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PRINTED AT THE NOVA3COTIAN OFFICE* i.jiiLJiiM.s-' -itmKimmmmixmMmm^i- •Si <:■ A<£) ■» •( s k <> X'i^^ mpj^m^^^^mm^ ■^psdmrnJ /k A DISSERTATION, S^c. ««S>»f What is Baptism ? In an investigation of the manner hi vvhich the ordinance of Baptism is to be administered, ii is essential to the correctness of our conclusions, tiiat the premises from which they arc drawri be just. According to the hnc of argument adopted by Anabap- tists in general, the determination of the mode must turn upon the original, and (what is assumed, not very accurately, to be identical,) the proper signification of the term Baptise or Bap- tism : and the advocates of the rite of pouring or .sprinkling, which they deny to be baptismal, have, to a considerable extent, acquiesced with them in this ; their reasonings seeming often tacitly to take for granted, that if the term employed to denote the ordinance be found invariably to denote Immersion, the ground must be abandoned to their opponents. It seems to me extievnely probable, iliat the paramount reli- ance placed by Anabaptists upon the determination of the ori- ginal or proper meaning of the singh word, and the "admission, by their opponents, of the important relation which it is thought to bear to a satisfactory adjustment of the ideas of Christians on the mx)de of Baptism, is to be traced to a striking apparent ano- maly in the direct Scriptural allusions to that ordinance. In the New Testament, in which alone tiio word Baptise or Bap- tism occurs, it is unaccompanied by any explanatory detads bearing upon the mode in which Baptism is to be administered. The speakers, whose words are recorded by the inspired writers, evidently proceed upon the assumption, that those who heard them, so fully understood what ideas were intended to be com- municated by the word in question, that any explanatit i or par- ticular description of the mode of administering the ordinance indicated by the term Baptism, would be entirely superfluous. And the inspired writers also obviously take for granted the per- fect intniUmhilitv of their nhraseolouv when spoakiiig of the Z..im l S B W?^" 4 WHAT IS BAPTISM? dispensation of that ordinance. " And were baptised of him in Jordan.— Teach all nations, baptising them.— Why baptisest thou then " In fact, throughout the New Testament, for our know- ledge of what constitutes Baptism as a divinely mstitmed rite, if we except incidental allusions not primarily mtended to cast light upon the present inquiry, we are left to look tu the word in its naked individuahty. Heie, then, there might seem to be— nay, according to the impression that the first and last question must be,— What does the word Baptise mean ?— there certamly is an anomaly m tha plan of Divine doctrine respecting positive ordinances. Nonsuch source of embarrassment and doubt exists in the case o. any other rite,— no such meagreness of instruction upon the 3ubject of instituted duty. Under the former dispensation, circumcision, oblation, sacrifice and festival, were enjoined. But in no one ot these branches of Divine Service, is the knowledge, upon the part of either the people or the Priest, of the manner m which obedience is to take form, suspended upon the knowledge ot a solitary word. The specification of the mode of procedure, that the intention of the Head of the Church be undersiood and fulfilled, IF often so minute as to appear, to our simplicity, super- fluous,— so complete as to remove all cause of controversy. Ac- cordingly, it is a fact, that, divided as the Jews were m the latter period of their eventful history, upon points of high import, there is no evidence of the existence of more than one opinion upon the form of the instituted rights of the ceremonial law ; and exposed to heavy censure for encumbering the service ot Uod with traditional practices, our Lord charges them not with in- formality in their approaches to the Holy One, in consequence of having turned aside from the letter of commanded customs. And when we turn to the New Testament we do not find it otherwise. The Lord's Supper is unquestionably peculiar to the last days of the world. Being required to keep the feast, wo are not left to gather from the word Supper, the mode in ^yhlch the Divine will is to be fulfilled. Lest the, by no means imperfect information supplied by three Evangelists, should still leave room for misapprehension, the Holy Spirit takes occasion from the excesses into which the Church in Corinth had run ; or perhaps it would be more correct to sav, the Saviour permits the Corinth- ians to run into excesses, under the notion ot commemorating his death, for whatever other reasons, that occasion might be . 1 . 1.. u„ .V.^ n'^r. of P-Jii] instviirtlnn SO mUCh morc definite, that all but deviation from the will ot God, simply vo. ■^Ol WHAT IS BAPTISM f 5 luntary might be anticipated. And has any disputation taken place respecting the mode of dispensing and eating ti.e Lord s Supp'3r among men who receive the word of God, as an intal- lible rule of faith and practice, to be used by every man tor his personal direction ? None respecting the meaning of what is writ- ten. That Bread and Wine are the elements to be used— that they are not used to answer the purposes of corporeal nourish- ment— that the repast is social, and to be enjoyed without limita- tion to the frequency of the observance, are fully admitted. Different views are entertained and defended, not about thmgs specified, but about the propriety of circumstances of which no- thins is specifically mentioned or enjoined. Is! then. Baptism the exception, the solitary exception, to the 2nciGJ« and condescending particularity with which the Head of Lhe Church has used to exhibit the duty of his members, wh'^ji they would .)bserve a positive ordinance according to his word'' That word "is profitable for all thmgs, that the man oi Grd mJ.y be perfect, thoroughly furnished urito all good ,^,^,.r,. ii jy/^^^st the treining of the word Baptise determine the -.rr^-ise Patjre of or;- duty ?— Whether we are in Baptism to be inmiei-cd, c- have the water applied to us ?-Whether we must be covered, or have a small quantity poured or sprinkled upon US'' Must we direct the inquirer into divine things, to the Lexicographer, and the Critic, to teach him his duty ? And are we to admit that, in one instance, the will of God is so express- ed, that an important and imperative positive appointment is to be hidden lom our view, or exhibited before the Church, accor- ding to the false or correct interpretation of a single Greek vo- cable ? Shall a divine ordinance be displaced by human inven- tion, or come under our notice in the reflection of divine light, according to the error or accuracy of a Translator m rendering a sin«^le word ? And if that word remain untranslated, must we remain in utter ignorance of one prominent part of commanded duty? So say the Anabaptists, with few exceptions. And as their doctrinal adversaries are not prepared to admit positions so difficult, if the matter stand as they allege, it is much to be iear- ed that the controversy shall not soon come to a termination, the persuasion of the Rev. A. Carson notwithstanding, that he has settled the question respecting the mode of Baptismi as cer- tainly as axioms are true. The bootless and pedantic boast, so very unseemly in one who had more than once found cause to change his ministerial profession and practice, is nevertheless in the full spirit ot the people among wuum ao wau v.r«v *« n*- .-u -> Q WHAT 13 lUPTISM r To Anabaptists every ihing here appears so plain, llint ihey are hardly able to reconcile opposition to their pecuhur views \vith a wiiling subjeelion to the laws of Christ. 1 he lettered advo^ cateof Immersion finds the n))plicatiou ot the or.gnial word so «asy and eonciusive, that a child can he at no loss to lea»«i lh|H '« Baptism means to lay under water; ' and ihe unlearned, wi h a smile of conscious superiority, or the scornlul glanec due lo wilful i-norance or obstinate impiety, rises in tnumph over sanc- titied talent and education, adorned with ihe runs of practical piety, when found in opposition, holding aloit in his nervous grasp, a flag inscribed thns~"liF. >vb:.Nr down inio thi: watrr, AND CAME UP OUT OF THK WATEU." And is it, indeed, so easy to ascertain the nature or the loim of a i»osiiive ordiuunec, from the jiarticular name py wmch it is indicated ? Could the nature of the ordinance in question have been easily determined from its name, by them to whom that name was nimiliar as one of their native ^ton^ue ? Let us try how near we could ai)proach to a knowledge, according to this rule, of the nature of other ordinances, and the order ot their observance. Out of the many, we shall select, for tne sake of ex jeriment, two: not because they are better adapted to serve a purpose than others, but tliat the names given to them by inspiration have been reduced to eciuivalent terms in the au- thorised English version. These are the Passover and the Lord's Supp"er. In regard to neither shall we find reason t(» believe the distinctive name appropriated to it, inteutied or adapted to afford the information necessary to its due observance according to divine appointment. 1 P.\isovER.— The name appropriated to this ordinance, in- tended to perpetuate among the Israelites the remembrance ot their wonderful deliverance from the land of Kgypt and the means by which it was effected, was taken from the circumstance that the destroying Angel who traversed the land and smote all the first-born of the Egyptians, on that night on which it was first solemnized, and which immediately preceded their escape from bondage, passed over the houses of the Israelites, the lintels and door-posts of which were smeared with the blood ot a lamb, slain and eaten according to the command ot God, by Moses. Now, from the term Passover, who could derive any informa- tion respecting the nature of the ordinance of which it is the Scriptural denomination ? Not one, it may be unhesitatingly affirmed, could foim the most remote idea of it. I he literal and aitowed meaning, wiiicn is noi couuuuicU ^^.\^^^l^^. uj «,..i.,.ji-.j •< WHAT 13 nA['TlSM nssociatioii ^vilh the i'cstival, aflords not the most vague hint of its technical import. From the words puss over, no doduction could lead the mind to the contemplation ol an annual obscrv- ancn— tiic nsc of a lamb ot" the first year— the roasting of the lami) in opposition to every oilier mode of culinary preparation — the catin^j of it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, by persons in the c(|uipments of travellers— the necessity of using every part of it,— and the careful avoidance of breaking one of its bones. Nor could the reason of man, borne away on the wings of the wildest fancy, discover from pass over, uninfluenced by information previously imparted, or the association of ideas formed by familiarity with an established custom, a single one of those particulars. It is in its technical application alone, that the phraseology in which it is introduced appears neither absurd nor unintelligible. If we should suppose the compound word used in itsorisjinal, literal, and allowed import, what could we understand by killing the pass over, roasting the pass over, eating the pass over, holding or keeping the pass over? With mortj surprise and confusion than seized the Disciples when our Lord said, " A little while, and yc shall not seo ine ; and again a little while, and ye shall see me," might those who know^ or would know, nothing but the original and literal meaning of Passover, oKchim, hearing such language from the lips of any one, *' We know not what he saith." 2. Lord's Supper.— Similar remarks apply to this ordinance also. How shall we ascertain that the repast must consist of bread and wine— that it is to be eaten in company with our brethren- that it belongs exclusively to members of the Church — that it is commemorative of the death of Christ — that the bread must be broken and the wine poured out, and that they are the symbols of his broken body and shed blood, and that we '' • not eat to satisfy the cravings of animal appetite ? Will the word Sup- per teach us? No. It would lead us to the ideas of a full meal — the latest repaj^t of the day— a solitary or social meal, as it might fortuitously occur— and a meal consisting of any esculents that might be desired or could be procured. In this instance again, the name appropriate 1 to the commemorative ordinance is taken, not from its nature or form— of course it is not indica- tive of either ; but from the use of such things as constitute food, and the lime when it was instituted. The preceding remarks shew that there are two crdinances known l.y divinely prescribed names, not indicating their ma- ture or mode of administration, but origliiaiiiig exclusively in 9 WHAT IS BAPTISM? the 'evanescent circumstancca of their institution. And it vvll be found, that the proper and distinctive designations of other posi- tive ordinances will, no more than these, supply ns with the infor- mation necessary to an acfjuaintaiKtc with their iia.urc, mode of solemnization, or design. So lar is it from being true in any case, that we are made acquainted with a positive ordinance by its name, that we need first to know the ordinance, to understand the origin and reason of the name. In the face of facts, shewing that the adoption of the rule must leave us entirely at fault in observing other positive ordinan- ces, or lead Jo most distressing embarrassment and sus^pense, not to say despair, of ever arriving at definite information respecting the Older of procedure, it is passing strange that Christians should be held bound down to the literal and proper, or if it seem -^ood, the established and universally admitted signification of ihe'^appropriatcd designation of the ordinance, in ascertam- iiv* what God requires when he commands us to he Baptised. If^tbe word Supper would lead us wide of the mark, when we would attend upon one ordinance ; and Passover laave us stmd- inj; still, utterly at a loss how to proceed to the observance of another, why should there be s-j much confidence that the appro- priated denomination of tbe initiatory ordinance of the New Testament shall competently fill a place and serve an end, which the proper names of other ordinances are not designed or adapt- ed to do. Or why should any be seriously animadverted on, because, after admitting that the original and literal signification of Baptise is to '* amerse, they hesitate to admit that the ordinance of Baptism is identical with Immersion. Still it may be said, if we be not supplied with definite mtor- mation from other sources— if we be left to glean our knowledge of the ordinance from its proper name (and it has been admitted that the New Testament supplies not one sentence of direct in- formation upon the subject,) what are we to do ? Are we not to use what light the word baptise supplies ? or are we to lay aside the ordinance till God condescend to separate the litigants by an immediate adjudication between them? We might, without offence, suggest to Anabaptists the propriety and comeliness ot a httle moderation, of a little less dogmatism— a more sparing use of " great swelling words." Surely the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please themselves. Let not him that immerses, despise him that immerses not. The advocates of the Bimple and unostentatious rite, administered by pouring oi- sprinkling a little vvatei upon the face of an adult or infant, mmmmfmm MMMHM WHAT IS BAPTISM 9 have aot been forward to condemn the practice of excliwive im- mersion. They have stood for the most part upon the delonsive. Perhaps, in the sequel, there may be found some reason to hesi- tate to make so ample a concession as that which is usually made, that there is no objection to Immersion being considered one mode in which the ordinance of Bapiism may beadminis- tered. That the mode is indifferent might have remained the concesijion of indolence, and gratifying to indole)ice. But when Anabaptists refuse to give repose — when they will persevere in as- c»erting that to be unquestionable, whi^^h has again and again been denied--<-when they ascribe to others concessions which were never made — when they do not ceaae to insult, tod'preciata the intellectual, and hold up t: picion, the religious character of those who differ from them —vi'., an they continue virtually to inva- lidate the orders of every other than an immersed Minister of the Gospel, and excommuni'-^te every professed, follower of the Lamb who follows not wita them — when they not only r-'aim and desire to possess a distinctive privilege, but insifit thp^ ve must surrender what we believe to be ap. honest possesf^i :. ; it is natural, and, by no means unreasonable, to look a iittle more closely into their title to what they hold. But what arc we to do ? Scholars of the first name, and of close and accurate research, have applied themselves to thd in- vestigation of the wordi and the end of the controversy is not seen even afar off. Mr. Carson, armed with axioms, ac .' canons, and a dogmatism possessed by few, and supported by an imposing array of heathen subsidiaries, has failed to produce submission in the minds of his opponents. He has pushed aside, very unceii'e- moniously, the ablest writers on the same side of the question, and taken upon himself the whole burden of the controversy, that he might sweep away every cobweb within which the Pedobap- tists have hitherto ensconced themselves, by his more ext^^nsive research, his more accuracb criticism, and his more exact philo- sophy : and the objects of his assault still enjoy, in their places, an undisturbed security, unappalled by the thunder-cloud of divine vengeance, to which he has, as with his finger, once and again pointed : although 1 think thtre are among them some few, who at once possess integrity, fear God, and are capable of appreci-r ating an argument. We do not propose to enter the field, in which so many, more able to improve it, have laboured, of a dry critical examination of a word or words, barbarous to the overwhelming majority of those who are equally intei:osted in the decision. There is no ne- B . WHAT IS BAPTISM ? cessity for it. God has not forgotten his condescension to the infirmities and wants of his children — his little ones, when he requires them to be Baptised, n^ore than when he savs, " Do this in remembrance of me." The necessity of confining our attention to the word Baptise, assumes that Baptism is an ordi- nance peculiar to the New Testament dispensation, and that there- fore all the Scriptural information to be obtained respecting it, must be sought in the pages of the New Testament. This is the assumption of the Anabaptists. It is a groundless assump- tion. Baptism is not an ordinance peculiar to the New Testa- ment times. It is a divinely instituted rite of the former dispen- sation. Let it be remembered that the question before us is neither, who ought to Baptise ?— nor, who to be Baptised ? — nor, whether Baptism is to be administered once or frequently ? — but, ivhat is it to be Baptised f It is notasserted that Baptism occupies the same place, or retains the same relation to a religious pro- fession as of old ; but simply that it was a rite observed, accor- ding to an expression of the divine will, by the covenant peo- ple of God, before the incarnation of the Son of the Highest. If this can be proved, there appears a most satisfactory reason why, when Baptism is spoken of in the New Testament, there should be no special explanation of its nature or the mode of its administration — why the hearer or reader should be addressed as one acquainted with the rite — why the naked denomination should be introduced in the same manner with Sacrifice, Circum- cision, or Passover. Every reader of the New Testament, who is in any measure acquainted with the Old, would at once per- ceive that there would have been a needless superfluity of detail, had the inspired writers, who often allude to Sacrifices, Circum- cision and the Passover, the Altar, the Tabernacle and the Tem- ple, furnished us with an account of the nature and intention of these ordinances, or the mode of their administration, and supplied adescription of the structures mentioned, or the purposes to which they were applied ; unless, haply, the idea should present itself, that the latter revelation was intended for such as were ignorant of the former, or that the purpose to be served by the Old Tes- tament had been accomplished, and that its perusal and applica- tion had been superseded. At the same time, the strict propriety and consistency with the Divine plan, in bringing positive ord - nances before the Church, of a minute account of the design of the Liord s Snnnpr^ and the mode of its celebration- nre disoovered ins a more distinct light. The supposition that Baptism was an ordi- nance, instituted, explained, understood, and observed, before -1*'} f"- WHAT IS BAPTISM ? 11 God was manifest in the flesh, removes the appearance of an anoma)y, that, as such, must otherwise press itself upon the at- tention of the observant student of the Bible, when he finds Baptism, viewed as an ordinance peculiar to this economy, stand fortli, without any specification of its object or mode, or this to be gleaned from a critical analysis of the name appropriated to it, in the midst of a cluster of ordinances, not more of a posiiive nature — not more important — not more peremptorily enjoined — of which such a minutely faithful account has been furnished, that controversy, if it exist at all, obtains only on the outworks. That this supposition is founded in fact, is to be proved. Here we step to a conclusion at onqe, by a process the most simple, tha most easily apprehended, and the best adapted, to say the least, to an overwhelming majority of religious enquirers. The conclusion is founded on testimony — Divine testimony. Scrip- tural statement, where such statement is fully admitted to be de- cisive evidence, sets the matter at rest. It has been already no- ticed, that, from the beginning of the New Testament, Baptism is always introduced to view as a subject with which those ad- dressed are fully acquainted. Paul shows us the good reason the Jews had, nay, all who were acquainted with the Old Testa- ment had, perfectly to understand what Baptism meant. Writing to the Corinthians,^ he says, '< Brethren, 1 would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through tho sea, and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." They were Gentiles to whom he addressed these words, for he says in a subsequent part of the same chapter, "Behold Israel after the flesh," and presses upon them the necessity of separating themselves from all participation in services of the Idols' Temples, which, in res- pect to Jews, in the most corrupt times subsequent to the Baby- lonish captivity, would have been quite superfluous. Observe the propriety of his address, '• I would not that ye should be igno- rant." With the fact, of which he makes mention, the Jews were well acquainted. At present it would be out of place to enquire how the Baptism was or was not administered. This shall form a subject of future examination. It is to the fact that the read- er's attention is invited, that, "in the cloud and in the sea, " the whole body of the Israelites were Baptised. " All our fathers were Baptised.^^ We might not have been able to discover a i 1 Cor., 10; 1,2. :a» fi m n WHAT ;s BAPTISM .'' ?flu- ^''^'!'^^' !" ^^^"' °'^*'^h th^«"gh the Red Sea, or in the allusions to it in other parts of the Old Testament. Ic- norance or pr^udice may have produced dulness of apprehen- sion on the subject of Baptism. Were it otherwise, thelctrine of Baptisms, one « of the F^Wi^/e* of the doctrines of Christ • » would notfurnish the materials for so keenly contested a discus- Tu ?-f 'i-r"^^ ^' ^"^ ^"°§'^^^ '^ i»f«' that the enlighLn- ed Israelite did not recognise the Baptism of his fathers. Chris- tZf /J-th ''' '^'^'' ^.°^ '^^ nineteenth century I) are accus- tomed, with great complacency, to take credit to themselves for clearer, and more correct, and more extensive apprehensions of dime things than the despised sons of Abraham of the olden t me D^d our attainments bear proportion to our privileges, our know- edge of spiritua things would be more exact and extensive ; but It IS a melancholy fact, that the light in men is sometimes dark- l^^;^^^,:^ ^^^^"^"^ ^^' -- ^'^^ - -- to a But the following passage admits of no evasive explanation The man who asserts that Baptism is exclusively an San "e of the last days does so in opposition to a very plain Scr S proposition, and contradicts the testimony of the Bolv Gho^t "Which stood only in meats and drinksf and L^tLSni thn I '^*'?•.^^'^'^''>'^ ^'^^^^"g °f the Religious services of the Israehtes, and informs us that they consisted in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances. 2. He is not treating of traditional rites, and the superstitious forms of will-worship but the divinely appointed service? of S^b Tabernacle and Temple-of the Mosaic Dispensation. Tht fLf i S'Ia'^ ^ashmgs," as we read, are divers Baptisms. This fact IS hidden from the mere English reader by the intm duction of the word washings to translate the originainsteadof ^^'S^Z^l^!'' ^^^"^"- of Bap^tism'issSj:^ IS ndw famished that shall conduct us to a discovery of both te nature of Baptism as a divine ordinance, and the mode of i^ «lm,ms.rat,o„-a clue that at once introduces us, forrst'uctioB! I M«b, C: I, 2 ■^ Heb, 9: 10. mf ulh WHAT IS BAPTISM ? IS nto he sphere of Mosaic institutions. It may appear annoyine .0 self-nghteousncss and self-sufficiency to be turned backS fa? for information ; but an Apostle has taken us by the handrand we have, consistently with due submission to the DiWne wiU no alternatire, ' ,.,P'''V iir""*^ ^^ ^'■^^,^' ''°"' "« ^^ «° distinguish, in the multi- tude of Mosaic rites, those to which the appellation of Baptisms 13 given . Baptisms will not readily be confounded whh™ and rfmfo. But how shall we distinguish a Baptism from « cTrll ^dtnance Uwe were to adopt tho emendation of Griesbach,X knot would be cut at once. In his edition, the connective , ha? IS found in the authorised text ^nd the English version, between thus .-"Meats and drinks, and divers Bapt;?ms, carnal ordi- nances imposed on them, &c.» Thus die carnal ordinances are made to stand in apposition to meats, drinks, and baptisms, fur- ^itr'^JVP.""""" °^ 'M' ""'"'«• W« have nodesire, how- ever, to take advantage of the proposed emendation. The claa- sification of the Old Testament ordinances would no seem to be complete, without viewing carnal ordim„ces as a distincfctess! and the omission of the conjunction, placing them in nppositio^ ana baptisms. They are not carnal ordinances/ .tJlf^f\^''^T^ ^^""^ ^""P^''"^' ^» ^^« diversified application ZtZ./ ^fT^'' ^^^^ ^'^" introduced, according to the ap- pointment of God, in his service. There ia no need to look for Baptism ir connexion with wine, which constituted the drink offer- ing ; nor with oe/, with which flour was mixed, cakes prepared and wafers anointed, to be presented before the Lo^d^Cu actual sin. and expresses thBdenrlvUv 'If* .^ • reference to contracted moral impurity or luted, were put from hrSest'hood-'bSf °f.?«''!""*»' /' «5^«.ehildr.n of Habai.h. «. pol- .erer..o„e''db,genelJrbu?^^^^^^^^^^^ Circumci«on.th,whoirLTvticare™lmv r/'ohirft'^'^^ .in.«.edi.tely upon bir.h. T' u WHAT IS BAPTISM? \ constituted a part of the meat offering. Beside these, blood and water were extensively used. We shall take and give the be- nefit of the various applications of water, blood, with the excep- tion already specified, oil, and (under the direction of John the Baptist, who teaches us to connect Baptism with its use, we shall add it to the elements already specified) fire, or any one of them, in ascertaining the nature of Baptism, and the mode of its administration ; and shall not pronounce a severe sentence upon any mode of administration which is supported by the Old Tes- tament use of oil, blood, water, or fire, as it is limited and di- rected by the law of symbols. OIL was used to anoint Aaron and his sons, the Tabernacle, the Ark, the Table and his Vessels, the Candlestick and his Vessels, the Altar of Incense, the Altar of Burnt Offering and his Vessels, the Laver and his foot, to sanctify them/ that they might be em- ployed in the service of God. Aaron and his sons were anointed by pouring oil upon their heads,^ and the Altar by sprinkling oil upon it seven times.' Oil was ^Mi on the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, and poured or put on the head of the Leper to be cleansed, that he might present his offering unto the Lord.* Oil was sprinkled before the Lord seven times,, in the ceremonial of cleansing the Leper,® and, mingled with blood, on Aaron and his sons, and on their gar- ments, to hallow and sanctify them.^ BLOOD was SPRINKLED upou all the people, on the day when, at Horeb, they entered into Covenant with God by sacrifice. This blood is called the blood of the Covenant, and was sprinkled for the purpose of purging away sin.^ Blood was sprinkled upon the Leper on the day of his cleansing^ — probably mixed with oil, on Aaron and his sons, and on their garments, to sanctify them^ — be- fore the veil, when the sin oflfering of the Priest or the people was presented.*" The blood of the red heifer was sprinkled before the Tabernacle of the congregation," and that of the sacrifices generally upon the Altar.*'* Blood is put on the tip of the right 1 Ex. 30 : 26—30, 40 : 9—15. 2 Ex.29: 7—40: 15. 3 Lev. Si II. 4 Lev. 14: 17—19, 28—30. a Lev. 14: 16. .6 Ex. 29: 21— Lev. 8: 30. 7 Ex. 24: 8— Heb. 9: 19,22. 8 Lev. 14: 7. •J i:x. 29: 21. »0 Lev. 4: 6, 17. >l Num. 19: 4. 12 Ex. 24: 6-Lev. 5,9. ,1 WHAT IS BAPTISM ? 15 ear, the thumb of the right hand, and on the great toe of the right foot of Aaron and his sons, when being consecrated to the office of the Priesthood, to sanctify them' — upon the same parts of the Leper to be cleansed, in connection with other ceremonies of pi ification,^ — and upon the horns of the Altar — and is poured out at the bottom of the Altar, to sanctify it to make reconciliation upon it.^ watek was used to wash Moses, and Aaron, and Aaron's sons, at their consecration, oefore entering the holy place, and before ap- proaching the Altar to offer sacrifice; and to wash the High Priest, before putting on the Holy Garments, that he might en- ter into the most holy place* — to wash or bathe the Leper to- be cleansed, or any other person, really or ceremonially unclean, or both, for his purification.^ — to wash the inwards and legs of the burnt-sacrifice** — to wash garments, skins, or any work made of skin, in which there was real or ceremonial uncleanness, the garments of persons really or ceremonially unclean, and of the Levites, on the day of their purification.'' Water was sprinkled seven times upon a leprous person, and on a leprous house, to cleanse them f on the Levites, and on unclean persons for their purification, and on tents and vessels for the same purpose.'' The brazen pot, in which the sin-offering had been sodden, and the vessel of wood, touched by him who had an issue, were rinsed in water ;'" and a vessel of wood ; raiment, skin, or sack — any vessel in which work was done, upon which an unclean reptile, when dead, had fallen, was PUT INTO WATER, that it might be clean." FIRE was used by the divine commandment to cleanse, gold, silver, brass, iron, tin and lead — every thing that might abide the fire, that it might be brought into the camp, or into the tabernacle of the congregation, when specially devoted to the Lord.'^ In reviewing the preceding statements, derived immediately « E« 29- 1 21 7 Lev. II : 25. 13: 6, 31. 64, 15: p. Num. 3 Lev. 14: U. " 8:7,8,19: 7,8, 19, 19,21. 3 Lev. 8: 16. 16: 18. 8 Lev. 14: 7, 61. * Ex. 20: 4 40; 3!, .12. ^ Num. 8: 7. 19: 18,19. » Lev.'l4: 8. 15 ; powim 16 : 26, 28, Num. '<> Lev. 6: 28. 15: 12. 19: 8, 19. 20. " I-ev. II : 32. e Ex, 29: 17, Lev. 1:9. '^ Num 31 : 22-^24, 54. .Ji. 16 WHAT IS BAPTISM ? from the inspired record, there are three par*iealars brought un- der out notice, perfectly distinct from .one another: and as they are common to every case of the instituted application of oil, Wood, water, and fire, they ai-e unquestionably to be viewed as entering into the complex idea d' the ordinance in which the ap- plication is made. These are, I. The thing commanded, or the substance of the ordinance. II. The ultimate object contemplated, and for the sake of which the ordinance is enjoined and observed. in. The mode in which the Administrator is, in each case, to proceed in observing the ordinance and seeking the object. I. The substance of the ordinances, in which blood, oil, wa- ter, or fire is used — the thing enjoined in every case, is purification or cleansing, or sanctification, or hallowing. For this purpose is blood sprinkled or poured out— for this purpose is oil applied in the same forms—for this purpose is water used in washing, bathing, rinsing and sprinkling, and for this purpose is fire used. The identity, in this particular, of the Baptism, enjoined and observed under this dispensation, with the ordinances, which re- quired the application of these several elements, is obvious, from the allusions to it in theNewTestament. Paul represents Baptism by "Washing,'"—" the washing of regeneration,'"— ."having the body washed with pure water,^"— and " the washing of water."" The aistinct specification, in the epistle to the Corinthians, of both sanctification and justification, constrains us to associate " washing " with Baptism,— the purifying ordinance of the for- mer and latter dispensation. " But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God." In the Epistle to Titus, the allusion to Baptism, in the " wash- ing of regeneration," is ascertained by being discriminated, in the sentence, from "the renewing of the Holy Ghost." " Ac- cording to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regenera- tion anrf renewing of the Holy Ghost." Should any one ask, "is Baptism, then, a saving ordinance ?" such a one is referred for an answer to the Apostle of the Circumcision, who teaches us to say that "Baptism doth save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ," not however as a " putting away of the filth of the flesh," not froni any virtue in the water— not from any efficacy that is lodged in the administrator ; but as being " the answer of a > 1 Cor. 6: JI. a Tit. 3; 5. 3 Heb. 10: 22. * Eph. 5 : 26 "^P" m ii j.mm.iMi W i n, :'-::"m"'animont of the wordj and the emblem of the influences of the divine Spirit, who gives effect to the word by which men are born again and cleansedj as it is written, " Sane- c r -^* / 4|b. mm \l I 1 t 18 OBJECT OF BAPTISM. tify them through thy truth : thy vord is trutli f- and aeain " Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken u^,«o yon - and again, "Ye have purified your souls in obeying the tru h thrm^k the Spirit i-being born again-bv the wordV G^ '» buch were the divers baptisms of ancient times, and such' is bap ,sm to US-ordinances of purifica.ion-washingL .Je'~, °-J'"^' contemplated in those divers washines was. umf ,rmly, umon and fellowship with a covenant God and wfth fhe?aw''rnan^f''"'-''"fT'''"' '» 'h« "^-^^^ contemplat J S tlie law, in all cases m which access to God is souffht, ttersons may not draw near to God, in the performance of insHtmSser' TfeHSrof" P^f'T' P"^''^Se, or the partiJipatTon ^f tne fellowship of God's Covenant with a Covenant neonle •— t'T T"" ^ ^"P'°^"'' '» ">« '"^"'« ^«"i<=«- althoSgh7'=pared tern truZT'u'^'^'"^ '° " '''""« V'^scriptL Lfpat tern , nor used, for iheir proper purposes, by a people devoted to the glcry and service of a reconciled God and Father the oTc"e nf'!h»1.'°"^."''/P'''?">;^*''g"^'' "f God himself to duties of thl^fflri''?"'''^:/"' •'"th^.y."'" wear toexecute the accord?n» ,o ,h f ' 1"' ^^"' ?<=«««' '""estiture, or consecration fhpv m»! ° . ^ of purification. Before they enter, and that the door of the Tabernacle; the High Priest is anointed by pour- ,Ll"P°" ^'k ^^'^' "■" "^'^ of «''« ramof consecration is put upon their right ears, hands, and feet, and their garments are Khe Lll'- >°" T^ ""^i- '^'■« "^'^ High Pnfst m ^'Lter o ofr,r rf h! '^ place, and approach the alto of burnt offering. The Lev^,,T^-« ?''.*\P'°'''^' h^m-^twash in water ' Tabernjr tV""^^^ ">"' ^^^y ""y d" tho service of the dt.?k ■ • ''^" '^"'" ""^S »''« ciii'dfen of Israel, to repre- sent the people instead of the first-born, they are not accepted till they have observed the whole appointed proc3Ss of sancti<ion" I nJ^^'T'l-^""^ *" '^ ^"'•"'■"'"•^ aw sanctified, that they mai be used in the divine service,-(he sole purpose for which thev were prepared. The altar and its vessels are sanctified, thar^ conci lation may be made on it ; the Laver and his foot tha the rredoccaCs.' '^''' '''""'' f"' "--^^"'y ablu.iolis on sa- M Jt^ P^'^"™' ""'''"*'' "''"' ^»>' ""Cleanness, may draw near ^^^U^'ZI:.^^'!!:^'^!'!'^'^^^ n with tllP /•r.'^nrrK'icinn mnrlp uiitlmiit- liirtrlc " f^UvIc.*- J Jno. lu. e. 2 Rom, 6, 8; John li, 19, 3 Col. 2: 12. ^f 22 OliJKCT OF BAPTISM ? "was cut 0/ out of the land of the living," and wc arc cut offmiii him. As natural death is descrihed by a puttiii^^ oft' this Taber- nacle, rthe natural body,) so spiritual death— death to sin, death with Christ, by " putting off" the body of the sins of the flesh." And this is by baptism, designated, as some suppose, in the conclusion of the verse, " the circumcision of Christ," or Christian circumcision. Who will not exclaim with Paul, «' ^e are complete in him.^' hi him dwelleth all fulness, and be- lievers have an interest in it all. Are we dead? our life is hid with Christ in God : and, « when Christ who is our life shall ap- pear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Ves! in vir- tue of the union, we shall bo glorified together with him. No- thing less than all this is contemplated in baptism. We seek not in baptism a momentary fellowship vvitli Christ in his burial and resurrection, shadowed forth to carnal eyes, and a perverted imagination, and directed by the spirit of a laborious supersti- tion ; but in faith's surrender of us and ours to him, who is able to save, and faitii's obedience to him, who is our Lord and our God, an eternal death to sin, an eternal separation from a dead world, and eternal life and glory in the bosom of our Father, and the Father of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. The whc li matter is brought before us in one short and ner- vous sentence : « As many of you as have been baptised into Christ, have put on Christ."' Christ is here represented as the believer's raiment, armour, or whatever is put on. In him 1m) appears. On the Christian is exhibited all that Christ is, made, of God unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and re- demption. By baptism, he proclaims his apprehension of Christ for all these, that before God, he may stand justified, before the adversary, safe, before Angels and men, glorifying his Father who is in Heaven. And this is the privilege of all the Saints, as It IS added,—-" there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither i.ale nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." This view of the nature and design of baptism illustrates the propriety of Peter's address to the assembly on the day of Pen- tecost: "Repent and be baptised every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,"— of Anna^ nias to Paul : <' A ise and be baptised, and wash away thy sins : " —and explains the connection between " being baptised," and * Oal. 3: 27, -^ ..::^i" the household of Cornelius, Peter recognised the fulfilment of the promise, — " Ye shall be baptized with (or in) the Holy Ghost.'^ " The spi- ritual baptism is administered by the spirit he'mg poured out, and consequently /a//«io' upon the persons to bo baptized. The re- semblance between the Innann'TO df>«'''''r» washinj^ and of baptising is very exact. The element of wash- ing and that of baptism are applied to the subject — another proof of the identity of washing and baptism. 5. There are circumstances connected with the washing of Aaron and his sons which show that they were not immersed, in whatever form the prescribed aolution may have been performed. The most extensive ablution specifically mentioned is of the hands and feet. This is once and again described by the general expression, " washing with water." " When they go ir j the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water. — When they came near unto the altar, they washed ; as the Lord commanded Moses." ' The preceding verses show that, in form,, this washing was confined to the hands and feet. " They shall wash, or they washed," and " they shall wash, or they washed their hands and feet," are statements made to denote the same process, the latter being explanatory of the former. Had the explanation not been furnished, we might have been dispos- ed to think that the general proposition must necessarily express a more extensive application of water. As it is, we are taught the necessity of guarding against a hasty determination, respect- ing the mode in which a general direction must be followed. The injunction in certain cases to wash the flesh, might ge- nerally be understood to require the application of water to the whole surface of the bony, but in meeting with another direc- tion to " wash all the flesh," the unwarranted apprehension is corrected, and we learn to understand the former to be obeyed, in cleansing a part of the body in a literal view, the part, for instance, which is the particular subject of impurity. The laver, provided to contain water for the purpose of wash- ing, and which stood at the door of the taber lacle of the congre- gation, — the only vessel provided for that purpose in the service of the tabernacle, — was not adapted for the practice of immersion. Its dimensions are not pointed out, but we know that it rested upon one foot, and must have been either toe small to receive the whole man, or too lofty to admit of an easy entrance, without a special accommodation, of which we read not, and an exposure, in a state of nudity, to the gaze of the worshippers, against which even partially, it is well known, God did, in a certain case, provide. T'Kn lr>»T,~.i. wntna nnt- .'*}//)♦} y7/>/7 fnr flif* nin'nrkcso r»f immorcinn siQ it X liO XCiri^l VT WC ll^L 6* t-t't,/C't.t'^'tv *»-/9. •..J-v jft^f t ifV,-* .'V^ ^^e T lis BBS vs »-•««*«» J "-^^-^ p -■ 1 Ex. 30 ; 20. 40 : 32, .*SfeA^^iR^f^aK"i "i^&iifjfiii. j-^aSbk^ t MODE OF BAPTISM. 31 was set up and supplied with vvatcr, that Aaron and his sons might wash their liands and tiieir feet thereat, ' 6. The remarkable declaration of our Lord to Peter, on the eve of his departure, must confound all reasonings in favour of immersion, founded on the command to wash, as though it must infer an obligation to immerse ; and of the Anabaptistical prac- tice, from the nature of Baptism viewed as a cleansing ordi- nance. " He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.^ " Peter's ideas of purification were more carnal, and more nearly allied to the notions of Anabaptists. In his mind, the idea of extensive or complete purification is as- sociated with such an application of water as shall bear some apparent proportion to the effect to be produced. " Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." It is owing to the same earthly apprehensions, that the ritual or baptismal wash- ing, which is performed by sprinkling or pouring water upon the person to be cleansed, is now treated by the advocates of immer- sion with contempt and ridicule : and that a vast amount of labo- rious argument, not derived from such sources, as are accessible to the overwhelming majority of those who are all equally interested in the decision, is profusely expended. Our Lord's definitive sentence, absolutely subversive of Anabaptistical speculations, suggests to us a most important evidence of divine wisdom, in the appointment of rites of purification in particular, and in sub- sequent allusions to them. The necessity of entire purity must be taught, and, at the same time, the uttor inefficiency of exter- nal observances to accomplish it, must be kept up before the eye of the mind. It is God alone who sanctifies wholly, in soul, in body, and in spirit. The blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer (ihe wa:«^r of separation) cannot sanctify, even par- tially, nor contribute to the sanctification of the soul. Had a total immersion been requisive, or had the application of the cleansing element to the whole man been enjoined, the mind would have been led into the notion, too much in accordance with the views of the darkened understanding, that there must be some virtue in the symbol. On the other hand, the injunction of a partial application, in order to a total purification, is calculated to anticipate any lean- ing to a superstitious reliance upon the outward ceremonial. The Saviour says, " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Then would the disciple say, " I must be washed." Again the 1 Ex. 30; 19. 2 Jno. 13: 10. — -iammtSSSBSBt ^Sm^ r 32 MODE OF D'APTISm. / Saviour says, " Ho that is waslicd, neodoth not savu to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." Now the disciple would very naturally subjoin, "What is this that hcsaith? Water can cleanse no farther than it is applied, yet he has averred that a man is clean every whit, in consequence of having had his feet washed. Water is not the real means of the purification intend- ed. Another means, and another than outward purifieatiod, are contemplated." The inquiry, forthwith arising, would have respect to the interpretation of the language of what, from its very form, must appear to be a symbol. The like reflections would bo sug- gested to the mind of the child of God, under the former dispensati- on, in the observance of the rites of purification enjoined upon him. Admitting with unfeigned satisfaction the total absence of all reliance upon a total immersion in the article of i3aptism, con- templated as a cleansing ordinance, on the part of many who strenuously contend for it, I submit that the practice of total immersion, in Jew, or Christian, is superstitious,— that the addi- tion of more water to that which is required and sufficient for sprinkling, that the whole man may be covered, is of the same ctiaracter witli the addition of one immersion to another, and another still, or of oil and salt to the baptismal wateri and is adapted to pervert the ideas of Christians, with reference to the intention of an external ordinance, and to leave false and unscriptural impressions, as it proceeds from perverted ideas and false pri..ciples. The Greek Christian is as ^ully entitled to three dips, and the Papist to a little salt, and oil, as the Ana- baptist to more water than is necessary for aspersion. 7. In purification, God discovers a solicitude that nothing, to be purified, be subjected to a process from which it is not naturally fitted to come .''orth uninjured. Nothing may be exposed to an ordeal which is calculated to destroy it. «' The gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, every thing tfiat may abide the Fire, ye shall make go through the fire, and it shall be clean ; and all that ahideth not the fie, ye shall make go through the water.^'" Here is the evidence, and an exemplifica- tion of the principle—a principle strictly adhered to in every part of the Mosaic ritual— a principle diametrically opposed to the sup- position that washing necessarily implies immerrion, and utter- ly subversive of the practice of immersion for the purification of persons. Total immersion at once points to the destruction of I Num, 30: 22, 2.3. fsma-;-.^. 3i;..j:;fW-i*a j»i6"i'«ai^-=:S*^aR3t7«s«i ■•^^-^^S'l^^sfr'^iS^S- i^j^-, S:iSi^'i< ; S^^ia-?. ^^ MODE OF BAPTISM. 33 persons, and is an apt emblem of destruction, not of safety. In a state of total immersion, the functions of life presently cxpe- riencc a suspension, or at least a violent interruption to their exer- cise, which must soon put a period to temporal existence. The action of the lungs, upon which the movements of the whole ani- mal machine depend, immediately ceases. It is to no purpose to adduce the fact that a man may be immersed, and sustain no permanent or even present injury, when every|one knows that the safety entirely depends upon a speedy extrication from a str.te of submersion. Death is the issue involved in that state, simply con- sidered ; and as it is not insinuated that baptize signifies to take out of the water as well as to put into it; moreover, as ihe argu- ment in favour of total immersion is made to turn upon the word baptize^ and that is said to denote mode, and nothing but rrudc, it is plain that, according to the divine direction, no provision is made for emergence from the water. That Anabaptists have the ideas of immersion and destruction as closely united in their minds . as others, is evident from this,— that whilst they pertinaciously contend that baptize signifies to immerse, and nothing but immerse, the administrator of the ceremony of immersion finds it expedient to supererogate, and is as careful to take the subjects out of the water as to put them into it. The whole tenor of Scripture phraseology, respecting the ends fulfilled by coming in contact with water, agrees with the principle stated above, and applied to the solution of the question between immersion in water, and sprinkling or pouring water in legal washings and baptisms of the former or latter dispensation. In every case in which water is described as coming upon, from above, poured upon or sprinkled, it is expressive of a blessing ; and, invariably, being immersed in water is expressive of a ruin- ous calamity to every thing destructible by immersion, and from which, as being destructive to persor.., the child of God would humbly pray to be delivered. Being covered with water, is never represented as a privilege, but a calamity ; never a blessing, but a curse. Take for proof and illustration the following passages of Scripture, in which The SPRINKLING or POURING OUT Or FALLING OF WATER fiom ttboVC, is spoken of. *' Who giveth rain upon the earth, and send- eth waters upon the fields : to set up on high those that be low ' that those tliat mourn may be exalted to safety.^ I will be 1 Job, 5: 10, 11. E •I Si. MODE 0? BAPTISM. ^i if . IS , ai 11 ) as the ilcw unto Israel : he sliall groiv as the lily, and cast forth his root as Lebanon.'— 1 vi'xWpoiir water upon liim that is thirs- ty, and floods upon the dry ground: I \\\\\pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine oftspring : and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses.' 1 will sprinkle clean water uj)on you, and ye shall be clean.'— As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater so shall my word be that proceedeth out of my mouth ; it shall not return unto me void.^—My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speeoh shall distil as the deiv, as the small rain upon the ten- der herb, i.nd as the shoivers upon the grass. " — The remnant of Jacob shall ue in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. "—He shall jooMr the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalt- ed."- The blessing is the rain, the dew, or represented by the rain, the devv, which descend from on high in crystal drops, and by a gentle distillation ; or it is symbolised by water poured out. No blessing is ever exhibited under the emblem of overflowing floods, or submersion in the deep waters, as will appear from an examination of the following passages of Scripture, in which we have reference to ^ Immersion in or being covered with water. "^'^he Lord hath broken forth upon mine ener^^"- before me, as ihelbreach of waters. '—Thou hast sent widows . ,^ay empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken : therefore snares aie round about thee, and abundance of waters covers thee. ^ — The ivaters covered their enemies ; there was not one of them left.'"— Forasmuch as this people refusetn the w\iters of Shiloah that go softly ; now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters oj the river, strong and many, even the King of Assyria, and all his glory ; and he shall como over all his chan- nels, and go^ over all his banks. And he shall pass through Judah ; he shall overflow and go over : he shall reach even to the neck. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteous- ness to the plummet ; and the hail shall sweep a' the refuge » Hos. U: 5. '-i Isaj. 4^; 3, 4. •T Ezek. 36 : 25. ^ Isai. 5J: JO, li. 5 Deut. 32 : 2. 6 Mi. 6: 7 7 Num. 24 : 7. 8 2 Sam. 5 ; 20. fl Job 22: 9—11. >0 Ps. 106: 11. MODE OF BAPTISM. 35 of licsy and the waters shall overfloto the hiding place.^ — It shall rise up wholly as a flood, and it shall be drawiiea, as by \h.e flood of Egypt. ^ — Waters flowed over mine head ; I sold, 1 am cut off.' — The serpent cast out of his mouth, water as a flood, after the woman ; that he might cause hor ' -> be carried atvay of the flood.* — I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. — Let me be delivered out of the deep waters. Let not the loater flood overflow me, neither let the deep swalloio me up, — If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us; then the waters had overwlielmed us, the stream had gone over our soul ; then the proud waters had gone over our soul.''^^ But the general principle admits of direct reduction to the case of baptism. It would not be an exercise of little inge- nuity to furnish even a plausible argument against the conclu- sion, drawn from this principle, that immersion is alien from both the nature and the object of the baptismal ordinance. Nothing but ari impious ingenuity will attempt it, having the testimony of iwD inspired writers to the existence of a contrast between baptism and immersion. Their testimony shall now be laid before the reader. — " Our Fathers were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Compare this statement with the history of the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and the following facts, worth a thousand speculations, imagin- ings, and philological fancies, will present themselves to every reader ; and it only remains to be tried whether unquestionable facts are to be admitted in evidence. If there be a man who refuses a known fact in opposition to the supposed accuracy of verbal interpretation, he may be entitled to esteem, but certainly not on account of the soundn of his judgment. The facts, bearing upon the baptism of uic sraelites, are these: — L The Israelites were baptized, but not immersed. 2, The Egyptians were immersed but not baptized. 3. The Israelites were saved, and the Egyptians perished. Again, "The world that then was, being overflowed with wa- ter, perished. — God spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.^ The long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is eight aouls, were saved by water. The like figure whereunto, baptism 1 Isai. 8: 6. 7,8, & 2a: 17. ■» Rev. 12: 16. 2 Am. 8: 8&9; 5. ^ Ps. 69: 2, 14, la, Ss 124; 3 Lam. 3 : 54. 2, 4, 5. <; 2 I'ct, 3 : G «f 2 ; 5. "sam 16 MODE OF BAPTISW. doth also now save us, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now for a view of the facts necessarily involved. 1. The old world was overflmoed and perished. 2. Noah and his family were saved hy water, but not over- 3. Salvation by baptism is a figure, and the salvation of the eight members of Noah's family is a figure. 4. These are like fi^^ures. . • . i. : The water was to Noah what water m baptism is to tho be- liever, figurative of a divine and effective agent in giving sa va- tion. The safety of Noah and his family answers to the salva- tion secured by baptism, both being figurative of spiritual de- liverance. The ark is like the organized visible socict^ -the body of Christ, into which the believer enters or. earth. And as the ark, in being lifted up, lifts up them that are in it, so in tho resurrection of Christ, they arc raised up with him to newness of life, who are of his body. It follows, unless the Apostle has made some mistake in in- troducing the phrase,—" the like figure whereunto baptism,''--' (the similitude is of figures,) that the baftibm which saves is NOT IMMERSION, total or partial ; a conclusion which is strength- ened by the consideration that, in baptism, "the putting away of the filth of the flesh " is not contemplated. Let it be, mean- while, kept in mind that the preceding quotations from the in- spired writers, Paul and Peter, have not been introduced for the purpose of ascertaining the propriety : any given form of bap- tism, but simply to show that immersion cannot be the form, m which it is, in any case, to be ad linistered to persons. The result of the preceding investigation may be br-efly sum- med up in the following particulars :— that the nature or form of any ordinance, and of course of baptism, cannot be learned from the name appropriated to it;— that baptism is an ordinance of the Old Testament dispensation, and what is necessary to be known of its nature, intention, and mode of administration, must be learned from that portion of tho Living Oracles ;- that, as to its nature, baptism is an ordinance of purification ;— that the end of baptism is access to God in union to ^ Mediator ;— that the mode of purification or baptism, in all cases agreeing with the case aud conditions of New Testament baptism, was by sprmk- li/ng or washing ;— that there is not one case in which, ainony all 1 1 Pet. 3; 20, 21, ^ V MODE OF BAPTISM. 37 Ml the varied and multiplied rites prescribed of old, any man is com- manded cither to immerse himself, or to be immersed ; — that washing does not imply more than the sprinkling or scattering of water upon the person ; — that total immersion, so far from re- presenting the purification and safety of persokia, ia a synibol of irremediable destruction, and directly opposed to the spirit of the divine institutions ; — and that the allusions to baptism in the New Testament, are, in no instance, at variance with these posi- tions, and in several instances, forcibly sustain them Having, to the best of my recollection, pursued the examina- tion of the subject of baptism thus far, without or. 8 thinking of them, it ministers no little satisfaction that the examination fully justifies the description of the ordinance furnished by the West- minster Divines, and the propriety of the solemn profession of adherence, made many years since, to this article, in the works compiled by them, as being founded upon and agreeable to the word of God. They represent Baptism to be " a washing with water," " which, for the manner of doing it, is not only lawful, but sufficient, and most expedient to be by pouring or sprinkling of water on the face," to " signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the Covenant of Grace, and our engagement to be the Lord's." Anabaptists may be surprised to find a conclusion brought, not merely against their cxclusiveness, but against the very character of their ordinance ; and, although, the conclusion be neither new, nor peculiar, may be almost disposed, in the ful- 1 ess of their self-sufficiency, to make the alleged extravagance of it a substiiutc for a more reasonable examination of the grounds upon which it rests, or an exposition of its presumed want ^f firmness. Be it so, that a majority of Pasdobaptists would divide the child with them. 1 I'.ave no doubt that a simple (di- vision with Moses and the Prophets, with Christ and the Apos- t^•^s, will lead to the same conviction which rests with unfaltering firmu : s on my mind, that the doctrine of exclusive Baptismal immersion is a fancy, founded in the mire of superstition and vvill worship ; that it is a substitution of a type of complete dissocia- tion from God and his people, and of utter destruction, for the appointed figure of union to them, and o. eternal salvation ; and that it is connected with views of revelation which ought not to be lightly passed over. When the second branch of the investi- gation comes forward, there m:iy appear reason to believe th-U im- mersion is, notwithstanding, an^ appropriate appendage of the covenant-societies of Anabaptists, and that the' c must be some 38 MODE OF BAPTISM. w. fatality in the union of infant-exclusion and total immersion, whicli so generally obtains, contrary to what might be expected in things that are obviously, to a great extent, independent of each other. The doctrine that total immersion alone is Baptism, supplies no argument in favor of exclusive a 'ult baptism, nor does the latter argue the propriety of total immersion, yet do we sel- dom find that the adoption of the one doctrine is not accompa- nied by a going into the advocacy of the other. We do not ex- pect to find the ordinances of God administered but in the house of God. When Jeroboam abandoned, and caused ihe people to abandon the temple, he made calves, and ordained of the lowest of the people to be Priests. And when ordinances are superseded, the place of God's feet will not long seem glorious, and be visited with the frequency of true devotion. We expect to hear of a total desertion. The conduct of Anabaptists exemplifies these statements. They have forsaken the ordinance, and substituted an ordinance after the vanity of self-wisdom ; and we shall gee presently that they have forsaken the House of God, and erected a Tabernacle according to their own ideas of spirituality and pu- rity, but wanting the evidence of that of which the spirit of Christ is the author. 39. NOTES I 1. Anabaptists. We ought not lO pay a compliment at the expense of a con- sistency. Socinians, Arians, and Anabaptists, have adopted names which involve the whole question at issue between them and their doctrinal opponents. The first two style themselves Uni- tarians, assuming that all who stand opposed to their peculiar views, are Tritheists, and that themselves are distinguished from other professing Christians, by holding the doctrine of the divine unity. In like manner the last, with equal modesty of as- sumption, call themselves " Baptists," and under the name hold out the alleged unbaplized state of all who have not been totally immersed. It may appear to many that the name by which they are called is a matter of too little importance to justify an objec- tion ; and that no real evil can accrue from conceding and using whatever appellation they may choose to adopt; but if it should appear that, by calling them "Baptists," we are, :n fact, though indirectly, pronouncing ourselves unbaptized, and are understood by them to admit not only the validity, but the exclusive validity of their mode of administering the ordinance of baptism, it must be evident that there is something more in the use of the name Baptist, than a decent compliment. In Nova Scotia you will iind the letters from the Churches to the Association at its annu- al meeting very frequently commer.cing thus :— " The baptized Church of to the Elders, &c " which sufficiently indicates the comprehensive import of the appellation, as claimed and used by them, and a sensitive apprehension that the common- ness of the term Baptist, as the index of the Denomination, may have diluted its emphasis. We are not always sufficiently alive to the importance of a ivord. Allow an improper word or phrase to be introduced and currently used, and, although hundreds may plead for it, because it admits of a harmless interpretation, the thing itself, correctly expressed by such word or phrase, shall soon be found almost as current as the language. Call bitter sweet, and sweet bitter, »nfl/9"hvvith the bitter will be applauded and sought after, and mmMfLtmrnm 40 NOTES. the sweet condemned and refused. When the Anabaptists are in a very small minority, the words Baptist, baptise, and baptism, with application to them and their rite, will scarcely modify the mode of thinking in a perceptible degree ; but it will be found quite otherwise where Anabaptists are in great numbers. They are too much under the influence of self-sufficiency and self- righteousness to accommodate their diction to any taste but their own. They always by baptism mean immersion, and there will rarely be found among them, the reciprocation of that politeness which, among Paedobaptists, dignifies "immersion" with the name of the divine ordinance, by a departure from the contemptuous use of sprinkling, infant sprinkling, unbeliever ^inkling, to denote the baptismal rite retained by such as refuse their princi- ples and practice. In Britain, it would only excite a smile to hear a preacher announcing, " We read of John, the Baptist, but never of Paul, the Presbyterian, or James, the Methodist ;" but in the western parts of Nova Scotia, where Anabaptist prin- ciples have the ascendency, the announcement might pass for a good " hit " in favour of those principles. My ears h ve become familiar among Presbyterians by education, and other Pcedobap- tists, with the exclusive application of Baptism to denote immer- sion, and sprinkling to denote the ordinance of which they were the subjects in infancy, and the validity of which they do not call in question. It is high time that Paedobaptists should pay more atten™ tion to the defence, and the consistent exemplification of the principles . f then profession, come forth from the privacy in which they too often hide the administration of baptism, im- prove the opportunity which a public reception into the Church affords for setting forth the nature and importance of that ordi- nance, teach the people to speak the language of Disciples, instead of concealing an institution of divine appointment under the superstitious mantle of giving a Christian Nan . When men sleep, an enemy soivs tares among the wheat. II. Baptize or Baptism. It is well known that this is a Greek word, introduced into the English language through the Latin medium, modified by an English termination. The derivative has been adonted b« the authors of the received English version, in preference to any supposed equivalent of Saxon original. Before the authorised tra- on was executed, the question whether the initiatory or- S ii^^^-lV'-'fe^'iS.^l^'?-^ NOTES. 41 dinance of God's House should be administered by immersion of the subject in water, or by the application of water to the sub- ject, by'pouring or sprinkling, had been long agitated : and the Translators had too humbling a sense of their own liability to err, and too correct an apprehension of their responsibihty, to aim at deciding for Christendom a disputed point, in which sin- cere followers of the Lamb were deeply interested. A trans- lation of the word Baptize, might cast a sinking weight into the scale of either party in the argument. It would have been well, if Translators of the Scriptures into other tongues had followed their example, and with the introduction of Christianity, had ingrafted into the languages of the nations for whom translations were mode, a word or words, used to de- note divine ordinances. However, the Anabaptist Translators into the languages of the East, have been true to the assumption of their own perfection of knowledge, and, in the spirit of infal- libility worthy of the Papacy, have put the British and Foreign Bible Society u])on the painful necessity of denying to those lor whom such translations have been executed, any assistance from its funds, in consequence of translating Baptize and its derivatives, by terms in the native languages, equivalent to im- merse or dip. A "Bible Tr iislation Society " has been v gan- ized to support their arrogant and obstinate exclusiveness, the uselessness and injurious tendency of which, even with respect to the Anabaptists, have been ably and lucidly pointed out by one of their own number in " Letters " addressed to W. B. Gurney, Esq. And, at its annual meeting in 1840 the Anabaptist As- sociation of Nova Scotia passed the following resolution, equally extraordinary in itself and its terms, designed, as it evidentlji was, to come before and to persuade men, many of whom, in undjrstanding and conscience, fully satisfied of the propriety of Baptism by effusion or sprinkling, have never entertained the idea of pressing or suggesting the translation of the word baptize in an xacter accordance with their own views and practice : — " Whereas it appears that for some years past, the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society have refused to aid in the circulation of those versions of the Scriptures in foreign lan- guages, which have been made by (Ana) Baptist Missionaries, solely because our brethren have faithfully translated the word baptize by words which signify to immerse. Res. — That this Associaiiou do respecifuliy memorialise the Parent Society, through its Agent, the Rev. J. Thompson, requesting that such estriction be removed, &c." V 42 NOTES. There never was a more feeble objection raiqed against the use of the word baptize than its Greek origin. The reason that exists lor its exclusion would invalidate the standing of a thou- sand words that are familiarly used by the English nation, and the propriety of which is never challenged,— words that have been introduced with as little variation as the one in question. JNor can Anabaptists themselves find another word to express baptism, without having recourse to foreign aid. I quote with pleasure the shrewd remarks of the late Rev. D. Ross, a Presbyterian Minister of Nova Scotia, upon this subject. Having quoted the words of the writer to whom he is replying ;-" Our translators have not translated it into the English— it is a Greek word ; it means immersion;"-" he subjoins:— "1 would remark here, that the terms baptism, baptize. Christian, were admitted into the lan [■■ --• than that the word should signify anything but immersion- -iotai immersion. " He (Mr Ewing) may call on me to find a p^ace^ sufficient to immerse a couch. But I will go on no such ef NOTES. 43 If I have proved the meaning of the word, I will believe the spi- rit of God, who tells me that the Pharisees baptized (immersed) their beds.'' pill. " Is it strange to find the Pha-isees, the su- perstitious Pharisees, immersing their couches for purification, or themselves after market ? For myself, it is perfectly sufficient that the holy spirit testifies that the Pharisees baptized themselves before eutinj^ after markot ; and that they baptized their couches." p. 1 16. " The Jailor and his household were baptized, therefore they were immersed." p. 274. " 1 care not where the water is to be found, if they were baptised they were immersed." p. 272. Upon the faith of the premise that the meaning of the word pre- cludes all inquiry upon different principles, he presents the fol- lowing awful appeal in his preface : — " It behoves those who chan'^e the mode and subjects of baptism, to consider this awful example, (of the prophet who went fiom Judah to Bethel.) If Christ has commanded his disciples to be baptized, on their be- lief of the truth, who can change it into the baptism of infants ? If he has commanded them to Je immersed, who can change it into pouring or springing ?" And iest he should be compelled to admit a secondary and modified acceptation of the term, by the necessary bearing of the passage in which it is found, he fore- warns us that he is prepared to sacrifice the meaning of the pas- sage upon the altar of his critical accuracy, in the following sweeping sentence: — "Now, although I could make no sense of the passage at all, I would resolutely refuse to admit any mean- ing but one that the word confessedly has in some other place." p. 26. From the preceding quotations it is apparent that with Mr. C. the meaning of th xiere i^uorance may roam ai iarge, and prejudice find an escape from every blow aimed against it. The mildest words may hide a deceitful heart; for there are those 48 NOTES. I i who "by good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple." Christ does not forfeit his divine character by pro- nouncing the Scribes and Pharisees to be hypocrites, persecutor?, remorseless extortioners, serpents, a generation of vipers ; nor dare we condemn Paul's spirit, when, after one of their own poets, he asserts the Cretans to be, "always liars, ev'l beasts, slow bellies." If 1 utter a lie against a man, I am actuated by a bad spirit, though my face be as bright as the polished mirror, and honey be upon my tongue. If I call a man a liar or a thief, at random, I deserve to be punished ; but if / prove him guilty of lying and theft, no man may blame my spirit if I call him liar or thief. I quote the words of Dr. Wardlaw, for whom thb " Christian Messenger " professes great respect, as I find them in tne Church of S. Mag. vol 1. pp. 60, 61, and let them be my apo- logy for the severe terms I have used in times past and now use, in dealing with the Anabaptists. " If any reader shall consider the terms in which I have spoken as too severe, and as exposing me to the charge of rendering 'railing- for railing,' I would only entreat him to remember, that it is often impossible to call things by their true and simple names, without an appearance of this. The reason lies in the essential badness of the things them- selves, and if men will act in such a way that you cannot de- scribe their actions truly, in any other terms than those which are expressive of moral turpitude, are we obliged, on this q^count, to speak falsely or not to speak at all ?" The principle here stat- ed, regulated all the inspired writers. They must speak truth, and things essentially bad demand severe terms. 2. Let questions at issue be fairly stated. It is easy to beat down the man of straw ourselves have formed, and to prove what nobody denies. I diarge upon the Anabaptists, the viola- tion of this rule. As I have not entered upon the subject of infant baptism, I shall not refer to the false principles assumed by them, in that branch of the baptismal controversy. In their discussion of the mode of baptism, they assume our denial that baptize signifies to immerse. Carson has occupied many pages, indeed, the greater part of his work, in proving this, which never was, to my knowledge, doubted. The ques- tion is not what the word signifies^ but what is the sense in which it is used by the inspired writers ; or, in other words, what is the form of the ordinance indicated by the word baptism. Philo- logists, I presume, will not generally object to ihe distinction between the signification of a word, and the sense in which it/ is used in a given instance. Nobody can be ignorant of the sm N0TE8. 40 nification of Candlc^fitcA;, yet it would be very ridiculous to at- tempt to show, from the signification, that it is not commonly used in the sense of a utensil of iron, brass, or silver. IJecause vapours signifies exhalations mingling with the atmosphere, it will not be df^nied that the sense, in which it is frequently used, is melancholy. Anabaptists disregard the distinction altogether, in treating of the mode of baptism. Whilst the Anabaptist argument takes for granted our denial that baptize signifies immerse, should an unfortunate sprinkler ex- plicitly make the admission, forthwith he shall hear that he has conceded all his opponents want — that the word is used iiv no other sense. My own experience confirms this. 3, Let us beware of introducing, in controversial discus- sions, evidence which has no bearing upon the subject discussed, or statements calculated to excite prejudice, but not partak^ig of the nature of evidence. The contrary practice is well adapted to operate upon ignorance and secure its suffrage, but can have no other effect, among intelligent persons, than to excite contempt, or indignation against such as are capable of the base trickery. In particular, personal chara(;ter should remain inviolate. Were a disputed point to be determined by the testimony of men, t>pn, as the credibility of the witness will depend, in a great de- gree, upon his personal integrity, it is proper to ascertain the moral character he sustains. The case is very different when an appeal is made to the word of God. The proof of a given position is, in this instance, neither better nor worse for tiie per- sonal character of the man who produces, it. Judas's hypocrisy neither invalidated his commission nor deteriorated the ciiaracter of his proclamation. Paul understood this. He rejoiced and expressed hio dtjceimination to rejoice, that Christ was prv^ached, even when he knew that he was preached, in some cases, by unprincipled scoundrels from envy, and to add affliction to the Apostle's h mds. tie knew that the claims of Christ crucified, nor its efficacy, depended upon the spiritual condition of any man. This rule 113 commonly and flagrantly violated. The rulers of the Jews could aot meet Jesus in argument, but if they can per- stiade the people that he is a Samaritai has a devil, and is mad, they may prevent t|iem from listening to him. Paul, in writing to the Galatians, must prepare the minds of the brethren, for weighing, withe it prejudice, the evidence of his doctrine, by a vindication of h.s character, which had been assailed by false teachers^ for the purpose of depriving him of the confidence , u. MKfe .-i^^^ftk i t ' bU NOlES. which might be subservient to his overthrow of their false princi- ples. Luther is able to bring unanswerable arguments against the mass, because the Devil taught him ! And Presbyterian in- fluence in Ireland, in promoting the reformation of religion, must be neutralised by the current report that Presbyterians had black mouths, an unanswerable argument of the bad state of the inner man. I charge Anabaptists with walking in the steps of these un- worthy predecessors. I do it deliberately, hoping that, by the blessing of God, they may eventually be brought to shame and repentance. ! charge them collectively. Individuals there are among them whom T respect, and for whom I entertain Chris- tian affection, though the more I love them, the less I be loved. I could say much more to the same purpose, and not express all that my heart feels, but I would not captivate their judgment by occupying their hearts if I could. I would convince and not in- veigle them, because I would bring them into the green pastures of divine ordinances and not into my fold. All their writings that I have read, a work written by fnnes of Edinburgh excepted, contain statements clearly insinuating a charge of moral and religious delinquency against Pedobaptists, a wilful disregard of divine authority. Several years ago, 1 pre- ferred this charge against the Anabaptists of Nova Scotia, in a letter addressed to ♦' Rev. J. Pryor, and , jpported it by evi- dence which they cannot meet, except by one step which I shall presently point out. To the other slanders circulated against myself, this has been added, that I was sorry for having written that letter. When I am sorry for having stated facts and exhibited sound arguments, I shall be sorry fcr having written it. Let it* be noted, however otherwise viewed, neither in that publication, except with reference to two or three per- sons implicated in the false rumours which gave occasion to it, did I prefer a charge against individuals. My accusa- tion was founded upon the statements made in Dr. Crawley's *' Treatise," of which the representatives of the Churches, in Association, expressed their unqualified approbation. And the Antipedobaptists of Nova Scotia will never be able to vindicate themselves from the accusation, so long as their resolution, ex- pressive of approbation^ stands uncancelled upon the books of the Association. I withdraw my charge upon this condition. At the next meeting of the Association let them pass the follow- ing resolution: — " Whereas, in an unguarded moment we expressed our unqua- ■H i un- / the j and 3 are NOTES. 51 lified approbation of Mr., now Dr. Crawley's " Treatise on Bap- tism," Res. — that whilst we still approve of the principles advo- cated by hin], and his zeal in our good cause, upon more ma- ture deliberation we cannot coincide with him, in the unhand- some, and unjust imputations which he has, in various parts of that work, cast upon the integrity and piety of our Pedobaptist brethren." But I am not alone, in br'nglng this accusation against the Anabaptist mode of conduotmg the controversy. 1 pass by Bri- tish and American writers whom I could quote, and adduce the words of " A Baptist," the author of letters to Guriioy, to whom I have referred in my first note. Nothing more (xplicit can be found in niy pages first or last. " Charges are preferred against the Bible Society, which, if they allow e piety of the Committee, sadly impeach their knowledge and judgment." p 11. " I think; Sir, that this fact (that the Committee of the Bible Society h' ^ilways been composed of men of known integrity) has been too much forgotten in this controversy, (respecfing the Bengalee version,) during which it has been almost assumed that a strict regard for biblical truth is confined to the Baptist Denomination." p. 25. He P'^xt quotes the followmg passage from the memorial of the Baptist union: — "The question then comes to this. Are hu- man opinions to control the Bible, or is the Bible to control hu- maii opinions ? The Committee of tha Bible Society say in effect the former : for their rule determines that since the New Testament will not speak in a cei tain manner, it shall not speak Rt all. Tfiey insist that the meaning shall be pushed aside, blinked, studiously suppressed, when it does not harmonize with the creed of all the parties composing the institution." This might form a text for a long sermon. Were such a charge preferred against Anaba tists as it is by them, we should hear such a yell as would frightc. Nova Scotia out of its propriety. Read this, and say if I have done Anabaptists injury. But we shall hear what this " Bap- tist" has farther to say to Gurney. " You are fully aware, Sir, that it is almost universally stated in our denomination, that these Missionaries (the Fedobaptists of India) were fearful of the Baptists making converts, if they translated the passages relating to Baptism their own way and that thair appeal to . the Bible Society on the subject, had no other motive than a sordid fear of the truth, which ihey are said to have admitted in theory, but denied in practice. Thus, men M'^ '«^^i I -II 'i ( !; ^ M ••i J !8 ' 52 NOTES. t! [hat the Committee of the Bible >^>^9' ^ „^„ble for the of India, know that the Bap''S^ ^'e^['="'' jj„^„„,„ie they adhere ! x '-;««'"" ' ; , ^^0,^1 spirit of Popery, wrap rS>'leKX:tXarntrrutl are diaregardedl" ''^TJc'^almny which is here so severely but jusdyrepr^^^^ l,y oneof thctlselves, has been repeated by ^r. Mc^^ of New /ork, who has .ome to Noj.. Scoua ^ Plead the^^^ ^^ American and Fo'cig" « b_^^ ^^^^^^^^^ baptize, .hose versions "^ ^he Sc iptures, vh cn^^ ^peak the language bywords tantamount to "«"««"^'.f V'\ , „.„^ ,„ preach a cru- or Anabaptists; or more P^fi^^! '^f'\'^J°'"&e sLu probably sado against Pedobaptism """l ^f °™P,^ 'J'byterians in the East, • Y' ' rA^f IfdirW temV^rffi^ "e mj^jht con- than when he ti erseu mc • • ^i^n be unjust to his disin- shall in due season •nff, f ^P"/sS ^ask „g the Bap- ' in my hearing, charged he^^be^^^^^ J ,^, „„d tists to conceal, ^y P""' »°^'""'V ! ,u ^^a\di obtain any as- haptize, as the condition upon w^ ,, ^, ^/ sistancc in if « J'''; ;— i|ve dishonesty, and in ,he statement ■»«'"»»«=» ^o intercourse of God and man I a matter, too, that f '""^ tno ui ^Ve deny, in the name of !^«^^^;,Xrof the word laptize. ask no concealment r,.onomrans. ^^^^^^^^_ w,.,„ „« Toutercr/to^ ?? «- b — :;:^' r/l J^: ^f , n^cdVc— !s^ '^f SJement in question pub. As I called tlie coneciue.^ ^nnvprsation foUowed, of liely, when it ^/it inadt,": ^n sTeSrs of the Ana- which the use that was maae prest: ^^ ^^^.vinff how ea- baptist Chuvchcs in no very «"'^*^"'^/"";;\" ; ' ;7,r"^- without gerly ignorance hastens to propagate, and mtelhgence, wimo ■:•}; NOTES. 53 v.''-'ft much inquiry, to nourish any rumour that may seem adapted to excite a prejudice in fivour of their cause. * m I of so much importance that it was considered worth while to report, west- ward to Wilmot in less than a week, eastward to iSalifax in a short time, that. I had been reduced to silence in a feiv minutes, in connection, in some quarters, with the pretty discovery, that, ac- cording to my own admission, 1 did not understand the Greek language ; especially when it is considered that both parts of the report are alike true. write, believing Dr. McC. knoivs that the report is false. I that he may see this before he leaves the Province. He knoivs that nothing passed during our brief interview, warranting any suchjstatement. However 1 shall give a brief account of what did pass, without intentionally omitting any thing, the omission of which might injure the character of the correct report of what transpired. When Dr. McC. stated that the majority of modern versions, to which the British and Foreign Bible Society gave support, translated baptize in accordance with the Eastern and repudiated versions, I, not understanding any modern language but my own, op^josed to him the authority of Dr. Henderson, who wrote in defence of the Bible Society, in opposition to the Anabaptist claims. The Dr's. reply denied Henderson to be a classical scholar, or competent to judge in the case. As I knew nothing of Dr. H. but as the author of a cleverly written pamph- let, which Dr. Thompson, the agent of the Bible Society, him- self a Baptist, thought worth leaving in Horton, 1 felt no desire to press a merely literary point- This I was the less inchned to do, believing that the most perfect unanimity, respecting the signification of the word baptize, does not settle the questioa respecting the mode in which baptism is to be administered. However, as the literary character of an individual, exposed to unjust suspicions, is entitled to a vindication, and as I have since procured information through a channel which, with me, leaveS no room to doubt its correctness, 1 feel pleasure in being able to state that " Dr. Henderson is generally esteemed in Great Bri- tain, one of the first Biblical Critics of the day. His Commen- tary on Isaiah is considered a more rigidly critical, and more erudite work than that of Louth. He is Professor of Divinity in Highbury College, London, which ranks among the first of the Academical Institutions of the Congregationalists." With respect to the mode of baptism Dr. McC. knows that we have explicit Apostolic authority, to which i appealed, for 54 NOTES. saying that God instituted clivers baptisms by Moses; that I challenged him, accordingly, to produce from the whole Mosaic ritual one case, in which a man is commanded to immerse him- self, or immerse another man ; that I engaged, if one case be produced, to admit that to be baptism, and that nothing else is baptism. TJie Dr. met the challenge by adducing the case of Naaman, though he knows, as 1 remarked to him, that it comes not within the range of Mosaic institutions, that Naaman was not commanded to immerse but to tvash, and that, according to the Septuagint, as he suggested, in obeying the command he bap- tized himself seven times. When I pressed an appeal to Moses, with whom the Apostle found baptisms, he knows that his reply was to this effect and in this form. "There were divers immer- sions under the former dispensation. (He did not seem inclined to say baptisms, although he knows that the Apostle does.) The Priest dipped his finger in the blood in his left hand when he would sprinkle it. That was one immersion. He dipped his finger in oil for the same purpose. That was anoi/ter immersion. He dipped a living bird into a mixture of blood and water. That was a third immersion. There were divers immersions." These constituted the divers baptisms of the Apostle, according to Dr. McClay, and his reply to my call for an example of the immersion of persons. 1 answered not. This last word I heard with a smile, and 1 conceded to him without the least reluctance. Though I was not disposed to claim any victory, in consequence of any thin^ that passed in Horton, I shall now say, that, at the time, the impression was upon my mind that Dr. McC. must have felt himself very much at a loss fr an answer, when he adduced the dipping of the Priest's finger in as much blood or oil as he could hold in the palm of his hand, or the dipping of a bird in blood and water, to meet the demand of one example of the immersion of persons ; very much dissatisfied that he was really furnishing examples of the Apostle's " divers baptisms;" and that it was impossible but the people present must consider his an- swer a complete failure. After reflecting upon all that passed between us, and comparing it with the report founded upon it, I can imagine no limits to which Anabaptist Ministers may not cal- culate upon the ignorance or prejudice of the people. Of the mo- tives that led me to decline a discussion of the subject of baptism that evening or the next day, after which he must take his depar- ture, I shall say nothing. I shall not deprive them of their satis- faction, who are far more disposed to speculate about what they rannrtt Hiepovpr tl^^" t*^ otfomr** tVtc imracfinrnfirkn r\f fn/^tc • tnlffi ■,*^'HiSr?^:^^*SaHS«(B!Sa^3S- :-r-a«'SSl*a»r^*:s' MibiM NOTES. 55 more pleasure in the romance of " devout and honorable wo- men," than in the oracles of truth. But the misrepresentation of personal character, and the pro- clamation of defeat, are not the only means employed by our friends to stimulate prejudice, and which are not adapted to pro- duce conviction of error. The use of unqualified denunciation, uttered merely for effect, is of the number. Of this nature is Dr. McC's. assertion that Pedobaptism is the "very worst part of Po- pery." For his own sake, I should be glad to number this among the hasty statements of an excited mind, which would not be deliberately repeated. But I cannot. Whether for the sake of exciting a senseless horror in such as better understand the strength of an assertion than the force of an argument, or from conviction of its accordance with fact, I believe he would abide by the position. So it would have been better for Europe better for the world, better for the Church of God, that the Re- formers had cast off infant baptism, and retained the ascription of the honour due to C^hrist, to a wafer, the worship of Saints and iVngels and images, than to have 4)ursued the course they did. Better for me and my people to worship a piece of bread, pray to angels and deified men, deny the doctrine of justification by faith, than to administer and receive the baptism of infants. Are the Ministers of the Association of Nova Scotia and their people prepared to admit this? Do they indeed glory more in the exclusion of infants from their Churches, who, according to their own opinions, arc never excluded from Heaven, than in the absence of Idolatry and justification by works? No. Much cause as 1 consider I have to blame, I cannot believe this. But perhaps all the other errors are to be traced to infant bap- tism ? Then there must have been infant baptism in the days of the Apostles, for " the mystery of iniquity " was working at that time, and only awaited the removal of a particular impediment to be fully unfolded, the doctrine of Justification by the law had obtained a footing in the Churches, and the Disciples need- ed to be cautioned against " the worshipping of Angels" and "voluntary humility." Nay, infant baptism must have spread before the time of the Apostles, over Greece and Rome, for they were guilty of worshipping the Gods which their'own hands had made, and gave divine honours to dead men and wo- men, and to men and women who had jwobubly never lived, as Papal Rome does. How unfortunate, when the Apostle tells us that the "man of sin" should sit in liie Temple of God, and "...3.1, «jTi.n. «vuuui3, uiut uii;y auuuiu " ioruiQ 10 iiiairy, and 56 NOTES. I i command to abstain from meats," that he omitted to forewarn us of the greatest abuse of all, that they would sprinkle infants.'! If Paul had been an Anabaptist,. any thing resembling any one I have ever known, we should have heard of this, though other things had been omitted ; or if the Spirit that dictated the Scriptures were the same that moves an Anabaptist upon the subject of bap- tism, this would have been communicated. To the statement which has been often made, and repeatedly advanced by Dr. McC. though not in my hearing,— a statement not at all affecting the merits of the question, but adapted to excite contempt of the Westminster Divines and their la- bours, that in the Westminster Assembly, the cause of sprinkling as opposed to immersion was sustained by a majority of only one, and tkat the casting vote of the President, I oppose no mean authority, on any question respecting the facts in Ecclesiastical history, the authority of Dr. S. Miller of Princeton, and with his words shall close, having much more to say, this, ray last note. " It has been sometimes ignorantly, and most erroneously as- serted, that the Westminster Assembly of Divines, in putting to vote, \vhether baptism should ha perforrned by sprinkling or 1m- . mersion, carried it in favour of sprinkling, by a majority of one- only. This is wholly incorrect. The facts were these. When the Committee who had been charged with preparing a " direc- tory for the worship of God," brought in their report, they had spoken of the mode of baptism thus : " It is lawful and suffici- ent to sprinkle the child:* To this Dr. Lightfoot, among others, objected; not because he doubted of the entire sufficiency of sprinkling; for he decidedly ;?r6/erre^ sprinkling to immersion; but because he thought there was an impropriety in pronouncing that rnode lawful only, when no one present had any doubts of its being so, and when almost all preferred it. Others seemed to think, that by saying nothing about dipping, that mode was meant to be excluded, as not a laicfid mode. This they did not wish to pronounce. When, therefore, the clause, as originally reported, was put to vote, there were twenty-five votes in favour of it, and twenty-four against it. After this vote, a motion was made and carried, that it be recommitted. The next day, when the Committee reported, and when some of the members still seemed unwilling to exclude all mention of dipping, Dr. Light- foot remarked, that to say that pouring or sprinkling was law- ful, would be " all one as saying, that it was lawful to use bread and wine in the Lord's Supper." He,| therefore, moved -'"■■•'"'^'"•■-"'■- **"■ ' i:^mg^fjW^M^mlfii Ilii^p3ii^«ii/H;li- 1 1 • NOTES. 57 ■n that the clause in the " Directory " respecUng the mode of baptism, be expressed thus :— « Then the Minister is to demand the name of the child, which being told him, he is to say fcall- ing the child by name)— I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and oj the Holy Ghost. As he pronounceth these ^ords, he is to baptize the child with water, which, for the manner of doing it, is not only /ai^w/, but sufficient, and most expedient to be, by pouring or sprinklino- of the water on the face of the child, without adding any other ceremony." This was carried. See Light/oofs Life, prefixed to the first volume of his fVorks, (folio edition,) p. 4; compared with Neale's History of the Puritans, vol. II. p. 106, 107, com- pared with the Appendix No. II. (quarto edition,) where the " Directory," as finally passed, is given at full length. We do not learn, precisely, either from Lightfoot's biographer, (who was no other than the indefatigable Strype,) or from Neale, by what vote the clause, as moved by Lightfoot, was finally adopted ; but Neale expressly tells us, that " the Direc- . tory passed the Assembly with great unanimity.'''' From this stafement, it is evident, that the question which was carried in the Assembly, by a majority of one, was, not whether effusion or sprinkling was a laivful mode c' baptism; but whe- tlter all mention of dipping as one of the laivful modes, should be omitted. This, in an early stage of the discussion, was car- ried by a majority of one in the affirmative. But it would seem that the clause, as finally adopted, which certainly was far more decisive in favour of eflfusion or sprinkling, was passed " toith great unanimity." At any rate, nothing can be more evident, than that the clause, as it originally stood, being carried by one vote only, and afterwards, when recommitted, and so altered as to be much stronger ' favour of sprinkling, and then adopted without difficulty, thu .ommon statement of this matter by our Baptist brethren is an entire misrepresentation."— M//er on Bap- tism, Note E. pp. 120—122.