptizing materials came from above, down upon the vessels. Homer. — ' He, the frog breathless fell, and the lake was baptized with blood.' The blood was applied to the water, and not the water dipped into the blood. Aelian. — ' Having baptized with precious ointment, a garland woven of roses.' The garland was surely not dipped into a box of ointment, but the ointment was poured or sprinkled on the garland. Athenaus. — 'I have been baptized with wine.' Not bathing in it, but intoxicated — the wine was applied to him, for he drank it. Bentley's Epigrams. — ' You baptize your head, but you shall never baptize old ago.' You adorn your head with gay attire. Here the baptizing material is applied BAPTO. 141 as tho lusivo other have ere, in Lion ia, J." Uhens, tizcd it lis face, laptized b be ap- le hand 3 tinged ling the aptizing els. the lake cd to the lintment, iroly not lont was fo.- Not Ipplicd to cad, but lour head IS applied to the head. — * Who first baptized tho muse with viporish gall.' Who first tinged or imbued the mind, by apply- ing the- element to it ? lamhUchus. — 'Baptize not in tho periranterion.' This was a small vessel like those kept at tho doors of all Koman Catholic Chaj)els — the act here is evidently sprinkling. Julius Pollux. — 'The girl observing tho mouth of the dog, (which had eaten the murox,) stained with an unusual baptism.' The murex is a small shell-fish. The mouth of the dog was baptized by an application of tho colour to it. Justin. — ' Sprinkling with holy water was invented by demons, an imitation of tho true baptism, signified by the prophets, (Is.lii: 15; Ezek xxxvi : 25,) that their votaries might have their pretended purifications by water.' Here sprinkling and baptism are used synony- mously. Potter's Antiq. — 'Tho priests of Cotys were called Baptists, from staining their bodies with certain colours. Here also, the colouring element is applied to the body. " These passages are sufficient as specimens of a great many more. The deduction from this branch of investigation is simple and easy : — That tho word gene- rally, if not exclusively, expresses an effect produced, rather than any precise mode of accomplishing it." III. BAPTO. Bapto is never in any of its forms, in tho New Tes- tament, applied to Baptism as an ordinance of the Christian Church. Baptizo is always used ; tho verb bapto never; and therefore the discussion to which it has given rise, has no value — except that which is in- ■\ :1 ( ^ 1 "i \ i \\ R 1 :si •"'a t rs" i ^ 142 BAPTISMA ferential and illustrative. Two or three examples, of the use of this verb, without attaching importance to them, may bo given. In the Battle of the Frogs, a mock heroic poem, Bometimcs iscribed to Homer, one of the champions called Crambophagus was mortally wounded: " lie fell and the lake (epahteto) was tinged with blood." Was that baptism, the lake in the blood of a frog, an immer- sion? In the Book of Daniel, iv, 33, we read of the judgment of Nebuchadnezzar: "and his body was wet witfi the dew of heaven." The Septuagint has ebaphe for wet — was hajitized. The question is one of mode not of quantity. Was there an immersion ? Was theinsano King plunged into dew or did the dew descend ? There is one passage in the New Testament in which the verb bapto occurs, which calls for special attention : '• and he was clothed with vesture dipped (6e6am7nenow) in blood." Bcv. xix, 13. There is no question but the verb was used in its secondary sense, aud that the literal render- ing would be ; " vesture stained in blood." But what of mode? The passage is one of the few uhich admits of positive proof. In the parallel passage of Isaiah, the conqueror coming " from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah" speaking in righteousness, mighty to save, declares of His foes : " their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." According to Grove, the Greek lexicographer, hapto sig- nifies, " to dip, plunge, immerse ; to wash; to wet, moisten, sprinkle ; to steep, imbue ; to dye, stain, color. The use of bapto, in the secondary sense of to stain, is accounted for; and the mode ie expressly said to be sprinkled. It is freely conceded that Bapto is used some times in the sense of to dip. The more numerous the examples HELLENISTIC GREEK. 143 es, of iico to poem, Tipiona lie fell Was immer- of the ras wet , ehaphe node not iC insano There the verb '• and he 1 blood." crb was rendor- what of idmits of iah, the arments ^hty to spriiililed aimcnt.' apto sig- moisteri) tie use of icounted led. le times Examples of 8uch use which by possibility can be accumulated, and the more apparent and cogent becomes the discrimina- tion of which the sacred writers have given evidence. In no solitary case, in any form has Bapto been applied to the ordinance of baptism. Sixteen times in the Scptuagint it is used as the rendering of tl^o Hebrew word Taval. In the English Bil)le we have, as the rendering of the Hebrew and in correspondence with the Septuagint, the Saxon dip ; but in some cases the only admissible action is that of mois- tening and wetting. The living bird, according to the rendering of Leviticus, cedar wood, scarlet wool and bunch of hyssop were all to be di})pcd in the blood of another bird, of the same size as the first. Having given the meaning of bapto, according to the Greek lexicographer Grove, it may be desirable to close this notice with the definition of Taval, by the em- inent Hebrew Lexicographer, Flh'st: "To moisten, to sprinkle, to dip to immerse in anything fluid witli accu- sative of the object." To bathe, Deut. xxxiii : 24." The fundamental signification of the stem is to moisten, to besprinkle." IV. iip:llenistic (jreek. The language of the [N'cw Testament is the later Greek language, as spoken by foreigners of the Hebrew stock. The literature to which appeal can be most le- gitimately made for the interpretation of the New Tes- tament Greek, the version of the Seventy and the Apocrypha, exhibits suggestive illustration of baptize. 1. Septuagint : The only example of the verb with a literal meaning, is in the account of the miracu- lous cure of Naaman's leprosy : " And Naaman went lit' • s. it 11^ 144 BAPTISMA down. — Kai ebaptisato en to Jordane — and baptized in, or at, tho Jordan, Bevon times, according to the saying ofElisha." Tho authorized version is, that Naaman wont down and dipped himself. lie was cor"»rianded by tho prophet to wash seven times. The verb i to wash, (bathe) has been appealed to in the discussion. Tho fol- lowing quotation, from Dr. Smith's Dictionary of An tiquities, maybe carried along with us in this and otlier passages of the Sejituagint, in which washings and bath- ings ^vg commanded: " In ancient vases, in which per- sons are represented bathing, we never find anything corresponding to a modern bath, in which jiersons can stand or sit ; but there is always a round or oval basin, louter or louterion) resting in a stand, by tho side of which those who are bathing are represented standing un- dressed and washing themselves." The disc*' )f Naaman was local. " I thought," he wrathfully ex ed, *' that ho would strike his hand over the place." But instead of striking with his hand, the Prophet in harmony with Divine requirement for purification of leprosy, the sprink- ling of water, and in accordance with Oriental idea and usage, prescribed the application of water to tho place. Seven times, as in the version of the seventy, tho Syrian General baptized himself and as the result there was a completely changed condition. In one other passage only does baptize occur in the Septuagint. Instead of the rendering of tho authorized version, in Isaiah xxiv ; iv, " fearfulness hath affrighted me" the Greek of the seventy has he anemia me bap- tizei; " Iniquity baptizes me." The use is figurative and extended discussion unnecessary. One such passage abundantly refutes the erroneous assertion that the verb IJATIIINOS AND WASIIINUSI. u: ized ying man dby ir-ash, , fol- " An other bath- \ per- ching IS can basin, 4ido of ing un- aaman , " ihat instead y with priuk- iea and place. Syi'ian was a means " to dip and only to dip, tliroii^h all rircok lite- rature." 2. Apocrypha : Two passac^cs only ailord example and illustration of the use of the vei-h hai'ttzo in the aj)()('ryj)hal booivs. And she went out evei'V nii;-ht to the valley of Bethulia and baptized Inraelf (('/japtlzTI8MA j private and personal ablutions. This part of the subject is of very subordinate importance, but it is necessary that it should be placed in clear and satisfactory light. "We prepare the way," with Dr. Whedon, " by one sweeping affirmation, that the Hebrew word for immerse is not once used in the commands which impose the modes of these various baptisms. The English words are sprinkle^ icash, bathe, neither of which imposed the specific mode, immersion. The word bathe simply sig- nifies to wash. Even ivith the bad rendering, bathe, a false idea will not be received by those who are aware that in .he East bathing is performed, not by immersion, but by affusion." "iVb immersions of persons,'' says Dv. Ecochcr on Baptizo, in Biblical Repository, " are enjoined under the Mosaic ritual." As this fact does not appear to have been noticed as it ought, and as man}^ assume the contrary, it is necessary to furnish proof of this assertion. "It lies in this fact, that no washings of persons, oven in a single instance, enjoined by any word that de- notes immersion; but, as I think, without excejition, by the word rahats which denotes to wash or purify — without any reference to the m6de." " Those who read the English version might suppose that where the direction to bathe occurs, immersion is enjoined ; but in every such case the original word de- notes only to icash. If any doubt whether this be the true view of the import o^ rahats, let him take a Hebrew concordance, and trace it through the v/hole of the Old Testament, and he will have abuudant proof" "In all this process" speaking of ancient purifica- tion by the application of water to an unclean person. BATHINGS AND WASHINGS. U7 pposo Li-itica- Icrson, " imimrsion is not onco enjoined. The Greek huo and the Hebrew ra^afs do jiot implj'- bathing or immersion; because bathing denotes a specific mode of cleansing, \/hereas rahats and louo are not specific." "If it be still urged," says Dr. Ilibbard, Christian Baptism, page G6, "that baptize refers to the outward mode of using water : to which of the modes in tho original command, Numbers 19: 11 — 19, does it answer in signification? Does it answer to perirhraino, to sprinkle around upon, or[to louo — answering to the Hebrew rahats, icash f These arc all tho words that are used, in the original command, to describe the outward act or mode of using water. To which of these original words does bapttizo refer? Which of the two positions will our ojjponents adoi:)t ? Are they not fairly grounded ? and will not their theory overwhelm them in difficulties if they do not speedily abandon it ?" "It is contended," in reference to "review" of Pro- fessor Stuart, "that where the law requires the Jews to ivash — Hebrew rahats and Greek louo — they understood it to mean immerse. To sanction this construction he cites Talmuds and Maimonides ; and he might as well have appealed to Zoroaster and Zendavesta. Why did he not appeal to the Old Testament? This would I;rve settled the question at once." The question is not, how did tho Talmudical writers understand rahats f but, how did the Holy Spirit employjthe word in tho Old Testament Scriptures ? In tho thirtieth chapter of Exodus will be found a description of the brasen laver: "Thou shult make also a lavor of brass, and his foot also of brass to wash withal : and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the con- i! If' if' W fit i ' 148 BAPTISMA ; «tl grcgation and llio ill tar, and thou nhalt put water there- in. For Aaron and his son^s shall wash their feet thereat." The nineteenth verse reads, in the Scptuagint : " And Aaron and his sons shall wash tlieir hands and their feet with icaterfrom it." Kal nlpselal Aaron ka'i hoi wliioi a lit on ch auton tascheiras, kai tous podas hu- dati. The brazen lave:*, loufrra chalkouu, elevated ujion a pedestal of bi-ass would have been a most inconvenient arrangement for bathing the feet, in the mode of dipping them. The sense of the Scptuagint, held to be in strict accordance with the original Ilebi-ew, is most explicit: ek auton — out of it. The act prescribed was to be per- formed with water drawn from that laver.* "It is remarkable," says Thorne, ''that the laws of purification were given to the Hebrews, in a wilderness, where there was compai'atively no water ; and yet what Moses enjoined was never objected to as impos.sible, througli scarcity of Vv'ater." For forty years, in that waste liowling wilderness, washing by immersion, daily, great multitudes of people in water, must have been nt- terly impracticable. VI. PATRISTIC TESTIMONY. The testimony of the /rtf/icrs, in regard to doctrine and rite of the christian church, comes to us in strangely conflicting forms. "I see plainly'," says Chillingworth, an eminent Protestant writer of the 17th century, "that there are Popes against Popes, Councils against Councils, some Fathers against others, the same Fathers against themselves.'' The conflict and confusion of which the * Prof. Wilson, p. 1G9. PATRISTIC TESTIMONY. U\) learned Cliillingwortli became so painfully conscious, in Ills patristic researches, led to his noble axiomatic utterance: — by which Protestantism ought ever to abide: '' The Bible, the Bible alone, is our religion.'' The solo purpose for which patristic testimony is introduced, in common with otiiei' voices of antiquity, to which appeal has been made, is for the light whicli it throws upon the meaning of the word, chiefly in dispu- tation. These Greeks were at home in the lanixuage, to which baptizo belongs; an d th( eir testimony ouglit to be accepted as valid evidence. Clemens of Alexandria was one of the most learned writers of tlic early part of the third century. The great purpose of his teaching, developed in his stromata, was to show that the best elements of Cliristianity had been already in existence in heathen institutions. Penelope "in waters washed" and Telemachus, "having icashed his hands in the hoary sea," cheiras nipsamenos polies halos &c. — Odys. II, 201, ])resented to the mind of Clemens an image of christian baptism: "handed down from Moses to the poets." Clemens also mentions the the customs of the Jews, " oftc- \iptized oni\\Q\v eoueh,'' — which could not mean immersion. Origen, who became Catechist of Alexandria at the commencement of the third century, was one of the most learned of the ante-Niccne Fathers. Most of the fathers were satisfied with the Septuagint, or with Latin trans- lations of the Old Testament, but Origen of Alexandria drank from the pure unsealed fountains ot original truth. In reference to the interrogation of John the Baptist: why baptizcst thou then? Origen, as quoted by Dr. Wall, has the comment : "what makes you think 1^ i 1 1' i 1 ; '1 i 1 ' i f BAPTISSIA ; that Elias when he comes will baptize, who — in Ahabs time — did not baptize, baptizantos, the ivood upon the altar, which required washing in order to be burnt up when the Lord should reveal himself by fire ?" " We here," says Prof. Wilson, "come into contact with the most learned Greek Father, and one of the most accomplished Biblical scholars of the ancient church. Origen knew that Elijah commanded his at- tendants to pour water on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. The author of the Ilexapla had carefully studied his Bible and entered profoundly and minutely into peculiarities of thought and forms of expression. How invaluable the testimony, when a writer, of such un- doubted attainments, identifies the command to pour water upon the icood with a command to baj)tize." — In- fant Bap. p. 370. Cyril of Alexandria, in allusion to ancient purifica- tions, says : " We have been baptized, not with mere water, nor j-et with the ashes of a heifer, but with the Holy Spirit and fire." Strange baptism : that of ashes ! Compared with the well-known passage in Hebrews — " The ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sancti- fied to the purifying of the flesh" — it is perfectly explicable.* * As this chapter passes through the press, at the last moment, I have obtained a glance at a "Review of Baptisma" in which the author complains of torture of Cyril's passage. There was scarce- ly more than an allusion to Cyril's testimony, and therefore hardly room for the perpetration of such injustice. From the work of Conant, to which " review" is chiefly indebted for what is most valuable in its pages, the reviewer quotes the Greek text of Cyril, The vigorous and scholarly President Beecher in the "Biblical Repository, critically expounds the passage ; and if the charge of *' unpardonable torture" had been applied as originally intended to the masterly criticism of Dr. Beecher there might have been, whether sound or otherwise, some sense in it. PATRISTIC TESTIMONY. 151 "Wonder not," said Chrysostom of the golden mouth, " that I call martyrdom a baptism, for there also t?ie spirit descends in rich abundance.'' — Horn. The lan- guage of the eloquent Greek preacher is in pure and per- fect accordance with the inspired account of Pentecostal baptism. " These two baptisms he shed forth from the wound of his pierced side:" Hos duo baptismos de vulnere per- fossi lateris emisit. — Tertullian p. 53*7, Paris. "Baptized a second time with tears:" kai tois dak- rusi baptizomenos ek deuteron. — Clem. Alex. II, 649. Thou seest the power of baptism, baptismatos * * * He will sprinkle upon you clean water : Ehantiei ep humas hudor katharon. — Cyn7 of Jerusalem. " And the very image of baptism, baptismatos, both continually illuminated and saved all Israel at that time, as Paul wrote, and as prophesied Ezekiel, 36 : 25, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and David Ps. 50: 9, sprinkle me with hyssop." — Didymus Alex. tl3. " I know a fourth kind of baptism, that which is by martyrdom and blood, with which Christ himself was baptized; and I know a fifth, the baptism of tears'' — Gregory Naz. 353. "John was baptized, ebaptisthe, by putting his hand upon the divine head of his Master and by his own blood." — John of Damascus. "A passage like this," says Dr. Dale, "as with the strong arms of Manoah's son takes hold ot the pillars of immersion, and shakes them into hopeless ruin." These citations from the Fathers are not made, be- cause of their doctrinal value, or because they exhibit ' 'w :|| 1 \ ir :?i1i:i I? (• l! ii 152 BAPTISMA continuous and consistent patristic view; but because they shew the sense in Avhich the early christian writers un- derstood the Gi'eek vei-b baptlzo, and as evidence that the ancient teachers, when adhering to scriptural phrase- ology, notwithstanding the introduction of baptismal error, represented effusion as the ideal of mode and action in the administration of baptism. The student of this subject can, in "Christie and Patristic Baptism,"* pursue the inquiry. One more tes':imony must close this section. It comes to us from Justin Martyr. He 'was born at the close of the first century, and therefore testifies of Apostolic usage: "Sprinkling with holy water was invented by dcmo7is, in imitation of true bajitism, signified by the prophets (Is. 52: 15; Ezek. 3G: 25), that their votaries might have their pretended purifications by water:" 1. The lustrations of Greek and Eoman worship were believed by Justin to be borrowed from Hebrew purifications: "in imitation of the true baptism signi- fied by the prophets;" and he had considerable warrant for the belief. In the Hebrew scriptures he read of divine requirement : " And a clean person shall take hyssoj), and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, &c." — Numb. 19 : 18. How the lustration was performed by the Romans wo learn from the Man- tuan Bard : "A verdant branch of olive in his hand, He moved around and purified the band ; Slow as ho passed the lusiral waters shed, Then closed the rites &c."—Pitfs Virgil, 229. 2. Ancient applications of water, in religious * Dr. Dale. PATRISTIC TESTIMONY. 153 ceremony, wore all l\y affusion. A small vessel, called tho peranterion, for "sprinkling- with holy water," of wliich Justin Martyr speaks, was kept at the entrance of their temples. Triple aspersion was administered — which was done with a torch, or branch of lani-el or olive." "In the writings of Homer," says Hwing, "Essay on Baptism," "I have not met with a single instance o^ immemon as a religious purification." Many instances arc given of religious application of water — " all by pouring." " The heralds riinged The rites in order. . . . and poured Fresh water on the hands of all the kings." —Cow. II. 298. 3. All these lustrations and purifications, with tho " sprinkling of holy water," in Greek and Eoman ritual* were regarded by the eminent Apologist, Justin Martyr, as "imitations of true baptism:" therefore wo arc warranted in tho inference that early in the second cen- tury, true baptism was administered by sprinkling and pouring. 4. Tho testimony of Justin Martyr, according to Thorn to whom I have been indebted for the closing il- lustration of Patristic exposition, accounts for tho sil- ence of tiio enemies of the Gospel respecting the mode of Christian baptism as administered by the Apostles. f * The heathens themselves had the custom of sprinkling with water those who gave themselves up to the worship of any of their Gods. — Bishop Ileber. The PaganPriest sprinkled the multitude with the holy dew by means of an aspergillium, or light brush. Idem ter socios pura ci cumtulit unda spargens rore levi. — Withrow's Cat. 538. t Page 283. m m I 154 BAPTISM A ; ,. I ; ' 1 5 ' 1 i^ i ■ The fallibility of the Fathers, and their vagaries in regard to baptism, have been emphatically assorted. That they lived to witness and to testify in regard to immersion and other corruptions of the church, we do not for a moment dispute. The position has been taken, by strenuous advocates of immersion, that the Greek verb, means to dip and only to dip through all Greek litera- ture. A single passage from any of these Greek writers, destroys the whole position and completely overturns the argument. A single citation in evidence of patristic use of hap- tizo might have sufficed, but abundantia it has been shewn : Whose are the Fathers ! VII. EPIIESIAN AND EARLY FONTS. The excavations which were commenced in Ephesus in 1863, and which have been largely aided by the funds of the British Government, have resulted in most im- portant discoveries. An account of these excavations and discoveries with numerous and valuable illustra- tions, has just now been published in a splendid and scholarly volume. The work of Mr. Wood has command- ed unqualified approbation. " The Discoveries," says VkVi i\h\Q vQ''!\Q\\Qv mi\i(i British Quarterly, "will occupy a place in the archailogical lore which will hand his name and fame to posterity." Amongst the objects found in digging on the east side of the form was a large basin of stone (breccia'), fifteen feet in diameter, raised upon a pedestal. It is figured in the book, and shews a shallow receptacle for water — about nine inches deep. It is sup- posed by Mr. Wood, whose sagacity and scholarship, tested through many years, have rarely been at fault, iil EPHESIAN AND EARLY FONTS. 155 that it was used in early Christian times for the baptism of converts to Christianity, ar.d houses it as an argu- ment against baptism by immersion up to the third century. As the most recent discovery, and the latest contribu- tion to the elucidation of a controverted subject, that Ephesian baptismal basin, possibly with a history of its own — previous to conversion for use in the Christian Church, it may have been employed for purposes of as- persion in the great Ephesian temple of Diana itself, — has for us a special interest. Evidence from such a dis- covery, if standing alone, could not be much depended upon, except in a very incidental and collateral way ; but it does not, by any means, constitute a solitar}'^ proof. " The baptismal fonts," says Dr. Robinson, " still found among the ruins of the most ancient Greek churches in Palestine, — as at Tekoa and Gophna, and going back apparently to very early times, — arc not large enough to admit of the baptism of adult persons by immersion ; and were obviously never intended for that use." — See Bibl. Ees. The fonts of the early pure centuries of the church, afford no evidence of immersion. It is, of course, only the most ancient baptismal fonts, carrying us back to usages of the Apostolic Church, that can possibly pos- sess any value in this inquiry. No one doubts that im- mersion, with many other corruptions, came into the church in the fourth century, and for such administra- tion deeper fonts or tanks would be demanded. The earliest traces of baptismal fonts, and in the earliest Mosaics representing baptismal scenes, the mode of administration invariably is that of affusion. — Cat. 540. Eusebius speaks of baptisteries without the church i' !* i II 150 BAPTISMA ; ilJ I'l a' "for those wlio require yet the ])uriHeation and sp7'in!i- lings of water and the Holy Si)irit." — Ec. His. Tlicre is a marble fountain in tlio ery])ts of St. Prisca, of wiiicdi Rev. W. IF. With row ,i:;ives an excol- lont engraviuLT, whicli, according to (i-adilion, was used for baptismal purposes l*}^ Ht. Peter. Tradition and in- scription attest its extreme antiquity ; and " its l)asin is quite too small even for infant immersion."-. Cat. 537. The earliest representation of baptism which is known to exist is the fresco from tlic ccmeteiy of St. Calixtus, at Home. '-It is believed," says Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, for which the picture has been engraved, " to be of the second century y The mode represented is that of '^ jwurijiy water from the hand, or from a small vessel in the hand, upon a person standing in shallow water.' ' An elaborate effort has been made by the able but erratic llobinson, in his " History of Baptism," to obtain evidence from the practice of the early pure ages, in favour of immersion. According to his own acknowl- edgement, " there were no baptistries within the churches till the sixth century. '' "Any one" says Thorn, " has only to read Robin- eon's History of Baptism, and he will presently discover the difficulty the writer labours under, the shifts and contrivances he is obliged to make, and, as pronounced by comj^etent authority, the 2'^fV(^}'sio7is he sometimes disj)lays in order to present anything like precedent for the practice of his fraternity. In fact he has indirectly established our view of the case. For justly considering carved work and pictures of baptism made at the time, the surest criterion of ancient modes and ceremonies, he ORIENTAL EVrDENCE. 157 but jtuin in iiowl- Iho obin- C'over ; and mcccl times nt for ■GCtly cring time, OS, lie lias licon at consideraMc pains and expense to procure enow/'s a little of the element on liis head." Kobinson, aecordini;- to the latest published estimate of his work '' n-ill be aec'e))ted hy all as i^ood aiithorit}' upon ancient baptisteries," — tliat is of fonts and rites after the introduction of immersion and other superstitions into tlie ceremonial of Clu'istian baptism. But Hobinson's evidence has no more to do with the ear- ly ?//?ro;T?//>fr(Z age of Christianity than to use his own plirase the first verse of first Chronicles: "Adam, Sheth, Enosh." VIII. ORIENTAL EVinENCE. " AYithout any literary apparatus," writes an Ame- rican missionary, from Constantinople, in 1849, " I luxvo for many j-ears felt confident that the Apostles and primitive Christians did not baptize by immersion. I do not find in the climate, dress or social customs of the East anything to lead to immersion for baptism — though their religious customs might have led to it. The geography of Palestine is much opposed to its having been the prevailing custom. The only river with water in it, the whole year, is the Jordan. The Arish south of Gaza has no water in it for part of the year.. The houses of ancient Jerusalem, as appears by the ruins of the city, had cisterns and 710^ tanks.- People would not be allowed to defile the water in the large reservoirs by being bathed for immersion — as on the day of Pentecost. In various places, on the roads in Pales- tine, are to be found w^ells, fifteen feet deep, with steps 'I It' It 158 baptisma; to go down to them, foi' tlio purpose of supplying travel- Ici'.s. It is by Ji flight of steps thjit one arrives at tho pool of Siloani. In the Quarantine at Jaffa we descended to the well by a flight of forty steps. Towards Enon, near Salem, in a company of twenty-flve horsemen, wo pressed on to reach it by night. Wo wished to encamp there because there was much ivate?', or many waters, for ourselves and horses. The cliffs around have several " eyes" or springs that give out little driblets of water. How absuid that John, wherever ho was, baptizing by immersion, went to l*]non because it was only there that Jic could get cnougli. As to the "man^^ waters" or viuch water, "it is equivalent to the phrase Saratoga waters, as often used for the springs. We say in Turkey of a hill near Constantinople, where are scattered several springs: There are many waters there — alwaj's using the plural." In addition to these inferences from the geography and customs of Palestine, wo have the evidence of im- portant philological fact : It is generally understood that the language spoken in Judea, at the period of the Saviour's ministry was not the (Ireek of the Now Testa- ment, but a mixed dialect of Syriac and Chaldaic. In this language, the language of the common people of ^Syria, the language of the people to whom John admin- istered baptism, tlie language in wb" ' ' aviour taught the people, the languago it, w' '>ly, tho Apostles received their comni , -vor or bap- tize is taken from a Hebrew wo i '' to 6 .ad, tu continue to subsist, &c." " We come almost ocossarily," gays Professor Stuart, " to the conclusion, then, inasmuch as ihe Syriac has an appropriate woi-d which signifies t< ORIENTAL EVIDENCE. 159 (lii), i)lun<^o, iinmcrso, and yot it is 7icucr employed in the Poshito, that tho translator did not doom it important to de.si<^nato any particular modeot' baptism ; but only to designate the rite by a term wliii-h evidently appears to mean confirm^ establish, &e." '^•^ And, not only in '' the lands of the Bible," and in the language of the pco])le, but, in the traditions of Johannic Baptism, as perpetuated in Eastern religious rite, ■wo find incidental illustration of the New Testa- ment mode of baptism' " Wc have an instance," says Jiichard Watson, in Theological Institutes, '' in the cus- toms of a pcojile of Mesoi)otamia, mentioned in tho Journal of Wolfe the missionary. This sect of Christians call themselves the followers of John the Baptist. Among other questions, Mr. Wolf inquired respecting their mode of baptism, and was answered: the priests or bishop baptize children thirty days old. They take the child to the banks of the river and the priest sprinkles the element upon the child. Mr. Wolfe asks, AVhy baptize in rivers ? An- swer : Because St. John the Baptist baptized in the river Jordan. Thus wo have in modern times river-baptism without immersion." f The iihiof value of this fact of modern administration, and that for which it has mainly been adduced, is to prove that in the East baptism at a river does not — nume- rous affirmations to the contrary notwithstanding — necessarily imply immersion. Thus, again, vvc obtain — as of incidental and col- lateral value, — a threefold testimony. The voice of the missionary — after observation of Syrian modes of life ; * Page 363. t Volume 12, page 277. m if ill if m! 1 i .;i 'I I 4 I baptis-ma; the voice of language — the sj^occli of the 83'rian people, as represented by the fSyriac Version ; the voice of Johannic rite — the perpetuation of immemorial Syrian traditions — atford evidence in favor of affusion. These also ayrce in one. 0. ClITTRCH Ol' THE CATACOMBS. "Among the cultivated gi-ounds," says the Poet Prudentius, quoted by Itev. AV. II. Wit brow, in his ex- liaustive and schohirly book on tbe " Catacombs of Eome," " lies a deep crypt with dark recesses. On all sides spreads the densely-woven lab\'rinth of patbs, branching into caverned chapels and sepulchral halls ; and througboutthe subterranean maze, through frequent openings penetrates the light." These immense excavations, galleries and deep caverned recesses, from which stones and sand had been dug for building the streets and palatial structures of tro[)hied P^ne, were in days of persecution the refuge of early Christians, where tens of tbousands of the fol- lowers of Christ lived and died, and wjiere it has been cstimatc'l that not less than/o(/r millions, many of them forming part of the noble army of martyrs " found cemetery.'' For a thousand years the catacombs were closed. In the sixteenth century the ancient galleries were opened and explored in search of evidence for discussion upon relies — then a question of exciting interest. The explorers were employed as tli cy traversed the vaults and galleries of this subterranean city. TI 2y found marble records, carved slabs, and sculptured sarcophagi : witnesses from the purest days of the church j and after CHURCH OP THE CATACOMBS. tffi H >le, 5 of •ian icsc Poet i ex- )s of n all aths. Kills ; ij^uent deep ll been res of of age ic fol- been them found t'loscd. were lussion The I vaults found bhagi : id after the long silonco of centuries still eloquent in their testi- mony for the truth. The deepest and mo.st distant caverns and intricate labyrinths were of course the abode of the church in the days of severest trial, and therefore of greatest puritj* : to the testimony of these most ancient records, rude and simple though they might be, and of little value as works of art, we accord the very highest and most dis- tinguished recognition. It is with no ordinary interest that we descend into those subterranean abodes. Here we worship with the primitive church. Wo are not far away from the A|)09- tolic age. We mingle with them in sacred service. Wc meet them in Eucharistic solemnity. We decij)hei' the record of their faith. We are in immediate contact with scenes of baptismal administration. What then in the testimony of the pure primitive church, and of the "early unconscious irt-rocord," in regard to christian baptism? There could be no possibility of tampering with this testimony-: and whatever its voice may btv the result must be inevitably accepted. During the dark ages monks were not unfrequejitU- employed, in the scriptorium, in erasing the words of inspiration tVohi ancient and valuable Greek manuscripts. But dui-ii^ all these centuries there were witnesses for the truth carefully concealed in cavei'ued recesses and subterra- nean silence. For a thousand 3'oars their lips were sealed, and now when their voice of attestation is needed, we find ourselves in direct communication with the ancient church, of the Catacombs: rich in chriMilan remains and " eloquent in the mute, marble records cif the young ages of th« ♦aith." I' « 1U2 BAPTISM a; Following the guide, into those deep and tangled labyrinths, we are conseioiis that the system of doctrine in relation to the christian baptism contended for in these pages is about to be subjected to a decisive test; but on the side of truth there can be no fear for the result. We have no dread of a conflict of testimony. Tae labyrinths and recesses of the Catacombs are deep and intricate; but in their remains and records we are brought into immediate contact with the purest period of the church. Kven without the aid ol an ft CH: I ^t 1 ii i! 1 ARIADNE THREAD, we may, in search of evidence, fearlessly traverse the maxe and winding passages of ciypt and cavern. "The testimony o^ ihe Catacombs respecting the mode of baptism, as far as it extends, is strongly in favor of aspersion or atfusion. All their pictured repre- sentations of the rite indicate this mode, for which alone the early fonts seem adapted ; nor is there any early art evidence of baptismal immersion. It seems incredible, if the latter were the original and exclusive mode, of Apostolic and of Divine authority, that it should have left no trace in the earliest and most unconscious art- i-ecoid; and have been supplanted therein by a new /UDScriptural and unhistoric method. It is apparent, indeed, from the writings of the fourth and tifth century, that many corrupt and unwarranted Ullages were intro- duced in coimection with thiis Christian ordinance that ^eatly marred its beauty and simplicity. It is un- questionable that, at that time, baptism by immersion was jii'ttctised with many superstitious and unseemly rites. But in the evidences of the Catacombs, which are the the tne CllURCQ OF THE CATACOMBS. 163 testimony of an earlier and ])iirer period, there is no indi- >mtion of this mode of baptism.'' — Withrow's Catacombs, 535. There are, in the ancient Catacombs, the tombs of ]\\'0}fhytes, that is baptized persons — one of w hich, ••'Candidas the neophyte, who lived twenty months: " — " Flavia Jovina, who lived three years and thirty days, a neoph^'te, in peace: " — •' Innocentia Preditus who lived six years, eight months, eleven days:" '-the well de- serving necjphyte Roman us, who lived eight years and fifteen days, he rests in peace." The following resume, says Mr. Withrow, of the principal patristic evidence is corroborated by the testi- mony of the Catacombs. Justin Martyr, about A. D. 148, speaks of persons sixty and seventy years old who had boon made discii)les of Christ {ematheteathesan — the very word employed in Matthew xxviii, 19) in their infancy. Irenajus expressly speaks ol ' infants, little ones, children, j'outh, and the aged, as regenerated unto God,' which phrase he elsewhere applies to baptism; Infantes et 'parvulos, et pueros, et Juve7ies, et seniores, Tertullian, indeed, in the third century, recommends the delay of baptism, especially in the case of infants: Cunctatio baptismi utilior est, pro'cipuc tamen circa parvulos — an indication of the Montanist heresy, into which ho fell, which regarded post-baptismal sins as inexpiable. The practice, however, continued, and Origen expressly asserts that little children wer^j^'Tbaptized for the remis- sion of sins Parvuli baptizmitu' in remissioncm pecca- torum — which custom, he says, the Church handed down from the Apostles : Ecclesia ab apostolis traditionem. suscepit. When the question arose, in ti.e third century, not whether baptism should be administered to infants, "it li pr' lG-4 BAl'TISMA; It iltit Mi but vvliethcr il s^hoiihl l.o adniiniHtercd before the eighth day, Cyprian and a CVmiucH of sixty-six African bisiiop?* unanimously decided that the right should be dcn'od to none, ever; in earliest infancy: Unlvers'i. potiun judica- vimus nulU homhium nato misericordiam JJei. et gratiam defie;/andani. * And this.' say.s Augustine, 'is no new doctrine, but of Apostolic authority': JVec omnino c?r- denda. nisi Apoatolica esse traditio. The later Fathers abound in similar testimonies. The infant childien of heathen converts were baptized immediately, and the older ones when instructed. The prevalence of the Montanist heresy, which regarded as inexpiable all sins committed after baptism, led many to prsfpone its recep- tion, although this practice was strongly censured bv the Church."^' * It has been objected to resume in reference to Origen that it possesses no value — that little children, parvuli, are said to hare been baptized. But the context abundantly and incontestably proves that the reference of this eminent Greek Father was to children from their infancy. The question in contention was not that of baptism, but of original sin : Addi his et: \rn illud potest, ut reqniratur quid causoe sit, cum baptisma ecclesioe in remissionem peccHtorum detur, secundum ecclesiae observantiam etiam parvulis quoc ad remissionem deberct et indulgentiam pertinere gratia baptism! superflua videretur. — Horn, in Levit. " Besides all this it may be learnt since the baptism of the Church is given for the remission of sins, why, according to the usage of the Church, is it likewise given to little children? Whereas if there was no- thing in little children that needed remission and mercy, the grace of baptism would be superfluous to them." Parvuli (says Origen in a Homily on Luke) baptizantur in remissionem peccatorum. Quoram peccatorum? ml nuo tempore peccaverunt? Aud auomodo potest uUa lav. !ilh'parvulis ratio subsistere, nisi juxta lam sensum de quo pauioiMiw diximns ; nullus mundus a lorde nee si unius diei quidem fuerit vita ejus super terrain; Kt quia per baptismi sacramentum nativitatus sordes deponuntur propterea baptzantur et parvuli. — Horn, in Luc. "Little children are bap- tized for the forgiveness of sins. Of what sins? Or when did they commit them? Or how can any reason be given for baptiz- ing them but only according to that sense which v/e mentioned a CONTROVERSY ANL CRITICISM. 165 We have, therefore, le.stimony fi-om the early chris- tian tombs of the most positive and exi)res8 kind ; and in perfect consonance with the clear teachings of the word of God. '•A glow of fellow>hip with the tirst believers," says Rev. William Arthur, eloquently deciphering for us the old records, " lights up our very soul. Antiquity is on our side. Chuich of the Catacombs! thou ai't our Church. Martyrs of the Catacombs ! we are partakers with you of like precious faith ; 3our Loid is our Lord, youi' faith is our iaith, your bajjtism is our baptisDi. We exult in the sense of our oneness with Christ's eailiest followers " : — CORPUS IN CHRISTO UNUM SUMUS. ■ |] 'ik i CHAPTER IX. CONTROVERSY AND CRITICISM. ^^ And the contention was sharp heiween them, that they parted asunder one from the other." — Ads of the Apostles. " To avoid the subject, because it is controversial, is neither honest nor wise." — Bev. J. C. Ryle. little before? None ia free from pollution though his life be but the length of one day upon the earth ; and for that reason infants are baptized, because by the sacrament of baptism the pollution of our bi th is taken away." The question in dispute was that of original sin, and affirma- tive argument was based upon the admitted practice^ of infant baptism ; and, even were other patriotic writers all silent on tiie subject, this testimony, of an incidental kind, would warrant belief and assertion in regard tu the usage of tho Apost jliu age and of the early church. li R '! !' 166 BAPTISMA ; il'fi'^ 11 If i 1 ■ ; "I '* One ofihfm has stated in a very few words the entire basis of their system; the acceptation of the Greek word — the circwm.' stances of our Lord's baptism — those of the Eunuch — allusion in Romans to a burial — this is in fact the whole.*' — Thorn. ArgurnentH and ideas ex adverso, in their usual spirit and accustomed form of intolerance and exclusivenoss — marshalled for the controversial arena — flanked and supported in imposing arraj' by united and combined resources — elaboi-ated and consolidated through all the year between, have been reproduced in permanent form : and Bdptifiina has had to bear the brunt of potent publi- cation. A few of the sheets only belonging todiftercnt chap- ters, — floating incidentally and unexpectedly upon some passing brec/e — as they fell from the press, dropped at my feet. It would not perhaps be deemed unfair to accept these fugitive pages, upon the average, as fair and respectable representatives of review attempt as a whole : Ex una disce omnes. Whatever may be the incidents or exigencies of local agitation, however, th? main points at issue are the same thiough all the range of baptismal disputation. In every extension and direction of latitude and longi- tude they are to be determined by one meridian. The aim has been, throughout the following series of disqui- sitions, to select passages of widely rei)resentative in- terest; and to deal chiefly with forms and phases of the subject which, at nearly every point, in season and out of season, have been prominently and pertinaciously pressed to the front. The discussion, of necessity, as in every such essay, must take us beyond the domain of Inspiration and the direct teaching of God's infallible word — to w'hich legi- timately this question belongs. CONTROVERSY AND CRITICISM. 167 ;;{^; There are, it will bo found, certain considorations of merely collateral interest to which controversialists have accorded conspicuous recognition ; and which, on that account, claim a somewhat close and searching scrutiny-. The Ileview, as rej)resented by fujitirc sheets, amply sufficient for the purpose, is largely composed of quotations — bad, good and indifferent. But, charactw- istically and conspiciously, it is deficient and defective in the quality and quantity of inspired Jicta probantia : and the paucity and poverty of positive and authoritivo scriptural teaching are barely concealed and but ill- protected by flimsy arr.iy and the thin disguise of varied and multifarious quotations: "to the law and the testimony." Through the several sections of this chapter, as indicative of the standpoint occupied, a passage or more has been selected from some standard author upon the subject; and, then, from review^ follows the paragraph by which the question for discussion is directly intro- duced. ■J i !' \l I. BAl'TISMA. " It fortifies my soul to know That though I perish, Truth is so : I steadier step when I recall That if I slip, Thou dost not fall." —A. IL Clongh. ** It may be surprising to sonio to see so large a book written as a review of so small a work as Baptisma." — Review. The substance of Baptisma — which has provoked the spirit of criticism and led to the publication of a " review " — was preached to my own congregation, pub- lished by request, inscribed " to the young people of my I ■ ,1 ;' li 168 BAPTISMA ; own charge " — nearly One Hundred of whom, at that timo had been upon profession of laith publicly received into communion with the Church. They were eonse- it beneath the swirling waters, never to rise again ; but CLASSlr. 171 tliat signiticanc'o of mode cloes not wuroly moot tlie do- THundH, or watisfv tho exoi'etical noco.ssitics of nuxlern immersion. ii: ■if If mode must bo stronously insisted upon as the dis- tinctive idea ol haptizo, it would be easy to siiow that many passages sink, soak, drown, riiicipal of interpretation by which the use of the verb, in such a connection, can "-^nsis- tently with its higher New Testament sense, bo vindi- cated ; and which would account for its use by inspired writers. But if the purely modal idea must press its claims the passage attbrds no warrant lor immersion ; and if it did it would only prove that immersion was de- struction. The animals, however, were not taken to the Nile; but the swollen waters of the Nile swept over the animals. The object was not put beneath the ele- ment. It was the element overflowing the object. .i ii the leight over- aptiz- \oii of [ear to an bo A passage from Josophus, in like manner, has fre- quently been cited and reiterated as incontestable proof of the modal significance of the Greek verb; and yet close scrutiny of the case leads us to just the opposite conclusion. Effect and not mode is the governing prin- ciple of the word as employed in lluU narrative. The historian of the Jewish wars describes the foul 'leath of the 3'outhful high-piiest, Aristobolus : •' Sent by night to Jericho, and there he died, being baj)tized, haptiz ^mienos, by the Galatians in a pool." It might have been argued with fair shew of probability, had thi.i been the solitary account of the high priests' death, that he had been plunged by the Galatians into the deep ]XK)1 ; M 176 BAPTISM A ; 1) and that tho fatal immei>ion was in action the baptism of Aristobuluf*. Eiit in the " An(!<[uities " of Josophus there arc some additional details of that murderous deed : " Fre^stiKj him down ahvav^ as he was swimming. and baptlziivj him as in wport. " Thieo thinnvic- ako in word. t, f^en- \,t p»"<>- t may Lanl to fbe ftflj'- >es the ,i\l say ^vater. I not im- In that Sybillinc lino, cited by Plutarch there is nothing about '' recently pressed beneath the water." That expression and the idea which it carries arc pure assump- tion. Two things are affirmed by the oracle : the bladder floating upon the water could 7iot possibly sink ; and that bladder, over which curling waves wei'C sending thcil* drenching spray, was baptized. There was baptism ; but no sink, no soak — no immersion. There are two principles of interpretation, bear in mind, applied to haptizo in classic literature : 1. That of the immcr«ionist who contends for im- mersion without exception — that is plunged into icatcr : Less than this cannot satisfy the demand, or justify the assumptions, of an exclusive system. Two classes of examples from classic Greek very eft'ectually dispose of this tlieory and its magnificent pretensions: A class of passages in which baptizo is applied to vessels; and which, upon that principle of inter])retation, sinks them beneath the troubled wave and leaves them to rot in the deep waters. Qui nimium probat, nihil probat.^-^^ In passages of various signification : the sword of Ajax baptized with blood flowing from the neck of Cleo- bulus — the bladder, that could not jwssibly sink, baptized by the spray of the breaking sea- wave — the baptism of "all Asia:" not plunged by the conqueror into the Gulf of Argolis ; but " subjected to a new state or condition of things by a triumphant victory which gave Greece a controlling influence over Asia" — the boy baptized by bewildering questions — passages too mimerous to be cited demonstrate the fallibility of the iramersioniet * " lie who proves too much, proves nothing." D« ; i :;'. ji' 1 c 118 BAPTISMA ; principle of intcrprotiition. Tn fact the chief Baptist scholar, from whom the reviewer cites his most valuahle passages, in contention for dipping as the supreme ideal of baptizo lias only ventured in some six or seven passa- ges to translate dip. " That any Baptist writer, thoroughly committed to dipping, should he unahle to introduce the woixl, 07i which his system hangs, in more than one passage in twen- ty, is a fact which, of itself, suggests the gravest doxiht about the justness of the translation in any case'' 2. A more rational theory, in regard to classic ^japtizo claims that " the master-key" of interpretation is not mode of action, hut the effect jiroduccd : that the demand for "completely changed condition," as an cs sential idea, is abundantly met hy any mode, and through an}" competent agency. Proof of this position, clear intelligible and satisfying, has been furnished in a pre- vious chapter; and every example cited by the reviewer, from Conant, in a most decisive maimer, affirms and illustrates this principle of interi)retation. '' In the classic," f^;a3's the veteran Professor Hodge, — the Nestor of modern Theology, — " in the Septuagint and Apocryphal writings of the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and in the writings of the Fathers, the words bapto and baj^tizo, and their cognates, are used wiih such latitude of meaning as to prove the assertion that the command, to baptize is a command to immerse, to be utterly unauthorized ar,! unreasonable."* One or two of the citations demand special notice because of the Greek construction: " Since the mass of iron drawn red hot from the furnace is baptized uitli icater: bajytizetai hudati, (£'0." Conant followed by review- • Systeoiatic Theology, vol. 3 : p. 526. i-rt CLASSIC. 179 list ible deal issa- itted I, 071 wen- dcniht lassie tation at the an cs iroiigh clear, a prc- iewcr, [is and [lodge, uagint n the }rs, the ic used Ucrtion Inncrse, I notice Imtiss of cd tvitli review- er, has "plunged in water;" but unquestionably the verb haptizo and the dative of the instrument demand " baptized icith water." Had the Greek author intend- ed to convey the idea of plunging, the verb baptizetai would have been followed by eis to hudor. Two methods of cooling and tempering iron and steel are resorted to in the forge. The accusative with the preposition would have conveyed the notion of applying the iron to the water; but the tiude dative, /m^/a^/, signifying the in- strument, applies the water to the " mass of iron," and the fiery glow is " quenched ivith water." Another example. A citation from .E.so])s Fables, through Conant, because of a similar construction claims recognition: "And dipping tow in oil, i^c." The cor- rect translation of the passage : kai stupeion claii) bapti- sas, &c., would be " and baptising the tow with oil."^^^ "Here we have," says reviewer, in exposition of the Greek extract, the dative daio without the preposi- tion en, and it is correctly translated in oil, and no true Grecist will translate it any other way. In Luke ;} : 1(>, we have the dative hiidati without the preposition en and it must bo translated in water." It must be translated in water f It 7nust be!" con- tends this latest representation of Baptist scholarship, " It 7nust be !" Hear this, yo shades of the mighty dead, departed scholars, venerated translators ! Ye invai-iably rendered the dative of the instrument, in'all these pas- * For the benefit of the reader who understands Greek, the original text of Conant's extract is reproduced. Unfortunately we are unable to furnish the passage as it luis been quoted : the typographical resources by which tliis publication is limited, do not admit of the use of Greek character. In tliis edition of Jiap- iisma the reader must be satisfied with the Roman letter ; and in most cases the familiar form will be most welcome. To students of Greek text, another class of books will be available. 180 BAPTISMA ; r:i'! I" ■)) ■ 'i II : I I II: I I ill I lid eagCH, " icith water and with the Holy Ghost and fire ;" " but no true Greeist will translate it" thus: Yo were not true Grecists! Your Oxford and Cambridge scholar- ship must all go for nothing. " It must be translated in water." It is to be hoped that the voice of a true Greeist will penetrate the Jerusalem chamber, and that the learned men who are engaged in the Revision of the English Bible will hear and heed ! It may not be wise, liowever, to hold out any delusive hope. The reviewer may rest assured that no such canon of interpretation, as that which he claims, can bo adopted in revision ; and if hudati must be translated '' in water," he may as well go in for an immersionist Bible of his own. As only the very strongest case can justify the un- qualified assertion of the reviewer, and as we may take it for granted that all the force of the immersionist ar- gument is to be encountered at this point, let us examine the position a little more closely. The passage from ^sop may be collated with one of similar construction from Ezekiel: "I anointed thee with oil." There is the same structural expression. There is in each passage the dative of the instrument. Must the text in Ezekiel be rendered "moil?" The anointing of oil, which was done by pouring is perfectly compatible with the sense of the expression; but a "soaA' in oil" would not be a pleasant experience. The translation of en hudati, " with water," and still more imperatively dees the 7iude dative picss its claims for the same form of expression, has been fully discuss- ed in an earlier chapter. A review of the subject has tended to deepen the conviction of the validity of that reasoning : CLASSIC. 181 ." liono linted sion. \ment. The :ectly still laims 5CUSS- [i has that 1. It is grammatically accurate : The preposition governs the dative of the instrument, and by an impera- tive law of construction, claims the rendering " ivith water." 2. It harmonises with A/sfo/7> fact: the Spii'it was 2)0iired out, the fire streamed down ; and thei'cfore it was baptism ivith the Holy Ghost and tire. 3. Theological dcfinitencss of idea and expression demands the ai)plication of the clement to baptized per- sons: '' To represent the Holy (ihost as the passive re- cipient of the souls of men baptized within it is an error subversive of his divinely revealed ojffiee and icork as the Agent ever active in applying to the souls of men the fruits of redeeming love." Thus an essential law jf grammatical construction, an important historic statement, and a principle of sound Scriptural exegesis, meet in distinct accord. Fact, philosophy and structural expression, through classical and Biblical literature, are in perfect consonance. These agree in one. NOTE. In the closing chapter of Baptisma, the conclusions of Dr. Dale have been very fully accepted. "The au- thor" says " Watchman and Reflecter" (Ba])tist) "shews m largo acquaintance with liis subject." " It is." says Dr. Cummings, late President of Middlctown Univer- sity, "the most exhaustive discussion of the topic that I have ever met with." " More and more of late," says Dr. Pluraer of Columbia Theo. Sem., '-our Ba])tist brethren have appealed to philology. 1 have wondered at this: There is no weaker point in (he argument t tl • i i '1 k'My\ li^']' y. ■'■( 182 BAPTISMA .i ' \ li t: I Ji' if' for their pi'uctice — as Scapula's lexicon Avould enable any one to nee— as Dr. Dale has proved beyond all reason- able doubt." "1 can truly say," writes Dr. Smith, Union Thco.Sem., " that for thorougb investigation, clear and logical discussion, scholarly and discriminating ex- egesis, few works have ever afforded mo as much un- minglcd satisfaction. Dr. Dale has succeeded in over- throwing the immcrsionist stronghold; and, while the course of reasoning and investigation is thorough and conclusive, the style, in courtesy and good humor, pre- sents a most incomparable specimen of polemical dis- cussion." AVcre it necessary whole ])agcs might be occupied with testimonies and statements of a similar character, from the most eminent scholars of all denom- inations. In addition to classic usage, several patristic citations have been made from Dr. Dale. ]\Iy own librar}' con- tains only a very limited selection of Patristic works ; and 1 have been compelled to take these passages at second hand. It will be assuring to know, upon the best authority, that Dr. Dale obtained from Paris the original works of the Fathers to the end of the fourth century; and that, therefore, thetpiotations are thorough- ly reliable. In regard to a quotation from Cyril which, in Bap- tisma, was (pioted from Dr. Beccher, the accuracy of which has heen challenged. Dr. Dale, in a private com- viunication, writes : 1. "I limited my investigation (of the Fathers) to the first four centuries : Cyril of Alexandria comes in the fifth century, and I had not his work. The quotation from Cyril was not made by mo from the original ; but AN UNCANOMZED CANON. 183 at was taken from President Beeelier, otlionvisc I would have made the citation more full — as many mi,i,dit suppose that there was antai,^onism and contradiction between bebaptismetha and crrhantismetha. This how- ever is not the case. I have since examined the origin- al. It reads thus: liduseijs de jmeuma, dv'," ^^ 2. ]n explanation of the passage in question Dr. Dale writes : "Cyril speaks of three baptisms : (1) by bare water, this was not christian i.e. patristic baptism; (2) sprinkled heifer ashes, sprinkling is not here in op- position to baptizing, but states the manner in which the ashes were applied to effect baptism ; (3) by water, to Avhich the Holy Spirit was applied." Cyril in effect sa3^s, as Dr. Murray the correspon- dent of Dr. Dale construes the text, "I was not baptized w4th sprinkled ashes but with something better." III. AN UNCANONIZED CANON. " Classical usage can never bo certain in respect to the meaning of a word in the New Testament Who does not know that a multitude of Greek words liere receive their color- ing from the Hebrew, and not from the Greek Classics ?" — Professor iiluart. I S'fc- s) to es in ation but The contention, throughout the '• Review" of" Bap- tisma," as an " accepted Canon of Criticism," in the in- terpretation o^ baptisma and baptlzo^ is for " native sig- nification" '' classic Greek" and '• primary literal mean- ing. * The whole passage from Cyril, cited from tlic original text, is contained in Dr. Dale's communication; but, as Greek charac- ter has not been used in this book, its rci)roduction, in the same form, cannot be made. 184 llAPTISMA ; • '^ ' ai)tist 10 EoCor- roduccd robably, m:" "I rlitha^e :>us ehold and I Bishop ly! 374: |il; they )rcharcVs TESSELATEI) QUOTATION. 19'J 1. Tho "voice" of Cyril, Bishop of Jcnisulem ia the •tartiiii;; ])oint of ;i chain of testimony which profoHses to go baciv to the First Century: it helcni^s to the end of the Fourth Century. Tlic chain in vastly too short. It wants many a solid link l)of()re it can 1)0 made to stretch back to the staple-ring of tho First Century. 2. If the "voice" ofCyi-il, Bishop of Jerusalem, constitute a valid testimony, it goes to prove that, in dropping the oil and in abandoning the triune dip, tho immersionists of the present time are exceedingly degenerate. Would it not bo expedient to return to the unction and to resume tho threefold plunge ? 3. The voice of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, is in striking accordance with the facts of ef-clesiastical his- tory : immersion was introduced into tho administration of Christian Baptismal a time when allegory, symltol and superstition fairly ran riot in fantastic and unsoomly rite. To represent the putting olV the body of sin, the nudity leading to great scandal, men and icovicn icere completely divested of their elothes. Exorcism, unction insullhition, lighted tapers and other acc(mi]»animent8 were added to the administration of the baptismal onli- nance. The descent of three stc])s into the baptistery came in time to represent renunciation of the world, the flesh and the devil. The second " voice of history and scholarship" if* that of Tertullian, a Latin writer of tho early part of the third century : " Then we are three times immersed (Dc/imc ter mergitamur) answering somewhat more than the Lord proscribed in the Gosj)el," i. e. the three timoH is somewhat more, &c — Soldier's Crown, Conanf. 1 ^.\ 200 BAPTISMA The whole passage from Tertullian may with ad- vantage be reproduced: Denique ut a baptismate ingrediar, aquamadituri, ibi- dem, sed et aliquanto prius in eeclcsia sub antistitis manu contestamur, nos renunciaro diabolo, et porapoe angelus ejus. Dehinc ter mergitamur amplius aliquidrespondentes, quam Dominus in Evangelio determinavit. Inde suscepti lactis et mellis concordiam prcegust amus : exque ea die lavacro quotidiano per totam hehdomadam abstinemus, — Be Cor. Milit. Fol. Ed. p. 331. 1. We have the frank confession of Tertullian that the practice of triune mmersion was "7/iore than the Lord proscribed in the Gospel." Knowing as we do, that Ter- tullian used the Old Latin Bible, in which immersion is never found, we are able to measure accurately the dis- tance of departure from the Lord's teaching. 2. This Carthaginian Presbyter, not long after his conversion from paganism, went over to the Montanist heresy : all post-baptismal sins inexpiable — the essence of baptismal regeneration and the fruitful source of error in the church. 3. Tertullian adds in explanation of the famous passage : on triune dipping, oblations for the dead, the sign of the cross — crucis signaculo and other corruptions : " For these and such like rules if thou requirest a law in the scriptures, thou shalt find none. * Very decisive is the voice of Tertullian, but adverse to the exclusive claims of immersion, for abstinence from washing, for oblations for the dead, for the sign of the cross, there is no law of scripture. * Harem et aliarum cjusmodi disciplinarium silegem ezpostu- les scripturarum, nullum invenies. — De Cor. Milit. TESSELATED QUOTATION. 201 irith ad- turi, ibi- is manu angeUis ondentes, suscepti ca die nemuSf — Uaii that t tho Lord that Ter- ncvsion is Y iho dis- after his ontanist io essence 1 source of 10 famous dead, the Iruptions : lest a law it adverse Abstinence 10 sign of tm expoatu- 4. When Tertullian followed the law of scripture, he spoke of aspersion of water in baptism.* In consequence of the place which Tertullian holds in the list of ancient authorities, first in order of time, considerable attention has been devoted to his testi- mony. In regard to these early writers, and to subsequent citation of authorities, wo have the assurance, which needs however to be taken cum ^rano, "that all are genuine, ■ and that " each witness is unquestionable authority." 1. Many ol the testimonies are specially exception- rable : They came to us through the pages of Conant and other writers of the same denomination. It has gener- ally been found that immersionist streams, more than other waters, take touch and tinge from soils and shores which they wash and lave. 2. We cannot be certain in regard to some of these testimonies and more especially to several citations of previous chapters, that an isolated and slender quota- tion does justice to the opinions of the writers. Theo- phylact, the Bulgarian Bishop of the 12th Century — Moses Maimonides, the Egyptian Physician, also of the 12th Century : dark ages, too late by many Centuries, of the Church have been patiently explored in search of evidence for immersion — Theodore Beza, tho successor of John Calvin at Geneva — Andrew Schott, the learned German Classicist — Herman Witsius of Utrecht and Leydon — Prof. Eosenmiiller, the erudite Leipzig scholar and theologian — " the accredited historians and scholars of all ages :" authorities cited at various points, as well as in general summary, are not of a character and standing • Periginem acquae. — De Faintentia 6. I 1 1 i 202 ^APTISMA ; to warrant uncoromoniou3 introduction and matter of course quotation. It cannot be expected that extracts from rare and in many cases almost inaccessible books, will be taken for granted and pass unchallenged — as if fi'om the fiimiliar pages of Lord Macaulay's Ilistory or John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. 3. The reviewer, in multifarious citation, plods imtienlly in the beaten path of laborious predecessors — whose '' clouds of witnesses," in various shapes have brought scorn and contempt to the whole system of tes- timony. In some cases the writers quoted, though esteemed theologians and divines of their several churches, had no competent acquaintance with the con- troverted jioints of Christian baptism : in others the fragments are wrenched from their original connect' on, and are made to speak in flat contradiction to the promul- gated opinions of the writers on that veiy subject ; in not a few instances the passage cited was at best an incidental expression : reflecting fancies and vagaries of the Church Fathers — rej^roduced from age to age. " Those authors," says Prof. Eogers, the eminent and acute Edinburgh Reviewer, " who have a simple desire to establish their point, never needlessly accumu- late citations or references. When the thesis is such that authority is essential, or auxiliary to it, they will even then content themselves with the minimum of cita- tions. Tiiey reckon them by weight not by number — by the scales not by the bushel. If wo can cite Aristotle why go to Keckermannus — if Bacon, how shall wo further confirm the statement by IvoLtiwigious ? Not only is a large p? Hhe citations in those volumes mere stuft'- ing : we ..not but feel assured that a great number are simply ^n7^rt^et\ 222 BAPTI8MA ; I 1 'I I li r over, is to forgot that in tho passage boforo its the verb roferH, not to a literal procoHs of sprinkling, but to an act of purification analagouH to tliat which was effected by ceremonial sprinl^ling. Hence tho Syriac renders it, '* shall purify." It is obvious that rhantizo was employ- ed by Ac. and Theod. in this derived Bonse with a like change of construction.*" Tho narrative of the Ethiopian Eunuch's baptism does not, it is claimed, admit of application to baptism hj pouring — as witnessed by reviewer. Very likely there are some points of difference. An intelligent reader would scarcely expect to find any thing like exact re- semblance in the minutia) of circumstance. Modern bai)tismal services, in the desert, in which alone tho varied conditions could converge and centro, are extreme- ly rare. "There is in the one," contends the reviewer, "a rantizing and in the other cheoing, but no baptizing. There is no comparison whatever, between the tico narra- tives.'' It may be answered to a passage of confused ver- biage, and of mere j'ant in composition, that, in Philip's recent baptism, the Holy Ghost had been poured out, and the evangelical promise, J£e shall sprinkle many nations, suggested and determined the mode of tho Eunuch's baptism: therefore, the worde chco, "toj902/r," and rhantizo, to sprinkle, are in exact adaptation to tho sacred narrative. They agree in one. "I ask tho Greek scholar" continues tho reviewer, who thinks " this ought to be conclusive," *' who is an advocate of pouring or sprinkiiiig, if he were going to * Asperget — shall sprinkle. — Vidg. ho verb an act jctod by idei'B it, omploy- b. a like baptism baptism •y likely nt reader exact re- Modern done the -e extreme- icv-er, " a baptizing. tico narra- fused vcr- n Philip's mred out, [iJde many of tho "to j)o«r," :ion to the reviewer, Ivvho is an going to PUILIP AND THE EUNUCH. 223 give an account of a baptism as practincd by tho Baptists — that account to bo written in Greek — whether ho would not use these very identical words" — of tho Eunuch's baptism in tho Acts ? The question may be submitted to competent Greek scholars. Wo make the appeal to men who wrote and spoke the Greek language. They lived to witness, and to speak of, triune immersions and other corruptions of their time : What say you Cyril of Jerusalem ? Kataduete triton eis to hiidor — "plunge them down," answers tho Father, " thrice into the water." What think you Basil ? E71 trisi katadiisesi : ''By three immersions/' thunders Basil tho great. Ilaving sanctioned tho later superstitions of baptis- mal administration, they demanded a new phraseology; and they seem to have had no scruple about rejecting the very identical word of the New Testament — the consecrated, sacramental baptize. " The terms /irttoZi/o, katadusis,'' says Dr. Dale, in Patristic Baptism, page 584, " are not to be found as words of inspiration descriptive of ritual baptism. The overwhelming inference, therefore, is, that what these terms were introduced to express in patristic baptism, had no existence in Scripture haptism."" But, suppose the question were proposed in a modi- fied form : Would the "very identical" words of the commis- sion, and of the inspired narrative of the Etiiiopian's bap- tism, be apposite and applicable to the administration of baptism by ejfusion 1 'f 1 I 224 BAPTISMA : Tho vorb bapiizo, would bo an ossontial requiwite ;:; for tho water in only tho Bymbol and seal of npiritual baptism — the pouring out of the Holy Ghost ; tho «'a •would bo demanded ; for tho candidates are baptized " in " tho namo of tho Father, Son and Holy Ghost ; tho correlative preposition ek — according to frequent ren- dering, as when " He risoth /rom, ek, supper" — would obtain dual application : tho officiating minister, after charge and benediction goes up from the communion ta continue tho service ; and " amidst cheerful anthems " that " fill his house," /rom tho same scene of consecrated interest, tho baptized ones, like tho P^thiopian convert, go on " their way rejoicing." Administration of baptism by affusion is, in spirit and mode, eminently Scriptural and apostolical. Senti- ment, syntax, and sacramental scene agroo in ono. X. "EIS" IN GREEK: " INTO IN ENQLISH. *• The authors of these books being Jews, naturally used ! the Greek particles and prepositions, not only in the variety of their own significations, but in the variety also of the signi- fications of the corresponding Hebrew particles and preposi- tions." — Macknight. " Our ministers tell us that into only means near to. Do these same ministers tell their impenitent hearers that into hell, in the ninth Psalm, and into everlasting punishment, in tlie twenty-fitth of Matthew, only mean near to ? How happy the tidings, and how great the encouragement to go on in sin I '. And do your ministers tell their Christian hearers that Christ . did not ascend into heaven, as the angels told the apostles in Acts, first chapter and eleventh verse, — only near to, and that we have no Advocate in heaven now ; and also, that although Christ told us that the saved would be received into lite eter- nal (Matt. XXV : 46), he only meant that they should get near to, — near enough to see its glory, but never be permitted to enter? You would not believe them if they thus spake; neither believe them if they tell you that "into the water""' "Eia" IN greek: "into" in enqlish. itual 10 fid tizod ; the ren- would after ion to I ems '* crated mvert, spirit Senti- 3. Uy use d i variety le signi- )repo si- to. Do [that into lent, in rhai>py A in sin I • ft Christ . Istles in land that luhougb lite eter- ^et near fitted to spake ; wcUer " docs not mean into the water, for it is the very same word that is here used as is used in the places above referred to— cts in Greek, into in English/' — "Voice of God.'''' The paragraph ut supra htin boon thus fully repro- duced : a specimen of the stylo adopted by a ])rofos8ed interpreter of " tlie voice of God." It is doubtful whotiior in the complete circle of controversial effort, there can bo found more striking cxumplo of violcnco to nil sound and sober princij)les of criticism ; and it will account for Bomcwhat of sovcrit}' of stricture in this section, and for attempted closeness and conclusiveness of reply. ' "Wlion a voice reaches us, in that questionable form, we begin to tliink at once of credentials, and there is an irresistible temptation to subject the utterance to searching test. We read in John Milton's magniticent Ejiic, of the marvellous touch of Ithuriel's spear by whicli tlio most specious assum])tions were in.stantly detected : — " Ithuricl with his spear Touch VI lightly ; tor no falsehood can endure Touch of celestial temper, but returns Offeree to its own likeness." — Paradise Lost. "Wo shall soon find that, beneath the Ithureal touch of inspired and authoritivc fact and teaching, assertion and implication take strangely contrary aspects, and widely difl'erent forms. " Our ministers," it is affirmed, " tell us that iJito only means near to.'' Do they? Tlie fact thus implied, in nude form, unsustained by evi- dence, cannot obtain acccj^tance. The ministers al- luded to, may, in the connection indicated. Lave inter- preted cis to eternal salvation and to " everlasting punishment." Do they tlms weaken or dilute the If !i;.;!i| ' 1 !!i'' 226 BAPTISMA ; M essential truth of God's word ? If " their impenitent hearers" be sent eis, to hell, they will be for cs'er beyond the reach of hope; and if ''their Christian hearers," through the mercy of God, get, eis, to heaven, they will not only be " near enough to see its glory," but '♦The beatific sight Shall fill heaven's sounding courts with praise, And wide difi'uso the golden blaze Oi everlasting light." " A frivolous remark," says Thorn, " has been made by a reverend brother which shows that the good man has not fairly studied the merits of this controversy, or had written contrary to his knowledge in order to make an affecting impression on the minds of his ignorant readers. He says if eis does not signify into then entering into heaven is only going to the gate of heaven ; and entering into hell is only going to the gate of hell." — British Letters. '' But Pcdobaptists never denied that eis sometimes signifies into. All that they contend for is that the Bap- tists cannot prove such to be its import in Acts 8 : 38, and other passages narrating the act of baptism." — " Neither believe them," is the counsel of reviewer to youthful converts, " if they tell you that into the water docs not mean into the icatcr.'' The meaning of the modest and Christian admon- ition can only be that when ministers in their expositions assert that the Greek j^,reposi(ion eis — " eis in Greek into in English" — docs not mean into the water, in the sense of immersion they are to be seriously regarded as utter- in ix deliberate falsehood. Before dealing more closely with this question of grammatical criticism, on a point which touches the very iiitcnt cyond irers," y will nmade d man avsy, or ,0 make readers. ng into iiitcring -British netimos le Bap- 8: 38, ism."— cwcr to c water lulmon- ositions eck into lie fscnsc Is uttcr- ition of Ihc very a EIS IN GREEK: "INTO IN ENGLISH. 227 existence of the immorsionist theory, it may bo well to afford the reviewer the opportunity of expounuiiig his views to the fullest possible extent. In addition to the extract from " the voice of God," wo give another from "review of baptismu" on the Eunuch's bajitism : "Surely these examples from the word of God prove conclusively the fact that eis, used in connection with water, means into and not to. Since cis means i?ito, as it lias been proved, eA; being the antithesis of m, must mean, as lexico- graphers say it does otU of. If eis is to be robbed of its true meaning there is some ground for the Dutchman's mingled feeling of joy and sorrow: — joy at the thought that *' into everlasting punishment, cis kolasin aionioyi,''^ Matt xxv: 46, and '• into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched— eis ten geennan; eis to pur to asbeston,'^ Mark ix : 43, does not mean into, but near by, "just close enough to be warm and comfortable :" — but sorrow at the thought that "into life eter- nal, eis zoeji aionion,'''' IMatt. xxv : 46, cToes not mean into, but near by ; but close cnous:h to see its glory, but never bo per- mitted to enter there. . 'ain, if cis is to be robbed of its true meaning, why should the infidel be asked to believe that " Daniel was cast into the lion's den" and protected by God, or that the three Hebrews were " cast into the liery furnace" and not even scorched : and were not cast into those jilaces, only nearby. Alas for the theory that needs such support! Let not the quibbles of small minds throw a stigma on the character of a whole denomination, and on the character of candidvuQW of other denominations who are honest enough to admit a thing that is beyond doubt. Such men are Calvin, Doddridge, Adam Clarke, «S:c." The impression produced, by this stateniunt in question upon any inquirci*, approiicliin^ tlio subject for tlie first time, would be that cis has no equivalent, and that it could not be honestly rendered except by into. The intelligent student guitled, perhaps, by the releronce supplied, "Hand Book to the (Jrani- mar of the Greek Testament, " would tind that the preposition liUe other words is ainenahlo to grammatical law ; and he would be amazed to lind, in M ■M- '■Mi ■n ( t I II 11; P' M 228 BAPTISMA ; the authority offered for his guidance, an admirable state- ment of the law which governs the subject : " In explanation of the various significance, which may belong to the same preposition, two points should be noted : — 1. That its meaning will be necessarily modified by signification of the verb that it may follow, and by that of the noun which it governs, as also by the case of the latter. 2. That as all languages have a far smaller num- ber of words than there are shades of thought to express, one word must often have many applications. — p 143. The philosophy of Grammar having been utterly ignored : How stands the question of fact ? '' AYe find" says the learned and laborious English writer, Thorn, " from a careful investigation of the point in dispute tliat in our version of the New Testa- ment the translators have rendered apo by from — three hundred and seventy-four times ; eis by to or nnto^five hundred and thirty times ; ek by from — one hundred and eighty six times ; en by at, in or with — three hundred and thirteen times." A very important fact of ^N'ew Testament construc- tion, not to be ch\.sscd with " the quibbles of small minds" has been pointed out by Prof. Stewart. In Greek classics the verb baptize is followed by the pro- position cis, or its equivalent and the accusative case of the element. The method of New Testament construc- tion is difi'crent. Willi on\y one single exception, and that admits of easy explanation, the element is either put in the nude dative, as in Luke, or in the dative with (( EIS IN GREEK: "INTO IN ENGLISH. 229 tate- bould ydified ndby Q case • num- cpress, L43. utterly Snglish ^of the Tcsta- — three to— five cd and m-ed and nsti'uc- fL\ i K:: U'i X. THE nilLIPIAN JAILOR S BAPTISM. ••It is therefore pretty evident that we have, in this chapter, very presumptive proof: That Baptism was adminis- tered without immersion, as in the case of the Jailor and his family." — Dr. Adam Clarke. "Let tlic reader turn to Acts xvi: 25-34; from verso 29 we read : Then he (the jailor) called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, &c. Reader, where do you suppose the preachers and the audience are now ? You read above that the jailor brought them out of th^ir cell, and now they arc speaking to him, and to all that are in his house. From these facts the natural reply to the question would be, that they are all in the jailor's house. Then we read that, after the word of the Lord was spoken to him and to all that were in his house, he took them. If bajitism was performed by sprinkling or pouring in this case ; why take them any- where away from the place of preaching ?" The nurmtivc of the jailor's Baptism, at Philippi, to which the reviewer ti.sks us to turn,, is very ex])lieit. There Avero the "inner prison" — where Paul and Silas, all lacerated and bleeding, had been thrust into the stocks — the outer prison, and the jailor's house, all doubtless within one enclosure. The jailor, when first aroused, '' brought them out" from that deeper dungeon to the common prison. To some spacious spot of the outer prison the members of the jailor's household, ex- cited by the earthquake, probably hurriedly gathered. In that part of the prison the word of the Lord was spoken, baptism administered, and afterwards he " brought them into his house." There was confessedly no opportunity, in immediate connection with the ser- vice, for immersion. The phrase, therefore, " ho took them," which explains itself to mean: "he took them and washed their stripes," has been, by a most unwar- I this niinis- ndhia rsc 29 sprang Silas, lo you )U read id now liouso. aid be, id that, all that formed 01 any- lilippi, cplieit. i Silas, ito the c, all n first mgcon I of the Id, cx- Ihered. I'd was IS he odly le ser- took them Inwar- THE rniLiPiAN jailor's baptism. 235 rantablc method of exposition, wrung and wreiiclicd from its plain, common sense narrative of the jailor's humane act; and twisted and tortured into affirmation of immersion. " They were taken," says reviewer, "either to tank or river." Had immersion been neces- sary, we should doubtless have found some such assertion in the inspired record ; but, as there is no trace of such a fact, we have good reason for believing that there ivas no immersion. Even in the civilization of the British empire, the reviewer, to this day, would find some diffi- culty in administering baptism by immersion to prison- ers in any common jail. To affirm the existence of such a convenience in a Koman jail, in that " northern lati- tude of snowy Thrace," at the bcgiiming of the Christian Era, argues a slight knowledge of the annals of prisons, and of prison life; and carries us, by a single step, into the region of sheer absurdity. But then there was " the river that washed its walls ;" and the jailor and his household must have been immersed at the Strymon. It is not said, mark you, tliat St. Paul took the jailor " and all his" to any river ; only that the jailor took Paul and Silas " and washed their stripes." The narrative flatly forbids the inference which the reviewer finds necessary for immersion. "They have beaten us openly" said Paul, when next day, the magistrates ordered their release, '' and have cast us into prison ; and do they now thrust us out priv- ily ? Nay verily but let them come themselves and fetch us out." The jailor could not, without breach of fidelity and forfeiture of life, have taken Paul and Silas beyond the precincts of the prison. The noble protest of the apostle if, in search of deep water for immersion p^ 236 BAPTI8MA; I he had been prively prowling through city and suburb, would have boon little to his credit. Evidence, inference, and inspired record are all in dix'cct opposition to the theory of immersion. " If bap- tism," says the reviewer, '' was performed by pouring and sprinkling ; why take them any where away from the place of preaching ?" Wo cannot find from the ac- count of St. Luke that the jailor took them anywhere except from the inner prison, and after baptism to his own house. As in all other New Testament cases there was baptism, hut no immersion. XI. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CnURCn. *' Every later appearance in the Church must be judged by the model of Apostolic teaching and practice." — Dr. I. H. Kurtz. BJ* 4i; " Who were the Original members of the first New Tes- tament Church ?" '♦ They were those who had believed in Jesus, and were baptized from the time that John commenced his ministry."* The apparent drift and design of that review state- ment are, to claim recognition for the baptism and disciples of John as a constituent of the first christian church. The mention of John's baptism, in the connec- tion indicated by reference passages, had exclusive application to the competence of an apostolic candidate. The very phrase John's baptism, separates it from Chris- tianity. Wo do not, and the sacred writers do not, speak of Paul's baptism, of Peter's baptism, of Philip's baptism. Whether of Paul or Cephas, or James, the ad- ministration was in the divine name, and was therefore Christian baptism. ♦ "Voice of God."— Paj^or D. Q. McDonald. THE COMMISSION. 23T suburb, 3 all in If bap- pouring \y from tho ac- lywhoro I to his 08 there cnuRcn. e judged Dr. I. B. New Tcs- and were iiistry."* Iw statc- lism and christian conncc- 'xclusive mdidato. |m Chris- do not, Philip's ,, the ad- Ihoreforc John the Baptist, as the harbinger of tho Messiah, and nearer to tho rising Sun of Eighteousnoss, was greater than all that preceded him — who could only gaze through the dimness of ages. But tho least of tho disciples of Christ, favored with noon-tide radiance of gospel day, is greater than he. There is no haze, however, and nothing of m3'8tcry, or of murkiness, deepening and darkening around tho subject. It is clear and transparent as a sunbeam ; and woe unto them that put darkness for light. The Acts of the Apostles dates from the Great Com- mission. That inspired book contains the history of the first New Testament Church. After the ascension the disciples waited in jorayor and supplication until tho promised baptism of the Holy Ghost was fultillod. " The number of the names together,'' says tho sacred writer, including both men and women, " teas about one hundred and twenty.'' These one hundred and twenty disciples, " baptized with the Holy Ghost and lire," to whom three thousand converts were added on the day of Pentecost, to which additions of believers were added dailg, became the nucleus of organized Apostolic Churches which, begin- ning at Jerusalem, in accession and enlargement, extended '' into all Judca, and in Samaria, and to tho uttermost parts of the earth." XII. THE COMMISSION. " In the corresponding passage oi Mark it is " Go yo hito all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."' The only difference is that in this passage the sphere, in its world- wiuc compass and universality of objects, is more fully and definitely expressed ; while in the former the great aim and certain result are delightfully expressed in the command to make discipiles of all nations. — Dr. David Brown, t mm 238 BAPTISMA ; m di "pjvory body knowH," say.s reviewer in expounding thcjcommission,* "that the word baptize is not translated only transferred into the text." ''All that the English learner has to do is to find out the meaning of the Greek word our Saviour used in the Commission, &e." In a chapter on Dr. Dale the reviewer gives tho primary meaning of baptizo from Liddell and Scott, and others, making no mention of their definition of tho New Testament baptizo, and as the secondary mean- ing: " Condition ; the result of complete influence effected by any possible means, and in any conceivable way.'' That secondary definition, contradictory, as it is, to much of strenuous contention in tho same book for rigid literalism, mai'ks a point of interpretation far in advance of tho rank and file of immerfeionist polemics : " Is Saul also among the prophets ?" The secondary definition, which the reviewer gives of bajytizo, according to the analogy of the New Testa- ment usage, determines the sense of the Greek verb in the commission. The apostles woro not permitted to act under their commission until after they had received ample interpre- tation. They were to wait at Jerusalem, and " not many days hence," God would ex})lain the baptism. The Spirit wiifi po^d'cd out on the day of Pentecost. A few days after the commission had been received, the likeness as of fire streamed down upon each radiant brow. The descent both symbolical and real was by * " Bible Baptisma and its Qualifications by D. G. McDonald, Pastor of the Baptist Church, Charlottetown." THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CIIUUCII. 239 pouritig. That was Gods baptism. That wm the Sav- iour's own explanation of baptism in the coniiniHsion. That was tho sonso in which the diseipios, in the fullness of their illumination, comprehended tho Saviour's teach- ing ; " On the Gentiles also," in additional explanation, was j)OMrresentcd except by ■affusion. Tho New Testament explains itself. *' The Bible is its own dictionary : the Spirit of God His own interpreter.'' -*^ XIII. THE SACILVMENTS OF THE CHURCH : BAPTISM AND THE lord's SUrPER. •* A little drop of water may serve to seal the fulness of divine grace in baptizing as well as a small peace of bread and the least tasting of wine iu the Holy Supper. — Witsins. An opinion was expressed in " Ba2-)tisma" that " by moans of a parallel between Baptism and the Lord's Supper " the agitation to which the Churches have bc'N'i * Dr. Whedon. — The teaching of Christ in the Commission has been discussed in a former chapter : vid. page 00. 240 BAPTISMA ; subjected upon the vexed but comparatively insignificant question of mode" might " bo mado to stand out in its true light" — "that upon the basis of such parallel" it would not bo difficult "to construct a conclusive reductio ad absurdum argument." " I am perfectly astonished," writes the reviewer, in his chapter : " arguments from the Lord's Supper de- molished," at the other part of our author's quotation, that in order to observe the ordinance literally as it was instituted, the Lord's Supper ought to be celebrated as a grand festal entertainment." I am not quite clear whether the misrepresentation of that passi ;c, of sense and scope, purpose and im- port, was intentional and deliberate: It may be that owing to defective mental perception, the statement in condensed form was not clearly comprehended. In the interests of charity I incline to the latter alterna- tive. A largo part of the structure of immersion has been based on the rigid literal interpretation of the verb baj)- tizo. The contention is that Greek words have been employed very generally, by New Testament writers, in a new sense ; and the presumption is wari-aiitcd that baptism is nnt an exception. The inquiry very naturally turns in the direction of the other sacrament. The consecrated name of the sa- craiucnt of the broken body and shed blood is dcqmon — the Lord's Supper. Is deipnon by inspired writers employed with the same signitication as by the classic writers of Greece ? The definitions of two lexicons, which happen to be at hand, may be appended : ignificant ut in its rallel" it 3 reductio 'eviewer, ipper de- lotation, ly as it lebrated intation and im- nay be itement ed. In iltcrna- is been rb haj)- ■Q been r^riters, id that ion of lie sa- non — h the occe ? be at ■^«>«on, "a meal or m„nl >■ .. ■0«>Ko« "in Tr„ ^^"'''eU and Scott. Jo'v-s, an,l also of the Greeks ,',,1 1( "'"^ '""'■'' "f ">« <"■ nt evening, and often pr ol !^, :r',T' """" '""•■■"•"« » bananet, feast, k^r^k^^f '""> ">en,gh,-,,en,.e «"-o:;n:::!;n::::-:---e.o,..s «,,,., I'nmary .sfgnifieation, of th orili """^ "•'^' ""'' entertainment," ' '''' '"'""■« " « «i-an-'. '°"::;"*'>--vio-noti::;'x^^^ "•'- Of ti^':ti::f!:::,r''" ;" ■■^i-o"-. .he <.,osin'„ -tonished" the w t r'o ' 7''' "■'""■'' ''^'^ " P-oc, ^ when violently wrested f.o ^'!""'""' '« "'ell i't „„•,,,,/ -gnitication, L Zl^.^Z'T''"'' '"'''^- -'"" )''»''' ;;■'". the two .aeran,ents of e n ?'""^ "' ''^'"'"'^ •VrTr ' • It XIV RAPTISMAL UE oxtravJLri'i"?™ "'-^t ft <»'E\ERATI()X. declined, ^Af /o Hall Si??"2-i"-™"S?,™IS"-->". the 5#kVa%,;rb ; £=17^'ed in the ihnn.l,^ With -^■^r':^:"-^!-'^ re c d" "'•",«„, ,?;;;«;-,!!-^'o; most :'£ to 'evotion ■spcet ^i. I T 242 BAPTISMA ; 1; II : f : lit Having been called upon to administei* baptism to an adult, under circumstances of severe illness, such as to preclude possibility of immersion, the very natural reflection, occasioned by such an exigency, found ex- pression in a closing note of "Baptisma;" that, if im- mersion were the only valid mode of baptism, we were met at the very threshold of the church by an ordin- ance which, in the case of thousands, would be utterly im- practable. The passage in question is sufficiently expli- cit. "The fact," it was stated, in immediate connection "in relation to spiritual interests involved is not one of vital importance. Salvation is not a matter of mere rituaV Yet the expression, thus guarded, is charged, by reviewer, with the '■'■false notitn that attributes saving efficacy to the outward rite^ Is there anything in the passage quoted to wai-rant such an inference ? The thought at once returns, that, if a sentence sufficiently explicit could be so readily de- prived of its obvious meaning and, with such facility, applied in an utterly foreign sense ; it must be, in the case of writers to whoso works comparatively few have access, an amazingly easy thing to manipulate testimony and to comi)ile chapters from " the most prominent scholars, theologians and commentators the world ever saw." The implication however does not touch the primal difficulty. It does not enable us to harmonize our con- ceptions of the infinite wnsdom of the Head of the Church with the theory, thus strenously urged, — which, by inevitable sequence, leads us to the startling anomaly, that, of two appointed sacraments of the Church, the one of initiation is of such a character as frequently to m to ih as tural I ex- f im- were )rdin- lyim- expU- ection one of f mere ed, by saving ai'rant , that, ily do- cility, lin the have imony inent Id ever mmal u* con- )f the rhich, pmaly, the Uly to BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. 243 prevent possibility of obedience and compliance. This one objection, as the matter stands, is of sufficiently ser- ious and fatal character to invalidate the exclusive claims and assumptions of immersion. The subject admits of a thoroughly practical and abundantly satisfactory test. An adult person connected with church and congregation, an outer court worshipper, "not far from the Kingdom of God," tremblingly and keenly sensitive to the demands and imperative obliga- tions of avowed discipleship, has never reached the decisive point of public profession of faith in Christ. In sickness tbo consciousness of failure begins to be vividly realized. The merits of the Eedeemor are penitentially and belif v'ingly appropriated ; and though disease wastes the body the soul is fiivorcd with gracious manifestation. There is a wish to comply with the Lord's command — a desire to bo baptized into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The case is not solitary and it is not by any means exceptional. Three such cases occured, at one charge of mine, within the space of three iceehs. Immersion in the case of that emaciated sufferer cannot be thought of for one moment. Friends, physicians, and the instincts and impulses O'' i.umanity, enter an absolute protest against any proposal to admin- ister baptism by plunging. Even, if it were possible and permissible, the agitation, weakness and distress, of the dying candidate, would interfere with all thesacredness, and solemnity of feeling, by which such service should at all times be hallowed. From such a suffering, dying, believing and hoping disciple of Jesus, a Pastor holding, and hampered by, immersionists tenets, must turn sadly and sorrowfully • { ■ 244 BAPTISMA ; li m ■'■! away. '-Yes," he might say to the anxious inquirer, " baptism is a positive command of the Lord Jesus. Wo are bound by the unqualified terms of the Commission to baptize all disciples into the name of Three Persons of the Godhead. But for you it is too late. The oppor- tunity for immersion is past. The privilege of being buried with Christ as we preach and as we believe, is gone for ever. It is true you have repented and believed in Jesus. You are saved through the merits of the Cross and Passion of the blessed lledeemer. You have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of your inheritance. But you cannot enter the portals of the Baptist Church. Your name cannot bo enrolled amongst the Lord's people : " Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now." You will ere long come to the general assembly and church of the first-born; but you will pass through the golden gates, and stand before the eternal throne, an un- baptized believer.'' No wonder that the most eminent minister of Christ, who has added the lustre of a great nams to the Baptist Denomination, when chafed and fretted by the narrowness and exclusiveness of spirit, which had found such exhibition, should indignantly declare : that the ''vestibule" of their church was "planted with most repulsive forms." In the administration of baptism, by effusion, there is no such experience of difiiculty and embarrassment. The nature of the service, in its highest aspect, dedica- tion to God, is explained, prayer is offered. The candi- date sweetly composed, and solicitous only for an act of supremo consecration to Jesus, waits in calm expecta- tion. The element of water is applied with the fervent BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. 245 1 there Iment. lica- }andi- ict of hccta- Irvent invocation that simultaneously the }yromisc may be ful- filled : / icill sprinkle clean water on you. Ordinarily the administration is followed by the sacrament of com- munion — the elements of the broken body and shed blood of Christ. With memories of the Garden^ the Cross, and Sepulchre gathering around us, we hear the Saviour say " Do this in rememhrance of me." Even though death should in a few weeks, or days, or still sooner, end the earthly scene and service, the name of that dying bap- tized and saved believer is enrolled in membership; and, through the portals of the earthly sanctuarj'", the ran- somed spirit passes upward to the church in heaven : — " The holy to the holiest leads." Which, then, in view of the emergency indicated, seems to be most in harmony with the dictates of Reve- lation, reason, and common sense: initiatory ordinance which comes to us in a form that will not ahcai/s admit of compliance? Is it not rather an institution, which being of universal obligation, shapes itself to all the ex- igencies of human life ? " To apply the waters of baptism to a dying soul implies criminal unbelief in the all-sufficiency of Christ's atonement." Was it thus that St. Peter reasoned when Cornelius and his household received the gift of Iho Holy Ghost ? "Was not the sufiiciency of inward grace, apart from all other conditions and considerations^ the only argument used for the application of the external rile ? Was it not the fulness and blessedness of communication which alone prompted the appeal: "who can forbid water that these should not be baptized ?" "Baptism cannot,'' says Eeviewer, " because it need not be administered to a dying soul." It need not be ! Upon what valid ground has that affirmation been made? ^ M !i^ I f3T [i ■ 246 BAPTISM A ; The opinion of reviewer in lighter than the dust that flits in the brightness of the sunbeam — unless sustained by adequate authority. It need not be ! Have denom- inational divines deliberated in solemn conclave and de- cided that question for the church ? It need not be ! Dispensations and decrees of Papal Eome have challen- ged cognizance ; but Protestants have not been accus- tomed to pronounce ex cathedra. It need not be! Something like that dogma has been publicly proclaimed, accompanied by assurance, upon what authority it was not said, that God takes the will for the deed. Does not such an assurance directly contravene positive command, and involve therefore serious responsibility? It meas- ures at any rate, to some extent, the extremity to which we are brought by rigid adherence to immersionist theories. " But who attaches most efficacy to the water," asks reviewer, "Baptist or Pedo-Baptist :?" The only argu- ment used, and evidence Jidduced, for claiming a verdict favorable to the Baptist is that '"' immersion cannot — be- cause it need not be administered to the dying" believer. Is not that something like making merit of necessity? Is that one consideration, even if greatly meritorious, sufficient to outweigh all the controversy, challenges, heated discussions, wrangling, strife and proselytism, in which zealous adherence to immersion has involved the churches. The experience of years, in combined christian ettbrt, evangelical alliance, the Week of Prayer, Young Men's Associations, has gone to shew that, al- most, the only disturbing element which wo have had to dread has grown out of denominational zeal for water. We are asked soberly to forget the " waters of strife" and to remember only that " immersion cannot — because BAPTISMAL REQENERATIOX. 247 :/ism, '•olvcd bbined [rayer, Jat, ai- re had water. Urife" jcause it need not be be administered" to a dying disciple of Jesus. The first converts, in Apostolic ministration, when- ever converted, no matter where, were immediately brought into church-membership. They were at once baptized. But, in conse(|uencc of the difficulties of im- mersion, earnest souls may linger for weeks, and at last expire, without being received as Christs disciples, and without being permitted to " break bread" in remem- brance of Ilim. There is avast ditference, between a contention for mode, in the administration of baptism, which after all is an incidental thing, and does not touch the spirit of the ordinance — any more than in the solemnization of the Lord's Supper, the validity of which does not de- pend upon mode, whether of kneeling at the communion or sitting in the pew, adopted by the communicants — than the value and prevalence of prayer are determined by the suppliant's 7/wcZeof standing or kneeling — and the plea that Christ's baptismal command if unconditional- ly enjoined, must be universally obligatory. But thei'e was a still graver " error" to be charac- terized and condemned by the reviewer ot Baptisma. It was wrong, as he believes, to administer baptism to an adult, under the circumstances indicated : but there is the more serious charge of administering infant bap- tism — " the child was baptized and in an hour or two passed into the spirit world." In what way does that act traverse the letter or the spirit of Christ's universal command? Was it simply prompt observance? If Jesus meant to exclude infants from the commission it was competent for Him to declare his will. Me has not 248 BAPl JSMA ; -i - -i done SO] and vva are not disposed to accept the dictum of a denomination as a supplement to the commission. The reviewer is grieved to find "Christians, who," he thought '' had a proper view of the atonement, taint- ed with error." But what is "precisely the error?" In what way does it dishonor the atonement ? Here again the subject cannot be determined by the ipse dixit of a reviewer. It admits of exact and ample demon- stration. The child that " was baptized and in liour or two passed into the sj^irit world" was of infinite worth in the sight of God. In virtue of the atoning efficacy of the Saviour's death, and the free gift of righteousness, it was made meet for heaven. Did not the Saviour say, "Of such is the Kingdom of God?" * Was not that little one though Christ the subject of an " inward grace" of which baptism is but the " outward sign?" Could there be the same infallible certainty in regard to fitness in the reception of any adult candidate for bap- tism ? Is there any entrance into the spiritual kingdom excepting as becoming as that little child ? Is it not ex- pedient that church-organization should comform as nearly as possible to divine condition, and thus become a pattern of the heavenly places themselves ? If the en- trance of any denomination be narrower and more exclu- sive than the portals of the kingdom of heaven, all the worse for the denomination : But is that sufficient reason for hurling the charge of error in the face of one who seeks to comply, both in spirit and letter, with the express teaching of Christ ? * Just because every child born into the world has the in- ward grace through Christ, which by mere nature he cannot have, he is entitled to the outward sign. When this doctrine — the doc- of Fletcher, Fisk and Olin — is properly understood and felt, our people will ever be earnest to consecrate their children to God in God's own appointed wav." — Dr. Whedon in Quarterly. ijl BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. 249 :ngdom notex- i-m as )ecome [ho on- exclu- ill the Lcient if one ,h the Ihe in- have, ke doc- ,, our rod in " For as much then" — the argument of St. Peter -ajiplies equally to this case — " as God gave them the like <)ifV' — that free gift which in the case of adults, in all its provisions and blessings is conditional upon the ex- orcise of faith, — " as lie did unto us who believed in the ■Lord Jesus Christ ; what was I, that I could withstand God?" Implication from fact is followed in "review'' by imputation of erroneous doctrine: " the soul-destroying doctrine of baptismal regeneration which crops out in such conduct!" Was it soul-destroying, and a bar to heaven, to administer the sacrament of baptism to the dying members o: Christ's mystical body ? The serious charge has been very deiSnitely formulated; and it ad- mits therefore of conclusive answer. The opportunity, which might not otherwise have been presented, has been afforded of bringing into clear and distinct outline a fact of ecclesiastical history — which has not yet per- haps obtained sufficient recognition. It is affirmed that this " error led to the first devia- tion from the Apostolic immersion" — that the soul-des- troying doctrine of "baptismal regeneration" led to the abandonment of immersionist tenets. It is no violation of christian courtesy to stamp that statement as abso- lutely unhistoric. There is no fact of ecclesiastical history more palpable, than that " baptismal regenera- tion" was the active principle from which delay in bap- tism, triune immersion, unction, and other extravagances and superstitions flowed as from a common source. The tajj-root of error, unquestionably, was the undue im- portance which came to be attached to mere external .rite. The service was magnified by human devices ; and rr 250 BAPTISMA ; • '■ tho spirit of ordinance was utterly lost in the letter of observance. Let the voice of history testify. " The Emperor Constantine," says Eusebius,* in Vita Constanti, ^^ ^nd- ing his end fast approaching, judged it a fit season for purifying himself from his offences, and cleansing his soul from that guilt which in common with other mortals he had contracted, which ho believed was to be effected by the power of mysterious herbs and the saving laver.'^ — Lib. iv. c. 61. "The sacrament of baptism," says Gibbon, who af- fords unbiased testimony in regard to the prevalent sentiment of the time, "was supposed to contain a full and absolute expiation of sin ; and the soul was instantly restored to its original purity, and entitled to the promise of eternal salvation. Among the proselytes to Christianity there were many who jutlged it imprudent to precipitate a salutar}^ rite, which could not be re- peated, liy tho delay of their baptism, they could venture freely to indulge their passions in the enjoyments of this world, while they still retained in their own hands the means of a sure and easy absolution." — Vol. 2, p. 362. "Some of the noblest characters in the christian church," says Dean Stanley, in his Eastern Church, "re- garded baptism much as tho pagans regarded the lustra- tions and purifications of their own religion, as a com- plete obliteration and expiation of all former sins; and, therefore, would naturally defer the ceremony to the moment when it would include the largest amount of the past and leave the smallest amount of the future." — P. 314. * Hall's works, vol. 1, page 318. BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. 251 otter of Imperor i, " tind- ison for iinrj his mortals effected J laver.'^ who af- rcvalent iin a full nstantly I to the alytcs to prudent ot be re- venture ,s of this nds the . 3G2. iristian [eh, "re- lustra- la com- [s; and, to the [t of the lure." — The earliest objection to infant baptism, that of Terfu/Z^Vm,* of which ecclesiastical histor}- affords any example, was made purely on the /ground of ''the soul- destroying doctrine of baptismal regeneration." He be- lieved that the eflicacy of baptismal water when once lost could never be fully retrieved ; and for prudential reasons, therefore, advised delay — Dc Bapt. C. 18. Two things are very obvious from the united and unanimous testimony of history : 1. That the earliest objection, of which we have any record, to infant baptism, was the legitimate result of belief in baptismal regeneration. It was not deemed prudent that the cfHcacy of baptismal water should bo spent in infancy. It could, with advantage, be delayed until a late period of life. Experience counselled post- ponement until there was more sin to wash away. 2. That when other corruptions, especially in the fourth century, came into the church, the superstitious notions and practices of baptismal administration be- came, at the same time, widely prevalent. It was not enough to baptize with water, they also added the anointing of oil. They were not content with one ap])lication; they introduced the practice of a tri- une plunge. They were not satisfied with the simplicity of affusion ; they adopted the cumbersome but more ceremonious mode of immersion : " Twixt truth and error there's this diflferencc known, Error is fruitful, truth is only one" * Wilson, p. 529. 252 baptisma; t: '1 XV. A MODEL BAPTISM AND MODERN IMMERSION. " Behold the pattern shewed to thee when God Iliniselt baptized! See that pattern where at Pentecost He baptized His disciples! It was by affusion that blessed work was done ; and, it thus it is that God baptizoth us, is not this the way in which His ministers should baptize His people."— Dr. Whcdon. •' It is satisfactory to discover that all attempts made to Impose upon christians a practice repulsive to the feelings, dangerous to the health, and ottensive to delicacy, is destitute of all scriptural authority, and of really primitive practice." — Richard Watson. !' t' H " Would it be jiossihle for an^' Baptist minister to give a more cxj)licit account ot an immersion than this ? Let me now give you an account of a so-called baptism by sprinkling or })ouring, as I have witnessed it. After a sermon was preached romthe text "The promise is to you and to your children," the parent carried the babe in his arms and stood before the pul- pit ; the minister, in case of sprinkling, took the bowl in one hand and dipped into it the fingers of the other, thereby lift- ing a few drops of water and letting them fall upon the fore- head of the babe ; in case of pouring the minister took a jug and from it poured a little water on the head of the candidate. The reader can see the comparison, if there be any. To my mind there is none." Do all modern immersions come within the range of this explicit account ? In the north of England, on the banks of the Tyne, where the earlier years of my life were spent, we had a large number of river immersions ; but none of these, as far as we can remember, were of the Baptist faitV They w'ere all Mormonite dippings. From that time, in fourteen years, between . > and 1854, according to reliable statistics, the Mormonito missionaries immersed seventy thousand people in EnT[SM AND M(H)EIIN IMMKRSION. 253 The Momionite preachers called their immersions baptism — spoUe of going down into the water, like Philip and the Kunuch : Were they upon that score to be counted as JJaptists? Were their dippings to bo considered as ]>roper immersion? " Would it bo ywsst- hle,'^ to ado[)t the precise phraseology of the reviewer, "for any Baptist minister to give a more explicit ac- count of an immersion than this ?" " A large and daily increasing sect," says Dr. Mil- ler, of Princeton College, " has arisen, within a few years, in the bosom of the Baptist denomination which maintains the delusive and destructive doctrine that bajitism is regeneration ; that no man can be rctjcncratcd who is not immersed; and that all, without exception, who have a historical faith, and arc immersed ai'o, of course, in a state of salvation. This pernicious heresy lias been propagated to a melancholy extent, and is sup- posed to embrace one half the Baptist body in the Western country, besides many in the East." '' When all the shivering group stood upon the frost- bound shore," says Dr. Hubbard, page 155, •' inufHed in their double envelope, her slender form exjjosed to the keen arctic wMnds, was let down through the ice into the cold liquid element below. She afterwards stood upon the shore, clad in her icy garments, until several more were immersed; and then, with a body benumbed with cold, was conveyed to her chamber, whence, after a few weeks of rapid decline, she was removed to the lonely domicile of the dead. Her friends regarded her death as the consequence of her exposure at baptism^ Would it be possible to describe that baptismal service in the same woi U as Philips ? ;' I 254 BAPTISMA ; If di ■J I I ,, 5 ■I r \\\ " Eivor iramorsions are extremely rar^-", says Eev. Geo. Turner, writing at Stockport, England, "and yet two cases of droicning are now before the 2'>uhlic : one in which the administrator, and one in which the candidate, perished in the water."" — Divine Validity, f. 63. Would all such cases be included in the same " explicit" account ? I have before me an English book, of standard value, in which no loss than six ministers mention the fatal results of baptism by immersion — one of whom died instantly, and, as their death was attributed, by two physicians, to immersion, a jury, which sat upon the spot, returned a verdict accordingly." The account which such ministers might give would be explicit, no doubt, but different from that of the Acts. By way of very special contrast we give that of a Mr. Walker: " My friend Mr. G., took cold by immersion, and w^as brought into consumption of which he died. I then en- deavoured with all my soul to drown my convictions by overpowering the evidence with the advice : We must not say it was so for it will bring a disgrace upon the ways of God. But I have been compelled to alter my oi)inion and of course my practice." — Thorn 409. Mr. W. was a Baptist minister ; and this is the "ex- plicit account" which he gives: Conviction of the want of adaptation of immersion to the requirements of bap- tism, and repugnance to a repetition of similar experi- ences, led him to renounce his connection with the Bap- tist Denomination. It has not been without reluctance of feeling, and a sense of restraint, that these instances have been speci- fied. Only a conviction of the necessity of presenting, ;s Kev. md yet one in ndidate, ) same ;andard ion the whom ted, by it upon account licit, no way of :er: ,nd was en- ons by must on the or my ke "cx- want |f bap- tperi- Bap- md a 5peci- A MODJIL BAPTISM AND MODERN IMMERSION. 255 in clear and vivid outline, the whole subject has prompt- •ed these paragraphs. The first design was to gather and to group together only recent incidents of local ad- ministration. There was a fear, however, that such an exhibit might seem like burlof>que of a serious subject ; and that sensitive feeling, always to be held sacred, might be wounded in a trace of some recognized inci- dent. The substitution of facts from reliable publica- tions, and only such have been adduced, answers the same purpose. They are not intended for caricature ; >but to suggest the difficulties of immersion ; and, as a mode of administration, to stamp it as unfit for exclusive .observance. The "reviewer of baptisma" has given us "an slq,- Q,o\mi oi so-called baptism'' by si)rinkling and pouring. It may be permissible, by way of contrast, to attempt a description of a baptismal administration — by a different mode. The service to which I refer, is of recent occurrence, the locality of the scene will be sufficiently indicated by a general description. The candidates, unable to unite in worship, await in a flutter of excitement in an adjoining vestry, in robed readinv^,ss for the approaching ceremonial. The officiating minister, after preliminary service, compelled first of all to change his own apparel, — curiosity on the part of the spectators for the most part taking the place of devotion — with a splash descends into the tank, with a grasp, as if in anticipation of violent struggle which not unfre- quently ensues, almost as difficult as a gymnastic feat, one which aged and feeble ministers are unable to at- tempt, the candidates seized by locked hands and neck. 256 BAPTISMA ; reduced to a posture of helplessness, are plunged beneath the water. The same water of the tank, pure or im- pure, must serve for the several candidates in succession.. In this mode of administration the effort of switching and reducing the light and floating drapery to a soaking, sinking condition, forms in many cases a difficult, deli- cate and dexterous part of the transaction ; and which, in the case under consideration, prompted the expression of a wish, the result of pure delicacy of Christian feeling, never again to witness an administration of baptism by immersion. It may be objected that such revulsion of feeling was simply due to inveterate prejudice; but there had been a resolve to stifle, for the moment, preferences for a different mode, and this was simpl}' on the part of cultured, intelligent observation, the expres- sion of uncontrollable conviction. The several parties in order to escaj^c as speedilj- as possible from the church and dis(tomfort of dripping aj^parel, find it necessary, after the plunge, to make a hurried exit; and, notwithstanding the announcement, " Yet there is room," the service comes to an uncere- monious and compulsory close. The theory of immersion, moreover, concentrates all the interest, and all the efficacy of the baj^tismal service, upon mode; and yet, in that supreme moment, in which ihe baptized ones are in contact with the clement, they are for the most part only conscious of distress, disturbed feeling, and of violent action. The sensation of shrinking, shiver and shudder, and the gasp as of suffocation, are not unfre- qucntly most perceptible to the audience. It is scarcely surprising, that, according to a para- graph recently going the round of journalism, a lady of the United States, suffered such revulsion of feeling, from . A MODKL BAPTISM AND MOKKUN IMMKIISION. '2,t t >".r some ludicrous and untoward ineideiU other immersion, that she went immediately and united herself with the Preshyterian Chun-h. Sueli a case of repujLjnanec an(i revulsion ot'feelina- is not altogether solitary. In Thorn's '"mode of ba|>- tism" many such cases arc specitied : " A nentleman waa about to be dipped and join the IJaptist communion : but before undergoij;g the operation himself, he went to witness the immersion of two or three women. The sight and the scenes disgusted him. He thought the Saviour could not have enjoined such an indecent rite. He returned, examined the scriptures, altered his mind — and relinquished the honor of being dipped. He is noNV a respectable minister oi' the Independent Denont- ination." P. IJ70*. The Monno)iites, a large and influential denomina- tion of Baptists in Holland, onci^ uncompromising con- tenders for immersion, perplexed and disgusted by the difficulties and, in some cases, impossibility ot the motle. deliberately abandoned it. Thev decided, as a denom- ination, to substitute affusion for immersion. They still baptize none but adults; but their invariable mode is to pour water on the head of the candidate. Commend u** to the moderation and common-sense Christianity of the Mennonites of the low countries. There is nothing very objectionable, it must bo con- fessed, in the "ease of pouring" as witnessed and des- cribed by reviewer. It was e^'idently a model baptism : " the minister took a jug and poured a little water on the head of the candidates." For the sake of contrast and comjjari.son, more complete and more suggestive the accessories, which adff not a little to tlie impressiveness of the scone, may be 258 BAPTISMA ; ill + s I ^'fi added; and then we have, in the description, an ideal and example of simple, sufficient, scriptural, apostolical, New Testament Baptism. After a service of p.*aise and prayer, suitable selec- tion from the word of God, and a brief exposition of the nature and obli<(ations of the ordinance, the candidates for baptism, and usually those who accompany them in a service of public reception and recognition, of early baptismal dedication, meet their pastor at the commu- nion. Appropriate questions, including as a summary of doctrine, the Apostle's Creed are proposed. Amidst hushed stillness of the silent, standing congregation, a jjathos which moves every heart, and not a disturbing element or incident to mar the interest of hallowed solemnity, accompanied b}' invocation for the promised blessing, •' 1 will sprinkle clean water upon you," and ibr the richer, deeper baptism of the Holy Ghost, the water, by pouring or sprinkling, falls lightly on the head ot the several candidates; and tremulous with emotion the thought, at that moment of supreme interest, goes up to God. They aro baptized, eis to onoma, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." The converts, " All glistening with baptismal dew," are then, by the right hand of fellowship, with other can- didates, all of whom have been accepted by the united assent of the membership of the Chu h, cordially wel- comed to the communion of saints. In behalf of the whole church, the minister, in that service of baptism and reception can say : " Welcome from earth : lo, the right hand Of fellowship to you we give ! With open hearts and hands we stand, And you in Jesus name receive." — Hymn Book, p. (»75. 'Vi A .MODEL BAPTISM AND MODERN IMMERSION. 259 There is no necessity, as in administration by im- mersion, for confusion and hurried departure — the dis- comfort of saturated and tlripping garments. The service, in which the}' continue to the close, to them of unique and memorable interest, deepens and intensities the feeling of consecrated service. Very fi'cquently an arrangement is made after the service of baptisni and reception for the administration of sacramental commu- nion. The elements of the broken bodv and shed blood are received not only as a memorial of the L')rds death, in remembrance of llim ; as a covennnt-service — a sacra- ^He/ifwrn— pledge of love and loyalty lo Jesus; but also as the badge of discipleship: shewing *• loi'th the Lord's death till he come." Who, that has ever witnessed such baptismal scene and service, has ever failed to receive and retain vivid and permanent impression of genuine simplicity, per- vading solemnity, and fitness to aH the facts and forms, of seiiptural teaching and service? The profound impressiveness of this mode— perfect congruity to the spirit of Christianity — absolute conson- ance to institute ordinance, and imagery or inspired truth — claim and constitute, for the administration of baptism, by affusion, the stamp and seal of adaptation for universal adoption and observance. XVr. CLOSE COMMUNION : A COROLLARY. " What ! Commune in both kinds? In every kind — . . . love, hope, truth, unlimited, Nothing kept back." — J'jHz. B. Browning. 1. I 4 I ■ 2<)0 BAl'TI.SMA " It is sad to see such flift'cronce of oi)inion in the famil\* oi God.'' * — Fref. to lievmc. Were iraniersionist tonots held H'crelv or maiiih- jis matter of theory, or of denominational prcleivnco, no strict ni'es upon them would be rcijardcd as either exjte. dient oi- admissible. Unhappii}', liowcver, us u matter of fact, they tend altogether in the direction of exclr.- siveness and of secta:''un narrowness; and, to oIIkm- churches, like "waters of sL-ift^" the}- are a perpetual source <>f trouble and dissension. A» a logical consequence, and a disturbing elenuMil, agitation concerning close communion has entered into almost all arrangements for union and interdenomina- tional fraternity. On more than one occasion, in recent years, when for some continuous period social and united services for exhortation and testimony and pi-ayei- had been acfompanied by marked and manifest token of Divine a])proval and blessing, the desire was expressed for u closing, crowning service of intercommunion. There was a conviction that at the table of the Lord, by common participation of the elements of the broken bodv and shed blood, in thankful remembrance of lEis death, members 'f His mystical body, already greatly blessed, brought nearer to each otlier in the sacred bonds of christian fellowship, could most impressively and in practical form exhibit their spiritual unity and fundamental belief in "the communion of saints,'' " But," says Robert Hall, the renowned Baptist preachei- and polemic, " they feel no objeetion to have communion * An article in the " Christian Guardian," Toronto, Oct. 15th, 1879, which comes to hand as these lines are written, makes refer- ence to recent expulsion of a prominent Baptist minister and his church from Baptist Association — an incident of *' very close communion." (LOSE COMMlNloN : A (< )Rm[,|,a K V. 2)j1 \villi J.*cd()l)ii])tists in ])i'uyor ami ])raise, the ini)>t solemn acts of christian worship, even on an occasion imme- diately conncctcil with the recoi;nition of a reli:i;ioiis society ; but no soonei' docs the idea of the I'^iichai'ist occui", than it operates like u spell, and all tiiis hini:;uage is clianged and these sentiments vanisli. For my part I am utterly at a loss to reconcile these discrepancies." At the meeting; of the Protestant Ecumenical CouJi- cil, lield in New York, 1873, of ij^reat and memorable interest, it was asserted by the venerable Dr. Ilodi;-e, the Nestor of the Assembly, in a speech upon the Unit}' of the Church, that denominational cliurches ow(id to each other the :i il lis- ol' lid strcnousnoss were ]mt upon mere form, would be less vulnerable to the orj^uni/ed movement of .sects wiiieh do not equa' lier in evanu^elical enterprise, but wliieli in exclusivene.ss and ai^i'-ressivencss of fanatical zeal, for mere rite, take a decidedly advanced position, " We have endeavoured to shew, " says the eminent Baptist Divine, already quoted, in closini,^ his luminous disquisition on close communion, '• that the system un- churches every Pedo-Baptist community."' " How is it possible," a.i^ain he asks, " ihy principles fraught with such a corollary not to be contem[)lated with anxiety by our Pedo-haptist brethren : Wo should not be .sur- prised if other denominations should be tempted to com- pare us to the Euphratean horsemen in the Aj)ocal3q)se. who are described as hdriiuj tailn Uhc scorj/ions, aitd u:ith them they did hurt.'' XVII. EIRf:MC()N. " They who have seen the blessed vision of Unit//, with the prayers of the Saviour breathing through it as the spirit of its life, and the smile of the Father beaming upon it, how can they turn from this to dote upon any thing so shadowy. — Archdeacon Hare. Though compelled, in previous pages, because of the pui'poses of prosctijtism, to which the sul)ject has been made subservient, to spea!: 2>f(((nli/. this chapter cannot be closed without the expression of an opinion that all the preferences and attachments of the JJaptist Churches, and their pastors — if only held in the '• bonds of peace." of Christian courtesy and moderation, which *hc apostle inculcates, — are quite compatible with all conditions and essential requirements ol spiritual, frater- nal and inter-denominational union and intercourse. Each great ecclesiastical division, Arminian, Anglican, and Presbyterian, has its own cherished traditions. 2(14 BAPTISM A : 11- K])ooial mission, iiiid (lislinctivc i)e(.Miliaiilios ; jiiul why sliould not IJiiptist jirot'ci'oncos, for iininoi'sionist tenets and theoi-ies, bo sutlered quietly to fall into I lie same place — as niattei's, mauibj of danomuintioiud home life, and not, of necessity, to be obti'uded and ai^itatcd as elements of trouble and strife in the churches. The Creed accepted by all evangelical churches has crystalized the beliel" oj' Christendom in regard to the (communion ot Saints; and the gi'owing intercourse of christian ])eople has developed essential elements of vital sj}iritual unity, and the i»ossibilities of denominational fi'Jiternity, of which until ncnv there has scarcely Ixsei sullicicnt coiiTiizance. The distinctive atli'ibutes of humanity are inde})en- denl o( all arbitraiy distinctions. \'ocal articulation and the vital foi'ces of lil'e — the heart-throl) with its mystic murmui'ings and the tear that glistens in the i;ye — are coinmon to all and i-iui along the whole line of our being; and, in the ilonuiin of spiritual life, there arc aiftnities and aspirations, the throbbings and deep pulsa- tions of heart and life to that which is heavenly and divine. There tire great and essential verities, " the voice of blood more audible than speech," which indicate relationshi]), proclaim a blessed brotherhood, and that demand emphatic expression. '• Voices like to the music of the s])heres may be heard by the ear o*' faith echoing and re-echoing through the a^-es the great high- priestly prayer of our Divine Jjord : — last uttered in its I'ulness it may be the last to be answered — That they all may be one; as thou Father art in me and I in Thee, that they also ma}' be one in Us : that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." -•■ * Dr. E. M. Potter. KIRKXICON. May wo not 1)0 ]mniiitto'ffmion, there shall roll up in triumph the exulting, adoring chorus: '• One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one (iod and Father of all. Who Is ahore (dl, and throiajh all, and In you all:' Amen. INDEX AND SUMMARY. 'ClIAPTEU I. MODE OF BAPTISM: THE OLD TESTA- MENT. Pa Iff. 1. Evangelical Promise — Prelude ... <» 2. Different Baptisms 10 3. PropliL'tic Symbolism : Submersion - - Ki 4. Prophetic Symbolism : xiffusion ... 15 CHAPTER II. MODE OF BAPTISM : JOHN THE BAPTIST 1. John's Baptism 18 2. The Saviour's Baptiam .... i>2 CHAPTER III. MODE OF BAPTISM. 1. With Water: A Vindication - - - - 24 CHAPTER IV. MODE OF BAPTISM : PENTECOST AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 1. Inspired Record -...-. 33 2. Consonance of Mode 3.> 3. Pentecost: Audible Sign - - - - 3G 4. Pentecost; Visible Symbol ... 39 5. Exegesis 41 G. Significance of Symbol . - - . 4l' 7. The Spirit of Burning 43 8. Pentecost: God's Baptism ... 45 9. Pentecost : Alternative View • - - 47 10. Baptism of Three Thousand - - -- 50 11. Ethiopian Eunuch 53 12. Baptized unto Moses .... - 55 13. Three that bear Record 5G 14. JcAvish Baptisms ...--- 59 15. Rhantizo 61 ii lNDi;X AND >Ji:MM.\KY. 10. Authorised Version 1 7. Demonstration IS. Sunnnary of Mode CO If . CP WTVAi V. SPIRITUAL BAPTISM : ANALOGY. 1. The Great, Commission • '2. One Baitiiui .... o. Buried b\ Bapiissn Born of Water and the Spirit Figure corrospoiding *o Bai)tism Exigency, Fact ; nd Inference Dispensation of die Si)irit I. 0. AllGUMENT FROM 09 7a 7+ 78 80 81 8.-! 1 1 n CilAPTER VI. SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. ] . The Key-Note •_'. A Covenant God ;;. Voices of tlic Old Testament - 4, Identity of the Church ■», Of such is the Kingdom of God 0. Forhid them not Positive Authority Apoitohc Couiniissio'^ . . . . La\. of Infant Baptism „ . . Baptism of Households 11. Ecclesiastical History I'J, Snnmiary of Subjects - - - 10 8,> 80 88 1)0 93 ;»7 1)9 100 101 103 105 108 CHAPTER VIE (OBJECTIONS TO INFANT BAPTISM. 1. Silence oi Scripture 'I. No Example No Conmiand Cannot belif".; So few Houseliolds . Terms of Commission Brings no Blessing - Unrecognized 9. Conclusion ■J. 4. .'). 0, 7. s 111 113 114 11 > 110 118 121 VJo 12G INDEX ANJ» SUMMARV. €IIAPTEJ{ VIII. TESTIMONY OF ANTF^riTV. 1. Classic Usiige -...,_ Greek Lexicons and Author.-^ IJapto ..... Hellenistic Greek ..... Bathings and Washings ..... Patristic Testimony ..... Ephesian and Early Fonts .... Oriental Evidence Church ot the Catacombs .... 'CHAPTER IX. COXTIlOVEIiSV AND CRITICISM 1. Baptisma Classic . . . . _ An Uncanonized Canon ..... Voice of Versions ... Anglican Translation ..... Tessclatcd Quotation ..... Cross Examination of Witnesses Syllogism Baptismata Biblia - . . . Philip and Eunuch Eis in Greek &c - . . . . Jailer's Baptism . - . . . Sacraments ----.. Baptismal Regeneration • - . . A Model Baptism and Modern Immersion Close Communion ..... Eirenicon - - - - m •3. 4. 5. 0. .7. 8. 2. 3. 4. 5. «. 7. 8. 0. 10. 11. VJ. 13. 14. ll'7 i.w; 140 14.". 14.-. 148 154 157 IGO 107 17<» 18;; 18(; IIK! 198 204 210 2VJ 21.1 224 234 231) 241 252 2511 2G3