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UNITED TESTIMONY 
 
 l^iuo jhundrd |dobaptis5t SfJ^olars 
 
 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 Rev. N. L. RIGBY. 
 
 " Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." — Jes08. 
 John vi. 12. 
 
 " Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee."— Luke xix. 22. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 Grant, Faires & Rodgers, Printers, 52 & 54 N. Sixth St. 
 
 1875. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress^ in the year 1875, by 
 
 REV. N. L. RIGBY, 
 In the Office [of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 

 PREFACE 
 
 The folloTving pages are to shed light on the" subject of 
 Christian Baptism — not indeed by the presentation of orig- 
 inal thought on the part of the author, but simply by put- 
 ting the thoughts of others in readable form. In other 
 words the light is borrowed from many stars in the literary 
 firmament. It is, however, just as real, " For whatsoever 
 doth make manifest is light ;" while the method of 
 uniting these scattered rays may make it even more effec- 
 tive. For as it illumines the path of inquiry, it will dazzle 
 and blind the eyes of criticism. Nor can it be said, the 
 light is colored by the medium through which it passes, 
 for the writer has chosen not to express any thought in his 
 own words. He has also scrupulously avoided any selec- 
 tions from Baptist authors — not because Baptist scholarship 
 carries less authority, but because the testimony of oppo- 
 nents rather than that of friends is less likely to be dispu- 
 ted. " Since all will allow that the testimony of an adver- 
 sary is good against himself."'^ And need I say that the 
 
 * Dr. Owen's Def. of Scrip. Ords., p. 158. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 number of these witnesses must have weight with the un- 
 prejudiced reader? For if ten concessions add force to ar- 
 gument, one hundred do much the more. "As when a 
 hundred facts exhibit one and the same phenomenon, the 
 expression of this phenomenon, in its generality, is the ex- 
 pression of a principle in philosophy ; or, as when a hun- 
 dred verses speak one and the same truth, this truth, sus- 
 tained on the basis of a multiple testimony, may by means 
 of one brief and comprehensive affirmation become the 
 article of a creed."* It may also give additional weight to 
 know that the number embraced in this plan of uniting the 
 testimony, without notes or comments, is not over one to fifty 
 of the passages rejected for want of fitness. 
 
 Nor does it militate against the argument that these au- 
 thors failed to practice what they taught. For if we turn 
 to the last chapter we shall readily discover that the reasons 
 given are unscriptural. The plea based on ecclesiastical au- 
 thority is Roman Catholicism. That based on a theory of 
 liberty, latitude, expedience, <£*c., is even worse. " Since want 
 of faithfulness to one truth, professed in theory, involves 
 treachery to all the rest."f For if a man may renounce 
 one truth in revelation, and yet be sinless, he may renounce 
 two ; if two, four ; if four, eight ; if eight, half the Bible ; 
 if half, the whole; and yet be innocent."! The plea based 
 on the common truism, " Baptism non-essential to salva- 
 
 * Dr. Chalmers, Inst., Vol. i., p. 291. 
 t Dr. J. Waddington, Emmaus, p. 261. 
 X J. A. James, Ch. in Earn., p. 12. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 tion " amounts to saying, " If it were essential to my salva- 
 tion, I love myself well enough to take up the cross ; but 
 since it is not essential to salvation, I do not love the Sa- 
 viour well enough to obey His command, and follow His 
 example." 
 
 But enough — and now with the prayer that this little 
 volume of united testimony may shea its light wherever it 
 goes, and dissipate the darkness of ignorance, prejudice or 
 doubt from many a mind, I commit it to the public. 
 
 N. L. KIGBY. 
 
 Winfield, Kansas, Aug. 1, 1875. 
 

 ^' "^ ^'' n 
 
 -J', "■ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 Christian Baptism as introduced by John, 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Christian Baptism as adopted by Jesus, 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Christian Baptism as commanded in Scripture, 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Christian Baptism as obeyed by the Disciples, 23 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Christian Baptism as typified at Pentecost, 27 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Christian Baptism as a figure of Christ's sufierings, 29 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Christian Baptism as a figure of death and resurrection, 32 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Christian Baptism as a symbol of regeneration, 35 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Christian Baptism as prefigured at the Red Sea, 39 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK X. PAGE 
 Christian Baptism as prefigured by the Ark, 44 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Christian Baptism as illustrated by divers baptisms,... 46 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Christian Baptism as the door to the local Church, 50 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Christian Baptism as related to the Lord's Supper, 54 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Christian Baptism as to its nature from baptizo, 59 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Christian Baptism as corroborated in history, 65 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Christian Baptism as perverted into a saving ordi- 
 nance, 72 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Christian Baptism as unscripturally applied to infants, 77 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Christian Baptism as substituted by pouring and 
 
 sprinkling, 88 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Christian Baptism as preserved by the Baptists, 96 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Christian Baptism as falsely viewed — a plea for incon- 
 sistency, 103 
 
CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 AS INTRODUCED BY JOHN. 
 
 Its beginning, Matt. iii. 1 — Its] condition, Matt. iii. 2, 8, 11, 
 repentance— Its design, Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 4, 5, unto 
 repentance and remission of sins, i. e. because of them — Its 
 authority, Matt. i. 25— Its mode, Mark i. 10, Baptisma, 
 immersion — Corroborated. 
 
 T is an old controversy whether the 
 Baptism of John was a new institu- 
 tion, or an imitation of the baptism 
 of proselytes as practiced by the Jews. 
 But at all events there is no record of such a 
 rite, conducted in the name of, and with re- 
 ference to a particular person before the ministry 
 of John.* In former times proselytes coming 
 over from heathenism to the Jewish religion, 
 used to wash themselves, which is a very difterent 
 thing from baptism, or persons being washed by 
 
 * Dr. Smith. Bib. Die. Art. Jesus Christ. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
10 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 one another.* Consequently it is more likely 
 that the Jews took the hint of proselyte baptism 
 from the Christians after our Saviour's time than 
 that He borrowed His baptism from theirs.f 
 We find no account of baptism as a distinct re- 
 ligious rite before the mission of John.J The 
 original institution of admitting Jews to the 
 Covenant and strangers to the same, prescribed 
 no other rite than circumcision. No account of 
 any other is found in the Old Testament, none 
 in the Apocrypha, New Testament, Targums of 
 Onkelos, of Jonathan, of Joseph the Blind, or 
 in the works of any other Targumist, excepting 
 Pseudo-Jonathan, whose work belongs to the 
 seventh or eighth century. No evidence is 
 found in Philo, Josephus, or any of the earlier 
 Christian writers. But how could an allusion 
 to such a rite have escaped them all if it were 
 as common, and as much required by usage as 
 circumcision ? In fine we are destitute of any 
 early testimony to the practice of proselyte 
 baptism antecedently to the Christian era. And 
 it is difficult to see how we can avoid the con- 
 clusion that such a custom was older than the 
 third century. 
 
 * G. Benson, D.D. f Home's Introd. Art. Proselytes. 
 X Richard Watson, Bib. Die. Art. Bap. 
 
AS INTEODUCED BY JOHN. 11 
 
 The baptism of John and of Jesus, then, I must 
 regard as being a special appointment of heaven* 
 — as a neAv law of the gospel church. f The law 
 and the prophets were tintil John : since that 
 time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every 
 man presseth into it.]; The baptism of John, 
 whence was it ? from heaven, or of men ? I 
 answer, it is described equally with the baptism 
 of Christ, as a divine institution, and as per- 
 formed under divine authority.! And it is very 
 certain that the ministry of John was precisely 
 the same as that which was afterwards commit- 
 ted to the apostles. For their baptism was not 
 different, though it was administered by dif- 
 ferent hands ; but the sameness of their doctrine 
 shows their baptism to have been the same — 
 both baptized unto repentance, both unto remis- 
 sion of sins ; both baptized in the name of 
 Christ, from whom repentance and remission of 
 sins proceed. And if any difference be sought 
 for in the word of God, the only difference that 
 will be found is, that John baptized in the name 
 of Him who was to come, the apostles in the 
 
 * Prof. Moses Stuart on Bap., p. 140, Nashville Ed. 
 
 t Poole on Matt. iii. 15. 
 
 X Luke xvi. 16. 
 
 § Kuapp's Theo. p. 484. 
 
12 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 name of Him who had already manifested Him- 
 self.* 
 
 Now, that the baptism of John was by plung- 
 ing the body, seems to appear from those things 
 which are related of him ; namely, that he bap- 
 tized in Jordan, that he baptized in Enon, he- 
 cause there was much water there, and that Christ 
 being baptized, came up out of the water ; to 
 which that seems to be parallel. Acts viii. 38, 
 Philij) and the Eunuch loent down into the icater, 
 <j^c.t For what need would there have been 
 either for the Baptises resorting to great con- 
 fluxes of water, or of Philip and the Eunuch^s 
 going down into this stream, were it not that the 
 baptism both of one and the other was to be per- 
 formed by an immersion, a very little water, 
 as it doth with us, sufficing for an affiision, or 
 sprinkling.J 
 
 * John Calvin, Hinton's Hist., p. Q%. 
 
 f Dr. Lightfoot in A. Clark's Com. on Mark. 
 
 X Dr. Towerson, Sac. Bap. part iii. pp. 53-60. 
 
i 
 
 ml 
 
 II. 
 
 AS ADOPTED BY JESUS. 
 
 For what purpose, Matt. iii. 15 — Thus recognizing John's 
 Baptism — Setting us a Divine pattern— Declaring the end 
 of His mission — The Divine approval. Matt. iii. 16,17 — 
 A lesson of loyalty. 
 
 HE Forerunner descends with his 
 Redeemer into the rapid waters of the 
 now sacred river* — and Jesus was 
 baptized of John in Jordan. f The 
 pure waters laved His sinless body, and the 
 Saviour, straightway coming up out of the 
 stream stands on the bank in prayer. J Heaven 
 once again opened at the baptism of Jesus — 
 primarily for Him, and, through Him, for all 
 mankind. He was hereby brought into per- 
 sonal relation with that kingdom of God, the 
 future subjects of which were to be set apart in 
 like manner, and entered into communication 
 with an impure world, whose sins He was to 
 bear. Thus the baptism of John was not only 
 
 * Bishop Elliot, Hist. Lee, p. 108. 
 
 t Scripture. 
 
 X J. D. Burns, Fam. Treas., p. 2i2, for 1861. 
 
 13 
 
14 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 applicable to Jesus, but attained its real mean- 
 ing and object only by the baptism of Jesus. 
 Thus it became the symbol of His consecration 
 unto death, for the salvation of the world. 
 
 If we inquire into the Lord's own view of the 
 necessity of baptism, in His own case, He 
 calls it a * fulfilling of all righteousness* — all 
 parts of righteousness; and therefore this, also, 
 the earnest of the other greater parts. By a 
 narrow view of righteousness, it would seem 
 that John should be baptized by Jesus. By a 
 comprehensive view o^all righteousness, the mat- 
 ter was inverted. t And every answer to the 
 inquiry, why Jesus suffered Himself to be bap- 
 tized, may be considered unsatisfactory, which 
 either regards baptism as necessary for the Lord, 
 in the same sense as it was for the sinful Israel- 
 ites ; or, on the other hand, sees in this fact only 
 a compliance with an existing usage of no special 
 importance to Himself J Our Lord, I think, 
 would be baptized, that He might conciliate 
 authority to the baptism of John, that by His 
 own excmiple He might commend and sanctify 
 our baptism, that men might not be loth to come 
 
 * Lange, Matt. iii. 13-17, and Luke iii. 1-22. 
 t Bengel's Gnomon, ^Matt. iii. 15. 
 t Lange, Luke iii. 1-22. 
 
AS ADOPTED BY JESUS. 15 
 
 to the baptism of the Lord, seeing the Lord was 
 not backward to come to the baptism of a ser- 
 vant, that by His baptism He might represent 
 the future condition of both Himself and His 
 followers : first humble, then glorious ; now 
 mean and low, then glorious and exalted ; that 
 represented by immersion, this by emersion — 
 and finally, to declare by His voluntary sub- 
 mission to baptism, that He would not delay 
 the delivering up of Himself to be immersed in 
 the torrents of hell, yet with a certain faith and 
 hope of emerging.* Thus he chose to give the 
 sanction of His example to the baptism of John, 
 as to a divine ordinancef — permitted the con- 
 tinuance of John's baptism as harmonizing with 
 His own designs. The import of the rite being 
 the same, whether administered by John him- 
 self, or the disciples of Jesus. J 
 
 This ceremony, then, Christ adopted — for no 
 ceremony could be better adapted to Christ's 
 purpose than this — and He made it absolutely 
 binding upon all His followers to submit to it.§ 
 While an ordinance of which the Lord Jesus 
 
 * Witsius, from Pengilly, p. 17. 
 t Albert Barnes, D.D., Matt. iii. 15. 
 X Coleman, Christ. Antiq. 
 § Ecce Homo, p. 96. 
 
16 CHKISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 Christ Himself partook is not to be slightly 
 esteemed ; an ordinance to which the great 
 Head of the Church submitted ought to be ever 
 honorable in the eyes of professing Christians.* 
 If it became Christ, as our surety and our ex- 
 ample, perfectly to fulfil all righteousness, it 
 becomes us to walk in all the commandments 
 and ordinances of God, without exception, and 
 to attend on every divine institution, according 
 to the meaning and intent of it, as long as it 
 continues in force. Thus far Christ's example 
 is obligatory. t Then let our Lord's submitting 
 to baptism teach us a holy exactness in the ob- 
 servance of those institutions which owe their 
 obligation merely to a divine command. Surely 
 thus it becometh all His followers to fulfil all 
 righteousness.^ Hence the pattern of Christ 
 and the Apostles is more to me than all the 
 human wisdom in the world. § 
 
 * Rev. J. C. Ryle on Matt. iii. 14-17. 
 
 t Scott, Com. on Matt. iii. 15. 
 
 X John Wesley on Matt. iii. 16. ^ Polhill. 
 
III. 
 
 AS COMMANDED IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 In Matt, xxviii. 18, 19 ; Mark xvi. 15, 16 ; Acts x. 48.— Com- 
 manded, of course, to be obeyed — Loyalty to King Jesus 
 requires this — obeyed too as commanded — The Command 
 rests on all power — Obedience alone can claim the promise : 
 Lo, I am with you, &c. 
 
 HE command to baptize is co-exten- 
 sive with the command to preach the 
 Gospel.* And the law of Christ re- 
 quires that all Avho believe the Gospel 
 should be baptized. f Then whoever know- 
 ingly and wilfully rejects baptism, treats with 
 indifference a precept of the most exalted Mes- 
 senger of God, yea of the Lord Himself, and is 
 guilty of a much greater crime than those who 
 rejected the baptism of John.^ For if it be 
 once shown to possess the authority of the Su- 
 preme Lawgiver, it will not be disputed that 
 our first and immediate duty is compliance. 
 What He appoints it is ours to observe. Is it, 
 
 *Dr. Smith, Bib. Die. 
 
 t Dr. Doddridge, Mis. Works, p. 490. 
 
 X Quoted by Wallace on Bap. p. B5. 
 
 2 17 
 
18 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 or is it not a Divine institution ? * If it be 
 commanded, it matters nothing, whether the ob- 
 ligation be moral or natural, positive or in- 
 stituted. He who places before him the will of 
 God as the rule of his life, will not refine or 
 even dwell much upon this distinction. The 
 ordinances of Christianity, it is true, are all of 
 them significant. Their meaning, and even their 
 use, is not obscure. But were it otherwise — was 
 the design of any positive institution inexplica- 
 ble; did it appear to have been proposed only 
 as an exercise of obedience, — it is not for us to 
 hesitate in our compliance, f With the dis- 
 covery of the mind of God, inquiry ends and 
 obedience commences. I can conceive of noth- 
 ing more preposterous, than for the professed 
 servants of Christ to be squandering their powers 
 of invention in devising and vindicating plans 
 of their own. J Let a precept be never so dif- 
 ficult to obey, or never so distasteful to flesh and 
 blood, yet if I see it is God's command, my soul 
 says. It is good ; let me obey it till I die. § 
 
 It will be readily allowed, also, that for any 
 
 *Dr. Wardlaw, Inf. Bap. p. 131. 
 
 fDr. Paley, Prim. Church Mag. 1854, p. 311. 
 
 X Dr. Wardlaw ou Nat. Est. p. 56, GO. 
 
 ^ Dr. Cotton Mather. Life by Dr. Jenning, p. 118. 
 
AS COMMANDED IN SCRIPTURE. 19 
 
 one to abstain from baptism, when he knows it 
 is an institution of Christ, and that it is the will 
 of Christ that he should subject himself to it, is 
 such an act of disobedience to His authority, as 
 is inconsistent with true faith. * He did not 
 say, indeed, that a man could not be saved 
 without baptism, but He has strongly implied 
 that where this is neglected, knowing it to be a 
 command of the Saviour, it endangers the salva- 
 tion of the soul, t At all events, if Christ Him- 
 self who giveth salvation do require baptism, it 
 is not for us to sound and examine Him, 
 whether unbaptized persons may be saved, but 
 seriously to do what is required. % 
 
 In this day, however, there are very few in 
 the world who judge a diligent observation of 
 Divine institutions to be a thing of any great 
 importance. By some they are neglected; by 
 some corrupted with additions of their own ; 
 and by some they are exalted above their proper 
 place and use, and turned into an occasion of 
 neglecting more important duties. § But these 
 things ought not so to be. For God had the 
 
 * Doddridge, Mis. Works, p. 490. 
 
 t Barnes, Mark xvi. 16. 
 
 i Hooker in Wall's His. Inf. Bap. Vol. iv. p. 251. 
 
 § Dr. Owen on Heb. i. 6. 
 
20 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 wisest reasons why He would have an appoint- 
 ment administered in this or the other manner. 
 It is not lawful therefore, for men to alter any- 
 thing, or to mutilate the appointment. Thus 
 the sacraments are to be used, not according to 
 our own pleasure, but in the manner appointed 
 by God.* For nothing is a privilege in the 
 religious sense, but what God has made such, 
 and He has made nothing such, except in His 
 own way and on His own terms. Baptism is a 
 privilege when administered and received in the 
 manner appointed by Him, hut in no other. 
 When this ordinance is received in any other 
 manner, it is plainly no obedience to any com- 
 mand of His, and therefore has no promise — 
 and let me add, no encouragement to hope for a 
 blessing. t It is then most dangerous and pre- 
 sumptuous to add any ceremony, or to join any 
 service, on any pretence, unto Heaven's appoint- 
 ment.J And how can the despisers of baptism 
 expect the approbation of the Lord, when He 
 Himself, although He did not need baptism, so 
 highly honored the invitation of John as to be 
 
 * Buddeus, Inst. Theol. Mor. Part I. cv. § 18, Part II. cii. 
 §50. 
 t Dwight's Sermons, Vol. IV. p. 343. 
 i Archibald Hall, Gosp. Worship, Vol. I. p. 326. 
 
AS COMMANDED IN SCRIPTURE. 21 
 
 baptized by him, amid the most evident tokens 
 of the Divine favor.* It is worthy of remark 
 that Jesus has made baptism of so much im- 
 portance, f And who is the daring, insolent 
 worm that will presume to dispute the authority, 
 or change the ordinance of Him who is given to 
 be Head over all things to the Church ? J 
 
 Now what the command of Christ was in 
 this particular, cannot well be doubted of by 
 those who shall consider the words of Christ (in 
 the Commission) concerning it, and the practice 
 of those times, whether in the practice of John, 
 or of our Saviour. Now the words of Christ 
 are, that they should baptize, or dip, those whom 
 they made disciples to Him — for so, no doubt, 
 the word baptism properly signifies, — and such 
 as was the practice of those times in baptizing, 
 such in reason are we to think our Saviour s 
 command to have been concerning it.§ Ac- 
 cording then to the principle that nothing can 
 be lawfully performed, much less required, in 
 the affairs of religion, which is not either com- 
 manded by God in the Scripture, or at least, re- 
 
 * Quoted by Wallace, p. 85. 
 
 t Barnes, Mark xvi. 16. 
 
 J Archb. Hall, Gosp. Worsp. Vol. I. p. 325. 
 
 g Dr. Towerson, Sac. Bap. Part III. pp. 53-56. 
 
22 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 commended by a laudable example, the baptism 
 of infants, and the sprinkling of water in bap- 
 tism, must be exterminated from the Church. * 
 
 * Bishop Sanderson, De Obliga Cons. Prelec, IV. § 17, 18. 
 
ly. 
 
 AS OBEYED BY THE DISCIPLES. 
 
 In the spirit of loyalty to Christ — According to His example 
 and command — By multitude on the day of Pentecost, (Acts 
 ii. 41) ; by the Ethiopian Euuch, (Acts viii. 36, 38) ; by 
 Paul, (Acts ix. 18) ; by Cornelius and others, (Acts x. 47, 
 48) ; by Lydia and household, (Acts xvi. 14, 15) ; by Phi- 
 lippian jailor and household, (Acts vi. 33, 34) ; by Cris- 
 pus, Gains and household of Stephanus, (1 Cor. xiv. 14-16). 
 
 "^SSUMIN'G the truth of our conclusion 
 in the last chapter that baptism is an 
 ordinance of perpetual obligation in the 
 Christian Church, it does seem extra- 
 ordinary that Christians, in the honest and dili- 
 gent study of the New Testament, should be 
 unable to discover who are to be baptized, or in 
 what manner the rite is to be performed. For 
 upon baptism we have more full and precise 
 information than we have upon any other ritual 
 observance.* As administered by the Apostles, 
 baptism had a clear and well understood signifi- 
 cance, and their authority determined at once 
 
 * Dr. Halley, Cong. Lee, p. 92. 
 
 23 
 
24 CHKISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 how and to whom it was to be administered.* 
 Hence the Church adhered rigidly to the prin- 
 ciple, as constituting the true purport of the 
 baptism ordained by Christ — that no one can 
 be a member of the communion of saints, but 
 by his own solemn vow made in the presence of 
 the Church. t And when the Lord commanded 
 that disciples should be baptized, the Apostles, 
 through those things which had gone before, 
 could have understood nothing else than that 
 men should be immersed in water ; nor did they 
 in truth, understand anything else but immer- 
 sion, as is evident from the testimony of the sa- 
 cred writings.J This is shown by the very 
 meaning of the Greek words baptizo, baptismal 
 baptismos used to designate the rite. Then 
 again, by the analogy of the baptism of John, 
 wdiich was performed in the Jordan. Further- 
 more by the New Testament comparisons of 
 baptism with the passage through the Red Sea, 
 (1 Cor. X. 2), Avith the flood, (1 Peter iii. 21), 
 with a bath, (Eph. v. 26 ; Titus iii. 5), Avith a 
 burial and resurrection, (Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 
 12). Finally, by the general usage of ecclesias- 
 
 * Kitto, Vol. I., p. 294. 
 
 t Dr. Bunsen on Hippolytus and his Age. 
 
 t Dr. Theophilus C. Storr. 
 
AS OBEYED BY THE DISCIPLES. 25 
 
 tical antiquity, which was always immersion, as 
 it is to this day in the Oriental and also the 
 Grseco-Russian Churches.* 
 
 It appears not that the three thousand men- 
 tioned in the Acts of the Apostles, who were 
 converted at the first sermons of Peter, were 
 baptized any other way ; and the great number 
 of those converts is no proof that they were bap- 
 tized by sprinkling, as some have conjectured. 
 For besides that nothing obliges us to say that 
 they were all baptized on the same day.f 
 Though, if distributed among the twelve Apos- 
 tles and those of the one hundred and ticenty 
 disciples, who were competent to the work, it is 
 not itself absolutely inconceivable. J As to con- 
 venience — I must candidly, as I do cheerfully 
 acknowledge, that there must have been abun- 
 dance of water in Jerusalem to have washed 
 away the blood of 250,000 lambs slain at one 
 Passover. And how to reconcile the sufficiency 
 of water for such a sacrifice with the accounts 
 of its scarcity, may not be easy ; but that suffi- 
 cient water must have been in Jerusalem, I am 
 bound to acknowledge. § And I do wonder at 
 
 * Dr. P. Schaff, Ch. Hy., p. 568. 
 
 t Bishop Bossuet, from Stennet's Ans. to Russen, p. 175. 
 
 X Stacey. ^ Dr. Halley, pp. 216, 218. 
 
26 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 the disingenuous artifice of learned men, who, 
 knowing well the nature of the country, have 
 not scrupled to make the most of this worthless 
 argument ?* A land of brooks of water, of foun- 
 tains, and depths that spring out of the valleys 
 and hills. Deut. viii. 7. 
 
 * The same, p. 312, 313. 
 
AS TYPIFIED AT PENTECOST. 
 
 Peophesied in Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 8; Luke iii. 16 ; John 
 i. 33.— Fulfilled at Pentecost, Acts ii. 1-4. Again, in 
 Samaria, 'as at first,' Acts x. 44-46 ; xi. 15-17. — '* No other 
 instances. — A baptism because an overwhelming. — Fill- 
 ing all the house.' 
 
 HE Spirit, under the Gospel, is com- 
 pared to water ; and that not to a 
 little measure to sprinkle or bedew, 
 but to baptize the faithful in.* For 
 the Lord saith, Ye shall be immersed in the 
 Holy Spirit not many days after this, not in part 
 the grace, but in all-sufficing power. For as he 
 who sinks down in the waters and is immersed, 
 is surrounded on all sides by the waters, so also 
 they were completely immersed in the Holy 
 Spirit. t Baptism in the Holy Spirit, then, is 
 immersion into the pure waters of the Holy 
 Spirit, or a rich and abundant communication 
 of His gifts. For he upon whom the Holy 
 
 * Bishop Reynolds' Works, p. 226. 
 t Cyril of Jerusalem, Ins. 8. 
 
 27 
 
28 ' CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 Spirit is poured out is, as it were, immersed in- 
 to Him.* 
 
 The basis of this usage is very plainly to be 
 found in the designation, by baptizo, of the idea 
 of overwhelming, i. e. of surrounding on all sides 
 with fluid. t Those that are baptized Avith the 
 Spirit, are as it were, plunged into that heavenly 
 flame whose searching energy devours all their 
 dross, tin, and base alloy.J And in this sense 
 the apostles are truly said to be baptized ; for 
 the house in which ^his was done, was filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, so that the apostles seemed to 
 be plunged into it as into a fish-pool.§ Thus, 
 the words of our Saviour were made good. Ye 
 shall be baptized (plunged or covered) with the 
 Holy Spirit as John baptized with water. || 
 John only dipped men in water, but ye shall be 
 imbued with the grace of the Holy Spirit. T He 
 will deluge you ungrudgingly, Avith the graces 
 of the Spirit.** 
 
 * Gurtlerus, Inst. Theol. c. 33, § 108. 
 
 t Prof. Moses Stuart on Bap., p. 74. 
 
 J Bishop Hopkins' Works, p. 519. 
 
 § Casaubon. 
 
 li H. Dodwell, Gen. Del. of Christians, part 2, ch. 4, § 7. 
 
 % Dr. Bloomfield. 
 
 ** Theophylact. 
 
YI. 
 
 AS A FIGUEE OF CHRIST's SUFFERINGS. 
 
 Recorded in Matt. xx. 22, 23, Luke xii. 50.— Paraphrased by 
 Doddridge — More than a Sprinkling — Illustrated in Psalms 
 xlii. 6, 7; Ixxxviii. 7 : 16, 17. — Also in Classical writers — 
 Represents the Divine wrath against sin— Set forth in His 
 own baptism. 
 
 with which I am shortly to be baptized, and as 
 it were, overwhelmed for a time? I have 
 indeed a most dreadful baptism to be baptized 
 with, and I know that I shall shortly be bathed, 
 as it were, in blood, and plunged in the most 
 overichelming distress.* 
 
 Here, I must acknowledge, our Baptist 
 brethren have the advantage; for our Re- 
 deemer's suiferings must not be compared to a 
 few drops of water sprinkled on the face, for He 
 was plunged into distress, and environed with 
 
 *Dr. P. Doddridge, Parap. on Luke xiii. 50. 
 
 29 
 
30 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 sorrows.* Our Lord was j^^W with sufferings 
 within, and covered with them without.f He 
 was baptized with the baptism of His suffer- 
 ings, bathed in blood, and plunged in death. J 
 And this metaphor of immersion in water, as 
 expressive of being overwhelmed by affliction, 
 is frequent, both in Scriptures and in Classical 
 writers. § O my God, says the Psalmist, my 
 soul is cast down within me. All thy waves and 
 thy billows are gone over me.|| Thy wrath 
 lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me 
 with all thy waves. Thy fierce wrath goeth 
 over me; thy terrors have cut me off. They 
 come round about me daily like water. ^ Im- 
 mersion into water then is to be considered as 
 exhibiting the dreadful abyss of Divine justice, 
 in which Christ for our sins was for a time, as it 
 were, absorbed, as in David, His type, He com- 
 plains, " I am come into deep waters where the 
 floods overflow me.'^** Our Lord might indeed 
 by a strong figure of speech be said to have been 
 
 * Sir H. Trelawney, on Luke xii. 50. 
 
 t John Wesley. 
 
 X Hervey, Theron, Vol. II. p. 150. 
 
 § Dr. Bloomfield, Gr. Test. Vol. I. p. 97. 
 
 II Ps. xlii. 6, 7. 
 
 ^ Ps. Ixxxviii. 7, 16, 17. 
 
 ^ Witsius, from Peng., p. 23. 
 
AS A FIGURE OF CHRIST^S SUFFERINGS. 31 
 
 immerged in suflPerings, when He endured the 
 wrath of God as the propitiation for our sins.* 
 And there is peculiar fitness in His describing 
 His agony and death as a baptism with which 
 He should be baptized. A change was to take 
 place ; and for the bringing about of that 
 change, immersion in a deep ocean of trouble 
 was actually indispensable. He must descend 
 into darkness, that the waves and the storms 
 might go over Him. It was needful that He 
 should be covered by them. And the emerging 
 and immersion followed so closely one on the 
 other, that you cannot better describe the great 
 work, than by saying of our Lord that He had 
 a baptism to be baptized with. He was plunged 
 in the raging waters, and then quickly with- 
 drawn, f He was baptized of John, then, to 
 signify that He was sent that He might be 
 haptizedj that is, immersed in death, and that 
 He might wash away our sins with His own 
 blood. J And here our Lord intimates the pur- 
 pose for which He had taken upon Him our 
 nature ; and foresees the hour when the deep 
 waters of anguish should go even over His soul.§ 
 
 * Scott, Com. on Matt. xx. 20-23. 
 i t Dr. H. Melville, on Luke xii. 50. 
 X Archb. Sumner, Expos. Lee. on Luke xii. 49, 50- 
 I Hayne's Cyclopedia, Vol. I. p. 181. 
 
VII. 
 
 AS A FIGURE OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 
 
 First taught by Paul— Rom. vi. 3, 4,— Reiterated, 1 Cor. 
 XV. 29. — Fulfilled only by immersion— This point ought 
 to be frankly admitted, and indeed cannot be denied with 
 any show of reason.* 
 
 N order to understand the figurative 
 use of baptism, we must bear in mind 
 the , IV ell-known fact that the candidate 
 in the primitive Church was immersed 
 in water and raised out of it again.f If baptism 
 had been then performed as it is now among us, we 
 should never have so much as heard of this form 
 of expression, of dying and rising again, in this 
 rite.J That it has been changed is indeed a cala- 
 mity, for it placed before the eyes most aptly the 
 symbolical meaning of baptism. § On this ac- 
 count I could wish that such as are to be bap- 
 tized should be completely immersed in the water, 
 
 * Edinburgh Reviewers. 
 fTholuck on Rom. vi. 4. 
 :|: Bishop Hoadly, Rom. vi. 4. 
 § Matthie's Bib. Exp, of Bap, 
 
 32 
 
FIGURE OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 33 
 
 according to the meaning of the word, and ac- 
 cording to the signification of the ordinance, not 
 because I thinlv it necessary (to salvation) but be- 
 cause it would be beautiful to have a full and 
 perfect sign of so perfect a things as also, without 
 doubt it was instituted by Christ.'*' The learned, 
 also, have rightly reminded us that, on account 
 of this emblematical meaning of baptism, the rite 
 of immersion ought to have been retained in the 
 Christian Church.t A more striking symbol -h 
 could not be chosen.J; The same plunging into 
 water exhibits to our view that dreadful abyss of 
 Divine justice, in which Christ, on account of 
 our sins, was for a time in a manner swallowed 
 up. Abiding under the water, however short 
 the time, denotes His descent to hades. Emer- 
 sion out of the water presents us with an image 
 of that victory which He, though dead, obtained 
 over death, even in His own pavilion, that is, the 
 sepulchre. § And thanks be to God, which giveth 
 us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, || 
 in like manner the baptism of believers is em- 
 
 * Martin Luther's Works, Vol. II., p. 76. 
 f Rosenmuller, Prof, of Theol. at Leipsic. 
 t Lange on Inf. Bap. 1834. 
 § Tilenus, from Booth, Vol. I., pp. 142, 148. 
 11 Scripture. 
 
 3 
 
34 CHEISTIA15 BAPTISM. 
 
 blematical of their own death, burial and resur- 
 rection* — Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they 
 that are Christ's at His coming.f We are there- 
 fore in baptism conformed not only to the death 
 of Christ, but also to His burial and resurrection.^ 
 The fellowship so signified is not merely a fel- 
 lowship of humiliation, but also of exaltation ; 
 not alone a communion of death and the grave, 
 but a communion likewise of resurrection and as- 
 cension. § Since therefore, we indeed in water, 
 but He in the earth, and we in respect to sin, 
 but He in respect to the body was buried, on this 
 account He did not say, " planted together in 
 death," but ^^ in the likeness of death." || O, strange 
 and wonderful transaction ! Xot truly did we 
 die, nor were we truly buried, nor truly cruci- 
 fied did we rise again ; but the imitation was 
 in a similitude, while the salvation was in truth.^ 
 
 * MacKnight on Rom. vi. 4. 
 
 t Scripture. 
 
 J Estius, Rom. Cath. 
 
 § Baumgarten on Acts xix. 1-36. 
 
 II Chrysostom on Rom. Dis. xi. 
 
 f Cyril, 4th Century, Institution ii. 
 
yiii. 
 
 AS A SYMBOL OF REGEXE RATION. 
 
 Taught by Paul, Rom. vi. 4. Col. ii. 12— Alluded to in Titus 
 ii . 5~Implied in Acts six. 2, 3. 
 
 T. PAUL'S view of the Christian life, 
 throughout the sixth, seventh, and 
 eighth chapters of Eomans, is that it 
 consists of a death and a resurrection ; 
 the new-made Christian dies to sin, to the world, 
 to the flesh, and to the Law ; this death he un- 
 dergoes at his first entrance into communion 
 with Christ, and it is both typified and realized 
 when he is buried beneath the baptismal waters. 
 But no sooner is he thus dead with Christ, than 
 he rises with Him; he is made partaker of 
 Christ's resurrection ; he is united to Christ's 
 body ; he lives in Christ and to Christ ; he is 
 no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit."^ In 
 Romans vi. 4, there is a plain allusion to the 
 ancient custom of baptism by immersion ; and 
 I agree with Koppe and RosenmuUer, that there 
 is reason to regret it should have been abandoned 
 
 * Conybeajre and Howson, Vol. II. p. 170. 
 
 35 
 
36 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 in most Christian Churches, especially as it has 
 so evidently a reference to this mystic sense of 
 baptism.* Indeed, this passage cannot be un- 
 derstood unless it be borne in mind that the 
 primitive baptism was by immersion. f For 
 we assuredly believe that Paul did not under- 
 stand the use of a figure in writing, if he made 
 sprinkling to represent burial. J The Germans 
 call baptism tauff, from depth, which they call 
 tieff in their language ; as if it were proper those 
 should be deeply immersed, who are baptized. 
 And truly, if you consider what baptism signi- 
 fies, you shall see the same thing required ; for 
 it signifies that our native character, which is 
 full of sin, entirely of flesh and blood as it is, 
 may be overwhelmed by divine grace. The 
 mode of baptism, therefore, ought to answer to 
 the signification of baptism, so that it may show 
 forth a sign that is certain and full§ — the con- 
 vert being plunged beneath the surface of the 
 water to represent his death to the life of sin, 
 and then raised from this momentary burial to 
 represent His resurrection to the life of right- 
 
 * Dr. Bloomfield, Recens. Synop. on Rom. vi. 4. 
 t Conybeare and Howson, Vol. II. p. 169. 
 X Dr. G. Stanhope, Rom. vi. 4. 
 ^ Martin Luther Opera, Tom. I., fol. 72. 
 
AS A SYMBOL OF REGENERATION. 37 
 
 eousness."^ For he that is immersed in water, 
 which has the power of suffocating, is considered 
 as in a state of death ; and likewise as long as 
 he continues immersed he is there buried. But 
 when he rises out of the water, he rises as it 
 were, from a state of death, and begins to live 
 afresh. Of what kind this newness of life is, 
 baptism also at the same time distinctly repre- 
 sents. For as water has the power of washing 
 and purifying, it signifies that, in virtue of our 
 Lord's death, the person baptized is cleansed 
 from sin, and that he ought to live a new and 
 pure life.f And it is impossible to see this 
 significant act, in which the convert goes down 
 into the water, travel-worn and soiled with dust, 
 disappear for one moment, and then emerge 
 pure and fresh, without feeling that the symbol 
 answers to, and interprets a strong craving of, 
 the human heart. It is the desire to wash away 
 that which is past and evil. J Hence I repeat, 
 the learned have rightly reminded us that, on 
 account of this emblematical meaning of bap- 
 tism, the rite of immersion ought to have been 
 retained in the Christian Church. § For, in 
 
 * Conybeare, Life of Paul, Vol. I., p. 438. 
 t Rosenmuller Expl. Epis. ad Eph. in c. iv. 5. 
 X F. "W. Robertson, Sermons, 1st Series, p. 137. 
 I Rosenmuller as above. 
 
38 CHEISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 sprinkling the symbolical meaning of the or- 
 dinance is wholly lost."^ A little water on the 
 face may suffice to represent a washing, yet it 
 cannot be thought to represent such an entire 
 washing as baptism may seem to have been in- 
 tended for — while the new birth of a believer 
 is more express in immersion. For the believer 
 being plunged in the water of baptism, is buried 
 with Jesus Christ, as the apostle expresses it ; 
 and coming out of the water quits the tomb 
 with his Saviour, and more perfectly represents 
 the mystery of Jesus Christ who regenerates 
 Him. t This solemn and interesting observ- 
 ance, then, puts forward high claims on the un- 
 derstanding and conscience of every Christian. J 
 For what greater shame can there be, than for a 
 man to profess himself a Christian man because 
 he is baptized, and yet he knoweth not what 
 baptism is, nor what the dipping in the water 
 doth betoken ? § 
 
 *Eheinhard Ethics, Vol. V. p. 79. 
 f Dr. Towerson, Sac. Bap. part 3, pp. 51, 57. 
 I E. Bickersteth, on Bap. p. 20. 
 
 § Archb. Cranmer, in Sermon on Bap. Ded. to King Ed- 
 ward VI., of Eng. 
 
IX. 
 
 AS PEEFIGUEED AT THE EED SEA. 
 
 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, 
 how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed 
 through the sea ; and were all baptized unto Moses in the 
 cloud and in the sea." 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. 
 
 HE passage of the Israelites through 
 the Red Sea wonderfully agrees with 
 our baptism, and represents the grace 
 it was designed to express. For as in 
 baptism, when performed in the primitive man- 
 ner, by immersion and emersion, the persons bap- 
 tized are overwhelmed, so in the Mosaic bap- 
 tism we have an immersion and an emersion; 
 THAT, when they descended into the depths of 
 the sea ; this, when they went out and came to 
 the oppos^ite shore.* But this allegory is ob- 
 viously not to be pressed minutely ; for neither 
 did they enter the cloud nor were they wetted 
 by the water of the sea. They passed under 
 
 * Turretine, Dispu., De Bap. Nubis et Maris, g 24. 
 
 39 
 
40 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 both, as the baptized passes under water. "^ 
 The cloud and the sea took tlie fathers out of 
 sight, and restored them again to view, and 
 this is what the water does to those who are 
 baptized.f The cloud hung over the heads of 
 the Israelites; and so the water is over those 
 that are baptized. The sea surrounded them 
 on each side ; and so the water encompasses 
 those that are baptized. J 
 
 On the other hand, it appears necessary to 
 add, that all attempts to render the tyj^e more 
 perfect by means of trifling suppositions, such 
 as that drops fell from the cloud on the Israel- 
 ites, or that they were sprinkled by the sea, 
 must be utterly discarded. § 1. There is not 
 the slightest intimation of this in the Old Tes- 
 tament. 2. The supposition is contrary to the 
 very design of the cloud. It was not a natural 
 cloud, but was a symbol of the Divine presence 
 and protection. It was not to give rain on the 
 Israelites, or on the land, but it Avas to guide, 
 and be an emblem of the care of God. 3, It is 
 doing violence to the Scriptures to introduce sup- 
 
 * Dean Alford, Gr. Test. 1 Cor. x. 2. 
 t Bengel's Gnomon, 1 Cor. x. 2. 
 X Grotius on 1 Cor. x. 2. 
 g Olshausen on 1 Cor. x, 2. 
 
AS PREFIGURED AT THE RED SEA. 41 
 
 positions in this manner without the slightest 
 authority. The probability is, that the cloud 
 extended over the whole camp of Israel, and 
 that to those at a distance it appeared as a pil- 
 lar.* This ap23earance of the Divine presence 
 was various, but it is uniformly spoken of as 
 itself one — a lofty column rising toward heaven. 
 By day it would seem to have expanded as it 
 rose, and spread itself as a kind of shade or cur- 
 tain between the Israelites and the sun, as the 
 Lord is said by it to have ^ spread a cloud for a 
 covering,' while by night it exchanged the cloudy 
 for the illumined form, and diffused through- 
 out the camp a pleasant light.f They were 
 baptized unto Moses then thus : they had him 
 as their leader in the type of baptism ; for the 
 type was this, the being under the cloud, and 
 the passing through the sea.:j: The cloud and 
 the sea did for them, in reference to Moses, what 
 baptism does for us in reference to Christ. § 
 They had fellowship with Moses both in the 
 shadow under the cloud, and in the through- 
 passing of the sea; for beholding him going 
 
 * Dr. Albert Barnes, 1 Cor. x. 2. 
 
 t Dr. Fairbairn, Typol. of Scrip., p. 98. 
 
 t Dr. Blooinfield, Crit. Dig., vol. vi., p. 478. 
 
 § Hodge on 1 Cor. x. 1-3. 
 
42 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 through first, they themselves also dared the 
 waters ; as also with us, Christ having first died 
 and risen, we ourselves also are baptized, imitat- 
 ing His death through the immersion, and His 
 resurrection through the emersion.* And this 
 is the only point of analogy between the cases, 
 and it is all the apostle's argument requires.f 
 Is it asked then — How were the Israelites bap- 
 tized in the cloud and in the sea, seeing they 
 were neither immersed — literally — in the sea, 
 nor wetted by the cloud ? J It is answered — 
 Under the conduct of Moses they received bap- 
 tism in figure, by passing under the cloud and 
 through the sea.§ When the floods stood up- 
 right like walls, and the depths were congealed 
 in the heart of the sea, Jehovah led His re- 
 deemed children into the depths of the waters, 
 and buried them in baj^tism, in the sea and thick 
 covering cloud. He raised them up again, also, 
 and guided them by His strength into His holy 
 habitation.il Hence it is concluded that the go- 
 ing down of the Israelites into the bottom and 
 
 * Dr. Bloomfield as above. 
 
 t Hodge as above. 
 
 X Witsius CEcon. Feed, liv., c. 10, § 11. 
 
 \ Douay Test. Rom. Cath., 1 Cor. x. 2. 
 
 II Weiss, (a converted Jew) on Old Test. Scrip. 
 
AS PREFIGURED AT THE RED SEA. 43 
 
 middle of the sea, and their coming up from 
 thence to dry ground, have a great agreement 
 with the rite of Christian baptism, as it was ad- 
 ministered in the first times.* 
 
 * Gataker, Adv. Miscel., c. iv. 
 
X. 
 
 AS PREFIGUEED BY THE AEK. 
 
 1 Peter iii. 20, 21. 
 
 HE water of baptism is here called the 
 antitype to the water of the flood, be- 
 cause the flood was a type or emblem 
 of baptism in the three following par- 
 ticulars : 1. As by building the Ark and entering 
 into it, Noah showed his strong faith in the pro- 
 mise of God concerning his preservation by the 
 very water which was to destroy the antedilu- 
 vians for their sins, so by giving ourselves to be 
 buried in the water of baptism, we show a like 
 faith in God\s promise, that though we die and 
 are buried, He will save us from death, the 
 punishment of sin, by raising us from the dead 
 at the last day. 2. As the preserving of Noah 
 alive durins: the nine months he was in the 
 flood, is an emblem of the 2:>reseri'ation of the 
 souls of believers while in the state of the dead, so 
 the preserving believers alive while buried in the 
 44 
 
AS PREFIGURED BY THE ARK. 45 
 
 waters of baptism, is a prefiguration of the same 
 event. 3. As the water of the deluge destroyed the 
 wicked antediluvians, but preserved Noah by- 
 bearing up the Ark in which he was shut up 
 till the waters were assuaged, and he went out 
 of it to live again upon the earth, so baptism 
 may be said to destroy the wicked and to save 
 the righteous, as it prefigures both these events : 
 the death of the sinner it prefigures by burying 
 the baptized persons in the water; and the 
 salvation of the righteous, by raising the bap- 
 tized person out of the water to live a new life.* 
 There is, also, a great analogy between salvation 
 by the Ark and that by baptism, inasmuch as 
 the one did represent and the other doth exhibit 
 Christ Himself t 
 
 * Macknight on 1 Peter iii. 20, 21. 
 t Dr. Owen on same. 
 
XI. 
 
 AS ILLUSTRATED BY DIVERS BAPTISMS. 
 
 Hebrews vi. 2. 
 
 lAPHOROUS BAPTISMOUS, the 
 
 Apostle calls divers baptisms ^ that 
 is, various immersions.* And whoever 
 considers the number of unclean per- 
 sons who daily had need of washing, and he 
 who reads the Talmudic treatises concerning 
 purifications, and collections of water convenient 
 for these purposes, will be easily persuaded that 
 Bethesda and other pools at Jerusalem subserved 
 this design. t Indeed, under the law, there 
 were, as the Apostle speaks, divers baptisms.J 
 For the history of Israel and the Law of Moses 
 abound with such lustrations. § In the Levitical 
 ritual many baptisms, or immersions of the body 
 in the water, were enjoined, as emblematical of 
 
 * Dr. J. Alting, Com. on Heb., p. 260. 
 
 t D'Outreenius. 
 
 J Josiah Conder, Esq. 
 
 \ Smith's Bib. Die, Art. Bap. 
 
 46 
 
AS ILLUSTRATED BY DIVERS BAPTISMS. 47 
 
 that purity of mind, which is necessary to the 
 worshiping of God acceptably.* Aaron and his 
 sons, on their being consecrated to the priest- 
 hood, were to be icholly washed with water, as 
 well as sprinkled with blood at the door of the 
 tabernacle. Ex. xxix. 4, 21. And for clean- 
 sing from various ceremonial uncleanness, also, 
 the Israelites were directed to wash themselves. 
 Lev. xiii. 54-58; xiv. 8, 9; xvi. 4, 24; xxii.' 
 6. Now Christians are a royal priesthood, and 
 they have an initiatory washing, the ordinance of 
 baptism to consecrate them to their high and 
 holy office.f And as the Jews were ceremonially 
 purified, so Christians are emblematically washed 
 by the purifying waters of baptism. J Thus we 
 have a further instruction on baptism in the 
 washings appointed by the law of Moses. § For 
 the baptisms with the Jews were not by sprink- 
 ling, but in addition to washing the whole 
 body, an entire immersion. || They bathed them- 
 selves all over.lf Having come from the mar- 
 ket, where among a crowd of men, they might 
 
 * Dr. Macknight, Com. on Heb. vi. 2. 
 
 f E. Bickersteth on Bap., pp. 6, 7. 
 
 X Webster and Wilkinson, Diaph. Bap,, Heb. vi. 2. 
 
 § E. Bickersteth as above. 
 
 II Stack, His. Bap., p. 8. 
 
 ^ Vatablus, Prof, of Heb., Paris, on Mark vii. 4. 
 
48 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 have come in contact with unclean persons, they 
 eat not without having first bathed themselves, 
 Mark vii. 4, which is not to be understood of 
 the washing of the hands, (as interpreted by 
 Lightfoot and Wetstein,) but of immersing, 
 which the word always means in the Classics 
 and the New Testament.* The other ordinary 
 lustrations of the Jews were performed in the 
 same way.f For by the Hebrew canons, all 
 that are unclean, whether men or vessels, are 
 not cleansed but by dipping or baptizing in 
 water.J And wherever in the law washing of 
 the flesh or clothes is mentioned, it means nothing 
 else than dipping of the whole body in a laver ; 
 for if a man dips himself all over except the tip 
 of his little finger, he is still in his uncleanness. 
 A bed that is wholly defiled, if he dip it part 
 by part, is pure. If he dip the bed in the pool, 
 although its feet are plunged in the thick clay 
 at the bottom of the pool, it is clean. What 
 shall he do with a pilloAv or bolster of skin ? 
 He must dip them and lift them out by the 
 fringes. § And upon whatsoever any of them 
 
 * Dr. H. A. W. Meyer, Manual on Mark and Luke. 
 
 t Schneckenberger, from Jewish Talmud. See Adkins, p. 10. 
 
 X Ainsworth, on Lev. xi. 32. 
 
 g Rabbi Maimonides, Hilchot. Mikvaal, c. I. § 2. 
 
AS ILLUSTRATED BY DIVEES BAPTISMS. 49 
 
 (unclean animals) cloth fall, it shall be unclean, 
 whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or 
 skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be wherein 
 any work is done, it must be put into water, and 
 it shall be unclean until even : so it shall be 
 cleansed.* And many other things there be 
 which they have received to hold, as the wash- 
 ing of cups and pots, brazen vessels and of 
 tables, t 
 
 Hence the reason why Christ prescribed im- 
 mersion in baptism, from which the several 
 figures found in the New Testament are taken, 
 seems to have been that some of His first fol- 
 lowers were already accustomed to religious 
 washings of this kind ; especially the Jews who 
 had been used to Levitical washings.J And the 
 symbolical signification of the rite of baptism 
 was so intelligible that as soon as the Jews saw 
 John practice it, they understood what he meant 
 by it.§ 
 
 * Lev. xi. 32. 
 t Mark vii. 4. 
 
 j Storr and Flatt, Bib. Theo., p. 216. Ward's Ed, 
 § Olshausen, Com. on John i. 25, 27. 
 4 
 
XII. 
 
 AS THE DOOR TO THE LOCAL CHURCH. 
 
 Regeneration admits to the Spiritual Church — baptism to the 
 local organization — One being the silent and unseen death 
 to sin, and resurrection to life— the other a public burial 
 with Christ, and rising with Him to walk in newness of life. 
 The invisible Church has no ordinances — the visible has 
 two — The Lord's Baptism and Supper. 
 
 APTISM is God's initiatory rite to 
 the external privileges of religion. 
 This was God's door into His sacred 
 Sanctuary. Without undergoing this 
 rite no person, old or young, can scripturally 
 and properly be identified with the congrega- 
 tion of the Lord, nor be canonically entitled to 
 its religious privileges. * It was necessary that 
 some mark should be devised by which the fol- 
 lower of Christ might be distinguished, and by 
 consenting to bear which he might give proof of 
 his loyalty. Some initiatory rite was necessary, 
 
 «- Thorn, on Inf. Bap., pp. 550-562. 
 
 50 
 
AS THE DOOR TO THE LOCAL CHURCH. 51 
 
 some public formality, in which the new volun- 
 teer might take, as it were, the military oath and 
 confess his Chief before men. If such a cere- 
 mony could be devised, which should at the 
 same time indicate that the new votary had 
 taken upon himself not merely a new service, 
 but an entirely new mode of life, it would be so 
 much the better. Now there was already in use 
 among the Jews the rite of baptism — and it 
 had acquired a meaning and associations, which 
 were universally understood (See page 49). This 
 ceremony, then, Christ adopted, and He made 
 it absolutely binding upon all His followers to 
 submit to it.* Our Lord's own Commission 
 conjoins the making of disciples with their 
 baptism. And the conduct of the Apostles is 
 the plainest comment on both ; for so soon as 
 ever men, convinced by their preaching, asked 
 for guidance and direction, their first exhorta- 
 tion was to repentance and baptism, that thus 
 the convert should be at once publicly received 
 into the fold of Christ, f And if any be so 
 impudent as to say, it is not the meaning of 
 Christ, that baptizing should immediately, 
 without delay, follow discipling, they are con- 
 
 * Ecce Homo, pp. 95, 96. 
 
 t Smith's Bib. Die. Am. Ed. p. 236. 
 
52 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 futed by the constant example of Scripture.* 
 Then they that gladly received His word were 
 baptized ; and the same day there were added 
 unto them about three thousand souls. f Thus 
 the Sacrament of baptism was regarded as the 
 door of entrance into the Christian Church, and 
 was held to be so indispensable that it could not 
 be omitted even in the case of St. Paul — who 
 although he had been called to the apostleship 
 by the direct intervention of Christ Himself, yet 
 he was commanded to receive baptism at the 
 hands of a simple disciple. J Hence how ex- 
 cellent soever any man's character is, he must be 
 baptized before he can be looked upon as com- 
 pletely a member of the church of Christ. § 
 And what man dare go in a way which hath 
 neither precept nor example to warrant it, from 
 a way that hath a full current of both? Yet 
 they that will admit members into the visible 
 church without baptism, do so. || In vain too, 
 should we argue that Ave may institute other 
 rites and ceremonies. Tf For one baptism is 
 
 * Baxter's Plain Scrip. Proof, p. 126. 
 t Acts ii. 41. 
 
 J Conybeare and Howson, Vol. I. p. 438, 
 § Dr. P. Doddridge, Lectures, p. 508. 
 II Baxter's Plain Scrip. Proof, p. 24. 
 % Dr. King on Presb. Qh. Gov. p. 20, 
 
AS THE DOOR TO THE LOCAL CHURCH. 53 
 
 spoken of, as also one faith, because of the doc- 
 trine respecting the initiation , being one in all 
 the church, which has been taught to baptize 
 with invocation of the Trinity, and to symbolize 
 the Lord's death and resurrection by the sinking 
 down and coming up."^ 
 
 *" Anonymous. 
 
XIII. 
 
 AS RELATED TO THE LORD's SUPPER. 
 
 Both ordinances of the Church, 1 Cor. ii. 2.— One is initia- 
 tive, Acts ii. 41.— The other commemorative, 1 Cor. ii. 24, 
 25.— Baptism then is prerequisite. Acts ii. 42, 46. 
 
 EFORE entering upon the argument 
 I before us, it is but just to remark that 
 in one principle the Baptist and Pedo- 
 baptist churches agree. They both 
 agree in rejecting from the communion of the 
 table of the Lord, and denying the rights of 
 church fellowship to all who have not been bap- 
 tized. Valid baptism the Baptists consider 
 essential to constitute visible church member- 
 ship. This also we hold. The only question, 
 then, that here divides us is. What is essential 
 to valid baptism ? The Baptists, in passing the 
 sentence of disfranchisement upon all other 
 Christian churches, have only acted upon a prin- 
 ciple held in common with all other Christian 
 churches, viz., that baptism is essential to church 
 membership. According to their views of bap- 
 tism they certainly are consistent in restricting 
 54 
 
AS RELATED TO THE LORD's SUPPER. 55 
 
 thus their communion. And herein they act 
 upon the same principle as other churches, i. e., 
 they admit only those whom they deem bap- 
 tized persons to the communion table. Of course 
 they must be their own judges as to what bap- 
 tism is. It is evident that according to our 
 views of baptism, we can admit them to 
 our communion ; but with their views of bap- 
 tism, it is equally evident they can never recip- 
 rocate the courtesy. And the charge of dose 
 communion is no more applicable to the Baptists 
 than to us, inasmuch as church fellowship with 
 them is determined by as liberal principles as it 
 is with any other Protestant churches; so far, I 
 mean, as the present subject is concerned.* Did 
 we hold that only believers who have been im- 
 mersed are baptized we should practice strict 
 communion, and we should almost regard it an 
 insult to be required to give it up without a 
 change of views on the subject of baptism. 
 We as Pedobaptists are also ^ close commu- 
 nionists,' and we hope we shall never cease to be 
 be such. The only legitimate subject of contro- 
 versy between us and the Baptists, are the suh- 
 jeds and mode of baptism.'^ Open communion 
 
 •=• Dr. Hibbard, (Methodist), on Bap., part 2, p. 174. 
 t Editor Congregationalist Journal. 
 
56 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 is an absurdity when it means communion with 
 the unbaptized. I would not for a moment 
 consider a proposition to admit an unbaptized 
 person to the communion, and can I ask a Bap- 
 tist so to stultify himself and ignore his own 
 doctrine, as to ask me to commune with him, 
 while he believes I am unbaptized ? Let us 
 have unity indeed, but not at the expense of 
 principle, and let us not ask the Baptist to 
 ignore, or be inconsistent with, his own doctrine. 
 Neither let us make an outcry at his ^ close con- 
 munion,' which is but faithfulness to principle, 
 until we are prepared to be open communionists 
 ourselves, from which stupidity may we be for- 
 ever preserved.* Among all the absurdities 
 that ever were held, none ever maintained that 
 any person should partake of the communion 
 before he was baptized. f It is certain that 
 Christians in general have always been spoken 
 of, by the most ancient fathers, as baptized 
 persons ; and it is also certain, that as far as our 
 knowledge of primitive antiquity readies, no 
 unbaptized i)erson received the Lord's Supper.| 
 But it was limited strictly to " those who had 
 
 * Am. Presbyterian. 
 
 t Dr. Wall, (Episcopal), Hist. Inf. Bap., Part 2, ch. 9. 
 
 X Dr. Philip Doddridge, (Cong.), Lectures, p. 511. 
 
57 
 
 embraced the gospel, and had been baptized into 
 the faith of Christ." For looking upon the 
 Lord's Supper as the highest and most solemn 
 act of religion, they thought they could never take 
 care enough in the aispensing of it.* It is, there- 
 fore, an indispensable qualification for this ordi- 
 nance that the candidate for communion be a mem- 
 ber of the visible church of Christ in full stand- 
 ing — and by this I intend that he should be a 
 man of piety, that he should have made a public 
 profession of religion, and that he should have 
 been baptized f — because baptism is the first 
 among the sacraments, and the door of the sacra- 
 ments.J I agree, then, with the advocates of 
 close communion in two points : 1. That bap- 
 tism is the initiatory ordinance which introduces 
 into the visible church ; of course, where there 
 is no baptism, there are no visible churches. 
 2. That we ought not to commune with those 
 who are not baptized, and of course, are not 
 church members, even if we regard them as 
 Christians. § Hence if I believed with the Bap- 
 tists, that none are baptized but those who are 
 
 * Dr. Cave, Prim. Chr'ty, part I., ch. xi,, p. 333. 
 t Dr. Dwight's Syst. TheoL, Ser. 160, B. S. ch. 4, sec. 7. 
 X Bonaventure, Apud, Forbesium, Inst. Historic Theol. 
 Lib. X., Cap. IV., sec. 9. 
 § Dr. Griffin, Letter on Bap., cited by Curtis, p. 125. 
 
58 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 immersed on profession of faith, then I should 
 with them refuse to commune with any others.* 
 
 We have then arrived at the conchision that 
 all, without exception or limitation, all who repent 
 and believe, and are baptized, and only they, are 
 fit subjects for the Lord's Supper. f That bap- 
 tism was always precedent to the Lord's Supper, 
 and none were admitted to receive the eucharist 
 till they were baptized. This is so obvious to 
 every man that it needs no proof: if any one 
 doubts it, he may find it clearly asserted in the 
 Second Apology of Justin Martyr, p. 97. J 
 
 Then, as to open communionism. — Let men 
 pretend what they can for such a hotch-potch 
 communion in their churches, I steadfastly be- 
 lieve the event and issue of such practices will, 
 sooner or later, convince all gainsayers, that it 
 neither pleaseth Christ, nor is any way promo- 
 tive of true or gospel holiness in the churches of 
 God's people. I shall never be reconciled to 
 that charity, which, in pretence of peace and 
 moderation, opens the Church's door to church- 
 disjointing principles. § 
 
 * Dr. John Hall, (Presb.). 
 
 f Am. Tract Society, Duty of the Pious Inquirer, p. 3. 
 
 X Peter King, Lord High Chancellor of Eng., Prim. Ch., 
 p. 196. 
 
 § By an Independent on the Sin and danger of admitting 
 Anabaptists to the Congregational Communion, &c. 
 
XIV. 
 
 AS TO ITS NATURE FROM BAPTIZO. 
 
 HE term baptism is derived from the 
 Greek word bapto, from which term 
 is formed haptizo.'^ It signifies ge- 
 ^nerally an immersion of whatever 
 hind, and done on whatever occasion. But 
 when this name was employed to designate the 
 great initiatory rite of the Christian religion, 
 and more especially when the habit was firmly 
 established of speaking of this rite, as ho baptisma 
 {the baptism), this term, however wide and 
 various the application of it may have previously 
 been, never suggested the idea of any other 
 dipping than that which took place at the 
 ministration of this sacrament.f The primary 
 signification of the original then is to dip, to 
 plunge, immerse. J Still, some may be disposed 
 to consider this as not altogether certain. They 
 may perhaps maintain, that the idea of bap — 
 
 * Coleman's Ancient Christianity, p. 372. 
 t Dr. Chalmers' Inst. Theol. on Rom. vi. 4. 
 i Coleman, as above. 
 
 59 
 
60 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 the original etymological root of the verbs — was 
 to tinge J dye, or color; and that the idea of 
 plunging or dipping was derived from this, 
 because, in order to accomplish the work of 
 dyeing, the act of plunging or dipping was 
 necessary. But, as the idea of plunging or im- 
 mersing is common to both the words hapto and 
 baptizo, while that of dyeing or coloring belongs 
 only to hapto, it would seem altogether probable, 
 that i\\Q, former signification is the more usual 
 and natural one, and, therefore, more probably 
 the original one. 
 
 In the New Testament, there is one other 
 marked distinction between the use of these 
 verbs. Baptizo and its derivatives are exclusively 
 employed, when the rite of baptism is to be 
 designated in any form whatever ; and in this 
 case, bapto seems to be purposely, as well as 
 habitually, excluded.* Why ? The verb bap- 
 tizo has only one acceptation. It literally and 
 perpetually signifies to plunge.f It is not, like 
 this latter word, used to designate the idea of 
 coloriyig or dyeing.X The distinctive character- 
 istic of the institution of baptism is then, immer- 
 
 *Prof. Moses Stuart on Bap. Nashville Ed., pp. 43-51. 
 fStourdza, Alex. De, Russian State Councillor. 
 X Prof. M. Stuart, p. 51. 
 
AS TO ITS NATURE FROM BAPTIZO. 61 
 
 sion, baptisma, which cannot be omitted without 
 destroying the mysterious sense of the sacra- 
 ment, and contradicting, at the same time, the 
 etymological signification of the word which 
 serves to designate it. Baptism and immersion 
 are, therefore, identical, and to say : baptism by 
 aspersion, is as if one should say, immersion by 
 aspersion, or any other absurdity of the same 
 nature.* The word corresponds, in significa- 
 tion, with the German taufen, to sink in the 
 deep.f Thus we perceive how baptism was 
 administered among the ancients ; for they im- 
 mersed the whole body in water.J Yet I have 
 heard a disputant, in defiance of etymology and 
 use, maintain that the word, rendered in the 
 New Testament, haptizo, means more properly 
 to sprinkle than to plunge ; and in defiance of 
 all antiquity, that the former method was the 
 earliest, and for many centuries the most general 
 practice in baptizing. But one who argues in 
 this manner never fails, with persons of know- 
 ledge, to betray the cause he would defend ; and 
 though, with respect to the vulgar, bold asser- 
 tions generally succeed as well as arguments, 
 
 * Alex. De Stourdza, as above. 
 
 t Brenner, Rom. Cath. 
 
 + John Calvin, on John iii. 2?. 
 
62 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 and sometimes better, yet a candid mind will 
 disdain to take the help of a falsehood even in 
 support of the truth.* No scholar could, with- 
 out injury to his reputation, give the significa- 
 tion to sprinkle to baptizo.f As, to purify : the 
 theory is very beautiful, but it wants bottom. J 
 Never, even in a solitary instance, have we 
 encountered it in the sense of purification. § 
 
 CONSTRUED WITH PREPOSITIONS. 
 
 Baptizo, construed with the preposition e/s, is 
 to immerse into.\\ Into being the original and 
 proper signification of the preposition,T[ after 
 verbs of motion of any kind.** Hence to prefer a 
 different meaning, appears very like going out 
 of one's way to serve a purpose, ft 
 
 En is, in accordance with the meaning of 
 baptizo, (immerse), not to be understood instru- 
 mentally (as by or with), but on the contrary as 
 
 * Dr. G. Campbell of Scotland, Lee. on Pulp. Eloq., p. 480. 
 
 fProf. Chas, Anthon (Episcopal). 
 
 t Prof. M. Stuart, Bap. Bal. 
 
 § Prof. Wilson (Presb.). on Bap., p. 184. 
 
 II Dr. E, Robinson, N. T. Greek Lexicon. 
 
 % Dr. Dwight, on Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
 ** Prof. Wilson on Bap., p. 330. 
 
 It Meyer, Corn. Matt. iii. 11. 
 
AS TO ITS NATUEE FROM BAPTIZO. 63 
 
 in, in the sense of the element wherein the im- 
 mersion takes place. "^ 
 
 While eh strictly and properly contemplates 
 the point of departure as tcithin the object 
 denoted by its regimen. This is demonstrated 
 by our more philosophical grammarians, and 
 ably maintained by Dr. Carson. f 
 
 Our Saviour, therefore, when He was baptized, 
 first went down into the nVe?', was plunged into 
 the water J and afterwards came up out of it. 
 And it is written (Acts viii. 38, 39), that 
 Philip went down with the eunuch into the 
 water, and there baptized him ; and it is added 
 that the ordinance being administered, they both 
 came up out of the tvater.X Thus the act of 
 baptizing is something quite distinct from either 
 the going down into the water, or the coming up 
 out of it. Both went down and both came up, 
 but one only was baptized. § 
 
 * Anonymous. 
 
 t Prof. Wilson, p. 169. 
 
 X Qnenstedius, Antiq. Bib., Par. 1, c. iv, Sec. 2. 
 
 ^ Anonymous. 
 
64 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 DEFINITIONS OF BAPTIZO. 
 
 1. Baptizo, to immerse, to dip, Tkommius. 
 
 2. To immei'se, immerge, submerge, sink, Greenfield. 
 , 3. To dip, to immerse, or jjlunge in water. Paekhurst. 
 
 4. To merge, immerse, to wash, to bathe, Schoettgen. 
 
 5. To plunge under, or overwhelm in water, Stephanus. 
 
 6. To merge, or immerse, to submerge, or bury in water, 
 
 Stephens. 
 
 7. Properly it means to dip, or immerse in water, Stockius. 
 
 8. To dip, to immerse as we do anything for the purpose of 
 
 dyeing it, Scapula. 
 
 9. To dip repeatedly, Liddell and Scott. 
 
 1 0. To baptize is to plunge, Wetstein. 
 
 11. To baptize signifies only to immerse, not to wash, except 
 
 by consequence, Alstidius. 
 
 12. Baptism is an entire action to wit, a dipping, Melanc- 
 
 thon. 
 
 13. To baptize, to merge, to bathe, Schrevellius. 
 
 14. To immerse repeatedly into liquid, to submerge, to soak 
 
 thoroughly, to saturate, Donnegan. 
 
 15. The proper signification of baptize is to immerse, plunge 
 
 under, overwhelm in water, Zanchius. 
 
 16. To baptize, immerse into water, dip, bathe, Schindler. 
 
 17. To plunge, to immerse, submerge. Prof. Rost. 
 
 18. Baptizo, I plunge, I plunge into water, dip, baptize, bury, 
 
 overwhelm, Dr. John Jones. 
 
 19. The native and proper signification of baptize is to dip 
 
 into water, or to plunge under water, Leigh. 
 
 20. The Baptists have the advantage of us. Baptism signifies 
 
 a total immersion. Prof. Porson, 
 
 21. GuiDO Fabricius, To baptize, dip, bathe. 
 
XV. 
 
 AS COREOBORATED IN HISTORY. 
 
 N the Apostolic age, and some time 
 after, before churches and baptisteries 
 were generally erected, they baptized 
 in any place where they had conve- 
 niences, as John baptized in Jordan, and Philip 
 baptized the eunuch in the wilderness, and Paul 
 the jailer in his own house.* But afterwards 
 they had haptisteria, or, as we call them, fonts, 
 built at first near the church, then in the church 
 porch, to represent baptism's being the entrance 
 into the church. Afterwards they were placed 
 in the Church itself. They were usually very 
 large and capacious, not only that they might 
 comport with the general custom of those times 
 of persons baptized being immersed, or put 
 under water, but because the stated times of bap- 
 tism returning so seldom, great multitudes were 
 usually baptized at the same time.f It is evi- 
 
 * Bingham, Orig. Eccle., Vol. I., b. 8, c. 7. 
 t Dr. Cave, Prim. Chris., p. 1, c. 18. 
 
 5 65 
 
6Q CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 dent, then, that during the first ages of the 
 Church, and for many centuries afterwards, the 
 practice of immersion prevailed; and which 
 seems indeed never to be departed from, except 
 where it was administered to a person at the 
 point of death, or upon the bed of sickness — 
 which was considered as not giving the full 
 privileges of baptism.* This is so plain and 
 clear by an infinite number of passages, that as 
 one cannot but pity the weak endeavors of such 
 Pedobaptists as would maintain the negative of 
 it, so we ought to disown and show a dislike 
 of the profane scoffs which some people give to 
 the anti-pedobaptists merely for the use of dip- 
 ping ; when it was in all probability the way by 
 which our blessed Saviour, and for certain, was 
 the most usual and ordinary way by which the 
 ancient Christians did receive their baptism. 
 'Tis a great want of prudence, as well as of 
 honesty, to refuse to grant to an adversary what 
 is certainly true, and may he proved so.f For 
 we read, not in Scripture, that baptism was 
 otherwise administered than by plunging ; and 
 we are able to make it appear by the acts of 
 Councils, and by the ancient rituals, that for 
 
 * Encyclo. Ecclesiastica, Art. Bap. 
 
 t Dr. Wall, His. Inf. Bap., Vol. ii. p. 341. 
 
AS COEROBORATED IX HISTORY. 67 
 
 thirteen hundred years baptism was thus admin- 
 istered throughout the whole Church as far as it 
 was possible.* Indeed, we have only to go back 
 six or eight hundred years, and immersi )n was 
 the only mode, except in case of the few bap- 
 tized on beds when death was near. And with 
 regard to such cases, it disqualified] its recipient 
 for holy orders in case he recovered. Immer- 
 sion was not only universal six or eight hundred 
 years ago, but it was primitive and apostolic, 
 no case of baptism standing on record by any 
 other mode for the first three hundred years, 
 except the few cases of those baptized clinically. 
 If any one practice of the early church is clearly 
 established it is immersion. f The passages 
 which refer to immersion are so numerous in the 
 Fathers, that it would take a little volume mere- 
 ly to recite them. But enough. ^ It is,^ says 
 Augusti, ^a thing made out, viz., the ancient 
 practice of immersion.^ So, indeed, all the 
 writers who have thoroughly investigated this 
 subject conclude. I know of no one usage of 
 ancient times, which seems to be more clearly 
 and certainly made out. I cannot see how it is 
 
 * Bishop Bossuet, from Stennet vs. Russen, p. 175. 
 t Bishop Smith of Epis. Ch. Kentucky, from Bliss' Letters 
 on Bap. p. 24. 
 
68 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 possible for any candid man who examines the 
 subject, to deny this.* For there can be no 
 question that the original form of baptism — the 
 very meaning of the word — was a complete im- 
 mersion in the deep baptismal waters, and that, 
 for at least four centuries, any other form was 
 either unknown . or else regarded as an excep- 
 tional, almost a monstrous case.f And it is well 
 known that all the Greek and Oriental churches, 
 with a population of one hundred millions, 
 though adopting the baptism of children, retain 
 immersion to this day, as essential to the validity 
 of the rite, and as Bunsen remarks, deny that 
 there is any efficacy in the Western Roman Ca- 
 tholic — form of baptism. J 
 
 As to the question of fact then the testimony 
 is ample and decisive. No matter of Church 
 History is clearer. The evidence is all one way ; 
 and all church historians of any repute agree in 
 accepting it. AYe cannot claim even originality 
 in teaching it in a Congregational Seminary. 
 And we really feel guilty of a kind of anach- 
 ronism in writing an article to insist upon it. 
 
 * Prof. M. Stuart on Bap., p, 23. Goodwyn & Go's. Ed. 
 t London Quarterly Review, from Everts' Law of Bap., p. 
 43. 
 X New Am, Encyclopedia, Art. Bap. 
 
AS CORROBORATED IN HISTORY. 69 
 
 It is a point on which Ancient, Mediaeval and 
 Modern Historians alike, Catholic and Protes- 
 tant, Lutheran and Calvinist, have no contro- 
 versy. And the simple reason for this unani- 
 mity is that the statements of the early Fathers 
 are so clear, and the light shed upon these state- 
 ments from the early customs of the church is so 
 conclusive, that no historian who cares for his 
 reputation would dare to deny it, and no his- 
 torian "who is worthy of the name W'Ould wish 
 to. There are some historical questions con- 
 cerning the early church on which the most 
 learned writers disagree, for example, the ques- 
 tion of infant baptism, but on this one of the 
 early practice of immersion the most distinguish- 
 ed Antiquarians, such as Bingham, Augusti, 
 (Coleman), Smith (Dictionary of the Bible), and 
 Historians, such as Mosheim, Gieseler, Hase, 
 Neander, Milman, Schaff, Alzog (Catholic), hold 
 a common language. The following extract 
 from Coleman's Antiquities, very accurately ex- 
 presses what all agree to. ^^ In the primitive 
 church, immersion was undeniably the common 
 mode of baptism. The utmost that can be said 
 oisprinhling in that early jDeriod is that it was, 
 in case of necessity, permitted as an exception to 
 a general rule. This fact is so well established 
 
70 CHEISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 that it were needless to adduce authorities in 
 proof of it." As one further illustration we 
 quote from Schaff' s ^' Apostolic Church -^ " As 
 to the outward mode of administering this ordi- 
 nance, immersion, and not sprinkling, was un- 
 questionably the original, normal form/^ But 
 while immersion was the universal custom, an 
 abridgement of the rite was freely allowed and 
 defended in cases of urgent necessity, such as 
 sickness and approaching death, and the peculiar 
 form of sprinkling thus came to be known as 
 *' clinical'^ baptism, or the baptism of the sick. 
 It is somewhat significant that no controversy 
 of any account ever arose in the church on this 
 question of the form of baptism, down to the 
 Reformation. And hence it is difficult to de- 
 termine with complete accuracy just when im- 
 mersion gave way to sprinkling as the common 
 church practice. The two forms were employed, 
 one as the rule, the other as the exception, until 
 as Christianity traveled northward into a colder 
 climate, the exception silently grew to be the 
 rule. 
 
 As late as the thirteenth century immersion 
 still held its ground, as is shown by a passage 
 in the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, 
 where the arguments in favor of the two modes 
 
AS CORROBORATED IN HISTORY. 71 
 
 of baptism are compared, and the conclusion is 
 drawn that immersion is the safer because the 
 more common form (quia hoc habet communion 
 usus). Three centuries later, in the time of the 
 Reformers, sprinkling has become common, and 
 even quite universal ; though Calvin speaks of 
 the different forms of baptism in a way which 
 seems to imply that immersion was by no means 
 obsolete. So that Dr. Schaff puts the date quite 
 early enough, we think, when he says that " not 
 till the end of the thirteenth century did sprink- 
 ling become the rule and immersion the excep- 
 tion." It is to be remarked also that this 
 change occurred only in the AYestern or Latin 
 church. In the Greek church immersion has 
 remained the rule to the present day.* 
 
 «-Prof. L. L. Paine, D.D., Christian Mirror, Aug. 3d, 1875. 
 
XVI. 
 
 AS PERVEllTED INTO A SAVING ORDINANCE. 
 
 APTISM supposeth regeneration sure 
 in itself first. Sacraments are never 
 administered to begin or to work 
 grace. Read all the Acts, still it is 
 said : They believed and were baptized.* And 
 in the first tivo centuries no one was baptized, 
 except, being instructed in the faith, and ac- 
 quainted with the doctrine of Christ, he was able 
 to profess himself a believer.'^ But the original 
 simplicity of the office of baptism had, in the 
 thiixl century, undergone some corruption. The 
 symbol had been gradually exalted at the ex- 
 pense of the thing signified ; and the spirit of 
 the ceremony was beginning to be lost in the 
 form. Hence a belief was gaining ground among 
 the converts, and was inculcated among the 
 heathen, that the act of baptism gave remission 
 
 * Dr. Goodwin's Works, Vol. I., Part I., p. 200. 
 t Salmasius and Suicerus. 
 
 72 
 
AS PERVERTED INTO A SAYING ORDINANCE. 73 
 
 of all sins committed previously.* This was 
 one of the first departures of the Church from 
 the sacred truths of the gospel, and to this vital 
 error may be traced much of that ignorance of 
 spiritual things, and that intellectual gloom 
 which covered the church in the dark ages of 
 papal supremacy.! This opinion of the absolute 
 necessity of baptism arose from a wrong under- 
 standing of our Lord's words : Except a man be 
 born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of heaven. J Thus in the old 
 ecclesiastical writers we find many extravagant 
 and unscriptural assertions respecting the effect 
 of baptism,§ e. g., that although a man should 
 be foul with every human vice, the blackest that 
 can be named, yet should he fall into the bap- 
 tismal pool, he ascends from the divine waters 
 purer than the beams of noon.|| That no per- 
 son comes to the kingdom of heaven, but by 
 the sacrament of baptism. Tf And Cyril of Alex- 
 
 « Waddington, Hist. Church, Ch. II. p. 53. 
 
 t Rev. William Phillips, M. E. in Campbellism Exposed, 
 p. 18. 
 
 t Suicerus from Pedob. Exam. Vol. ii., p. 129. 
 
 § Knapp's Clin. Theol., p. 488. 
 
 II Chrysostom (398), from Isaac Taylor's Anc. Chr'ty, Vol. I. 
 p. 236. 
 
 ^ Ambrose,'A. D., 390. 
 
74 CHKISTIAN BAPTIS]\I 
 
 anclria Avent so far as to say tliat the water be- 
 came changed, by the divine power in the Holy 
 Spirit, into an entirely different element. In 
 fact among the old Catholic fathers of the Chris- 
 tian church there always prevailed very high 
 ideas respecting the necessity and advantages of 
 baptism. And there are not wanting incautious 
 expressions on this subject even, among some 
 Protestant theologians,* — for instance, that with 
 the water of baptism the grace of regeneration, 
 the seed of the Holy Ghost, the principle of a 
 higher existence, is committed to the soul ; that 
 it grows with us as an innate impression of our 
 being. And as long as the believer trusts to 
 his baptism -as the source of spiritual life all is 
 well.f That by baptism, we who Avere by na- 
 ture children of wrath, are made the children of 
 God. And this regeneration is more than 
 barely being admitted into the church. By 
 water, then, as a means, the water of baptism, 
 we are regenerated, or born again. And if 
 infants are guilty of original sin, in the ordinary 
 way, they cannot be saved, unless this be icashed 
 away hy baptism.X That baptism wrests the 
 
 * Kuapp, Theol. as above. 
 
 t Rev. Wm. Harness, of St. Pancrass Chapel, London, on 
 Bap. Reg., pp. 135-138. 
 
 X John Wesley, founder of Methodism. Preservative, p. 
 14G. Pub. by Am. Gen. Conference. 
 
AS PERVERTED INTO A SAVING ORDIXAXCE. 75 
 
 keys of the heart out of the hands of the strong 
 man armed, that the possession may be surren- 
 dered to Him whose right it is."^ 
 
 Now these assertions clearly make baptism a 
 saving ordinance; and I know not that any 
 Papist ever used stronger language in pointing 
 out its importance.f But a more fatal mis- 
 take there cannot be than to attribute to baptism 
 that change of which it is only the appointed 
 sign in the Christian church. It is lamentable 
 beyond expression, that professed Protestants 
 should require to be combated with the same 
 weapons precisely as those employed against the 
 worst errors of Romanism. But so it must be, 
 while the pestilence of Roman heresy lurks 
 within the precincts of a Reformed church. 
 As the outward sign of inward cleansing by the 
 grace and Spirit of Christ, baptism is a most 
 significant and instructive ordinance ; but those 
 who would confound, or even identify it with 
 the renewing of the Holy Ghost, have quitted 
 the doctrine of the Apostle, and substituted in 
 its place a mere human invention. It is one 
 thing to affirm that Christ has enjoined baptism 
 
 * Matthew Henry, Treatise on Bap., pp. 12, &c. 
 t Rev. W. Phillips, as above, p. 19. 
 
76 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 as an initiatory rite of His kingdom ; it is quite 
 another thing, and an error of the most formida- 
 ble dimensions, to assert that all baptized per- 
 sons are born of the Spirit.* 
 
 «• Dr. J. Morrison, Horn, for the Times, pp. 265, 342, 343. 
 
XVII. 
 
 AS TJXSCEIPTURALLY APPLIED TO INFANTS. 
 
 CCORDIXG to its true, original 
 design baptism can be given only to 
 adults, who are capable of true know- 
 ledge, repentance and faith.* It is not 
 to be received then any more than faith by right 
 of inheritance. t Hence Scripture knows nothing 
 of the baptism of infants. J It is totally o^Dposed 
 to the spirit of the apostolic age, and to the 
 fundamental principles of the ISTew Testament.§ 
 The passages from Scripture cited in favor of 
 infant baptism as a usage of the i)rimitive 
 Church, are doubtful and prove nothing. || There 
 is absolutely not a single trace of it to be found 
 in the New Testament. There are passages that 
 may be reconciled with it, if the practice can 
 only be proved to have existed ; but there is not 
 
 * Prof. Hahn's TheoL, p. 556. 
 
 t Dr. Pressense, Apos. Era, p. 376. 
 
 X Dr. Hanna. 
 
 \ Prof. Lange, Inf. Bap., p. 101. 
 
 II Hagenbach's His. Doct., pp. 190-193. 
 
 77 
 
78 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 one word which asserts its existence."* Among 
 all the persons that are recorded as baptized by 
 the apostles, there is no express mention of any 
 infants. t Lydia's household, I know, has been 
 adduced in proof of the apostolic authority of 
 infant baptism ; but there is no proof here that 
 any except adults w^ere baptized. | Baptism 
 ensued in this case, without doubt, merely upon 
 profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But 
 for that very reason it is highly improbable that 
 her house should be understood as including 
 infant children. § We cannot, indeed, prove 
 that the apostles ordained infant baptism from 
 those places where the baptism of a whole family 
 is mentioned.il In none of these instances has 
 it been proved that there were little children 
 among them.^f And we do freely confess there 
 is neither express precept nor precedent in the 
 New Testament for the baptism of infants.** 
 
 How unwary, too, are many excellent men, 
 in contending for infant baptism on the ground 
 
 * North Brit. Review (Presb.), Aug. 1852. 
 
 t Dr. Wall, His. Inf. Bap. Intro., pp. 1, 55. 
 
 X Dr. De Wette, Com. on Acts xvi. 15. 
 
 § Olshausen, Com. on Acts xvi. 14, 15. 
 
 II Neander's Planting and Training, p. 162, N. Y. Ed. 
 
 % Kitto's Bib. Ency., Art. Bap. 
 
 «-* Fuller, Infant's Advoc, pp. 71, 150. 
 
AS UNSCRIPTURALLY APPLIED TO INFANTS. 79 
 
 of the Jewish analogy of circumcision. Number- 
 less difficulties present themselves in our way as 
 soon as we begin to argue in such a manner as 
 this. The Covenant of Circumcision furnishes 
 no ground for infant baptism.* Indeed — what 
 is the Covenant ? AVhat meaning and force has 
 it ? Here we have never agreed, and do not 
 now. The Baptists have pushed us for an 
 answer — v;q have given them many answers, — 
 but never any single answer in which we could 
 agree among oursel ves.f In fact, the Xew Testa- 
 ment saints have nothing more to do with the 
 Abrahamic covenant than the Old Testament 
 believers who lived prior to Abraham. J And the 
 sacraments of the Neic Covenant are of such a 
 nature as to seal nothing but what is spiritual, nor 
 to be of any advantage, except in regard to those 
 who really believe in Jesus Christ. § This is 
 the great reason Avhy we cannot believe that 
 baptism was administered in the apostolic age to 
 little ^children. II Thus, all attempts to make 
 out infant baptism from the New Testament 
 
 * Prof. Moses Stuart, Com. on O. T., chap. 22, and Lee. 
 on Gal. 
 f Bushnell's Views of Christian Nurture, pp. 56-61. 
 X Dr. E. Williams on Morrice' Social Religion, pp. 312-317. 
 
 I Vitringa in Pedob. Exam., Vol. ii., p. 268. 
 
 II Dr. Pressense, as above. 
 
80 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 fail.* No instance of it is recorded there ; no 
 allusion is made to its effects ; no directions are 
 given for its administration ;t it is not brought 
 down as a substitute for circumcision. J And 
 from the action of Christ's blessing infants, to 
 infer they are to be baptized, proves nothing so 
 much, as that there is a want of better argu- 
 ments. § Indeed all traces of infant baptism 
 which one will find in the New Testament mud 
 first he put into it.\\ And, where the Scripture 
 is silent, who shall speak ?Tf 
 
 But, neither in the Scriptures, nor during the 
 first hundred and fifty years (at least), is a sure 
 example of infant baptism to be found ; and we 
 must conclude that the numerous opposers of it 
 cannot be contradicted on gospel ground.** For 
 the early and continued opposition to it would 
 have been inexplicable, if it had been an un- 
 doubted apostolic institution. ft Though some, 
 indeed, have argued that in the silence of Scrip- 
 
 * Prof. Lange, as above. 
 
 t Dr. Jacobi, Church of Eng. Eccle. Pol., pp. 270, 271. 
 
 X H. W. Beecher. 
 
 g Bishop Taylor, Liberty of Prophecy, p. 230. 
 
 II Schleiermacher. 
 
 ^ Ambrose. 
 
 *-* Prof. Hahn, Theol., p. 556. 
 
 ft Meyer's Com. on Acts, Vol. ii., p. 235. 
 
AS UNSCRIPTURALLY APPLIED TO INFANTS. 81 
 
 ture, it is fair to presume that a custom whose 
 existence is seen in the second century must have 
 descended from the apostles ; but the presump- 
 tion is wholly the other way. History confirms 
 the inference drawn from the sacred volume."^ 
 There is, I think, no trace of it until the last 
 part of the second century, when a passage is 
 found in Irenseus, which may possibly — and 
 only possibly — ^^refer to it. Xor is it anywhere 
 distinctly mentioned before the time of Tertullian 
 (204), who, w^hile he testifies to the practice, was 
 himself rather opposed to it.f A proof that the 
 practice had not as yet come to be regarded as 
 an Apostolical institution, for otherwise he 
 would hardly have ventured to express himself 
 so strongly against it.{ As an established order 
 of the Church, therefore, it belongs to the third 
 century, when its use, and the mode of its admi- 
 nistration, and the whole theory of it as a 
 Christian ceremony, were necessarily moulded 
 by the baptismal theology of tlie time.§ For an 
 opinion prevailed that no one could be saved 
 without being baptized ;!| which rule, they said, 
 
 * N. Brit. Eeview, as above. 
 
 t Dr. Jacobi, as above. 
 
 X Anonymous. 
 
 ^ Dr. Jacobi, as above. 
 
 II Salmasius, Epis. Jus. Pac. 
 
 6 
 
82 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 as it holds to all, so we think it more especially 
 to be observed in reference to infants, to whom 
 our help and the Divine mercy is rather to be 
 granted ; because, by their weeping and wailing 
 at their first entrance into the world, they do 
 intimate nothing so much as that they implore 
 compassion.* It was, therefore, customary in 
 the ancient Church, if infants were greatly 
 afflicted, and in danger of death, or if parents 
 were affected with a singular concern about the 
 salvation of their children to present their 
 infants, or children, in their minority, to the 
 bishop to be baptized. f But nothing can be 
 affirmed with certainty, concerning the custom 
 of the Church before Tertullian, seeing^ there is 
 not anywhere, in more ancient writers, that I 
 know of, undoubted mention of infant baptism, 
 though there were persons in his age who 
 desired their infants might be baptized, espe- 
 cially when they were afraid of their dying 
 without baptism ; which opinion Tertullian 
 opposed, and by so doing intimates that pedo- 
 baptism began to prevail. J 
 
 In \\\.Q fourth century its validity was generally 
 
 * Cyprian, A. D., 253. 
 
 t Vitringa, Observ. Sac, Vol. i., B. 2, ch. iv., sec. 9. 
 
 % Venema, Eccle. His., Vol. iii., ch. ii., sees. 108, 109. 
 
AS UNSCRTPTUEALLY APPLIED TO INFANTS. 83 
 
 acknowledged, although the Church fathers 
 often found it necessary to icarn against the 
 delay of baptism.* The practice was neither 
 uniformly adopted, nor ahvays or everywhere 
 observed. This is evident from numerous in- 
 stances of persons living in or about the fourth 
 century, who w^ere not baptized till after they 
 had reached the age of manhood. Such was the 
 case with Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Chry- 
 sostom, Basil, Gregory ; and among the Empe- 
 rors, wath Constantine, Constantius — sons of 
 Constantino the Great, — Valentian, Gratian, 
 Theodoras, and w^ith innumerable other per- 
 sons, f Augustine pointed out the removal of 
 original sin, and the sins of the children as its 
 definite object ; and through his representations 
 was its universal diffusion promoted. J 
 
 In the fifth and folloioing ages it was generally 
 received. § The baptism of infants is therefore 
 named a tradition. || And this practice which 
 Protestants have retained from the Romish 
 church, without a due consideration of it, as 
 well as many other things which they still re- 
 
 * Bretsclineider, Theol., Vol. I., p. 469. 
 t Koraes, a Greek Scholar. 
 X Bretschneider, as above. 
 
 I Curcellus, Instit. Rel. Christ., L. I., e. 12. 
 
 II Dr. Field, on the Church, p. 375. 
 
84 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 tain, renders their baptism very defective. It 
 corrupts both the institution and ancient usage 
 of it, and the relation it ought to have to faith, 
 repentance and regeneration.* And, it must be 
 confessed that without the authority of the 
 Church, the baptism of children could not be 
 adequately defended. For there is no example 
 in its favor in the Sacred Scriptures; which 
 appear, besides water, to demand faith also. 
 Hence, it appears to me, that those who reject 
 Church authority, cannot sustain the attacks 
 of the Anabaptists. t For wise men do easily 
 observe that the Anabaptists can, by the same 
 probability of Scripture, enforce a necessity of 
 communicating infants (i. e. administering the 
 Lord's Supper to them) upon us, as we do of 
 baptizing infants upon them, if we speak of 
 immediate divine institution. J They say it 
 is evident that belief or faith must precede 
 baptism ; but they add, infants are not capable 
 of believing; therefore, neither are they capable 
 of being baptized. They boast that the Scrip- 
 ture is evidently for Baptist practice — that 
 other Protestants hold traditional doctrines, like 
 
 * M. De la Rogue, 
 t Leibnitz, (1716). 
 X Jeremy Taylor. 
 
AS UKSCRIPTURALLY APPLIED TO INFANTS. 85 
 
 the Catholics.* While Catholics say — We Ro- 
 manists have little to fear from you : the contro- 
 versy is not between us and you; it is with 
 the Baptists. There are but two parties in the 
 contest, ourselves and the Baptists. f 
 
 Would the Protestant Church fulfil and at- 
 tain to its final destiny, the baptism of new-born 
 children must of necessity be abolished. It 
 cannot from any point of view be justified by 
 the Holy Scriptures. J 
 
 AS CATHOLICS VIEW IT. 
 
 Q. Can Protestants prove to Baptists that the 
 baptism of infants is good and useful ? 
 
 Ans. No, they cannot ; because, according to 
 Protestant principles^ such baptism is useless. 
 
 Q. Why do you say this ? 
 
 Ans, One of the Protestant principles is, that 
 no human being can be justified except by an 
 act of faith in Jesus Christ ; but no infant is 
 capable of making this act of faith ; therefore, 
 upon Protestant principles, the baptism of in- 
 fants is useless. 
 
 Q. Can you draw the same consequences from 
 any other principle ? 
 
 * Roman Cath. Catechism. 
 
 t Bishop Baily of Newark, N. J., to Pedob. Minister. 
 
 X Prof. Lange, Hist. Prot., p. 31-45. 
 
86 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 Ans. Yes; their first principle is, that 
 nothing is to be practiced, which is not author- 
 ized by Scriptural example; but it does not 
 a23pear from Scripture that even one infant was 
 ever baptized; therefore, Protestants should 
 reject, on their own principles, infant baptism 
 as an unscriptural usage. 
 
 Q. How do Baptists treat other Protestants ? 
 
 Ans. They boast that the Scripture is evi- 
 dently for Baptist practice — that other Protes- 
 tants hold traditional doctrines, like the Catho- 
 lics. They quote Matt. chap, xxviii., " Go 
 teach all nations, baptizing them,'' from which 
 they say, it is clear that teaching should go 
 before baptism; hence, they conclude, that as 
 infants cannot be taught, so neither should they 
 be baptized until they are capable of teaching 
 or instruction. 
 
 Q. "What use do they make of Mark, chap, 
 xvi. — " He who believeth and is baptized shall 
 be saved ?'' 
 
 A71S. They say it is evident that belief or 
 faith must precede baptism ; but, they add, 
 children or infants are not capable of believing ; 
 therefore, neither are they capable of being bap- 
 tized. 
 
 Q, What can Protestants reply to this Baptist 
 reasoning ? 
 
AS UNSCRIPTURALLY APPLIED TO INFANTS. 87 
 
 Alls. They may give these passages another 
 meaning, but they can never prove that their 
 interpretation is better than that of the Baptists, 
 because they themselves give every one a right 
 to interpret Scripture. 
 
 Q» What inference do you draw from this ? 
 
 Alls. That every Protestant has much reason 
 to doubt whether he be baptized. 
 
 Q. How do Catholics prove that infants 
 ought to be baptized ? 
 
 Ans. Not from Scripture alone, which is not 
 clear on this subject, but from the Scripture, 
 illustrated by the constant tradition of the 
 church, which, in every age, administered bap- 
 tism to infants, and consequently the practice 
 must have been derived from the apostles. 
 
 Q. Can Protestants use this triumphant argu- 
 ment of tradition against the Baptists ? 
 
 Alls. No; they have no right to use it in this 
 matter where it would serve them, since they 
 reject it in every question where it is opposed to 
 their novel and lately invented doctrines.* 
 
 *- An Extract from A Doctrinal Catechism : by Rev. Ste- 
 phen Keenan. Approved by John Hughes, D. D., Roman 
 Catholic Archbishop of New York, 1851. 
 
xyiii. 
 
 AS SUBSTITUTED BY POURING AND SPRINKLING. 
 
 ITH infant baptism, still another change 
 in the outward form of baptism, was 
 introduced — that of sprinkling with 
 water, instead of the former practice of 
 immersion.* For it is without controversy that 
 baptism in the primitive church Avas adminis- 
 tered by immersion into water, and not by sprink- 
 ling. So too, the essential act of baptizing in 
 the second century , consi^ed, not in sprinkling, 
 but in immersion into water, in the name of each 
 person in the Trinity. Concerning immersion, 
 the words and phrases that are used sufficiently 
 testify ; and that it was performed in a river, 
 pool or fountain. To the essential rite of bap- 
 tism in the third century, pertained immersion, 
 and not aspersion, excej^t in cases of necessity, 
 and it was accounted a half-perfect baptism. f 
 And controversy arose concerning it, so unheard 
 
 «• FritPch, Bib. Theol., Vol. 3, p. 507. 
 f Venema, His. Eccle., Sec. i. ; ii. ; iii. 
 
 88 
 
SUBSTITUTED BY POURING AND SPRINKLING. 89 
 
 of was it at that time to baptize by simple affu- 
 sion.* Immersion in ihQ fourth century, was one 
 of those acts that were considered as essential to 
 baptism ; nevertheless aspersion was used in the 
 last moments of life on such as were clinics^f — 
 which Rufinus rightly translates ijerfusuvi — 
 poured about, for those who are sick, were baptized 
 in bed. Therefore, baptism of this sort was not 
 customary, and was esteemed imperfect, as be- 
 ing what appeared to be received by men labor- 
 ing under delirium, not willingly, but from fear 
 of death. In addition, since baptism properly 
 signifies immersion, a pouring of this sort could 
 hardly be called baptism, therefore. Clinics were 
 forbidden to be promoted to the rank of the 
 ministry, by the twelfth canon of the Council 
 of Neo-Csesarea. | 
 
 Cyprian first defended baptism by sprinkling, 
 when necessity called for it, but cautiously and 
 with much limitation § — saying to Magnus, 
 " You ask, dear son, what I think of those, who, 
 in sickness receive the sacred ordinance ; whether, 
 since they are not washed (loti) in the saving water, 
 but have it poured on them, (perfusi) they are to 
 
 * Knapp's Theo., p. 487. 
 
 f Venema, as above. 
 
 X Yalesius, from R. Fuller on Bap., p. 81. 
 
 § Knapp, as above. 
 
90 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 be esteemed right Christians. In the saving sac- 
 raments, when necessity obliges, and God grants 
 His indulgence, abridgements of divine things, 
 (divina compendia), will confer the whole on be- 
 lievers."* By degrees, however, this mode of 
 baptism became more customary, probably be- 
 cause it was found more convenient ; especially 
 was this the case after the seventh century, and in 
 the Western Church, but it did not become uni- 
 versal (even there) until the commencement of 
 the fourteenth centurg.'\' 
 
 The fii'st law for sprinkling was obtained in the 
 following manner : Pope Stephen II. being dri- 
 ven from Rome by Astolphus, King of Lombards, 
 in 753, fled to Pepin, who a short time before 
 had usurped the crown of France. While he re- 
 mained there, the monks of Cressy, in Brittany, 
 consulted him, whether, in case of necessity, bap- 
 tism performed by pouring water on the head of 
 the infant would be lawful. Stephen replied that 
 it would. But though the truth of this fact 
 should be allowed^ which, however, some Cath- 
 olics deny, yet pouring or sprinkling was admit- 
 ted only in cases of necessity. It was not till the 
 year 1311 that the Legislature, in a Council held 
 
 * Cyprian. 
 
 ■j- Knapp, as above. 
 
SUBSTITUTED BY POURING AXD SPRINKLING. 91 
 
 at Ravenna, declared immersion or sprinkling to 
 be indiflPerent.* France seems to have been the 
 first country where baptism by affusion was used 
 ordinarily to persons in health, and in the public 
 way of administering it.f In this country (Scot- 
 land), however, sprinkling was never practiced in 
 ordinary cases till after the Reformation ; and in 
 England, even in the reign of Edward VI. im- 
 mersion was commonly observed. But during 
 the persecution of Mary, many persons, most of 
 whom were Scotchmen, fled from England to Ge- 
 neva, and there greedily imbibed the opinions of 
 that Church. In 1556 a book was published at 
 that place, containing the form of prayers and 
 ministrations of sacraments, approved by the fa- 
 mous and godly man, John Calvin, in which the 
 administrator is enjoined to take water in his hand 
 and lay it on the child's forehead. These Scot- 
 tish exiles who had renounced the authority of the 
 Pope, implicitly acknowledged the authority of 
 Calvin ; and returning to their own country with 
 John Knox at their head, in 1559, established 
 sprinkling in Scotland. From Scotland this prac- 
 tice made its way into England in the reign of 
 Elizabeth, but was not authorized by the estab- 
 
 * Edinburgh Ency., Ed. by Sir David Brewster. Art. Bap. 
 t Dr. Wall, His. Inf. Bap., Part 2, ch. 9. 
 
92 CHRISTIAN BAPTIS^r 
 
 lished Church.* It being allowed to weak chil- 
 dren, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to be bap- 
 tised by aspersion, many fond ladies and gentle- 
 women ^rs^, and then by degrees the common peo- 
 ple, would obtain the favor of the Priest to have 
 their children pass for weakly children, too tender 
 to endure dipping in the water. As for sprink- 
 ling properly so called, it was, at 1645, just then 
 beginning, and used by very few. It must have 
 begun in the disorderly times of forty-one (1641), 
 They — the Assembly of Divines in Westminster 
 — reformed the font into a basin. This learned 
 Assembly could not remember that fonts to bap- 
 tize in had always been used by the primitive 
 churches, long before the beginning of Popery, 
 and ever since churches were built ; but that 
 sprinkling for the purpose of baptizing was really 
 introduced (in France first, and then in other po- 
 pish countries), in times of Popery ; and that ac- 
 cordingly, all those countries in which the 
 usurped power of the Pope is, or has formerly been 
 owned, have left off dipping of children in the 
 font, but that all other countries in the world, 
 which have never regarded his authority, do still 
 use it. And thouo^h tlie Eno^lish received not 
 this custom till after the decay of Popery, yet they 
 have since received it from such neighbor nations 
 * Edin. Ency. as above. 
 
SUBSTITUTED BY POURIXG AlHD SPRINKLIXG. 93 
 
 as had begun it in the time of the Pope^s power. 
 For the way that is now ordinarily used, we can- 
 not deny to have been a novelty, brought into this 
 church (English) by those that learned it in Ger- 
 many or at Geneva. And they were not content- 
 ed to follow the example of pouring a quantity of 
 water, which had there been introduced instead of 
 immersion, but improved it, if I may so abuse 
 that word, from pouring to sprinkling, that it 
 might have as little resemblance to the ancient way 
 of baptizing as possible.* Hence not only the 
 Catholic Church, but also the pretejided reformed 
 churches, have altered this primitive custom, and 
 now allow of baptism by pouring or sprinkling 
 water on the person baptized. Nay, many of their 
 ministers do it nowadays by fillipping a wet finger 
 and thumb over a child's head, or shaking a wet 
 fino^er or two over a child ; which is hard enoug-h 
 to call baptism in any sense. f The Baptists, in 
 fact, are the only denomination of Christians ^Yho 
 have not symbolized with the Church of Rome,{ 
 and, with the two exceptions of the Cathedral of 
 Milan, and the sect of the Baptists, a few drops of 
 water are now the "Western substitute. § 
 
 * Dr. Wall, as above. 
 
 t Dr. E. Wetham, Eom. Cath., Annot. on Matt. iii. 6, 
 
 X Newton. 
 
 § Dean Stanley, Elist. Eastern Church, p. 117. 
 
94 CHEISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 Under these circumstances it is certainly to be 
 lamented that Luther was not able to accomplish 
 his wish with regard to the introduction of im- 
 mersion in baptism, as he had done in the re- 
 storation of the wine in the Eucharist.* For if 
 we say — The Bible alone is the religion of Pro- 
 testantsf — the Catholics reply — Show us, my 
 Lords, the validity of your baptism, ' by Scrip- 
 ture alone/ Jesus Christ there ordains that it 
 shall be conferred, not by pouring water on the 
 heads of believers, but by believers being plunged 
 into water. The word baptizo employed by 
 the Evangelists, strictly conveys this signification, 
 as the learned are agreed ; and at the head of 
 them Casaubon, of all the Calvinists, the best 
 versed in the Greek language. Now baptism 
 by immersion has ceased for many ages, and 
 you yourselves as well as we, have only received 
 it by affusion. It would, therefore, be all over 
 with your baptism, unless you established it by 
 tradition and the practice of the Church. This 
 being settled, I ask you from whom have you 
 received baptism ? Is it not from the Church 
 of Rome ? And what do you think of her ? Do 
 you not consider her as heretical, and even idola- 
 
 * Drs. Storr and Flatt's Theol., Vol. ii., p. 291. 
 t Chillingworth. 
 
SUBSTITUTED BY POURING AND SPEINKLING. 95 
 
 trous ? You cannot, then, according to the 
 terms of Scripture, prove the validity of your 
 baptism ; and to produce a plea for it, you are 
 obliged to seek it with Pope Stephen, and the 
 councils of Aries and Nice, and in Apostolic 
 tradition.* 
 
 * Right Rev. Dr. Trevern (Rom. Cath.), in La Discussion 
 Amicale to Protestant Clergy. 
 
XIX. 
 
 AS PRESERVED BY THE BAPTISTS. 
 
 HE true origin of that sect which 
 acquired the name Anabaptist, is hid 
 in the remote depths of Antiquity, and 
 is consequently extremely difficult to 
 be ascertained.* On this account, the Baptists 
 — who were formerly called Anabaptists — may 
 be considered the only Christian community 
 which has stood since the days of the Apostles, 
 and as a Christian Society, has preserved pure 
 the doctrines of the Gospel through all ages. 
 The perfectly correct external and internal eco- 
 nomy of the Baptist denomination tends to con- 
 firm the truth disputed by the Romish Church, 
 that the Reformation, brought about in the 
 sixteenth century, was in the highest degree 
 necessary, and at the same time goes to refute 
 the erroneous notion of the Catholics, that their 
 
 * Mosheim's Ch. Hist, (Maclaine's), Vol. ii , p. 127. 
 
 96 
 
AS PRESERVED BY THE BAPTISTS. 97 
 
 commimion is the most ancient.* Before Luther 
 and Calvin, there lay concealed in almost all the 
 countries of Europe many persons who adliered 
 tenaciously to the doctrines of the Dutch Bap- 
 tists, f and for thirteen hundred years had caused 
 great disturbance in the Church. J And, if the 
 truth of religion were to be judged of by the 
 readiness and cheerfulness which a man of any 
 sect shows in suffering, then the opinions and 
 persuasions of no sect can be truer or surer, than 
 those of the anabaptists ; since there have been 
 none (1570), for these twelve hundred years past, 
 that have been more grievously punished. § In 
 Ponton, Cologne, Germany, Swederland, etc., 
 many thousands of this sect, who defiled their 
 first baptism by a second, were baptized the 
 third time in their own blood. || And in almost 
 all the countries of Europe, an tcnspeaJcable 
 number of Baptists preferred death in^its w^orst 
 
 * Dr. Ypeij, Prof. Theol., Groningen, and Dr. J. J. Der- 
 mont, chaplain to King of Netherlands in Hist. Dutch Bap- 
 tists. 
 
 f.Mosheim, Ch. Hist. 
 
 X Zwingle, the Swiss Reformer, from Orchard's Hist., p. 17. 
 
 § Cardinal Hossius, Chairman at Council of Trent, from 
 Orchard's Hist. Baptists, p. 364. 
 
 II De Featly — The same who, in 16-44, entreated the House 
 of Lords, that Milton might be cut off, " as a pestilent Ana- 
 baptist." 
 7 
 
98 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 forms to a retraction of their sentiments.* This 
 sect had the honor both of leading the way, and 
 bringing up the rear, of all the martyrs who 
 were burnt alive in England. f And so nu- 
 merous were they, and so rigorously persecuted, 
 that the records show that over seventy thousand 
 of them were, in King Henry^s time, punished 
 by fines, by imprisonment, by banishment, or 
 by burning.J The Baptists that were burnt in 
 different parts of the Kingdom, w^ent to death 
 intrepidly and without any fear.§ 
 
 They suffered death, not on account of their 
 being considered rebellious subjects, but merely 
 because they were judged to be incurable heretics ; 
 for, in this century (the 16th), the error of limit- 
 ing the administration of baptism to adult 
 persons only, and the practice of rebaptizing 
 such as had received the sacrament in infancy, 
 were looked upon as the most flagitious and 
 intolerable of heresies. || 
 
 Thus the party was trodden under foot with 
 foul reproaches and most arrogant scorn ; and 
 
 * Mosheim. 
 
 fFrom VVestlake'sjGen. View. 
 
 X Strype's History. 
 
 g Bishop Latimer, Lent Sermons. 
 
 11 Mosheim, Eccle, Hist., Cent. 16, Sec. 3, Part 2, ch. iii. 
 
AS PRESERVED BY THE BAPTISTS. 99 
 
 its history is written in the blood of myriads of 
 the German peasantry ; but its principles, safe 
 in their immortality, escaped with Roger 
 Williams to Providence ; and his colony is the 
 witness that naturally the paths of the Baptists 
 are paths of freedom, pleasantness and peace. 
 For freedom of conscience, unlimited freedom 
 of mind was, from the first, the trophy of the 
 Baptists. * 
 
 In accordance with these principles, Roger 
 Williams insisted in Massachusetts upon allow- 
 
 NoTE.— It may be stated that the Baptists believe the 
 ordinances should be administered to regenerated believers 
 only, not exclusively to adults, but to children also, who give 
 evidence of being born of the Spirit, a. And doubtless if 
 baptism was not rightly administered with reference to those 
 things which belong to the substance of it, it is all one as if 
 the person had not been baptized ; and, therefore, he is to be 
 baptized and not re-baptized, h. And respecting the form of 
 baptism the impartial historian is compelled by exegesis and 
 history substantially to yield the point to the Baptists, as is 
 done in fact by most German scholars, c. Hence, " If the 
 Baptists are historically right, and we wrong, let us discon- 
 tinue our disputes with them as to the meaning of Greek 
 verbs, and give due honor to the original mode of baptism 
 both by our preaching and practice."(Z. 
 
 Note (a) Imperial Die. (English). 
 
 (6) Buddeus, Theol. Dog., i., v., c. 1, g 10. 
 
 (c) Dr. P. Schaflf, Hist. Apo. Ch. p. 568. 
 
 {d) Rev. A. L. Park, in Christian Mirror, June 29th, 1876' 
 
 * Bancroft's Hist. U. States. 
 
100 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 ing entire freedom of conscience, and upon entire 
 separation of the Church and the State. But he 
 was obliged to flee, and in 1636 he formed in 
 Rhode Island, a small and new society, in which 
 perfect freedom in matters of faith was allowed, 
 and in which the majority ruled in all civil 
 affairs. Here, in a little State, the fundamental 
 principles of political and ecclesiastical liberty 
 practically prevailed, before they were even 
 taught in any of the schools of philosophy in 
 Europe. At that time people predicted only a 
 short existence for these democratical experi- 
 ments. But not only have these ideas and these 
 forms of government maintained themselves 
 here, but, precisely from this little State, have 
 they extended themselves throughout the United 
 States. They have conquered the aristocratic 
 tendencies in Carolina and New York, the High 
 Church in Virginia, the theocracy in Massa- 
 chusetts, and the monarchy in all America. 
 They have given laws to a continent, and, for- 
 midable through their moral influence, they lie 
 at the bottom of all the democratic movements which 
 are now shaking the nations of Europe."^ Thus 
 
 * German Philosopher, Gerviaus, Introd. to His., 1 9th Cen- 
 tury, 
 
AS PRESERVED BY THE BAPTISTS. 101 
 
 he began the first civil government on the earth 
 which gave equal liberty of conscience.* 
 
 To conclude then — The Baptists are a people 
 very fond of religious liberty, and very unwill- 
 ing to be brought under bondage of the judg- 
 ment of others. t As regards their form of go- 
 vernment, they are, as every one knows Inde- 
 pendents, who perform the rite of baptism, like 
 the primitive Christians, by immersion. J Their 
 origin is hid in the depths of antiquity.§ They 
 have preserved pure the doctrines of the gospel 
 through all ages.|| They are the only denomi- 
 nation of Christians who have not symbolized 
 with the Church of Rome.^f And let it never 
 be forgotten of the particular Baptists of Eng- 
 land that they form the denomination of Fuller, 
 and Carey, and Ryland, and Hall, and Foster ; 
 that they have originated one among the greatest 
 of all missionary enterprises ; that they have en- 
 riched the Christian literature of our country 
 with authorship of the most exalted piety, as 
 
 «- Southey. 
 
 t Baily in 1639. 
 
 X Dr. Bunsen, On Signs of the Times. 
 
 § Mosheim, as above. 
 
 II Hist. Ref. Dutch Ch., Ed. Breda, 1819. 
 
 ^ Newton. 
 
102 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 well as of the first talent and the first eloquence; 
 that they have waged a very noble and success- 
 ful war with the hydra of Antinomianism ; that, 
 perhaps, there is not a more intellectual com- 
 munity of ministers in our island, or who have 
 put forth, in proportion to their number a 
 greater amount of mental power and mental 
 activity in the defence of our common faith ; and 
 what is better than all the triumphs of genius or 
 understanding, who, by their zeal and fidelity, 
 and pastoral labor among the congregations 
 which they have reared, have done more to swell 
 the lists of genuine discipleship in all the walks 
 of private society, and thus both to uphold and 
 to extend the living Christianity of our nation.* 
 
 * Dr. Chalmers, ia sermon on Rom. iv. 9-15. 
 
XX. 
 
 AS FALSELY VIEWED — A PLEA FOR INCON- 
 SISTENCY. 
 
 " Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that which 
 he alloweth." Rom. xiv. 22. 
 
 " Men are easy enough to consent to a general rule ; but 
 they will not suffer their oivn case to be concerned in it." 
 
 — Bishop Taylor. 
 
 T is said that the lawfuhiess of any 
 other baptism than by immersion will 
 be found to lie in the necessity there 
 may sometimes be of another manner 
 of administering of it.* That the danger of 
 dipping in cold climates, may be a very good 
 reason for changing the form of baptism to 
 sprinkling.f That the Church claims the right 
 to regulate, at her just discretion, whatever re- 
 gards the manner of administering the Sacra- 
 ments.t That the Holy Scriptures speak only 
 of baptism by immersion. But the dogma of 
 
 «- Dr. Towerson on Sac. of Bap., Part III., pp. 58-60. 
 
 t Bishop Burnet. 
 
 X Archb. Kenrick, from Am. Cyclop., Art. Rom. Cath. 
 
 103 
 
104 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 the Church is to sprinkle, and we should in this, 
 as in everything else, follow the Church.* That 
 it is left to latitude^ to convenience, to the taste, 
 fancy, and preference of all.f That it is of no 
 consequence at all whether the person baptized 
 is totally immersed, or whether he is merely 
 sprinkled by an affusion of water. This should 
 be a matter of choice to the churches in different 
 regions, although the word baptize signifies to 
 immerse, and the rite of immersion was practiced 
 by the ancient Church.J That, if experience 
 shows a certain ordinance to be good, it is your 
 right to adopt it, whether Scripture points it out 
 or not.§ That it is not essential to salvation. || 
 That if baptism was first administered by im- 
 mersion, might not a regard to usage, to decency 
 or to convenience, be a sufficient reason for 
 varying the mode ?Tf 
 
 Replies. — We cannot think God will honor 
 the inventions of men, however they may be 
 dignified by the specious names of useful, decent, 
 
 * Koman Cath. Catec. 
 
 I Dr. Gumming. 
 
 X John Calvin, founder of Pres. Oh. 
 § H. W. Beecher in Ser. May, 1864. 
 
 II General. 
 
 f Dr. L. Woods' Works, Vol. iii., p. 460. 
 
AS FALSELY VIEWED. 105 
 
 agreeable, or prudent contrivances ; yet, if they 
 are an addition to His system, will He not say : 
 Who hath required these things at your hands f^ 
 And that principle that the Church hath power 
 to institute any thing or ceremony belonging to 
 the worship of God, either as to matter or to 
 manner, beyond the orderly observance of such 
 circumstances as necessarily attend such ordi- 
 nances as Christ Himself hath instituted, lies at 
 the bottom of all the horrible superstition and 
 idolatry, of all the confusion, blood, persecution, 
 and wars, that have for so long a season spread 
 themselves over the surface of the Christian 
 world, t 
 
 But to serve God otherwise than He re- 
 quireth, is not to worshijy, but to rob and mock 
 Him. J And true philosophy as well as true 
 Christianity, would teach us a wiser and more 
 modest spirit. It would teach us to be content 
 within those bounds which God has assigned 
 us.§ As before stated : Nothing is a privilege 
 in the religious sense, but what God has made 
 such ; and He has made nothing such, except in 
 
 * Archibald Hall's View of Gospel Church, p. 82. 
 
 t Dr. Owen's Sermon. 
 
 X B'p Reynolds' Works, p. 163. 
 
 ^ Lord Lyttelton, Conv. of Paul, p. 67. 
 
106 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 His own way, and on His own terms. Baptism 
 is a privilege when administered and received 
 in the manner appointed by Him, hut 'in no 
 other. When this ordinance is received in any 
 other manner, it is plainly no obedience to any 
 command of His, and therefore, let me add, has 
 no encouragement to hope for a blessing.* If 
 it can be obeyed, it must; if it cannot, it must 
 be let alone. It is that in which God will so 
 perfectly be obeyed that He will not be disputed 
 with, or inquired of, why and how, but just ac- 
 cording to the measures set down ; so and no 
 morCy and no less, and no otherwise, f The law 
 of the Lord is perfect.^ The Scripture cannot 
 be broken. § Hence God has absolutely jDro- 
 hibited all men, under severe denunciations, 
 and with terrible expressions of His anger, 
 either to form religious institutions, or to sub- 
 stitute their own institutions for His.|| Rev. 
 xxii. 18, 19. As we must take heed that we 
 do not add the fancies of men to our Divine 
 religion, so we must take equal care that we do 
 
 * Dr. Dwight's Sermons, Vol. iv., p. 343. 
 
 t B'p Taylor's Due. Dub., b. ii., c. iii., ^ 14, 18. 
 
 X Ps. xix. 7. 
 
 ^ John X. 35. 
 
 II Dr. Dwight. 
 
AS FALSELY VIEWED. 107 
 
 not curtail the appointments of Christ.* For it 
 is an impious and dangerous thing to affix God's 
 name to our own imaginations. f 
 
 But some may say, Surely God will not he so 
 much concerned with a failure in so smalt a 
 punctilio as a ceremony ! True, it is a ceremony ; 
 but it is such a one that beareth the stamp and 
 authority of the Lord Jesus. If He appoints 
 it, will you slight it, and say. It is but a cere- 
 mony? Tell me, was circumcision any more 
 than a ceremony ? Yet it had almost cost 
 Moses his life for neglecting to circumcise his 
 son. 
 
 But I am regenerate J and become a new crea- 
 ture; I do not fear that God will cast me away 
 for the disuse of a ceremony. Is this the reason- 
 ing of one regenerate ? Surely thou dost not 
 understand what regeneration meaneth. When 
 you have considered this, then tell me what you 
 think of this kind of reasoning ; I am a child of 
 God, therefore I will presume to disobey Him.X 
 Why ! Christian ordinances are designed for 
 Christian people; for persons who are already 
 saved by grace. But does it therefore follow 
 
 - Watts' Humble Attempt, p. 62. 
 
 t Dr. Owen on Heb. 
 
 X Wadsworth on Lord's Supper, pp. 243, 244. 
 
108 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 
 
 that an ordinance, established by Christ, has no 
 important end to answer, and may safely be 
 despised ?* God is infinitely better able than 
 we are to judge of the propriety and usefulness 
 of the things He institutes ; and it becomes us 
 to obey with humility and reverence.f 
 
 The conclusion of the whole matter is, '^ Fear 
 God and keep His Commandments.''I 
 
 * Dr. J. Campbell, Jethro, p. 235. 
 t Dr. S. Clark, Exp. Ch. Cat., p. 306. 
 X Scripture. 
 
AUTHORS QUOTED. 
 
 1 Ainsworth. 
 
 2 Alford, Dean. 
 
 3 Alstidius. 
 
 4 Alting, J., D. D. 
 
 5 Ambrose (A. D. 390). 
 
 6 Am. Tract Soc. Pub. 
 
 7 Am. Presbyterian. 
 
 8 Anthon, Prof. Charles, Columbia College, N. Y, 
 
 9 Baily (1639). 
 
 10 Baily, Bishop. 
 
 11 Bancroft, U. S. Historian. 
 
 12 Barnes, Albert, D. D. 
 
 13 Baumgarten. 
 
 14 Baxter, K. chard. 
 
 15 Beecher, H. Ward. 
 
 16 Bengel, J. Albert, Author of Gnomon. 
 
 17 Benson, Dr. G. 
 
 18 Bingham. 
 
 19 Bickersteth, E. 
 
 20 Bloomfield, Author Greek Test. 
 
 21 Bonaventure. 
 
 22 Bossuet, Bishop. 
 
 23 Brenner, Eom. Cath. 
 
 24 Bretschneider. 
 
 25 Buddeus. 
 
 109 
 
110 AUTHORS QUOTED. 
 
 26 Bunsen, Dr. 
 
 27 Burnet, Bishop. 
 
 28 Burns, J. D., D. D. 
 
 29 Bushnell, Horace, D. D. 
 
 30 Calvin, John, Founder of Presbyterian Church. 
 
 31 Campbell, Dr. G. 
 
 32 Campbell, Dr. J. 
 
 33 Casaubon. 
 
 34 Cave, Dr. 
 
 35 Chalmers, Dr. 
 
 36 Clark, Dr. Adam. 
 
 37 Clark, Dr. Samuel. 
 
 38 Chillingworth. 
 
 39 Chrysostom, (A. D. 398). 
 
 40 Coleman. 
 
 41 Conybeare. 
 
 42 Cumming, Dr. 
 
 43 Cranmer, Archbishop. 
 
 44 Conder, Kev. J. 
 
 45 Curcellus, Prof, of Divinity, Geneva. 
 
 46 Cyprian, (A. D. 253). 
 
 47 Cyril, (A. D. 374). 
 
 48 Dermont, Dr. J. J. Chaplain to King of Netherlands. 
 
 49 Doddridge, Philip, D. D. 
 
 50 Dodwell, Dr. H. 
 
 51 Donnegan, Author Lex. 
 
 52 Douay Testament. x 
 
 53 D'Outreinius. 
 
 54 Dwight, Dr. 
 
 55 Ecce Homo. ' 
 
 56 Encyclopedia Ecclesiastica. 
 
 57 Editor Congregationalist. 
 
 58 Edinburgh Reviewers. 
 
 59 Edinburgh Cyclopedia. 
 
 60 English Imp. Die. 
 
AUTHORS QUOTED. HI 
 
 61 Elliot, Bishop. 
 
 62 Estius, Rom. Cath. 
 
 63 Fabricius, Guido. 
 
 64 Fairbairn, Dr. 
 
 65 Featly, Dr. 
 
 66 Field^ Dr. 
 
 67 Flatt, Prof. 
 
 68 Fritsch. 
 
 69 Fuller,^Adv. Inf. 
 
 70 Gataker. 
 
 71 Gertlerus. 
 
 72 Gervinu3, German Philosopher. 
 
 73 Goodwin, Dr. 
 
 74 Greenfield, Dr. 
 
 75 Griffin, Dr. 
 
 76 Grotius. 
 
 77 Hagenbach. 
 
 78 Hahn, Prof. 
 
 79 Hall, Archibald. 
 
 80 Hall, Dr. John, N. Y. 
 
 81 Halley, Dr. 
 
 82 Hanna, Dr. 
 
 83 Harness, E,ev. Wm. 
 
 84 Henry, Matthew. 
 
 85 Hayne's Encyclopedia. 
 
 86 Hervey. 
 
 87 Hibbard, Dr. 
 
 88 Hoadly, Bishop. 
 
 89 Hodge, Dr.^ Charles. 
 
 90 Hooker. 
 
 91 Hopkins, Bishop. 
 
 92 Home's Introduction. 
 
 93 Howson, Dean. 
 
112 AUTHORS QUOTED. 
 
 95 Jacobi, Dr. 
 
 96 Jones, Dr. John. 
 
 97 Kenrick, Archbishop. 
 
 98 King, Dr. D. 
 
 99 King, Peter, Lord High Chancellor of Eng. 
 
 100 Kitto. 
 
 101 Knapp, G. C, D. D. Prof, of Theol., Halle. 
 
 102 Koraes. 
 
 103 Lange, Dr. J. P., Prof, of Theol., University of Bonn. 
 
 104 Latimer, Bishop. 
 
 105 Leigh, Dr., Author Critica Sacra. 
 
 106 Liddel and Scott. 
 
 107 Leibnitz. 
 
 108 Lightfoot, Dr. 
 
 109 Lond. Quar. Keview. 
 
 110 Luther, Martin. 
 
 111 Lyttelton, Lord. 
 
 112 Macknight, Dr. 
 
 113 Maimonides (Jew). 
 
 114 Mather, Cotton. 
 
 115 Matthies. 
 
 116 Melancthon. 
 
 117 Melville, Dr. H. 
 
 118 Meyer, Dr. H. A. W. 
 
 119 Morrison, Dr. John. 
 
 120 Mosheim, Dr. J. L. 
 
 121 Newton. 
 
 122 Neander, Dr. Augustus. 
 
 123 New Am. Encyclopedia. 
 
 124 North Brit. Eeview. 
 
 125 Olshausen. 
 
 126 Owen, Dr. 
 
 127 Paine, Prof. L. L., Theol. Sem. Bangor, Me. 
 
 128 Paley, Dr. 
 
AUTHORS QUOTED 113 
 
 129 Park, Kev. A. L. 
 
 130 Parkhurst. 
 
 131 Phillips, Kev. Wm. 
 
 132 Polhill. 
 
 133 Person, Prof. 
 
 134 Pressense, Dr. 
 
 135 Quenstedius. 
 
 136 Keynolds, Bishop. 
 
 137 Kheinhard. 
 
 138 Eobertson, Kev. F. \V. 
 
 139 Robinson, Dr. E. 
 
 140 Eoel. 
 
 141 Kouge, M. De la. 
 
 142 Rosenmuller. 
 
 143 Eost, Prof. (German.) 
 
 144 Rom. Cath. Catechism. 
 
 145 Kyle, Rev. J. C. 
 
 146 Scapula. 
 
 147 Salmasius. 
 
 148 Sanderson, Bishop. 
 
 149 Schneckenberger. 
 
 150 Schleiermacher. 
 
 151 Schoettgen. 
 
 152 Schrevellius. 
 
 153 Schindler. 
 
 154 Scott, the Commentator. 
 
 155 Schaff, Philip, D.D., Prof. Theol., Pa. 
 
 156 Smith, Bishop, Ky. 
 
 157 Smith's Bib. Die. 
 
 158 Southey. 
 
 159 Stanley, Dean. 
 
 160 Stacey, Rev. 
 
 161 Stack, Rev. 
 
 162 Stuart, Prof M. 
 
114 AUTHORS QUOTED. 
 
 163 Stanhope, Dr. G. 
 
 164 Stephens. 
 
 165 Stephanus. 
 
 166 Stockms. 
 
 167 Storr, Dr. 
 
 168 Stourdza. 
 
 169 Suicerus, Prof, of Hebrew and Greek, Zurich. 
 
 170 Strype. 
 
 171 Sumner, Archb. 
 
 172 Taylor, Bishop Jeremy. 
 
 173 Taylor, Dr. Isaac. 
 
 174 Theophylact. 
 
 175 Tholuck. 
 
 176 Tilenus. 
 
 177 Thorn, Rev. 
 
 178 Trommius. 
 
 179 Towerson, Dr. 
 
 180 Trelawney, Sir H. 
 
 181 Trevern, Rev. Dr. 
 
 182 Turretine. 
 
 183 Valasius. 
 
 184 Vatablus, Prof, of Hebrew, Paris. 
 
 185 Venema. 
 
 186 Vitringa. 
 
 187 Waddington. 
 
 188 Wadsworth, Dr. 
 
 189 Watson, Richard. 
 
 190 Wardlaw, Dr. 
 
 191 Watts, Dr. 
 
 192 Wall, Dr., Vicar of Siioreham, England. 
 
 193 Wesley, John, Founder of Metliodisra. 
 
 194 Weiss. 
 
 195 Webster and 
 
 196 Wilkinson. 
 
AUTHORS QUOTED. 115 
 
 197 Wette Dr. De. 
 
 198 Wetham, Dr. R. 
 
 199 Wetstein. 
 
 200 Williams, Dr. E. 
 
 201 Witsius. 
 
 202 Wilson, Prof. 
 
 203 Woods, Dr. L., Prof. Theol., Andover. 
 
 204 Ypeij, Prof, of Theology, Groningen. 
 
 205 Zanchius. ' 
 
 206 Zwingle, the Swiss Reformer.